As stated previously, you have been assigned an ASSISTANT. This ASSISTANT will provide a variety of helpful functions to assist to you complete your main goal. Make sure that you utilize them to the fullest.

Connecting to your Assistant in 3…

2…

1…

…

Hello, world! Hello, User Kyle Licht! I am your brand new, trusty Assistant!

Nice to meet you!

I slept. I dreamt.

There was pleasant stillness at first. My slumber drifted downstream, mute and blind, unaware and uncaring of reality passing by. Fragments of color bobbed along the surface occasionally, conjuring scenes in my mind. Great walls of red and orange overtook a battleground where insurgents and mercenaries fought for dominance. Cash rained down from the sky. I sat behind a rock, chugging down vodka with a talking corpse. He had a squished face of two of my former mates together. We had a pleasant discussion about ethics.

Then, the bubble popped and I forgot it all. Back to the restful oblivion.

Nice to meet you!

User Kyle Licht? Are you there? Hello?

Can you hear me right now?

No…?

There were patches of awareness. I woke up, only to find a numb shell encasing my vitality. Bright lights. Sterile disinfectant-washed ceilings and floors. A blanket of clean bandages covering folds of my burned skin. Blurred figures in nurse outfits and lab coats muttered to each other around me and behind glass panels. The walls smelled of fresh mint and dried blood.

“…one of the first to be dragged out by the Firewatchers…”

“…Impurity must’ve been in the process of hurting him…”

“…observation and quarantine…four days…injuries will take longer…”

It was morning. It was night. It was somewhere in between. A clock lay on my bedside table, but when I turned to look at it, I saw nothing but incomprehensible figures on its display. Too tired to think. Wanted to rest. I had just fought a real monster and lived.

…

Oh, I see.

You’re having difficulties staying conscious. Understandable, given your performance in . Please do not take as an insult! I thought you did quite well, considering you chose Very Hard difficulty.

However, as your Assistant I cannot allow you to waste time like this.

Please hold on. This may take time to adjust.

…

…

My eyes snapped open. The five main senses assaulted me at once. A cinema stage stood ahead of me, its holographic projections buzzing soft in its ready state. The chairs were comfortable, plush and dyed crimson. A bucket of fresh popcorn and a can of brandless lager sat on a flip-out table to my right. The delicious buttery smell took the edge of a background stink of aged sugar and fresh varnish.

My instincts shuddered to life. I sat up, jerking my head left and right. Exits: two glowing green signs behind rows of chairs. Inventory: Nothing but my own clothes. INTERFACE OS: I reached out for the mental hooks and—

“Hello, User Kyle Licht!”

I whirled around. A blonde girl was waiting in front of me. She was a head shorter than me and I had to crane my neck slightly down. Our eyes met and she smiled, cheerful, wide and off-putting.

“It’s so nice to meet you!” She exclaimed, then waved. Her teeth were pure white to be real. Gloved hands, tied by small black ribbons, were clasped on a white pinafore, attached to a knee-length, sky-blue dress. The rest of her posture, from the tip-most strand of sleek golden-blonde hair down to her leather shoes, was completely still.

My last encounter with a not-human teenage-girl flashed through my head. The popcorn and beer were flung aside as I retreated in a flash.

Interface, give me my handgun! I shouted as I brought my hands up. Nothing happened. I discarded that train of thought and curled fists, then dropped them in front of me as I bent my knees for a right hook…

…only to find that the girl was not attacking me. Instead, she was leaning forward with her arms outstretched. My handgun rested in the center of her palms.

“Here you go, User Kyle Licht. Your MONO-III Machina 10mm Handgun, as requested. Unfortunately, since this is a dream, it will not function as you expect.” Her voice was a mix of machine-generated speech and a young girl’s whimsy. It was fast and fluent, each beat laden with a rough artificial tinge. Take a dozen children speaking, run them through a complex neural network and her voice would leave on the other side. “You have 1 Inventory slots left.”

I stared, dumbfounded. How had she confiscated my handgun in the first place? Was she trying to play me with this? The girl held her position, continuing to gaze at me with bright blue eyes. An outer, mechanical ring surrounded each iris. I grabbed the snatched it as fast as a viper’s strike.

“Who are you?” I demanded as I flipped off the safety. “Where am I? Answers, now!”

“I am your INTERFACE-OS-mandated Assistant. You may call me ALICE. As I said earlier, it’s so nice to meet you, User Kyle Licht!” The girl answered. She curtseyed. Her skin passed under the projector light. It was without blemish or markings in its plastic smoothness. “As your Assistant, I will support you in all efforts, activities and actions undertaken towards INTERFACE-OS’s ultimate mission—the suppression, research and handling of Impurities. Whatever your approach may be, I shall assist with it!”

Assistant? Right, a ‘Very Hard mode’ restriction was placed upon me before entry. Said I wouldn’t receive them until I completed the first tutorial mission.

“Just to confirm, you won’t harm me, right?” I said.

