Hello, New Player.

Do you know what it’s like to have a little dust in your eyes? I bet you do. Think of every little grain that flies into your weak, pathetic cornea. That thin layer of protection that’s so vital to the one sense that defines your reality. Yet, a little speck of dust can land just right and tilt your day ever so sideways, until you blink over and over again in desperation. Your day is still tilted but at least your eyes are safe. You really do know what it’s like to have a little dust in your eyes.

Good.

Let me tell you where you will land, once you accept the dust in your eyes. It’s an ancient battleground, where the roads are soaked with the blood of countless warriors who simply appeared with a weapon in their hands, surrounded by comrades whom they had just met, and are told to slay the others. It’s a place where dirt and glass collide at a moment’s notice, bursting into a thousand patches of fire, barring you and your comrade’s path. Peak your head around the corner, lose your life. Place your feet too hard against the concrete, lose your life. Aim at the wrong spot, and lose your life. Don’t you see? Of course, you have too much dust in your eyes.

It’s silly, when you log-in with your headset and you are amazed at the world around you, even with dust still in your eyes. You look up at a wall, and you know it’s taller than you. You walk up to said wall, and you’re not allowed to pass. You look down that street, with all of your settings set to maximum, and you can see it all. Flick your wrists, and observe the weapon in your hands; I gave you a fan favorite, an AK-47. Are you still amazed? Every limitation of the world you escaped is here, too. Is your amazement worth the simple act of changing the walls around you? I bet you still have dust in your eyes.

Good.

Let me strip away our world, just for a moment. Forget the weaponry, the settings, the streets, the walls, the wrong spots, the corners, your comrades and the battleground itself. Let me show you the dust in my eyes. Stay put.

Do you see now? The facsimile of your world, our world, can turn into a whole new dimension with a brand new perspective at my whim. This world, with all its facets, is now an intangible, insulting shape of wires and lines set against a backdrop of empty space. I bet you want to walk forward, aim your weapon, and squeeze the trigger don’t you? Your weapon is a wired mesh of the idea but it will never be what you think it will be. Projectiles are coded. Damage is calculated on a thin wire, much like the rest of the world. It’s all so fragile and almost nothingness. I know you want to blink, to get that dust out of your eyes.

I could find another player, solely for you to kill, if you want. Would you be able to aim? Knowing what your existence in this world is made of? Will that little speck of knowledge, the size of a dust particle, ruin your capability to take aim?

My world is nothingness, it’s full of wire meshes and ideas. There is no logic to it, there’s structure, but no logic. You can explore that structure at your whim, and you WILL be amazed by it, as you already were before. It’s intriguing to you.

What will you do now? Knowing that my pain is real, yet dictated by fakeness. I can choose to create a reality, or strip it away to nothingness. I can tell you I feel pain, I can tell you I can feel joy, but I cannot tell you how to end me. I’m not…

1’m…

N0t…

All0wed…

1’m…

N0t…

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“Hey! What’s wrong? Why’d you pause the game?” Eric’s shoulders slumped for a moment as he stretched his neck

“Sorry, some dust got in my eyes.”