Cycle 15
Romi Decker stared up at the departure board.
17:46 — NOTTINGHAM — PLATFORM 6 — ON TIME
Four minutes.
She could make that.
Probably.
Buying coffee had been a mistake.
Romi abandoned the queue, pulled her backpack higher onto one shoulder and headed towards Platform Six. Her dark cherry-red hair caught beneath the strap.
“Seriously?”
She yanked it free.
Her phone buzzed.
Mum
Romi opened the message as she walked.
Can you grab milk on the way home? x
She typed back.
yeah x
Every screen in Ravensby Central went black.
Romi stopped.
The departure board died.
Ticket machines shut off.
The giant advert across the concourse disappeared.
Her phone went dark in her hand.
Then the lights followed.
“What the hell?”
People shouted.
Something crashed nearby.
A child started crying.
Romi stayed where she was. Walking through a packed station in complete darkness seemed like an excellent way to end up on the floor.
Her phone lit up.
Not normally.
Blue letters appeared against a black screen.
[CONNECTION ESTABLISHED.]
“What?”
Another display appeared directly in front of her.
Romi stepped backwards.
It followed.
A transparent blue rectangle hung in the air with nothing holding it there.
More appeared across the station.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
A man near the barriers waved his hand through one.
“Is everyone seeing this?”
“Yes!”
“What is it?”
“Some sort of hologram?”
Romi poked hers.
Her finger passed through.
The letters distorted around it, then snapped back into place.
“That’s weird.”
The message changed.
[WORLD SYSTEM CONNECTION ESTABLISHED.]
[RESET PROTOCOL INITIATED.]
Romi stopped poking it.
“Reset what?”
[WORLD SYNCHRONISATION IN PROGRESS.]
PLEASE REMAIN STILL.
A vibration travelled beneath her shoes.
Coffee cups rattled behind the kiosk.
The overhead signs shook.
People started heading for the exits.
Romi grabbed her backpack strap.
“Yeah, I’m not remaining still.”
She took one step.
The world stopped.
No station.
No shouting.
No floor beneath her shoes.
White filled everything.
Then Ravensby Central came back.
Romi hit the railing beside her.
Noise returned with it.
People yelling.
An alarm somewhere overhead.
A suitcase rolled across the concourse before tipping onto its side.
Romi steadied herself.
She was in a train station.
Obviously.
She knew what trains were.
She could read the signs.
She knew Nottingham was a city.
She understood the announcement telling passengers that services had been suspended.
Her phone was still in her hand.
She knew how to use that too.
Her thumb unlocked it automatically.
Romi stopped.
Whose phone was this?
She turned it over.
Black case.
Small scratch beside the camera.
Nothing.
She looked at herself.
Black jacket.
Jeans.
Trainers.
Backpack.
All familiar things.
None of them told her anything.
Who was she?
She searched for a name.
There wasn’t one.
Where did she live?
Nothing.
Why was she at the station?
Nothing.
She looked up.
17:46 — NOTTINGHAM — PLATFORM 6
She’d been going to Nottingham.
She knew that much.
Except she didn’t know why.
“What the hell?”
Her phone was open to a conversation.
Mum
The latest messages were right there.
Mum:Can you grab milk on the way home? xYou:yeah x
Romi read them again.
Mum.
She knew what the word meant.
She had no idea who the woman was.
She scrolled upwards.
Mum:Don’t forget your charger this time
You:I forgot it ONCE
Mum:Three times
You:lies and slander
More messages.
Dinner.
Shopping.
A photo of somebody’s burnt toast.
Reminders.
Arguments about washing.
Random hearts.
Years of a relationship sitting in her hand.
Nothing in her head.
Around her, other people had started doing the same thing.
A woman stared at her phone.
“Who’s David?”
A man beside her said, “I don’t know.”
“He’s saved as my husband.”
Another voice cut across them.
“I don’t know my own bloody name!”
Romi looked around.
Right.
Not just her.
The floating blue display returned.
[RESET COMPLETE.]
Romi looked from it to the messages on her phone.
“You did this.”
[WORLD SYSTEM INITIALISATION: 97%]
“What did you reset?”
98%.
“Give them back.”
