Winterfresh Speaks

Dithers went into work, spending the entire train ride staring out at the same gray empty cityscape he’d watched for the past five weeks. He had decided he would not play the game until this evening when he had plenty of time to relish it. He got to work and saw an e-mail indicating that Winterfresh wanted to see him immediately. Dithers plugged in. I strode into the office and was unsurprised to see that the landscape had once again changed. Gone was the wild storm and lightning. Now a strange sunny fog filled the room, masking the outside scenery of mountains and forests hidden so that you could just barely get a hint of them. Winterfresh was nowhere to be seen inside the office and I found myself thinking for just a moment that I might sit in his chair. A draft hit me and an opened door that had not been present at my last visit invited me closer. A glance outside and I saw Winterfresh standing, dressed in black, looking out over the wild landscape covered in the sea of fog. After a moment’s hesitation I followed out and stood behind him. The A.I. said nothing, just staring out over the scenery he had paid someone to create. “Ah, sir? You wanted to see me? Is this about the game?” Winterfresh turned and smiled, beckoning me closer to the ledge he was standing on. The land before me was vast and wild, the A.I. seeming only to draw me closer to the entirety of it rather than any one single aspect. “Well, you’re all done. I’m proud of you for making it this far, for going out and seeing some of the world before coming back. I’m going to give you a one-time opportunity at a fresh start of your choice in ‘World of Realcraft’. After all, now that your character is deleted, you’ll need a new one,” said Winterfresh.