欧洲无人区天空码头IV

He noticed he couldn\'t hear anything anymore.

The rain falling, the truck moving toward him, nothing.

Am I dead already?

He opened his eyes and quickly rolled a meter back.

"What?!"

The truck was right in his face, but not moving.

Jack could see the driver\'s face frozen in fear.

The rain around him had stopped falling, levitating around.

As it levitated, it kept glitching. It was snappy. The rain would reappear slightly higher up and fall a few centimeters again, repeating that process.

The traffic lights further down the street were stuck on yellow but kept going to red for a split second.

He got up and walked back to the sidewalk, looking at everything around him.

"What\'s happening? Is this how death works?"

"No."

Jack jumped and looked up, to where the voice came from.

The only thing visible was the sky darkened by the clouds, bringing this torrential rain.

He blinked, and the scenery in front of him changed from the street to a white room.

He quickly looked around, turning on himself.

It wasn\'t a room, but a large open space. It was extremely bright. Everything was so white he felt like an asylum patient.

He walked forward, his footsteps barely echoing.

He turned around again, and a white desk made of marble appeared where he stood before.

Behind it was an empty white chair that looked like it belonged to a James Bond villain.

In it slowly materialized someone. They looked... eccentric, Jack thought.

They wore a white top hat with a white suit. It was a man in his thirties at most.

His mustache was caricatural at best, and his facial expression unique, he was permanently arching a single eyebrow.

He got his pocket watch out.

"Alright, let\'s do this," he said.

The man pointed toward the seat in front of the desk.

Jack finally noticed the modest white chair.

"Jack Law, 24, male, in good health...- Ah, scratch that, depression... okay."

The man was looking inside a folder, quickly turning the pages as he read through them.

Jack sat down, without saying a word.

"A cheating girlfriend, betraying best friend, sick dead mother... Not the best life huh? haha, alright... You had a lot of time before you..."

"Is this judgment?" asked Jack.

"Why?" asked the man, raising his second eyebrow as he looked above the folder.

"For the life I\'ve lived? The people I\'ve hurt? The way I treated my mother? If you\'re expecting me to beg, you\'ll be disappointed. I don\'t have the energy for all of that anymore."

"Huh..."

"What?"

"I don\'t want to be rude, but you\'re kind of trauma-dumping right now. It\'d make me more comfortable if you kept your problems to yourself."

Jack frowned, unsure of what was happening.

"So, to keep going... yup - perfect, a nice and easy profile."

"Aren\'t you Death?"

"Oh. You think you died? No, you didn\'t. Although let\'s say my timing was quite good, you\'d be in a different room otherwise... haha - lucky you."

"...So you saved me?" slowly asked Jack.

"How about you stop trying to explain to me what\'s happening, and you let me do it? How about that? Wouldn\'t that make more sense?"

The man\'s snide remarks would\'ve normally made Jack upset, prompting an insult or two.

But he just looked at him.

Jack\'s stare wasn\'t one of anger, or full of questions. It was a stare void of emotions, lacking purpose.

Many thoughts went through his head, but nothing felt real.

His mother was dead.

"Good, alright..."

The man dropped the folder on his desk, snapping Jack back to reality.

He was holding a piece of paper which he slid toward Jack.

"Here\'s your form. I\'ll ask the questions, and they\'ll appear on it. Your answers will too."

"A form for what?" asked Jack.

"You\'re going to another world, one that resembles \'Elder Heir Online\'."

Jack opened his mouth but quickly closed it before any sound made it out.

"Good, you learned."

Jack sighed loudly, while the man kept explaining.

"Elder Heir Online. Your mother \'created\' that universe in your world. I\'m what you would call a \'moderator\'."

"Forgive me for asking," started Jack.

"Forgiven."

Jack paused, taking a deep breath.

"My mother created a universe?"

"She imagined it, and so it is."

Is creating a new universe this easy?

"So I\'ll be transported into that game..."

