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 “How much longer?” Whined Zera, as she dragged her feet through the grass while hiking along a hill with her boyfriend Po who was leading the way. “About an hour's trek still left” said Po in a heavy, low pitched voice, that would have been barely audible to anyone. Fortunately Zera was used to this by now and focused enough to hear his reply. She had spent the last 200 of her 500 year old life with this man, and by now she had picked all of his nuances. Po on the other hand was what the kids would call “ancient”. He was sure that he remembered the last 1000 years of his life, and he was sure he was haunted by the memories of a life even before that time. Po didn’t remember what his metaversal age was, but right now he was walking in the Avatar of a 30 year old man and Zera was embodying a 19 year old. The hike was beautiful, there was a thick forest cover on one side of their trail and a clear view of the mountains on the other.You could hear the birds chirping and see the squirrels going up the trees. This was not the first forest Zera had seen, but it was a pleasant change to walk through one.In some other metaverse they could’ve probably flown to the top, teleported, jet-packed, but Po insisted that they hike on foot. “It’s part of the experience” he said. Zera was mostly enjoying the hike but the only thought that was bothering her was that she was not sure why they were here and Po was being frustratingly coy. Zera wanted to get the bottom of it. “Is it a sunset off a beautiful mountain cliff?” She asked, trying to guess the surprise. “No, it’s something much deeper than that”, said Po trying to decide how much he should tell his girlfriend. “Is it a memory?” Asked Zera, this time a little more serious than playful. Po was taken by surprise “is she onto it?” He thought. “Good Guess” said Po nervously as he took a pause from his walking to look at Zera, he offered a slight crooked smile “You know how you always say that there are parts of me that I don’t let you in on? Well I’ve always wanted to, Zera , but I find them hard to explain, even to myself, so I thought I could show it to you this time.” he said, looking Zera right in her eyes, then he broke his pause and continued to walk, “and I will show it to you right this way” he said pointing to the path further ahead and started to walk in that direction, leaving Zera behind. Zera, now had an idea about what this surprise could be, and she hoped it was not what she was thinking. “So this IS a memory?” She said panting as she ran to catch up to Po. “My bet would be this is a reconstruction of someone’s memory, of a very important day” said Po excited but also anxious about Zera’s reactions. Zera looked a little disappointed, she had guessed what this was all about and it wasn’t something she appreciated. “Is it about the whole ‘Base Reality’ talk again?” said Zera annoyedly. Po knew he would have to come clean now, but he wasn’t prepared to tell her, he was hoping he could just show her. “Yes” he began, “but it is different this time, this time I have proof and it explains everything” Said Po as a rare expression of anxiousness was now visible on his face. “You know this path has led to trouble for so many of us,” said Zera. “But what if it’s the truth?” Said Po, trying to reach out to a part of Zera, she had superessed for a while now. “Would you rather live a comfortable lie? Knowing it was a lie?” The citizens of the metaverse or at least the metaverses under the jurisdiction of Metaverse One (M-1) prescribed to many religions. The most popular among them used to be “The Genesists”. The Genesists believed in the existence of a “Base Reality”. A reality that gave birth to the metaverses. Po and Zera used to be followers of this religion. The religion however turned political, and M-1 started persecuting anyone publicly associated with it. Zera had seen too many of her friends and loved ones suffer for their beliefs, and she just wanted to have a normal life. It was not that she did not want to know the truth, but not at the cost it entailed. Suddenly, a frightening thought occurred to her. “Who’s running this simulation Po? Is it C-FOSS? You realize this could get us both jailed? Or worse” Zera paused “deleted”. Po was hoping to have this conversation after they reached the summit. “I realize” he said “I would not have taken this risk if I didn’t think it was very important for both of us to see” “And then what, live in a C-FOSS metaverse for the rest of our lives?” “Would it be worse than living a lie?” They both fell silent, Zera wanted to cry, but she didn’t want to feel weak. “Look, If something does happen, I’ll come clean, I’ll let them know you had no idea what was going on and I brought us here. ” This made Zera angry. “Do you think I’m scared for Me? What about you Po? What about us? What if all of this was true and I still didn’t want to come along? Would you leave me for this?” “No.” said Po, trying to be as blunt as possible. They both continued walking silently, the sun had begun to come down and the light orangish color of dusk was now filling the sky. The sound of the forest they were walking through was now changing from birds chirping to insects rattling, and Po and Zera could finally see the summit. As they reached the summit they found a small crowd all talking excitedly to one another. Some even waved at them, and Po waved back. Zera had to still adjust to this change in mood. “Were they all C-FOSS members?” She thought, wondering what carnage would take place if M-1 ever found this simulation. Po led her to an old fragile man, standing in the middle of the summit handing out what seemed to Zera like badges. “You must be Zera,” he said, coughing once before and once after any sentence he spoke. “Po has told us a great deal about you” he said, extending his hand. Zera shaked the old fragile hand reluctantly “I hope only good things” she said, giving into the pleasantries. ”My name is Trank, it’s a pleasure meeting you, here wear this, it’ll let the server know you’re not an NPC” said Trank handing out a yellow badge with a smiley face on it. From the summit they could see into a huge expanse, Zera could see a city below them which was getting more visible as the lights turned on. Zera walked closer to the edge to see the view. “This seems.. ” thought Zera but she couldn’t find the word that could complete her sentence. “Vintage?” said Po as he came close to her and stood by her side. “Can you read my thoughts?” Said Zera, grabbing Po’s hand as she leaned into him. “Only ‘cause I know you so well”, said Po kissing her on her forehead. The moment had only lasted a second, before they heard a loud noise of a plane, a fighter plane whizzing past just a few 100 meters above their heads. “It’s begun! Everybody, wear your badges if you haven’t already, I don’t want to dig any one of you out from the archives!” Shouted Trank. The next few moments happened very fast, But Zera recorded everything, a fleet of fighter planes flew past them, drowning everything out with their noise, they dropped what initially seemed like metal cylinders onto the city, and suddenly the now dark sky was lit ablaze by explosions. Giant mushroom clouds emerged into existence. expanded and turned into a hot massive ball of fire that engulfed everything. Zera was too stunned to even move. She grabbed Po’s arm tight as the fire surrounded everything around her. She didn’t feel anything, and everyone around her didn’t seem to flinch as well. Most of the folks were crying, Po himself looked like he was fighting back tears. The ground beneath them started shaking and eventually became a part of a landslide,the people on the summit however did not fall. When the explosion subsided, Zera could see everything had turned into ruins. The forest for as far as Zera could see had entirely vanished, the trees had either blown away, or were completely on fire. There was a giant crater where the city used to be. It didn’t seem like anyone survived. They themselves were standing on what looked like a digital mesh of what used to be a hill. There was a long silence where no one spoke to each other, “Were they seeing this for the first time as well?” Thought Zera. She looked at Po who was already watching her, “You think this happened in the Base Reality?” She asked Po. “Everyone I’ve met who’s even around my age remembers a similar event. It can’t be a coincidence. What makes it even more believable is that M-1 doesn’t let any simulation depicting this event exist in their Metaverses” said Po, Zera gave a nod of affirmation. “We need to go back now! I’m hearing reports of M-1 trackers snooping around nearby” shouted Trank. “But now that you’ve seen the Truth. Search for it, and you should find us”, he said as he pressed a button and vanished. Everybody else also started to leave and so did Po and Zera. What she saw today might change her entire life. Zera had a decision to make.