introduction log.

[falsitates]

JUNE 1, 2021

The first day of summer - it’s unbearably hot. Temperatures are high and relentless, and without a single cloud in the sky, the sun blazes down heavily on the unlucky few stuck outside.

Weather predictions warn of an intense heatwave that’ll last all week long. The young and elderly are advised to stay indoors and hydrated, and anyone with the symptoms of a heat stroke is urged to head straight to the city hospital. Schools are temporarily closed until new air conditioners can be installed, and businesses come to a slow grind as many call out sick from heat exhaustion.

The city warns that it’s going to be a long seven days.

  NEWCOMERS

You wake up.

You’re left to your own devices. You have a vague memory of the last few moments of your time back in your world, in familiar surroundings, but you’re now somewhere new. Whether you’ve awoken on an unknown rooftop, in a stranger’s bedroom, behind cell bars, or under six feet of water - you know that you’re no longer at home.

You’re on your own for the time being. You must escape whatever predicament that you’ve found yourself in and find answers to your own questions. What brings you here? How did you arrive? What happened to your friends and family? You have an hour to explore and speak with the people of this world before your time runs out.

Something then vibrates in your pocket.

  RESIDENTS & NEWCOMERS

Your phone vibrates.

It buzzes incessantly until you pick it up, but when you look at the screen, it’s blank. It will not turn on, no matter how hard you press the buttons. It’s possible that it overheated and shut down, but it’s unusually cold to the touch, almost as if you’re touching a brick of ice. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, white text appears on a black background.

Decryption confirmed.

Condition green.

Booting program.

The screen goes dark once more. Seconds later, new words are typed.

WELCOME TO [ AVA ]

→ MISSION 001
HEAD TO THE CITY CROSSWALK BY 1500. FIND THE [ OTHERS ]. YOUR REWARD WILL BE ANNOUNCED THEN. FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION.

  WELCOME TO [ AVA ]

You can't avoid the mission; you don't have any choice. Any attempt to ignore or avoid it is futile, as convenient coincidences occur all around you as a motivator to go.

Did you have work? For some inexplicable reason, your shift has been cancelled. Were you trying to get some rest? The fire alarm went off and you were evacuated from your home. Did you attempt to travel to another part of the city? The sidewalks and roads have been closed due to a sudden blackout.

No matter what you do, you are compelled to head to the city crosswalk.

For the middle of the afternoon, it's unusually quiet and empty. Despite the heat warning, there should still be more than just a handful of you and a few others, but you won't have the time to ponder about it. Your phone finally reboots and appears to be back to normal - or so it seems. You've got a new app.

[ AVA ]

It's an icon with a white eye. It stares at you, and the screen remains frozen until you press it. It then starts the initialization process.

WELCOME TO [ AVA ]

PEACEFUL DAYS ARE OVER

ALEA IACTA EST

The text vanishes, revealing the app's interface. It's an online social media network with public forums and private messaging, but it's completely devoid of content. It currently only contains the user profiles of those who have signed up for the app, and you are one of them. Your full name, date of birth, personal address, height, weight, and a mugshot that you don't recall taking are all listed on your profile.

You quickly discover that you have no way of deleting or even editing your information. You can't even get rid of the app. The option simply does not exist.

Minutes after opening [ AVA ], you receive a notification. There have been two new forum posts. MISSION 002 and MISSION 003 are the names of the new threads. You open them to read.

→ MISSION 002
NEWCOMERS, WELCOME TO VITAE. YOUR GOAL FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS IS TO SURVIVE. IF YOU ARE ALIVE TO SEE THE MIDDLE OF THE MONTH, YOU WILL BE GREATLY REWARDED.

→ MISSION 003
RESIDENTS, BE AWARE OF YOUR ENVIRONMENT. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE THIS CITY. ONLY TRUST THE PEOPLE YOU KNOW. YOUR COMPENSATION WILL BE PROVIDED IN TWO WEEKS' TIME.

These threads allow you to leave comments. What do you do now?

Comments

[ehero]

( it's time to... not duel :c )

[ Honestly, Judai isn't really bothered by this at all. Well, he is, but he isn't as concerned as he probably should be. After jumping to other dimensions and traveling through time, this is kind of... okay. Sure, Daitokuji, Winged Kuriboh, and Yubel are nowhere to be found, but maybe they just got separated. It's not as bad as it could be, so he isn't really sweating it. He'll just have to go around the city and look for them. ]

Hey, are everyone's decks all right?

[ Yeah, the app thing seems important, but duel monsters are more important. ]

( a slightly more important question )

[ ... oh YEAH ALSO ]

So, what country is this?

[ This doesn't seem like Venice. ]

( wildcard )

[ give me dumb judai things to do. i'm over at northpaws for anything! ]

(not ... dueling)

[stormsoff]

... deck? like .... like skateboard deck, or, like, card deck, or what, cuz ... why does that matter?

