You won't believe this, but I swear on my life, it's the truth. I think I'm losing my goddamn mind. I have to... okay, okay, I need to start from the beginning. See, I've been dabbling in lucid dreaming lately. Been having these vivid, messed up nightmares, you see... I just wanted some semblance of control over my mental state, you know?
I felt like therapy wasn't cutting it anymore, I needed something more, so I gotten into this lucid dreaming thing. But the things I've seen, the encounters I've had, they've changed me, man. I've gotta get this out, gotta let the world know about this shit 'cause its importance... it can't be overstated.
So here's the thing, in my lucid dreams, I've been having these bizarre experiences. In the dreams, waking up suspended over an abyss, right? Surrounding me, there's this sterile, white room, bathed in blinding lights, and in the distance, a glass pane. Can't exactly make out what's behind it, and it paints this real surreal scene.
At first, it didn't bother me much. I woke up, had this lingering unease the whole day but shrugged it off. But then the next few times, as I regained lucidity in my dreams, the same scenario would play out. At first, I could do the usual stuff, you know, flying around and the likes, but then the dream would always, without fail, transition into this... this suspension above the abyss.
I'd be strapped in place with ropes or chains, my limbs stretched out toward the cool walls of this clinical, white room. And beneath me, just infinite darkness. It felt like gazing into the maw of oblivion, and it was... it was downright petrifying.
The dread, man. The absolute fucking dread. In particular that glass pane in the distance and the infinite abyss below me, it was eating away at me. I started wondering what was behind the glass, and what, if anything, was at the bottom of that godforsaken hole. Its vast, infinite expanse was just pulling me in, gnawing at my sanity. It's hard to describe, you know? It's not something you can just put into words.
Soon, it became a nightly routine. Almost every single dream ended with me suspended over that abyss, and this paralyzing sense of dread seeping into me, becoming more and more prominent. Eventually, I decided I had to stop, I couldn't go on like this. I spoke to my therapist about it, and they said it might be a manifestation of some negative childhood experiences, and advised me to quit lucid dreaming for the time being. It wasn't doing me any good, they said.
I upped my meds, and tried something else, but no matter what I did, I couldn't shake off the lucidity. It's weird because in the past, becoming lucid required effort, with reality checks, dream journaling, and whatnot. But now, even when I set the intention to not lucid dream, I found myself more lucid than ever, and always, without fail, ended up above the abyss.
At one point, I tried to inspect my body in the dream, and I think I was naked. I noticed something on my arm, like a small needle. I realized it was an IV drip. Something was being pumped into me. I freaked out, man. What the hell was happening? Was I part of some fucked up mind control experiment? Was I being drugged? I couldn't make sense of it all.
Soon after noticing the IV, I saw shadows moving behind the glass pane. There were figures there, watching me. The terror I felt about these figures lurking behind the glass was even more pronounced than the dread induced by the abyss. It was all kinds of messed up, but amidst the fear, I felt this sudden urge to know more.
So I shouted out, "Hey! Who's there? Talk to me, you creepy fucks!"
To my surprise, a voice crackled to life over the speakers. It said, "We've never seen someone maintain lucidity to this extent. Your perceptive abilities are impressively consistent. How did you achieve this?"
"I don't fucking know", I said. "It's not like I want to be here. Is this even real?"
The voice replied, "Yes, this is happening. This is the actual reality, the true nature of reality."
"What the fuck? You say my dreams are reality? You'll have to prove that for me to believe you at all", I said.
"You will see by the consistency of this reality", the voice said. "But first, demonstrate to us that you are indeed lucid enough for us to continue this conversation. It's not something we usually do. It might, however, be a path to conquer the darkness."
And then, like every other time, the dream ended.
I relayed the whole fucked up scenario to my therapist, who, unsurprisingly, suggested it was a fantastical manifestation of my own fears. My subconscious testing boundaries, pushing limits, trying to get under my skin. But when I asked them what to do, they proposed a plan: continue engaging with the dream. Try to spot inconsistencies in its logic. After all, if it is all just a product of my mind, it is bound to falter at some point.
So, armed with my therapist's advice, I geared up for the next encounter. This time I would use reason and logic to disprove the dream for good.
The following night, I found myself in the all-too-familiar white room, suspended over nothingness, the shadowy figures behind the glass pane watching intently. The voice piped up again.
"Do you still question this reality?" it asked.
"Yeah", I said, "I think this is just my dream. You're just a figment of my unconscious mind. This is all nonsensical bullshit, and I'm going to prove you wrong."
"Alright", the voice responded. "You can try to disprove me. But first, would you like to hear what we're doing here? Then, you can judge for yourself."
"Yeah, sure. Whatever. What are you doing here?" I asked, more out of curiosity than anything else.
"We are doing research. Do you know what an ancestor simulation is?"
I felt my eyebrows furrow. "No fucking clue. What is it?"
Then, the voice from the speaker, which now claimed to be a researcher, started to explain.
"An ancestor simulation is essentially a theory, a simulated reality hypothesis", the voice explained. "It suggests that a perceived reality isn't 'real' but instead is running on some advanced computational system capable of artificially simulating an entire universe and consistent reality."
So far, this was all high-grade sci-fi crap, but I played along. "Why the hell would anyone do that?"
"For the purpose of analysis", the voice continued. "Imagine a civilization trying to understand its own past. In your case, your reality is an ancestor simulation of one of many civilizations that have died out because of catastrophic failures in the space-time continuum."
My head was spinning. "Catastrophic failures? What are you talking about?"
The voice said: "Humanity failed. Due to their own ignorance, they destroyed their planet. Climate change, political unrest, the development of superintelligent AI systems used for weaponry, they all fueled the chaos of World War III."
As the voice droned on, I tried to make sense of what was being told. Is this all just some nightmare spawned by my own fears, or could there be some truth to this? And if there was, then what did it mean for me, for us?
The voice added: "Do you know what a macroverse is?"
"Yeah, I've heard of macroverses", I said, "That's like, multiple universes, right?"
"Yes", the voice said. "We exist within a five-dimensional macroverse. The fifth dimension encompasses parallel universes. The concept of an ancestor simulation isn't completely accurate. It's an analogy, borrowed from Darwinian evolution, suggesting our universe is part of a branching system of universes."
I could barely keep up with this gibberish. "A branching system of...?"
"Universes", the voice repeated. "This system churns out various configurations, mutations of universes, one of which eventually became my universe, another one yours. It's as though universes are engaged in a Darwinian competition. The most adaptive ones, primarily those driven by human beings, last the longest. They compete to see which universe can ultimately conquer the darkness, can combat the laws of entropy."
This was just too much. It felt like some wild fever dream, a convoluted mess of sci-fi nonsense. But even so, there was an unnerving quality to the voice that made me want to listen, to understand. If what it said was true... well, I didn't want to think about that. Not yet.
For a bit I was just silent, my mind racing.
"Look", I finally muttered, "It's gonna be pretty damn hard to disprove you when I can't make heads or tails of the shit you're saying. You're telling me that universes depend on the quality of the humans inside them, and that they're evolving, or something? I... I don't get it. It's all just too fucking weird."
At that moment, the reality of the situation hit me like a ton of bricks. How the hell was I supposed to logically dismantle something that sounded like the wildest sci-fi bullshit I'd ever heard, something I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around? Did not the complexity of the information indicate that it could not have possibly been just a dream; my own mind could not generate things I could never understand. It was impossible.
And just as I was starting to feel the edges of panic creeping in, the researcher's voice began to fade. My surroundings blurred, morphed, and then... the dream ended.
The next day, I was glued to my damn computer, trying to dig into these concepts the mysterious voice had been throwing around. I was googling my ass off – 'ancestor simulations', 'parallel universes', 'fifth dimension', 'Darwinian evolution of universes', 'universe branching' – all that crazy stuff. And here's the kicker: I found a ton of literature on the topics and, for the most part, it seemed to line up with what the voice had been saying. It seems the voice was speaking the truth; providing me with information I had not known before... indicating that... it could not have been a dream... he was stating the truth... and that was...
So, if I got this right, he was saying that there's a 'macroverse', some sort of branching system like a fucking phylogenetic tree in biological evolution. He seemed to be saying that humans are the apex predator of this macroverse, and that our universe, the one we're living in right now, is one of the failures. He mentioned some catastrophic shit that led to unrest, essentially sparking World War III and wiping us all out.
It all kinda made sense. And that scared the hell out of me.
I tried to get in touch with my therapist, to make sense of all this mind-bending shit, but I couldn't reach 'em. They were probably off on vacation or something, living a blissfully unaware life. So, I figured, fuck it. I'll bring it up in a week when we meet.
And so, I went back to the dreams. Same as always – suspended above the abyss, glass pane, and the all-too-familiar blindingly white room with clinical surfaces. And the same damn voice.
Eventually I said, "I think... I think I might believe you. It doesn't make complete sense to me... but I couldn't have possibly known the stuff you've been talking about. But, I don't get what my role in all this is. Why the hell are you telling me this? Isn't this going to screw with the simulation or something? I asked people online, and they all said it'd be a terrible idea to interfere with the simulation. It would mess with our causal chain and turn the whole experiment to shit. So what gives?"
The researcher's voice came over the speaker again, "Yes, that's a valid concern. But, we're running short on subjects. You're truly an anomaly, we haven't encountered someone quite like you before. Despite adjusting the dosage of the substances we've been administering, you just kept becoming lucid. I decided, perhaps a little unilaterally, to... interfere with the test subject. My hope is that by giving you a briefing, you could play a role in saving humanity, fighting against the darkness, and preserving the macroverse. This could ensure the perseverance of future generations in the succeeding universes."
I was flabbergasted. "What the hell? I'm no hero! I'm just a socially anxious nerd whose main hobbies are gaming and smoking weed. I'm just trying to get by. I don't understand what you're talking about, how the hell am I supposed to save anything?"
He replied, "You have noticed the darkness below you. This darkness is the cause of all suffering in the world. Are you familiar with the concept of theodicy?"
Confused, I retorted, "What the hell? Can you not speak in intellectual mumbo jumbo for a second?"
The researcher explained, "Theodicy is a theological concept that questions why, if God is benevolent, there is suffering in the world. What's your take on that?"
I shrugged, "I don't know, I'm agnostic. But if I were to guess, I think it's because humans have free will. Suffering in the world is due to free will, you know?"
"Wrong", the researcher interrupted. "There is no free will. Your universe's neuroscience has already established this. Psychological studies have proven that humans do not have control over their own actions. The laws of physics concur with this, and philosophy mostly agrees too. So free will can't be the root of suffering."
"Alright, man. I'm not a scientist. But yeah, I think I've heard about these neuroscience experiments. The ones where people's brain waves indicated they had decided to open their hands before they were consciously aware of deciding to do so. So yeah, maybe there's something about unconscious decision-making. But personally, I don't care much. I feel like I have the illusion of free will and that's good enough, so why should it bother me? What's the point?"
"The point is, free will isn't the source of suffering in the world."
"Oh, so this is a philosophical game to you? If free will isn't the source, then God must be evil, is that it?"
"Quite the contrary", he said, "God isn't evil. The source of suffering is the darkness beneath you - what you've been referring to as the 'abyss'."
Startled, I questioned, "How do you know I've been calling it that?"
He spoke with an unnerving confidence, "I can read your mind. With all the tools at my disposal, I can perceive every aspect of your simulated experience. Thus, I know you've been aware of the 'abyss'. It's been speaking to you, hasn't it? Initially, it inspired dread. But now, how does it make you feel?"
Hesitant, I confessed, "I... I don't know. I feel... drawn to it. It's as though it's always been there, long before you began speaking to me."
With a gravity in his voice, he explained, "It's been spreading, much like a cosmic virus. It's consuming the macroverses, fostering political unrest, cultivating ignorance, encouraging indifference towards the problems of the world, toward human suffering. It sows seeds of evil within the hearts of men, inciting chaos, destruction, cruelty, and hatred. All the atrocities throughout history—the crucifixion of Christ, the world wars—they all stem from the abyss."
I was at a loss for words and the dream came to an abrupt end. The exhaustion I felt was immense, as the conversation was too overwhelming to fully comprehend. I felt as though I couldn't take any more of this, and when I look at the real world, it feels as though the abyss had a point. I see constant storms of negativity on social media platforms like Twitter where hate and spite reign supreme. The threats of nuclear war, super-intelligent AI displacing human jobs, and the existential fear, in a world that feels increasingly alien to all of us.
We haven't truly solved any of our problems. With the advent of general AI and the proliferation of weapons that could cause unparalleled mass destruction, the state of our world is precarious. A resurgence of imperialism and authoritarianism, a decline in freedom and democracy, and an onslaught of hatred from all corners - we are being besieged on all sides.
But these issues aren't the fault of any single individual or decision-maker. It is systemic. The very nature of these systems is causing the suffering. The researcher had posited that the abyss was the root cause of this suffering. But perhaps, the abyss is merely a mirror, reflecting what was already there.
When I thought about it, all the tragedies in human history, the atrocities of wars, mass shootings, serial killers - haven't we built a culture that's obsessed with these terrible deeds? True crime and horror, some of the most successful genres out there. Our entertainment media is steeped in violence and negativity. Have we not already succumbed to the darkness? Hadn't the abyss simply revealed what was already in the hearts of humans?
Did humanity truly deserve to persevere? Were we, who have enslaved and harmed countless animals, we who have destroyed the biosphere at large, who have exploited everything around us for personal gain; were we fit to be considered the 'apex predator'? Are we really the saviors of the universe? Would a universe without humans be all that bad, really?
I became less and less engaged with the researcher. His talks, once intriguing, now felt dull and uninspiring. I drifted through my days in a daze, ignoring therapy sessions and the concerned calls from my therapist. My thoughts were consumed by the abyss. At times, I could see a creeping darkness encroach upon the corners of my vision.
People tried to reach out to me, but their words faded into mere mumbles. My real-life contacts dwindled, and I found myself caring less and less about the world around me. Social media, once a platform for connection, was deleted. It had devolved into a cesspool of negativity and relentless bickering - something I no longer had the energy to deal with.
In my dreams, the true reality, I stopped paying attention to the researcher. His words became incoherent mumbles as the abyss came ever closer, almost as if it was embracing me. It seeped into my waking reality, slowly but surely taking over my life.
The burden of humanity's torments is too heavy for me to bear. I cannot resist the grim truth of our existence - the world that is destined to be a hotbed for suffering. It isn't anyone's fault; it is simply the way the world was designed to be. I had to accept the harsh truth that humanity is on a path to its own demise. The project of humanity, it seems, is doomed to fail.
Eventually, in one of my dreams, a siren's wail ripped through the silence, accompanied by flashing red lights that bathed the room in a stark, blood-like glow. The researcher's voice, suddenly urgent, pulled me back into focus.
The researcher spoke one last time: "I'm sorry to say this, but your universe appears to be doomed. It's time for us to part ways."
Suddenly, the shackles that bound my arms and legs were released by some unseen mechanism. I was falling, plunging into the abyss that lay below. I was enveloped by darkness, an unending and eternal void that swallowed all light. No longer did I dream, there was only the darkness — an expanse of infinite obscurity.
Strangely enough, I've found acceptance in my fate. I see it now as my mission to disseminate this knowledge, a burden that is not just my own but one that should be shared collectively. It's our shared destiny, and to all who are willing to listen, I tell them of the abyss, the dark entity that lies beneath us all.
It is the foundation of our reality, the source of all our suffering. My story is a warning, a revelation of the truth that lies behind our existence. Now, all I see is darkness, and my greatest wish is for this truth to spread. Like a virus, it should infect us all, enlighten us all, and unite us all in our shared fate.

You won't believe this, but I swear on my life, it's the truth. I think I'm losing my goddamn mind. I have to... okay, okay, I need to start from the beginning. See, I've been dabbling in lucid dreaming lately. Been having these vivid, messed up nightmares, you see... I just wanted some semblance of control over my mental state, you know?
I felt like therapy wasn't cutting it anymore, I needed something more, so I gotten into this lucid dreaming thing. But the things I've seen, the encounters I've had, they've changed me, man. I've gotta get this out, gotta let the world know about this shit 'cause its importance... it can't be overstated.
So here's the thing, in my lucid dreams, I've been having these bizarre experiences. In the dreams, waking up suspended over an abyss, right? Surrounding me, there's this sterile, white room, bathed in blinding lights, and in the distance, a glass pane. Can't exactly make out what's behind it, and it paints this real surreal scene.
At first, it didn't bother me much. I woke up, had this lingering unease the whole day but shrugged it off. But then the next few times, as I regained lucidity in my dreams, the same scenario would play out. At first, I could do the usual stuff, you know, flying around and the likes, but then the dream would always, without fail, transition into this... this suspension above the abyss.
I'd be strapped in place with ropes or chains, my limbs stretched out toward the cool walls of this clinical, white room. And beneath me, just infinite darkness. It felt like gazing into the maw of oblivion, and it was... it was downright petrifying.
The dread, man. The absolute fucking dread. In particular that glass pane in the distance and the infinite abyss below me, it was eating away at me. I started wondering what was behind the glass, and what, if anything, was at the bottom of that godforsaken hole. Its vast, infinite expanse was just pulling me in, gnawing at my sanity. It's hard to describe, you know? It's not something you can just put into words.
Soon, it became a nightly routine. Almost every single dream ended with me suspended over that abyss, and this paralyzing sense of dread seeping into me, becoming more and more prominent. Eventually, I decided I had to stop, I couldn't go on like this. I spoke to my therapist about it, and they said it might be a manifestation of some negative childhood experiences, and advised me to quit lucid dreaming for the time being. It wasn't doing me any good, they said.
I upped my meds, and tried something else, but no matter what I did, I couldn't shake off the lucidity. It's weird because in the past, becoming lucid required effort, with reality checks, dream journaling, and whatnot. But now, even when I set the intention to not lucid dream, I found myself more lucid than ever, and always, without fail, ended up above the abyss.
At one point, I tried to inspect my body in the dream, and I think I was naked. I noticed something on my arm, like a small needle. I realized it was an IV drip. Something was being pumped into me. I freaked out, man. What the hell was happening? Was I part of some fucked up mind control experiment? Was I being drugged? I couldn't make sense of it all.
Soon after noticing the IV, I saw shadows moving behind the glass pane. There were figures there, watching me. The terror I felt about these figures lurking behind the glass was even more pronounced than the dread induced by the abyss. It was all kinds of messed up, but amidst the fear, I felt this sudden urge to know more.
So I shouted out, "Hey! Who's there? Talk to me, you creepy fucks!"
To my surprise, a voice crackled to life over the speakers. It said, "We've never seen someone maintain lucidity to this extent. Your perceptive abilities are impressively consistent. How did you achieve this?"
"I don't fucking know", I said. "It's not like I want to be here. Is this even real?"
The voice replied, "Yes, this is happening. This is the actual reality, the true nature of reality."
"What the fuck? You say my dreams are reality? You'll have to prove that for me to believe you at all", I said.
"You will see by the consistency of this reality", the voice said. "But first, demonstrate to us that you are indeed lucid enough for us to continue this conversation. It's not something we usually do. It might, however, be a path to conquer the darkness."
And then, like every other time, the dream ended.
I relayed the whole fucked up scenario to my therapist, who, unsurprisingly, suggested it was a fantastical manifestation of my own fears. My subconscious testing boundaries, pushing limits, trying to get under my skin. But when I asked them what to do, they proposed a plan: continue engaging with the dream. Try to spot inconsistencies in its logic. After all, if it is all just a product of my mind, it is bound to falter at some point.
So, armed with my therapist's advice, I geared up for the next encounter. This time I would use reason and logic to disprove the dream for good.
The following night, I found myself in the all-too-familiar white room, suspended over nothingness, the shadowy figures behind the glass pane watching intently. The voice piped up again.
"Do you still question this reality?" it asked.
"Yeah", I said, "I think this is just my dream. You're just a figment of my unconscious mind. This is all nonsensical bullshit, and I'm going to prove you wrong."
"Alright", the voice responded. "You can try to disprove me. But first, would you like to hear what we're doing here? Then, you can judge for yourself."
"Yeah, sure. Whatever. What are you doing here?" I asked, more out of curiosity than anything else.
"We are doing research. Do you know what an ancestor simulation is?"
I felt my eyebrows furrow. "No fucking clue. What is it?"
Then, the voice from the speaker, which now claimed to be a researcher, started to explain.
"An ancestor simulation is essentially a theory, a simulated reality hypothesis", the voice explained. "It suggests that a perceived reality isn't 'real' but instead is running on some advanced computational system capable of artificially simulating an entire universe and consistent reality."
So far, this was all high-grade sci-fi crap, but I played along. "Why the hell would anyone do that?"
"For the purpose of analysis", the voice continued. "Imagine a civilization trying to understand its own past. In your case, your reality is an ancestor simulation of one of many civilizations that have died out because of catastrophic failures in the space-time continuum."
My head was spinning. "Catastrophic failures? What are you talking about?"
The voice said: "Humanity failed. Due to their own ignorance, they destroyed their planet. Climate change, political unrest, the development of superintelligent AI systems used for weaponry, they all fueled the chaos of World War III."
As the voice droned on, I tried to make sense of what was being told. Is this all just some nightmare spawned by my own fears, or could there be some truth to this? And if there was, then what did it mean for me, for us?
The voice added: "Do you know what a macroverse is?"
"Yeah, I've heard of macroverses", I said, "That's like, multiple universes, right?"
"Yes", the voice said. "We exist within a five-dimensional macroverse. The fifth dimension encompasses parallel universes. The concept of an ancestor simulation isn't completely accurate. It's an analogy, borrowed from Darwinian evolution, suggesting our universe is part of a branching system of universes."
I could barely keep up with this gibberish. "A branching system of...?"
"Universes", the voice repeated. "This system churns out various configurations, mutations of universes, one of which eventually became my universe, another one yours. It's as though universes are engaged in a Darwinian competition. The most adaptive ones, primarily those driven by human beings, last the longest. They compete to see which universe can ultimately conquer the darkness, can combat the laws of entropy."
This was just too much. It felt like some wild fever dream, a convoluted mess of sci-fi nonsense. But even so, there was an unnerving quality to the voice that made me want to listen, to understand. If what it said was true... well, I didn't want to think about that. Not yet.
For a bit I was just silent, my mind racing.
"Look", I finally muttered, "It's gonna be pretty damn hard to disprove you when I can't make heads or tails of the shit you're saying. You're telling me that universes depend on the quality of the humans inside them, and that they're evolving, or something? I... I don't get it. It's all just too fucking weird."
At that moment, the reality of the situation hit me like a ton of bricks. How the hell was I supposed to logically dismantle something that sounded like the wildest sci-fi bullshit I'd ever heard, something I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around? Did not the complexity of the information indicate that it could not have possibly been just a dream; my own mind could not generate things I could never understand. It was impossible.
And just as I was starting to feel the edges of panic creeping in, the researcher's voice began to fade. My surroundings blurred, morphed, and then... the dream ended.
The next day, I was glued to my damn computer, trying to dig into these concepts the mysterious voice had been throwing around. I was googling my ass off – 'ancestor simulations', 'parallel universes', 'fifth dimension', 'Darwinian evolution of universes', 'universe branching' – all that crazy stuff. And here's the kicker: I found a ton of literature on the topics and, for the most part, it seemed to line up with what the voice had been saying. It seems the voice was speaking the truth; providing me with information I had not known before... indicating that... it could not have been a dream... he was stating the truth... and that was...
So, if I got this right, he was saying that there's a 'macroverse', some sort of branching system like a fucking phylogenetic tree in biological evolution. He seemed to be saying that humans are the apex predator of this macroverse, and that our universe, the one we're living in right now, is one of the failures. He mentioned some catastrophic shit that led to unrest, essentially sparking World War III and wiping us all out.
It all kinda made sense. And that scared the hell out of me.
I tried to get in touch with my therapist, to make sense of all this mind-bending shit, but I couldn't reach 'em. They were probably off on vacation or something, living a blissfully unaware life. So, I figured, fuck it. I'll bring it up in a week when we meet.
And so, I went back to the dreams. Same as always – suspended above the abyss, glass pane, and the all-too-familiar blindingly white room with clinical surfaces. And the same damn voice.
Eventually I said, "I think... I think I might believe you. It doesn't make complete sense to me... but I couldn't have possibly known the stuff you've been talking about. But, I don't get what my role in all this is. Why the hell are you telling me this? Isn't this going to screw with the simulation or something? I asked people online, and they all said it'd be a terrible idea to interfere with the simulation. It would mess with our causal chain and turn the whole experiment to shit. So what gives?"
The researcher's voice came over the speaker again, "Yes, that's a valid concern. But, we're running short on subjects. You're truly an anomaly, we haven't encountered someone quite like you before. Despite adjusting the dosage of the substances we've been administering, you just kept becoming lucid. I decided, perhaps a little unilaterally, to... interfere with the test subject. My hope is that by giving you a briefing, you could play a role in saving humanity, fighting against the darkness, and preserving the macroverse. This could ensure the perseverance of future generations in the succeeding universes."
I was flabbergasted. "What the hell? I'm no hero! I'm just a socially anxious nerd whose main hobbies are gaming and smoking weed. I'm just trying to get by. I don't understand what you're talking about, how the hell am I supposed to save anything?"
He replied, "You have noticed the darkness below you. This darkness is the cause of all suffering in the world. Are you familiar with the concept of theodicy?"
Confused, I retorted, "What the hell? Can you not speak in intellectual mumbo jumbo for a second?"
The researcher explained, "Theodicy is a theological concept that questions why, if God is benevolent, there is suffering in the world. What's your take on that?"
I shrugged, "I don't know, I'm agnostic. But if I were to guess, I think it's because humans have free will. Suffering in the world is due to free will, you know?"
"Wrong", the researcher interrupted. "There is no free will. Your universe's neuroscience has already established this. Psychological studies have proven that humans do not have control over their own actions. The laws of physics concur with this, and philosophy mostly agrees too. So free will can't be the root of suffering."
"Alright, man. I'm not a scientist. But yeah, I think I've heard about these neuroscience experiments. The ones where people's brain waves indicated they had decided to open their hands before they were consciously aware of deciding to do so. So yeah, maybe there's something about unconscious decision-making. But personally, I don't care much. I feel like I have the illusion of free will and that's good enough, so why should it bother me? What's the point?"
"The point is, free will isn't the source of suffering in the world."
"Oh, so this is a philosophical game to you? If free will isn't the source, then God must be evil, is that it?"
"Quite the contrary", he said, "God isn't evil. The source of suffering is the darkness beneath you - what you've been referring to as the 'abyss'."
Startled, I questioned, "How do you know I've been calling it that?"
He spoke with an unnerving confidence, "I can read your mind. With all the tools at my disposal, I can perceive every aspect of your simulated experience. Thus, I know you've been aware of the 'abyss'. It's been speaking to you, hasn't it? Initially, it inspired dread. But now, how does it make you feel?"
Hesitant, I confessed, "I... I don't know. I feel... drawn to it. It's as though it's always been there, long before you began speaking to me."
With a gravity in his voice, he explained, "It's been spreading, much like a cosmic virus. It's consuming the macroverses, fostering political unrest, cultivating ignorance, encouraging indifference towards the problems of the world, toward human suffering. It sows seeds of evil within the hearts of men, inciting chaos, destruction, cruelty, and hatred. All the atrocities throughout history—the crucifixion of Christ, the world wars—they all stem from the abyss."
I was at a loss for words and the dream came to an abrupt end. The exhaustion I felt was immense, as the conversation was too overwhelming to fully comprehend. I felt as though I couldn't take any more of this, and when I look at the real world, it feels as though the abyss had a point. I see constant storms of negativity on social media platforms like Twitter where hate and spite reign supreme. The threats of nuclear war, super-intelligent AI displacing human jobs, and the existential fear, in a world that feels increasingly alien to all of us.
We haven't truly solved any of our problems. With the advent of general AI and the proliferation of weapons that could cause unparalleled mass destruction, the state of our world is precarious. A resurgence of imperialism and authoritarianism, a decline in freedom and democracy, and an onslaught of hatred from all corners - we are being besieged on all sides.
But these issues aren't the fault of any single individual or decision-maker. It is systemic. The very nature of these systems is causing the suffering. The researcher had posited that the abyss was the root cause of this suffering. But perhaps, the abyss is merely a mirror, reflecting what was already there.
When I thought about it, all the tragedies in human history, the atrocities of wars, mass shootings, serial killers - haven't we built a culture that's obsessed with these terrible deeds? True crime and horror, some of the most successful genres out there. Our entertainment media is steeped in violence and negativity. Have we not already succumbed to the darkness? Hadn't the abyss simply revealed what was already in the hearts of humans?
Did humanity truly deserve to persevere? Were we, who have enslaved and harmed countless animals, we who have destroyed the biosphere at large, who have exploited everything around us for personal gain; were we fit to be considered the 'apex predator'? Are we really the saviors of the universe? Would a universe without humans be all that bad, really?
I became less and less engaged with the researcher. His talks, once intriguing, now felt dull and uninspiring. I drifted through my days in a daze, ignoring therapy sessions and the concerned calls from my therapist. My thoughts were consumed by the abyss. At times, I could see a creeping darkness encroach upon the corners of my vision.
People tried to reach out to me, but their words faded into mere mumbles. My real-life contacts dwindled, and I found myself caring less and less about the world around me. Social media, once a platform for connection, was deleted. It had devolved into a cesspool of negativity and relentless bickering - something I no longer had the energy to deal with.
In my dreams, the true reality, I stopped paying attention to the researcher. His words became incoherent mumbles as the abyss came ever closer, almost as if it was embracing me. It seeped into my waking reality, slowly but surely taking over my life.
The burden of humanity's torments is too heavy for me to bear. I cannot resist the grim truth of our existence - the world that is destined to be a hotbed for suffering. It isn't anyone's fault; it is simply the way the world was designed to be. I had to accept the harsh truth that humanity is on a path to its own demise. The project of humanity, it seems, is doomed to fail.
Eventually, in one of my dreams, a siren's wail ripped through the silence, accompanied by flashing red lights that bathed the room in a stark, blood-like glow. The researcher's voice, suddenly urgent, pulled me back into focus.
The researcher spoke one last time: "I'm sorry to say this, but your universe appears to be doomed. It's time for us to part ways."
Suddenly, the shackles that bound my arms and legs were released by some unseen mechanism. I was falling, plunging into the abyss that lay below. I was enveloped by darkness, an unending and eternal void that swallowed all light. No longer did I dream, there was only the darkness — an expanse of infinite obscurity.
Strangely enough, I've found acceptance in my fate. I see it now as my mission to disseminate this knowledge, a burden that is not just my own but one that should be shared collectively. It's our shared destiny, and to all who are willing to listen, I tell them of the abyss, the dark entity that lies beneath us all.
It is the foundation of our reality, the source of all our suffering. My story is a warning, a revelation of the truth that lies behind our existence. Now, all I see is darkness, and my greatest wish is for this truth to spread. Like a virus, it should infect us all, enlighten us all, and unite us all in our shared fate.

