MrBoness

-- WSA 2025 Entry --

“Five… Four… Three… Two… One…”
As the countdown towards the new year went on to the last second, Miles looked up to the sky, just as everybody else did.

In the middle of the crowded street, Miles for once felt like he belonged. Being a teenage gamer, living with his parents, and trying to build a life as a streamer, he did not feel like leaving his room every day.

But there, in the middle of that crowded street, with everyone around him paying attention to the sky, the countdown on the digital billboard, and mostly anything else but him., Miles felt like a ghost.

A welcomed ghost, but a ghost, after all.

With a smile on his unseen face, he looked up as the countdown reached one, and everybody sang in unison.
‘HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

But Miles’ eyes widened as he watched in utter horror, and curiosity, even, hovering above him, a holographic screen with a few lines of text written in it.

All around him, although he did not pay much attention to it, a few other people seemed to experience the same situation.

[Updating home-world 39515’s version]

[Version 20.25 update brings a lot of fun and games with the new and improved survival mode]

[Do you want to convert your previous avatar to home-world 39515’s latest version?]

[Yes] [No]

“Survival… Mode?” Miles’ lips quivered.

Before he could think of anything else, though, the people around him began to scream…

Mad Hatter's Guide to Clearing The Game

A gust of frigid wind swept through the ruined throne room, carrying the scent of decay and something worse. Diego's breath caught in his throat as he took an instinctive step back, his fingers twitching, ready to summon his knives. The sound of footsteps, slow, deliberate, impossibly heavy, echoed from behind the shattered throne.

Miles remained still. His fingers flexed at his sides, but he made no move to summon his scythe. Yet Diego could feel it, the way his best friend's body tensed ever so slightly, like a coiled spring ready to snap.

From behind the ruined throne, the Queen of Hearts emerged. Or, at least, what was once her.

Diego had seen nightmares before. He had witnessed the horrors of The Glitch, the twisted monstrosities that roamed the streets of their broken world. But nothing, nothing, prepared him for the sight before him.

Ch58. Not yet