A Gamer's Guide To Beating The Tutorial

So, another room had been converted. It looked pretty good.

“I’ll take care of things in your stead. And Mitt will ensure that you’re kept up to date. As far as I can tell, you aren’t sick with what Rat has, so that’s, you know… good.”

The room used to contain others, but they had been moved. It didn’t matter. It had been scrubbed and cleaned and fresh bedsheets and curtains had been brought in. The curtains waved at him from the window. They were pink.

“I was supposed to have a meeting today at eleven. Will you go in my stead?”

“No. I’m not… Heh, well, you know me, right? I’m not exactly a meetings type of guy. I’d rather just watch things. But I can’t, so… I think the best way to do this is if you write a list of people to be kept up to date, and I’ll tell them everything they need to know. Of course, I’ll hold a speech tomorrow to tell everyone that you—”

The world flashed with light and darkness and images of weaved intestines and flying claws and crashing windows and wind howling through dying dead killed hallways dashed through his brain with swords in hand shouting and screaming for him, kill, kill, kill, and his heart went cold, something cold going through it, stabbing him, killing him, making him cold, and dead, and—

“Moleman? Moleman, are you okay?”

“Today. Today. It has—it has to be today. You get it, right?”

Smile. Smile. He had to smile. Polite! Responsible, and pleasant to look at. And now, to truly express how delightful his company was—a laughter. Ha-ha-ha! That way, they would like him, and everything would go well.

“If you do it tomorrow, they might… You know… Haha! You know what they might do!”

“You mean, the…?”

The shadow painted across the room, the darkness slashed across the floor and up the walls, the shade that stared with eyes of yellow, wavered before him.

“Oh. Yeah. Those guys.”

A hum filled the room. Unpleasant. Horrible. Grating.

Smile! Smile. Always. Always smile.

“I think we should get rid of them. I’ve checked the numbers, and the amount of rations they’re gobbling up is really senseless. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention this, but I’ve been doing a bit of independent research, and house Fysh has been embezzling the rations. That is, selling them in return for services and things. It’s real bad. So, I’m thinking we should just get rid of them. It wouldn’t be too hard.”

“All of them?”

“Yeah, basically.”

The room was so pretty. The wallpapers were colorful, and had a floral pattern. It was like sitting in the middle of a meadow. And the view outside really wasn’t too bad. He could see all the way to the cathedral. It was such a gorgeous building. When he got better, and the city got better, and all this ended, he would have loved to come back to visit together with all his friends. Like going on a vacation. It was pretty similar to the German churches and cathedrals he used to visit while on vacation with his family. He’d never been too excited for them, but his brother was always very curious to see them. Beautiful. It was all so beautiful.

“Okay. Sounds good, Kitty.”

“Right. I’ll take care of that tonight. Do you think I should mention it in my speech?”

The clouds were pretty, too. Cottonballs in the sky. This one was a cat. That one was a mouse. And around they went—round and round and round and round.

“No, you don’t want them to be prepared. Do it quietly. If they catch on, they might retaliate together. The city wouldn’t be able to withstand that.”

“Good point. I’ll make sure it happens under wraps. Come morning, we’ll have one less thing to worry about, and the city will be none the wiser. Great!”

Sunny. Blue skies. Clouds. Pretty curtains.

“Yeah. It sure is.”

He wished he could fly. Far, far away. Into the beautiful blue tomorrow. On a cloud of cotton. With all his friends at his side. And there would be no shadows. And no nighttime. And no yesterdays to regret. And no tomorrows to fear. Only today.

And today was beautiful.