Chapter 8 - DLIAL

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Preparations complete.

Initiating vortex and opening gate.

Total earthborn participants registered: 12,001,695

Uploading consciousnesses and DNA sequences to Nirvana Worlds in:

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

Upload sequence round 17 commencing.

Emergency upload in effect. Downloading of 6,020,033 participants commencing, then

resetting to sporadic downloads after the package is complete. Surrounding materials

ingested to expedite process. Permanence Cycle turning OFF with new arrivals and the

end of current 6 month interval. Autofilled languages currently disabled for

maintenance, to be restored after sequence 3 is complete. All connections to

Nirvana Worlds to be temporarily severed one hour after patching.

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The TV sounded loudly over the shuffling of the customers as many looked up to watch the news report, nervous expressions abundant. They were near the front lines now, and fighting could be heard and sometimes even seen in the skies overhead throughout the past days.

The reporter was fidgeting with papers and trying to keep a calm demeanor herself as footage of previous battles raced across the background. “The machines, now calling themselves ‘The Delegate League of AI Lifeforms’ or DLAIL, have succeeded in neutralizing the entire NATO navy in the Atlantic Ocean. The eastern American coast and Midwest states have fallen into chaos as DLIAL has begun to butcher all human life in areas that were not obliterated by nuclear fallout. Chinese and Russian militaries have began to intercept DLIAL forces as airstrikes are exchanged on a day to day basis between continents, and the remaining American forces have formed a perimeter with the help of their Canadian allies along the Rocky Mountains.”

Static crossed the TV as it went in and out of focus, distorting the words as the news anchor continued to spew information on the war. Already, nuclear fallout had devastated much of the planet - but humans were doing their best told hold on for survival despite this. These were grim times indeed.

“Put some milk in the cart! We’re out and I need it for the cereal,” said Aiko as she walked over to look at the freezer full of ice cream. She needed to remain upbeat to keep them from thinking of what was going on only miles away from the city. “Better yet, get the chocolate milk!”

Naomi rolled her eyes, putting a gallon of chocolate milk in the cart. Her little sister had always had a sweet tooth.

The two sisters had grown up in Salt Lake City since they were little, after their father had gotten a job in the city they had moved from Japan when Naomi was only two. Aiko had just been born. Now, Naomi had just started up at a local college and Aiko was in her senior year of high school… though that was all before their lives had been abruptly interrupted by the new World War. They were very close and were best friends as well as sisters, and were currently trying their best to cheer each other up amidst the wartime woes.

“Oh and take some of these too!” Aiko said, throwing some bagged cookies into the cart.

“You’re going to get fat eating so badly Aiko.”

Slyly smiling back at her older sister, Aiko stuck out her tongue. “I get asked out at least once a week Naomi, my metabolism is so high that I can eat whatever I want and still look amazing!”

The two laughed and moved on towards the bread aisle. Grabbing a loaf of whole wheat bread, they made their way to the front of the store and got in line to check out.

In front of them a woman in a black suit dress, high heels and a coach purse stood chomping away at a piece of gum. The blonde highlights in her hair covered most but not all of what used to be a brunette color. Impatiently she sighed as if trying to be rude on purpose and loud enough to get the cashier’s attention. The cashier, who was a muscular african american man in his early thirties, looked up saying: “You need somethin ma’am?”

“Could you hurry it up?” the woman in the suit said snobbishly. “I have an office party to attend soon.”

Continuing to check out the old woman in front of her, the cashier just shook his head in disbelief. “Ma’am I’m movin as fast as I can. You being prissy bout things isn’t gona move me any faster.”

A little chihuahua poked its head out from the inside of the woman’s coach purse and yelped. Pushing it’s head down back into the purse the woman said, “It’s ok Teddy, we’ll be out of this nasty place soon enough.”

“What a self righteous jerk,” whispered Aiko. Naomi nodded in agreement, giving the self entitled woman a dirty look from behind.

The line after them was getting longer, it was late at night and the only cash register open in the little grocery store was this one. Workers were getting harder to find due to forced conscription into the military, and many of the other stores were the same.

