The Pillars

Pure... Mana...

So... why is this here? Beyond all normal places a person should be able to go, why is it possible to not only get something from their... but also have a location outside the game exist as flavour text outside of it being an easter egg?

Why is there only... wait, the pillars are disappearing?

Uh oh.

That probably isn't... good.

I wrenched myself out of the sludge with a handful of the amazing material, and sat myself upon the floating mass of rock once more. The pillars are thick enough to house about four people if they were packed like sardines, every once in a while... they all grow thicker and one disappears, the remaining move to remain symmetrical along the small island I stand upon.

This is one hell of a Dev room, if you could call it that.

If I could use alchemy or magic right now I would try and absorb this or something... the best I could do is... watch. I think. Maybe I could Drink it? I don't know how that would turn out... but... this sludge doesn't look like PURE mana, more like... well, each have a slight hue to them.

4 Pillars left... this has to mean SOMETHING... I just don't what yet, it could be types of magic... but the forums don't say anything about magic being changed... oh... what they do say is that there is only 4 games left operational.

So... these are... connected? To... the games... so, one of these is StarDuster right?

But that's a little weird...

That means that Dev rooms are connected or this isn't a dev room... but considering Helios is there its likely the former... another thing to ponder, is what is mana in the case of this digital universe?

Mana is coming from an outside source, it would make sense if like... mana was a diminishing resource... but that should be fixable in the games themselves.

Beyond that... there isn't one for the Hub, which means... either the Hub is gone or whatever the games need from mana isn't required by the Hub.

... Three pillars left... and the forums say another world destroyed.

What's destroying them...

Is it really the Neolithid?

That shouldn't be... well, possible... it doesn't make sense.

How could an in game mob be harming things outside the game... unless it isn't...

Is it... like, a physical representation of the Morris worm?

Not representation... that's the wrong word, I mean its similar.

The Morris worm was the Internet's first virus, and this is The Hub's first virus... and nobody can fix it, because the people capable are crazy...

That would explain why its strong enough to resist the system, pull me out, and fuck with my... code? I guess he did, when he pulled those memories out of nowhere... am I just, code?

Huh, that's neat in a way... but also terrifying, it makes sense too... the way my memories were messed with by Origin is by messing with my code... the memories are probably 1s and 0s... or whatever they use these days.

But that doesn't explain a few things... like how did I lose the memories in the first place? How did they change my mind temporarily? How did none of it get noticed by the System? How the hell did it mess with the code so badly I got a second personality for a little bit before it offed itself in my head? How did no players notice this? How did no reporters or news companies accidentally pick up on it? How did Origin do it? Why did Origin do it?

Ugh... that's a lot of questions, on just that subject alone...

Two pillars left... one of these is StarDuster, if one sludge pillar gets destroyed then I could float down the sludge back to the game early?

How would that work... Would I just be revived? What about the event?

Oh... I'm nervous...

Maybe revival... means that my something else then putting me back into StarDuster, I couldn't think of anything else though... and beyond that, why would the system need an event to bring me out of whatever this place is... and beyond that, why did the floor fall... why did it happen when I said Helious?

Did I get it wrong?

Like... is he not Helious?

Maybe I have to get sent here again and answer with something else...

I actually... don't want to be here again though.