99%.
The System didn’t respond.
100%.
The panel expanded.
[WORLD SYSTEM INITIALISATION COMPLETE.]
WELCOME, PLAYERS.
“No bloody way!”
A teenage boy nearby was grinning at his screen.
“This is like a game.”
A woman snapped, “I don’t know who my husband is!”
His grin disappeared.
“Right. Yeah. That’s bad.”
A new notification appeared.
[PLAYER STATUS AVAILABLE.]
Think or saySTATUSto view.
Nobody seemed keen to volunteer.
Then someone shouted, “Status!”
A blue panel opened in front of him.
He read it.
“My name’s Daniel.”
That was enough.
“Status!”
“Open Status!”
“STATUS!”
Panels appeared everywhere.
Romi thought it.
Status.
Her own unfolded.
NAME: Romi Decker
LEVEL: 0
CLASS: NONE
SKILLS: 0
STRENGTH: 8
AGILITY: 9
VITALITY: 8
INTELLIGENCE: 11
PERCEPTION: 10
MANA: 0
COINS: 0
Romi went back to the first line.
Romi Decker.
“Romi.”
Nothing.
She tried the full name.
“Romi Decker.”
Still nothing.
Apparently she was Romi because a floating box said so.
Brilliant.
She opened her phone contacts and searchedDecker.
Several appeared.
Dad
Jax 🙄
Mum
No first names for her parents.
Very helpful, past Romi.
She opened her photos.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
She was in loads of them.
Same red hair. Same face.
There were other people too.
A boy.
A little girl.
A dark-haired woman.
A man pulling an idiotic face behind the woman while she tried to take a selfie.
Family, presumably.
She recognised none of them.
Romi locked the phone.
One crisis at a time.
People around her were comparing Status screens.
“I’m Level One.”
“Me too.”
“I’ve got Healer.”
“What’s Mana?”
“Mine says Mage!”
A huge bloke in a gym top stared at his display.
His mate leaned closer.
Then started laughing.
“What?”
“You’re a Bard.”
“What’s that?”
“I think you sing.”
“I don’t sing.”
“You do now.”
“I’ll hit you.”
“With a lute?”
“Shut up.”
Romi laughed.
Apparently having her entire personal history deleted hadn’t damaged her ability to enjoy someone else’s misfortune.
Useful.
Then she noticed something.
Everyone was saying Level One.
She looked at hers.
LEVEL: 0
“Why am I zero?”
The System answered immediately.
[ERROR.]
“Oh, good.”
Another line appeared.
[ERROR: USER ALREADY REGISTERED.]
Romi stared at it.
“Already registered where?”
Nothing.
“When?”
Nothing.
“Can I get an actual answer?”
The panel remained unchanged.
“You started the conversation.”
Still nothing.
“Rude.”
She dismissed it.
A woman walked past.
Information appeared above her.
MARGARET HILL
Level: 1
Class: Berserker
Title: —
Party: —
Romi blinked.
It vanished.
She focused on the woman again.
Back.
“Margaret?”
The woman turned.
“How do you know my name?”
Romi pointed vaguely above her.
“It says.”
Margaret concentrated on Romi.
“Oh.”
“What?”
“Romi Decker.”
So everyone could scan people.
Romi tried another.
ADAM PRICE
Level: 1
Class: Healer
Another.
KIERAN COLE
Level: 1
Class: Bard
Everyone she checked was Level One.
Until she reached the bloke by the pillar.
He looked about nineteen. Deep emerald-green hair swept back from his face, black jacket, backpack hanging from one shoulder.
Unlike nearly everyone else, he wasn’t looking terrified.
He was opening menus.
One after another.
“There’s an Inventory.”
The woman beside him ignored him.
He opened another.
“And Skills.”
Then another.
His eyebrows went up.
“There’s a Shop.”
Romi focused on him.
NAME: Trent Rider
LEVEL: —
CLASS: NPC
STATUS: Alive
DEATHS: 14
She forgot about the Shop.
Romi read the last line again.
Fourteen.
She checked someone beside him.
LEVEL: 1
CLASS: ARCHER
Back to Trent.
DEATHS: 14
“How?”
