The Eternal Sleep

All that Glitters is not Gold

Luca blinked a couple times, taking in the silent library around him. The shadowed creatures were nowhere to be seen. He could see Jay pick himself off the ground, waving him over. He teleported, picking up his gun and placing it back in his inventory, walking over to Armando.

The genius seemed to be stuck in a state of shock, staring blankly at the small, black card in his hand. Rena got to him first, placing her hands on his shoulders and talking to him softly. They gathered in their usual circle, taking a small moment to organize their thoughts and gather their frayed wits. The owl had their general train of thought, taking that time to adjust its wings and pull any broken and burnt feathers.

Almost fifteen minutes passed before anyone said anything. “So… light show?” Jay smirked.

“Heck yea…” Armando finally looked up, a grin on his face. He still looked weary, eyes shifting back and forth as if he expected the shadowed creatures to appear right in front of him and screech. Olivia took the card from his hand, turning it over in her fingers before passing it around the group with a small, smug smile on her face.

Dainty

Colour the sky,

Like a blue butterfly,

Look around,

View the ground,

For the clues are right before us.

            “I’m really starting to appreciate Sun and his sunny poems.” Luca grin was lopsided, sarcasm like a vile poison on his lips.

            “Really?” Of course, Jay would be the one to test his patience with a cheeky smile.

            “No.” Luca snarked back, getting to his feet and waving at the owl, “So… before that whole attack squad, what were you going to say?”

            The owl swooped to the ground, flapping its wings lightly as it landed. It ruffled its feathers and spoke, “Mighty is the one who knows when to pick up the sword… and when to pick up the pen.”

            Armando pulled himself to his feet with a grunt, “And what about the book?”

            “That my player…” The owl bowed its head slightly, opening one of its wings as if pointing to the unharmed book, “Is open for any member of your team to read.”

            “For real?”

            “Indeed, today you have shown both wisdom and courage not even seen in many adults. You face a form of yourself that would make may others turn away.” The owl raised its wings in preparation to take off, gold dust falling from the feathers. Before their very eyes, it seemed to be fading, “You have no need for any more of my lessons today.”

            Luca kneeled down and picked up a handful of the dust, watching as it faded in his hands, “All that glitters is not gold…”

            “Wow, never thought I’d be willingly be talking in verses and rhymes.” Jay barked a laugh as he stood at him side, offering him a hand.

            “Same here, to be honest, I would’ve flunked my English classes if it wasn’t for Armando.” They returned to the rest of the group, watching as Rena and Armando nervously approached the book. After so many days of dancing around the chance to get near it, it felt almost anti-climactic to just walk over and take it.

            Luca narrowed his eyes as Armando finally pulled it out of its holding, waiting for any possible explosions or for the owl to come back snapping at them for touching its precious things. He breathed a sigh of relief as nothing of a sort happened, walking over to help the genius place the monstrosity of a book on the ground for all of them to see.

            “This is it, the very thing we’ve been fighting for…” They opened the book.

‘Dedicated to the many individuals that worked tirelessly on this project.’

‘Dear Readers,

            For many years, it has been a dream of mine, to invent something that could reach the hearts of so many. To you, this may just seem like words on a paper, a silly creator talking about his silly dreams, and I understand if you pass it by, but for the few of you still reading, I have so much to say.

            I am a person that came from nothing, worked in the nearest fast food joint and café for some solid cash. I know what it’s like to go without. The world seemed to cruel, dark and impossible in those days… but I wasn’t about to accept that as my world forever.

            I saved my money and put myself through school. All around me, I could see people glued to phones, checking the same things over and over, the dark cloud hanging over their heads, just waiting to rain. I knew right then, I wanted to see smiles, I wanted to see people enjoying themselves, living for the thrill.

            Thus, I started making games no… adventures. I created little worlds like many other inventors to pull smiles on people’s faces for just a little while. For many years, I was satisfied and making enough to finish collage and start a small business. But eventually, that still wasn’t enough.

            So, then I built more, I created a realm where people could relax from their everyday lives a little. It grew like healthy vines climbing a wall. Even then, that still wasn’t enough. So, fifteen years down my career path, I started the biggest project recorded in my company.

            We called it the ‘TES’ project, or ‘The Eternal Sleep’. We wanted a world where people could forget their troubles for a little bit, let loose and do the things they enjoyed. All my designers were on board, working tirelessly to make this dream a reality. Code after code in the day and physical test after test in the night.

            A year later, we were releasing our masterpiece to the world. People were accepting, just a little bit happier, just a little bit more alive. We danced till our shoes gained holes, happiness twirling in our chests.

