respawn
The droning metallic voice drilled into me until I woke up. As I opened my eyes, I noticed my surroundings. I was being suspended in the air by an unknown force in an empty, decaying, concrete room. “Good morning! It has been (130) days since last respawn.” The force holding me up let go and I fell onto the cold floor. I sat up, looking at the bleak room around me. It was practically empty except for a single table made of some kind of reflective material. On the table sat a metallic gourd filled with water. As I approached it, I began to realize just how thirsty I was. Eventually I made it to the table, sat down and held still for a moment. As my skin touched the freezing chair, its temperature spread throughout my body into my chest, where it slowed my heart rate to match the stillness of the room. As soon as the feeling came it had already worn out its welcome, the pause in movement only making my thirst worse.
Longing for the water in front of me, I lunged at the gourd and began to drink. I drank so violently, with such desperation, that the water began to spill over the edges of the container onto my body. Once it was empty, I fell over onto the penetratingly cold floor and began to scavenge its rough, grainy surface for every single drop I could take in. When there was nothing left, I crawled to the wall and sat up against its soothing touch. “You have consumed (4) liters of water containing mutated Guinea Worms.” Not knowing, or caring, what the voice said, I just sat there enjoying my fading feelings of refreshment. As I began to relax, I felt uneasy. The feeling grew until an unrelenting pain in my abdomen took control of my body. As time went on, the pain only got worse. I started to scream as if I were being murdered but every sound that came out of my mouth the pain began twisting through my stomach. I clenched it and felt a bump, rapidly moving in a circle underneath my skin. Terrified I attempted to fight the pain, to somehow subdue the movement in my stomach. Then the bump stopped and ceasing its attack on my body. Relief washed over me, my breath slowed down, and my muscles began to unwind. Taking a deep breath I tried to move, but the impulse to to do anything prompted the pain to return. Looking down I saw the bump pushing through my skin, and in a split second, my abdomen exploded into a mess of blood and organs, allowing a pale white worm to slowly slither out of my body. As it writhed in a pool of my own blood, everything went dark.
“Good morning! It has been (10) days since last respawn.” I opened my eyes and noticed my surroundings. I was being suspended in the air by an unknown force in a white metallic room. The force holding me up let go and I fell onto the cold floor. After recovering from my fall, I looked at my own reflection. I saw an emaciated man, wearing a white suit with fluorescent blue markings and highlights staring back at me. He looked like he just came back from a refugee camp from a sci-fi film. Just then, I felt a pulsing beat on my forehead. When I touched it I felt ice cold water running down my throat and terrible pain in my stomach. Letting go of my head, it was gone. I stood up and noticed a table in the middle of the room. On one side of the table was a gourd full of water and on the other was a plate. Being the only thing in the room, I approached the table in a grudging manner. Passing the water quickly, I moved to the plate. On the plate was a fruit. I didn’t know what it was, but my stomach churned at the sight of it. I couldn’t tell if I was uneasy or starving. I stood there, uncertain of what to do for a long time until the voice spoke. “ That is a tamarind fruit, it’s safe. Eat.” it prodded. Unsure of what to do, I stood there without moving. The voice spoke again, but this time with the force of an exploding engine, “EAT!”. Shrouded in fear, I gingerly picked up the fruit, opened my mouth, and moved to take a bite when I saw it. In the reflection of the table I saw someone behind me. I dropped the fruit and turned around, but there was nothing there. When I turned back to the table the fruit was already back on the plate, but next to it was a note written on a formally decorated note: “Eat or die. With love - Q” After reading this I took a step back, as this all became too real. A relentless fear took over my body. I flipped the table, spilling the water and the fruit. As the table hit the ground, the floor cracked into a million little mirrors all reflecting my sickly eyes. The voice spoke up again, “Die.” With that single word, the room began to release water from the walls. It came from everywhere and in a matter of seconds I was treading water near the roof. The room was slowly becoming an inescapable ocean. I took one last breath and the room was full. The water was freezing and I couldn’t see anything. I swam to the wall and began to hit it as hard as I could. The more I hit the more I couldn’t hold my breath. I hit harder and harder until I felt something break. My hand was bleeding, my bone sticking out of my knuckles, my lungs were on fire, and I couldn’t hold it in anymore. Letting go, the water rushed into my chest.
