Ren sat cross-legged on the grass, eyes locked on the hovering screen in front of him. Planet Rock filled the view—bright skies, slow clouds, forests stretching out in fake perfection.
At the bottom corner: two little glowing dots. Lira and Kobb.
They were still alive. Still confused. Still doing their best not to die.
Ren smirked. "Honestly... proud of them."
The grass around him rippled like water. His fingers twitched. The system had gone quiet after the last quest. No hints. No pop-ups. Just him and the view.
Then it came.
A soft chime echoed from nowhere. The blue screen pulsed.
New Quest Unlocked
Objective: Spawn 2 additional humans in separate location
Reward: 20 coins
Bonus: Unlock animal expansion across Planet Rock
Ren blinked. "Separate location? Oh. We're doing variety now."
He opened the Shop Menu with a flick. Still basic. The kind of starter pack UI you'd see in a mobile game. A section labeled 'Humanoid Units' lit up.
Two icons pulsed—one male, one female. Random stats. Random backstory. Random souls?
He hesitated. "Do I choose who to bring... or is it all preloaded?"
Didn't matter.
He clicked "Spawn" twice. Chose coordinates on the other side of the planet—flat land, scattered trees, a lazy river cutting through dry yellow grass. No forest. No shelter. Just open space and sky.
"Good luck," he said under his breath.
The system pinged again.
2 Humans successfully spawned.
20 Coins added.
Animal Expansion Unlocked.
Note: Animals will now begin populating naturally over time.
Ren raised his brows. "Alright. Planet Rock just got a little more interesting."
He leaned back. Folded his arms. Watched the new dots flicker into existence on the other side of the globe.
Time to meet the new cast.
Somewhere else on Planet Rock
Sasha woke up choking on dust.
She rolled onto her back and coughed hard. The sky above was endless blue, too clean, too sharp. Her face burned from the sun. Her mouth was dry. She sat up fast.
A river shimmered nearby.
She stumbled toward it, splashed water on her face, drank way too fast, then fell back into the dirt.
She was still wearing her running shoes. Shorts. Tank top. Her watch said it was Tuesday.
She remembered everything.
Earth. Her apartment. Her cat, Beans. Her annoying upstairs neighbor who played guitar at midnight. The coffee she made that morning.
So why the hell was she here?
She stared at her reflection in the river. Same face. Same eyes. Same scar above her lip.
This wasn't a dream. It was just... wrong.
She stood up and looked around.
Flat land. Trees in the distance. No buildings. No power lines. No sound except wind and water.
Then a voice shouted nearby. "HELLO?!"
She turned fast.
A guy was stumbling out of the tall grass, waving both arms like he was calling for a taxi. He wore a blue polo, brown pants, and had the most confused face she'd ever seen.
They locked eyes.
He slowed to a stop.
"You're not from here," she said.
He shook his head. "Nope."
They stared.
"I'm Sasha."
"Dylan."
They didn't shake hands. Just sort of stood there, eyes wide, like maybe the world would blink them away.
"You remember Earth?" she asked.
"All of it," he said. "I was in the middle of ordering noodles on my phone."
She nodded. "I was feeding my cat."
He looked at the river. Then at the trees. Then at her again.
"This isn't Earth."
"Nope."
He walked toward the river, crouched, and touched the water. Then drank.
"Good at least?"
"Cold. Tastes clean."
She crossed her arms. "Do you think we're dead?"
He shrugged. "Feels more like we got yanked."
"Same."
They moved toward a tree together. There weren't many, but this one gave some shade. They sat under it, not speaking for a while. Just breathing.
Dylan spoke first. "Do you think there are others?"
"I hope so."
He nodded. "Feels weird to say, but... I'm kind of waiting for someone to tell me what to do."
"Same."
They both went quiet again.
Somewhere nearby, an animal howled. Something new. Something that didn't exist back on Earth.
Sasha gripped the dirt. "That was... not a wolf."
Dylan swallowed. "At least we're not alone?"
She didn't answer.
Because alone was starting to sound a little safer.
The sun didn't move much.