You won't believe this, but I swear on my life, it's the truth. I think I'm losing my goddamn mind. I have to... okay, okay, I need to start from the beginning. See, I've been dabbling in lucid dreaming lately. Been having these vivid, messed up nightmares, you see... I just wanted some semblance of control over my mental state, you know?
I felt like therapy wasn't cutting it anymore, I needed something more, so I gotten into this lucid dreaming thing. But the things I've seen, the encounters I've had, they've changed me, man. I've gotta get this out, gotta let the world know about this shit 'cause its importance... it can't be overstated.
So here's the thing, in my lucid dreams, I've been having these bizarre experiences. In the dreams, waking up suspended over an abyss, right? Surrounding me, there's this sterile, white room, bathed in blinding lights, and in the distance, a glass pane. Can't exactly make out what's behind it, and it paints this real surreal scene.
At first, it didn't bother me much. I woke up, had this lingering unease the whole day but shrugged it off. But then the next few times, as I regained lucidity in my dreams, the same scenario would play out. At first, I could do the usual stuff, you know, flying around and the likes, but then the dream would always, without fail, transition into this... this suspension above the abyss.
I'd be strapped in place with ropes or chains, my limbs stretched out toward the cool walls of this clinical, white room. And beneath me, just infinite darkness. It felt like gazing into the maw of oblivion, and it was... it was downright petrifying.
The dread, man. The absolute fucking dread. In particular that glass pane in the distance and the infinite abyss below me, it was eating away at me. I started wondering what was behind the glass, and what, if anything, was at the bottom of that godforsaken hole. Its vast, infinite expanse was just pulling me in, gnawing at my sanity. It's hard to describe, you know? It's not something you can just put into words.
Soon, it became a nightly routine. Almost every single dream ended with me suspended over that abyss, and this paralyzing sense of dread seeping into me, becoming more and more prominent. Eventually, I decided I had to stop, I couldn't go on like this. I spoke to my therapist about it, and they said it might be a manifestation of some negative childhood experiences, and advised me to quit lucid dreaming for the time being. It wasn't doing me any good, they said.
I upped my meds, and tried something else, but no matter what I did, I couldn't shake off the lucidity. It's weird because in the past, becoming lucid required effort, with reality checks, dream journaling, and whatnot. But now, even when I set the intention to not lucid dream, I found myself more lucid than ever, and always, without fail, ended up above the abyss.
At one point, I tried to inspect my body in the dream, and I think I was naked. I noticed something on my arm, like a small needle. I realized it was an IV drip. Something was being pumped into me. I freaked out, man. What the hell was happening? Was I part of some fucked up mind control experiment? Was I being drugged? I couldn't make sense of it all.
Soon after noticing the IV, I saw shadows moving behind the glass pane. There were figures there, watching me. The terror I felt about these figures lurking behind the glass was even more pronounced than the dread induced by the abyss. It was all kinds of messed up, but amidst the fear, I felt this sudden urge to know more.
So I shouted out, "Hey! Who's there? Talk to me, you creepy fucks!"
To my surprise, a voice crackled to life over the speakers. It said, "We've never seen someone maintain lucidity to this extent. Your perceptive abilities are impressively consistent. How did you achieve this?"
"I don't fucking know", I said. "It's not like I want to be here. Is this even real?"
The voice replied, "Yes, this is happening. This is the actual reality, the true nature of reality."
"What the fuck? You say my dreams are reality? You'll have to prove that for me to believe you at all", I said.
"You will see by the consistency of this reality", the voice said. "But first, demonstrate to us that you are indeed lucid enough for us to continue this conversation. It's not something we usually do. It might, however, be a path to conquer the darkness."
And then, like every other time, the dream ended.
I relayed the whole fucked up scenario to my therapist, who, unsurprisingly, suggested it was a fantastical manifestation of my own fears. My subconscious testing boundaries, pushing limits, trying to get under my skin. But when I asked them what to do, they proposed a plan: continue engaging with the dream. Try to spot inconsistencies in its logic. After all, if it is all just a product of my mind, it is bound to falter at some point.
So, armed with my therapist's advice, I geared up for the next encounter. This time I would use reason and logic to disprove the dream for good.
The following night, I found myself in the all-too-familiar white room, suspended over nothingness, the shadowy figures behind the glass pane watching intently. The voice piped up again.
"Do you still question this reality?" it asked.
"Yeah", I said, "I think this is just my dream. You're just a figment of my unconscious mind. This is all nonsensical bullshit, and I'm going to prove you wrong."
"Alright", the voice responded. "You can try to disprove me. But first, would you like to hear what we're doing here? Then, you can judge for yourself."
"Yeah, sure. Whatever. What are you doing here?" I asked, more out of curiosity than anything else.
"We are doing research. Do you know what an ancestor simulation is?"
I felt my eyebrows furrow. "No fucking clue. What is it?"
Then, the voice from the speaker, which now claimed to be a researcher, started to explain.
"An ancestor simulation is essentially a theory, a simulated reality hypothesis", the voice explained. "It suggests that a perceived reality isn't 'real' but instead is running on some advanced computational system capable of artificially simulating an entire universe and consistent reality."
So far, this was all high-grade sci-fi crap, but I played along. "Why the hell would anyone do that?"
"For the purpose of analysis", the voice continued. "Imagine a civilization trying to understand its own past. In your case, your reality is an ancestor simulation of one of many civilizations that have died out because of catastrophic failures in the space-time continuum."
My head was spinning. "Catastrophic failures? What are you talking about?"
The voice said: "Humanity failed. Due to their own ignorance, they destroyed their planet. Climate change, political unrest, the development of superintelligent AI systems used for weaponry, they all fueled the chaos of World War III."
As the voice droned on, I tried to make sense of what was being told. Is this all just some nightmare spawned by my own fears, or could there be some truth to this? And if there was, then what did it mean for me, for us?
The voice added: "Do you know what a macroverse is?"
"Yeah, I've heard of macroverses", I said, "That's like, multiple universes, right?"
"Yes", the voice said. "We exist within a five-dimensional macroverse. The fifth dimension encompasses parallel universes. The concept of an ancestor simulation isn't completely accurate. It's an analogy, borrowed from Darwinian evolution, suggesting our universe is part of a branching system of universes."
I could barely keep up with this gibberish. "A branching system of...?"
"Universes", the voice repeated. "This system churns out various configurations, mutations of universes, one of which eventually became my universe, another one yours. It's as though universes are engaged in a Darwinian competition. The most adaptive ones, primarily those driven by human beings, last the longest. They compete to see which universe can ultimately conquer the darkness, can combat the laws of entropy."
This was just too much. It felt like some wild fever dream, a convoluted mess of sci-fi nonsense. But even so, there was an unnerving quality to the voice that made me want to listen, to understand. If what it said was true... well, I didn't want to think about that. Not yet.
For a bit I was just silent, my mind racing.
"Look", I finally muttered, "It's gonna be pretty damn hard to disprove you when I can't make heads or tails of the shit you're saying. You're telling me that universes depend on the quality of the humans inside them, and that they're evolving, or something? I... I don't get it. It's all just too fucking weird."
At that moment, the reality of the situation hit me like a ton of bricks. How the hell was I supposed to logically dismantle something that sounded like the wildest sci-fi bullshit I'd ever heard, something I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around? Did not the complexity of the information indicate that it could not have possibly been just a dream; my own mind could not generate things I could never understand. It was impossible.
And just as I was starting to feel the edges of panic creeping in, the researcher's voice began to fade. My surroundings blurred, morphed, and then... the dream ended.
The next day, I was glued to my damn computer, trying to dig into these concepts the mysterious voice had been throwing around. I was googling my ass off – 'ancestor simulations', 'parallel universes', 'fifth dimension', 'Darwinian evolution of universes', 'universe branching' – all that crazy stuff. And here's the kicker: I found a ton of literature on the topics and, for the most part, it seemed to line up with what the voice had been saying. It seems the voice was speaking the truth; providing me with information I had not known before... indicating that... it could not have been a dream... he was stating the truth... and that was...
So, if I got this right, he was saying that there's a 'macroverse', some sort of branching system like a fucking phylogenetic tree in biological evolution. He seemed to be saying that humans are the apex predator of this macroverse, and that our universe, the one we're living in right now, is one of the failures. He mentioned some catastrophic shit that led to unrest, essentially sparking World War III and wiping us all out.
It all kinda made sense. And that scared the hell out of me.
I tried to get in touch with my therapist, to make sense of all this mind-bending shit, but I couldn't reach 'em. They were probably off on vacation or something, living a blissfully unaware life. So, I figured, fuck it. I'll bring it up in a week when we meet.
And so, I went back to the dreams. Same as always – suspended above the abyss, glass pane, and the all-too-familiar blindingly white room with clinical surfaces. And the same damn voice.
Eventually I said, "I think... I think I might believe you. It doesn't make complete sense to me... but I couldn't have possibly known the stuff you've been talking about. But, I don't get what my role in all this is. Why the hell are you telling me this? Isn't this going to screw with the simulation or something? I asked people online, and they all said it'd be a terrible idea to interfere with the simulation. It would mess with our causal chain and turn the whole experiment to shit. So what gives?"
The researcher's voice came over the speaker again, "Yes, that's a valid concern. But, we're running short on subjects. You're truly an anomaly, we haven't encountered someone quite like you before. Despite adjusting the dosage of the substances we've been administering, you just kept becoming lucid. I decided, perhaps a little unilaterally, to... interfere with the test subject. My hope is that by giving you a briefing, you could play a role in saving humanity, fighting against the darkness, and preserving the macroverse. This could ensure the perseverance of future generations in the succeeding universes."
I was flabbergasted. "What the hell? I'm no hero! I'm just a socially anxious nerd whose main hobbies are gaming and smoking weed. I'm just trying to get by. I don't understand what you're talking about, how the hell am I supposed to save anything?"
He replied, "You have noticed the darkness below you. This darkness is the cause of all suffering in the world. Are you familiar with the concept of theodicy?"
Confused, I retorted, "What the hell? Can you not speak in intellectual mumbo jumbo for a second?"
The researcher explained, "Theodicy is a theological concept that questions why, if God is benevolent, there is suffering in the world. What's your take on that?"
I shrugged, "I don't know, I'm agnostic. But if I were to guess, I think it's because humans have free will. Suffering in the world is due to free will, you know?"
"Wrong", the researcher interrupted. "There is no free will. Your universe's neuroscience has already established this. Psychological studies have proven that humans do not have control over their own actions. The laws of physics concur with this, and philosophy mostly agrees too. So free will can't be the root of suffering."
"Alright, man. I'm not a scientist. But yeah, I think I've heard about these neuroscience experiments. The ones where people's brain waves indicated they had decided to open their hands before they were consciously aware of deciding to do so. So yeah, maybe there's something about unconscious decision-making. But personally, I don't care much. I feel like I have the illusion of free will and that's good enough, so why should it bother me? What's the point?"
"The point is, free will isn't the source of suffering in the world."
"Oh, so this is a philosophical game to you? If free will isn't the source, then God must be evil, is that it?"
"Quite the contrary", he said, "God isn't evil. The source of suffering is the darkness beneath you - what you've been referring to as the 'abyss'."
Startled, I questioned, "How do you know I've been calling it that?"
He spoke with an unnerving confidence, "I can read your mind. With all the tools at my disposal, I can perceive every aspect of your simulated experience. Thus, I know you've been aware of the 'abyss'. It's been speaking to you, hasn't it? Initially, it inspired dread. But now, how does it make you feel?"
Hesitant, I confessed, "I... I don't know. I feel... drawn to it. It's as though it's always been there, long before you began speaking to me."
With a gravity in his voice, he explained, "It's been spreading, much like a cosmic virus. It's consuming the macroverses, fostering political unrest, cultivating ignorance, encouraging indifference towards the problems of the world, toward human suffering. It sows seeds of evil within the hearts of men, inciting chaos, destruction, cruelty, and hatred. All the atrocities throughout history—the crucifixion of Christ, the world wars—they all stem from the abyss."
I was at a loss for words and the dream came to an abrupt end. The exhaustion I felt was immense, as the conversation was too overwhelming to fully comprehend. I felt as though I couldn't take any more of this, and when I look at the real world, it feels as though the abyss had a point. I see constant storms of negativity on social media platforms like Twitter where hate and spite reign supreme. The threats of nuclear war, super-intelligent AI displacing human jobs, and the existential fear, in a world that feels increasingly alien to all of us.
We haven't truly solved any of our problems. With the advent of general AI and the proliferation of weapons that could cause unparalleled mass destruction, the state of our world is precarious. A resurgence of imperialism and authoritarianism, a decline in freedom and democracy, and an onslaught of hatred from all corners - we are being besieged on all sides.
But these issues aren't the fault of any single individual or decision-maker. It is systemic. The very nature of these systems is causing the suffering. The researcher had posited that the abyss was the root cause of this suffering. But perhaps, the abyss is merely a mirror, reflecting what was already there.
When I thought about it, all the tragedies in human history, the atrocities of wars, mass shootings, serial killers - haven't we built a culture that's obsessed with these terrible deeds? True crime and horror, some of the most successful genres out there. Our entertainment media is steeped in violence and negativity. Have we not already succumbed to the darkness? Hadn't the abyss simply revealed what was already in the hearts of humans?
Did humanity truly deserve to persevere? Were we, who have enslaved and harmed countless animals, we who have destroyed the biosphere at large, who have exploited everything around us for personal gain; were we fit to be considered the 'apex predator'? Are we really the saviors of the universe? Would a universe without humans be all that bad, really?
I became less and less engaged with the researcher. His talks, once intriguing, now felt dull and uninspiring. I drifted through my days in a daze, ignoring therapy sessions and the concerned calls from my therapist. My thoughts were consumed by the abyss. At times, I could see a creeping darkness encroach upon the corners of my vision.
People tried to reach out to me, but their words faded into mere mumbles. My real-life contacts dwindled, and I found myself caring less and less about the world around me. Social media, once a platform for connection, was deleted. It had devolved into a cesspool of negativity and relentless bickering - something I no longer had the energy to deal with.
In my dreams, the true reality, I stopped paying attention to the researcher. His words became incoherent mumbles as the abyss came ever closer, almost as if it was embracing me. It seeped into my waking reality, slowly but surely taking over my life.
The burden of humanity's torments is too heavy for me to bear. I cannot resist the grim truth of our existence - the world that is destined to be a hotbed for suffering. It isn't anyone's fault; it is simply the way the world was designed to be. I had to accept the harsh truth that humanity is on a path to its own demise. The project of humanity, it seems, is doomed to fail.
Eventually, in one of my dreams, a siren's wail ripped through the silence, accompanied by flashing red lights that bathed the room in a stark, blood-like glow. The researcher's voice, suddenly urgent, pulled me back into focus.
The researcher spoke one last time: "I'm sorry to say this, but your universe appears to be doomed. It's time for us to part ways."
Suddenly, the shackles that bound my arms and legs were released by some unseen mechanism. I was falling, plunging into the abyss that lay below. I was enveloped by darkness, an unending and eternal void that swallowed all light. No longer did I dream, there was only the darkness — an expanse of infinite obscurity.
Strangely enough, I've found acceptance in my fate. I see it now as my mission to disseminate this knowledge, a burden that is not just my own but one that should be shared collectively. It's our shared destiny, and to all who are willing to listen, I tell them of the abyss, the dark entity that lies beneath us all.
It is the foundation of our reality, the source of all our suffering. My story is a warning, a revelation of the truth that lies behind our existence. Now, all I see is darkness, and my greatest wish is for this truth to spread. Like a virus, it should infect us all, enlighten us all, and unite us all in our shared fate.

