Surrounded by many friends and lovers, Aia has always felt lonely. Changing appearance many times, she always felt like she is not enough. Life was passing away, while Aia spent all of her time in the next generation metaverse called Elysium, a real...
No matter in which location I go, he always turned out to be right there. He appeared as if from nowhere. In the circle of my virtual acquaintances, we called him the Shaman. A dark-haired, bearded guy of twenty-seven, who loves beat-up brands like Gucci, always carrying around a bunch of useless shiny accessories, a huge speaker instead of a shoulder bag, all crammed with tattoos, not letting go of a cigarette from his fingers.
Shaman's voice is rough and hoarse (most likely due to the fact that his manner of speaking is "screaming" or even "deafeningly yelling"). Shaman loves to listen to music and hang out (which most of the players do), but the Shaman's biggest trait is being overly talkative. Strange to admit, but even this definition sounds too soft to convey what this guy is like.
Shaman likes to sit down with some company and start talking loudly, shutting up and shouting over everyone. There is such an interesting type of people who only tell everyone about the conspiracy of the Masons (by the way, Mason was his first nickname given by us), reptilians, the imminent eruption of the Yellowstone volcano, the approach of some kind of monster asteroid to the Earth, or that the Moon will soon disappear from the sky, and so much more.
In addition to this chatter, in the metaverse he likes to photograph girls for their accounts, positioning himself as a talented photographer. By the way, he's not lying. Shaman's photographer skills are really well, so there are a lot of people who want to get into his screenshot, the only problem is that Shaman himself, as a person, is very exhausting. A kind of energy vampire (he also talked a lot about them). He carefully hides his MBTI status by setting up complete confidentiality.
So today, he appears in one of the rooms where I was brought by accident, and when he sees me, he naturally doesn't miss the opportunity to get hooked and start talking. While I'm trying to sketch on the tablet the idea of the next location that I have to create, snippets of his phrases reach me:
"Do you know that the starry sky is a laser projection? Have you ever paid attention to the fact that when you look at the sky from the earth, it is stellar, and when you fly at night on an airplane, there is not a single star at all? It's all a conspiracy! People never flew anywhere. Not in space, not on the moon. The ISS is a mess, a show made for people, and Elon Musk's private space rockets in 2020 are a PR stunt to promote his business. They don't tell us the truth. Black matter is a hoax."
I try hard to focus on my work, but he yells hoarsely in my ear because the music playing in the bar seems too loud to him.
"They say that in "Elysium" there are people-bots, that is, users who don't exist in reality. It's all artificial intelligence. Just think about it, I'm sitting here with you, talking about life, and then you find out that I'm not a user at all, but part of this metaverse, and all this is a lie, everything that you see is a lie!"
Shaman pokes some kind of bottle in my face.
"Do you know what it is? Local analogue of ayahuasca. This shit helps you to know life! In South America, shamans removed blocks of consciousness with this rubbish, it raises your vibrations, you should try it! It prepares your whole essence for changes and awareness, you will understand everything at once, if something disturbs you!"
My nerves are on edge. I get tired of him too quickly, especially now. Shaman has a pressing energy. We used to listen to it without plugging it, but now I'm definitely not in that state.
"Listen, Shaman, shut up! I have to work, and here you are with your delusional inventions, eating sheep drugs, then talking nonsense! Throw it out of your head! And how your wife only tolerates you..."
Yes, Shaman has a wife, a calm and nice young woman three years older than him. She also often comes here, but most often she just sits in his shadow. It has always been a surprise to us that someone has the strength to endure this dude. No, maybe he is a good person, but his brains are clearly eaten by acid.
"Yuno, if you think the world is the way you see it, then there will be a big disappointment for you. Until you yourself understand the nature of life, you do not gain experience, you will remain within your limits. You need to be aware!" His voice is hoarse, he pats me reassuringly on the shoulder and disappears. Probably moved to look for interlocutors in another location.
And yet his last words had a strange effect on me. I put my tablet away and look around. Twilight. Players sit around, drink and communicate with each other; the purple light is muted by a tropical mist, probably from the moisture of the plants that separate the tables with walls; a huge snake writhing under my feet that crawls from visitor to visitor, and grass grows instead of a floor. Someone puts sushi on my table, a can of beer left unfinished by Shaman was nearby. It disappears after two seconds.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"You have to be aware."
And how to understand what is meant by this awareness? Assess what is happening around and understand that all this is a fake? So I know this without Shaman's advices. What did he even want to say?I turn off the choker and return to reality, realizing that I need a break from all of this.