Dylan stared at it for a long time. No shift in angle. No warmth changing. Just bright. Constant. Like someone stuck it there for decoration.
"This sky's broken," he muttered.
Sasha didn't look up. She was too busy peeling bark from a branch with a sharp rock. It helped to do something with her hands.
"Maybe it's noon forever here," she said.
He paced in the dirt. "You ever play survival games?"
"Does The Sims count?"
He gave her a look.
She smirked a little. "I usually trap people in pools."
"Remind me not to trust you with shelter planning."
She dropped the bark. "Speaking of, we need shelter. It gets cold. Last night wasn't just chilly. It was—wrong cold."
"Yeah. Like the air lost interest halfway through."
They searched the nearby area, but the land was open. Nothing dense. No caves. Just flat earth and a few clusters of trees that looked more decorative than useful.
Dylan found some stones and tried stacking them like a wall.
They kept falling.
"Okay. Not a mason."
Sasha gathered leaves. They were thick, waxy, almost like plastic. "Could use these as a roof layer."
They weren't good at this. At all. But they weren't giving up either.
By afternoon, they had something that vaguely resembled a windbreak. Leaned-up logs. Leaf-roof. Dirt floor.
Sasha sat inside it and sighed. "You think anyone else made it here?"
Dylan leaned against the frame. "Feels like a setup."
She looked up. "A trap?"
"No. Just... staged. Like this isn't natural. This whole place feels printed."
"Yeah," she said. "Even the trees are spaced too perfect."
Neither said it out loud, but the thought sat heavy between them.
What if this wasn't nature? What if it was built?
A new sound broke the quiet.
Dylan turned fast.
Something moved near the river.
They crouched low. Watched.
It was four-legged. Small. Not a deer. Not a dog. Covered in thick mossy fur, like it grew from the ground itself. It drank from the river, tail flicking like a lazy cat.
"Is that a... goat?" Dylan whispered.
Sasha shook her head. "Goats don't glow."
It had a faint green shine under its skin, like bioluminescence on dim mode.
Dylan picked up a rock. "Should we... kill it?"
Sasha gave him a hard look.
He put the rock down.
The creature sniffed the air and trotted off slowly, vanishing into grass like smoke.
"I think we just saw our first native," she said.
"Alien goat," he muttered. "Planet Rock's welcoming committee."
"Planet what?"
He pointed at the dirt. "I named it in my head."
She laughed. "You can't just name the planet."
"No one else did."
"I would've gone with something cooler."
"Too late. Planet Rock is canon now."
She shook her head but didn't argue.
The wind picked up. It carried the scent of wildflowers and damp moss. Far too clean. Like the world was filtered. It didn't smell like real wilderness.
Dylan sat beside her.
"You think someone made this?" he asked. "Like—on purpose?"
Sasha didn't answer right away.
"Maybe," she said finally. "But if they did... why?"
He shrugged. "I dunno. Test? Trap? Science experiment?"
"Or maybe just a weird dream we're sharing."
They both looked at the sky again.
It still hadn't changed.
Above Planet Rock
Ren watched it all unfold from the system view. Two dots. One at the river. One in the trees. He could zoom in, but he didn't. Felt too personal.
He'd spent one coin upgrading terrain last night. Just to see what it'd do.
Now little moss-beasts were roaming. Some birds appeared. A few crawling things in the ground logs. The world was waking up.
He didn't know how he felt about that.
"System," he said, voice low. "Give me something."
Nothing happened.
He leaned back in the grass. His body here wasn't real, probably. But it felt like his. He looked like himself. Hoodie. Sneakers. Same Earth face.
He wasn't hungry. Wasn't tired.
Just watching.
He opened the shop again. Twenty coins sat in the top corner. He could buy storms now. Weather events. Even emotion filters—whatever that meant.
But something stopped him.
He didn't want to mess it up.
"They're... people," he said out loud.
The system didn't respond.
He looked down at the four glowing dots across the planet. Lira and Kobb. Sasha and Dylan. All of them living, breathing, adapting to a world they didn't ask for.
And none of them knew he existed.
He closed the screen.
"Fine," he muttered. "Next move's yours."