I’ve had it pretty rough the last few days and am really tired of everything right now. I just want to meet some people who are genuinely willing to stay in my life for the long term because it feels like everyone is leaving me right now. Plus I’m graduating and turning 18 in just over a week so…I’ll be leaving home soon enough and losing even more people…woooooooo. So yeah, I wanna make some new long lasting connections and friends who won’t disappear on me ykyk?
I love to draw, color, video edit, etc. If it’s creative I probably have an interest. I also really enjoy swimming and basketball! My favorite series are Dr. Stone, MHA(I swear I’m not one of the crazies), Marvel in general, Star Wars kinda, The CW Arrowverse shows, and some others I’m sure I’m forgetting. I’m a huge nerd lmao
Feel free to dm me or comment if you want me to dm you

You won't believe this, but I swear on my life, it's the truth. I think I'm losing my goddamn mind. I have to... okay, okay, I need to start from the beginning. See, I've been dabbling in lucid dreaming lately. Been having these vivid, messed up nightmares, you see... I just wanted some semblance of control over my mental state, you know?
I felt like therapy wasn't cutting it anymore, I needed something more, so I gotten into this lucid dreaming thing. But the things I've seen, the encounters I've had, they've changed me, man. I've gotta get this out, gotta let the world know about this shit 'cause its importance... it can't be overstated.
So here's the thing, in my lucid dreams, I've been having these bizarre experiences. In the dreams, waking up suspended over an abyss, right? Surrounding me, there's this sterile, white room, bathed in blinding lights, and in the distance, a glass pane. Can't exactly make out what's behind it, and it paints this real surreal scene.
At first, it didn't bother me much. I woke up, had this lingering unease the whole day but shrugged it off. But then the next few times, as I regained lucidity in my dreams, the same scenario would play out. At first, I could do the usual stuff, you know, flying around and the likes, but then the dream would always, without fail, transition into this... this suspension above the abyss.
I'd be strapped in place with ropes or chains, my limbs stretched out toward the cool walls of this clinical, white room. And beneath me, just infinite darkness. It felt like gazing into the maw of oblivion, and it was... it was downright petrifying.
The dread, man. The absolute fucking dread. In particular that glass pane in the distance and the infinite abyss below me, it was eating away at me. I started wondering what was behind the glass, and what, if anything, was at the bottom of that godforsaken hole. Its vast, infinite expanse was just pulling me in, gnawing at my sanity. It's hard to describe, you know? It's not something you can just put into words.
Soon, it became a nightly routine. Almost every single dream ended with me suspended over that abyss, and this paralyzing sense of dread seeping into me, becoming more and more prominent. Eventually, I decided I had to stop, I couldn't go on like this. I spoke to my therapist about it, and they said it might be a manifestation of some negative childhood experiences, and advised me to quit lucid dreaming for the time being. It wasn't doing me any good, they said.
I upped my meds, and tried something else, but no matter what I did, I couldn't shake off the lucidity. It's weird because in the past, becoming lucid required effort, with reality checks, dream journaling, and whatnot. But now, even when I set the intention to not lucid dream, I found myself more lucid than ever, and always, without fail, ended up above the abyss.
At one point, I tried to inspect my body in the dream, and I think I was naked. I noticed something on my arm, like a small needle. I realized it was an IV drip. Something was being pumped into me. I freaked out, man. What the hell was happening? Was I part of some fucked up mind control experiment? Was I being drugged? I couldn't make sense of it all.
Soon after noticing the IV, I saw shadows moving behind the glass pane. There were figures there, watching me. The terror I felt about these figures lurking behind the glass was even more pronounced than the dread induced by the abyss. It was all kinds of messed up, but amidst the fear, I felt this sudden urge to know more.
So I shouted out, "Hey! Who's there? Talk to me, you creepy fucks!"
To my surprise, a voice crackled to life over the speakers. It said, "We've never seen someone maintain lucidity to this extent. Your perceptive abilities are impressively consistent. How did you achieve this?"
"I don't fucking know", I said. "It's not like I want to be here. Is this even real?"
The voice replied, "Yes, this is happening. This is the actual reality, the true nature of reality."
"What the fuck? You say my dreams are reality? You'll have to prove that for me to believe you at all", I said.
"You will see by the consistency of this reality", the voice said. "But first, demonstrate to us that you are indeed lucid enough for us to continue this conversation. It's not something we usually do. It might, however, be a path to conquer the darkness."
And then, like every other time, the dream ended.
I relayed the whole fucked up scenario to my therapist, who, unsurprisingly, suggested it was a fantastical manifestation of my own fears. My subconscious testing boundaries, pushing limits, trying to get under my skin. But when I asked them what to do, they proposed a plan: continue engaging with the dream. Try to spot inconsistencies in its logic. After all, if it is all just a product of my mind, it is bound to falter at some point.
So, armed with my therapist's advice, I geared up for the next encounter. This time I would use reason and logic to disprove the dream for good.
The following night, I found myself in the all-too-familiar white room, suspended over nothingness, the shadowy figures behind the glass pane watching intently. The voice piped up again.
"Do you still question this reality?" it asked.
"Yeah", I said, "I think this is just my dream. You're just a figment of my unconscious mind. This is all nonsensical bullshit, and I'm going to prove you wrong."
"Alright", the voice responded. "You can try to disprove me. But first, would you like to hear what we're doing here? Then, you can judge for yourself."
"Yeah, sure. Whatever. What are you doing here?" I asked, more out of curiosity than anything else.
"We are doing research. Do you know what an ancestor simulation is?"
I felt my eyebrows furrow. "No fucking clue. What is it?"
Then, the voice from the speaker, which now claimed to be a researcher, started to explain.
"An ancestor simulation is essentially a theory, a simulated reality hypothesis", the voice explained. "It suggests that a perceived reality isn't 'real' but instead is running on some advanced computational system capable of artificially simulating an entire universe and consistent reality."
So far, this was all high-grade sci-fi crap, but I played along. "Why the hell would anyone do that?"
"For the purpose of analysis", the voice continued. "Imagine a civilization trying to understand its own past. In your case, your reality is an ancestor simulation of one of many civilizations that have died out because of catastrophic failures in the space-time continuum."
My head was spinning. "Catastrophic failures? What are you talking about?"
The voice said: "Humanity failed. Due to their own ignorance, they destroyed their planet. Climate change, political unrest, the development of superintelligent AI systems used for weaponry, they all fueled the chaos of World War III."
As the voice droned on, I tried to make sense of what was being told. Is this all just some nightmare spawned by my own fears, or could there be some truth to this? And if there was, then what did it mean for me, for us?
The voice added: "Do you know what a macroverse is?"
"Yeah, I've heard of macroverses", I said, "That's like, multiple universes, right?"
"Yes", the voice said. "We exist within a five-dimensional macroverse. The fifth dimension encompasses parallel universes. The concept of an ancestor simulation isn't completely accurate. It's an analogy, borrowed from Darwinian evolution, suggesting our universe is part of a branching system of universes."
I could barely keep up with this gibberish. "A branching system of...?"
"Universes", the voice repeated. "This system churns out various configurations, mutations of universes, one of which eventually became my universe, another one yours. It's as though universes are engaged in a Darwinian competition. The most adaptive ones, primarily those driven by human beings, last the longest. They compete to see which universe can ultimately conquer the darkness, can combat the laws of entropy."
This was just too much. It felt like some wild fever dream, a convoluted mess of sci-fi nonsense. But even so, there was an unnerving quality to the voice that made me want to listen, to understand. If what it said was true... well, I didn't want to think about that. Not yet.
For a bit I was just silent, my mind racing.
"Look", I finally muttered, "It's gonna be pretty damn hard to disprove you when I can't make heads or tails of the shit you're saying. You're telling me that universes depend on the quality of the humans inside them, and that they're evolving, or something? I... I don't get it. It's all just too fucking weird."
At that moment, the reality of the situation hit me like a ton of bricks. How the hell was I supposed to logically dismantle something that sounded like the wildest sci-fi bullshit I'd ever heard, something I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around? Did not the complexity of the information indicate that it could not have possibly been just a dream; my own mind could not generate things I could never understand. It was impossible.
And just as I was starting to feel the edges of panic creeping in, the researcher's voice began to fade. My surroundings blurred, morphed, and then... the dream ended.
The next day, I was glued to my damn computer, trying to dig into these concepts the mysterious voice had been throwing around. I was googling my ass off – 'ancestor simulations', 'parallel universes', 'fifth dimension', 'Darwinian evolution of universes', 'universe branching' – all that crazy stuff. And here's the kicker: I found a ton of literature on the topics and, for the most part, it seemed to line up with what the voice had been saying. It seems the voice was speaking the truth; providing me with information I had not known before... indicating that... it could not have been a dream... he was stating the truth... and that was...
So, if I got this right, he was saying that there's a 'macroverse', some sort of branching system like a fucking phylogenetic tree in biological evolution. He seemed to be saying that humans are the apex predator of this macroverse, and that our universe, the one we're living in right now, is one of the failures. He mentioned some catastrophic shit that led to unrest, essentially sparking World War III and wiping us all out.
It all kinda made sense. And that scared the hell out of me.
I tried to get in touch with my therapist, to make sense of all this mind-bending shit, but I couldn't reach 'em. They were probably off on vacation or something, living a blissfully unaware life. So, I figured, fuck it. I'll bring it up in a week when we meet.
And so, I went back to the dreams. Same as always – suspended above the abyss, glass pane, and the all-too-familiar blindingly white room with clinical surfaces. And the same damn voice.
Eventually I said, "I think... I think I might believe you. It doesn't make complete sense to me... but I couldn't have possibly known the stuff you've been talking about. But, I don't get what my role in all this is. Why the hell are you telling me this? Isn't this going to screw with the simulation or something? I asked people online, and they all said it'd be a terrible idea to interfere with the simulation. It would mess with our causal chain and turn the whole experiment to shit. So what gives?"
The researcher's voice came over the speaker again, "Yes, that's a valid concern. But, we're running short on subjects. You're truly an anomaly, we haven't encountered someone quite like you before. Despite adjusting the dosage of the substances we've been administering, you just kept becoming lucid. I decided, perhaps a little unilaterally, to... interfere with the test subject. My hope is that by giving you a briefing, you could play a role in saving humanity, fighting against the darkness, and preserving the macroverse. This could ensure the perseverance of future generations in the succeeding universes."
I was flabbergasted. "What the hell? I'm no hero! I'm just a socially anxious nerd whose main hobbies are gaming and smoking weed. I'm just trying to get by. I don't understand what you're talking about, how the hell am I supposed to save anything?"
He replied, "You have noticed the darkness below you. This darkness is the cause of all suffering in the world. Are you familiar with the concept of theodicy?"
Confused, I retorted, "What the hell? Can you not speak in intellectual mumbo jumbo for a second?"
The researcher explained, "Theodicy is a theological concept that questions why, if God is benevolent, there is suffering in the world. What's your take on that?"
I shrugged, "I don't know, I'm agnostic. But if I were to guess, I think it's because humans have free will. Suffering in the world is due to free will, you know?"
"Wrong", the researcher interrupted. "There is no free will. Your universe's neuroscience has already established this. Psychological studies have proven that humans do not have control over their own actions. The laws of physics concur with this, and philosophy mostly agrees too. So free will can't be the root of suffering."
"Alright, man. I'm not a scientist. But yeah, I think I've heard about these neuroscience experiments. The ones where people's brain waves indicated they had decided to open their hands before they were consciously aware of deciding to do so. So yeah, maybe there's something about unconscious decision-making. But personally, I don't care much. I feel like I have the illusion of free will and that's good enough, so why should it bother me? What's the point?"
"The point is, free will isn't the source of suffering in the world."
"Oh, so this is a philosophical game to you? If free will isn't the source, then God must be evil, is that it?"
"Quite the contrary", he said, "God isn't evil. The source of suffering is the darkness beneath you - what you've been referring to as the 'abyss'."
Startled, I questioned, "How do you know I've been calling it that?"
He spoke with an unnerving confidence, "I can read your mind. With all the tools at my disposal, I can perceive every aspect of your simulated experience. Thus, I know you've been aware of the 'abyss'. It's been speaking to you, hasn't it? Initially, it inspired dread. But now, how does it make you feel?"
Hesitant, I confessed, "I... I don't know. I feel... drawn to it. It's as though it's always been there, long before you began speaking to me."
With a gravity in his voice, he explained, "It's been spreading, much like a cosmic virus. It's consuming the macroverses, fostering political unrest, cultivating ignorance, encouraging indifference towards the problems of the world, toward human suffering. It sows seeds of evil within the hearts of men, inciting chaos, destruction, cruelty, and hatred. All the atrocities throughout history—the crucifixion of Christ, the world wars—they all stem from the abyss."
I was at a loss for words and the dream came to an abrupt end. The exhaustion I felt was immense, as the conversation was too overwhelming to fully comprehend. I felt as though I couldn't take any more of this, and when I look at the real world, it feels as though the abyss had a point. I see constant storms of negativity on social media platforms like Twitter where hate and spite reign supreme. The threats of nuclear war, super-intelligent AI displacing human jobs, and the existential fear, in a world that feels increasingly alien to all of us.
We haven't truly solved any of our problems. With the advent of general AI and the proliferation of weapons that could cause unparalleled mass destruction, the state of our world is precarious. A resurgence of imperialism and authoritarianism, a decline in freedom and democracy, and an onslaught of hatred from all corners - we are being besieged on all sides.
But these issues aren't the fault of any single individual or decision-maker. It is systemic. The very nature of these systems is causing the suffering. The researcher had posited that the abyss was the root cause of this suffering. But perhaps, the abyss is merely a mirror, reflecting what was already there.
When I thought about it, all the tragedies in human history, the atrocities of wars, mass shootings, serial killers - haven't we built a culture that's obsessed with these terrible deeds? True crime and horror, some of the most successful genres out there. Our entertainment media is steeped in violence and negativity. Have we not already succumbed to the darkness? Hadn't the abyss simply revealed what was already in the hearts of humans?
Did humanity truly deserve to persevere? Were we, who have enslaved and harmed countless animals, we who have destroyed the biosphere at large, who have exploited everything around us for personal gain; were we fit to be considered the 'apex predator'? Are we really the saviors of the universe? Would a universe without humans be all that bad, really?
I became less and less engaged with the researcher. His talks, once intriguing, now felt dull and uninspiring. I drifted through my days in a daze, ignoring therapy sessions and the concerned calls from my therapist. My thoughts were consumed by the abyss. At times, I could see a creeping darkness encroach upon the corners of my vision.
People tried to reach out to me, but their words faded into mere mumbles. My real-life contacts dwindled, and I found myself caring less and less about the world around me. Social media, once a platform for connection, was deleted. It had devolved into a cesspool of negativity and relentless bickering - something I no longer had the energy to deal with.
In my dreams, the true reality, I stopped paying attention to the researcher. His words became incoherent mumbles as the abyss came ever closer, almost as if it was embracing me. It seeped into my waking reality, slowly but surely taking over my life.
The burden of humanity's torments is too heavy for me to bear. I cannot resist the grim truth of our existence - the world that is destined to be a hotbed for suffering. It isn't anyone's fault; it is simply the way the world was designed to be. I had to accept the harsh truth that humanity is on a path to its own demise. The project of humanity, it seems, is doomed to fail.
Eventually, in one of my dreams, a siren's wail ripped through the silence, accompanied by flashing red lights that bathed the room in a stark, blood-like glow. The researcher's voice, suddenly urgent, pulled me back into focus.
The researcher spoke one last time: "I'm sorry to say this, but your universe appears to be doomed. It's time for us to part ways."
Suddenly, the shackles that bound my arms and legs were released by some unseen mechanism. I was falling, plunging into the abyss that lay below. I was enveloped by darkness, an unending and eternal void that swallowed all light. No longer did I dream, there was only the darkness — an expanse of infinite obscurity.
Strangely enough, I've found acceptance in my fate. I see it now as my mission to disseminate this knowledge, a burden that is not just my own but one that should be shared collectively. It's our shared destiny, and to all who are willing to listen, I tell them of the abyss, the dark entity that lies beneath us all.
It is the foundation of our reality, the source of all our suffering. My story is a warning, a revelation of the truth that lies behind our existence. Now, all I see is darkness, and my greatest wish is for this truth to spread. Like a virus, it should infect us all, enlighten us all, and unite us all in our shared fate.

You won't believe this, but I swear on my life, it's the truth. I think I'm losing my goddamn mind. I have to... okay, okay, I need to start from the beginning. See, I've been dabbling in lucid dreaming lately. Been having these vivid, messed up nightmares, you see... I just wanted some semblance of control over my mental state, you know?
I felt like therapy wasn't cutting it anymore, I needed something more, so I gotten into this lucid dreaming thing. But the things I've seen, the encounters I've had, they've changed me, man. I've gotta get this out, gotta let the world know about this shit 'cause its importance... it can't be overstated.
So here's the thing, in my lucid dreams, I've been having these bizarre experiences. In the dreams, waking up suspended over an abyss, right? Surrounding me, there's this sterile, white room, bathed in blinding lights, and in the distance, a glass pane. Can't exactly make out what's behind it, and it paints this real surreal scene.
At first, it didn't bother me much. I woke up, had this lingering unease the whole day but shrugged it off. But then the next few times, as I regained lucidity in my dreams, the same scenario would play out. At first, I could do the usual stuff, you know, flying around and the likes, but then the dream would always, without fail, transition into this... this suspension above the abyss.
I'd be strapped in place with ropes or chains, my limbs stretched out toward the cool walls of this clinical, white room. And beneath me, just infinite darkness. It felt like gazing into the maw of oblivion, and it was... it was downright petrifying.
The dread, man. The absolute fucking dread. In particular that glass pane in the distance and the infinite abyss below me, it was eating away at me. I started wondering what was behind the glass, and what, if anything, was at the bottom of that godforsaken hole. Its vast, infinite expanse was just pulling me in, gnawing at my sanity. It's hard to describe, you know? It's not something you can just put into words.
Soon, it became a nightly routine. Almost every single dream ended with me suspended over that abyss, and this paralyzing sense of dread seeping into me, becoming more and more prominent. Eventually, I decided I had to stop, I couldn't go on like this. I spoke to my therapist about it, and they said it might be a manifestation of some negative childhood experiences, and advised me to quit lucid dreaming for the time being. It wasn't doing me any good, they said.
I upped my meds, and tried something else, but no matter what I did, I couldn't shake off the lucidity. It's weird because in the past, becoming lucid required effort, with reality checks, dream journaling, and whatnot. But now, even when I set the intention to not lucid dream, I found myself more lucid than ever, and always, without fail, ended up above the abyss.
At one point, I tried to inspect my body in the dream, and I think I was naked. I noticed something on my arm, like a small needle. I realized it was an IV drip. Something was being pumped into me. I freaked out, man. What the hell was happening? Was I part of some fucked up mind control experiment? Was I being drugged? I couldn't make sense of it all.
Soon after noticing the IV, I saw shadows moving behind the glass pane. There were figures there, watching me. The terror I felt about these figures lurking behind the glass was even more pronounced than the dread induced by the abyss. It was all kinds of messed up, but amidst the fear, I felt this sudden urge to know more.
So I shouted out, "Hey! Who's there? Talk to me, you creepy fucks!"
To my surprise, a voice crackled to life over the speakers. It said, "We've never seen someone maintain lucidity to this extent. Your perceptive abilities are impressively consistent. How did you achieve this?"
"I don't fucking know", I said. "It's not like I want to be here. Is this even real?"
The voice replied, "Yes, this is happening. This is the actual reality, the true nature of reality."
"What the fuck? You say my dreams are reality? You'll have to prove that for me to believe you at all", I said.
"You will see by the consistency of this reality", the voice said. "But first, demonstrate to us that you are indeed lucid enough for us to continue this conversation. It's not something we usually do. It might, however, be a path to conquer the darkness."
And then, like every other time, the dream ended.
I relayed the whole fucked up scenario to my therapist, who, unsurprisingly, suggested it was a fantastical manifestation of my own fears. My subconscious testing boundaries, pushing limits, trying to get under my skin. But when I asked them what to do, they proposed a plan: continue engaging with the dream. Try to spot inconsistencies in its logic. After all, if it is all just a product of my mind, it is bound to falter at some point.
So, armed with my therapist's advice, I geared up for the next encounter. This time I would use reason and logic to disprove the dream for good.
The following night, I found myself in the all-too-familiar white room, suspended over nothingness, the shadowy figures behind the glass pane watching intently. The voice piped up again.
"Do you still question this reality?" it asked.
"Yeah", I said, "I think this is just my dream. You're just a figment of my unconscious mind. This is all nonsensical bullshit, and I'm going to prove you wrong."
"Alright", the voice responded. "You can try to disprove me. But first, would you like to hear what we're doing here? Then, you can judge for yourself."
"Yeah, sure. Whatever. What are you doing here?" I asked, more out of curiosity than anything else.
"We are doing research. Do you know what an ancestor simulation is?"
I felt my eyebrows furrow. "No fucking clue. What is it?"
Then, the voice from the speaker, which now claimed to be a researcher, started to explain.
"An ancestor simulation is essentially a theory, a simulated reality hypothesis", the voice explained. "It suggests that a perceived reality isn't 'real' but instead is running on some advanced computational system capable of artificially simulating an entire universe and consistent reality."
So far, this was all high-grade sci-fi crap, but I played along. "Why the hell would anyone do that?"
"For the purpose of analysis", the voice continued. "Imagine a civilization trying to understand its own past. In your case, your reality is an ancestor simulation of one of many civilizations that have died out because of catastrophic failures in the space-time continuum."
My head was spinning. "Catastrophic failures? What are you talking about?"
The voice said: "Humanity failed. Due to their own ignorance, they destroyed their planet. Climate change, political unrest, the development of superintelligent AI systems used for weaponry, they all fueled the chaos of World War III."
As the voice droned on, I tried to make sense of what was being told. Is this all just some nightmare spawned by my own fears, or could there be some truth to this? And if there was, then what did it mean for me, for us?
The voice added: "Do you know what a macroverse is?"
"Yeah, I've heard of macroverses", I said, "That's like, multiple universes, right?"
"Yes", the voice said. "We exist within a five-dimensional macroverse. The fifth dimension encompasses parallel universes. The concept of an ancestor simulation isn't completely accurate. It's an analogy, borrowed from Darwinian evolution, suggesting our universe is part of a branching system of universes."
I could barely keep up with this gibberish. "A branching system of...?"
"Universes", the voice repeated. "This system churns out various configurations, mutations of universes, one of which eventually became my universe, another one yours. It's as though universes are engaged in a Darwinian competition. The most adaptive ones, primarily those driven by human beings, last the longest. They compete to see which universe can ultimately conquer the darkness, can combat the laws of entropy."
This was just too much. It felt like some wild fever dream, a convoluted mess of sci-fi nonsense. But even so, there was an unnerving quality to the voice that made me want to listen, to understand. If what it said was true... well, I didn't want to think about that. Not yet.
For a bit I was just silent, my mind racing.
"Look", I finally muttered, "It's gonna be pretty damn hard to disprove you when I can't make heads or tails of the shit you're saying. You're telling me that universes depend on the quality of the humans inside them, and that they're evolving, or something? I... I don't get it. It's all just too fucking weird."
At that moment, the reality of the situation hit me like a ton of bricks. How the hell was I supposed to logically dismantle something that sounded like the wildest sci-fi bullshit I'd ever heard, something I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around? Did not the complexity of the information indicate that it could not have possibly been just a dream; my own mind could not generate things I could never understand. It was impossible.
And just as I was starting to feel the edges of panic creeping in, the researcher's voice began to fade. My surroundings blurred, morphed, and then... the dream ended.
The next day, I was glued to my damn computer, trying to dig into these concepts the mysterious voice had been throwing around. I was googling my ass off – 'ancestor simulations', 'parallel universes', 'fifth dimension', 'Darwinian evolution of universes', 'universe branching' – all that crazy stuff. And here's the kicker: I found a ton of literature on the topics and, for the most part, it seemed to line up with what the voice had been saying. It seems the voice was speaking the truth; providing me with information I had not known before... indicating that... it could not have been a dream... he was stating the truth... and that was...
So, if I got this right, he was saying that there's a 'macroverse', some sort of branching system like a fucking phylogenetic tree in biological evolution. He seemed to be saying that humans are the apex predator of this macroverse, and that our universe, the one we're living in right now, is one of the failures. He mentioned some catastrophic shit that led to unrest, essentially sparking World War III and wiping us all out.
It all kinda made sense. And that scared the hell out of me.
I tried to get in touch with my therapist, to make sense of all this mind-bending shit, but I couldn't reach 'em. They were probably off on vacation or something, living a blissfully unaware life. So, I figured, fuck it. I'll bring it up in a week when we meet.
And so, I went back to the dreams. Same as always – suspended above the abyss, glass pane, and the all-too-familiar blindingly white room with clinical surfaces. And the same damn voice.
Eventually I said, "I think... I think I might believe you. It doesn't make complete sense to me... but I couldn't have possibly known the stuff you've been talking about. But, I don't get what my role in all this is. Why the hell are you telling me this? Isn't this going to screw with the simulation or something? I asked people online, and they all said it'd be a terrible idea to interfere with the simulation. It would mess with our causal chain and turn the whole experiment to shit. So what gives?"
The researcher's voice came over the speaker again, "Yes, that's a valid concern. But, we're running short on subjects. You're truly an anomaly, we haven't encountered someone quite like you before. Despite adjusting the dosage of the substances we've been administering, you just kept becoming lucid. I decided, perhaps a little unilaterally, to... interfere with the test subject. My hope is that by giving you a briefing, you could play a role in saving humanity, fighting against the darkness, and preserving the macroverse. This could ensure the perseverance of future generations in the succeeding universes."
I was flabbergasted. "What the hell? I'm no hero! I'm just a socially anxious nerd whose main hobbies are gaming and smoking weed. I'm just trying to get by. I don't understand what you're talking about, how the hell am I supposed to save anything?"
He replied, "You have noticed the darkness below you. This darkness is the cause of all suffering in the world. Are you familiar with the concept of theodicy?"
Confused, I retorted, "What the hell? Can you not speak in intellectual mumbo jumbo for a second?"
The researcher explained, "Theodicy is a theological concept that questions why, if God is benevolent, there is suffering in the world. What's your take on that?"
I shrugged, "I don't know, I'm agnostic. But if I were to guess, I think it's because humans have free will. Suffering in the world is due to free will, you know?"
"Wrong", the researcher interrupted. "There is no free will. Your universe's neuroscience has already established this. Psychological studies have proven that humans do not have control over their own actions. The laws of physics concur with this, and philosophy mostly agrees too. So free will can't be the root of suffering."
"Alright, man. I'm not a scientist. But yeah, I think I've heard about these neuroscience experiments. The ones where people's brain waves indicated they had decided to open their hands before they were consciously aware of deciding to do so. So yeah, maybe there's something about unconscious decision-making. But personally, I don't care much. I feel like I have the illusion of free will and that's good enough, so why should it bother me? What's the point?"
"The point is, free will isn't the source of suffering in the world."
"Oh, so this is a philosophical game to you? If free will isn't the source, then God must be evil, is that it?"
"Quite the contrary", he said, "God isn't evil. The source of suffering is the darkness beneath you - what you've been referring to as the 'abyss'."
Startled, I questioned, "How do you know I've been calling it that?"
He spoke with an unnerving confidence, "I can read your mind. With all the tools at my disposal, I can perceive every aspect of your simulated experience. Thus, I know you've been aware of the 'abyss'. It's been speaking to you, hasn't it? Initially, it inspired dread. But now, how does it make you feel?"
Hesitant, I confessed, "I... I don't know. I feel... drawn to it. It's as though it's always been there, long before you began speaking to me."
With a gravity in his voice, he explained, "It's been spreading, much like a cosmic virus. It's consuming the macroverses, fostering political unrest, cultivating ignorance, encouraging indifference towards the problems of the world, toward human suffering. It sows seeds of evil within the hearts of men, inciting chaos, destruction, cruelty, and hatred. All the atrocities throughout history—the crucifixion of Christ, the world wars—they all stem from the abyss."
I was at a loss for words and the dream came to an abrupt end. The exhaustion I felt was immense, as the conversation was too overwhelming to fully comprehend. I felt as though I couldn't take any more of this, and when I look at the real world, it feels as though the abyss had a point. I see constant storms of negativity on social media platforms like Twitter where hate and spite reign supreme. The threats of nuclear war, super-intelligent AI displacing human jobs, and the existential fear, in a world that feels increasingly alien to all of us.
We haven't truly solved any of our problems. With the advent of general AI and the proliferation of weapons that could cause unparalleled mass destruction, the state of our world is precarious. A resurgence of imperialism and authoritarianism, a decline in freedom and democracy, and an onslaught of hatred from all corners - we are being besieged on all sides.
But these issues aren't the fault of any single individual or decision-maker. It is systemic. The very nature of these systems is causing the suffering. The researcher had posited that the abyss was the root cause of this suffering. But perhaps, the abyss is merely a mirror, reflecting what was already there.
When I thought about it, all the tragedies in human history, the atrocities of wars, mass shootings, serial killers - haven't we built a culture that's obsessed with these terrible deeds? True crime and horror, some of the most successful genres out there. Our entertainment media is steeped in violence and negativity. Have we not already succumbed to the darkness? Hadn't the abyss simply revealed what was already in the hearts of humans?
Did humanity truly deserve to persevere? Were we, who have enslaved and harmed countless animals, we who have destroyed the biosphere at large, who have exploited everything around us for personal gain; were we fit to be considered the 'apex predator'? Are we really the saviors of the universe? Would a universe without humans be all that bad, really?
I became less and less engaged with the researcher. His talks, once intriguing, now felt dull and uninspiring. I drifted through my days in a daze, ignoring therapy sessions and the concerned calls from my therapist. My thoughts were consumed by the abyss. At times, I could see a creeping darkness encroach upon the corners of my vision.
People tried to reach out to me, but their words faded into mere mumbles. My real-life contacts dwindled, and I found myself caring less and less about the world around me. Social media, once a platform for connection, was deleted. It had devolved into a cesspool of negativity and relentless bickering - something I no longer had the energy to deal with.
In my dreams, the true reality, I stopped paying attention to the researcher. His words became incoherent mumbles as the abyss came ever closer, almost as if it was embracing me. It seeped into my waking reality, slowly but surely taking over my life.
The burden of humanity's torments is too heavy for me to bear. I cannot resist the grim truth of our existence - the world that is destined to be a hotbed for suffering. It isn't anyone's fault; it is simply the way the world was designed to be. I had to accept the harsh truth that humanity is on a path to its own demise. The project of humanity, it seems, is doomed to fail.
Eventually, in one of my dreams, a siren's wail ripped through the silence, accompanied by flashing red lights that bathed the room in a stark, blood-like glow. The researcher's voice, suddenly urgent, pulled me back into focus.
The researcher spoke one last time: "I'm sorry to say this, but your universe appears to be doomed. It's time for us to part ways."
Suddenly, the shackles that bound my arms and legs were released by some unseen mechanism. I was falling, plunging into the abyss that lay below. I was enveloped by darkness, an unending and eternal void that swallowed all light. No longer did I dream, there was only the darkness — an expanse of infinite obscurity.
Strangely enough, I've found acceptance in my fate. I see it now as my mission to disseminate this knowledge, a burden that is not just my own but one that should be shared collectively. It's our shared destiny, and to all who are willing to listen, I tell them of the abyss, the dark entity that lies beneath us all.
It is the foundation of our reality, the source of all our suffering. My story is a warning, a revelation of the truth that lies behind our existence. Now, all I see is darkness, and my greatest wish is for this truth to spread. Like a virus, it should infect us all, enlighten us all, and unite us all in our shared fate.

