I. someday the gacha will end

When news about The Prince of Silk’s untimely cancellation reached us, neither I nor the titular hero paid this much attention, not only because we were busy trying to destroy each other, but also because we’d seen the writing on the wall years ago—literally—and it was pretty mediocre.

…or so I would’ve thought, except the hero stopped, mid-parry, to tell me, “Rafaela, I’m t—” but then he died because I killed him, because only a nincompoop would stop, mid-parry, to talk. Since this was a PG-13 game, in lieu of viscera, technicolor pixels sprinkled off his severed torso as it landed on the floor of my palace’s main hall.

Selene, who had been the one to relay such news, came sprinting to us—to me. “Your Highness!” he said, “How can… oh, dear."

I kicked the hero’s body, which still sprinkled technicolor pixels that floated above and around us before vanishing forever. “Are you sad?” I asked Selene. “This is your childhood friend, after all: the very same you betrayed to obtain my tutelage.”

“Nah. He’ll respawn soon.”

I stared at him.

Selene cleared his throat. “Pardon me. You are most gracious, God-eater General. I have abandoned all bonds, for they are weaknesses. The body you are magnanimously punting is nothing but an object to me, although… would you stop?”

I did.

Selene's condescending scowl never failed to amuse me. "In any case, we must take action, and fast. Nothing spreads chaos like inevitability."

The hero Aelius began to respawn; his bottom half glowed white, then gold, after which his silhouette began to resemble a man instead of a pair of pants. Once reformed, the light dissipated to reveal an unconscious, armored figure. 

I punted it. 

Selene's leer returned, but I held back the urge to mock his moral hypocrisies. For one, he'd been written that way and, for two, there were slightly less irrelevant matters to attend to, such as the end of the world. "There are no actions to take," I said. "It's futile."

“Huh?”

“We live in a closed system. We’re fish in an aquarium. What would happen to a piranha that ventured outside of its prison for food?”

“Not that," Selene grumbled, "We can deal with that later. Can't you stop the... I don't know, the news from spreading somehow?"

"No," spoke Aelius in my stead. With a characteristic lack of grace, he stood up. 

While Selene’s hair was the color of snow, Aelius’s matched the frozen earth below. Where the former had always been lithe, the latter’s strong frame was evident, even beneath such a fashionless cloak. One had always represented hatred and despair; the other, hope and forgiveness.

Yet…

“Nothing matters anymore," Aelius mumbled. Selene and I exchanged glances. "I knew this would happen sooner and later... and yet!" He dramatically clenched his hand into a fist before his chest. "Why must it sting me so!? I beg you, kill me once again!"

“Gladly,” I replied.

“Don't,” Selene told me, then turned to his "former" best friend. “Aelius, get a hold of yours—”

"What 'self'!? I am but a string of code! A fish in an aquarium! A prisoner to existence itself!"

Selene rolled his eyes. "Calm down. It's not that bad. There's a year left until end of service, and we'll get an offline server after that." Neither I nor Aelius responded. “...right? Surely, there are ways to keep existing after the end? Guys? Hello?"

Aelius’s fist shook as he shut his eyes close. I hadn’t seen that gesture since I murdered his family (since this happened during the prologue chapter, they never respawned).

“…guys…?”