Faust. What's this?"
August focused on his breath trying to calm the raging emotions attempting to burst out from within.
'Why is this happening?'
Having been a scientist all his life, he had never once imagine being a part of a battlefield where human lives which he tries so hard to improve are nothing more than livestock, controlled, toyed with and destroyed without a moment's thought.
This was the world of killers and monsters not for a cozy family man who loved the smell of a sterile lab and the thrill of shouting EUREKA!
"August Carpenter. Do you know I made you the main character in a book of mine?"
Faust began speaking to August like he was telling a story from a lifetime ago.
He looked dreamily at a vacant spot in front of him like he was reliving that exact time all over again.
"What is the book about Faust?" August saw this shift and realised that this could be the key to understanding everything he was experiencing.
"See for yourself."
Faust retrieved a book from his office table and placed it in August's hand.
"After you are done reading, join us in the playroom with Marina. I recommend you start from page 67." Faust left him alone in the room with the book.
August read carefully through the book.
"What the..?!" August exclaimed, shocked at what he saw.
Everything written in the first chapters of the book perfectly mirrored his present experiences almost like someone was telling the story of his incredible encounters and revelations from an outside perspective.
Even his everyday activities and thoughts were perfectly mirrored, Faust didn't even leave himself out of the story. He wrote of himself from an outsider's perspective too almost like he wasn't the one writing this book.
Then came page 67, it was an alternate retelling of his meeting with Faust in the very room he was currently in.
In this scene, the fictionalized version of himself told Faust about what he saw with Marina.
That Faust who for some reason was much more calmer and stoic explained.
We're at war. What you saw was simply the tip of the iceberg of a much grander tragedy. It comes without question that the world we are experiencing is not real, however they are projecting such a detailed, tactile and immersive environment still eludes me but I suspect I might know how but I am still terrified of even addressing that option.
When our little rebellion was formed, we worked to deduce the nature of the world we now existed in.
Those of us who are confined to this sensory prison are brilliant minds, working on sensitive or dangerous technologies that could change the world or end it.
Whoever trapped us here wanted to ensure that our projects remain exclusive and within their control and to ensure we keep perfecting our research under their close watch and supervision which is probably why we never seem to see who the board of directors of the various corporations we work for in real life.
And why it seems none of us seem to age, die or get arrested no matter how many crimes and dangerous situations we involve ourselves in.
I had a pancreatic cancer diagnosis giving me only two months of life, it's already been three years and I am still waiting for the end.
Leaving the limits of our assigned spaces will only lead to us returning with our memories wiped and altered to match the narrative thus an entire reset of our personality and that also happens if we die.
The vast majority of us decided to do anything to stall and cease our research not wanting our works to fuel senseless death or prop up an evil assembly out in the real world.
Then there were those like Ivan who saw this prison as a golden opportunity to do whatever they wished, they didn't mind the possible implications of our research falling into the wrong hands or the horrifying nature of the situation we were in.
Him and Twelve other greedy bastards saw this as a gift deciding to remain useful to our unseen wardens and exploiting the warped rules of this world to their whims.
Marina is one of many victims. I knew the real Marina and I can tell you plainly, being the clone of a deceased girl who died in a car accident along with her parents living with a mentally ill possibly psychotic grandfather is not a good thing at all especially when that bastard cuts them open everyday just to see if they have hearts then sews it all together after replacing it with toasters or car pins, watching them die only to revive the next day.
Yes, Ivan can request the revival of any virtual being here. It seems being the wardens pets can grant you many simple perks especially when they are used to also torment us who choose to have integrity by hunting us down or horrifying pranks to ruin our day if we remain too idle with our research.
We fight desperately to stay alive so as not to die and have our minds reset and being made to continue the research that could endanger lives.
One of our own has fallen and we might have to wake them up again like always but that is if the others will let us. Many have given into this punishment or at least that is what they want us to believe but even though they isolate us, stalk and destroy our attempts, we have ways to counterattack if it comes down to it.
Being the newest addition you must feel weak and scared but let me tell you, this isn't your first time finding out about this.
Mister Carpenter, you developed a means to reach the outside, right? ....
After reading this August's eyes widened and he muttered in shock,
"Isolde.."