Loris awoke in a daze. Not to change, he had just re-experienced his drowning nightmare. Again.

More than the usual ill-being that permeated his mind every morning, a new void demoralised his empty self. Almost as if something essential within him had been removed. Something vital.

Simply focusing on this sensation gave him an uneasiness he preferred to escape, which he promptly did.

Yet, opening his eyes, Loris stood rooted to the spot. The ground, the horizon, the sky, everything was nothing but an endless white void.

So that’s what he was missing! The cosy massages of his angelic bed. Unfortunately, this apparent dream did not seem to provide any. Still strange, as he couldn’t have been more aware. If he was effectively dreaming, it would be his first mindfulness one.

He blinked once to…. what wait, what was he doing? Despite the urge to do something, he could not remember. An unpleasant sensation he dismissed before scanning his surroundings. An endless white void stretched as far as his eye could see. Loris chuckled, amused by this apparent dream. If his guess proved correct, this would be his first mindful. A little unsettling, but he sensed no danger.

Rethinking about it, it could only be a dream. Physically speaking, nothing could explain a white void. Maybe a trompe l’œil if she was pranking him with a gloomy joke - typical of ‘Stasia. No, no, it couldn’t. This wasn’t light, as everything was night-black a few moments ago—before he opened his eyes. To make sure, he blinked.

…

Reopening his eyes, Loris saw an unending blank space. Surprisingly, a sense of familiarity overwhelmed him. More than a sense of déjà vu, it felt like he had seen this universe-wide white pristine setting millions, not billions, of times. Nothing that he could remember.

Besides that, profound loneliness overwhelmed him. Quite odd since he spent his days alone at home, his friends training most of their time to maintain their Olympic level. Yet he craved some presence as if he had spent desolate decades. Okay, the void couldn’t be emptier, but his first mindful dream had started moments ago, nothing to cry about. Still, he couldn’t help, hungry for social interactions, his irrational self sought someone familiar to the right, then to the left.

As he glanced around in senseless hope, two presences emerged. Strange, there was nothing beforehand. In an instant, both figures turned clear and distinguishable. Yet, they shared the same stock-still, emotionless stature. “Fabrice, Anastasia!” Loris exclaimed.

The two wax doll-like figures did not react. Tongue-tied Loris cautiously approached them. For some reason, his eyes hurt, compelling him to blink, but he did not. Just on a hunch.

Loris reached for Anastasia’s shoulder. Yet, he passed through it, through her as if she was a hologram. Eyes on stalks, he agitated his hand through her ethereal body.

Nothing happened. Same for Fabrice.

Without a doubt, they weren’t his friends but mere deceptions. Both vanished.

He frowned. The more he thought about it, the less it made sense. Where was he, and why? Without notice, a small and rotational black diamond appeared.

The birthday boy was drawn to touch it as someone would grab an additional crisp. When he made physical contact, a holographic information window popped up.

[Status]

[Goals]

[Rewards (1)]

[Leaderboards]

[Q&A]

Another one popped out.

His eyebrows rose. It displayed the one that intrigued him the most. It couldn’t have been a coincidence. From his point of view, it was crystal clear. This pitch-black diamond, or whatever it was, could interpret his thoughts and act upon them. But what was it?

As Loris asked himself the question, the answer formed, word by word, before his eyes.

[A black diamond or Dark-Core is the ultimate gift given to individuals of the apex species belonging to a system that has reached its equilibrium point. It will grow and develop new functionalities as you score.]

Loris’ chocolate eyes grew wide, and his shining smile nearly reached his ears. It looked like a game. He loved that. The only question was how to score.

[As a first step, to score, a Sampler needs to set and achieve goals to climb the leaderboard.]

His smile dropped dead, taking away his ostensible interest. A leaderboard must refer to competition. He wouldn’t hate that much contests if it weren’t for his never-ending failures. He mentally loathed the cause of all his problems: his mother.

Interrupting his hate-filled thoughts, new words formed.

[It represents the ranking between each Sampler of the same system and is determined by score. Sub-leaderboards represent the ranking by specialisation.]

As he assumed. Loris couldn’t care more. What a shitty dream. No fun. What was the point of all this?

[In six months, a purification will occur. Up to 10% of the system’s initial Samplers will survive. The leaderboards ranking will play a determinant role.]

It must be a joke.

An unsettling feeling rose as he read the word purification. His breathing quickened, and his facial expressions shifted. Each new puff of air was released with more intensity.

Seeking reassurance, he slapped his face. Yet it had the opposite effect. The pain was very present. What if it wasn’t a dream.

The word ‘survive’ proved one too much. Loris shook so violently that his noodle legs couldn’t keep him upright. Both knees fell to the ground. As if his demons possessed him, the palm of his hands reached his eyes, blocking his vision.

An interminable howl disturbed the silence that had reigned in the place.

He rolled around, pacing back and forth as the tip of each of his fingers pressed hard on his head, allowing his nails to dig into his skull.

Blood flowed out.

In agony, he yelled with more power than his vocal cords could muster. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

With his bleeding eyes and veins ready to pop out his face, the gap between his fingers showed the monstrous gaze of a man willing to do anything to ease his torment. Anything.

He punched the ground. He smacked his skull. He shrieked. He screamed. He cried.

While facing his fathomless dread, unbeknownst to him, two giant boulders crushed and destroyed each other, making his languishing cries almost inaudible. A floating stream of water moved back and forth, twisting erratically. A rain of tears and blood materialised and formed puddles on the ground.

