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**THE CHRONICLES OF FINALGAMER

Quad-R.O**

A guest story written by James Corck

It was cold. James felt something pulling from his stomach, a feeling you usually have when you fall really fast. At that speed, your internal organs fall so quick with you it's like having them being pulled out of your throat. He was surrounded by darkness, unable to see where he was. He felt his surroundings and managed to touch a wall. It was rough textured, like rock. Right when he was going to set foot on the floor, his whole body slammed against a surface, plucking the air out of his lungs. He wasn't falling anymore.

A blinding light made the cubicle where he was white and harmful to his eyes. Covering them with a hand, he stood up and walked towards the light with his free hand extended. He touched another wall, same texture, but this one was transparent. When his eyes got used to the light, he saw right in front of him, the face of a person. But the face was huge, big as a double-decker, and pixelated. The face looked blankly to James, emotionless, and this made the raptor worry even more. He looked around again and realized that the entire room where he was became transparent. He could see there were more rooms around his, all full with people of different races and species, ages and sizes. Was this a zoo? What was it? His mind was a mess, he was unable to piece it together.

Then, he heard the thud. A powerful noise deafening enough to make his brain hurt. He looked up and saw another cage falling on top of his. And right when that happened, a flashing explosion sneaked up and took away the rooms that were five stories under him. He could see them through the other rooms, blowing up in a deflagration of fire and debris that left no remains of the people inside. He panicked. He didn't want to die, so he curled himself up in a corner, scared and confused, not knowing what to do or where to go. Where to go? He could teleport and get out of there, he could escape! But would he have enough time and the sufficient concentration to open a portal in such place? First and foremost, he had to isolate his mind from there.

He tried to forget about where he was. The cube-shaped room. The people trapped. The thuds of other cells and blocks falling on top of him. That emotionless face looking directly at him. He had to escape. He wanted to get out of there. It was cold. He felt the teleport about to warp him, the portal opening, but a violent explosion shook his room and made him lose balance, throwing him back and forth. Now the entire row of blocks under him disappeared, and James could see the bottom of wherever he was supposed to be. There was a thin layer of powder on the bottom. He realized it was the ashes of those who died. He wasn't going to go through that. He needed to escape. Regardless of the rest of the people, he treasured his life and he knew how to escape.

He focused again, ignoring the noises and the now increasing screams of those above him who, like James, didn't want to die. This time the portal opened faster than before, as the thuds were coming from high above him and were barely audible. With a cracking noise of lightning and the feeling of having not enough time burning through his mind, envisioning a clock ticking down to his death when he closed his eyes, James managed to cross through the portal and escape, right in time before another row of cells fell on his room and cleared it with a violent explosion.

James' visit to this world was an exception. A mathematical error, of a sort. Those who were not him, weren't so lucky. They couldn't do what he did, put the pieces together and win their freedom. This happens to everybody, everywhere, at any time. Because sometimes, you just can't put the pieces together. Because you know that in the game of life, you can't win. And yet, you won't stop playing.