USA
In a highly secured room, a confidential meeting was being held.
One could have called this one room the epitome of American power. And yet none of them could make sense of the things that had happened in the last 3 hours after the reemergence of the vanished people. Most of them had gone home and refused to cooperate with the authorities of their governments. A few of them had poured out info on the internet. And one would have called it a hogwash if something had not covered the entire world by the veil of the Night.
Edmond was one of the few who publicized what had happened to him within minutes of his reappearance.
In the next 15 minutes, the authorities had asked him to come into that meeting room. But that wasn't the only reason they had called him. As the facts that were being addressed by these 'DREAMERS', were under his area of expertise.
Edmond Russell, aka The Balloon, was the best Pro-gamer in the country. A title that the gamer community had given him. The 23-year-old didn't feel any pressure while surrounded by the Generals, Directors of security agencies, the Secretary of Defense, and Mr. President himself.
On one of the wall-sized TVs, one could see different articles posted by so-called Dreamers. One could also see a statue and a pillar of foggy-yellow light that had been rising from it to at least 100 meters.
"Mr. Edmond, the entire country depends on your cooperation. Please, briefly tell us again, all that you have mentioned on the internet," Mr. President said.
"Sir, as I have written, I was playing a game. And at some point, I must have fallen asleep, but I don't remember when."
All the members nodded, as the statements of other Dreamers had already confirmed this.
Edmund continued, "When I woke up, I had assumed we all would have been sleeping, and I had a vague memory of a dream. It was the same feeling that we all must have experienced at some point, but in our case, we had dreamed of our whole life."
If it was a common room, they had already started the whispering at this stage. But no one broke the decorum here, and yet Edmund could see their brows pressed together.
"I am sure by now most of you have familiarized yourself with the general concept of the System of Role-Playing Games. When I came to my senses, I could see a screen in front of me, and it introduced itself to me as 'Record'."
"So it is an Alien-Invasion," the SecDef said.
"Yes and no," Edmund said, now looking at Mr. President, "You can think of it as the Game-Master. In typical RPG games, we have a Game-Master who provides different tasks to the player. He knows everything, controls everything but always follows the pre-defined rules."
"The Dungeons you mentioned in your post, weren't they supposed to be like a den filled with strange 'monsters'?" one of the generals asked.
Edmund himself wasn't sure of what to make of this situation. When he saw the statues, he couldn't place this missing piece anywhere.
"I am only guessing here Sir, in the games as all the Dungeons have an entrance, then in the same way these statues could be the entrances to the real Dungeons."
"That sounds more plausible than the outrageous theories on the internet. Edmund, we now have a basic understanding of things. Please tell us about these 'Attributes', which is one of the most discussed topics?" the SecDef asked.
"To explain simply, when a player kills a monster in an RPG game, they gain Experience-Points. And using those points a player can Level-Up, increasing Attributes as the result. You can understand it as an increment in their strength and stamina."
Edmund looked at the screen and gravely said, "I believe, like me, every Dreamer can see a timer on the System. And it roughly left us with 159 hours out of the time that I could see. And unlike me, many Dreamers are just as confused about this as you are. Now nobody is sure about the purpose of the timer, but we can relate it to the Dungeons."
Even the Generals felt deep fear of the unknown after seeing that horrible looking black-film and misty light.
Edmund continued, "It would be better for the Government to have a better understanding of the situation and wait until that time. The Government can also make a central platform where one can upload all the information about the location of these statues. Then you can invite the Dreamers to register themselves if they want."
*
The officials dropped Edmund at his home. And, as usual, he opened his console for some late-night gaming. He played for a little more than an hour and then suddenly closed his eyes. An unseen wave surrounded his entire apartment. Edmund made sure that no one had been spying on him. He used the unmonitored channel to contact one of his friends.
Edmund: I have done whatever I could. The rest is on them.
Samael: Humph! You are being too optimistic, Edmund. Let's say they would agree with your suggestion, but what about the other countries?
Edmund: Sigh. That's what I'm worried about the most. Did you check the internet? Some governments are already using the missing reports to hunt down the Dreamers.
Samael: I say fuck the government.
Edmund: No, we don't know what's going to happen in the coming week. The situation can also turn into, as some people are calling it. An End of Time.
Samael: I don't know, man. I've contacted those whom I could. You were right; it gave all of them that thing. ALL OF THEM.
Edmund: What do we say about the survival games?
Samael: The better the Starter-Pack, the more the difficulty.
Edmund: Yes.
Samael: Eddy, we are fucked.
Edmund put down the mobile and looked at his computer screen. The American Government had just issued an official statement to all the Dreamers.
'Every Dreamer starting tomorrow can access the app of American Dreamer Association or ADA. It is in development as the news is being released. And Dreamers can register their Class and apply for any help. The Government will also provide financial aid to the Dreamers if necessary. And we would provide all the information, from reliable sources, to them free of cost.'
*
In an unknown space
Aldrich went to his tent and sat down for his daily meditation.
'This is a dream, this is a dream, this… Wait a minute, something is wrong!' A thought flashed through him.
[…
Life Analyzation Failed
Re-initiating Dream Phase…
Iteration: 3rd
…]
The only thing some people could do was wait. Some were waiting for their chance, some were waiting for their inevitable death.
And yet, ironically, none had thought about which happened next.