[12:00 PM]
'Break's over.'
The afternoon rounds weren't that exciting since the majority of the work was on the clerical side of things, like.
Checking documents for accurate patient records.
'...Hmm, these charts don't line up."
Scheduling next month's employee rotation.
'...Jarred could probably do with fewer night shifts...heh, nepotism."
Addressing problems between departments.
'...Oh right, the spinal fluid."
Proper recordings of workplace incidents.
'...Needle-prick, Needle-prick, Needle-prick...'
And lastly checking inventory and supply records.
"...Organized. Nice. And we're missing painkillers. Of course we are."
Tic
Toc
Tic
Time seemed to pass by as I was finishing the last of this morning's paperwork, though the sudden investigation report was surprising, there wasn't really anything interesting to note.
'This should be the last of it.'
*Shffp*
As I reorganized and stacked the papers, the stillness of the room left me ruminating on what happened today. Specifically something about a deal?
*Shuffle*
*Tap*
'Hmmm...Deal…Deal…What Deal?'
My face scrunched as the thought kept surfacing and slipping away.
*Yawn*
Slumping back onto my chair, I let my mind wander. Giving up entirely on trying to remember what the 'deal' was… yet whenever I tried to relax, this feeling of wrongness would creep up.
'This deal was important— but what is it?!'
Closing my eyes, I took a slow breath to steady myself. Then I leaned forward, elbows on the table, fingers interlaced under my chin.
'Why am I getting so worked up about this?'
*Knock*
*Knock*
*Click*
My eyes snapped to the door as it opened and someone stepped in— Christopher. My brows furrowed as I checked the wall clock.
[3:48 PM]
'Huh, I guess it's already time for the handover.'
"Oh! Solomon, I didn't expect you to be here."
*Yawn*
"Mhm, afternoon Christopher, it seemed like time just… slipped by"
*Stretch*
After some light stretching I got up and skimmed the top layer of the paper stack. Christopher had already dropped off his bag as I handed the papers to him.
"These are the urgent reports for the day."
"Room 136 was flagged for a case of suspected food poisoning."
"Incident report for missing Painkillers— but I suspect one of the supply boys just misplaced like last time. Though it still needs to be countersigned by tomorrow.
"Lastly, one of the new trainees accidentally discarded a vial of spinal fluid, and there were a few instances of incorrect charting."
Christopher's eyes twitched as the ever-growing list of paper work was handed to him.
*Sigh*
"I haven't even sat down and you're already leaving me gifts."
That got a chuckle out of me as I was half way out the door.
"Hehe, good luck"
*Click*
The hall was packed full of people as I walked back to the staff room. Though not as full as back then during lunch a handful of people were lounging on some of the tables.
Quickly scanning the room. I spotted Jarred chatting with some of the Rad-Tech's, He saw me too and gave a wave.
I nodded before heading straight to the locker room.
*Beep*
With a quick swipe of a thumb I was officially clocked out for the day.
'Finally…Freedom'
After a minute or so I changed back to my civilian wear and left through the other door, passing by the front desk before leaving the front entrance.
*Swoosh*
*Vrooom*
*Honk*
The city, as always, was alive with traffic. The smell of car exhaust clung to my nose as I quietly waited near the sidewalk, not long after I was already commuting back home.
My mind wandered as the vehicle sped through the city. That thing about a deal still burned in the back of my mind, but I ignored it for now and thought back on Jarred's proposal.
'Getting a girlfriend huh?...should I?'
Jarred did make a good point though, but I honestly don't mind the solitude, as much as people dream about love. In this economy? It might as well be a fantasy.
*Sigh*
'I'm getting too old for this…old'
Staring at my calloused hands, the thought of me turning 35 this year rang hollow. It feels like I just graduated yesterday.
'...maybe I should take a week off, they wouldn't mind right?'
The ride home was uneventful. Cramped sure, but I couldn't really say no to cheap transport.
///
*Yawn*
My schedule was clear for tomorrow, so I decided to doom-scroll while I lay in bed.
"...There's this new—"
"...Is it re—"
"...want a break—"
Though calling it watching would be a stretch, I mostly scrolled through everything that didn't interest me.
'Most of these are just A.I. content, or obnoxious music on top of jjk modulo clips…'
But as I continued to scroll, one short caught my attention.
"NEW CHARACTERS. WuWa V12 looks INSANE. WE ARE ALL SKIP—"
'Wuthering Waves…'
The name made me pause for a second, as memories from my days in college flooded my mind. When I was still young, ignorant…carefree.