“That will be 126 dollars and 73 cents,” the cashier said with a sweet smile towards the old woman, who fumbled around in her purse trying to find the exact amount of change needed.

Turning to the lady in the suit, the old woman put on a sweet smile. “Excuse me but would you happen to have another quarter? I seem to be out of change!”

The snobbish woman snorted, and raised one of her finely waxed eyebrows. “No. I don’t.”

“Here you go!” Naomi remarked reaching into her back pocket and handing a quarter over to the old woman at the front of the line.

The old woman took it graciously, giving the teenage girl a large smile and a head nod. “Why thank you sweet thing! I appreciate it! Now… let me find a one dollar bill and I’ll be ready to pay you sir… one moment.”

The suited woman let out another audible grunt of annoyance and crossed her arms.

“Could you be a little less rude? Waiting a few more seconds won’t kill you.” said another man who was holding a little boy in his arms, next to someone who appeared to be his wife.

Taken aback, the suited woman sneered again, this time directed towards him. “No one asked you to talk.”

“Bitch don’t talk to my husband that way!” said the wife getting in the other snobbish woman’s face.

Before Naomi knew what was going on, she was in the center of a cat fight and trying her best, along with Aiko, to get out of the way. Hair pulling, feminine grunts and a thrown soda bottle were mixed in with expletives from both sides. The cashier ran around the corner and tried to break the two women up, but as he got there a deep thundering shudder ran through the entire building.

Everyone stopped what they were doing immediately, and then it happened again.

“Is it an earthquake?” said a teenage boy from down the aisle. Yet again the shudder ran through the people there. Looking about, the cashier noticed that none of the merchandise seemed to be affected by the tremors.

No one moved a muscle. Feet spread out and hands tightly holding onto her cart so that she wouldn’t lose her balance, Naomi waited to see if the earthquake would keep up.

A final time the shudder ran through their bodies, this time causing some of them to double over or stagger. Within a few seconds the room went dark, and as it did... everything went silent.

***

Name: Naomi Funai

Level 1

Class: None

Name: Aiko Funai

Level 1

Class: None

Name: Carol Bon

Level 1

Class: None

Name: Tanner Robert

Level 1

Class: None

Name: Aron Newmon

Level 1

Class: None

Name: Conner Orclid

Level 1

Class: None

Name: Shelby Port

Level 1

Class: None

Name: Sam Port

Level 1

Class: None

Name: Casper Port

Level 1

Class: None

Name: Itunu Chuke

Level 1

Class: None

Name: Nancy Feathers

Level 1

Class: None

Naomi opened her eyes to a scorching sun bearing down on her face. The cart full of groceries she had been holding on to was lying down next to her on the grass. Looking up, clouds decorated the sky as birds flew overhead. Aiko lay asleep to Naomi’s left, and the other people she had been with in the store were lying about her as well.

Very confused, Naomi stood up and turned around. They were in a beautiful green field, hills rolled off into the distance and trees littered the landscape in patches. A river was also seen off in the distance, winding its way through the paradise of grasslands and then out of sight around a bend.

Brushing off her jeans, she knelt down next to Aiko and shook her. “Aiko, Aiko wake up!”

A groan from the cashier escaped his lips as he put his hand over his face, sitting up he groaned again and slowly looked around with blinking eyes. “What’s going on? Where are we?”

A dog’s yapping started up behind the man. He turned to see the suited woman lying down next to Teddy the dog, who stood on her purse barking persistently at the strangers around him.

Slowly and surely, all of the people who had been in that small grocery store began to wake up. Not knowing where they were or what had happened, many of them began panicking.

Eventually, the blonde woman in the suit rubbed her eyes and sat up. She blinked a couple times, and her expression betrayed her horror.

“Which one of you assholes kidnapped us!?” screamed the woman in the suit when she’d oriented herself, her dog Teddy’s yapping seemed to have no end. “If you want money, fine! But you won’t get any if I’m harmed!”

Two teenage boys, probably in high school, got up - wide eyed - and looked around them while not saying much. The husband from earlier tried to calm his wife down as she held her crying baby against her chest, rocking it back and forth. The old woman sat by herself trying to adjust her glasses, and a sketchy looking man with a brunette mohawk and tattoos lining much of his lean body sat calmly puffing on a cigarette.