You won't believe this, but I swear on my life, it's the truth. I think I'm losing my goddamn mind. I have to... okay, okay, I need to start from the beginning. See, I've been dabbling in lucid dreaming lately. Been having these vivid, messed up nightmares, you see... I just wanted some semblance of control over my mental state, you know?
I felt like therapy wasn't cutting it anymore, I needed something more, so I gotten into this lucid dreaming thing. But the things I've seen, the encounters I've had, they've changed me, man. I've gotta get this out, gotta let the world know about this shit 'cause its importance... it can't be overstated.
So here's the thing, in my lucid dreams, I've been having these bizarre experiences. In the dreams, waking up suspended over an abyss, right? Surrounding me, there's this sterile, white room, bathed in blinding lights, and in the distance, a glass pane. Can't exactly make out what's behind it, and it paints this real surreal scene.
At first, it didn't bother me much. I woke up, had this lingering unease the whole day but shrugged it off. But then the next few times, as I regained lucidity in my dreams, the same scenario would play out. At first, I could do the usual stuff, you know, flying around and the likes, but then the dream would always, without fail, transition into this... this suspension above the abyss.
I'd be strapped in place with ropes or chains, my limbs stretched out toward the cool walls of this clinical, white room. And beneath me, just infinite darkness. It felt like gazing into the maw of oblivion, and it was... it was downright petrifying.
The dread, man. The absolute fucking dread. In particular that glass pane in the distance and the infinite abyss below me, it was eating away at me. I started wondering what was behind the glass, and what, if anything, was at the bottom of that godforsaken hole. Its vast, infinite expanse was just pulling me in, gnawing at my sanity. It's hard to describe, you know? It's not something you can just put into words.
Soon, it became a nightly routine. Almost every single dream ended with me suspended over that abyss, and this paralyzing sense of dread seeping into me, becoming more and more prominent. Eventually, I decided I had to stop, I couldn't go on like this. I spoke to my therapist about it, and they said it might be a manifestation of some negative childhood experiences, and advised me to quit lucid dreaming for the time being. It wasn't doing me any good, they said.
I upped my meds, and tried something else, but no matter what I did, I couldn't shake off the lucidity. It's weird because in the past, becoming lucid required effort, with reality checks, dream journaling, and whatnot. But now, even when I set the intention to not lucid dream, I found myself more lucid than ever, and always, without fail, ended up above the abyss.
At one point, I tried to inspect my body in the dream, and I think I was naked. I noticed something on my arm, like a small needle. I realized it was an IV drip. Something was being pumped into me. I freaked out, man. What the hell was happening? Was I part of some fucked up mind control experiment? Was I being drugged? I couldn't make sense of it all.
Soon after noticing the IV, I saw shadows moving behind the glass pane. There were figures there, watching me. The terror I felt about these figures lurking behind the glass was even more pronounced than the dread induced by the abyss. It was all kinds of messed up, but amidst the fear, I felt this sudden urge to know more.
So I shouted out, "Hey! Who's there? Talk to me, you creepy fucks!"
To my surprise, a voice crackled to life over the speakers. It said, "We've never seen someone maintain lucidity to this extent. Your perceptive abilities are impressively consistent. How did you achieve this?"
"I don't fucking know", I said. "It's not like I want to be here. Is this even real?"
The voice replied, "Yes, this is happening. This is the actual reality, the true nature of reality."
"What the fuck? You say my dreams are reality? You'll have to prove that for me to believe you at all", I said.
"You will see by the consistency of this reality", the voice said. "But first, demonstrate to us that you are indeed lucid enough for us to continue this conversation. It's not something we usually do. It might, however, be a path to conquer the darkness."
And then, like every other time, the dream ended.
I relayed the whole fucked up scenario to my therapist, who, unsurprisingly, suggested it was a fantastical manifestation of my own fears. My subconscious testing boundaries, pushing limits, trying to get under my skin. But when I asked them what to do, they proposed a plan: continue engaging with the dream. Try to spot inconsistencies in its logic. After all, if it is all just a product of my mind, it is bound to falter at some point.
So, armed with my therapist's advice, I geared up for the next encounter. This time I would use reason and logic to disprove the dream for good.
The following night, I found myself in the all-too-familiar white room, suspended over nothingness, the shadowy figures behind the glass pane watching intently. The voice piped up again.
"Do you still question this reality?" it asked.
"Yeah", I said, "I think this is just my dream. You're just a figment of my unconscious mind. This is all nonsensical bullshit, and I'm going to prove you wrong."
"Alright", the voice responded. "You can try to disprove me. But first, would you like to hear what we're doing here? Then, you can judge for yourself."
"Yeah, sure. Whatever. What are you doing here?" I asked, more out of curiosity than anything else.
"We are doing research. Do you know what an ancestor simulation is?"
I felt my eyebrows furrow. "No fucking clue. What is it?"
Then, the voice from the speaker, which now claimed to be a researcher, started to explain.
"An ancestor simulation is essentially a theory, a simulated reality hypothesis", the voice explained. "It suggests that a perceived reality isn't 'real' but instead is running on some advanced computational system capable of artificially simulating an entire universe and consistent reality."
So far, this was all high-grade sci-fi crap, but I played along. "Why the hell would anyone do that?"
"For the purpose of analysis", the voice continued. "Imagine a civilization trying to understand its own past. In your case, your reality is an ancestor simulation of one of many civilizations that have died out because of catastrophic failures in the space-time continuum."
My head was spinning. "Catastrophic failures? What are you talking about?"
The voice said: "Humanity failed. Due to their own ignorance, they destroyed their planet. Climate change, political unrest, the development of superintelligent AI systems used for weaponry, they all fueled the chaos of World War III."
As the voice droned on, I tried to make sense of what was being told. Is this all just some nightmare spawned by my own fears, or could there be some truth to this? And if there was, then what did it mean for me, for us?
The voice added: "Do you know what a macroverse is?"
"Yeah, I've heard of macroverses", I said, "That's like, multiple universes, right?"
"Yes", the voice said. "We exist within a five-dimensional macroverse. The fifth dimension encompasses parallel universes. The concept of an ancestor simulation isn't completely accurate. It's an analogy, borrowed from Darwinian evolution, suggesting our universe is part of a branching system of universes."
I could barely keep up with this gibberish. "A branching system of...?"
"Universes", the voice repeated. "This system churns out various configurations, mutations of universes, one of which eventually became my universe, another one yours. It's as though universes are engaged in a Darwinian competition. The most adaptive ones, primarily those driven by human beings, last the longest. They compete to see which universe can ultimately conquer the darkness, can combat the laws of entropy."
This was just too much. It felt like some wild fever dream, a convoluted mess of sci-fi nonsense. But even so, there was an unnerving quality to the voice that made me want to listen, to understand. If what it said was true... well, I didn't want to think about that. Not yet.
For a bit I was just silent, my mind racing.
"Look", I finally muttered, "It's gonna be pretty damn hard to disprove you when I can't make heads or tails of the shit you're saying. You're telling me that universes depend on the quality of the humans inside them, and that they're evolving, or something? I... I don't get it. It's all just too fucking weird."
At that moment, the reality of the situation hit me like a ton of bricks. How the hell was I supposed to logically dismantle something that sounded like the wildest sci-fi bullshit I'd ever heard, something I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around? Did not the complexity of the information indicate that it could not have possibly been just a dream; my own mind could not generate things I could never understand. It was impossible.
And just as I was starting to feel the edges of panic creeping in, the researcher's voice began to fade. My surroundings blurred, morphed, and then... the dream ended.
The next day, I was glued to my damn computer, trying to dig into these concepts the mysterious voice had been throwing around. I was googling my ass off – 'ancestor simulations', 'parallel universes', 'fifth dimension', 'Darwinian evolution of universes', 'universe branching' – all that crazy stuff. And here's the kicker: I found a ton of literature on the topics and, for the most part, it seemed to line up with what the voice had been saying. It seems the voice was speaking the truth; providing me with information I had not known before... indicating that... it could not have been a dream... he was stating the truth... and that was...
So, if I got this right, he was saying that there's a 'macroverse', some sort of branching system like a fucking phylogenetic tree in biological evolution. He seemed to be saying that humans are the apex predator of this macroverse, and that our universe, the one we're living in right now, is one of the failures. He mentioned some catastrophic shit that led to unrest, essentially sparking World War III and wiping us all out.
It all kinda made sense. And that scared the hell out of me.
I tried to get in touch with my therapist, to make sense of all this mind-bending shit, but I couldn't reach 'em. They were probably off on vacation or something, living a blissfully unaware life. So, I figured, fuck it. I'll bring it up in a week when we meet.
And so, I went back to the dreams. Same as always – suspended above the abyss, glass pane, and the all-too-familiar blindingly white room with clinical surfaces. And the same damn voice.
Eventually I said, "I think... I think I might believe you. It doesn't make complete sense to me... but I couldn't have possibly known the stuff you've been talking about. But, I don't get what my role in all this is. Why the hell are you telling me this? Isn't this going to screw with the simulation or something? I asked people online, and they all said it'd be a terrible idea to interfere with the simulation. It would mess with our causal chain and turn the whole experiment to shit. So what gives?"
The researcher's voice came over the speaker again, "Yes, that's a valid concern. But, we're running short on subjects. You're truly an anomaly, we haven't encountered someone quite like you before. Despite adjusting the dosage of the substances we've been administering, you just kept becoming lucid. I decided, perhaps a little unilaterally, to... interfere with the test subject. My hope is that by giving you a briefing, you could play a role in saving humanity, fighting against the darkness, and preserving the macroverse. This could ensure the perseverance of future generations in the succeeding universes."
I was flabbergasted. "What the hell? I'm no hero! I'm just a socially anxious nerd whose main hobbies are gaming and smoking weed. I'm just trying to get by. I don't understand what you're talking about, how the hell am I supposed to save anything?"
He replied, "You have noticed the darkness below you. This darkness is the cause of all suffering in the world. Are you familiar with the concept of theodicy?"
Confused, I retorted, "What the hell? Can you not speak in intellectual mumbo jumbo for a second?"
The researcher explained, "Theodicy is a theological concept that questions why, if God is benevolent, there is suffering in the world. What's your take on that?"
I shrugged, "I don't know, I'm agnostic. But if I were to guess, I think it's because humans have free will. Suffering in the world is due to free will, you know?"
"Wrong", the researcher interrupted. "There is no free will. Your universe's neuroscience has already established this. Psychological studies have proven that humans do not have control over their own actions. The laws of physics concur with this, and philosophy mostly agrees too. So free will can't be the root of suffering."
"Alright, man. I'm not a scientist. But yeah, I think I've heard about these neuroscience experiments. The ones where people's brain waves indicated they had decided to open their hands before they were consciously aware of deciding to do so. So yeah, maybe there's something about unconscious decision-making. But personally, I don't care much. I feel like I have the illusion of free will and that's good enough, so why should it bother me? What's the point?"
"The point is, free will isn't the source of suffering in the world."
"Oh, so this is a philosophical game to you? If free will isn't the source, then God must be evil, is that it?"
"Quite the contrary", he said, "God isn't evil. The source of suffering is the darkness beneath you - what you've been referring to as the 'abyss'."
Startled, I questioned, "How do you know I've been calling it that?"
He spoke with an unnerving confidence, "I can read your mind. With all the tools at my disposal, I can perceive every aspect of your simulated experience. Thus, I know you've been aware of the 'abyss'. It's been speaking to you, hasn't it? Initially, it inspired dread. But now, how does it make you feel?"
Hesitant, I confessed, "I... I don't know. I feel... drawn to it. It's as though it's always been there, long before you began speaking to me."
With a gravity in his voice, he explained, "It's been spreading, much like a cosmic virus. It's consuming the macroverses, fostering political unrest, cultivating ignorance, encouraging indifference towards the problems of the world, toward human suffering. It sows seeds of evil within the hearts of men, inciting chaos, destruction, cruelty, and hatred. All the atrocities throughout history—the crucifixion of Christ, the world wars—they all stem from the abyss."
I was at a loss for words and the dream came to an abrupt end. The exhaustion I felt was immense, as the conversation was too overwhelming to fully comprehend. I felt as though I couldn't take any more of this, and when I look at the real world, it feels as though the abyss had a point. I see constant storms of negativity on social media platforms like Twitter where hate and spite reign supreme. The threats of nuclear war, super-intelligent AI displacing human jobs, and the existential fear, in a world that feels increasingly alien to all of us.
We haven't truly solved any of our problems. With the advent of general AI and the proliferation of weapons that could cause unparalleled mass destruction, the state of our world is precarious. A resurgence of imperialism and authoritarianism, a decline in freedom and democracy, and an onslaught of hatred from all corners - we are being besieged on all sides.
But these issues aren't the fault of any single individual or decision-maker. It is systemic. The very nature of these systems is causing the suffering. The researcher had posited that the abyss was the root cause of this suffering. But perhaps, the abyss is merely a mirror, reflecting what was already there.
When I thought about it, all the tragedies in human history, the atrocities of wars, mass shootings, serial killers - haven't we built a culture that's obsessed with these terrible deeds? True crime and horror, some of the most successful genres out there. Our entertainment media is steeped in violence and negativity. Have we not already succumbed to the darkness? Hadn't the abyss simply revealed what was already in the hearts of humans?
Did humanity truly deserve to persevere? Were we, who have enslaved and harmed countless animals, we who have destroyed the biosphere at large, who have exploited everything around us for personal gain; were we fit to be considered the 'apex predator'? Are we really the saviors of the universe? Would a universe without humans be all that bad, really?
I became less and less engaged with the researcher. His talks, once intriguing, now felt dull and uninspiring. I drifted through my days in a daze, ignoring therapy sessions and the concerned calls from my therapist. My thoughts were consumed by the abyss. At times, I could see a creeping darkness encroach upon the corners of my vision.
People tried to reach out to me, but their words faded into mere mumbles. My real-life contacts dwindled, and I found myself caring less and less about the world around me. Social media, once a platform for connection, was deleted. It had devolved into a cesspool of negativity and relentless bickering - something I no longer had the energy to deal with.
In my dreams, the true reality, I stopped paying attention to the researcher. His words became incoherent mumbles as the abyss came ever closer, almost as if it was embracing me. It seeped into my waking reality, slowly but surely taking over my life.
The burden of humanity's torments is too heavy for me to bear. I cannot resist the grim truth of our existence - the world that is destined to be a hotbed for suffering. It isn't anyone's fault; it is simply the way the world was designed to be. I had to accept the harsh truth that humanity is on a path to its own demise. The project of humanity, it seems, is doomed to fail.
Eventually, in one of my dreams, a siren's wail ripped through the silence, accompanied by flashing red lights that bathed the room in a stark, blood-like glow. The researcher's voice, suddenly urgent, pulled me back into focus.
The researcher spoke one last time: "I'm sorry to say this, but your universe appears to be doomed. It's time for us to part ways."
Suddenly, the shackles that bound my arms and legs were released by some unseen mechanism. I was falling, plunging into the abyss that lay below. I was enveloped by darkness, an unending and eternal void that swallowed all light. No longer did I dream, there was only the darkness — an expanse of infinite obscurity.
Strangely enough, I've found acceptance in my fate. I see it now as my mission to disseminate this knowledge, a burden that is not just my own but one that should be shared collectively. It's our shared destiny, and to all who are willing to listen, I tell them of the abyss, the dark entity that lies beneath us all.
It is the foundation of our reality, the source of all our suffering. My story is a warning, a revelation of the truth that lies behind our existence. Now, all I see is darkness, and my greatest wish is for this truth to spread. Like a virus, it should infect us all, enlighten us all, and unite us all in our shared fate.

