Ciara stared at the split between monochrome and polychrome.
“Idiot. We signed a contract, so surely they can’t just stop Kieran from gaining any funds.”
She walked back towards the edge of the simulation.
“It can’t be legal, right?”
She looked at her disc. The colours were grayed out.
“I just hope, whatever he is, he’ll win.”
Ciara looked down. Just a metre away from her, there was no more water. It looked like there was a black wall covering the sea. She walked to the edge, and reached her hand out. Her hand phased through it as her body started glitching.
“Ow!”
She reached out again, not glitching out this time.
“Water.”
She felt some kind of liquid hidden beneath the surface.
“It’s… warm.”
She sat down and dipped her legs in, slowly moving herself closer to the edge. Until she realized… the water was moving away from her.
By now it was far too late to go back. Ciara was practically leaning towards the edge, as she slowly fell in.
There was no thud.
No noise.
Her scream failed to make any sound in the endless void she happened to fall into.
“Right…” Ciara thought to herself.
“No surface, I must be floating. Maybe I can get myself back up.”
It felt like she was moving, even though she was still in the same spot. Trying to swim back up didn’t do anything. There’s nothing to swim in.
But then…
A static noise.
It was faint, but Ciara could hear it well. It was the only noise she could hear, after all.
Her hand.
Her hand was just an outline. Light green.
Her body.
Just like her hand.
She looked forward and noticed a strange purple light. There were two dimmer orange lights orbiting around the purple light. She looked at her hand and a gradient of numerous green shades circulated where her body should be.
“This is really weird.” Her voice returned and she could finally traverse.
The lights shone brighter, filling the void with a split of orange and purple. But there was something in the purple light.
Something reaching out for Ciara.
Her hand stretched out as she reached the light, and suddenly, it latched onto her, dragging her in.
…
She fell into a weird black box, with a large screen in front of her.
“Hello?”
The screen turned on. A black background with green text which read:
Welcome to BOUNDLESS.
There wasn’t anything else.
“You can… hear me? Who are you?”
I don’t understand your question, but yes, I can hear you.
“Where am I?”
You are in BOUNDLESS. First I must identify who you are before we can continue.
The box lit orange before reading out her name.
CIARA NIRAVADHI. You are not authorised to enter BOUNDLESS.
“What is Boundless, exactly?”
I cannot tell you.
“Well I… am not Ciara Nirvadhi!”
You’re absolutely right. I must be thinking of someone else. Would you like to enter your first name as I may not have you in my database. Include your last name if you wish.
“Wow, AI really hasn’t gotten any better over the years.”
Wow, AI really hasn’t gotten any better over the years. Is that correct?
“What?”
Your name: Wow, AI really hasn’t gotten any better over the years. Is that correct?
“No!”
Enter your name.
Ciara thought for a minute.
“Demi.”
Demi Pride. Developer of the video game simulation ‘!!SPREE!!’. Is that correct?
“Yes.”
Welcome back, Demi.
“Phew. Ok, take me to… Boundless.”
The box flashed purple before Ciara was transported to five buttons in front of her. She read the labels that they had.
“Start, Test, Edit, Refresh and View.”
All of the buttons except Start and Refresh were lit up. She lifted her finger and hovered her fingertip over the Start button. A strange hologram appeared from the button, telling her what each button did. She read it aloud.
“Start a simulation. Players can enter through L32 Pro technology. No players are currently in a queue. There is already another simulation(s) running.”
Ciara sighed. She moved over to the Test button.
“Run a simulation with NPCs to test if your edits work. You may choose to enter the fake simulation if you wish.”
She moved over to the Edit button.
“Access game codes and edit them how you please. Also activate certain commands and modify certain rules just as you would in real life.”
Ciara thought about that for a second.
“I’ll check that out later.”
She moved over to the greyed out Refresh button.
“Add your modifications to the current simulation running. Simulations Active: 1.”
She looked at the View button. It seemed self explanatory, but she hovered over it anyway.
“Watch over any simulations currently running.”
Ciara stopped hovering and looked at the screen floating beside her.
“Why would I need this when I can do all of this in real life?”
You made it. Ask yourself that question. Would you like to select an option or exit BOUNDLESS?
She walked over to the Edit button and clicked it. There were an incomprehensible amount of buttons but she could now float to whichever she wished to press.
One button caught her eye.
Edit History.
I can display the History if you like.
“Yes please.”
Changed Steve Pierce’s role to Sheriff (D). (21m, 11s ago)
Changed Ezra Bronze’s role to Hunter (A). (Around 1h ago)
Refreshed simulation. (Around 1h ago)
Added player to simulation: Ezra Bronze. (Around 1h ago)
Added player to queue: Ezra Bronze. (Around 1h ago)
“Wait. Steve’s role… changed? And… Ezra?”