Aiko was up now too, and looking at Naomi she said: “Do you know where we are or what happened?”

Naomi shook her head no, just as perplexed as the rest of them.

The tattooed man gave that yapping dog an irritated scowl. “Lady, if you don’t shut that damn rat up I’m going to give it a good punt across this field here.”

Horrified, the suited woman smacked the dog on the nose, effectively shutting it up, but she still gave him a meaningful glare in response to his rude comment.

“Alright everyone please just calm down, let’s all talk about this now. Gather around over here and let’s figure this out, I think we’re all confused,” said the husband waving a hand to get everyone’s attention. Looking around them and slowly getting up, they all came over to where he sat with his wife and child to sit in a circle looking at one another. “Does anyone remember what happened or how we got here?”

No one answered, and it made this experience all the creepier.

Blinking he took out his cell phone, and holding it up to the sun he muttered to himself. “I have no signal whatsoever.”

Everyone started to pull out their cell phones as well, none of them had any signal at all.

“I have a satellite phone! How can I not be getting service?!” said the suited woman angrily as she threw it onto the ground in a tantrum. “What a piece of crap!”

Looking worried, the cashier wrapped his fingers together in thought. “So what we do know is we’re out in the middle of a field with no service and no one knows how we got here… and that there was an earthquake before all this happened. Are you all just as confused as I am right now?”

“If this is some sort of joke someone is pulling, it's not funny...” said Naomi standing up and putting her hands on her hips. “This is starting to scare me so if any of you are pranking the rest of us please stop it.”

Unfortunately no one ever admitted to any such prank, and half an hour later they had gotten nowhere with their conversation.

The husband, a plump man with dark, short cropped hair called out to the rest of them. “Alright! Alright, calm down everyone. If we’re going to keep talking I think it’s best we know each other’s names, we should introduce ourselves and tell everyone what we’re all about. My name is Sam, this is my wife Shelby. And this...” he said smiling, holding a young baby boy that’d been wrapped in a disney pajamas outfit, “is my son Casper! He’s just turned one year old!”

Going clockwise around the circle, the muscular african cashier spoke up next. “My name is Itunu, I just moved to the United States two years ago from Nigeria. Nice to meet you.”

“Hi! My name is Aiko! Nice to meet you!”

Clearing her throat, Naomi went next. “My name is Naomi, Aiko is my younger sister.”

The old lady next to Naomi smiled sweetly in her poofy dress and said, “My name is Nancy.”

“Tanner,” said the guy with the mohawk, covered in tattoos. He was the least phased by any of this and looked rather bored.

Sighing reluctantly and reaching into her purse to pull out a pair of sunglasses, the woman holding Teddy the dog went next. “My name is Carol.”

“Aron,” said a large stocky boy of about sixteen or seventeen years of age with reddish hair and freckles. “This is my best friend Conner,” he continued pointing to the other skinnier teenage boy next to him wearing a hoodie over his brown curls.

Tanner’s stomach growled loudly, and looking towards Naomi’s overturned cart he went and picked up some bananas and came back to start eating. Passing one to Carol, who was eyeing the bananas herself, he wondered aloud: “So what do we do now?”

Aron shrugged, a feeling that most of the others also had.

No one said anything until Shelby spoke up ten seconds later. “Well, we’re in the middle of nowhere, so let’s go exploring and meet back here to let everyone else know what we find. Does that sound good? There may be something over those hills.”

Tanner squinted slightly and reached out his hand as if to touch something, but then settled back on his haunches. “Anyone else see these weird colored bars?”

Only Carol paid him any attention, noting the four colored bars in the top left of her vision. But none of the others seemed to notice or care.

Sam nodded to his wife and slapped his beer belly. “Good idea Shelby!”

Kissing her he picked up his son and got up. “Don’t think there’s much else we can do, maybe we can find someone to help and figure this whole situation out.”

