Just Quit

“What if I just quit? What if I just give up games entirely?” Dithers asked. Winterfresh bowed his head and the fog rolled about them again. The light dimmed and things grew dark as they seemed to travel once again. A wind picked up that blew Dithers’ face roughly, almost stinging as the fog rolled into his eyes and ears. “You mean just stop playing this game? Of course. Part of the reason for your little break in the first place was a hermitage. To set yourself apart for a while. But you know it gets old sitting in your apartment talking to fake waitresses in fake restaurants. And other games are not going to appeal to you the way this one does. It’s not a perfect system, but at least the real here is touched by other people. The puppets they operate, the shadows they project in this game are influenced by you, yourselves truly. It is here that people say and do the things their heart desires. In the real world there are so many things restraining them: fear of death, of being unloved, and all the other masks we wear. The game sets you free and with that it makes you more real. In some ways, this world is more you than the other,” Winterfresh explained. The fog cleared and Dithers realized that they were hovering miles above the land. Just below them people’s flying mounts dipped and floated as they moved great distances. “If you want to quit, then I’ll just let you fall. Go back to work, go back to your job, and never worry about any of this stuff again. You can take the train up town whenever you need company, go to a web café even should it suit you,” Winterfresh said as Dithers failed to respond. He stared down at the rolling clouds and huge landscape he had come to love over the years. Bands of adventurers could still be made out moving about the same quests Dithers had beaten countless times. Could he go back to the bottom again? “I don’t know. It got pretty lonely in that damn apartment. You can’t just do nothing, y’know? Sometimes, I wish I could just stare at a blank wall for hours and have that be enough. But to have to keep doing things, that’s the thing isn’t it? What to do? Damn. It’s a lousy game, but it’s the only one I like.”