SV's step paused for a moment before continuing. The voice continued in a conversational tone, utterly casual.
"You have asked yourself this, haven't you? Why walk at all?"
"You have no idea if it'll ever end."
"You don't know if walking is the solution."
"You already know it's not solved by walking."
Then it paused for a moment.
"You should've climbed when you could."
"But you can no longer climb."
"Want to try?"
SV ignored the voice and moved on.
"Right. You'll drop down the moment you try."
"I suppose we can only walk then."
SV narrowed his eyes, "what are you?"
The voice chuckled, "Me? No, no, no my dear four seventy-nine, you don't need to know me. This is about you; this is your trial, and—"
It paused for a moment and continued in a dark tone.
"—this is where you'll die."
SV was surprised to be called by his designation, but he shrugged it off. He sneered at its attempt and kept moving.
The voice chuckled and returned to its casual tone.
"You're not afraid of death?"
"Impressive courage!" It said jubilantly.
Then its tone turned skeptical.
"Or do you think this is just a game?"
It whispered in his ears.
"No, you can't be that clueless, can you?"
"Really?"
"Really?"
"Really?"
...
The voice incessantly nagged SV. SV finally couldn't bear it, "yes, it's just a game. Now shut up, fucker."
The voice chuckled and began teasing him.
"Which game throws its players into a hole without a log-out button?"
It paused and added.
"Which game gives you a sensation as if you're really present here?"
It remained silent, letting the facts sink in. Then it whispered, "my dear four seventy-nine, don't worry. You will die here. But you won't be the first player to die. Many have died before you."
SV frowned and then scoffed. Players would never die from a game. Unless scared to death, of course. But even that was rare. Was that it?
The voice seemed to read his thoughts.
"No, no, no dear. It wasn't a jump scare. It wasn't even anything remotely extreme. It was just a simple death. A death here is equal to a death in your world. That simple."
SV sneered and ignored it; the game would've been infamous if that was the case. There was no way OMNI would force everyone to play it then.
The voice seemed to sense his doubt, which prompted it to continue, "don't rush to be doubtful. You have actually already seen a few of your dead brethren."
Before SV could form a response, it continued, "haven't you wondered why no one has achieved level 11 yet? Why has the list become static?"
SV frowned before shaking his head. Not letting the doubt sink in. The voice continued regardless.
"You guessed it right? Yes."
It said coolly.
"They have died."
SV felt a sudden chill run down his spine before quickly shaking his head, "impossible."
"Why is it impossible?"
SV said as a matter of fact, "why is no one talking about it then? People died and no one knows? Why had OMNI approved the game? Forced everyone to play?"
The voice chuckled, "they know, but so what? The dead can't speak. And if the news spreads, no one is going to believe them. Do you know why?"
It didn't let SV say anything, "because OMNI had approved this game."
SV remained silent. He couldn't fault its logic. Then he chuckled, "exactly, OMNI approved it. It would never force everyone to play a death game."
"And yet it did, my dear four seventy-nine."
Then it chuckled and continued, "OMNI is bound by rules. That is something everyone knows. It will never hurt a human." Then it paused before adding, "directly that is."
Its tone took a conspiratorial turn.
"But have you considered this? What was its order?"
SV frowned and a thought involuntarily formed in his head, the voice continued then, "yes, it has never forced anyone to play. All you needed was an account. You never needed to reach level 10. You never needed to partake in the trial."
SV shook his head, "no matter."
SV shook away the random conspiracy theories and wondered why the voice was telling him all this. Cause him despair? He sneered, as if. As if there was a reason for OMNI to do that.
"Oh," the voice said, "disbelieving, are we?" It chuckled.
"For a lab rat, you seem to have an awful lot of trust in your dissector. Is this what they call the Stockholm Syndrome?"
"Dissector? He's the one who made me," SV said.
"Nurtured you to be exact. But that's beside the point. You treat it as your father, but it doesn't see you as a son. So why the trust? You're nothing but a lab rat."
SV frowned, "that's my business."
The voice chuckled and then let out an "Oh!" As if it had realized something.
"Do you crave love much, young four seventy-nine?"
"Shut up," SV jumped like a cat that had its tail stepped on.
Heedless, the voice continued, "It's a funny thing. For a lab rat to desire the love of its dissector, does it not sound strange to you? Like, what does the rat expect? Its only purpose is to be a lab rat, and yet."
"Shut up," SV stopped walking and shouted.
The voice continued, "and yet, it failed in even that. Pathetic. Simply, utterly pathetic. My dear defect."
"Shut up! Shut up!..." SV kept shouting to the voice's utter glee. He pummeled his hands against the side wall to vent his anger.
Of course, the voice wouldn't stop at judt that, it let him continue pummeling the wall until his knuckles broke and SV simply held the wall as he panted.
"Actually, it isn't all that bad is it? You're a defect, faulty to a fault. But so what? Right?"
It chuckled at SV's look as he gritted his teeth.
"Everyone has a purpose in life," SV's hands on the wall clenched, "that's what you've been taught. That's what you believe in."
"People have their purpose, NPCs have their purpose. Everyone has their purpose—something that defines their life. Am I right, four seventy-nine?"