“Goodness, no!” The girl said. “If anything, we shall harm the Impurities together!”

I put my handgun away. She didn’t sound like she was lying. I also had the impression that if she wanted me gone, I already would be.

“As for your second question, we are within your dreams. It was imperative that we be introduced to each other, yet you were incapacitated from your conflict with the Impurity, hence this method of communication.” She gestured to the movie stage. “This was conjured from your mindscape. I merely adopted it for these purposes.”

I rubbed my forehead. “I have a lot of questions.” I said.

“Feel free to ask as many as you want! I am here for you 24/7.”

Yeah, as if I wanted to get bombarded with more information after that nightmare. “So, Alice—"

“ALICE.” The girl interjected.

“That’s what I said, Alice—”

“ALICE.” She repeated. “There are many Alices amongst humanity, but there is only one ALICE—me! Please refer to me in this manner to differentiate myself from the regular Alices.”

“Sorry, ALICE.” She nodded in response. The inspiration behind her design was obvious. Why that story of all classical literature, though? Whatever. “Let me get this straight. If you had been with me from the start, I wouldn’t be so banged up now?”

“Correct! Had I been with you for , I would have helped you detect the Impurity much earlier, as well as provided assistance as to which Stats to upgrade. I would have also advised you to eliminate all hostiles from the building to reduce risk and acquire more EXP. It’s a shame that we’ve missed out on those extra levels, but considering you had no guidance, I thought you did very well!”

In other words, she would have wanted me to kill all the gangers. The implication was that I could have done so without putting myself in mortal peril.

“Guess that’s what I get for having Very Hard forced on me…just my luck.” I grumbled.

“I don’t understand what you mean by having the difficulty ‘forced’ upon you. Were you unable to select it?”

“It glitched out.”

“That’s no good!” ALICE frowned. “You should raise a defect with the developers.”

“Right.” I sat down on the chair earlier and gave the popcorn a look of pity. Too bad it was ruined. It smelled nice. No, I wasn’t about to eat food from the floor, even if this was a dream.

“Do you have more questions?”

“Nah, I’m putting a raincheck on that. You have a lot of functions, yeah?”

“Correct. For example, I will be maintaining the Inventory system, as I demonstrated earlier.”

“I’m gonna be stuck in hospital for a long time.” I said. “A man doesn’t shrug just off third-degree burns. You can tell me then. Might take my mind off the pain.”

“As you wish. Very well, let us proceed with the main event. There is something that you must be shown.” ALICE said.

“What’s that?”

“The state of the world, that you’re in. Take a seat!” She plopped down next to me. Her pantyhose-covered legs dangled some distance above the carpeted ground.

The lights dimmed. A holographic projector flashed into life, projecting a three-dimensional movie as an immersive, three-sixty degree hologram. Cinema technology had long since ditched flat-screen watching. Now it was all about the immersive experience and what better to accomplish this by having it present on all sides? Well, there was VR. Sometimes a man didn’t want to fry his brain for hours, though.

The story played with no opening credits or music. I saw Earth rotate through space, a pristine sphere of life and glory amidst a vast desolate emptiness. The camera zoomed towards it, passing the stratosphere and plunging down towards ground level.

The current scene was a night street within the United States. Advertisements in colorful slogans and chirpy jingles played on massive holo-boards on tall skyscrapers. The 5pm rush flowed through the streets, illuminated by millions of holo-mobiles accompanied by the lights of the urban jungle. Hurried salarymen, police officers, chatting students crossed past traffic lights and entered underground subways. A background ambience of chatter soaked into the air.

YEAR: 2035

HUMANITY: DOMINANT SPECIES OF THE PLANET. POPULATION: 9.7 BILLION AND EXPANDING.

The camera navigated past the busy streets and towards a high-rise building. It entered a set of automatic doors towards a poorly maintained reception. A woman in e-shades and a business suit answered calls on a phone, as several pedestrians lined up in front of the desk with complaints in their hands. Cracks lurked behind the beige wallpaper. Behind the desk, the holographic symbol of the globe cradled in two hands flickered in and out of existence.

IEHAR: INTERNATIONAL EFFORT FOR HUMANITARIAN AID AND RELIEF.

AN ORDINARY CHARITY ORGANISATION ON THE SURFACE. BUT DEEP BELOW…

A man slammed a paper on the desk. Yelling occurred. The receptionist hurried to placate him. A reporter crew entered the building, equipment already rolling. What did IEHAR intend to do about the crisis in South Africa and the lost personnel? The question would never be answered, because the movie camera was already ascending away

The office vanished. It flung past the walls of the office building and all the day down an elevator shaft. A dark tunnel awaited at the bottom. Secured doors switched lights from red to green as the invisible camera-holder barged past them. Faster and faster and faster it went until suddenly, it all screeched to a halt in a massive atrium.

Once again, there was a receptionist. The logo of globe and two hands was there too. But whereas the previous location had been harried and understaffed, the atrium and its workers were spotless and driven. The logo stood proud, a symbol of the employees to aspire to.