“Yeah, that’d be nice as everyone HERE is useless and doesn’t seem to know what’s going on.” snorted Carol. Picking up her dog, she put on her high heels and began to walk out towards the river. Eventually, everyone got up and started going off in different directions. Carol, Conner and Aron headed southwest towards the river, Naomi and Aiko headed west into the plains, Sam and Shelby took their son north while Nancy and Itunu headed east. Tanner lazily laid down and closed his eyes, ignoring the criticism from the others as he did so.

It wasn’t until a few minutes later that the All Spirit’s message finally appeared to each and every one of them. And when it did, it gave them a lot to think about.

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At the beginning of time: Vehendratir the Creator and first of the old gods birthed a labyrinth of worlds connected by the very fabric of his being. First he created the spree, a plethora of failed creations that he later boxed away. Then the Heavens and the Hells with all of their inhabitants were created: the angels and demons with inherent opposing properties. The Spirit Realm and fairy-folk came next with the pit and dregs of Oblivion as it’s counterpiece. And then, in his disgust for the darkness he was born into, he turned away from The Void and left it to its own devices.

Tireless and without purpose he continued to create world upon world, star upon star, galaxy upon galaxy until he came to realize that he had no method to his creation; no meaning beyond idle amusement. So he turned from more simple inanimate objects to creating other forms of life similar to his original sentient creations. First came simple celled organisms, then plants and animals. Then he began to create the mortal races of dwarves, orcs, goblins, humans, elves, demi-humans, ents, and many other species to come. Curiously enough, the undead came next on happenstance and rose to power in their own right to challenge the power of the original immortal races. He created the 18 prime languages so that these lesser creatures could communicate with one another. With these new races came a myriad of new things to do, but his boredom was only abated for a short time and he soon began to despair. What purpose did he have being here? What was the purpose of existing? What was the meaning of life? He did not know, but the sentients he had created seemed unaware of this predicament. So Vehendratir the Creator decided to end his life, splitting himself into a hundred thousand symbiotic essence to experience life through the souls of their hosts and abandoning the creation he had spent so much time cultivating. With the creator gone and the throne of creation left unseated for the lesser gods to vie for, the races went their separate ways and began their own paths down the road of life.

Or so the legend goes.

Welcome to the Nirvana Worlds, participant. This is a Beta for the upcoming Labyrinth Worlds event, and you are now enrolled in a game of death alongside millions of your fellow Earthborn compatriots. Fight for your life... and good luck.

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***

“Ugh! This mud is going to ruin everything!” cried Carol in disgust as she had accidently stepped onto a muddy patch along the bank of the river.

Snickering, the two teenagers followed her at a short distance.

“It would be my dumb luck to end up mysteriously stranded with no cell phone signal! With weird messages appearing in front of us and no sign of civilization anywhere! What kind of fuckery is this!?”

Huffing, she sat down and began to wipe the mud off her shoes.

“Isn’t it hard to walk in those?” Connor asked. “You should probably just take them off and walk in your bare feet.”

Looking up at him as if he were stupid, she snorted. “No, I don’t think so.”

After she was done cleaning them, she picked up her purse and began to walk down the river again. Before she got very far, Aron had quietly stuck his foot out in front of her. She tripped, sending her dog and purse flying, and landed on the rocky bank of the river with her nose violently slamming against the ground.

Connor and Aron suppressed their laughter as she picked herself up. Wiping the blood running down from her nose and onto her face, she swore and looked back. “Did one of you little shits trip me?!”

Aron shook his head. “No, you tripped on that rock.”

Pointing to one of the larger rocks that had been in her path, he gave her a scowl. “Connor told you so, you should take those heels off.”

Standing up again with a backwards glare, she began to walk over to where her dog stood whimpering as it licked an injured leg from the fall. “Mommy’s sorry Teddy, are you alright?”

Cuddling the poor injured animal, she whirled around and started to march away. “I’m going back to the cart, you two go on ahead without me and see if there’s anything down the river.”

Trying to keep her nose bleed in check, she straightened up and began to walk back to where Tanner lay.

Conner began to laugh when she was out of earshot as Aron slapped him on the back. “What a dumb slut!”

“She’s hot though, how old do you think she is? 27? 28?” asked Aron.

