Chained World

It happened so fast, I didn’t even have time to scream.

One moment, the world around me was solid, familiar—then it shattered like glass, and everything fell away. I felt like my mind had been forcefully ripped from reality and hurled across a great expanse of nothingness. A void so vast it seemed to swallow the concept of time itself. My senses? Useless. There was nothing to hear, nothing to see, nothing to touch. My mind reeling as it could barely comprehend what was happening. Time lost all meaning as I felt the empty embrace of oblivion for an eternity.

I wanted to scream. But there was no sound in oblivion. An eternity seemed to pass. Maybe it was seconds. Maybe it was years. I couldn’t tell.

Then, in an instant, it was over.

I blinked. I was suddenly standing in a small, sterile room, roughly three meters across and tall. The walls were perfectly smooth and white, as if the entire space had been carved from a single block of... something. No doors, no windows, no way in or out. Looking around in a daze, I tried to wrap my head around what had just happened. Where was I? What was _that _place. It was horrific. Why aren't there any doors? My questions went unanswered as something appeared in front of my face.

A blue screen.

Congratulations!

You are 1 of the 100,000,000 humans chosen to represent your species in the Game of Worlds! A multiversal gauntlet to determine the future of your species! As newcomers to the Game of Worlds, your species is quite behind. This is why you have been taken to the Realm of Trials, where you will go on missions in worlds based on humanity’s own imagination to earn incredible amounts of points! Points which, with enough, could be used at a system terminal to buy anything humanity has ever conceived! You can even buy a way out of the game once you feel like you’re ready to face the forces of the universe! But first, you must complete your first mission to prove you are worthy of being a Representative. We have given you 100 points to start with.

I blinked. What the hell? “Game of Worlds?” “Represent your species?” Was this some kind of sick joke? Some insane prank? I wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it, but the fear that had been sitting like a stone in my gut refused to budge. “Humanity’s imagination…” My eyes scanned the words again, looking for something that made sense. But none of it did. I was completely out of my depth.

Completely bewildered and not having any other choice, I took a look around the room and noticed a sleek, silver machine, like an ATM from some sci-fi movie. Heading over to the machine, that I can only assume is the so-called system terminal, I take a look at the screen. It has a simple black screen with only three options to choose from.

Status

Missions

Store

I hesitated, my finger hovering over the first option. My heart still hadn’t slowed down, and my hands were shaking slightly. This couldn’t be real, right? It had to be a dream. Or a hallucination. Maybe I’d hit my head, and my brain was spinning nonsense.

But if it wasn’t…

I tapped “Status.”