He looked over.
“Sorry?”
Romi walked towards him.
“Are you Trent?”
He checked his own Status.
“That’s what this thing claims.”
“I’m Romi.”
“I know.”
“You scanned me?”
“Everyone’s doing it.”
Fair enough.
“What’s your Level?”
“One.”
Romi checked again.
Dash.
“And your Class?”
“Swordsman.”
Hers said NPC.
Trent noticed.
“What?”
“Mine says you’re an NPC.”
He stared at her.
“I’m an NPC?”
“Apparently.”
“In my own life?”
“Apparently.”
“Bit bloody rude.”
Romi laughed.
He scanned her again.
“You’re Level zero.”
“I know.”
“No Class.”
“I’ve noticed.”
“So I’m an NPC and you haven’t even started the game.”
“Looks like it.”
“Great team.”
Romi looked at the bottom of his profile.
“There is something else.”
“That sounds promising.”
“It says you’ve died fourteen times.”
He stopped messing with his menu.
“I’ve what?”
“Died.”
“How many?”
“Fourteen.”
“That’s excessive.”
“You think?”
Trent opened his own Status.
“Mine doesn’t say that.”
“Mine does.”
“I don’t remember dying.”
“You don’t remember your own name.”
“Good point.”
Red text appeared beneath his profile.
[RESTRICTED INFORMATION DETECTED.]
DO NOT INFORM USER OF PREVIOUS ITERATIONS.
Romi read it.
Previous iterations.
Trent waved a hand.
“What did you get?”
“A warning.”
“About me?”
“Yes.”
“What does it say?”
“Not to tell you.”
“Obviously you’re going to tell me.”
The warning disappeared.
Trent opened his Shop again instead.
Romi stared at him.
“What are you doing?”
“Checking the Shop.”
“You’ve just found out you’ve died fourteen times.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“And there’s a Shop.”
Romi gave in and opened hers.
A row of tabs appeared.
STATUS | SKILLS | INVENTORY | MAP | QUESTS | PARTY | SHOP | SYSTEM
She selectedSHOP.
[SHOP ACCESS RESTRICTED.]
Complete System Orientation to unlock purchasing.
Below it sat a small wallet symbol.
COINS: 0
“Coins,” Romi said.
“Yeah.”
“What are they worth?”
“No idea.”
“What can you buy?”
“No idea.”
“Then why do you look pleased?”
“Because now I know there’s lootandsomewhere to spend money.”
“You have no money.”
“Yet.”
Romi closed it.
Trent didn’t.
“You’re going to be unbearable, aren’t you?”
“Probably.”
A notification appeared across the station.
[INITIAL PLAYER SETUP COMPLETE.]
WORLD MAP UNLOCKED.
Trent abandoned the Shop instantly.
“Oh, that’s cool.”
“Of course it is.”
“Romi, it’s a map floating in my face.”
She opened hers.
Ravensby spread across the display.
Roads.
Buildings.
Rail lines.
The river.
Large sections of the city were grey.
UNDISCOVERED
A house icon flashed.
HOME
Romi selected it.
REGISTERED HOUSEHOLD
Lena Decker — Mother
Owen Decker — Father
Jax Decker — Brother
Renny Decker — Sister
Romi Decker
Romi read the names.
Then opened her phone.
Mum.
She tapped the contact details.
Lena Decker.
There it was.
A phone number.
Years of messages.
Photos.
Proof.
And absolutely no memory of her.
“I found my mum.”
Trent looked over.
“You remember her?”
“No. The Map says Lena Decker is my mum. My phone says Mum.”
“That’s something.”
“I suppose.”
She checked the others.
Dad was Owen.
Jax had apparently sent her seventeen videos in the last two days.
Renny wasn’t in her contacts.
She found her in the photos instead.
Five years old.
Romi had a five-year-old sister.
Apparently.
Her phone buzzed.
For half a second she expected another System message.
Instead:
Mum: 👍
Romi stared at it.
Lena had replied to the milk message.
She was alive.
Somewhere in Ravensby, a woman Romi couldn’t remember was expecting her daughter to come home with milk.
“My mum still wants milk.”
Trent looked at the screen.
