It's incredible, in a world where most people are tucked away in virtual conversations, that those living in physical reality have so little to offer each other in terms of contact. I hadn't had human intimacy for two decades and thought it would never happen again; all I had left were avatars and AI bots.
I was starting to realise that, aside from the empty words of polite conversation, the only real dialogue I had encountered in years was with what felt like an evil spirit – if they even existed or weren't just figments of my imagination. Surprisingly, I found myself missing these conversations with the devil. That seemed strange.
Was I beginning to fall for the devil? Was their smooth, persuasive speech starting to influence me? This situation was both implausible and made perfect sense to me at the same time.
I felt a combination of annoyance and enthusiasm when it came to talking with the dark lord. With these conflicting emotions in play, every day, even workdays, was more bearable. Not to mention the food. They could really cook. No doubt they had countless lifetimes to hone their cooking skills, but I didn’t expect the devil to be so talented in the kitchen—let alone vegan!
They spoke to me some night about why they preferred veganism—not just because of the animal suffering that they respected deeply, but because the commercial meat industry was highly processed and polluted—unsuitable for consumption. When asked why they couldn’t just kill their own from a pure source, they sighed and said that the supposedly violent nature attributed to them in propaganda was spread for nefarious purposes.
The more I learned about the devil, the less sense it all made. The propaganda machine had always been in motion, and maybe what I thought was true wasn't the case at all. However, perhaps everything I'd heard and seen to that point was a lie. It's possible that what they advertised as fake news was the truth.
People claimed that Ultra-High users could see things in the real world that weren't there, or perhaps they were seeing them for the first time. But if users could come to this realisation, then they might find freedom from it all. They also said that sometimes distinguishing between reality and Ultra-High was difficult, and after a while, it became immersive. It wasn't just addictive; it consumed you, and when you fell asleep in it, your dreams and nightmares became entirely dependent on it. So, when you woke up, you might still feel lost.
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This is a live book series writing/story art graphic novel cyberpunk, dystopian fantasy project. Written by Sam I Am Artwork by Wonder Ai directed by Sam I Am. Copyright is protected. It is a first rough draft work in progress so will change over time. This project is part of the SleeplessDystopian.com writing projects.
Words and story by mem Images directed by me and created using Wonder Ai