            Then we got arrogant, boastful, we forgot.

            We are not gods.

            And it cost us far too much to realize that.

            This is not a thank you note, this is an apology letter. I’m sorry for the pain that I have caused, the pain that I have receive in return. I’m sorry I did not see the signs, I’m sorry it came to this.

            I’m sorry that the work of so many has been wasted...

            And I’m sorry to the many individuals who will have their happiness snatched from them unfairly.

            “Wow, that took a dark turn way to fast.” Luca was certain his jaw would be hitting the floor right now if it were physically possible. “What the heck just happened?”

            “Is this… Naijal Sun?” Rena asked hesitantly, all eyes on Armando as he read through the text a second time.

            “Yea, I think so.” He rubbed his fingers over the page as if trying to assure himself that the words were really there. “It has to be, Sun is the one who created the business, the game and everything in-between.”

            “But why would Naijal Sun be writing an apology note?”

            “Looks like there’s something more to Naijal’s sudden retirement than we initially expected.” Luca flicked his eyes over the text again, “ ’I’m sorry for the pain that I have caused, the pain that I have receive in return. I’m sorry I did not see the signs, I’m sorry it came to this.’ That sounds like someone genuinely apologizing.”

            “’We are not gods.’ He mentions ‘we’ a couple times, who do you reckon he’s talking about?” Jay points to the words, raising an eyebrow.

            “I don’t… wait, Jhonnes is basically his right-hand man, right?” Olivia folded her arms, scrunching her nose in thought, “Jhonnes’ been MIA a couple months after the game launched, think whatever caused this started with them?”

            “Very possible, but this is just the first page…”

            It was filled with detailed explanations on how the game was planned, built, and tested. There were blueprints on the design of every city and town, pictures of possible avatar forms. Luca screenshotted almost a chapter worth of code used in the formation of their abilities and fluid movement. The book did not disappoint… until the last few pages.

            “What kind of insanity is this?” Armando scowled, flipping the pages back and forth.

            They’d finally reached the part they’d been researching the last few days. Paragraphs upon paragraphs explaining Sun’s retirement, Jhonnes location, the plan for the game… all blotted out by glitches. Rena had swiped her hand across them in a last effort to remove them, yelping as it transferred to her hand, lasting for several minutes.

            “Was it purposely blocked?” Jay pulled the book away from Armando’s twitching fingers, slightly afraid that he would tear the pages by accident.

            Luca did what he knew best, coding. He sat over the book like a wizard pouring over his important spells, pulling up his decoder and a coded form of the book. It would not be an easy job, but it was better than sitting and twiddling his thumbs. He began breaking the code into pieces, analysing every part, and placing notes.

            After several minutes, he sat back with the most miffed look, muttering a string of frustrated ‘no’ under his breath, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Olivia leaned closer, eyes darting over the code questioningly, “What is it?”

            “The code isn’t there.”

            “What do you mean, how is that even possible?”

            “I mean, it’s like the code was removed.” Luca got to his feet and starting pacing, giving the others space to see the screens filled with incomplete code. “It like someone just shoved their hand it and pulled it apart.”

            “Wait you mean, someone purposely did this?” Rena stooped, trying to collect her thoughts, “Someone tried to purposely erase the book?”

            “What are the possibilities that it was Sun?”

            “No, Sun isn’t someone to just take apart something like this.” Armando sighed, rubbing his head, “Besides, he was one if the creators, he’s smart enough to be able to take this apart without anyone even noticing.”

            “Look, look, look.” Luca stuttered over his words, shaking his hands to organize his thoughts. “If this book exists here… what is the chance it exists in real life?”

            “Luca, it’s a book from the game… chances like that are impossibly low.” Rena gave him a worried look. Luca shook his head, walking back to the screens and typing out a new set of orders, the others leaning over his shoulder to see.

            “This book is way too important to just have a, to have a copy in the game. First rule of tech is to have a backup for the backup…” Luca muttered distractedly, eyes roving over the lines of code until he found what he was looking for.

            “There!” Armando pointed, jumping from his spot to highlight the text. “Black Crown’s Western Branch of Technological Research!”

            “Okay… the book has a physical copy.” Jay grinned at the excitement on the other’s faces, he winced a couple seconds later, “I can’t get there, I live waaaay off.” Three more condolences went up in the group.

            “Lucky for you sorry players…” Luca grinned and pulled up the highlighted text on its own screen, “I happen to live just a couple hours from it.”