Emperor

(皇帝)

On a single chilly evening, as the rumbling life of human civilization slowly comes to its rest, a group of young friends, scattered across the world, yet have gathered together by the magical means of the Web. Conversing about trivial manners, occasionally arguing in-between, but ultimately a gathering of kind-hearted people.

“Khem” – a rumbling voice suddenly interrupts the growing chaos of over 20 people.

“It took me a long time, but I must thank you all for coming here today for me.” – as the same voice tries to silencing the rest.

More conversing, laughter.

“KHEM!” – the sheer volume of this shout, almost impossibly loud, causes a few people to drop their headphones, finding themselves unable to speak or react but eventually regained their senses. A few people seemed to have anticipated this already, firmly waiting for the man to speak. A low mumble and the sound of scribbling could be heard in a darkened room on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, alongside the key printing from other people of the North. A man suddenly tries to speak, yell out, but cannot find his own voice.

“Do not worry.” – The same voice pierces everyone’s minds – “You will be able to speak shortly. This is not a game or a joke. I have brought you all here today to offer you a choice.” – The silence becomes overbearing, some hearing the rising thunder outside their windows without any rain.

“Under your mousepads – there is a singular letter.” – This time, some start understanding the speech as if it was their own.

“Read it, analyze it, make a decision. You are not to leave your rooms or houses, do not try shouting or calling. You have 30 minutes. If you decline the invitation or do not make a choice within that time, your memory of this event will be erased and your life will turn back into a normal, boring everyday grind for wealth. Everything will be as it was. I will be here for you all. The time starts now.”

As the voice stopped speaking, many lights on different sides of the world turned off, and people regained their voices.

“What the fuck is going on?” – a man from the Netherlands said.

“This is actually mental…”

“Dude, what the actual fuck?”

“Holy shit, I can’t believe this is actually happening boys” – a man from Portugal adds.

People start heavily speaking over each other, some cheering, some – quietly thinking. Eventually, all of them sigh in surprise when they look under their mousepads to find a singular piece of ancient, crumbly parchment.

“So Nick is actually THE DM, ahah..” – another voice adds in while reading the paper.

“Fuck me, dude...”

A group of people starts silently conversing with each other on this matter. A pair of people have not made a sound or said a word since the start.

“Nick, are you here?” – a Nordic man shouts out.

“Yes.”

“Is this for real?”

“Absolutely. You have experienced an imaginary world, but now that world may come to life, depending on your decisions.”

Everyone goes silent yet again.

Five minutes pass. In a unison, three people shout out “WE ACCEPT!”.

“Hahah!” – the same commanding voice chuckles in response, delightfully.

“I will see you on the other side, where we can talk about this more. Welcome, friends.”

With that and a low thump, the four people grew silent once more.

Another ten minutes pass that, a woman speaks out:

“Will I ever be able to see my friends and family ever again?”

“That depends on how hard you prevail and if you truly wish to. Anything is possible, however, I will never bring you back myself.”

…..

A soft cry is heard, as the same woman whispers “Accept.” With it, nobody hears any more sound from her.

“Are you hesitating, Stheffen?” – the man addresses another Northerner.

“I.. I don’t know what to do…”

“Do not worry, as long as you are willing to, my dear friend, I will help you in your struggles, I promise. This world is not suited for people like you.”

A moment passes, as he says: “I accept.”

Another five minutes, a man says: “I am sorry, Nick, but I cannot accept this. Sorry to everyone. Have fun.”

With that, he grew silent once more.

“Ten minutes.” – the blood of most started racing.

“Five minutes.” – the voice seems to get more aggressive.

“One minute.”

“WE ACCEPT” – in another succession, the rest of the people start shouting out one by one and growing silent in the process.

The man turns his attention to the remaining two.

“Do we do it, Sev?”

“Uhh... Fuck it.”

“WE ACCEPT, yeah.”

In rapid succession, in a blink of an eye, through the rushing of fast wind, through the passing of distant starts, one by one appear in a large space.

A large room, decorated and adorned with a numerous amount of paintings, gilded furniture and chandeliers rising almost hundreds of meters tall to the sky-high wooden ceiling, was present. A set of enormous golden-wood double-doors sit on both sides of this football-field size space, decorated by all sorts and manners of carvings. In the dead middle, stretching from one end to the other is a wide, but normal-height black-wood table, with over a hundred of blue chairs adorning its sides. On a singular end of the table sits a gilded throne, covered in red-silk pillows and other carvings.

“This is actually pretty gigantic” – one of the people stars the conversation.

“WOAH, HOLY SHIT, THIS IS INSANE!” – a man named Christopher yells out while looking at the other three compatriots next to him.

“Yup. Definitely real.” – a man named Mons sighs in relief.

"Ayyyyy, what's up!" - many people start walking over to each other, some meeting for the first time. A few figures stand in this confrontation by themselves, scattered across the room.

"We've already met, Mons, but damn these are some different circumstances."

"Shit, forgot to turn off my stove, can I go back?"

"Oh no, this is so like DnD, for fuck's sake."

Involuntarily, the tens of people here formed 4 groups with the people they are most comfortable with, and start talking to each other, while walking around and inspecting the interior of this chamber.

Another man clenches his fist, and then mumbles: “Don’t have magic, dang.”

A minute or so passes, as the huge wooden doors slowly open, shaking the walls around it. A set of footsteps, echoing through the wooden hallway, greet the newcomers.

“Welcome, welcome! Ahah!” – A tall but slender black-coated human walks inside the chambers, as the doors behind him close on their own.

The appearance of the figure is shallow, with minimal detail, but strange nonetheless: his arms are elongated, while his slender form is mostly covered by a layer of black-silk robes, as well as a white-porcelain mask on his face. One cannot see his feet or any other features, being covered by the cloth.

For the first time, everyone present in the room took a step back, as a new sensation hit their bodies. A heavenly, yet powerful presence in front of them, even though they clearly see a featureless slender humanoid. The group of four simultaneously smiled.

While no one can see the eyes of the creature, they can clearly sense an unknown presence piercing through their bodies, almost analyzing their entire being. Half of the people present immediately lose their consciousness under the pressure, but regain it seconds after.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m ok, don’t worry… Did you also feel that?”

“Of course I did.”

“Please, sit down, today you all are my guests! I cannot wait to hear what’s on your minds! As a token of celebration, you can have whatever food you would like! Just sit firmly and yell out whatever dish you’d like, ahah!” – The man slowly walked over and sat down at the throne-like chair.

The rest of the people also quickly followed suit. Some chose a place to sit further away from the creature, some swiftly took the places nearest to him.

A young man from the land of the Brits, as he sat at one of the further chairs, yells out: “Pork, medium-rare! And some whiskey!”

With a flash of blue light in front of him, following the pleasant smell of cooked meat and fresh alcohol, his desires appeared on the table.

Everybody in the room took a deep breath in excitement, as they all start yelling out different dishes and drinks that they wish to have.

A man by the name of Liam, while hysterically laughing, keeps yelling out “Burger!”, filling the table with the hard-meaty dish all across. After twenty tries, he finally stopped, took one of the plates and dug right into it.

“Enjoy yourselves! Do not worry about a thing right now.”