THERE IS MORE TO HUMANITARIAN AID THAN WHAT THE PUBLIC BELIEVES. THE WORST DANGERS ARE THOSE OF THE ANOMALOUS, WHOSE EXISTENCE CANNOT BE REVEALED.

The tour through the clandestine facility. We travelled down corridors, through lifts, up escalators and along balconies. A researcher in a white lab coat discussed theories with fervor with his colleagues. Manned security guards in heavy black combat armor patrolled the perimeter. Engineers welded two pieces of glistening metal shut, sending purple sparks across their work floor.

“Level 3 clearance has been assigned to Researcher Brown…”

“TS-34AE, interact with IO-OBJ-123 or your sentence will be extended. You have five seconds to comply!”

“IST-Tzaddi-13 is departing to secure Outpost-044…”

AND THE WORST OF THE ANOMALOUS: THE IMPURITIES. REALITY-DISTORTERS, HUMAN-HOSTILE, THE MOST COMMON TYPE OF ANOMALIES. THEIR SUPPRESSION IS CRITICAL TO HUMANITY’S SURVIVAL.

The camera passed by rows of cells, each one containing those anomalous objects. All seemed to contain scenery that should logically not fit inside the cell’s dimensions. And yet, it was still reality.

And outside the windows of this secret facility, the city moved throughout its ordinary life, as its ordinary citizens complied with ordinary laws to keep themselves safe from ordinary citizens. It was a world of anomalies and unthinkable wonder, contained and locked away by this one clandestine organization. It was the final layer of the iceberg that not even I, with all my experience and knowledge, had ever dreamed to think about.

We were in an auditorium, where a shadowy figure roused the members of IEHAR with a speech. The researchers

The men and women in the audience beamed with pride. I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy. These people knew what they were doing well in life. I hadn’t.

“But, our work is not done! We must not grow complacent, for there are still many Impurities lurking throughout the world! We shall endeavor to suppress and research them as best we can! Let us greet the new year with courage and fervor!”

“Humanity’s path is lined with thorns, thanks to the impure. Let us, the silent vanguards of the world face down and destroy them against of time. Only then, shall humanity be led into a bright dawn!”

The entire auditorium cheered. It echoed around the walls into a mass of sound and clapping. The floor shifted beneath my feet. I tripped and rolled across a changing ground, coming to a stop against a metal wall. There was that old familiar smell, of freshly shed blood and the burn traces from energy weapons.

A siren shrieked. The hallway was dark and trembling. The shouts of people echoed in the distance.

“WARNING: THE AREA IS IN FULL LOCKDOWN! MULTIPLE HAVOC AND BLACK-LEVEL IMPURITIES ARE HAVE BEEN BREACHED. ALL PERSONNEL ARE TO HEAD TO THE WEST WING FOR SECURITY AND SAFETY—”

“MULTIPLE HAVOC-LEVEL BREACHES ARE OCCURING! IO-OTH-1001 HAS TAKEN OVER THE EAST! RLG-003 IS RAMPAGING THROUGH BASE LEVEL 2F! IO-HMN-001 AND IO-MCH-999 ARE COMBATTING THROUGH THE—”

“SINGULARITY DEVICE HAS BEEN ACTIVATED. ALL EXITS HAVE BEEN SEALED. WE THANK ALL PERSONNEL FOR THEIR TIRELESS EFFORTS AND WISH THEM A—”

Gunfire. Screams. I stood there, frozen, as something in the distance tore off flesh and sent blood spraying everywhere. Someone screamed and rushed past me as another terrible being chased them. The wall came down, splitting the logo in half.

A black hole sucked everything in, from the monsters down to the very last speck of dust. And then the monsters regenerated.

The scene changed again. Simulatneous events, as if strung together by a chain reaction.

A volcano erupted, spreading ash and fire upon the America of old. A terrible black rain spreading disease and pestilence among fertile ground. Lives old and young were swept away in a manufactured storm. Devastating explosions, only could’ve come from nuclear devices. What that organisation had so desperately tried to contain was now free to wreak its havoc on the world

Finally, the last scene, of me fighting against the girl on fire. Fade to black.

YEAR: 2051. HUMANITY’S POPULATION: 2 BILLION.

WHAT WAS ONCE CONTAINED IS NOW FREE AND REFUSES TO BE CONTAINED AGAIN.

DESPITE THAT, HUMANITY STRUGGLES DOWN THE THORNY PATH TO ITS FUTURE, ASSAULTED ON ALL ENDS BY IMPURITIES.

THE MISSION MUST BE CARRIED OUT. IMPURITIES MUST BE SUPPRESSED. FIND THEM, RESEARCH AND SUPPRESS THEM DOWN TO THE VERY LAST ONE.

THAT IS YOUR MISSION, KYLE LICHT.

The movie flicked off. ALICE stared at me.

“Well, fuck.” I muttered.