Saoirse know better than getting her hopes up in this kind of situation. What's the use? She already tried everything. Begging? Crying? Reasoning out? Threatening?
She'd done that shit long enough to know that there is no such thing as a miraculous save, but a tiny part of her still clung to the hope that maybe, just maybe, she'd get an easier card this time, one even she could manage.
'Yeah, right. That ship had sailed long ago.'
Saoirse shook her head. She's just gonna pray her death won't be as painful as the others. Anything other than getting burnt alive in a stake, cause that one traumatized her. Anything else is tolerable. Unless, the heaven challenge her motion and test that theory of her.
'Let's not jinx it.' she thought to herself.
[System initializing…]
[System failed.]
[System initializing…]
[System deleted.]
After a numerous strange beeping from the system Saoirse's eyes snapped open her gaze locking onto the flickering screen as if it had suddenly developed a mind of its own.
'What the actual hell?' Saoirse stood, as if that would help. She looked around her confused.
The words on the interface started glitching, lines of code scrambling and flickering like a computer infected with a virus that refused to die. It had never done that before.
Was it a bug? A glitch? Her brow furrowed in confusion. She wanted to call out for help, to find someone—anyone—to explain what was happening.
"Hey! Old man! Where are you?!" she shouted, her voice echoing into the void. Asking help at the only existence she knew beyond that space. "What's happening?"
Her questions were met with silence, broken only by the dull hum of nonexistent machinery.
Saoirse paced back and fort, the interface followed her.
She hovered her fingers over the glowing interface, trying to get a read on it. Her fingers passed through the holographic display as if it weren't even there. There's not a button she could pressed that worked. Have it been a normal computer she could just pressed the power button or pull the plug.
But it was a divine system? They couldn't have been too incompetent that their system got hacked, right?
Then, suddenly as if responding to her condescension, the screen flickered and shifted—like it was struggling to breathe—before finally settling on a loading page.
Ding!
[The God of War conceded. The 'Tester' will be summoned if new God accepted.]
What does that mean? Conceded? Freedom? Was she finally free?
She looked around her. Aware that no one would answer her questions.
But before she could process what it all meant, a sudden burst of warm, blinding light flooded her entire body. Her vision blurred, and for a moment, she felt as if she was being pulled through the fabric of reality itself.
She felt that strange force before. The moment where it all began.
It started slow the kind you never notice. People suddenly goes missing. First, it was ten, then a hundred, then thousands, that amount increased rapidly in a short amount of time that it became a worldwide crisis. So big even Saoirse Nightingale who was busy enough as she is, had known the details.
News flashed left and right. World renowned authorities started to speculate that it was a large scale human trafficking issue. They even started a man-hunt , even handing out ridiculous rewards for a tip with no results.
But when a few of those missing person somehow reappeared they told a different story.
They told a story about the Gods who would select a person to be called 'Testers'.
If they succeed, the rewards are immeasurable, and a lot of times goes beyond the realm of reality.
Of course, no one believe it at first. Who would? Even Saoirse found it ridiculous.
However, when the survivors started to showcase real super powers. They can't deny it's existence anymore.
Her eyes snapped open again, she was back in her bedroom—the very room she'd been in before the system had swallowed her whole, the relaxing sage green wallpaper in the wall welcomed her like a good friend.
The familiar clutter of her cluttered sanctuary greeted her, the messy bed, the scattered clothes, her half-eaten potato chips on her nightstand. Everything was exactly as she'd left it, as if time froze after her disappearance. A wave of relief dawned on her as she collapsed on the floor.
Had it all just been a nightmare? If it is, she's just happy it's done.
She know anyone would kill for a chance that was given to her. But it was never her dream. She never asked to be chosen.
She'd been perfectly happy in her modeling career as is. She was dubbed a once-in-a-millennium beauty although it wasn't all sunshine and rainbow, her face could get her anything.
Before she got tangled in the God given mess, she lived a pampered carefree life. She never wished for more.
Naturally, she rejoiced to finally regain her freedom. She already planned what she will do next. She's gonna take the offer of her company to go international. She would eat at her favorite restaurant with her siblings in the orphanage and even visit the place she's been planning to go once her schedule's free.
Finally, The chains of her endless death cycle, the suffocating weight of failure, all of it felt like it might finally be behind her. If only she knew there was a way to stop those madnesses, she'd be down on her knees, begging and seducing the old man just to let her go.
She wouldn't have suffered those 49 gruelling mission. Especially the pain, it's the pain she hated the most.
Saoirse finally gained the strength to stand up. Putting her arms in her waist, willing to put everything behind her.
She couldn't undo what was done. There's no point dwelling on the past.
She reached for her phone, eager to call her manager, to tell someone she was still alive, still kicking. But… it wasn't there. Her hand brushed the emptiness where her phone should have been. Maybe she had misplaced it somewhere? She tried to search at the cabinet of her nightstand but it all came up empty.
'Well, she could worry about that later', she brushed.
Saoirse quickly ran into her closet, peeling off her favorite silk dress and smoothing it down with trembling fingers. The she ran to grab her makeup kit, ready to transform herself and go back to her glamorous supermodel life. She'd leave this nightmare behind. Like it never even happen in the first place.
And then—fzzzt.
The moment she pulled open the door to step out, an invisible boundary slammed her shut like a steel trap, stopping her dead in her tracks. She pushed and shoved, desperately trying to break free. But it's no use. The doorway, the hallway—everything beyond was visible just like she remembered, but she couldn't step through.
It was like looking out of a window into a world she was barred from entering.
Her voice, hoarse and desperate, tried to scream for help. But it was useless. Just silence. Not even an echo. The hallway remained silent and empty, as if she'd just screamed into the void.
Then it popped up.
[This place is called Temporary Reclusion, press 'see more' to see details]
Saoirse's brow furrowed. Her trembling hand hovered over the interface, hesitating for a moment before she pressed the "see more" button.
[Temporary Reclusion is an exact replica of the 'Testers' comfort place. It's a place where they seek temporary respite until they are chosen by a New God.
Time: Indefinite.]