I can undo this if you wish.
“You can? What exactly can you do?”
It displayed an extremely long explanation with paragraphs so big it was impossible to read the small writing.
“Ok, nevermind. Is Steve still alive in the simulation?”
No.
“Oh. What about Ezra?”
No.
Ciara zoned out for a little bit before she asked for more of the History. It displayed how the candidates were added to the simulation.
“What’s this?”
She clicked on an edit that read ‘Added voice input.’
There was an editor’s note.
The chat was broken. The old one. Besides, it would’ve been annoying for our candidates to have a holographic keyboard in front of them just so they can type what they are saying. L32 Pro technology will now be needed to run the simulation now, due to its power to adapt real life things into the simulation such as pain and voice.
Written by Demi.
Would you like to edit your editor note?
“Uh, no.”
Got it. Don’t be afraid to ask me anything.
She closed the note before scanning her eyes across the room.
“Is there a way to make someone win?”
I can assign someone as the winner. Or multiple people if you like. I can generate the code for you, though it may be slightly incorrect as I make mistakes. You may have to edit it.
“Yeah, I think I got coding covered. But it might be quicker if you do it.”
Got it. Who would you like to assign as the winner?
“Kieran Eclipse.”
Kieran Eclipse.
It displayed details about Kieran that he entered on the website to enter as a participant.
And his role.
Ciara just stared before the menu closed.
Anybody else?
“I… No.”
Are you sure you would like to assign Kieran as the winner of this round? This cannot be undone and everyone else will be disqualified.
Ciara’s breath sounded like it was shaking.
“Not yet.”
Ok. Would you like to do something else for you?
“No.”
Let me know when you do. I’m always happy to help! :-)
Ciara looked upwards but was greeted to nothing but a black void.
“What did I do..?”
…
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“Damn it!”
There were no cameras watching over the unrendered areas or Boundless. Demi was still thinking about what to say to Ali but was thrown off by Ciara’s behaviour.
“I think you mentioning Kieran only convinced her more to-”
“I know! I didn’t mean to.”
Demi sighed.
“We’ve got killers that don’t even want to kill and idiots that can’t keep their nose out of things that don’t concern them.”
“Do you want me to kick Ciara out of the simulation? I’ve got the key… somewhere.” Apollo checked his pockets. It was definitely there because he could feel it.
“I guess so. We can’t risk her breaking the game.”
There was a knock on the door.
“I’ll go check.” Apollo stood up and slowly walked to the door.
They knocked again.
“Alright, alright! I’m here-”
One of the businessmen was at the door.
“Apollo! Darn it, there’s someone undercover! Police are downstairs and there’s some detectives exploring the whole tower!”
“What?”
“Has anyone…”
“Yes! 5 people!”
“Shit.”
“Make sure everyone else stalls in any way they can, and get the Cleaners on Floor 27. Go!”
Demi turned up the orange and purple lights slightly.
“I’ll go-”
“No. Stay here and watch the game. You know a lot more than I do, anyway. If anything, they’ll be looking for me, so they can have me.”
“Alright.” Demi hesitated. “As long as you’re sure.”
Apollo nodded.
They both stared at each other for a short while before he ran out the door.
Demi sighed before going to the computer. She was looking at the names on the list of people still alive in the simulation.
“Undercover, huh. So somebody decided to waltz in here and try to catch us out. I wonder…”
She opened a file that led to the submissions of each of the candidates. In them, there was the reason as to why they need the money and attention.
“All of them seem pretty legit to me.”
Demi stood up and turned to the microphone that speaks to Ali, before walking towards it. Her hand grabbed it before glaring at Ciara.
“Wait, no.”
Apollo still had the key to unlock Ciara.
“It won’t take me too long, right?”
Demi ran out, shutting the door behind her and rushing into the elevator. There was a tiny bit of blood on her jacket, so she took it off and rolled it into a ball as quickly as she could before the elevator doors opened. She rushed in and kept rapidly clicking on the Ground floor, failing to realise someone else was in the elevator trying to get to the 24th floor.
“Oh, I haven’t got time for this!”
The elevator doors closed as it started to ascend.
“Someone’s in a hurry.”
Demi turned around. A woman. Someone she absolutely knew.
“You-”
“Shh.”
“What are y-”
The woman had her phone out and was typing something out before displaying it to her. It read “Camera”.
“Oh.”
Demi, trying to look up, caught sight of a small red blinking light on one of the walls of the elevator.
She started typing again. It read “The police set it up not too long ago.”