These phenomena occurred and grew in synchronicity with his panic attack. As if the world reacted to his emotions, or rather as if his emotions materialised.

After an everlasting torment, a bit of sanity manifested amidst his insanity. It allowed him to notice the changes in his vicinity.

Something was still wrong with him, but seconds by seconds, he calmed down.

During this process, the giant rocks ceased to clash, the water stream slowed down, and the weather calmed.

Within a few minutes, they all faded and vanished, leaving Loris alone in this white void that had an indistinguishable yet stable ground.

As he regained his senses, Loris was looking in front of him.

There was nothing.

Yet, what seemed to be a humanoid figure gradually materialised from the feet, giving way to long legs and, several minutes later, the head.

It was blurry, inconsistent, and much more unreal than the earlier two illusions. With no less than 1 metre 90, the figure was thin relative to its size. The figure’s shape and blurriness fluctuated as short, curly hair developed on its skull. Its instability intensified, and it disappeared within a few instants.

Loris’ face sparkled.

He could influence what was happening here; might it have any use. Who knows, maybe it was a dream, after all, Ah-ah. Still, the level of awareness and sensations he could experience was too intense and realistic for an ordinary dream. Anyway, It wasn’t the time to theorise.

From the corner of his eye, he noticed the black diamond, or rather, the Dark-Core. It’s the only thing that could give him any clue about the situation.

Two holographic screens appeared. Everything followed his will so far.

The first displayed a bunch of information about him, including his name, size and weight and all kinds of statistics, or sub-stats, as they were regrouped under six main statistics.

[Loris Gregorios]

[Size: 1.88 metre ]

[Weight: 81kg]

[Agility: 12.35 points]

[Constitution: 13.5 points]

[Strength: 12.13 points]

[Vitality: 12.8 points]

[Intelligence: 13.9 points]

[Perception: 14.6 points]

[Willpower: 29.3 points]

[Creativity: 44.1 points]

The second remained bland, exempt from all kinds of explanations.

[Goals: 0/3]

He put his thumb on his chin and index and middle fingers on his forehead—his usual thinking pose.

Once he decided, the screen uploaded.

[Goals: 3/3]

[1. Find at least 70% of the variables that influence the score of an accomplished goal.]

[2. Follow the Noflo training method for a day.]

[3. Follow the Noflo training method two days in a row.]

A third window popped up.

[The leaderboard is currently unavailable]

Loris sighed. The leaderboard could have included other species, increasing everyone’s odds of survival.

By habit, he swiped the holographic window screens. They disappeared.

He had a lot of unanswered questions, but whatever it was, this Dark-Core had nothing else to offer.

Loris blinked.

Is it a dream? With this infinite white void, it better be one, or he might die of dehydration in the following days.

Although developing coherent theories about why it was likely a dream from which he would soon wake up was easy and reassuring, it lacked certainty.

‘I can’t blame lady luck if I don’t bring her by my side.’ was one of his favourite sayings. Fighting against all odds and giving everything to provide the slightest additional benefit represented the mentality that had carried him in the past. Something he had not lived up to for three years. Sigh.

He couldn’t just wait or roam around, hoping for the best. No Merigenian would.

Thinking about it, the phenomena that appeared during his mental breakdown were true-to-life. He could vaguely remember the metallic smell of the blood, the dreadful sound of rocks crashing and the cold droplets filled with sadness.

Here is the solution!

Loris once again tried to materialise the figure of his dear friend. He failed the same way but figured out that it was intangible.

He stayed in place, trying to materialise illusions of all forms, yet they were even more inconsistent, blurry and colourless. After failing many times with no sign of improvement, he tried with basic commodities such as chairs and tables but changed his approach after similar results. He focused on simpler and smaller things, such as small traits, lines and basic shapes.

Several hours passed.

Loris was sitting on the ground, harbouring a neutral posture. Almost perfectly still, he looked ahead with a focused gaze.

A tiny grey dot appeared.

At first, it was utterly blurry; it looked out of place but quickly gained clarity. It became whiter during this process, and it was possible to see through it. The dot whitened so much that it was now almost indistinguishable from its surroundings.

Loris’ jaw twitched slightly, and he sweated a bit.

Suddenly, the whitening dot darkened. His facial muscles relaxed, and his lips raised, forming a small smile. The dot was now black but translucent.

A never-ending minute passed. No changes occurred.

Another minute passed.

Loris’ eyes grew wide.

The black blob became pitch black as it gained consistency, reaching opacity. Now, the sphere looked full, but its surface waved slightly.

He crossed his fingers. It couldn’t be another illusion!

After trying for endless hours, he ended up with this process he did not understand. It appeared instinctively as the right path to follow when all his attention focused on one thing: forming a tangible liquid.

He approached the sphere to grab it. Its surface deformed with the contact of his fingers. Jackpot! Loris sketched a smile, revealing his white frontal teeth.

The sphere was cold and a bit stickier than water. He put it in front of his nose, smelling it, then on the tip of his tongue. Odourless and tasteless.

There was no reason to drink it. Oddly enough, despite so much time passed, he wasn’t hungry nor thirsty. After this achievement, he wanted one thing: to recharge his batteries. With a good rest and more energy, maybe he could make water.

His focus relaxed, and the black sphere went through the opposite process of its creation. It became blurry and faded away.

As he lay down, a female voice echoed.

“Loris, LORIS, LORISSSSSS!”