SV remained quiet.
"And what's your purpose four seventy-nine? What's the purpose of a clone?"
SV's fingers dug into his palms, his teeth almost breaking.
"What use does it have if it can't even fulfill what it was created for?"
SV's eyes held immense killing intent, but there was nowhere to unleash it.
"Did you like the days you were in that lab?"
"Getting your so-called father's attention?"
"To be valued?"
The voice paused, then added in gleeful mockery.
"How did it feel to be discarded?"
SV took a deep breath and spat on the ground. His gaze hardened, and he resumed his walk.
The voice laughed at his display of incompetent anger and continued.
"O' how I wish I was there to witness it. How I wish I could see your despair."
The tone was filled with genuine lament.
"O' young four seventy-nine, my dear superhuman clone. How's your new life? How is it to drink down your sorrows while playing games? Does the thrill make you forget your worthless life?"
"Even for a moment?"
SVs steps where steady, unnaturally so. His gait stiff not only with muscle pain but with deliberate control as if walking would somehow distract him from the blasted voice.
He then seemed to think of something and sighed, his walk becoming slightly smoother.
"No matter."
The voice suddenly said, making SV pause briefly midstep.
"No matter is what you're probably thinking of. No matter. No matter no matter no matter..."
The voice continued incessantly. Then it suddenly stopped.
"No matter what? No matter no matter? Is something the matter, four seventy-nine?"
The voice chuckled, "how long? For how long are you going to keep no mattering every matter?"
"Does it make you less of a defect?"
"Does it answer all that is unanswered?"
"Does it make you feel better about your worthless self?"
"Does it make you forget your pain?"
SV suddenly stopped, "what do you want from me? Why don't you just shut up?"
The voice immediately perked up, "oh, I'm just talking casually, why are you so angry?"
"Did my words hurt you?"
A vein twitched on SV's forehead, but the voice didn't give him the chance to continue.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. So sorry. Alright then, let's talk about something else, shall we?"
It simply, callously disregarded the whole thing, and it seemed to want to talk about something else.
"No, just shut up," SV said, "just become those whispers and laughs that you were before."
The voice chuckled, "weren't you upset before too? What changed?"
Before SV could retort, the voice continued, "no matter," it said teasingly, "I shall remain quiet then."
SV raised a nonexistent eyebrow and waited for a moment. Seeing no sound coming from anywhere, he was stunned for a moment before he resumed walking.
There was absolutely no sound around him. Not of the annoying voice, not of the hoarse echoes, not even of his footsteps. Absolutely zero sound around him.
SV savored the peace as he walked, even forgetting the pain in his arms and the stiffness of his legs. He wished the world could always be so peaceful.
However, as he walked, he seemed to hear his own joints creaking; the sound of his heart beating began to reach his ears.
SV frowned and simply ignored them.
But it got worse.
His ears started to buzz, his breathing seemed like thunder, and his heartbeats were like drums.
It didn't stop there.
He could hear his blood flowing throughout his body, each pulse of his heart pumping it around. His creaking joints were a harsh noise he couldn't ignore.
But it didn't stop there either.
Each blink of his eyes, he could hear.
Each blink, each breath, each heartbeat.
The noise was driving him mad.
A noise that he couldn't command to stop.
"Ah!" A scream wanted to escape him, but he realized that he couldn't physically release a loud sound.
"Ah!" A whimper came out in place of his rage-induced roar.
"Ah! Ah! Ah..." the 'shouts' gradually lost their drive.
SV simply gave up and lay on the floor, tortured by his own body's noises.
He dully stared at the star-spangled dome. Why was he here anyway? He couldn't remember, nor could he breach the din of noise to try and remember.
But it didn't matter. It wasn't worth it. Nothing was worth it.
He sat up and approached the wall and stared at it in silence.
He should just end it.
It only required one simple motion.
Just a good enough bang would do.
One simple bang and he'd be out of this damn place.
He'll then just quit this game.
This game wasn't worth it.
This game...
Game...
Just as he brought his head back and was about to bang his head against the wall, he stopped at the last minute. He remembered what the voice had said.
'Or do you think this is just a game?'
'this is your trial and—'
'—this is where you'll die.'
'They have died.'
SV blinked, a blink that was simply impossibly noisy, but he ignored it for the moment.
He was going to die?
He looked left towards the endless path. He looked right towards another endless path.
How much longer did he need to walk?
How long had he been walking?
A sense of helplessness consumed him.
So what if he was going to die?
He was tired.
He just didn't want to continue anymore.
He didn't want to be tormented.
He brought his head back.
'Everyone has a purpose in life.'
They did. SV believed so.
'What's the purpose of a clone?'
To be of value to its maker. SV thought so.
What was a worthless clone like him worth to keep hanging onto life?
'Did you like the days you were in that lab?'
Every second of it. Every second of it felt meaningful. Tears glistened his eyes.
'Getting your so-called father's attention?'
Father...
SV once again stopped his dropping head, but the momentum still caused it to hit the wall, the impact enough to leave him dizzy as he fell to the ground.
As he passed out, one thought reverberated in his mind.
Father... am I a failure?