Demi nodded. The elevator doors opened.
“Come with me, Demi.”
“Pfft, no. Besides, I need to find Apoll-”
“Do you want to get arrested?” She whispered. “They’re everywhere, you know.”
“But I need to control the g-”
“We’ve been watching the game up here in Floor 24. Seems like you and Apollo already lost control over it.”
She grabbed Demi’s hand, dragging her with her.
“Me and the crew set everything up.”
“What?”
“L33, of course!”
“Y-you made it?”
“Wow, you really didn’t believe in us. If you really want to control the game that badly, just do it here, k?”
“The police will come to this floor as well."
“You think they’ll find the secret room?”
“Wait, you set that up too?”
“Yep.”
“Thanks, Eden.”
“No problem.”
Eden escorted Demi to a small staircase that spiralled upwards to the second half of the floor.
“What’s the code?”
“MM20XII13.”
“Yeah, they probably won’t guess that.”
“Have fun, Demi!”
“Fun? Really?”
“You know what I mean. Look, you handle the game, I’ll see what’s going on and then make sure there aren’t any spare keys that can be found. That way, they can’t let them escape.”
“Ok. But hurry up, and if all goes wrong…” Demi raised her eyebrow.
“I know who to contact, don’t worry.”
“Alright.”
“I’ll give the keys to them as well if there’s any spares, and I’ll try to keep them as private as possible, k?”
“Yes, ok!” Demi sighed. “Now go!”
Eden picked up her bag and walked back to the elevator.
“MM20XII13. MM20XII13.” She kept repeating the code so she didn’t forget it.
Demi turned on the television in front of her. It displayed the Lunar logo before she switched it to HDMI-2. She looked underneath the sofa and found a small, dusty plastic duck. She pressed on the beak as if it were a button.
Nothing happened.
“This thing is so faulty…”
She pressed it harder and the colour of the beak greyed out.
Demi went towards the wall where the television was and suddenly a tiny pulse throbbed where the tip of her finger touched.
“MM20XII13. If I forget this I swear to god-”
The television shook.
She went back to the remote and turned up the volume of the television.
“Awake! Look thou beneath. Hold thy breath, and count to twenty, if thou wouldst enter the code and open the gateway. If not, then depart.”
“Uh… that’s new.”
She looked below her and put her fingertip on the floor. It seemed to be a fingerprint identification. She scanned her eyes across the room but nobody else was in. Every door shut automatically and a gas mask fell from the roof. She grabbed it and suddenly the room filled with poisonous gas. You could hear the whistling of the gas escaping from the holes in the roof.
She counted twenty seconds in her head. Over time, the gas was sucked away through what seemed like vents near the windows.
“19… 20.”
A small hole appeared in the wall, and a keyboard was presented in front of her.
She typed MM20XIIi13. Nothing happened, so Demi glanced at the television.
“Incorrect. One more attempt.”
“Shit. Misclick.”
MM20XII13.
The hole turned into a circle, and another button poked out of it.
“Alright. Let’s go.”
Without hesitation, she slammed the button. The hole enlarged big enough for Demi to crawl in, but the hole was quickly closing back up. She managed to crawl in just in time though.
It seemed to be a tube that you’d crawl through in an indoor playground. It didn’t take too long for Demi to get to the other side.
It was almost an exact replica of the room at Floor 18, except there was a tablet in the middle which displayed a hologram of the room at Floor 18. There were also holograms of each of the candidates that are still alive in their respective chairs.
“Oh nice.”
There were also physical microphones that could still speak to the candidates.
“Finally.”
She rushed over to Ali’s microphone and picked it up.
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20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqLxgPEBGLi
Ali finished drinking a soda bottle as he watched Leya and Kieran create four graves from an empty building site.
“You gonna help?” Leya questioned.
“It’s just… it’s freaking me out a bit.”
“Did we have to come all the way here just to bury these guys?” Kieran sighed, as he finished digging out the first hole.
“The nearest grass patch is at least an hour on foot.” Cres was spinning her disc around. Still red.
“So much for an eco-friendly city.” Ali chuckled to himself.
“No, I mean… we could’ve just dumped them in an alley.”
Leya looked at him, disgusted.
“Wow.”
“What?”
“They’re dead, show some frickin’ respect, man.” Leya coughed.
“You say they’re dead like they’re actually dead.”
“They most likely are?” Crescent scratched her neck.
“Look, it’s still a game. It’s not like these are actual dead bodies-”
“And what if they are?”
“Ok, chill out.” Cres sighed.
“Do you realize how annoying you are, Kieran?” Leya growled.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“The moment I met you on that elevator, you’ve been nothing but a nuisance!”
