Yael woke up in a soft bed. It was silent. He lifts his hand and it wasn't his but a child's hand. He got up and stood still. He was waiting for the options.
A red glowing screen popped in front of him, the same one like always--he has gotten used to it now.
REMOVE OPTIONS AND ACT ACCORDING TO YOUR OWN? COST, 12.33 PAPP. CURRENT PAPP, 1233.43.
Y/N?
Yael stared at the numbers. 1233.43 papp. A fortune in his old, empty life. A pittance here, for a single choice?
The cost felt intentional. 12.33. Not a round number. A precise, calculated tax.
He looked at his child's hands, small and soft. The room around him was forming--a sunlit bedroom with cartoon posters on the wall, the smell of pretend pancakes from a pretend kitchen downstairs. A perfect, generic childhood memory. A prison made of nostalgia.
The system was waiting. It had given him the ultimate gamer's dilemma: Pay-to-Not-Play.
If he chose N, the options would appear. Go downstairs for breakfast. Stay in bed. Check under the bed for monsters. He'd be led down a branching path of pre-written tragedy, a puppet in Novel; Death Service's sick play.
If he chose Y, he'd burn precious currency. But at what cost? For getting to do what he wants, scream? Run to his mother? Find some secrets..?
Secrets..! That's it, there was a special option to pay to get some extra options, it was weird so I declined.
Yael didn't choose Y/N.
Instead, with concentration he thought clearly of the precise inputs. He reached for where no menu should be. He didn't envision a button. He envisioned a keyboard shortcut. The one he'd programmed into his streaming deck to instantly bring up a hidden debug console in any game.
[ALT] + [SHIFT] + [BACKSPACE]
The room shifted, it was pixelated and the red screen in front of him glitched and turned green, the text smaller, and a command was written there.
SANDBOX://NOVEL_DEATH_SERVICE/DEBUG/>
His heart hammered in his childlike ribs, he didn't think it'd work. He used his finger as a cursor and he typed, his thoughts that turned into the digital text on the screen.
> LIST_AVAILABLE_PURCHASES
Text scrolled fast.
...QUERY RECOGNIZED. ACCESSING CATALOG.
USER TIER: TEST VARIABLE. CREDIT: 1233.43 PAPP.
AVAILABLE:
[KEY] SKIP_CURRENT_NARRATIVE_BEAT: 12.33 PAPP
[TOOL] TEMP_ENTITY_SPAWN (NON-HOSTILE): 123.45 PAPP
[DATA] DOWNLOAD_CURRENT_SCENARIO_MAP: 45.67 PAPP
[MOD] ACTIVATE_PHYSICS_GLITCH (5 USES): 234.56 PAPP
[SECRET] UNLOCK_TERMINAL_00_LOCATION: 333.33 PAPP
Before he could even click one, the screen turned red.
LEVEL_TOO_LOW. LEVEL_000. BEGINNER.
The screen was gone, the game resumed.
1221.1 PAPP. ACCESS_FOR_FREE_OPTIONS_ACCEPTED
"WHAT?" He shouted by accident. He quickly shut his mouth by clamping his hands onto his mouth, he heard his..or this child's mother called him asking what was wrong. "I am fine, I'm just playing !!" He walked around the room on the soft carpet, the toys scattered around the room annoyingly. He reached the door handle and opened the door. Once he pushed the handle down and opened the door, there were stairs, if one didn't know that, they'd fall and die.
Slowly he walked down, the stairs large, he had to sit down and slide down the stairs, like a child.
Wait, but I am a child.
Yes, he is physically a child. But his soul is an old man.
HEY, I ain't old!
The game shut him restricting him from talking unless when interacting with monsters, humans or some other alive things. Yael felt a chill from his spine. Once he reached the first floor. There was nothing but a kitchen and in the kitchen there was the front door, that was locked with three different locks and a thick chain.
The mothers face a blur. She gave him food. "Eat, Awerdlian."
Who gave that name to this child...
"Yes, mother." He slurps it and finishes half of it just like the original novel. He stands up and crawls to his room. It felt different, like someone, something was watching him. He hopped onto his bed. And stayed still. He forgot to look under the bed. After a few seconds, a weird looking wire, popped up, it was headless, it was just wired. it bit into his hand, and instead of blood, he saw wires in him.