"No. The game exists in your world, the universe that expanded from her imagination isn\'t a game."

"You\'re making this complicated..."

"Just think of it as creating the game, also created the universe. That universe is close to the game, but isn\'t an exact copy."

Jack scratched the back of his head as he took in the information.

"What if I refuse?"

"You can\'t. Even if you could, a truck is waiting for you."

After a moment, as Jack wasn\'t replying, the man continued.

"Good! Let\'s start with the form, shall we?"

"Sure."

The questions started appearing one by one as the man asked them.

[Will you need a tutorial?]

"No."

[Do you have a favorite race?]

"No."

[Do you have a favorite class?]

"No."

[The Agent explained this new world is real?]

"Yes."

[You understand death will work according to that universe\'s laws, not your previous one?]

"I understand."

[You understand we play no role in anything that happens there, and everything will be a result of your own actions?]

"Yes."

"Alright, this was the last..."

The moderator paused and raised his head to look at the white void. He raised both arms, palms up as if he was yelling \'Really?!\'.

"Of course," said the man aloud, rolling his eyes.

"What?"

"You\'re allowed a few more options than most. I\'m told."

His tone was full of disapproval, but Jack couldn\'t care less.

He continued with the extra questions.

[You are the first to go through this process, you have the option to choose between two sides, the heroes or the antagonists. You will have a special role within the respective side.]

Jack frowned while looking at the form, bothered.

After a moment, the moderator asked. "What is it? Can\'t choose?"

"It says I\'m the first. Will there be others?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

"Almost everyone."

Jack\'s eyes widened, his eyebrows almost reaching his hairline.

Almost everyone? That\'s literally the end of the world.

"Everyone that has a DiveCore microchip will be sent to the Elder Heir Online universe, and more than 90% of the population has those, which means I\'d rather you answer faster."

Through Jack\'s dead gaze flickered light. Like a pile of burnt wood that had been extinguished, with a single ember remaining trying to set the whole thing ablaze.

"Even if they get to choose, they would take the safe choice of going with the heroes..."

"Who do you mean?"

"All of them."

The moderator was confused but simply shrugged.

"And because I know they would go with the heroes, I choose antagonist."

While his answer was registering on the form, the man cleared his throat. "Huh, you know that will be much harder, right? Their side is much smaller, they have no real allies - even among themselves they..." his voice faltered.

He slowly stopped talking.

A shift occurred.

Jack\'s eyes gleamed with unsettling intensity, a cold, calculating glint that sent shivers down his spine.

The moderator could feel his own heartbeat quicken, each thump echoing in his ears like a drum.

The air around them seemed to grow heavier; thicker; darker. They were in an infinitely large space, yet he felt suffocated by Jack\'s presence.

His eyes were ice cold, calculating, and devoid of warmth. It was as if his mask had slipped, revealing his true visage.

His expression was unnatural; inhumane.

The moderator found a sliver of composure and straightened his back. He raised his eyebrow again and took his usual tone, despite it remaining shaky.

"And here I thought you were just a weak, ambitionless human. Files only go so far, huh? You know, I\'ve read it, so I get it," the moderator nodded, "-I truly do. But this world isn\'t so kind. You might be the most motivated person out there, but being with the antagonists will most likely kill you before you get a chance to have your revenge."

The man\'s eyes darted around, as Jack wasn\'t answering.

"Alright! Alright! Next question."

[What region do you want to spawn in?]

The moderator took it upon himself to add some precisions.

"Just so you know, you could spawn anywhere in the region you choose, and in any situation. While you choose your side, it doesn\'t mean they\'ll treat you as an ally, so I\'d advise you to keep that in mind."

Jack nodded, deep in thought again.

It took him a moment, but the eccentric man didn\'t push him.

"I\'ll take Griswald\'s domain."

"Interesting choice..."

Everything glitched, from the desk disappearing to the man\'s expression,

Everything fluttered until everything faded to black.

The last echo he heard - "Good luck."