You know that moment? You know, when you know you're going to die and there's nothing you can do about it? You hear yourself cry out in pain again and again, but there's nothing you can do. You panic; you try everything, press every key, desperately flailing around as the inevitable comes. You don't think; all you feel is fear. If that moment even lasts half a second, you have enough time to acknowledge everything you're going to lose. Sometimes, that part is sort of okay; but sometimes, you're laden down with loads of valuables, and you know you're going to lose everything you worked so hard to gain since you left your home that morning.
Sometimes it happens fast; you're almost dead anyway, and a single error pushes you over the edge. Sometimes, though, it happens slowly - you're trapped under the ice and drown, you fall into lava and slowly burn to death, or a whole swarm of monsters has converged on you and you know you don't have enough time left to kill them all before you die. Either way, though, the worst part is that, in that moment, no matter how short it may be, you know you have no one to blame but yourself. You see exactly where you went wrong, understand just what it was that you did that got you where you are, and you have time to realize how stupid you were to make that error, whatever it was. In that moment of realization, you desperately try to get out of the situation you got yourself into, even though you know it's hopeless. You pray for it not to end like this - not now, not when you've come so far! But it does, and there's nothing you can do about it.
That moment - the moment of panic and self-hatred right before you die - is the scariest, most maddening thing in the world…and even though it should only be experienced once by any human being, thanks to modern technology, we can experience that moment again and again.
How many times does it take before you're driven to madness?