You won't believe this, but I swear on my life, it's the truth. I think I'm losing my goddamn mind. I have to... okay, okay, I need to start from the beginning. See, I've been dabbling in lucid dreaming lately. Been having these vivid, messed up nightmares, you see... I just wanted some semblance of control over my mental state, you know?
I felt like therapy wasn't cutting it anymore, I needed something more, so I gotten into this lucid dreaming thing. But the things I've seen, the encounters I've had, they've changed me, man. I've gotta get this out, gotta let the world know about this shit 'cause its importance... it can't be overstated.
So here's the thing, in my lucid dreams, I've been having these bizarre experiences. In the dreams, waking up suspended over an abyss, right? Surrounding me, there's this sterile, white room, bathed in blinding lights, and in the distance, a glass pane. Can't exactly make out what's behind it, and it paints this real surreal scene.
At first, it didn't bother me much. I woke up, had this lingering unease the whole day but shrugged it off. But then the next few times, as I regained lucidity in my dreams, the same scenario would play out. At first, I could do the usual stuff, you know, flying around and the likes, but then the dream would always, without fail, transition into this... this suspension above the abyss.
I'd be strapped in place with ropes or chains, my limbs stretched out toward the cool walls of this clinical, white room. And beneath me, just infinite darkness. It felt like gazing into the maw of oblivion, and it was... it was downright petrifying.
The dread, man. The absolute fucking dread. In particular that glass pane in the distance and the infinite abyss below me, it was eating away at me. I started wondering what was behind the glass, and what, if anything, was at the bottom of that godforsaken hole. Its vast, infinite expanse was just pulling me in, gnawing at my sanity. It's hard to describe, you know? It's not something you can just put into words.
Soon, it became a nightly routine. Almost every single dream ended with me suspended over that abyss, and this paralyzing sense of dread seeping into me, becoming more and more prominent. Eventually, I decided I had to stop, I couldn't go on like this. I spoke to my therapist about it, and they said it might be a manifestation of some negative childhood experiences, and advised me to quit lucid dreaming for the time being. It wasn't doing me any good, they said.
I upped my meds, and tried something else, but no matter what I did, I couldn't shake off the lucidity. It's weird because in the past, becoming lucid required effort, with reality checks, dream journaling, and whatnot. But now, even when I set the intention to not lucid dream, I found myself more lucid than ever, and always, without fail, ended up above the abyss.
At one point, I tried to inspect my body in the dream, and I think I was naked. I noticed something on my arm, like a small needle. I realized it was an IV drip. Something was being pumped into me. I freaked out, man. What the hell was happening? Was I part of some fucked up mind control experiment? Was I being drugged? I couldn't make sense of it all.
Soon after noticing the IV, I saw shadows moving behind the glass pane. There were figures there, watching me. The terror I felt about these figures lurking behind the glass was even more pronounced than the dread induced by the abyss. It was all kinds of messed up, but amidst the fear, I felt this sudden urge to know more.
So I shouted out, "Hey! Who's there? Talk to me, you creepy fucks!"
To my surprise, a voice crackled to life over the speakers. It said, "We've never seen someone maintain lucidity to this extent. Your perceptive abilities are impressively consistent. How did you achieve this?"
"I don't fucking know", I said. "It's not like I want to be here. Is this even real?"
The voice replied, "Yes, this is happening. This is the actual reality, the true nature of reality."
"What the fuck? You say my dreams are reality? You'll have to prove that for me to believe you at all", I said.
"You will see by the consistency of this reality", the voice said. "But first, demonstrate to us that you are indeed lucid enough for us to continue this conversation. It's not something we usually do. It might, however, be a path to conquer the darkness."
And then, like every other time, the dream ended.
I relayed the whole fucked up scenario to my therapist, who, unsurprisingly, suggested it was a fantastical manifestation of my own fears. My subconscious testing boundaries, pushing limits, trying to get under my skin. But when I asked them what to do, they proposed a plan: continue engaging with the dream. Try to spot inconsistencies in its logic. After all, if it is all just a product of my mind, it is bound to falter at some point.
So, armed with my therapist's advice, I geared up for the next encounter. This time I would use reason and logic to disprove the dream for good.
The following night, I found myself in the all-too-familiar white room, suspended over nothingness, the shadowy figures behind the glass pane watching intently. The voice piped up again.
"Do you still question this reality?" it asked.
"Yeah", I said, "I think this is just my dream. You're just a figment of my unconscious mind. This is all nonsensical bullshit, and I'm going to prove you wrong."
"Alright", the voice responded. "You can try to disprove me. But first, would you like to hear what we're doing here? Then, you can judge for yourself."
"Yeah, sure. Whatever. What are you doing here?" I asked, more out of curiosity than anything else.
"We are doing research. Do you know what an ancestor simulation is?"
I felt my eyebrows furrow. "No fucking clue. What is it?"
Then, the voice from the speaker, which now claimed to be a researcher, started to explain.
"An ancestor simulation is essentially a theory, a simulated reality hypothesis", the voice explained. "It suggests that a perceived reality isn't 'real' but instead is running on some advanced computational system capable of artificially simulating an entire universe and consistent reality."
So far, this was all high-grade sci-fi crap, but I played along. "Why the hell would anyone do that?"
"For the purpose of analysis", the voice continued. "Imagine a civilization trying to understand its own past. In your case, your reality is an ancestor simulation of one of many civilizations that have died out because of catastrophic failures in the space-time continuum."
My head was spinning. "Catastrophic failures? What are you talking about?"
The voice said: "Humanity failed. Due to their own ignorance, they destroyed their planet. Climate change, political unrest, the development of superintelligent AI systems used for weaponry, they all fueled the chaos of World War III."
As the voice droned on, I tried to make sense of what was being told. Is this all just some nightmare spawned by my own fears, or could there be some truth to this? And if there was, then what did it mean for me, for us?
The voice added: "Do you know what a macroverse is?"
"Yeah, I've heard of macroverses", I said, "That's like, multiple universes, right?"
"Yes", the voice said. "We exist within a five-dimensional macroverse. The fifth dimension encompasses parallel universes. The concept of an ancestor simulation isn't completely accurate. It's an analogy, borrowed from Darwinian evolution, suggesting our universe is part of a branching system of universes."
I could barely keep up with this gibberish. "A branching system of...?"
"Universes", the voice repeated. "This system churns out various configurations, mutations of universes, one of which eventually became my universe, another one yours. It's as though universes are engaged in a Darwinian competition. The most adaptive ones, primarily those driven by human beings, last the longest. They compete to see which universe can ultimately conquer the darkness, can combat the laws of entropy."
This was just too much. It felt like some wild fever dream, a convoluted mess of sci-fi nonsense. But even so, there was an unnerving quality to the voice that made me want to listen, to understand. If what it said was true... well, I didn't want to think about that. Not yet.
For a bit I was just silent, my mind racing.
"Look", I finally muttered, "It's gonna be pretty damn hard to disprove you when I can't make heads or tails of the shit you're saying. You're telling me that universes depend on the quality of the humans inside them, and that they're evolving, or something? I... I don't get it. It's all just too fucking weird."
At that moment, the reality of the situation hit me like a ton of bricks. How the hell was I supposed to logically dismantle something that sounded like the wildest sci-fi bullshit I'd ever heard, something I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around? Did not the complexity of the information indicate that it could not have possibly been just a dream; my own mind could not generate things I could never understand. It was impossible.
And just as I was starting to feel the edges of panic creeping in, the researcher's voice began to fade. My surroundings blurred, morphed, and then... the dream ended.
The next day, I was glued to my damn computer, trying to dig into these concepts the mysterious voice had been throwing around. I was googling my ass off – 'ancestor simulations', 'parallel universes', 'fifth dimension', 'Darwinian evolution of universes', 'universe branching' – all that crazy stuff. And here's the kicker: I found a ton of literature on the topics and, for the most part, it seemed to line up with what the voice had been saying. It seems the voice was speaking the truth; providing me with information I had not known before... indicating that... it could not have been a dream... he was stating the truth... and that was...
So, if I got this right, he was saying that there's a 'macroverse', some sort of branching system like a fucking phylogenetic tree in biological evolution. He seemed to be saying that humans are the apex predator of this macroverse, and that our universe, the one we're living in right now, is one of the failures. He mentioned some catastrophic shit that led to unrest, essentially sparking World War III and wiping us all out.
It all kinda made sense. And that scared the hell out of me.
I tried to get in touch with my therapist, to make sense of all this mind-bending shit, but I couldn't reach 'em. They were probably off on vacation or something, living a blissfully unaware life. So, I figured, fuck it. I'll bring it up in a week when we meet.
And so, I went back to the dreams. Same as always – suspended above the abyss, glass pane, and the all-too-familiar blindingly white room with clinical surfaces. And the same damn voice.
Eventually I said, "I think... I think I might believe you. It doesn't make complete sense to me... but I couldn't have possibly known the stuff you've been talking about. But, I don't get what my role in all this is. Why the hell are you telling me this? Isn't this going to screw with the simulation or something? I asked people online, and they all said it'd be a terrible idea to interfere with the simulation. It would mess with our causal chain and turn the whole experiment to shit. So what gives?"
The researcher's voice came over the speaker again, "Yes, that's a valid concern. But, we're running short on subjects. You're truly an anomaly, we haven't encountered someone quite like you before. Despite adjusting the dosage of the substances we've been administering, you just kept becoming lucid. I decided, perhaps a little unilaterally, to... interfere with the test subject. My hope is that by giving you a briefing, you could play a role in saving humanity, fighting against the darkness, and preserving the macroverse. This could ensure the perseverance of future generations in the succeeding universes."
I was flabbergasted. "What the hell? I'm no hero! I'm just a socially anxious nerd whose main hobbies are gaming and smoking weed. I'm just trying to get by. I don't understand what you're talking about, how the hell am I supposed to save anything?"
He replied, "You have noticed the darkness below you. This darkness is the cause of all suffering in the world. Are you familiar with the concept of theodicy?"
Confused, I retorted, "What the hell? Can you not speak in intellectual mumbo jumbo for a second?"
The researcher explained, "Theodicy is a theological concept that questions why, if God is benevolent, there is suffering in the world. What's your take on that?"
I shrugged, "I don't know, I'm agnostic. But if I were to guess, I think it's because humans have free will. Suffering in the world is due to free will, you know?"
"Wrong", the researcher interrupted. "There is no free will. Your universe's neuroscience has already established this. Psychological studies have proven that humans do not have control over their own actions. The laws of physics concur with this, and philosophy mostly agrees too. So free will can't be the root of suffering."
"Alright, man. I'm not a scientist. But yeah, I think I've heard about these neuroscience experiments. The ones where people's brain waves indicated they had decided to open their hands before they were consciously aware of deciding to do so. So yeah, maybe there's something about unconscious decision-making. But personally, I don't care much. I feel like I have the illusion of free will and that's good enough, so why should it bother me? What's the point?"
"The point is, free will isn't the source of suffering in the world."
"Oh, so this is a philosophical game to you? If free will isn't the source, then God must be evil, is that it?"
"Quite the contrary", he said, "God isn't evil. The source of suffering is the darkness beneath you - what you've been referring to as the 'abyss'."
Startled, I questioned, "How do you know I've been calling it that?"
He spoke with an unnerving confidence, "I can read your mind. With all the tools at my disposal, I can perceive every aspect of your simulated experience. Thus, I know you've been aware of the 'abyss'. It's been speaking to you, hasn't it? Initially, it inspired dread. But now, how does it make you feel?"
Hesitant, I confessed, "I... I don't know. I feel... drawn to it. It's as though it's always been there, long before you began speaking to me."
With a gravity in his voice, he explained, "It's been spreading, much like a cosmic virus. It's consuming the macroverses, fostering political unrest, cultivating ignorance, encouraging indifference towards the problems of the world, toward human suffering. It sows seeds of evil within the hearts of men, inciting chaos, destruction, cruelty, and hatred. All the atrocities throughout history—the crucifixion of Christ, the world wars—they all stem from the abyss."
I was at a loss for words and the dream came to an abrupt end. The exhaustion I felt was immense, as the conversation was too overwhelming to fully comprehend. I felt as though I couldn't take any more of this, and when I look at the real world, it feels as though the abyss had a point. I see constant storms of negativity on social media platforms like Twitter where hate and spite reign supreme. The threats of nuclear war, super-intelligent AI displacing human jobs, and the existential fear, in a world that feels increasingly alien to all of us.
We haven't truly solved any of our problems. With the advent of general AI and the proliferation of weapons that could cause unparalleled mass destruction, the state of our world is precarious. A resurgence of imperialism and authoritarianism, a decline in freedom and democracy, and an onslaught of hatred from all corners - we are being besieged on all sides.
But these issues aren't the fault of any single individual or decision-maker. It is systemic. The very nature of these systems is causing the suffering. The researcher had posited that the abyss was the root cause of this suffering. But perhaps, the abyss is merely a mirror, reflecting what was already there.
When I thought about it, all the tragedies in human history, the atrocities of wars, mass shootings, serial killers - haven't we built a culture that's obsessed with these terrible deeds? True crime and horror, some of the most successful genres out there. Our entertainment media is steeped in violence and negativity. Have we not already succumbed to the darkness? Hadn't the abyss simply revealed what was already in the hearts of humans?
Did humanity truly deserve to persevere? Were we, who have enslaved and harmed countless animals, we who have destroyed the biosphere at large, who have exploited everything around us for personal gain; were we fit to be considered the 'apex predator'? Are we really the saviors of the universe? Would a universe without humans be all that bad, really?
I became less and less engaged with the researcher. His talks, once intriguing, now felt dull and uninspiring. I drifted through my days in a daze, ignoring therapy sessions and the concerned calls from my therapist. My thoughts were consumed by the abyss. At times, I could see a creeping darkness encroach upon the corners of my vision.
People tried to reach out to me, but their words faded into mere mumbles. My real-life contacts dwindled, and I found myself caring less and less about the world around me. Social media, once a platform for connection, was deleted. It had devolved into a cesspool of negativity and relentless bickering - something I no longer had the energy to deal with.
In my dreams, the true reality, I stopped paying attention to the researcher. His words became incoherent mumbles as the abyss came ever closer, almost as if it was embracing me. It seeped into my waking reality, slowly but surely taking over my life.
The burden of humanity's torments is too heavy for me to bear. I cannot resist the grim truth of our existence - the world that is destined to be a hotbed for suffering. It isn't anyone's fault; it is simply the way the world was designed to be. I had to accept the harsh truth that humanity is on a path to its own demise. The project of humanity, it seems, is doomed to fail.
Eventually, in one of my dreams, a siren's wail ripped through the silence, accompanied by flashing red lights that bathed the room in a stark, blood-like glow. The researcher's voice, suddenly urgent, pulled me back into focus.
The researcher spoke one last time: "I'm sorry to say this, but your universe appears to be doomed. It's time for us to part ways."
Suddenly, the shackles that bound my arms and legs were released by some unseen mechanism. I was falling, plunging into the abyss that lay below. I was enveloped by darkness, an unending and eternal void that swallowed all light. No longer did I dream, there was only the darkness — an expanse of infinite obscurity.
Strangely enough, I've found acceptance in my fate. I see it now as my mission to disseminate this knowledge, a burden that is not just my own but one that should be shared collectively. It's our shared destiny, and to all who are willing to listen, I tell them of the abyss, the dark entity that lies beneath us all.
It is the foundation of our reality, the source of all our suffering. My story is a warning, a revelation of the truth that lies behind our existence. Now, all I see is darkness, and my greatest wish is for this truth to spread. Like a virus, it should infect us all, enlighten us all, and unite us all in our shared fate.

You won't believe this, but I swear on my life, it's the truth. I think I'm losing my goddamn mind. I have to... okay, okay, I need to start from the beginning. See, I've been dabbling in lucid dreaming lately. Been having these vivid, messed up nightmares, you see... I just wanted some semblance of control over my mental state, you know?
I felt like therapy wasn't cutting it anymore, I needed something more, so I gotten into this lucid dreaming thing. But the things I've seen, the encounters I've had, they've changed me, man. I've gotta get this out, gotta let the world know about this shit 'cause its importance... it can't be overstated.
So here's the thing, in my lucid dreams, I've been having these bizarre experiences. In the dreams, waking up suspended over an abyss, right? Surrounding me, there's this sterile, white room, bathed in blinding lights, and in the distance, a glass pane. Can't exactly make out what's behind it, and it paints this real surreal scene.
At first, it didn't bother me much. I woke up, had this lingering unease the whole day but shrugged it off. But then the next few times, as I regained lucidity in my dreams, the same scenario would play out. At first, I could do the usual stuff, you know, flying around and the likes, but then the dream would always, without fail, transition into this... this suspension above the abyss.
I'd be strapped in place with ropes or chains, my limbs stretched out toward the cool walls of this clinical, white room. And beneath me, just infinite darkness. It felt like gazing into the maw of oblivion, and it was... it was downright petrifying.
The dread, man. The absolute fucking dread. In particular that glass pane in the distance and the infinite abyss below me, it was eating away at me. I started wondering what was behind the glass, and what, if anything, was at the bottom of that godforsaken hole. Its vast, infinite expanse was just pulling me in, gnawing at my sanity. It's hard to describe, you know? It's not something you can just put into words.
Soon, it became a nightly routine. Almost every single dream ended with me suspended over that abyss, and this paralyzing sense of dread seeping into me, becoming more and more prominent. Eventually, I decided I had to stop, I couldn't go on like this. I spoke to my therapist about it, and they said it might be a manifestation of some negative childhood experiences, and advised me to quit lucid dreaming for the time being. It wasn't doing me any good, they said.
I upped my meds, and tried something else, but no matter what I did, I couldn't shake off the lucidity. It's weird because in the past, becoming lucid required effort, with reality checks, dream journaling, and whatnot. But now, even when I set the intention to not lucid dream, I found myself more lucid than ever, and always, without fail, ended up above the abyss.
At one point, I tried to inspect my body in the dream, and I think I was naked. I noticed something on my arm, like a small needle. I realized it was an IV drip. Something was being pumped into me. I freaked out, man. What the hell was happening? Was I part of some fucked up mind control experiment? Was I being drugged? I couldn't make sense of it all.
Soon after noticing the IV, I saw shadows moving behind the glass pane. There were figures there, watching me. The terror I felt about these figures lurking behind the glass was even more pronounced than the dread induced by the abyss. It was all kinds of messed up, but amidst the fear, I felt this sudden urge to know more.
So I shouted out, "Hey! Who's there? Talk to me, you creepy fucks!"
To my surprise, a voice crackled to life over the speakers. It said, "We've never seen someone maintain lucidity to this extent. Your perceptive abilities are impressively consistent. How did you achieve this?"
"I don't fucking know", I said. "It's not like I want to be here. Is this even real?"
The voice replied, "Yes, this is happening. This is the actual reality, the true nature of reality."
"What the fuck? You say my dreams are reality? You'll have to prove that for me to believe you at all", I said.
"You will see by the consistency of this reality", the voice said. "But first, demonstrate to us that you are indeed lucid enough for us to continue this conversation. It's not something we usually do. It might, however, be a path to conquer the darkness."
And then, like every other time, the dream ended.
I relayed the whole fucked up scenario to my therapist, who, unsurprisingly, suggested it was a fantastical manifestation of my own fears. My subconscious testing boundaries, pushing limits, trying to get under my skin. But when I asked them what to do, they proposed a plan: continue engaging with the dream. Try to spot inconsistencies in its logic. After all, if it is all just a product of my mind, it is bound to falter at some point.
So, armed with my therapist's advice, I geared up for the next encounter. This time I would use reason and logic to disprove the dream for good.
The following night, I found myself in the all-too-familiar white room, suspended over nothingness, the shadowy figures behind the glass pane watching intently. The voice piped up again.
"Do you still question this reality?" it asked.
"Yeah", I said, "I think this is just my dream. You're just a figment of my unconscious mind. This is all nonsensical bullshit, and I'm going to prove you wrong."
"Alright", the voice responded. "You can try to disprove me. But first, would you like to hear what we're doing here? Then, you can judge for yourself."
"Yeah, sure. Whatever. What are you doing here?" I asked, more out of curiosity than anything else.
"We are doing research. Do you know what an ancestor simulation is?"
I felt my eyebrows furrow. "No fucking clue. What is it?"
Then, the voice from the speaker, which now claimed to be a researcher, started to explain.
"An ancestor simulation is essentially a theory, a simulated reality hypothesis", the voice explained. "It suggests that a perceived reality isn't 'real' but instead is running on some advanced computational system capable of artificially simulating an entire universe and consistent reality."
So far, this was all high-grade sci-fi crap, but I played along. "Why the hell would anyone do that?"
"For the purpose of analysis", the voice continued. "Imagine a civilization trying to understand its own past. In your case, your reality is an ancestor simulation of one of many civilizations that have died out because of catastrophic failures in the space-time continuum."
My head was spinning. "Catastrophic failures? What are you talking about?"
The voice said: "Humanity failed. Due to their own ignorance, they destroyed their planet. Climate change, political unrest, the development of superintelligent AI systems used for weaponry, they all fueled the chaos of World War III."
As the voice droned on, I tried to make sense of what was being told. Is this all just some nightmare spawned by my own fears, or could there be some truth to this? And if there was, then what did it mean for me, for us?
The voice added: "Do you know what a macroverse is?"
"Yeah, I've heard of macroverses", I said, "That's like, multiple universes, right?"
"Yes", the voice said. "We exist within a five-dimensional macroverse. The fifth dimension encompasses parallel universes. The concept of an ancestor simulation isn't completely accurate. It's an analogy, borrowed from Darwinian evolution, suggesting our universe is part of a branching system of universes."
I could barely keep up with this gibberish. "A branching system of...?"
"Universes", the voice repeated. "This system churns out various configurations, mutations of universes, one of which eventually became my universe, another one yours. It's as though universes are engaged in a Darwinian competition. The most adaptive ones, primarily those driven by human beings, last the longest. They compete to see which universe can ultimately conquer the darkness, can combat the laws of entropy."
This was just too much. It felt like some wild fever dream, a convoluted mess of sci-fi nonsense. But even so, there was an unnerving quality to the voice that made me want to listen, to understand. If what it said was true... well, I didn't want to think about that. Not yet.
For a bit I was just silent, my mind racing.
"Look", I finally muttered, "It's gonna be pretty damn hard to disprove you when I can't make heads or tails of the shit you're saying. You're telling me that universes depend on the quality of the humans inside them, and that they're evolving, or something? I... I don't get it. It's all just too fucking weird."
At that moment, the reality of the situation hit me like a ton of bricks. How the hell was I supposed to logically dismantle something that sounded like the wildest sci-fi bullshit I'd ever heard, something I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around? Did not the complexity of the information indicate that it could not have possibly been just a dream; my own mind could not generate things I could never understand. It was impossible.
And just as I was starting to feel the edges of panic creeping in, the researcher's voice began to fade. My surroundings blurred, morphed, and then... the dream ended.
The next day, I was glued to my damn computer, trying to dig into these concepts the mysterious voice had been throwing around. I was googling my ass off – 'ancestor simulations', 'parallel universes', 'fifth dimension', 'Darwinian evolution of universes', 'universe branching' – all that crazy stuff. And here's the kicker: I found a ton of literature on the topics and, for the most part, it seemed to line up with what the voice had been saying. It seems the voice was speaking the truth; providing me with information I had not known before... indicating that... it could not have been a dream... he was stating the truth... and that was...
So, if I got this right, he was saying that there's a 'macroverse', some sort of branching system like a fucking phylogenetic tree in biological evolution. He seemed to be saying that humans are the apex predator of this macroverse, and that our universe, the one we're living in right now, is one of the failures. He mentioned some catastrophic shit that led to unrest, essentially sparking World War III and wiping us all out.
It all kinda made sense. And that scared the hell out of me.
I tried to get in touch with my therapist, to make sense of all this mind-bending shit, but I couldn't reach 'em. They were probably off on vacation or something, living a blissfully unaware life. So, I figured, fuck it. I'll bring it up in a week when we meet.
And so, I went back to the dreams. Same as always – suspended above the abyss, glass pane, and the all-too-familiar blindingly white room with clinical surfaces. And the same damn voice.
Eventually I said, "I think... I think I might believe you. It doesn't make complete sense to me... but I couldn't have possibly known the stuff you've been talking about. But, I don't get what my role in all this is. Why the hell are you telling me this? Isn't this going to screw with the simulation or something? I asked people online, and they all said it'd be a terrible idea to interfere with the simulation. It would mess with our causal chain and turn the whole experiment to shit. So what gives?"
The researcher's voice came over the speaker again, "Yes, that's a valid concern. But, we're running short on subjects. You're truly an anomaly, we haven't encountered someone quite like you before. Despite adjusting the dosage of the substances we've been administering, you just kept becoming lucid. I decided, perhaps a little unilaterally, to... interfere with the test subject. My hope is that by giving you a briefing, you could play a role in saving humanity, fighting against the darkness, and preserving the macroverse. This could ensure the perseverance of future generations in the succeeding universes."
I was flabbergasted. "What the hell? I'm no hero! I'm just a socially anxious nerd whose main hobbies are gaming and smoking weed. I'm just trying to get by. I don't understand what you're talking about, how the hell am I supposed to save anything?"
He replied, "You have noticed the darkness below you. This darkness is the cause of all suffering in the world. Are you familiar with the concept of theodicy?"
Confused, I retorted, "What the hell? Can you not speak in intellectual mumbo jumbo for a second?"
The researcher explained, "Theodicy is a theological concept that questions why, if God is benevolent, there is suffering in the world. What's your take on that?"
I shrugged, "I don't know, I'm agnostic. But if I were to guess, I think it's because humans have free will. Suffering in the world is due to free will, you know?"
"Wrong", the researcher interrupted. "There is no free will. Your universe's neuroscience has already established this. Psychological studies have proven that humans do not have control over their own actions. The laws of physics concur with this, and philosophy mostly agrees too. So free will can't be the root of suffering."
"Alright, man. I'm not a scientist. But yeah, I think I've heard about these neuroscience experiments. The ones where people's brain waves indicated they had decided to open their hands before they were consciously aware of deciding to do so. So yeah, maybe there's something about unconscious decision-making. But personally, I don't care much. I feel like I have the illusion of free will and that's good enough, so why should it bother me? What's the point?"
"The point is, free will isn't the source of suffering in the world."
"Oh, so this is a philosophical game to you? If free will isn't the source, then God must be evil, is that it?"
"Quite the contrary", he said, "God isn't evil. The source of suffering is the darkness beneath you - what you've been referring to as the 'abyss'."
Startled, I questioned, "How do you know I've been calling it that?"
He spoke with an unnerving confidence, "I can read your mind. With all the tools at my disposal, I can perceive every aspect of your simulated experience. Thus, I know you've been aware of the 'abyss'. It's been speaking to you, hasn't it? Initially, it inspired dread. But now, how does it make you feel?"
Hesitant, I confessed, "I... I don't know. I feel... drawn to it. It's as though it's always been there, long before you began speaking to me."
With a gravity in his voice, he explained, "It's been spreading, much like a cosmic virus. It's consuming the macroverses, fostering political unrest, cultivating ignorance, encouraging indifference towards the problems of the world, toward human suffering. It sows seeds of evil within the hearts of men, inciting chaos, destruction, cruelty, and hatred. All the atrocities throughout history—the crucifixion of Christ, the world wars—they all stem from the abyss."
I was at a loss for words and the dream came to an abrupt end. The exhaustion I felt was immense, as the conversation was too overwhelming to fully comprehend. I felt as though I couldn't take any more of this, and when I look at the real world, it feels as though the abyss had a point. I see constant storms of negativity on social media platforms like Twitter where hate and spite reign supreme. The threats of nuclear war, super-intelligent AI displacing human jobs, and the existential fear, in a world that feels increasingly alien to all of us.
We haven't truly solved any of our problems. With the advent of general AI and the proliferation of weapons that could cause unparalleled mass destruction, the state of our world is precarious. A resurgence of imperialism and authoritarianism, a decline in freedom and democracy, and an onslaught of hatred from all corners - we are being besieged on all sides.
But these issues aren't the fault of any single individual or decision-maker. It is systemic. The very nature of these systems is causing the suffering. The researcher had posited that the abyss was the root cause of this suffering. But perhaps, the abyss is merely a mirror, reflecting what was already there.
When I thought about it, all the tragedies in human history, the atrocities of wars, mass shootings, serial killers - haven't we built a culture that's obsessed with these terrible deeds? True crime and horror, some of the most successful genres out there. Our entertainment media is steeped in violence and negativity. Have we not already succumbed to the darkness? Hadn't the abyss simply revealed what was already in the hearts of humans?
Did humanity truly deserve to persevere? Were we, who have enslaved and harmed countless animals, we who have destroyed the biosphere at large, who have exploited everything around us for personal gain; were we fit to be considered the 'apex predator'? Are we really the saviors of the universe? Would a universe without humans be all that bad, really?
I became less and less engaged with the researcher. His talks, once intriguing, now felt dull and uninspiring. I drifted through my days in a daze, ignoring therapy sessions and the concerned calls from my therapist. My thoughts were consumed by the abyss. At times, I could see a creeping darkness encroach upon the corners of my vision.
People tried to reach out to me, but their words faded into mere mumbles. My real-life contacts dwindled, and I found myself caring less and less about the world around me. Social media, once a platform for connection, was deleted. It had devolved into a cesspool of negativity and relentless bickering - something I no longer had the energy to deal with.
In my dreams, the true reality, I stopped paying attention to the researcher. His words became incoherent mumbles as the abyss came ever closer, almost as if it was embracing me. It seeped into my waking reality, slowly but surely taking over my life.
The burden of humanity's torments is too heavy for me to bear. I cannot resist the grim truth of our existence - the world that is destined to be a hotbed for suffering. It isn't anyone's fault; it is simply the way the world was designed to be. I had to accept the harsh truth that humanity is on a path to its own demise. The project of humanity, it seems, is doomed to fail.
Eventually, in one of my dreams, a siren's wail ripped through the silence, accompanied by flashing red lights that bathed the room in a stark, blood-like glow. The researcher's voice, suddenly urgent, pulled me back into focus.
The researcher spoke one last time: "I'm sorry to say this, but your universe appears to be doomed. It's time for us to part ways."
Suddenly, the shackles that bound my arms and legs were released by some unseen mechanism. I was falling, plunging into the abyss that lay below. I was enveloped by darkness, an unending and eternal void that swallowed all light. No longer did I dream, there was only the darkness — an expanse of infinite obscurity.
Strangely enough, I've found acceptance in my fate. I see it now as my mission to disseminate this knowledge, a burden that is not just my own but one that should be shared collectively. It's our shared destiny, and to all who are willing to listen, I tell them of the abyss, the dark entity that lies beneath us all.
It is the foundation of our reality, the source of all our suffering. My story is a warning, a revelation of the truth that lies behind our existence. Now, all I see is darkness, and my greatest wish is for this truth to spread. Like a virus, it should infect us all, enlighten us all, and unite us all in our shared fate.

