A Dentist At The End Of The Universe

Waking up in a boundless, white room the first sensation He felt was... Agony. Shortly followed by fear, with confusion in quick pursuit. When he opened his eyes, he registered the whiteness of the room, When trying to turn his head he found he was stuck, strapped to a chair, and unable to move. Along with agony and fear, there was only one conclusion.

"Shit It's the dentist And some sort of supernatural dentist at that. I'm screwed, they will probably be able to tell I don't floss in-between meals and just brush really hard a couple of days before going." He thought as he started sweating bullets.

Perhaps, because he had just woken up in extreme pain he wasn't completely Lucid. But, Either way, something strange was afoot, that was undebatable. He tried to puzzle out what sort of situation he was actually in and in doing so attempted to scratch his head. His arm remained motionless, completely incapable of moving.

The next thing you could see was a rather embarrassing display of a young man, who looked to be in his late teens with Brown hair and Blue eyes with a tint of Green who appeared rather feminine. straining against, what looked to be mighty restraints. In a chair with no apparent physical restrictions upon him. Making him look like he had a cramp, or needed the toilet badly.

Noticing this, only added to the strangeness of the situation as he felt his entire body was locked down as if in a straight jacket. This inability to move had surpassed his ability to suspend disbelief. Leaving him with only one solution... Denial.

"So this is Sleep paralysis huh." He thought. as he waited patiently for some type of inter-dimensional dentist to show up and tell him his teeth were trash.

However, before Khan could descend any further down the stages of grief, His train of thought was derailed by the sudden appearance of a disembodied voice with a rather exasperated tone. [Apologies folks, for any slight discomfort. There were a few delays in getting everything set up but they were quickly taken care of... along with our head of dimensional transfer, Kyle, who will be taking a permanent sabbatical.] The mysterious voice proceeded to cough in embarrassment and then continued. [Without further ado I shall start the introductions, I am 'The Announcer' and will be taking care of everyone henceforth.] Said a clearly already bored disembodied voice.

[Let's Get down to business. First and foremost the universe is no more. next on the agenda is...] "hold on a sec what did he just say about the universe?" the youth exclaimed "The universe is where all my favorite stuff is. There's no way it's gone just like that." At this point, the youth's thoughts spiraled off into a universe-ending tangent completely ignoring the mysterious voice which so nonchalantly brushed over universal destruction like it was the weather. As it relentlessly explained the current situation he, along with his fellow inhabitants of the aforementioned universe was in.

Shortly thereafter He felt a twinge in his head and a white screen with the words 'Guide System' appeared in his vision, snapping him out of his stupor. [So, as I was saying this is a Guide System, put in place to help you folks survive and thrive out there.] He could have imagined it, but the youth swore he heard the disembodied voice laugh at his own shoddy rhyme.

[The Guide System is integral for everyone's survival and comes accompanied by a companion to explain various tricky situations and help you acclimatize to the new world. Other than that, the MOST important thing to remember is that when inputting your new name into the Guide System nobody is allowed to use 'The Announcer' Because that's my name and I don't want any copycats...]The announcer exclaimed with real passion. [Kyle is free to take though.] added the announcer as an after-thought.

As the announcer Grumbled on about the severe punishment one would serve if they attempted to take his name for a joke, the screen that had previously contained only the words 'Guide System' flashed, and what looked like a character creation screen for a game popped up.

[Firstly, the name. Please don't pick something stupid or you will make me embarrassed for you.] The youth was tempted to enter 'The Announcer' as his name but on second thought, seeing as there was no one around to see his joke his decided against it and promptly entered just his first name-Khan.

What followed was a moment of silence split apart by 'The Announcer's' abrupt laughter. [Wow... we have some really funny guys around today don't we? 20 billion people put 'The Announcer' as their name... Wait a second, that's weird, oh-no! what happened?] Exclaimed the announcer with mock anger [It looks like someone used their administrative privileges to change everyone with the name 'The Announcer' to 'Shit head'... apart from me of course. Damn it, when I catch whoever it was, they'll pay for this cruel but righteous joke.]

[Anyway, next, let's fill out the rest of your profiles. you know the rest folks: Name, Age, Species, Sex, And Job title.]

Name: Khan

Age: 19

Species: Human

Sex: Male

Job title: Other

"Why the hell was the only job title option: other? And when I went to put in Sex one of the options was N/A. I guess this really is a universe-wide thing. After all 'The Announcer' did say that 20 billion people picked his name, that's way more than earth had."

[Ugghhh you are killing me here. Finally, that took ages. Now that that's done it's time to put our new head of dimensional transfer, Phillip, to the test after Kyle nearly killed you all...]

The entire universe "..."

[Quick, Phillip send them away and try not to disable too many. We don't want another Kyle incident do we?]

Promptly, Khan felt his whole body being dismantled, crushed, and refined down to a point and sent through space at unimaginable speeds to an unknown place.

When Khan woke up he was propped up against a tree in a vast forest of a magnitude impossible to find on earth. In fact, the tree he was lying against dwarfed most skyscrapers he had ever seen and was 10s of meters thick with numerous swooping branches and leaves hanging down almost within touching distance from the ground while its uppermost branches seemed to prop up the sky.

Rather than taking in this breath-taking scene when he opened his eyes, the first thing Khan did was Swear in rage at 'The Announcer' "What the hell is this shoddy universal relocation? that was the least professional announcer I've ever heard of. I would bet my house that it was him who changed all those people's names. Thank god I stopped myself before I picked it otherwise... he shuddered at the thought. The announcement was far too abrupt in any case, I learned almost nothing and now have no way of getting any more info."

