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

The air inside the Scrybay shifted.

Heavy, charged like the moment before a storm. Miles felt something cold grip his chest, his pulse quickening as an invisible force tugged at him. Not at his body, but at something deeper. His thoughts? His memories? His very presence?

Whatever it was, it was being pulled toward the Scryer.

The figure behind the counter did not move. The static on its screen-face flickered erratically, flashing images too fast to decipher – broken glimpses of unknown landscapes, shadowy figures, a twisted clock melting into the ground.

The humming in the air grew stronger, the objects in Miles' pack vibrating as if caught in an unseen current.

Then, just as quickly as it began, it stopped.

The pressure vanished, leaving Miles breathless. He staggered a step back, his muscles tense, his mind reeling.

"What the hell was that?" He demanded, clutching his chest as if to make sure he was still whole.

Ch118. Scrybay