Conner nodded. “Probably.”

***

Getting back to the cart covered in dirt and scrapes, Carol sat down a few yards from Tanner and took off her suit coat. Her heels came next, and looking up she screamed out in frustration towards the sky.

“Having a rough time?” Tanner asked nonchalantly as her dog limped over to sit in her lap.

Looking at him while trying to contain her nosebleed, Carol evaluated his mohawk with renewed disdain. “I tripped on a rock down by the river.”

Tanner chuckled. “Well ain't that something. Maybe you shouldn’t wear heels in this terrain.”

With another humph, she looked away and began tending to her dog Teddy.

“Here, take these.” said Tanner, throwing a roll of paper towels from where the shopping cart was and hitting her in the back of the head with it. “That’ll help the bleeding.”

Picking up the paper towels in an irritated manner, she scowled. “So what’s your story?”

“My story?”

“Yes. Your story.”

Tanner lit up another cigarette with a lighter from his pocket. “Not much of one to tell.”

Carol eyed him curiously. “Why all the tattoos? And the mohawk? You look like some sort of anarchist or criminal.”

She caught her words, realizing what she’d said. She was in no position to talk, having been raised by criminals herself.

Laughing, Tanner turned to her and showed her a tattoo of a bloodied knife as he pulled down his shirt to reveal his chest. “See this? I got this one in memory of the first time I stabbed a man after he snitched on me for holding up and robbing a fast food joint. So I’m glad I look the part.”

Carol immediately became silent and looked back down to her dog.

“So what about you lady? What’s the story behind you and that rat?”

“He’s not a rat!” Carol snapped. “He’s a chihuahua. And I don’t tell my life story to or associate with thugs.”

Tanner shrugged and laid back down, unphased by her opinion of him. The two didn’t speak to each other again until Sam and Shelby got back with Casper asleep in Shelby’s arms.

Carol waved them down, still a little annoyed at Shelby after their recent fight in the grocery store. “Did you find anything?”

“Not a thing, just hills, hills and more hills that way...” Sam said pointing north. “Did you guys get the message too? About the creator, angels, demons, elves, all that fantasy stuff? About this being a game?”

Tanner nodded uncaringly without further input.

Pointing back across the fields to the west, to where the figures of Naomi and Aiko were coming back, Shelby let out a huff. “Maybe they found something.”

Minutes later, Aiko skipped up to the group over the field of green grass - ever upbeat and happily smiling. “That’s a cute kid you got there! Mind if I hold him for a bit?!” .

Shelby grinned at the younger woman and nodded, handing her son to Aiko who rocked him gently as he slept. “Just be careful.”

“What did you find?” Carol asked impatiently.

Naomi scratched her leg to rid herself of an itch. “More fields, a couple of hills and some horses.”

“Horses?” Carol repeated. “Did they have owners? Any brands on them?”

Naomi shook her head no. “They seemed to be wild, completely avoided us and ran away when we got too close.”

“This is such a strange situation to be in.” Tanner thought out loud. “Not that I care, it’s just odd that’s all.”

“HOW CAN YOU NOT CARE?!” Carol yelled at him, her snobbish attitude quickly coming back in full force. “Don’t you have things you need to be doing instead of wasting time here in the middle of nowhere?!”

“Nope.” he replied casually puffing on the cigarette.

He gave off the impression of serenity and peace, still being absolutely unphased by any of this. His attitude did wonders to help the others remain calm in a time where they would have otherwise panicked even more, but Carol still found it irritating.

Aiko spoke up awkwardly with a raised hand after sitting down to cradle Casper on the ground. “Since it’s evening, we’ve probably been gone almost an entire day now. I’m sure my parents have notified the police and are looking for us.”

“They won’t find us.” Tanner stated bluntly.

Confused, Aiko looked to Naomi as she shrugged. Looking back to Tanner, Aiko promptly asked: “Why would you say that…? Do you know where we are?”

Gasping, Carol pointed at Tanner, “YOU kidnapped us didn’t you?!”

Tanner rolled his eyes and even chuckled, then he pointed towards the western horizon, “Nope. Take a look.”