[False] "Shit! 'The Announcer' " [No, idiot, I am not the announcer, I am your 'Guide system' personified] "Oh... I thought that was some useless identification profile or something." [Were you not listening when Mr. Announcer Explained everything?] "What? when did that happen?" [Hmm, it must have been when you were crying and muttering about how the universe ending would mean your hard drive and all those-] "AH STOP!" [Would be gone with it.] "Alright, that's my fault then." [Yes] "Please never mention that again." [We'll see.] "That's Ominous."

Perhaps, due to the ridiculousness of the current situation Khan had skipped all the middle stages of grief, jumping straight to acceptance, and was now arguing with a voice in his head like he was a mental patient. But, all that aside, even under normal circumstances Khan had always been Extraordinarily level-headed and stubborn. Taking after his father, who was as steadfast in his philandering as he was in his consumption of alcohol. Which, to the surprise of absolutely no one, lead to his demise shortly after Khan's birth. When he mistook oncoming traffic as a 'Stripper' and headbutted a truck. When speaking of Khan's father the only positive impact you could say he had on Khan's life was his absence from it.

Khan's mother was almost diametrically opposite his father. Firstly, she was alive... supposedly. She was a free spirit who couldn't be held down by petty things like debt collectors, responsibilities, and children, specifically Khan. She flitted about life never staying in one place for long. The only reason he knew this was because of the various postcards he received along with the frequent visits from debt collectors and police for questioning about various crimes she'd committed. From his mother, he got his free spirit, go with the flow attitude, and rather unfortunately his good looks.

Khan was quite attractive. Unfortunately for him, He wasn't handsome, but much like his mother, quite pretty. This had led to various inconveniences and annoyances, like getting mistaken for a girl; getting hit on or, various questions about his name. Which on their own were nothing other than slight annoyances but, as a collective was infuriating. as a result, he had grown to hate his 'good' looks with a burning passion.

[What do you want to know pretty lady?] the system asked with a hint of amusement. "Well, I guess we could start with the Who, What, Where, Why, and how? " Khan said with a stone cold face. [Is that everything?] the system asked with anticipation. "Yes... oh, actually one more thing." [What?] the system responded Jokingly "if you imply I'm a girl again I will kill everyone and then myself." Khan replied with an icy expression making his previous words fairly convincing. [Sure thing, Miss Khan.] the system responded unfazed.

Then, to Cut off Khan's imminent tirade, the guide enthusiastically launched into its explanation. [Firstly, the 'Who', is me. I am the 'Guide System' personified and you can refer to me as the Guide. I will be able to assist you in your survival in the New World- Eden (which is the 'Where' by the way) and help you gain skills and travel the path you choose with the most safety possible. The 'What' is a bit more complicated but, essentially boils down to the Guide System being an amalgamation of all the available information in the known universe in an easily accessible location, obtainable under various conditions. The Guide System can also function as a shop. The 'Where' is Quite a long story but, Eden is Basically a landmass roughly 10 times larger than the universe with infinite mysteries and possibilities which as of now has been uninhabited by humanoid life forms. The 'Why' and 'How' You don't have the right to know yet.]

"How do I gain the right?" Khan asked already having been distracted from his previous outburst. To which the Guide's only response was [Money]. "Alright Smart guy, How do I get Money Then?" Khan asked in Exasperation, clearly sick of the 'Guides' nonsense while looking for his wallet. Only to notice all his clothes had been replaced at some point with what appeared to be army gear of some sort, with heavy boots and a heavy, camouflaged jacket with seemingly infinite pockets.

[First, to check how much money you have, open up your 'Guide System' y thinking about the screen you saw previously and look at your balance in the top left.] Khan didn't fail to notice the systems growing enthusiasm as it got to answer more questions, before Opening his 'Guide System' without much difficulty and noticed his balance read: 10. beside the balance indicator were tabs that read: Quests, Guides, Auctions and Shops, and the final tab reading Profile. there were other tabs but they were currently greyed out and couldn't be read.

[As you have no doubt just seen. The 'Guide System' has various features of which the most important ones to the current you are Quests and Guides. Quests can be completed to receive monetary rewards and money can be spent on guides to help your survival. At this point in time, there is little in the shop of good value as nobody will be able to auction anything yet, with them being in the same situation as you and all.] The guide explained with much enthusiasm. "This 'Guide' Seems to really like answering questions huh. I think I just heard it giggle." Khan thought.

"I have two more questions then." [Go ahead.] at this, the system seemed to grow almost giddy with excitement at the thought of answering questions again. "What are Guides? and how do you complete quests?" [This is also fairly straight forward but pay attention nonetheless. Quests are objectives tailored to you, placed there by the 'Guide System' or they can be assigned by other people under certain circumstances. they award money or other various things, such as items, skills, or abilities. These rewards can be spent on guides which are akin to a virtual tutorial in which you will have the chance to spend as much time as you want to learn whatever you purchased the guide for.]

"Seems straightforward." Khan thought as the 'Guide System' reminded him of various games he'd played on earth and wasn't alien to him. After a moment of thought he seemed to come across a problem "Soo... what's my goal here?"

[Survive.] The system bluntly responded.

"Why didn't you say so sooner? Let's get started then!" Khan replied. brimming with energy and enthusiasm all of a sudden.