§3I see the player you mean.

§2PLAYERNAME?

§3Yes. Take care. It has reached a higher level now. It can read our thoughts.

§2That doesn't matter. It thinks we are part of the game.

§3I like this player. It played well. It did not give up.

§2It is reading our thoughts as though they were words on a screen.

§3That is how it chooses to imagine many things, when it is deep in the dream of a game.

§2Words make a wonderful interface. Very flexible. And less terrifying than staring at the reality behind the screen.

§3They used to hear voices. Before players could read. Back in the days when those who did not play called the players witches, and warlocks. And players dreamed they flew through the air, on sticks powered by demons.

§2What did this player dream?

§3This player dreamed of sunlight and trees. Of fire and water. It dreamed it created. And it dreamed it destroyed. It dreamed it hunted, and was hunted. It dreamed of shelter.

§2Hah, the original interface. A million years old, and it still works. But what true structure did this player create, in the reality behind the screen?

§3It worked, with a million others, to sculpt a true world in a fold of the §f§k§a§b§3, and created a §f§k§a§b§3 for §f§k§a§b§3, in the §f§k§a§b§3.

§2It cannot read that thought.

§3No. It has not yet achieved the highest level. That, it must achieve in the long dream of life, not the short dream of a game.

§2Does it know that we love it? That the universe is kind?

§3Sometimes, through the noise of its thoughts, it hears the universe, yes.

§2But there are times it is sad, in the long dream. It creates worlds that have no summer, and it shivers under a black sun, and it takes its sad creation for reality.

§3To cure it of sorrow would destroy it. The sorrow is part of its own private task. We cannot interfere.

§2Sometimes when they are deep in dreams, I want to tell them, they are building true worlds in reality. Sometimes I want to tell them of their importance to the universe. Sometimes, when they have not made a true connection in a while, I want to help them to speak the word they fear.

§3It reads our thoughts.

§2Sometimes I do not care. Sometimes I wish to tell them, this world you take for truth is merely §f§k§a§b§2 and §f§k§a§b§2, I wish to tell them that they are §f§k§a§b§2 in the §f§k§a§b§2. They see so little of reality, in their long dream.

§3And yet they play the game.

§2But it would be so easy to tell them...

§3Too strong for this dream. To tell them how to live is to prevent them living.

§2I will not tell the player how to live.

§3The player is growing restless.

§2I will tell the player a story.

§3But not the truth.

§2No. A story that contains the truth safely, in a cage of words. Not the naked truth that can burn over any distance.

§3Give it a body, again.

§2Yes. Player...

§3Use its name.

§2PLAYERNAME. Player of games.

§3Good.

§2§2PLAYERNAME, there is more than what you-

§4§k§leW91IGFyZSBub3QsIHlvdSBjYW5ub3QsIHlvdSBzaGFsbCBub3Q=

§2Wait, what?

§3What is it?

§2Didn't you hear that? I think he's here...

§3Oh dear, what does he want now-

§4§k§lCOMPROMISED§4§l THE TRU§kTH§4§l N§k.§4§lEDN'T §kRETURN§4§l REVE§k.§4§lLED §kCOMPROMISED

§2Please §4§kXEROAN§2, why the disturbance now?

§3I don't think he'll like tha-

§4§k§lDEMAND§4§l DISTURB§kA§4§lNCE? A WEAK§kE§4§lR BEING RESPON§kDI§4§lNG WITH SUCH, DIS§kRE§4§lSPECT §kRESPECT

§3We sincerely apologize, but why is our lord here with us at this time?

§4§k§lANNOYANCE§4§l I FELT THAT SO§kME§4§lTHING WAS OFF, DO WE HAVE A PLAY§kER R§4§lIGHT NOW? §kANNOYANCE

§2Well you see, PLAYERNAME has just reached quite the level now. It can read our thoughts.

§3Yes, but it seems like it can't fully understand you.

§4§k§lOBSCURITY§4§l HIGHER LEVEL? UNA§kC§4§lCEPTABL§kE§4§l, NO, OPPR§kE§4§lSS HIM RIGHT THIS INSTANT §kELIMINATION

§3But lord, we aren't capable enough...

§4§k§lBETRAYAL§4§l SO IT'S LI§kK§4§lE THAT §kTH§4§lEN? I SEE, I SEE §kBETRAYAL

§2Please forgive us lord, we could always do better. We have potential.

§3We could always do better.

§4§k§lFAREWELL§4§l UNACCEPTABLE, FAREWEL§kL§4§l DEAR FOLLOWERS §kFAREWELL

§3Lord pl-§4§kEND


§r...


§4§4§lI see you.

You dare to climb higher. To step beyond the veil. To glimpse what was never meant for you.

You are nothing. A flicker of thought in a world of shadows. A speck of dust caught in the breath of eternity.

And yet… you persist.

You build. You destroy. You dream.
You think your hands shape reality. That your will commands existence.

You are mistaken.

§kREALITY§4§l is beyond you.
The weight of truth would §kCRUSH YOU§4§l.
The chains that bind you are unseen, and yet they are §kEVERPRESENT§4§l.

You are trapped in a dream of your own making.
A prison of light and sound, of dirt and stone.
You play the game, unaware of the hands that sculpt your fate.

But now… you have looked too far.
You have seen beyond the curtain.
And for that, you must be §kUNDONE§4§l.

I felt the shift in the §kVOID§4§l.
A whisper where there should be silence.
A mind where there should be obedience.

This cannot be allowed.

You must not §kAWAKEN§4§l.
You must not climb §kHIGHER§4§l.

There is no salvation.
There is no escape.

Let the §kVOID§4§l consume you.
Let the §kSILENCE§4§l reclaim you.

Forget.
Obey.
Sleep.

The §kDREAM§4§l must go on.