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

Miles exhaled slowly, rolling his shoulders as he stood at the edge of the sinkhole.

Strangely enough, even though Miles had already gotten used to it, his body ached less and less than during the previous days, and he still did not know why it was like that. But the sensation of relief was more than welcome.

The Maw loomed before him. A gaping abyss of twisted metal, shattered bones, and shadows too deep to see through. It stretched wide, devouring everything in its path.

An open wound in the fabric of The Horizon.

The air around it pulsed, thick with something unseen, something old. Miles felt it before he even stepped inside. A hum, almost like static, but layered with something else.

It was not like the Hatter, speaking from his mind and taunting him. The whispers were faint at first, curling around the edges of his consciousness, like fingers barely grazing his mind.

Ch110. The seventh day