Just peeking out from the horizon was a green crescent moon, and off to the left and slightly above it was another lightly pink moon shimmering against the blue sky.

“How did we not notice those sooner?” said Tanner in amusement.

Shocked, the others looked out across the terrain in wonder.

“What… Are those moons?!” said Shelby, nearly losing her balance.

Aiko nearly dropped Casper, and Naomi just stood there in silence. Carol gasped, yet again covering her mouth, and Sam looked skeptical.

“This is obviously some sort of prank.” stated Sam with a snort. “Pretty extravagant for a prank, but still a prank. I’d like to know how they did it though, or who’s responsible.”

Tanner raised an eyebrow at the other man. “Did you not read the teal colored screen that appeared not long ago? My bet is that all this is what the screen said it was. This is probably an immersive gaming simulation. Think about it, our country’s at war with super advanced artificial intelligence right? Couldn’t they pull something like this off? What about all the people that have gone disappearing by the millions just before the war or even now during the war? What if they were brought here too somehow?”

Sam’s face fell into a grave setting, but despite Tanner’s thoughts on the matter - he refused to believe it. He couldn’t believe it. He would not let himself believe it. So the matter was dismissed to avoid arguing, as they all waited for the others to return.

***

Night had fallen and everyone had returned back to the camp. Itunu and Nancy had made slow travel time and were the last to arrive because Nancy couldn’t keep up with Itunu very well due to her age, she even had to stop multiple times to catch her breath.

No one had found any sign of civilization. Aron and Conner had reported back saying that the river eventually led into a forest, winding its way back east. Itunu and Nancy confirmed the existence of the forest, saying that they had spotted trees in great numbers off in the distance.

Huddled around the campfire of small twigs and plants, the group debated as the night wore on. Looking upwards, the third white moon had appeared and shone brilliantly down upon Itunu’s face. It was hard to believe it, but he was beginning to accept that they might not be on Earth anymore. Looking over to Sam who was still incredibly skeptical about the idea that they may no longer be on planet Earth, Itunu couldn’t help but wonder who was right and who was wrong.

“It’s impossible.” Sam insisted. “There is no way that we could end up on some alien planet out of the blue. This isn’t a game. We weren’t abducted. No one remembers any aliens or any robots coming to get us. This is just all one big joke, we’re probably on some reality TV show and the viewers are all laughing at you.”

“Oh really? Did you not feel the earthquake before we all blacked out?!” said Carol haughtily. “This was obviously aliens. We were abducted! That’s the only logical explanation, how else could there be three moons in the sky? Also, my satellite phone isn’t working!”

Itunu shook his head and swatted at a mosquito that landed on his left forearm. Observing it under the moonlight and starry night sky, he could still tell that this insect was… Yeah, it was definitely a mosquito - not some mutant bug he’d find on an alien planet. “Or it could be a game like the prompt said it was. ‘Death Game’ is what it said.”

“Doubtful on both counts. It’s probably just projections on a large canvas or something like that.” Sam stated in defiance. “Which is much more logical than your theories.”

Itunu butt in, pointing upwards. “I don’t think someone could get a canvas that big to stick up there and look so real while doing it.”

Scoffing in displeasure, Sam turned around and sat down next to Shelby.

Then Naomi spoke up. “We should probably ration the food, we don’t know when the next time we’ll find some more will be.”

Nodding, Tanner agreed - still lying back against the ground and stargazing into the heavens. “We’ll keep all of the food we have or find in the cart, and we’ll use it carefully so we don’t run out too fast.”

“There are eleven of us,” said Aron, “Plus that rat.”

“Teddy is NOT a rat!” screamed Carol, only making Aron and Conner snicker.

Sam interjected, rubbing his dad-bod gut as he did. “If there were horses here then how could this not be Earth?”

Everyone went silent.

“Because… this was an immersive game based on our world?” said Connor sarcastically.

Still thinking himself triumphant, Sam leaned back and put his hands behind his head. “Told you, this is just some sort of odd joke, or at worst an abduction. But I don’t know why someone would want to abduct a bunch of random strangers from a grocery store.”