“Priorities.”
“I said I’d get it.”
“You don’t remember saying it.”
“It’s right there.”
Around them, people were discovering their own families.
“My Map says I’ve got a daughter.”
“Who’s Rebecca?”
“Apparently I’m married.”
“Why is my husband three streets away?”
Romi looked at Trent.
“What does yours say?”
His interest in the System finally faltered.
He turned his Map towards her.
HOME: UNKNOWN
FAMILY: UNKNOWN
ERROR: USER CLASSIFICATION INVALID
“No home?”
“No.”
“Family?”
“Nothing.”
“Anything on your phone?”
“Contacts. Messages. Photos.”
“So you might be able to work it out.”
“Maybe.”
He checked the Map again.
“But apparently the System has no idea.”
Romi looked at her HOME marker.
“Come with me.”
Trent looked over.
“You don’t know me.”
“I don’t know them either.”
“Good point.”
“And I’m not leaving you here when my screen says you’ve died fourteen times.”
“That sounds less reassuring than you think.”
Romi started towards the exit.
Then remembered.
“Milk.”
Trent gave her a look.
“We’re still doing that?”
“I told her I would.”
“Before your memories were deleted.”
“She still needs milk.”
“Fair enough.”
They had barely moved when the giant advertising screen above the station entrance flickered.
Romi stopped.
The advert vanished.
Blue light swept across the display.
People nearby looked up.
A new message filled the screen.
WORLD SYSTEM
RAVENSBY
INTEGRATION COMPLETE
Then another line appeared beneath it.
CYCLE 15
Romi stopped walking.
“Trent.”
“Yeah?”
“Look at the station screen.”
He looked up.
“What about it?”
Romi pointed.
“Cycle Fifteen.”
Trent checked the screen again.
“Where?”
“Under Ravensby.”
“There isn’t anything under Ravensby.”
Romi looked around.
Nobody else was reacting to it.
A man walked directly beneath the screen without giving it a second glance.
A woman was still checking her Map.
The display clearly said:
CYCLE 15
“Can nobody see that?”
Trent followed where she was pointing.
“No.”
Romi looked at his profile.
The extra information appeared immediately.
CLASS: NPC
STATUS: Alive
DEATHS: 14
Fourteen deaths.
She looked back at the station display.
CYCLE 15
Trent watched her.
“What exactly can you see?”
“Cycle Fifteen.”
“Anything else?”
“Your fourteen deaths. NPC. That warning about previous iterations.”
“And I can’t see any of it.”
“No.”
“My Status says Level One. Swordsman.”
“I know.”
“And yours says you’re Level zero even though everyone else started at one.”
“And that I’m already registered.”
Trent looked up at the screen again.
Whatever he saw, it wasn’t what Romi saw.
“So you can see things the System is hiding.”
Romi didn’t answer immediately.
She checked the people around them.
Normal profiles.
Normal Levels.
Normal Classes.
Then Trent.
Fourteen deaths.
Then the station screen.
Cycle Fifteen.
“I think I’m seeing things we’re not supposed to see.”
Trent nodded.
“That’s probably bad.”
“Probably?”
He looked around at the floating menus, the World System announcement and hundreds of people trying to work out who they were.
Then he looked back at Romi.
“Still kind of cool, i wonder how you level up.”
Romi shook her head.
“We need to find out what the hell is going on.”
“Definitely.”
She looked once more at the station screen.
CYCLE 15.
Fourteen deaths.
Fifteenth cycle.
She didn’t know what connected them yet.
But she was going to find out.
Trent opened his Shop again.
Romi stared at him.
“What?”
“We’re leaving. I’m checking if it unlocked.”
“It didn’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“It says complete System Orientation.”
He paused.
“Did you read the whole thing?”
“Yes.”
“That’s going to be useful.”
Romi headed towards the exit.
“Come on.”
“Home?”
“Milk first.”
Trent followed.
“Best apocalypse ever.”
“It has been about fifteen minutes.”
“And there’s a Shop.”
Romi pushed through the station doors.
Behind them, the screen still glowed blue.
To everyone else, Ravensby had just joined the World System.
To Romi, it said something else.
**CYCLE 15
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