“Just because my personality doesn’t match yours? Ok, man.”
“Not just that! You treat everything like a joke! Do you even consider the possibility that they might actually be dead?”
“Of course I do… I just…”
“What?”
Kieran put down his shovel.
“Nevermind.”
He started walking away slowly.
“Hey, where are you doing? We still need to make the rest of these graves!” Leya shouted.
“I’m obviously just annoying you, aren’t I? So it’s best that I don’t help.”
“Wh-”
“And that I don’t talk to you.”
“That’s just pathetic. Seriously. You’re gonna give up now? Come on. Come back here and pick up the shovel.”
“The only pathetic one here is you. You’re the one that can’t even match with my personality and because you can’t… what… you’re getting mad at me? And for what? What did I even do to you? I'm just pretending everything‘s fine. I know it’s not. I treat everything like a joke because it’s the only way I can cope. It’s the only way I can feel safe, so just leave me to it.”
Kieran sat down and looked at the mud below him.
“You’re gonna get your clothes dirty.” Cres pointed out.
“Cres, you’re not helping.” Leya muttered.
Leya stared at Kieran for a short while, but as she was about to look back down and start digging out the next hole, he spoke again.
“I know there’s a big possibility that Ezra was telling the truth that if we die here… we really, really die and I’m just afraid of thinking about that. There's also a possibility that he could’ve just been lying, and that, for now, is what I choose to think. So you stick to your belief and I’ll stick to mine.”
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Kieran and Leya’s voices started to fade out for Ali.
…
A small ringing in his ear.
“Alastor from Luminous. Nice band name. I was listening to some of your songs. Not too bad. It's definitely better than whatever the heck Eva’s band is making.”
“Did you guys… hear that voice?”
“Nope.” Cres said, curiously.
Lilac.
“Oh, guys! My disc!”
She activated it immediately to try and find where the rest of the candidates are.
“Hold on, I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?” Kieran put a smile back on his face.
“I just wanna get something to eat.”
Kieran pointed to a bag with the food he looted from the supermarket.
“You’ve got a trash taste in food!” Ali chuckled awkwardly, slowly walking backwards.
“Wh- huh?”
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Ali jogged away from the group far away enough for him not to be able to hear them.
“Don’t worry, Alastor, you’re not going crazy.”
“Just call me Alistair. Who are you?”
“I’m Demi. I just want to chat with you for a bit.”
“Are you like another Apollo or something?”
“I… suppose.”
“Ok, look. Is what Ezra said true?”
“Ezra? Oh! No. We’ve fired him. He tried to cause some insane drama between you guys to try and ‘spice up the game’. Weird guy, really.”
“Uh huh.”
“What, you don’t believe me?”
“I just… I don’t know.”
“It’s alright if you don’t. Anyway, I just need to ask you about your role.”
“My role?”
“You’re a Hunter.”
“I’m aware.”
“So why haven’t you used it? You’ve had so many chances with Kieran, haven’t you?”
“I’m not gonna murder anyone yet, let alone Kieran.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because it just… doesn’t sit right with me. And if Ezra was right… what if I actually end up actually killing someone?”
“I just told you, you won’t. Please relax. Do you want me to help you win?”
“Why would you want to help me?”
“Well, like I said, I listened to your music and it’s really good. And I actually want to help you win.”
“Does Apollo agree to that?”
“Hah! No.”
“Wh… so what if he refuses to give me the money?”
“He won’t. Trust me.”
“How can I trust you when I’ve JUST heard of you?”
“Alastor, come on.”
“Alistair! Frickin’ Alistair Lumen!”
“Alright, alright. Alistair, I’m gonna make you a deal.”
“What?”
“Kill Crescent Blackrose, and not only will I double the money you receive by the end, but-”
“No. Can you go away? I’ll do things at my own pace!”
“Wow. Fine, whatever.” Demi exhaled.
“Go.”
“Alex O’Shea. Lincoln Quinn, Lucius Agbessi and your little secret crush, Aurora Penn.”
Ali’s heart sank.
“What..?”
“Your little band. What would they think if you came back with no reward? They would be so disappointed…”
“But how do you know about Aurora..?”
“We’re one of the biggest companies in the world. We get info from everywhere.”
“But-“
“Do yourself a favor, Alistair. Remember why you came here.”
“Wh… just… just get out of my head!”
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Demi disconnected.
“Twice? First Ciara and now this guy… they both just seem to figure out the magic words, huh?” She turned around and picked up her glasses before sitting down at the computer.
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Ali couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t even move.
He could only think about Demi’s words echoing in his head.
He could only think of how much of a disappointment he would be to them.
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and then Add to home screen.