'I used to love playing this game.'.
The last version I remembered clearly was somewhere around V3. Mornye had been a hot topic back then, something about how she "powercrept" Shorekeeper.
Truthfully, I hadn't touched the game since 2.3. Life… just got in the way of things. Slowly, the game faded from my mind.
'I simply touched grass, heh.'
Feeling nostalgic, I went to the app store and downloaded the game.
'The new version is already out?'
It didn't take long for the game to finish downloading. Not long after the rhythmic sound of synth music filled the room as I booted up the game.
The screen showed a snowy landscape, the foreground was mostly snow covered ice while the majority of the screen was taken up by a mountain range in the background, stretching onto the distance in a curve, leaving room in the center.
On the center of the screen was the game's title, behind it was a diamond‑shaped lattice. Its two horizontal points extended beyond the screen, like line dividing the sky,
In its center was a circle— a dark void, its edges glowing like an orange halo, while a kaleidoscope of colors filled the spaces between.
It held my attention longer than it should have. Honestly the visuals alone got me hyped up until—
[Do you want to download resources up to the latest version? Download Size: 76.87 GB]
[Yes] [No]
'Damn… I'm starting to remember why I stopped playing."
'...eh, why not'
Thankfully I had just enough storage to start the download.
*Yawn*
My eyes drooped as I stared at the ceiling. Quickly pinching my cheek I sat upright before leaning into my bedside drawer to get my charger's cord, catching a glimpse of the digital clock as I plugged in my phone.
[4:54 PM]
'Time to take a power nap I guess'
My muscles ached as I laid back and relaxed and after closing my eyes didn't take long sleep began to take me.
///
*Beep*
*Beep*
*Beep*
[5:00 AM]
Fuaaah~
I woke up from my dreamless sleep to the comfort of my bedding.
'Well so much for a powernap'
After rubbing my eyes for a bit I quickly got up and started to stretch.
"Damn I'm still tired…"
Staring at my drawer, I quickly found the solution for my conundrum.
'Eh, nothing a few minutes of gaming can't fix'
Quickly heading to the drawer, I unplugged my phone as I sat down on the bedside.
*HIss*
The sudden flash of my phone screen blinded me for a moment, but after a few seconds finagling I was able to drop the brightness down. Enough to see how the downloading went.
[Download Complete, please restart the game]
[OKAY]
'Finally.'
After reloading the game and waiting for the damn shaders to finish compiling, I was finally greeted with the home screen.
Quickly logging into my account the screen shifted as a small mound of rocks panned into view. two people could be seen staring to the sides, gaze opposed to one another.
On the left was a woman, arms on her chest as he stood sideways. She wore a short sleeveless qipao alongside a roll of cloth around her midsection. Gloves covered her hands. While black thigh high socks cover her bare legs ending in elevated black boots.
On the right was a man, this time he sat on the side, one elbow on his knee as he stared to the side.He wore a long sleeved crop top over coat, its sleeves curled in wards, a gray shirt was under it, tucked in by a sleek pair of jeans ending in a pair of black boots.
Their black hair swayed in the wind, while the Golden Lattice loomed behind them.
The camera moved as I pressed the 'Play' button, panning in towards the male character.
He glanced at the screen while the arm on his knees followed his gaze, a golden glow emanating from his outstretched hand as the screen faded to black.
A loading screen soon flickered showing scenes and giving tips.
"Hmm, I missed out on a lot, thankfully I haven't spoiled myself yet.
I felt excited as the game loaded in and what greeted me first was a woman's back, long white hair tied into pigtails cascaded down her bare back. A long tattoo of a soundwave could be seen running along her spine.
Beneath her waist was a segmented white skirt that gently swayed along with her hair— She was Jinshi, Jinzhou's Magistrate and one of my favorite characters to use.
'Now this brings back memories.'
Looking at the side, three circles with faces could be seen— My team comp.
Jinshi
Carthethia
Carlotta
Back then I mostly played on mobile, and since my phone wasn't really… The best. I mostly prioritized dealing the most amount of damage before the game crashed from overheating.
My gaze wandered as I took up the surroundings, I was inside a green house within the black shores.
The large tree loomed over the center, its purple leaves gently swaying with the branches while small terraces could be seen on the sides housing exotic plants.
Just halfway up the entire structure was an elevated platform on the left side. A spiraling staircase connected it to the ground floor which ended on the right side.