“Good morning! It's been (1) day since last respawn.” I opened my eyes and noticed my surroundings. I was being suspended in the air by an unknown force in a white metallic room. The force holding me up let go and I fell onto the cold floor. As I stood up everything had an incredible monotonous feeling to it. I began examining the room, but when my eyes fell upon the table, I stopped. In a single second everything came back to me. I knew exactly what I was in and I knew I was going to die. But I noticed something new; in the farthest corner away from me was a cabinet put up against the only non-reflective, almost opaque window. Unsure of what to do, I went towards it, going through my head to see what makeshift plan I could possibly make to try escape. When I got to the cabinet I was hesitant to open it, but I grabbed the smooth handle of the door and swung it open. The cabinet was empty aside from a rifle hanging on a nail. Immediately I grabbed the gun and turned around. There it was, the shadowy figure from the table. This time though, I could see its face. It had no nose, no lips and elongated, decaying, sharp teeth covering its mouth. It stared at me with its radiant white eyes and expressionless features. The colossal skeletal figure concealed its naked torso with broken capes, while utilizing heavy black armor to cover its legs. It was holding an extremely long scepter, and when it spoke, it was the voice. “Die.” Seeing that this was my only chance, I ran at the figure but I just ran through it. It felt like a cold wind had hit me, freezing my muscles in place and leaving me gasping for air. Snapping out of the paralysis, I looked up and it stood behind the table. I ran towards it and flung the table in its direction, shooting blindly after it. This all had no effect, and as it came closer, I began to panic. I shot at it like a madman, but still nothing happened. I stepped back until I hit the wall, then it raised its scepter and before it struck me I shot the window behind me. A flashing light and a chilling wave of heat shot into the room. Blinded by the light, the figure stood back as I fell into the air. It began writhing uncontrollably, seemingly hurt by the light. I closed my eyes relaxed as the air flew my body. The air filled my lungs and rushed its fingers through my hair, the adrenaline leaving my body numb. When I hit the ground I lost my breath, and began tumbling down what felt like burning sand. When I stopped I could feel the bruises of the fall forming along my body. I opened my eyes, and all I could see was sand. I took a deep breath and ran without even looking where I was heading. I ran until my lungs couldn’t keep up and fell. Catching my breath, I turned around so I could see where I was being held. A gargantuan building that seemed to rise miles into the sky stared back at me. The longer I looked at it the more uncomfortable I became. Eventually turned around and surveyed my new environment. Dirt, everywhere, accompanied only by the blistering sun beating down against my body. Alone, I began to walk forward into the arid sea before me. With nothing on the horizon ahead, I moved quickly not even daring to look back.
Longing for the water in front of me, I lunged at the gourd and began to drink. I drank so violently, with such desperation, that the water began to spill over the edges of the container onto my body. Once it was empty, I fell over onto the penetratingly cold floor and began to scavenge its rough, grainy surface for every single drop I could take in. When there was nothing left, I crawled to the wall and sat up against its soothing touch. “You have consumed (4) liters of water containing mutated Guinea Worms.” Not knowing, or caring, what the voice said, I just sat there enjoying my fading feelings of refreshment. As I began to relax, I felt uneasy. The feeling grew until an unrelenting pain in my abdomen took control of my body. As time went on, the pain only got worse. I started to scream as if I were being murdered but every sound that came out of my mouth the pain began twisting through my stomach. I clenched it and felt a bump, rapidly moving in a circle underneath my skin. Terrified I attempted to fight the pain, to somehow subdue the movement in my stomach. Then the bump stopped and ceasing its attack on my body. Relief washed over me, my breath slowed down, and my muscles began to unwind. Taking a deep breath I tried to move, but the impulse to to do anything prompted the pain to return. Looking down I saw the bump pushing through my skin, and in a split second, my abdomen exploded into a mess of blood and organs, allowing a pale white worm to slowly slither out of my body. As it writhed in a pool of my own blood, everything went dark.
