In Search of Epsilon

Defying Gravity

I woke up right next to a watering trough. The horse neighed in greeting, and I saluted in respect.  

How disgusting.  

I got up and studied the landscape.  

That was when I noticed the difference.  

The landscape had changed.  

The ground was still sand, but it was distorted. A more accurate description would be that the landscape defied gravity.  

Random hills now had holes where normally the ground would support it. The sheriff's office was now upside down, beneath a cliff that came around.  

I have no idea why I am trying to describe a landscape that I cannot understand.  

Some buildings that seemed far off were nearby, were just really small.  

And if you walked towards these buildings, your perception shifted, and now you were matching the size of the building.  

Random stairs could be found supported by nothing, and they lead to flying buildings.   

I saw a nearby lady walking around and asked her what was happening.  

“Mind your own business will ya?” she said.  

I guess the Wild West is really hostile.  

The next question that came into my mind was why did I start a fight with the guys playing poker?  

Too many questions, not enough answers.  

I went towards the cliff where the sheriffs was, but I was terrified of falling.  

I decided to go towards the bar that I was before.  

I would apologize for the incident I caused, and maybe I could get some answers.  

I started the gravity-defying stairs until I reached the bar.  

I went inside and noticed that the men playing poker had been replaced by dogs.  

The bartender looked at me and asked me what I wanted to drink. 

I told him that I had no money, and he immediately asked me to leave.  

“I aren't gonna entertain a poor man,” he said.  

I then told him that I did pay and that he had just forgotten. 

“Oh, sorry sir, what did you want again?”  

I told him I wanted a cold, sweet drink.  

What’s the point of acting manly in front of dogs and a bartender that has bad memory?  

The man across the bar asked for a drink as well, and after we were both served, he sat next to me.  

“Hello again, stranger,” said the man.  

“Again?” I asked.  

“Why you are the man that received Poker dog 1’s hook right?” asked the man. 

He was looking at the dog, and then I understood.  

He knows that I was knocked out before.

“What happened to the people that were playing poker?” I asked.  

That was the first question that popped into my head.  

“They became human, obviously,” said the man. 

“But they are dogs”  

“I meant, stranger, that they always were dogs. They just became human for a moment”  

“What the hell does that mean?”  

“Let’s just say that previously, you could not see. And now you can” He said simply.  

So, there was a purpose in that previous chapter, I thought to myself. Now, let the readers figure it out. 

“Okay, next question. Where am I?”  

“You are in a dungeon. The goal of any dungeon is to kill someone or something. What that is? I have no idea.”  

“Who are you?”  

“I am the gunslinger. I am supposed to teach you how to properly shoot a g*n” 

After a bit of more explaining, I finally understood. The gunslinger would teach me how to shoot a g*n so that I could protect myself and survive the dungeon.  

And so, the gunslinger started to teach me how to shoot a g*n.  

One would think, he is teaching him how to be more accurate. Well, not exactly. Remember one of the things that made the previous place special?  

It was still true here. 

“Think about the direction you want the bullet to go.”  

Currently, I was looking at nothing.  

To my left, I had a wall, and beyond that wall, there was a small can.  

The idea was that I would have to think about the direction where I want my bullet to go, its exact trajectory so that it would curve as I shot it.  

The bullet would curve exactly where you wanted it to curve, and in the direction you wanted. The downside? After it was fired there was no altering.  

“Nobody could think about the trajectory as the bullet is flying” had said the gunslinger. 

“And why is all of this even important? There are no guns in Epsilon”  

“Why, that’s obvious son. What do you think is the prize at the end?” said the gunslinger.