Opening my menus, I was greeted with a lot of notifications highlighting the new events as well as the new additional menus.
'Let's check back on those later, first though…"
Closing the in-game menus I took control of Jinshi and walked up the stairs attached to the right side of the wall. It didn't take long before a complicated piano was in front of me, though my eyes were mostly on the figure sitting on it.
It was a woman wearing a somewhat revealing blue dress alongside a veil, their edges were trimmed with silver. She was the A.I. overseer of this place— The Shorekeeper.
Two prompts appeared on my screen as I got close to her.
[⬡ Sit Down]
[⬡ Head to the End of Wanderings]
Tap
After pressing the latter option the screen suddenly faded to white as the location changed.
Once my character faded back into view, I found myself standing on a small island surrounded by an endless body of water.
In front of me was a beautiful sunset that painted the skies in the colors of twilight, while destroyed skyscrapers could be seen dotting the distant ocean.
Blue butterflies danced in the air, their wings glowing brilliant neon. They flew around the piano— the same one in the green house, where Shorekeeper could be seen playing it.
A slow, somber, and calming. melody came from the piano, joining the sounds of crashing waves.
I found myself lost in the atmosphere as I stared off into the digital sunset.
'If only reality was this beautiful…'
After a moment of listening in silence i started to walk around the island
'Huh?'
I was somewhat startled when I saw another NPC in this place— not because of its presence, but because of its appearance.
It stood dead center on the opposite side of the Shorekeeper, just shy away from the waters edge, arms to its side as it just… stood there like a statue.
I didn't notice it earlier since it was directly behind me. A tingle creped up on my spine as I studied its appearance.
A single piece of cloth covered its torso which extended down onto the wet sand while leaving its arms bare. Like one of those dresses worn by Greek philosophers.
'A…Toga?'
I began to circle it once I got closer.
'Humanoid'
That was the first thing that came into my mind as more of its inhuman features registered in my mind.
What made it stand out was its black and glossy skin that ended just halfway up its neck.
Then came the second pair of arms attached to its shoulders.
And lastly were the segmented rings that spun around its featureless head, gold sphere could be seen floating in the spaces between segments.
'Rings…'
I winced as a sense of foreboding filled my mind, this thing looked…familiar, but where have i seen it before?
Whenever I tried to think back on it though, the thought simply disappeared…like when I try to think about that 'Deal'.
*Sigh*
Rubbing my eyes I took a deep breath to calm myself down.
'What's wrong with me today?'
Focusing back to the game my gaze quickly snapped onto the prompt that appeared as I approached.
[ⓘ Talk to ???]
'A side quest?'
A nagging voice screamed at the back of my mind as the prompt registered in my mind. Ignoring it I quickly tapped on my screen to start the quest.
My screen momentarily faded to black as a cutscene played.
[Hello LadiesMan217. I am, The Third Isntance. My world is dying. Please help us]
'...Us?'
A chill went up my spine as I watched a slit form on its face, before the sound of its voice rang in my ears…it was like a group of people spoke segments of the same dialogue.
Sometimes it was young, or old.
Sometimes a woman, or a man.
I stared blankly at the screen before I registered the end of the cutscene when two options popped up moments later.
[⬡ Accept]
[⬡ Decline]
My heart was beating rapidly as a sense of wrongness crept onto my mind.
I felt a weight at the back of my mind, as this nagging voice told me to stop.
'Why am I hesitating? It's just…a game'
After a few more moments I took a deep breath to calm down my racing heart.
'...its just a game.'
Tap
My spine tingled again, this time stronger as that thing slowly stared into the camera…and it smiled, not at JInshi.
It smiled at me.
*Thud*
I dropped my phone as its uncanny voice echoed in the room. It repeated the same thing over and over, each repetition growing louder and more distorted until it was only static.
[Thank you]
[Thank you]
[Thank you]
[...]
I was already hyper ventilating by the time i snapped back to my senses, my body was shaking as tried my best to move
[...]
I slowly backed up towards my door, my eyes locked onto my phone the entire time.
Puff
The static stopped as my phone flashed for a moment— short circuited.
I slumped to my knees, breath ragged as I tried my best to calm myself down.
"What the hell…"
I was stumped at what just happened. Still feeling tense, I stood up to leave, But as I turned to face the door... I heard its voice.
My heart dropped while my breathing became erratic.
The voice itself didn't frighten me— It was where it came from that did.
Not from my phone
But directly behind me.
[Thank you, Caleb]