Kai was in a dreamlike state where time felt disjointed as he began to recall a forgotten memory.

He saw his restless sweat soaked body lying flat on its back on top of his TESS gaming mat.  The arms and legs twitched subtly as sporadic muscles all along his body contracted, and then relaxed.  The heartbeat monitor attached to the mat began to increase at an accelerated rate while a series of messages flashed through the diagnostic screen.   Red and yellow alarm indicators attached to the unit warned of a possible operational issue.  To the casual observer it would seem as if the restless person lying on the mat was having a really bad nightmare.

“Aaarrggghh!!!”

Kai screamed and sat up.  His fingers clenched his hair and he began to twist his head side to side as if trying to cope with a bad migraine.   

“What the fuck was that?” he screamed.

He was in pain and his body ached. However, the extreme pain that awoke him began to reduce noticeably.  Whether it was due to the sensory limiters or his body’s own adrenaline was unknown.  It was unimportant.  Less pain was good.  He still felt disoriented and half awake.  As his sweat dripped down his body and onto the mat, he opened his eyes and looked around the room.  Though his thoughts were clouded he instinctively recognized the room.  There was an Ainz Ooal Gown poster on the wall.  A Marvin the Martian bobble head and his Universe 20 on the desk.  It was his room.  He had escaped from ALPHA.  Kai breathed a small sigh of relief, the glitch did not kill him after all.

Buzz.  Buzz. 

He heard a vibrating sound and looked for the source.  The screen on the smartphone glowed and a notification message could be seen.  Though his field of view was blotched here and there, he could still make out the words “Undo The Child” on the notification screen.  Though his mind was muddled, he began to recall the meaning of the phrase.  He used phrases with hidden clues to remember important things, it was just his way of doing things.

Oh crap, I forgot about my 7-day free trial subscription.  

Kai thought he could get away without paying for the service ever and watched all of the free shows and movies he wanted.  He thought he outsmarted the offer and planned to cancel the subscription on the last day but now he realized he was the sucker who fell for the click bait.  

He panicked and began to reach for his smartphone.

Suddenly a loud audible alarm sounded.  The red warning lights glowed brightly as the message panel indicated a system error, “Interference Detected”. 

Pain.  An instantaneous pain surged.  This time it hit at his core and he felt his soul burn.  Every muscle in his body contracted,  drained his strength and released.  Losing control of his body he fell back onto the mat.  His body started to feel lighter and the sensation in his lower body began to disappear.  He began to see delusions and hear strange sounds.  His vision became interposed by his room and a place where he was surrounded by players attending to something floating in the air.  He felt as if he existed in two places at once.  It felt weird.

Kai’s mind became a mess. Strange and foreign thoughts entered his mind as if something was interfering with it.  He tried to focus on his last thoughts and actions, and unexpectedly his delusions seemed to respond to him.

Nothing made sense so he wrestled within his mind to find a hint of sanity.  He was soon rewarded when an island of clarity appeared.  It was in the rough shape of his smartphone.  He drove his thoughts for a single purpose.

I need to cancel the subscription...

Focused, he mumbled aloud to reinforce his thoughts and used his remaining energy to reach out to complete his objective.  He definitely wanted to avoid paying for the subscription since he was done watching The Man… His thoughts stopped, he could not remember the name of the show.

“I need to reach my Universe 20…  My smartphone…  Cancel…”

Filled with regret, he became incoherent and finally blacked out.

Stars and starlight filled the transparent lower half of his body and continued to spread to the remaining upper half.  Once his entire body was transparent it began to sink slowly into the mat until no trace of him was left.  The mat’s indicator lights changed back to green and the diagnostic display read “Normal Operation”.