“Good morning! It has been (10) days since last respawn.” I opened my eyes and noticed my surroundings. I was being suspended in the air by an unknown force in a white metallic room. The force holding me up let go and I fell onto the cold floor. After recovering from my fall, I looked at my own reflection. I saw an emaciated man, wearing a white suit with fluorescent blue markings and highlights staring back at me. He looked like he just came back from a refugee camp from a sci-fi film. Just then, I felt a pulsing beat on my forehead. When I touched it I felt ice cold water running down my throat and terrible pain in my stomach. Letting go of my head, it was gone. I stood up and noticed a table in the middle of the room. On one side of the table was a gourd full of water and on the other was a plate. Being the only thing in the room, I approached the table in a grudging manner. Passing the water quickly, I moved to the plate. On the plate was a fruit. I didn’t know what it was, but my stomach churned at the sight of it. I couldn’t tell if I was uneasy or starving. I stood there, uncertain of what to do for a long time until the voice spoke. “ That is a tamarind fruit, it’s safe. Eat.” it prodded. Unsure of what to do, I stood there without moving. The voice spoke again, but this time with the force of an exploding engine, “EAT!”. Shrouded in fear, I gingerly picked up the fruit, opened my mouth, and moved to take a bite when I saw it. In the reflection of the table I saw someone behind me. I dropped the fruit and turned around, but there was nothing there. When I turned back to the table the fruit was already back on the plate, but next to it was a note written on a formally decorated note: “Eat or die. With love - Q” After reading this I took a step back, as this all became too real. A relentless fear took over my body. I flipped the table, spilling the water and the fruit. As the table hit the ground, the floor cracked into a million little mirrors all reflecting my sickly eyes. The voice spoke up again, “Die.” With that single word, the room began to release water from the walls. It came from everywhere and in a matter of seconds I was treading water near the roof. The room was slowly becoming an inescapable ocean. I took one last breath and the room was full. The water was freezing and I couldn’t see anything. I swam to the wall and began to hit it as hard as I could. The more I hit the more I couldn’t hold my breath. I hit harder and harder until I felt something break. My hand was bleeding, my bone sticking out of my knuckles, my lungs were on fire, and I couldn’t hold it in anymore. Letting go, the water rushed into my chest.
“Good morning! It's been (1) day since last respawn.” I opened my eyes and noticed my surroundings. I was being suspended in the air by an unknown force in a white metallic room. The force holding me up let go and I fell onto the cold floor. As I stood up everything had an incredible monotonous feeling to it. I began examining the room, but when my eyes fell upon the table, I stopped. In a single second everything came back to me. I knew exactly what I was in and I knew I was going to die. But I noticed something new; in the farthest corner away from me was a cabinet put up against the only non-reflective, almost opaque window. Unsure of what to do, I went towards it, going through my head to see what makeshift plan I could possibly make to try escape. When I got to the cabinet I was hesitant to open it, but I grabbed the smooth handle of the door and swung it open. The cabinet was empty aside from a rifle hanging on a nail. Immediately I grabbed the gun and turned around. There it was, the shadowy figure from the table. This time though, I could see its face. It had no nose, no lips and elongated, decaying, sharp teeth covering its mouth. It stared at me with its radiant white eyes and expressionless features. The colossal skeletal figure concealed its naked torso with broken capes, while utilizing heavy black armor to cover its legs. It was holding an extremely long scepter, and when it spoke, it was the voice. “Die.” Seeing that this was my only chance, I ran at the figure but I just ran through it. It felt like a cold wind had hit me, freezing my muscles in place and leaving me gasping for air. Snapping out of the paralysis, I looked up and it stood behind the table. I ran towards it and flung the table in its direction, shooting blindly after it. This all had no effect, and as it came closer, I began to panic. I shot at it like a madman, but still nothing happened. I stepped back until I hit the wall, then it raised its scepter and before it struck me I shot the window behind me. A flashing light and a chilling wave of heat shot into the room. Blinded by the light, the figure stood back as I fell into the air. It began writhing uncontrollably, seemingly hurt by the light. I closed my eyes relaxed as the air flew my body. The air filled my lungs and rushed its fingers through my hair, the adrenaline leaving my body numb. When I hit the ground I lost my breath, and began tumbling down what felt like burning sand. When I stopped I could feel the bruises of the fall forming along my body. I opened my eyes, and all I could see was sand. I took a deep breath and ran without even looking where I was heading. I ran until my lungs couldn’t keep up and fell. Catching my breath, I turned around so I could see where I was being held. A gargantuan building that seemed to rise miles into the sky stared back at me. The longer I looked at it the more uncomfortable I became. Eventually turned around and surveyed my new environment. Dirt, everywhere, accompanied only by the blistering sun beating down against my body. Alone, I began to walk forward into the arid sea before me. With nothing on the horizon ahead, I moved quickly not even daring to look back.