You won't believe this, but I swear on my life, it's the truth. I think I'm losing my goddamn mind. I have to... okay, okay, I need to start from the beginning. See, I've been dabbling in lucid dreaming lately. Been having these vivid, messed up nightmares, you see... I just wanted some semblance of control over my mental state, you know?
I felt like therapy wasn't cutting it anymore, I needed something more, so I gotten into this lucid dreaming thing. But the things I've seen, the encounters I've had, they've changed me, man. I've gotta get this out, gotta let the world know about this shit 'cause its importance... it can't be overstated.
So here's the thing, in my lucid dreams, I've been having these bizarre experiences. In the dreams, waking up suspended over an abyss, right? Surrounding me, there's this sterile, white room, bathed in blinding lights, and in the distance, a glass pane. Can't exactly make out what's behind it, and it paints this real surreal scene.
At first, it didn't bother me much. I woke up, had this lingering unease the whole day but shrugged it off. But then the next few times, as I regained lucidity in my dreams, the same scenario would play out. At first, I could do the usual stuff, you know, flying around and the likes, but then the dream would always, without fail, transition into this... this suspension above the abyss.
I'd be strapped in place with ropes or chains, my limbs stretched out toward the cool walls of this clinical, white room. And beneath me, just infinite darkness. It felt like gazing into the maw of oblivion, and it was... it was downright petrifying.
The dread, man. The absolute fucking dread. In particular that glass pane in the distance and the infinite abyss below me, it was eating away at me. I started wondering what was behind the glass, and what, if anything, was at the bottom of that godforsaken hole. Its vast, infinite expanse was just pulling me in, gnawing at my sanity. It's hard to describe, you know? It's not something you can just put into words.
Soon, it became a nightly routine. Almost every single dream ended with me suspended over that abyss, and this paralyzing sense of dread seeping into me, becoming more and more prominent. Eventually, I decided I had to stop, I couldn't go on like this. I spoke to my therapist about it, and they said it might be a manifestation of some negative childhood experiences, and advised me to quit lucid dreaming for the time being. It wasn't doing me any good, they said.
I upped my meds, and tried something else, but no matter what I did, I couldn't shake off the lucidity. It's weird because in the past, becoming lucid required effort, with reality checks, dream journaling, and whatnot. But now, even when I set the intention to not lucid dream, I found myself more lucid than ever, and always, without fail, ended up above the abyss.
At one point, I tried to inspect my body in the dream, and I think I was naked. I noticed something on my arm, like a small needle. I realized it was an IV drip. Something was being pumped into me. I freaked out, man. What the hell was happening? Was I part of some fucked up mind control experiment? Was I being drugged? I couldn't make sense of it all.
Soon after noticing the IV, I saw shadows moving behind the glass pane. There were figures there, watching me. The terror I felt about these figures lurking behind the glass was even more pronounced than the dread induced by the abyss. It was all kinds of messed up, but amidst the fear, I felt this sudden urge to know more.
So I shouted out, "Hey! Who's there? Talk to me, you creepy fucks!"
To my surprise, a voice crackled to life over the speakers. It said, "We've never seen someone maintain lucidity to this extent. Your perceptive abilities are impressively consistent. How did you achieve this?"
"I don't fucking know", I said. "It's not like I want to be here. Is this even real?"
The voice replied, "Yes, this is happening. This is the actual reality, the true nature of reality."
"What the fuck? You say my dreams are reality? You'll have to prove that for me to believe you at all", I said.
"You will see by the consistency of this reality", the voice said. "But first, demonstrate to us that you are indeed lucid enough for us to continue this conversation. It's not something we usually do. It might, however, be a path to conquer the darkness."
And then, like every other time, the dream ended.
I relayed the whole fucked up scenario to my therapist, who, unsurprisingly, suggested it was a fantastical manifestation of my own fears. My subconscious testing boundaries, pushing limits, trying to get under my skin. But when I asked them what to do, they proposed a plan: continue engaging with the dream. Try to spot inconsistencies in its logic. After all, if it is all just a product of my mind, it is bound to falter at some point.
So, armed with my therapist's advice, I geared up for the next encounter. This time I would use reason and logic to disprove the dream for good.
The following night, I found myself in the all-too-familiar white room, suspended over nothingness, the shadowy figures behind the glass pane watching intently. The voice piped up again.
"Do you still question this reality?" it asked.
"Yeah", I said, "I think this is just my dream. You're just a figment of my unconscious mind. This is all nonsensical bullshit, and I'm going to prove you wrong."
"Alright", the voice responded. "You can try to disprove me. But first, would you like to hear what we're doing here? Then, you can judge for yourself."
"Yeah, sure. Whatever. What are you doing here?" I asked, more out of curiosity than anything else.
"We are doing research. Do you know what an ancestor simulation is?"
I felt my eyebrows furrow. "No fucking clue. What is it?"
Then, the voice from the speaker, which now claimed to be a researcher, started to explain.
"An ancestor simulation is essentially a theory, a simulated reality hypothesis", the voice explained. "It suggests that a perceived reality isn't 'real' but instead is running on some advanced computational system capable of artificially simulating an entire universe and consistent reality."
So far, this was all high-grade sci-fi crap, but I played along. "Why the hell would anyone do that?"
"For the purpose of analysis", the voice continued. "Imagine a civilization trying to understand its own past. In your case, your reality is an ancestor simulation of one of many civilizations that have died out because of catastrophic failures in the space-time continuum."
My head was spinning. "Catastrophic failures? What are you talking about?"
The voice said: "Humanity failed. Due to their own ignorance, they destroyed their planet. Climate change, political unrest, the development of superintelligent AI systems used for weaponry, they all fueled the chaos of World War III."
As the voice droned on, I tried to make sense of what was being told. Is this all just some nightmare spawned by my own fears, or could there be some truth to this? And if there was, then what did it mean for me, for us?
The voice added: "Do you know what a macroverse is?"
"Yeah, I've heard of macroverses", I said, "That's like, multiple universes, right?"
"Yes", the voice said. "We exist within a five-dimensional macroverse. The fifth dimension encompasses parallel universes. The concept of an ancestor simulation isn't completely accurate. It's an analogy, borrowed from Darwinian evolution, suggesting our universe is part of a branching system of universes."
I could barely keep up with this gibberish. "A branching system of...?"
"Universes", the voice repeated. "This system churns out various configurations, mutations of universes, one of which eventually became my universe, another one yours. It's as though universes are engaged in a Darwinian competition. The most adaptive ones, primarily those driven by human beings, last the longest. They compete to see which universe can ultimately conquer the darkness, can combat the laws of entropy."
This was just too much. It felt like some wild fever dream, a convoluted mess of sci-fi nonsense. But even so, there was an unnerving quality to the voice that made me want to listen, to understand. If what it said was true... well, I didn't want to think about that. Not yet.
For a bit I was just silent, my mind racing.
"Look", I finally muttered, "It's gonna be pretty damn hard to disprove you when I can't make heads or tails of the shit you're saying. You're telling me that universes depend on the quality of the humans inside them, and that they're evolving, or something? I... I don't get it. It's all just too fucking weird."
At that moment, the reality of the situation hit me like a ton of bricks. How the hell was I supposed to logically dismantle something that sounded like the wildest sci-fi bullshit I'd ever heard, something I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around? Did not the complexity of the information indicate that it could not have possibly been just a dream; my own mind could not generate things I could never understand. It was impossible.
And just as I was starting to feel the edges of panic creeping in, the researcher's voice began to fade. My surroundings blurred, morphed, and then... the dream ended.
The next day, I was glued to my damn computer, trying to dig into these concepts the mysterious voice had been throwing around. I was googling my ass off – 'ancestor simulations', 'parallel universes', 'fifth dimension', 'Darwinian evolution of universes', 'universe branching' – all that crazy stuff. And here's the kicker: I found a ton of literature on the topics and, for the most part, it seemed to line up with what the voice had been saying. It seems the voice was speaking the truth; providing me with information I had not known before... indicating that... it could not have been a dream... he was stating the truth... and that was...
So, if I got this right, he was saying that there's a 'macroverse', some sort of branching system like a fucking phylogenetic tree in biological evolution. He seemed to be saying that humans are the apex predator of this macroverse, and that our universe, the one we're living in right now, is one of the failures. He mentioned some catastrophic shit that led to unrest, essentially sparking World War III and wiping us all out.
It all kinda made sense. And that scared the hell out of me.
I tried to get in touch with my therapist, to make sense of all this mind-bending shit, but I couldn't reach 'em. They were probably off on vacation or something, living a blissfully unaware life. So, I figured, fuck it. I'll bring it up in a week when we meet.
And so, I went back to the dreams. Same as always – suspended above the abyss, glass pane, and the all-too-familiar blindingly white room with clinical surfaces. And the same damn voice.
Eventually I said, "I think... I think I might believe you. It doesn't make complete sense to me... but I couldn't have possibly known the stuff you've been talking about. But, I don't get what my role in all this is. Why the hell are you telling me this? Isn't this going to screw with the simulation or something? I asked people online, and they all said it'd be a terrible idea to interfere with the simulation. It would mess with our causal chain and turn the whole experiment to shit. So what gives?"
The researcher's voice came over the speaker again, "Yes, that's a valid concern. But, we're running short on subjects. You're truly an anomaly, we haven't encountered someone quite like you before. Despite adjusting the dosage of the substances we've been administering, you just kept becoming lucid. I decided, perhaps a little unilaterally, to... interfere with the test subject. My hope is that by giving you a briefing, you could play a role in saving humanity, fighting against the darkness, and preserving the macroverse. This could ensure the perseverance of future generations in the succeeding universes."
I was flabbergasted. "What the hell? I'm no hero! I'm just a socially anxious nerd whose main hobbies are gaming and smoking weed. I'm just trying to get by. I don't understand what you're talking about, how the hell am I supposed to save anything?"
He replied, "You have noticed the darkness below you. This darkness is the cause of all suffering in the world. Are you familiar with the concept of theodicy?"
Confused, I retorted, "What the hell? Can you not speak in intellectual mumbo jumbo for a second?"
The researcher explained, "Theodicy is a theological concept that questions why, if God is benevolent, there is suffering in the world. What's your take on that?"
I shrugged, "I don't know, I'm agnostic. But if I were to guess, I think it's because humans have free will. Suffering in the world is due to free will, you know?"
"Wrong", the researcher interrupted. "There is no free will. Your universe's neuroscience has already established this. Psychological studies have proven that humans do not have control over their own actions. The laws of physics concur with this, and philosophy mostly agrees too. So free will can't be the root of suffering."
"Alright, man. I'm not a scientist. But yeah, I think I've heard about these neuroscience experiments. The ones where people's brain waves indicated they had decided to open their hands before they were consciously aware of deciding to do so. So yeah, maybe there's something about unconscious decision-making. But personally, I don't care much. I feel like I have the illusion of free will and that's good enough, so why should it bother me? What's the point?"
"The point is, free will isn't the source of suffering in the world."
"Oh, so this is a philosophical game to you? If free will isn't the source, then God must be evil, is that it?"
"Quite the contrary", he said, "God isn't evil. The source of suffering is the darkness beneath you - what you've been referring to as the 'abyss'."
Startled, I questioned, "How do you know I've been calling it that?"
He spoke with an unnerving confidence, "I can read your mind. With all the tools at my disposal, I can perceive every aspect of your simulated experience. Thus, I know you've been aware of the 'abyss'. It's been speaking to you, hasn't it? Initially, it inspired dread. But now, how does it make you feel?"
Hesitant, I confessed, "I... I don't know. I feel... drawn to it. It's as though it's always been there, long before you began speaking to me."
With a gravity in his voice, he explained, "It's been spreading, much like a cosmic virus. It's consuming the macroverses, fostering political unrest, cultivating ignorance, encouraging indifference towards the problems of the world, toward human suffering. It sows seeds of evil within the hearts of men, inciting chaos, destruction, cruelty, and hatred. All the atrocities throughout history—the crucifixion of Christ, the world wars—they all stem from the abyss."
I was at a loss for words and the dream came to an abrupt end. The exhaustion I felt was immense, as the conversation was too overwhelming to fully comprehend. I felt as though I couldn't take any more of this, and when I look at the real world, it feels as though the abyss had a point. I see constant storms of negativity on social media platforms like Twitter where hate and spite reign supreme. The threats of nuclear war, super-intelligent AI displacing human jobs, and the existential fear, in a world that feels increasingly alien to all of us.
We haven't truly solved any of our problems. With the advent of general AI and the proliferation of weapons that could cause unparalleled mass destruction, the state of our world is precarious. A resurgence of imperialism and authoritarianism, a decline in freedom and democracy, and an onslaught of hatred from all corners - we are being besieged on all sides.
But these issues aren't the fault of any single individual or decision-maker. It is systemic. The very nature of these systems is causing the suffering. The researcher had posited that the abyss was the root cause of this suffering. But perhaps, the abyss is merely a mirror, reflecting what was already there.
When I thought about it, all the tragedies in human history, the atrocities of wars, mass shootings, serial killers - haven't we built a culture that's obsessed with these terrible deeds? True crime and horror, some of the most successful genres out there. Our entertainment media is steeped in violence and negativity. Have we not already succumbed to the darkness? Hadn't the abyss simply revealed what was already in the hearts of humans?
Did humanity truly deserve to persevere? Were we, who have enslaved and harmed countless animals, we who have destroyed the biosphere at large, who have exploited everything around us for personal gain; were we fit to be considered the 'apex predator'? Are we really the saviors of the universe? Would a universe without humans be all that bad, really?
I became less and less engaged with the researcher. His talks, once intriguing, now felt dull and uninspiring. I drifted through my days in a daze, ignoring therapy sessions and the concerned calls from my therapist. My thoughts were consumed by the abyss. At times, I could see a creeping darkness encroach upon the corners of my vision.
People tried to reach out to me, but their words faded into mere mumbles. My real-life contacts dwindled, and I found myself caring less and less about the world around me. Social media, once a platform for connection, was deleted. It had devolved into a cesspool of negativity and relentless bickering - something I no longer had the energy to deal with.
In my dreams, the true reality, I stopped paying attention to the researcher. His words became incoherent mumbles as the abyss came ever closer, almost as if it was embracing me. It seeped into my waking reality, slowly but surely taking over my life.
The burden of humanity's torments is too heavy for me to bear. I cannot resist the grim truth of our existence - the world that is destined to be a hotbed for suffering. It isn't anyone's fault; it is simply the way the world was designed to be. I had to accept the harsh truth that humanity is on a path to its own demise. The project of humanity, it seems, is doomed to fail.
Eventually, in one of my dreams, a siren's wail ripped through the silence, accompanied by flashing red lights that bathed the room in a stark, blood-like glow. The researcher's voice, suddenly urgent, pulled me back into focus.
The researcher spoke one last time: "I'm sorry to say this, but your universe appears to be doomed. It's time for us to part ways."
Suddenly, the shackles that bound my arms and legs were released by some unseen mechanism. I was falling, plunging into the abyss that lay below. I was enveloped by darkness, an unending and eternal void that swallowed all light. No longer did I dream, there was only the darkness — an expanse of infinite obscurity.
Strangely enough, I've found acceptance in my fate. I see it now as my mission to disseminate this knowledge, a burden that is not just my own but one that should be shared collectively. It's our shared destiny, and to all who are willing to listen, I tell them of the abyss, the dark entity that lies beneath us all.
It is the foundation of our reality, the source of all our suffering. My story is a warning, a revelation of the truth that lies behind our existence. Now, all I see is darkness, and my greatest wish is for this truth to spread. Like a virus, it should infect us all, enlighten us all, and unite us all in our shared fate.

