Reader, before this story begins, you need to be warned, whoever you are, wherever you are, in whatever timeline you're in: This is not a fairytale. It might sound like nothing more than an idle dream, with magic powers and fantastical new worlds. But it's not. There's no "happily ever after". There are no heroes. There's no closing the book and going back. This is real. This happened. Is happening. And maybe, if you read this, in some way we might have succeeded.

It was early morning in October when the world ended. I opened my eyes that Saturday morning feeling great. I was supposed to get a copy of SBurb that day, and I was going to play it with my closest friends! But first…

=/= Enter name.

My name's LUCAS DAMIEN. I have a variety of INTERESTS. Among them are FANTASY STORIES, which I also WRITE SOMETIMES; I just love books and movies with DRAGONS, WIZARDS, and KNIGHTS. I also write POETRY and draw ANTHROPOMORPHIC ANIMALS, or FURRIES. I also really love SCIENCE and QUANTUM THEORY. I run a few small WEBSITES and frequent the INTERNET. I'm not very good with REAL PEOPLE and I'm much more confident to talk to people when they're ONLINE.
I have no clue why I told you all of that.

Anyways, it was a Saturday morning that was pretty normal, except of course for the heightened excitement mixed with anxiety that always precedes an expected parcel in the mail. I had barely been able to sleep, I remember. I sprung out of bed as soon as I woke up- I usually spend an hour or two in bed after I wake up, the blinds closed and laptop open. I pulled on a pair of shorts- why don't I ever wear jeans? oh well, I guess it's too late to go to the store and buy some now- and my favorite T-shirt, white with a deep blue fish on it. One of my best friends, Alex, gave it to me, and since I would be playing the Game of the Year with him today, I thought it would be meaningful to wear the shirt he gave me. And, as it turned out, we all had the same sentiment. I think that was part of the game's design, for us to wear white shirts with a single symbol on each. Like some sort of paradox loop thing. Just another addition to the "Things I Don't Understand About SBurb" list.
After practically inhaling a bowl of Froot Loops and slurping down the remainder of the milk, I grabbed my laptop and headed downstairs. I pulled it open as I threw myself onto the couch, the light blue glow the only light in the room. As soon as it turned on with the familiar violins-tuning-before-a-concert hum of Windows, a small ding! alerted me that I had an incoming message in BuddyBadger.

- happySunsad [HS] began badgering lordSquiggleshire [LS] –
HS: haiiii~
LS: Heheh, hey~
HS: How you?
LS: Goodly! You?
HS: I'm okay~ :)
LS: Hey, do you have SBurb yet? It's supposed to come in the mail and all, but... It's been, like, a week! What if it got lost?
HS: Luke! It's fine. It's just a little late
LS: I guess...
LS: Anyways, what's up?
HS: Nm!
HS: Hey, I gtg. I'll ttyl~
- happySunsad [HS] ceased badgering lordSquiggleshire [LS] -

Well. That was over pretty fast.

Anyways, next I wasted most of the day on the Internet, of course.

- lordSquiggleshire [LS] began badgering eraserQueen [EQ] -
LS: Chloeeee! You there?
EQ: Hai! What's up?
LS: Not anything really. Sorta bored. You?
EQ: Gewd. Whatcha up to?
LS: Blegh! I just really want SBurb to get here.
EQ: Heh. It'll get there today, right?
LS: Yup!
LS: Wait, "there"? Aren't you getting one too?
EQ: Well, yeah. We all got one thanks to that contest thingummy, right? "The lucky winner and 8 of his closest friends" or whatever?
LS: Right! Although idk if sis counts as a "closest friend".
EQ: :/ You guys really oughta get along!
LS: I'm sure we will! I'm just sorta afraid that she's only playing SBurb because she can? And I just feel sorta bad that one of my other friends can't play since she is.
LS: Speak of the devil! GTG
- lordSquiggleshire [LS] ceased badgering eraserQueen [EQ] -

I'll admit. I think it's pretty cool that my lime green and her leaf green are so similar.

My twin sister walked in then. A bit shorter than me- only 4'11 and fifteen years old!- with long brown hair like mine. Except obviously mine isn't long. And I think hers is called "wavy"? Idk. I really wish this dang asteroid computer had a backspace instead of this "=/=" button. I mean, what does it even do?

Anyways, she walked in carrying her phone as always and sat down beside me. Not saying anything. Just. Sitting. There? She was wearing her SBurb shirt though, the one with a pink butterfly.
"Uh, Kate?" I said. "Good morning?"
She groaned, "'Morning." Her wavy! hair was all tangled. She'd just gotten up- past noon, of course. Wow. Had I really stayed online that whole time? One of my many bad habits, in retrospect. Maybe if I hadn't been so addicted to the Internet none of this would've happened.
"Heh. Just get up? How could you even sleep?" I bounced a little on the couch. "I'm really excited about getting SBurb."
"Mmm." She leaned back and turned on the TV. "Has the mail come yet?"
I glared at her. "You're always angry in the morning, aren't you? Can't you just be nice for a change? And I dunno, I haven't checked."
She ignored me. Instead of trying to get her to respond, I got up and walked over to the front door and peered out.

Sure enough, the little red flappy-dealie-thing was up!