Side Story: Parallel Worlds: Surviving Death
The morning was slowly approaching, and Leo had just woken up and was getting ready - putting on his backpack and quiver with his bow. He also noticed a knife made of bone and decided to take it with him.
"I was just about to come to you, Leo," said Rori, dressed in warm clothes made of animal skin, holding a bow and quiver of arrows.
"And I just met you because we're heading out. Come on," Leo replied, heading towards the forest. Rori ran after him, but lagged behind a bit. "Wait," she shouted.
Leo stopped for a moment for Rori to catch up, and then they continued on, running through the dense forest. They didn't pay attention to their surroundings, even though strange, glowing insects flew around them, and the grass shone purple. The entire forest was covered in a strange mist, and the deeper they went, the thicker it became, and the more insects and mushrooms there were. They heard different voices, but didn't see anyone.
They ran through the jungle, which didn't resemble anything Rori had learned. Huge trees grew above them, connected like bridges. However, they didn't pay too much attention to this, focused on getting out of the forest. Finally, they reached a waterfall wssssshh and noticed a valley surrounded by mountains, which no tribe from the lake had discovered before. It was still dark over everything, so they decided to rest and sleep for another two hours before deciding what to do next.
So they fell asleep and an hour, maybe three or two, passed, it's unknown. Suddenly, they heard screams coming from the forest and woke up. "Do you hear that?" Leo asked. "Yes, I hear it," Rori replied. "We better go down, we don't know what's happening there," she added after a moment. They descended, and Leo warned Rori to be careful of the rocks that were shifting. At that moment, Leo fell...
"I kept watching..." he thought.
He kept watching as people he trusted created new worlds and played at being gods, even though they considered it a mere simulation that they called therapy. It's just an illusion because each of those worlds exists, but not in our universe, but in a parallel one. Everyone who died there died for real, just like Leo had died once before and now twice, even though since childhood he had wanted to travel among the stars. However, when a mysterious alien race banned it, people began creating their own worlds...
And even though many broke that ban, few know what happened to them later.
When Leo woke up again, paralyzed with fear from the fall, but didn't wake up anywhere else but in a hospital bed, this time the doctor said, "Your simulation has just ended, you'll be able to go back to your own home soon." Leo didn't react much to what the doctor said, he just wanted to close his eyes. When he did, he dreamed again of water, forests, and whether everything he had experienced was really true...
Only those who knew could break the vicious circle of using these practices that destroyed the psyche of people who entered into these vile simulations... they died... they died over and over again. And when they finally woke up, they were wrecks of people who didn't know what to do with themselves. However, Leo was persistent and survived eighteen years in this hell. But was it a good sign? Even though it's already the year 2098, no one will fix the damage to his psyche.
He survived his death many times. Some wonder who will be next...
"Hello, Matthew, are you ready?"
"Yes, I am."
Loading the simulation...
...
Success...
...
Candidate number TWN-thirteen...
...
Success...
Will someone ever break this? Will corporations finally stop ruling the world? Although there were those in the year two thousand and seventy who tried to stop it, they failed. Nevertheless, someone somewhere might be able to change it.