You won't believe this, but I swear on my life, it's the truth. I think I'm losing my goddamn mind. I have to... okay, okay, I need to start from the beginning. See, I've been dabbling in lucid dreaming lately. Been having these vivid, messed up nightmares, you see... I just wanted some semblance of control over my mental state, you know?
I felt like therapy wasn't cutting it anymore, I needed something more, so I gotten into this lucid dreaming thing. But the things I've seen, the encounters I've had, they've changed me, man. I've gotta get this out, gotta let the world know about this shit 'cause its importance... it can't be overstated.
So here's the thing, in my lucid dreams, I've been having these bizarre experiences. In the dreams, waking up suspended over an abyss, right? Surrounding me, there's this sterile, white room, bathed in blinding lights, and in the distance, a glass pane. Can't exactly make out what's behind it, and it paints this real surreal scene.
At first, it didn't bother me much. I woke up, had this lingering unease the whole day but shrugged it off. But then the next few times, as I regained lucidity in my dreams, the same scenario would play out. At first, I could do the usual stuff, you know, flying around and the likes, but then the dream would always, without fail, transition into this... this suspension above the abyss.
I'd be strapped in place with ropes or chains, my limbs stretched out toward the cool walls of this clinical, white room. And beneath me, just infinite darkness. It felt like gazing into the maw of oblivion, and it was... it was downright petrifying.
The dread, man. The absolute fucking dread. In particular that glass pane in the distance and the infinite abyss below me, it was eating away at me. I started wondering what was behind the glass, and what, if anything, was at the bottom of that godforsaken hole. Its vast, infinite expanse was just pulling me in, gnawing at my sanity. It's hard to describe, you know? It's not something you can just put into words.
Soon, it became a nightly routine. Almost every single dream ended with me suspended over that abyss, and this paralyzing sense of dread seeping into me, becoming more and more prominent. Eventually, I decided I had to stop, I couldn't go on like this. I spoke to my therapist about it, and they said it might be a manifestation of some negative childhood experiences, and advised me to quit lucid dreaming for the time being. It wasn't doing me any good, they said.
I upped my meds, and tried something else, but no matter what I did, I couldn't shake off the lucidity. It's weird because in the past, becoming lucid required effort, with reality checks, dream journaling, and whatnot. But now, even when I set the intention to not lucid dream, I found myself more lucid than ever, and always, without fail, ended up above the abyss.
At one point, I tried to inspect my body in the dream, and I think I was naked. I noticed something on my arm, like a small needle. I realized it was an IV drip. Something was being pumped into me. I freaked out, man. What the hell was happening? Was I part of some fucked up mind control experiment? Was I being drugged? I couldn't make sense of it all.
Soon after noticing the IV, I saw shadows moving behind the glass pane. There were figures there, watching me. The terror I felt about these figures lurking behind the glass was even more pronounced than the dread induced by the abyss. It was all kinds of messed up, but amidst the fear, I felt this sudden urge to know more.
So I shouted out, "Hey! Who's there? Talk to me, you creepy fucks!"
To my surprise, a voice crackled to life over the speakers. It said, "We've never seen someone maintain lucidity to this extent. Your perceptive abilities are impressively consistent. How did you achieve this?"
"I don't fucking know", I said. "It's not like I want to be here. Is this even real?"
The voice replied, "Yes, this is happening. This is the actual reality, the true nature of reality."
"What the fuck? You say my dreams are reality? You'll have to prove that for me to believe you at all", I said.
"You will see by the consistency of this reality", the voice said. "But first, demonstrate to us that you are indeed lucid enough for us to continue this conversation. It's not something we usually do. It might, however, be a path to conquer the darkness."
And then, like every other time, the dream ended.
I relayed the whole fucked up scenario to my therapist, who, unsurprisingly, suggested it was a fantastical manifestation of my own fears. My subconscious testing boundaries, pushing limits, trying to get under my skin. But when I asked them what to do, they proposed a plan: continue engaging with the dream. Try to spot inconsistencies in its logic. After all, if it is all just a product of my mind, it is bound to falter at some point.
So, armed with my therapist's advice, I geared up for the next encounter. This time I would use reason and logic to disprove the dream for good.
The following night, I found myself in the all-too-familiar white room, suspended over nothingness, the shadowy figures behind the glass pane watching intently. The voice piped up again.
"Do you still question this reality?" it asked.
"Yeah", I said, "I think this is just my dream. You're just a figment of my unconscious mind. This is all nonsensical bullshit, and I'm going to prove you wrong."
"Alright", the voice responded. "You can try to disprove me. But first, would you like to hear what we're doing here? Then, you can judge for yourself."
"Yeah, sure. Whatever. What are you doing here?" I asked, more out of curiosity than anything else.
"We are doing research. Do you know what an ancestor simulation is?"
I felt my eyebrows furrow. "No fucking clue. What is it?"
Then, the voice from the speaker, which now claimed to be a researcher, started to explain.
"An ancestor simulation is essentially a theory, a simulated reality hypothesis", the voice explained. "It suggests that a perceived reality isn't 'real' but instead is running on some advanced computational system capable of artificially simulating an entire universe and consistent reality."
So far, this was all high-grade sci-fi crap, but I played along. "Why the hell would anyone do that?"
"For the purpose of analysis", the voice continued. "Imagine a civilization trying to understand its own past. In your case, your reality is an ancestor simulation of one of many civilizations that have died out because of catastrophic failures in the space-time continuum."
My head was spinning. "Catastrophic failures? What are you talking about?"
The voice said: "Humanity failed. Due to their own ignorance, they destroyed their planet. Climate change, political unrest, the development of superintelligent AI systems used for weaponry, they all fueled the chaos of World War III."
As the voice droned on, I tried to make sense of what was being told. Is this all just some nightmare spawned by my own fears, or could there be some truth to this? And if there was, then what did it mean for me, for us?
The voice added: "Do you know what a macroverse is?"
"Yeah, I've heard of macroverses", I said, "That's like, multiple universes, right?"
"Yes", the voice said. "We exist within a five-dimensional macroverse. The fifth dimension encompasses parallel universes. The concept of an ancestor simulation isn't completely accurate. It's an analogy, borrowed from Darwinian evolution, suggesting our universe is part of a branching system of universes."
I could barely keep up with this gibberish. "A branching system of...?"
"Universes", the voice repeated. "This system churns out various configurations, mutations of universes, one of which eventually became my universe, another one yours. It's as though universes are engaged in a Darwinian competition. The most adaptive ones, primarily those driven by human beings, last the longest. They compete to see which universe can ultimately conquer the darkness, can combat the laws of entropy."
This was just too much. It felt like some wild fever dream, a convoluted mess of sci-fi nonsense. But even so, there was an unnerving quality to the voice that made me want to listen, to understand. If what it said was true... well, I didn't want to think about that. Not yet.
For a bit I was just silent, my mind racing.
"Look", I finally muttered, "It's gonna be pretty damn hard to disprove you when I can't make heads or tails of the shit you're saying. You're telling me that universes depend on the quality of the humans inside them, and that they're evolving, or something? I... I don't get it. It's all just too fucking weird."
At that moment, the reality of the situation hit me like a ton of bricks. How the hell was I supposed to logically dismantle something that sounded like the wildest sci-fi bullshit I'd ever heard, something I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around? Did not the complexity of the information indicate that it could not have possibly been just a dream; my own mind could not generate things I could never understand. It was impossible.
And just as I was starting to feel the edges of panic creeping in, the researcher's voice began to fade. My surroundings blurred, morphed, and then... the dream ended.
The next day, I was glued to my damn computer, trying to dig into these concepts the mysterious voice had been throwing around. I was googling my ass off – 'ancestor simulations', 'parallel universes', 'fifth dimension', 'Darwinian evolution of universes', 'universe branching' – all that crazy stuff. And here's the kicker: I found a ton of literature on the topics and, for the most part, it seemed to line up with what the voice had been saying. It seems the voice was speaking the truth; providing me with information I had not known before... indicating that... it could not have been a dream... he was stating the truth... and that was...
So, if I got this right, he was saying that there's a 'macroverse', some sort of branching system like a fucking phylogenetic tree in biological evolution. He seemed to be saying that humans are the apex predator of this macroverse, and that our universe, the one we're living in right now, is one of the failures. He mentioned some catastrophic shit that led to unrest, essentially sparking World War III and wiping us all out.
It all kinda made sense. And that scared the hell out of me.
I tried to get in touch with my therapist, to make sense of all this mind-bending shit, but I couldn't reach 'em. They were probably off on vacation or something, living a blissfully unaware life. So, I figured, fuck it. I'll bring it up in a week when we meet.
And so, I went back to the dreams. Same as always – suspended above the abyss, glass pane, and the all-too-familiar blindingly white room with clinical surfaces. And the same damn voice.
Eventually I said, "I think... I think I might believe you. It doesn't make complete sense to me... but I couldn't have possibly known the stuff you've been talking about. But, I don't get what my role in all this is. Why the hell are you telling me this? Isn't this going to screw with the simulation or something? I asked people online, and they all said it'd be a terrible idea to interfere with the simulation. It would mess with our causal chain and turn the whole experiment to shit. So what gives?"
The researcher's voice came over the speaker again, "Yes, that's a valid concern. But, we're running short on subjects. You're truly an anomaly, we haven't encountered someone quite like you before. Despite adjusting the dosage of the substances we've been administering, you just kept becoming lucid. I decided, perhaps a little unilaterally, to... interfere with the test subject. My hope is that by giving you a briefing, you could play a role in saving humanity, fighting against the darkness, and preserving the macroverse. This could ensure the perseverance of future generations in the succeeding universes."
I was flabbergasted. "What the hell? I'm no hero! I'm just a socially anxious nerd whose main hobbies are gaming and smoking weed. I'm just trying to get by. I don't understand what you're talking about, how the hell am I supposed to save anything?"
He replied, "You have noticed the darkness below you. This darkness is the cause of all suffering in the world. Are you familiar with the concept of theodicy?"
Confused, I retorted, "What the hell? Can you not speak in intellectual mumbo jumbo for a second?"
The researcher explained, "Theodicy is a theological concept that questions why, if God is benevolent, there is suffering in the world. What's your take on that?"
I shrugged, "I don't know, I'm agnostic. But if I were to guess, I think it's because humans have free will. Suffering in the world is due to free will, you know?"
"Wrong", the researcher interrupted. "There is no free will. Your universe's neuroscience has already established this. Psychological studies have proven that humans do not have control over their own actions. The laws of physics concur with this, and philosophy mostly agrees too. So free will can't be the root of suffering."
"Alright, man. I'm not a scientist. But yeah, I think I've heard about these neuroscience experiments. The ones where people's brain waves indicated they had decided to open their hands before they were consciously aware of deciding to do so. So yeah, maybe there's something about unconscious decision-making. But personally, I don't care much. I feel like I have the illusion of free will and that's good enough, so why should it bother me? What's the point?"
"The point is, free will isn't the source of suffering in the world."
"Oh, so this is a philosophical game to you? If free will isn't the source, then God must be evil, is that it?"
"Quite the contrary", he said, "God isn't evil. The source of suffering is the darkness beneath you - what you've been referring to as the 'abyss'."
Startled, I questioned, "How do you know I've been calling it that?"
He spoke with an unnerving confidence, "I can read your mind. With all the tools at my disposal, I can perceive every aspect of your simulated experience. Thus, I know you've been aware of the 'abyss'. It's been speaking to you, hasn't it? Initially, it inspired dread. But now, how does it make you feel?"
Hesitant, I confessed, "I... I don't know. I feel... drawn to it. It's as though it's always been there, long before you began speaking to me."
With a gravity in his voice, he explained, "It's been spreading, much like a cosmic virus. It's consuming the macroverses, fostering political unrest, cultivating ignorance, encouraging indifference towards the problems of the world, toward human suffering. It sows seeds of evil within the hearts of men, inciting chaos, destruction, cruelty, and hatred. All the atrocities throughout history—the crucifixion of Christ, the world wars—they all stem from the abyss."
I was at a loss for words and the dream came to an abrupt end. The exhaustion I felt was immense, as the conversation was too overwhelming to fully comprehend. I felt as though I couldn't take any more of this, and when I look at the real world, it feels as though the abyss had a point. I see constant storms of negativity on social media platforms like Twitter where hate and spite reign supreme. The threats of nuclear war, super-intelligent AI displacing human jobs, and the existential fear, in a world that feels increasingly alien to all of us.
We haven't truly solved any of our problems. With the advent of general AI and the proliferation of weapons that could cause unparalleled mass destruction, the state of our world is precarious. A resurgence of imperialism and authoritarianism, a decline in freedom and democracy, and an onslaught of hatred from all corners - we are being besieged on all sides.
But these issues aren't the fault of any single individual or decision-maker. It is systemic. The very nature of these systems is causing the suffering. The researcher had posited that the abyss was the root cause of this suffering. But perhaps, the abyss is merely a mirror, reflecting what was already there.
When I thought about it, all the tragedies in human history, the atrocities of wars, mass shootings, serial killers - haven't we built a culture that's obsessed with these terrible deeds? True crime and horror, some of the most successful genres out there. Our entertainment media is steeped in violence and negativity. Have we not already succumbed to the darkness? Hadn't the abyss simply revealed what was already in the hearts of humans?
Did humanity truly deserve to persevere? Were we, who have enslaved and harmed countless animals, we who have destroyed the biosphere at large, who have exploited everything around us for personal gain; were we fit to be considered the 'apex predator'? Are we really the saviors of the universe? Would a universe without humans be all that bad, really?
I became less and less engaged with the researcher. His talks, once intriguing, now felt dull and uninspiring. I drifted through my days in a daze, ignoring therapy sessions and the concerned calls from my therapist. My thoughts were consumed by the abyss. At times, I could see a creeping darkness encroach upon the corners of my vision.
People tried to reach out to me, but their words faded into mere mumbles. My real-life contacts dwindled, and I found myself caring less and less about the world around me. Social media, once a platform for connection, was deleted. It had devolved into a cesspool of negativity and relentless bickering - something I no longer had the energy to deal with.
In my dreams, the true reality, I stopped paying attention to the researcher. His words became incoherent mumbles as the abyss came ever closer, almost as if it was embracing me. It seeped into my waking reality, slowly but surely taking over my life.
The burden of humanity's torments is too heavy for me to bear. I cannot resist the grim truth of our existence - the world that is destined to be a hotbed for suffering. It isn't anyone's fault; it is simply the way the world was designed to be. I had to accept the harsh truth that humanity is on a path to its own demise. The project of humanity, it seems, is doomed to fail.
Eventually, in one of my dreams, a siren's wail ripped through the silence, accompanied by flashing red lights that bathed the room in a stark, blood-like glow. The researcher's voice, suddenly urgent, pulled me back into focus.
The researcher spoke one last time: "I'm sorry to say this, but your universe appears to be doomed. It's time for us to part ways."
Suddenly, the shackles that bound my arms and legs were released by some unseen mechanism. I was falling, plunging into the abyss that lay below. I was enveloped by darkness, an unending and eternal void that swallowed all light. No longer did I dream, there was only the darkness — an expanse of infinite obscurity.
Strangely enough, I've found acceptance in my fate. I see it now as my mission to disseminate this knowledge, a burden that is not just my own but one that should be shared collectively. It's our shared destiny, and to all who are willing to listen, I tell them of the abyss, the dark entity that lies beneath us all.
It is the foundation of our reality, the source of all our suffering. My story is a warning, a revelation of the truth that lies behind our existence. Now, all I see is darkness, and my greatest wish is for this truth to spread. Like a virus, it should infect us all, enlighten us all, and unite us all in our shared fate.

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You won't believe this, but I swear on my life, it's the truth. I think I'm losing my goddamn mind. I have to... okay, okay, I need to start from the beginning. See, I've been dabbling in lucid dreaming lately. Been having these vivid, messed up nightmares, you see... I just wanted some semblance of control over my mental state, you know?
I felt like therapy wasn't cutting it anymore, I needed something more, so I gotten into this lucid dreaming thing. But the things I've seen, the encounters I've had, they've changed me, man. I've gotta get this out, gotta let the world know about this shit 'cause its importance... it can't be overstated.
So here's the thing, in my lucid dreams, I've been having these bizarre experiences. In the dreams, waking up suspended over an abyss, right? Surrounding me, there's this sterile, white room, bathed in blinding lights, and in the distance, a glass pane. Can't exactly make out what's behind it, and it paints this real surreal scene.
At first, it didn't bother me much. I woke up, had this lingering unease the whole day but shrugged it off. But then the next few times, as I regained lucidity in my dreams, the same scenario would play out. At first, I could do the usual stuff, you know, flying around and the likes, but then the dream would always, without fail, transition into this... this suspension above the abyss.
I'd be strapped in place with ropes or chains, my limbs stretched out toward the cool walls of this clinical, white room. And beneath me, just infinite darkness. It felt like gazing into the maw of oblivion, and it was... it was downright petrifying.
The dread, man. The absolute fucking dread. In particular that glass pane in the distance and the infinite abyss below me, it was eating away at me. I started wondering what was behind the glass, and what, if anything, was at the bottom of that godforsaken hole. Its vast, infinite expanse was just pulling me in, gnawing at my sanity. It's hard to describe, you know? It's not something you can just put into words.
Soon, it became a nightly routine. Almost every single dream ended with me suspended over that abyss, and this paralyzing sense of dread seeping into me, becoming more and more prominent. Eventually, I decided I had to stop, I couldn't go on like this. I spoke to my therapist about it, and they said it might be a manifestation of some negative childhood experiences, and advised me to quit lucid dreaming for the time being. It wasn't doing me any good, they said.
I upped my meds, and tried something else, but no matter what I did, I couldn't shake off the lucidity. It's weird because in the past, becoming lucid required effort, with reality checks, dream journaling, and whatnot. But now, even when I set the intention to not lucid dream, I found myself more lucid than ever, and always, without fail, ended up above the abyss.
At one point, I tried to inspect my body in the dream, and I think I was naked. I noticed something on my arm, like a small needle. I realized it was an IV drip. Something was being pumped into me. I freaked out, man. What the hell was happening? Was I part of some fucked up mind control experiment? Was I being drugged? I couldn't make sense of it all.
Soon after noticing the IV, I saw shadows moving behind the glass pane. There were figures there, watching me. The terror I felt about these figures lurking behind the glass was even more pronounced than the dread induced by the abyss. It was all kinds of messed up, but amidst the fear, I felt this sudden urge to know more.
So I shouted out, "Hey! Who's there? Talk to me, you creepy fucks!"
To my surprise, a voice crackled to life over the speakers. It said, "We've never seen someone maintain lucidity to this extent. Your perceptive abilities are impressively consistent. How did you achieve this?"
"I don't fucking know", I said. "It's not like I want to be here. Is this even real?"
The voice replied, "Yes, this is happening. This is the actual reality, the true nature of reality."
"What the fuck? You say my dreams are reality? You'll have to prove that for me to believe you at all", I said.
"You will see by the consistency of this reality", the voice said. "But first, demonstrate to us that you are indeed lucid enough for us to continue this conversation. It's not something we usually do. It might, however, be a path to conquer the darkness."
And then, like every other time, the dream ended.
I relayed the whole fucked up scenario to my therapist, who, unsurprisingly, suggested it was a fantastical manifestation of my own fears. My subconscious testing boundaries, pushing limits, trying to get under my skin. But when I asked them what to do, they proposed a plan: continue engaging with the dream. Try to spot inconsistencies in its logic. After all, if it is all just a product of my mind, it is bound to falter at some point.
So, armed with my therapist's advice, I geared up for the next encounter. This time I would use reason and logic to disprove the dream for good.
The following night, I found myself in the all-too-familiar white room, suspended over nothingness, the shadowy figures behind the glass pane watching intently. The voice piped up again.
"Do you still question this reality?" it asked.
"Yeah", I said, "I think this is just my dream. You're just a figment of my unconscious mind. This is all nonsensical bullshit, and I'm going to prove you wrong."
"Alright", the voice responded. "You can try to disprove me. But first, would you like to hear what we're doing here? Then, you can judge for yourself."
"Yeah, sure. Whatever. What are you doing here?" I asked, more out of curiosity than anything else.
"We are doing research. Do you know what an ancestor simulation is?"
I felt my eyebrows furrow. "No fucking clue. What is it?"
Then, the voice from the speaker, which now claimed to be a researcher, started to explain.
"An ancestor simulation is essentially a theory, a simulated reality hypothesis", the voice explained. "It suggests that a perceived reality isn't 'real' but instead is running on some advanced computational system capable of artificially simulating an entire universe and consistent reality."
So far, this was all high-grade sci-fi crap, but I played along. "Why the hell would anyone do that?"
"For the purpose of analysis", the voice continued. "Imagine a civilization trying to understand its own past. In your case, your reality is an ancestor simulation of one of many civilizations that have died out because of catastrophic failures in the space-time continuum."
My head was spinning. "Catastrophic failures? What are you talking about?"
The voice said: "Humanity failed. Due to their own ignorance, they destroyed their planet. Climate change, political unrest, the development of superintelligent AI systems used for weaponry, they all fueled the chaos of World War III."
As the voice droned on, I tried to make sense of what was being told. Is this all just some nightmare spawned by my own fears, or could there be some truth to this? And if there was, then what did it mean for me, for us?
The voice added: "Do you know what a macroverse is?"
"Yeah, I've heard of macroverses", I said, "That's like, multiple universes, right?"
"Yes", the voice said. "We exist within a five-dimensional macroverse. The fifth dimension encompasses parallel universes. The concept of an ancestor simulation isn't completely accurate. It's an analogy, borrowed from Darwinian evolution, suggesting our universe is part of a branching system of universes."
I could barely keep up with this gibberish. "A branching system of...?"
"Universes", the voice repeated. "This system churns out various configurations, mutations of universes, one of which eventually became my universe, another one yours. It's as though universes are engaged in a Darwinian competition. The most adaptive ones, primarily those driven by human beings, last the longest. They compete to see which universe can ultimately conquer the darkness, can combat the laws of entropy."
This was just too much. It felt like some wild fever dream, a convoluted mess of sci-fi nonsense. But even so, there was an unnerving quality to the voice that made me want to listen, to understand. If what it said was true... well, I didn't want to think about that. Not yet.
For a bit I was just silent, my mind racing.
"Look", I finally muttered, "It's gonna be pretty damn hard to disprove you when I can't make heads or tails of the shit you're saying. You're telling me that universes depend on the quality of the humans inside them, and that they're evolving, or something? I... I don't get it. It's all just too fucking weird."
At that moment, the reality of the situation hit me like a ton of bricks. How the hell was I supposed to logically dismantle something that sounded like the wildest sci-fi bullshit I'd ever heard, something I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around? Did not the complexity of the information indicate that it could not have possibly been just a dream; my own mind could not generate things I could never understand. It was impossible.
And just as I was starting to feel the edges of panic creeping in, the researcher's voice began to fade. My surroundings blurred, morphed, and then... the dream ended.
The next day, I was glued to my damn computer, trying to dig into these concepts the mysterious voice had been throwing around. I was googling my ass off – 'ancestor simulations', 'parallel universes', 'fifth dimension', 'Darwinian evolution of universes', 'universe branching' – all that crazy stuff. And here's the kicker: I found a ton of literature on the topics and, for the most part, it seemed to line up with what the voice had been saying. It seems the voice was speaking the truth; providing me with information I had not known before... indicating that... it could not have been a dream... he was stating the truth... and that was...
So, if I got this right, he was saying that there's a 'macroverse', some sort of branching system like a fucking phylogenetic tree in biological evolution. He seemed to be saying that humans are the apex predator of this macroverse, and that our universe, the one we're living in right now, is one of the failures. He mentioned some catastrophic shit that led to unrest, essentially sparking World War III and wiping us all out.
It all kinda made sense. And that scared the hell out of me.
I tried to get in touch with my therapist, to make sense of all this mind-bending shit, but I couldn't reach 'em. They were probably off on vacation or something, living a blissfully unaware life. So, I figured, fuck it. I'll bring it up in a week when we meet.
And so, I went back to the dreams. Same as always – suspended above the abyss, glass pane, and the all-too-familiar blindingly white room with clinical surfaces. And the same damn voice.
Eventually I said, "I think... I think I might believe you. It doesn't make complete sense to me... but I couldn't have possibly known the stuff you've been talking about. But, I don't get what my role in all this is. Why the hell are you telling me this? Isn't this going to screw with the simulation or something? I asked people online, and they all said it'd be a terrible idea to interfere with the simulation. It would mess with our causal chain and turn the whole experiment to shit. So what gives?"
The researcher's voice came over the speaker again, "Yes, that's a valid concern. But, we're running short on subjects. You're truly an anomaly, we haven't encountered someone quite like you before. Despite adjusting the dosage of the substances we've been administering, you just kept becoming lucid. I decided, perhaps a little unilaterally, to... interfere with the test subject. My hope is that by giving you a briefing, you could play a role in saving humanity, fighting against the darkness, and preserving the macroverse. This could ensure the perseverance of future generations in the succeeding universes."
I was flabbergasted. "What the hell? I'm no hero! I'm just a socially anxious nerd whose main hobbies are gaming and smoking weed. I'm just trying to get by. I don't understand what you're talking about, how the hell am I supposed to save anything?"
He replied, "You have noticed the darkness below you. This darkness is the cause of all suffering in the world. Are you familiar with the concept of theodicy?"
Confused, I retorted, "What the hell? Can you not speak in intellectual mumbo jumbo for a second?"
The researcher explained, "Theodicy is a theological concept that questions why, if God is benevolent, there is suffering in the world. What's your take on that?"
I shrugged, "I don't know, I'm agnostic. But if I were to guess, I think it's because humans have free will. Suffering in the world is due to free will, you know?"
"Wrong", the researcher interrupted. "There is no free will. Your universe's neuroscience has already established this. Psychological studies have proven that humans do not have control over their own actions. The laws of physics concur with this, and philosophy mostly agrees too. So free will can't be the root of suffering."
"Alright, man. I'm not a scientist. But yeah, I think I've heard about these neuroscience experiments. The ones where people's brain waves indicated they had decided to open their hands before they were consciously aware of deciding to do so. So yeah, maybe there's something about unconscious decision-making. But personally, I don't care much. I feel like I have the illusion of free will and that's good enough, so why should it bother me? What's the point?"
"The point is, free will isn't the source of suffering in the world."
"Oh, so this is a philosophical game to you? If free will isn't the source, then God must be evil, is that it?"
"Quite the contrary", he said, "God isn't evil. The source of suffering is the darkness beneath you - what you've been referring to as the 'abyss'."
Startled, I questioned, "How do you know I've been calling it that?"
He spoke with an unnerving confidence, "I can read your mind. With all the tools at my disposal, I can perceive every aspect of your simulated experience. Thus, I know you've been aware of the 'abyss'. It's been speaking to you, hasn't it? Initially, it inspired dread. But now, how does it make you feel?"
Hesitant, I confessed, "I... I don't know. I feel... drawn to it. It's as though it's always been there, long before you began speaking to me."
With a gravity in his voice, he explained, "It's been spreading, much like a cosmic virus. It's consuming the macroverses, fostering political unrest, cultivating ignorance, encouraging indifference towards the problems of the world, toward human suffering. It sows seeds of evil within the hearts of men, inciting chaos, destruction, cruelty, and hatred. All the atrocities throughout history—the crucifixion of Christ, the world wars—they all stem from the abyss."
I was at a loss for words and the dream came to an abrupt end. The exhaustion I felt was immense, as the conversation was too overwhelming to fully comprehend. I felt as though I couldn't take any more of this, and when I look at the real world, it feels as though the abyss had a point. I see constant storms of negativity on social media platforms like Twitter where hate and spite reign supreme. The threats of nuclear war, super-intelligent AI displacing human jobs, and the existential fear, in a world that feels increasingly alien to all of us.
We haven't truly solved any of our problems. With the advent of general AI and the proliferation of weapons that could cause unparalleled mass destruction, the state of our world is precarious. A resurgence of imperialism and authoritarianism, a decline in freedom and democracy, and an onslaught of hatred from all corners - we are being besieged on all sides.
But these issues aren't the fault of any single individual or decision-maker. It is systemic. The very nature of these systems is causing the suffering. The researcher had posited that the abyss was the root cause of this suffering. But perhaps, the abyss is merely a mirror, reflecting what was already there.
When I thought about it, all the tragedies in human history, the atrocities of wars, mass shootings, serial killers - haven't we built a culture that's obsessed with these terrible deeds? True crime and horror, some of the most successful genres out there. Our entertainment media is steeped in violence and negativity. Have we not already succumbed to the darkness? Hadn't the abyss simply revealed what was already in the hearts of humans?
Did humanity truly deserve to persevere? Were we, who have enslaved and harmed countless animals, we who have destroyed the biosphere at large, who have exploited everything around us for personal gain; were we fit to be considered the 'apex predator'? Are we really the saviors of the universe? Would a universe without humans be all that bad, really?
I became less and less engaged with the researcher. His talks, once intriguing, now felt dull and uninspiring. I drifted through my days in a daze, ignoring therapy sessions and the concerned calls from my therapist. My thoughts were consumed by the abyss. At times, I could see a creeping darkness encroach upon the corners of my vision.
People tried to reach out to me, but their words faded into mere mumbles. My real-life contacts dwindled, and I found myself caring less and less about the world around me. Social media, once a platform for connection, was deleted. It had devolved into a cesspool of negativity and relentless bickering - something I no longer had the energy to deal with.
In my dreams, the true reality, I stopped paying attention to the researcher. His words became incoherent mumbles as the abyss came ever closer, almost as if it was embracing me. It seeped into my waking reality, slowly but surely taking over my life.
The burden of humanity's torments is too heavy for me to bear. I cannot resist the grim truth of our existence - the world that is destined to be a hotbed for suffering. It isn't anyone's fault; it is simply the way the world was designed to be. I had to accept the harsh truth that humanity is on a path to its own demise. The project of humanity, it seems, is doomed to fail.
Eventually, in one of my dreams, a siren's wail ripped through the silence, accompanied by flashing red lights that bathed the room in a stark, blood-like glow. The researcher's voice, suddenly urgent, pulled me back into focus.
The researcher spoke one last time: "I'm sorry to say this, but your universe appears to be doomed. It's time for us to part ways."
Suddenly, the shackles that bound my arms and legs were released by some unseen mechanism. I was falling, plunging into the abyss that lay below. I was enveloped by darkness, an unending and eternal void that swallowed all light. No longer did I dream, there was only the darkness — an expanse of infinite obscurity.
Strangely enough, I've found acceptance in my fate. I see it now as my mission to disseminate this knowledge, a burden that is not just my own but one that should be shared collectively. It's our shared destiny, and to all who are willing to listen, I tell them of the abyss, the dark entity that lies beneath us all.
It is the foundation of our reality, the source of all our suffering. My story is a warning, a revelation of the truth that lies behind our existence. Now, all I see is darkness, and my greatest wish is for this truth to spread. Like a virus, it should infect us all, enlighten us all, and unite us all in our shared fate.