[ehero]

[ Judai looks at this fucking loser like ???? what the FUCK is a skateboarding deck ]

Skateboard deck? Is that a new archetype?

[stormsoff]

A new what? No. What?

[ehero]

What? Then what's a skateboard deck?

Definitely not dueling

[hippocarnival]

My... what? [He gives Judai a blank stare.] Sorry, I don't know what that means.

[ehero]

Huh? You don't know what a deck is?

[ The audACITY like what kind of fucking weird messed up place is he in?? ]

You know, like duel monsters!

[hippocarnival]

Is it a game? [Yuya tilts his head, then waves a hand.] Sorry! I don't play that at all. But there's a game shop at the mall, so maybe you'll find some people there?

[ehero]

Haaaa, really? I haven't met someone who hasn't played duel monsters before!

[ Well, he might have met one or two people who haven't, but he has a memory of a goldfish so. ]

Then what do you normally do?

Not Duel

[whiteshroud]

Uh-

My what?

[Looks baffled. Is this some american slang for something????]

[ehero]

Your deck! Like, here.

[ this is outrageous, so many people don't know what a deck is. this is the WORST dimension yet :/ Judai reaches behind him to pull out his cards from the deck box attached to his belt. He holds it out, faced upwards so Jun can see the beefy spaceman that is his pride and joy. ]

See? This is mine.

[whiteshroud]

[Well Jun's seen card games at least, just not that one]

Oh, you mean a card deck! I don't have one on me, sorry.

What game is that?

[ehero]

[ the outrageousness continues......... ]

What? You've never seen duel monsters before?

Question

[armsel]

We're in the United States???

[ lbr, he doesn't even sound too sure of it himself but this place looks like America so it must be America. ]

What made you ask that question?

[ehero]

[ Judai gives a bit of a sheepish laugh. ]

Haha, well, I haven't been to America before so I wasn't sure! I was in Venice before I woke up here.

[armsel]

Isn't that all the way in Italy? I've never been to Venice myself.

[ Leon's still young and he isn't exactly a well traveled guy. Not yet anyway.]

Must have been a surprise to wake up all the way in another country.

[ehero]

Yeah, a little, but I've been through stranger stuff.

[ Nothing beats waking up in ANOTHER DIMENSION so honestly, waking up in another country is pretty tame. ]

Do you live here?

Wildcard

[infolds]

[ Connor is carrying a rather chonky fat cat and partially having trouble keeping it up because it's heavy for a stick guy like him. ]

Ugh, any of you hobos own this cat? If you do, you owe me food.

[ehero]

There you are, Pharaoh.

[ Here comes Judai! Who speedwalks over to Connor to take the fat cat off his hands. The hobo and food comments go through one ear and out the other because he's too busy to fetch back his cat. ]

Thanks! I was wondering where he went.

[infolds]

Food.

[ Connor isn't going to let that go easily, so he just backs away with the cat in his hold. My cat. ]

You owe me food, hobo.

[ehero]

Huh? What for?

[ give him his cat goddammit. Judai reaches out to try and grab Pharaoh again. Also the hobo comment doesn't really bother him because it's true. He's been homeless for a while now. ]

not dueling ;_;

[cislunar]

[ oh judai

everyone should be jealous of your priorities

johannes is not one of these people, but he'll entertain the question. ]

I'm not an avid gambler or a magician so, fortunately, I keep my cards at home. Is there a reason they would be in danger?

[ is he gonna get mugged by bandit keith ]

[ehero]

[ yeah, i'm going to have bandit keith show up as an npc and start mugging people. watch out ]

Well, normally, when something strange is going on, our cards would get affected, but mine look fine.

[ He pulls out his cards from the deck box that he just... straps to the back of his belt and goes through them once more. Yep, everything looks fine. ]

[cislunar]

[ NORMALLY ]

Normally...

[ you're welcome for bandit keith, everyone

but, uh, that one actually gets him. he's like :) outside, but it's the kind of :) where you're kind of trying to casually decide what you're supposed to think about this........

congratulations, judai. ]

Ah, well. Perhaps there's a chance your cards simply don't think of this occurrence as strange.

[ you goddamn weirdo

but he's still here and he's interested, because judai is one of many weirdos in a sea of Weirdness, so. he'll outstretch a hand, even. get him into duel monsters, judai. ]

May I see them? And may I ask how they've been affected in the past? I admit I'm curious.

[ehero]

[ what is with this antagonistic meta text. u wanna go punk, also Judai hands over the deck. The last time that he let someone handle his deck, they messed with it and nearly got him both blown up and fall super sick, so he's a little hesitant. He will just have to make sure to keep a close eye and get ready to fight... ]

The monsters either completely disappeared or they were infused with darkness. Spirits would sometimes be stolen as well.