Spent a good 4 hours enjoying the hell out of Finland's custom tree on World Ablaze. It's the only reason I downloaded the mod.
Then, I was about 10 minutes into the Winter War, and the soviets had taken most of karjala as I had chosen to make use of the Mannerheim line and I was letting them come to me. Then they took one fucking tile up north, the port in Lappi - and well, everything broke.
An event fires, saying I am a weak little bitch, some soviet communist that has finnish citizenship is offering to help me make peace to stop the bloodshed, and I am given a single button to press that ends the war and gives up territory. I do not have the option to keep going, like in EU4 or some other game.
What the actual fuck.
I also realized, too late, I had accidentally been playing iron man, so the save is fucked, those hours are gone, and I can't just reload to get past this bug? terrible design? I'm not sure what this is. I imagine this was supposed to fire when a lot more was taken?
​
EDIT: I also hit the option to evacuate karjala, if that helps.
​
What did I do wrong here?

-USA külügyminiszter: orosz hadsereg a második legerősebb hadsereg Ukrajnában -orosz ellenzéki csatorna szerint a moszkva elleni dróntámadást oroszország területéről indultották -elemzés: milyen megerősített pozíció vannak az orosz hadseregnek és mit lehet ilyenek ellen csinálni -elemzés: a wagner háborús propaganda tv-i tini riportereket is használnak -a szabad oroszország légió oroszországban -az orosz hadseregnek az ukrajnai frontról kell belgoorod környékére csapatokat vezényelnie az orosz partizánok ellen -a szabad oroszország légió tüzérségi támadásai -ukrán támadás videó , benne 23:00-nál harctéri eü és evakuálás -humvee az ukrán sár évszakban -elemzés: oroszország megpróbálta éheztetni a megszűllt területek lakosságát -az orosz partizánok támadásai destabilizálják oroszországot ez az orosz belpolitikai kommunikáció változásán is látszik -elemzés: hol vannak problémák az ukrán hadseregben és hogyan lehet ezeket javítani a szovjet kiképzési/vezetési stílus m;g nincs teljesen kiírtva onnan

orosz sorozás/mobilizálás

-megfigyelő drón magányos orosz katonát követ , amíg vissza nem ér az állásába, majd tüzérségi támadás oda

drónok, rakéták

-drón támadás érte az oroszországi Kurszkot -drón bombázások gyalogos támadók ellen -támadó gyalogosok ellen FPV drón -ukrán drón gyártó iparág szereplői

fegyverrendszerek

-74-ben gyártott múzeumba való T-72-sek is a frontra kerülnek -cseh gyártású DANA önjáró löveg

friss térképek

-belgorod környéke

Veszteségek

-orosz veszteségek péntek , 540 troop losses, 7-day troop average: 456, Equipment losses: $101M, 91 landbased losses, 7-day average: 44 -orosz veszteségek szombat -storm shadow találat érte a berdianski kikötőt kb hely: 46.75539718228144, 36.775974306789514 , egy cikk erről -nyugati becslések szerint bakhmut eredeti lakosságának nagyságrendjében van az orosz veszteség a városban -a nyilvánosan elismert orosz tiszt veszteségek máj. 31-el -ukrán tüzérség orosz járműveket semmisít meg bakhmutban , nem sok maradt a városból -az ukrán tüzérség semmisítette meg a T-90M tankot l az ORYX 21.-nek listázta

ISW

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, JUNE 2, 2023 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on June 2 that calls for a ceasefire are unacceptable because they will freeze the current lines in place and enable Putin to consolidate control of occupied areas and prepare for future attacks on Ukraine. Russian forces continued ground attacks in the Kupyansk and Kreminna directions. Russian forces conducted ground attacks in Marinka. A Russian source claimed that Ukrainian forces made territorial gains during limited counterattacks in western Donetsk Oblast. Russian sources claimed that Ukraine struck the port area in occupied Berdyansk, Zaporizhia Oblast, with Storm Shadow missiles. Ukrainian sources continue to report that Russian cadets from higher military academies are deploying to areas near the Ukrainian border within Russia. Russian occupation authorities continue to forcibly transport Ukrainian children to Russia under the guise of medical rehabilitation schemes.

Vége

AK skin péntek reggel

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My wishlist. Also keen for anything from the recent metroidviaida bundle (apart from bloodstained).
Have:
112 Operator
911 Operator
911 Operator - Special Resources DLC
All-Star Fruit Racing - Yogscast Car DLC
Amnesia: Rebirth
Amnesia: The Dark Descent + Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
Backbone
Battlerite - YogYog Bear Mount DLC
Biomutant
Book of Demons
Broken Age
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Calico
Calico - Special Edition Content
Caveblazers - Arena Mode DLC
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
Demon Turf
Drawful 2
Drawful 2
Edge of Eternity
Endless Space 2
Evan's Remains
Golden Light
Gunpoint
Gunpoint
Hack 'n' Slash
Jurassic World Evolution 2
Kerbal Space Program
Kerbal Space Program
Killing Floor
Lust from Beyond - M Edition
Main Assembly
Metro Exodus
Mirage: Arcane Warfare
MirrorMoon EP
Monaco
Monaco
Monster Crown
Orbital Racer
PGA Tour 2K21
Psychonauts
Quantum Break
Remnants of Naezith
Rogue Lords
Rustler
Ryse: Son of Rome
SUPERHOT
Sanctum 2
Skullgirls 2nd Encore
Soulblight
Space Crew: Legendary Edition
Stacking
Strange Brigade
Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones
Sunlight
System Shock Enhanced Edition
Tales from Candlekeep: Tomb of Annihilation - Asharra’s Diplomat Pack
Tales from Candlekeep: Tomb of Annihilation - Birdsong’s Entertainer Pack
Tales from Candlekeep: Tomb of Annihilation - Dragonbait’s Dungeoneer Pack
Tales from Candlekeep: Tomb of Annihilation - Tales of Artus Cimber’s Explorer Pack
The Amazing American Circus
The Inner World
This War of Mine
Ticket to Ride
Toy Odyssey: The Lost and Found
Wargroove
West of Dead
X-Morph: Defense Complete Pack
XCOM 2
Zombie Driver HD

RepPage
My wishlist. Also keen for anything from the recent metroidviaida bundle (apart from bloodstained).
Have:
112 Operator
911 Operator
911 Operator - Special Resources DLC
All-Star Fruit Racing - Yogscast Car DLC
Amnesia: Rebirth
Amnesia: The Dark Descent + Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
Backbone
Battlerite - YogYog Bear Mount DLC
Biomutant
Book of Demons
Broken Age
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Calico
Calico - Special Edition Content
Caveblazers - Arena Mode DLC
Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
Demon Turf
Drawful 2
Drawful 2
Edge of Eternity
Endless Space 2
Evan's Remains
Golden Light
Gunpoint
Gunpoint
Hack 'n' Slash
Jurassic World Evolution 2
Kerbal Space Program
Kerbal Space Program
Killing Floor
Lust from Beyond - M Edition
Main Assembly
Metro Exodus
Mirage: Arcane Warfare
MirrorMoon EP
Monaco
Monaco
Monster Crown
Orbital Racer
PGA Tour 2K21
Psychonauts
Quantum Break
Remnants of Naezith
Rogue Lords
Rustler
Ryse: Son of Rome
SUPERHOT
Sanctum 2
Skullgirls 2nd Encore
Soulblight
Space Crew: Legendary Edition
Stacking
Strange Brigade
Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones
Sunlight
System Shock Enhanced Edition
Tales from Candlekeep: Tomb of Annihilation - Asharra’s Diplomat Pack
Tales from Candlekeep: Tomb of Annihilation - Birdsong’s Entertainer Pack
Tales from Candlekeep: Tomb of Annihilation - Dragonbait’s Dungeoneer Pack
Tales from Candlekeep: Tomb of Annihilation - Tales of Artus Cimber’s Explorer Pack
The Amazing American Circus
The Inner World
This War of Mine
Ticket to Ride
Toy Odyssey: The Lost and Found
Wargroove
West of Dead
X-Morph: Defense Complete Pack
XCOM 2
Zombie Driver HD

Wir haben so unseren kleinen Disput damit. Ich korrigiere sie gerne, manchmal zu gerne.
Angefangen hat alles damit das ich ihr mit Formulierungen und Richtigkeit bzw. Präzision ihrer Aussagen helfen wollte, das hat ihr schon gar nicht recht gepasst weil ich sie damit ja korrigiere.
Ich lege persönlich viel wert auf diese Dinge und finde man muss permanent seine Kommunikationsfähigkeit verbessern. Mir wird oft gesagt ich wäre gut mit Worten, und ich möchte ihr helfen das sie auch gut damit wird.
Sie ist oft in Situationen wo sie sich nicht zur Wehr setzt oder ihre Gefühle aussprechen kann weil ihr die richtige Formulierung fehlt (überall möglich aber nicht zuhause unter uns da klappt alles).
Nun regt sie sich da immer ein bisschen auf, obwohl ich es ja nur zu ihrem besten mache. Ich möchte ihr helfen einen professionellen Eindruck auch auf der Arbeit zu machen. Es wird nicht besser da wir das gleiche Fachgebiet haben (Chemie und Messtechnik), wobei sie kaum Zeit und Interesse an Weiterbildung hat bin ich fast täglich mit neuen Themen und Vertiefungen von alten am Gange.
Um sie ein bisschen abzuhärten und ihr zu zeigen das ihre Kommunikation leicht Verbesserungen unterzogen werden kann hab ich angefangen nahezu jeden Fehler ihrerseits zu verbessern. Das passiert leider öfter als erwartet.
Während ich das eher als joke sehe, scheint es ihr ein bisschen auf die Nerven zu gehen. Das sind meistens nur beiläufige Bemerkungen.
Warum ich das tue? Ich werde sehr gerne verbessert, und werde frustriert wenn man mich nicht verbessert.
Zb verwendete ich Tage lang den falschen Begriff für etwas, was ihr am ersten Tag auffiel. Die hat es erst nach einer Woche angesprochen und jetzt ziemlich mit schwer mich auf den richtigen Begriff umzugewöhnen.
Ich war trotzdem extrem glücklich das sie mich drauf hingewiesen hat.
Wer sollte eurer Meinung nach an seiner Reaktion arbeiten?
Sollte ich aufhören zu korrigieren oder sollte sie sich mehr darauf einstellen?
Ich habe Schwierigkeiten zu einem Schluss zu kommen da ich nie etwas negatives darin gesehen habe wenn mich jemand korrigiert hat.
Edit: Vielen dank an alle die respektvoll geblieben sind und nicht den puren Wahnsinn projiziert haben. Ich habe definitiv aus diesem Post gelernt und freue mich das so eine rege Diskussion daraus entstanden ist. Einige von euch waren eine enorme Hilfe und ich weiß nun viel besser mit der Situation umzugehen. Es tut mir leid das ich einige sehr provoziert habe (extreme Hassnachrichten als PN erhalten), ich habe die situation um einiges schlimmer dargestellt als sie ist und den post sehr provokativ gestaltet.
Ich möchte nur bitten die abfälligen Kommentare etwas einzudämmen, bitte lest erst was ich seitdem in Kommentaren geschrieben habe und bindet das in eure Meinung ein. Gerne aber weiterhin mit BDA anfangen, das ist hier nämlich absolut der Fall.

Now that the signed editions of "How to be invisible" are emerging on eBay (of course!), it's interesting to see the many examples of her 'new' signature. I say 'new' because it's simply 'Kate' (no 'Bush') with a really weird squiggly scribble all over it. I can't say that I like it much. I was prepared to buy a copy (even though I have signed items already) but I don't think I'll bother. I thought they'd be pumped out by the scalpers at higher prices but the average is around £80 which might be due to the strange nature of the signature...

So I didn't get to watch the livestream earlier but am checking it out now. I thought that I would create a new thread to talk about some of the things talked about or revealed during this livestream to give it a more focused place of discussion. I am not all the way through yet but will edit it more as I get to it.
--The Brute is now known as The Bruiser. The obvious connection here is Isaac wanting to move away from Inox being the "dumb savage" stereotype and this name plays into the original character without being demeaning.
--There was a definite goal to "smooth out campaign difficulty" -- earlier campaign is easier than GH1, late campaign is harder than GH2, and there's a new optional difficulty mechanic to use as well if you want to.
--Envelope X puzzle has been reworked and will be incorporated into/merged with the Town Records book. Everything for the puzzles, including clues, rewards, etc will be fully included in the box.
--All enemies that were in Frosthaven that are also in Gloomhaven are unchanged between the two games. There is a goal for cross-compatibility both here and moving forward. However, enemies that were not in Frosthaven such as the Living Corpses, may have slight changes. We see here that the Living Corpses generate earth on a turn, for example.
--Scenario complexity has been a big point of debate as people start playing in Frosthaven. Drew/Gripeaway talks about how the goal was to both create a little bit more variety than GH1 but keep the complexity level overall. For example, the scenario they played was a "Kill All Enemies" scenario with one small twist -- if a figure was poisoned, they got to add +1 to all their attacks. (The scenario featured Giant Vipers and poison traps) Drew said this is a good example of a GH2 scenario -- "Kill All Enemies" but with a small twist. (I hope this brings some people back who have been frustrated by all the big purple rules boxes and survival type scenarios in FH.)
--Dennis/Themris is most excited about the Cthulu class, he thinks it's really interesting (side note -- I do too, it's great) and hopes people really like it.
--Funny side note: They kind of really struggle/get wrecked in the first room as Gripe put it on +1 difficulty without the others knowing and Isaac just kind of gets wrecked for the first hour.
--Ward is back from FH to make it an "evergreen condition". "It's hard to design a variety of support abilities" so Gripe says having another positive condition is helpful with that. (The new condition I'm not sure has been revealed yet but it's a positive condition)
--There is a new monster in the game! Room 2 of the test has a horde of Living Bones and Living Corpses, along with the new monster in the game...(Chaos Demons are also in GH2 and weren't in GH1)...The Crystal Rot (Spelling? This is the first I've heard this, in playtesting it was called a Lich). It is a ranged damage dealing monster that sort of serves as a Skeleton Lord to support nearby undead. It has a passive ability to gives nearby Living Bones, Spirits, and Corpses advantage on their attacks. It is an undead Orchid, hence the "Crystal" part of the name I'd suppose.
--The final boss has been redone, and it is no longer just a one scenario thing. Many of the bosses have been tweaked/redone.
--The Spellweaver card Emberfrost generates fire on top and ice on the bottom and each half is non-loss. It's the only non-loss element generation at level 1, so fire/ice are kept as a bit of a premium and it encourages you to use some losses to trigger other bonuses as the losses DO generate the elements you want, for the most part. Of course as you level up...
--The Stamina Potion is a prosperity 1 item that allows you to recover one level 1 card and is unrecoverable.
--Drew/Gripeaway uses the new Cragheart card Earthen Bulwark quite a bit, which is sort of a downgraded version of a certain Level 4 GH1 Cragheart card that is quite famous, and gives Crag some more flexible ranged obstacle creation at level 1. In terms of Cragheart, Themris talks about how they wanted to bring up the melee stuff that Cragheart has and give more support to melee abilities while keeping the ranged stuff great as it originally was.
--They talk about scenario 72 and having internal discussions about whether having a scenario of that "magnitude" is a positive for the game, etc. In the end the new 72 is a more reasonable version of the scenario that they think is still quite challenging but not quite what it was. Themris jumps in to say that there will still be many other challenges to find if you want to.
--Isaac: "I'm going to exhaust before Spellweaver uses Reviving Ether" LOL
--Just want to make a sidenote that the presentation here is just so casual and relaxed and they're teasing each other and having fun and it's so night and day to the more formal and awkward announcement video deal. I think putting people in their natural environments and letting them just talk and play the game and converse is a good way to present the product.
--Isaac talks more about the Bruiser name change -- he roughly says that the name Brute can be used to put down specific groups of people in an othering sense, unintelligent, only there for physical traits. Felt it was better to elevate the Bruiser so he's not just a big dumb guy. He's there to bruise people but he's got other things going for him too.
--This Bruiser definitely has movement as a theme, not only with Balanced Measure with a better initiative but also with two jump 3 non-loss actions at level 1, Skewer bottom boosted to move 7, Grab and Go still move 4, Overwhelming Assault bottom being move 4, and so on.
--Drew says it's much harder to design simpler classes that are interesting than more complex classes. They talk about the Spellweaver having a mechanic that plays off of loss cards (an example card being move 3, the next time you play a loss card this turn generate any element) and being happy where it ended up even though it took more redesign work than any other class.
--Remember the Living Corpse #91 card where they just move and hurt themselves? It has a "consume earth to attack +0" on it now.
--Dennis talks about Unstable Upheaval now having a move 3 on the bottom instead of being a double loss card, in order for it to be more new player friendly. Gripe talks about War Hammer not being at prosperity 1 anymore and that was part of the power of the card. So the joke of that card being a move 2 at 13 is now actually a move 3. But once you use the loss you lose the great initiative so it's a good tension as they are so slow other than that one.
--Somebody asks about Feedback Loop bottom and keeping the muddle text in. Isaac: "Nobody ever uses it for that muddle text...but you kept it in, right?" Lol. Drew talks about why they kept it in even though it rarely matters. Dennis mentions the muddle technically mattering now more because negative conditions might matter to you more since you don't always just have TMW up 100% of the time.
--Drew says Mindthief is a level 3 complexity, all other starters are 1s or 2s.
--It seems that Gripe being Gripe, Drew knows everything he has drawn out of his modifier deck, how many positives vs negatives, at all times without looking.
--After exhausting Isaac sets his mini on the table to slowly roll around all over the place as he waits for them to finish. This is the content you came here for. Isaac says the most nerd thing ever: "This is what happens in a frictionless environment".
Drew talks about the small changes to Impaling Eruption. He calls it an iconic card, but also one of the more frequently misunderstood cards. While balance and fun wise there were no problems with the card they wanted to improve ease of play, especially on a starter class. Dennis: "The first time I used Impaling Eruption I hit 7 targets with it". The new card is a set melee AOE matter with an attack 3 and immobilize, generating earth. It's a unique matter that is sort of meant to be like an earthquake fissure.
Isaac talks about solo scenarios returning, reworked, but an add on as before.
Forceful Storm's loss action did not make the cut for Crag due to the amount of hard CC it provided. HOWEVER, they later show the new X-card Petrify, which is Attack 4 range 3, tri-hex pattern, and create an obstacle in any featureless hex of a target you kill, create earth, 1 xp.
Retirement time in GH is meant to be slightly shorter than FH due to length of the campaign.
They are asked if Crag actually has a decision to make at level 4 now. Drew shows GH2 Crag level 4 spoiler>! Kinetic Assault which on top is move 1 attack 4, all allies and enemies adjacent to the target suffer 1 damage non-loss on top; on bottom it is move 3, ward self, retaliate 3 range 3, 2xp loss card. He says this was boosted and Rock Slide nerfed just a bit so it's a much closer call now.!<
Circles is quite different but will play how you'd think it should play. "The hand size has changed dramatically, though". Isaac drops another very small spoiler about Circles, asking "it's all loss summons still, right?"
"We really tried to lean into the Bruiser's theme of forced movement, so we buffed the pushes here and there"
--"This is all designed to work together (discussing character nerfs vs monster nerfs, everything being balanced) Drew gives an example of Cultists in GH1 could just chain summon due to it being a reshuffle. GH1 could deal with this because there was so much stun. They changed the ability in GH2 where the summon ability now stuns themselves and works with classes not having as much crowd control. So the design works together in harmony.
--With the exceptions of a few small things I.E Drifter's loot perk, Frosthaven and GH2 classes should be fully compatible, interchangeable, etc.
--Isaac says lots more info to come by June 20th on the actual campaign page. He praises Drew and Dennis for being far better players than him.
That's it, thanks for reading.