3rd POV
Pip… pip… pip…
The alarm clock rang, waking Jonas and forcing him to drag himself out of bed.
Jonas was a first-year university student. He was a young man with short brown hair and dull green eyes. He was 1.74 m tall with a rather ordinary build for his age.
Jonas didn't really have anything special about him that set him apart from others.
After getting dressed, he left his apartment and made his way to the bus to go to university, since his apartment was a bit far from the campus.
Once on the bus, Jonas struggled to keep his eyes open. Just as he was about to fall completely asleep, a notification pulled him back to awareness. It was apparently a survey he had received, asking him to answer the questions truthfully and carefully. With a quick glance over the survey, Jonas concluded that it was a questionnaire about social satisfaction. He decided to look at it more closely during his lunch break, put his phone away, and dozed off for the rest of the ride. After a while, the bus reached Jonas's stop, and he got off and went to class.
Time skip – lunch break
Jonas POV
The lunch break began, and I decided to relax outside and enjoy my meal. A while later, I remembered the message I had received on the bus. Honestly, I would have completely forgotten about it if the app hadn't still been open in the background.
When I started the survey, several simple questions appeared, where I only had to answer yes or no. Occasionally, there was also a blank field under some questions to write the answer.
"Are you satisfied with your current situation?" -yes-
"Do you have many friends?" -no-
"Do you live in prosperity?" -yes- Many people would probably say, if they knew me, that I am not. But what I currently have is more than enough for me, so that I am mentally living in prosperity.
"Do you have siblings?" -yes, I have three siblings, and I am the second oldest.-
"Did you have a happy childhood?" -yes-
"Do you like thinking about the past?" -no-
"Do you look forward to the future?" -no-
After these questions, my mood began to drop again as I started to reflect on my life. Ever since I can remember, I have been a person who didn't need much. This led to my parents, when talking about my childhood, always saying I was such an easy child. Even though nowadays it is probably no longer mentioned, because due to my easy behavior I was always pushed further into the background while my siblings were given more attention. Because of this behavior, I began to isolate myself and gradually lost more of my joy, so that today I only live through the days. This is actually also the reason why I am studying at all—I don't know what I want. My parents recommended this field of study to me, which I am now pursuing. I cannot really complain, since they still took care of me my whole life, and I am also at fault for isolating myself.
As I continued going through the survey questions, I found the next ones strange.
"Do you regret your life?" -no-
"What is your favorite literary work?" -Lord of the Mysteries- I found the structure of that world so fascinating, and reading about how the protagonist constantly discovered more secrets of that world always gave me goosebumps.
"Would you want to live in this world?" -no. If I were to live in a fictional world, it would rather be one similar to ours but with magic.- Even though I love Lord of the Mysteries, I would miss technology on one hand, and on the other I would probably die quickly due to all the gods and madness lurking around every corner.
"If you could wish for powers from this world, which would they be?" -I would wish for the powers of the Lord of Mysteries, meaning full authority over the Door, Error, and Fool pathways, along with authority over the Sefirah Castle.- When I think about it, I find my decision funny. Of all the powers in that world, I of course chose the abilities of the strongest version of the protagonist.
"What is your wish?" Just as I started to feel better from my previous answer, that feeling faded again. I decided to answer this question later, since I wanted to think about it more carefully and the break was ending in a few minutes.
Time skip – end of day, evening in Jonas's apartment
I had been occupied the entire day since lunch with the last question of the survey. Even though my answer would not change the world, I still wanted to find a clear answer for myself. Finally, as I looked up at the night sky, I felt like I had found an answer.
"What is your wish?"
-I want to feel the sense of freedom and truly be able to live. I want to live a life I do not regret and have fun, and I wish to be allowed to be selfish without feeling guilty.-
This was my answer to the question, after which I submitted my survey responses.
3rd POV
Soon after, Jonas went to bed so he could be more rested the next day.
23:33
Jonas was sleeping deeply in his bed. His phone lay a few meters away from him on the desk, plugged in and charging, with the screen facing up. A few minutes later, it lit up with an email that read:
"Hello dear survey participant,
Thank you very much for participating in our survey.
Our team was positively surprised by your answers, and we are pleased to inform you that you have been selected to have your wish granted.
To implement this in the best possible way, we will use the additional information from your survey answers. We hope that you followed the instructions and answered the questions truthfully and thoughtfully.
We wish you a wonderful new life and thank you once again for choosing to participate in our survey."
Afterwards, the screen turned off again without Jonas noticing, and he continued sleeping.
Around 2 a.m., Jonas suddenly woke up as the walls and floor began to shake. Jonas rushed out of his bedroom, trying to leave his apartment. When he reached the door and tried to open it, he realized it was stuck and blocked so he could not get out. Shortly after Jonas understood this, the earthquake stopped. Just as he calmed down, he smelled smoke coming from behind the apartment door. Jonas ran back into his room to grab his phone. When he arrived and looked at it, he saw a message just before he could call for help. It was short enough that Jonas could read it at a glance. It was a message from his older sister saying:
"We flew to Rome last night, just thought I'd let you know."
For some inexplicable reason, Jonas opened the message instead of calling the fire department. The message continued and included a picture.
"Mom said you're not really the type who likes traveling and would rather focus on your studies."
The picture showed Jonas's entire family together with his sister's boyfriend at a crowded pool. Everyone was laughing and enjoying their luxurious vacation. Something inside Jonas broke. He put the phone back on the table with the screen facing down, went to the living room, sat on his small couch, and stared blankly at the wall. The rising smoke did not bother him. He only thought about the fact that his family was on a luxury vacation in Rome, and he only learned about it after they had already left. It hurt him even more when he saw that his sister's boyfriend was there; they had only been together for half a month, and before that she had already had many other boyfriends.
"Is this my fault? Would they have asked me to come if I had tried harder to get their attention? But they were always busy with my two younger siblings and had to work." he spoke his thoughts aloud without paying attention to the fact that he was inhaling smoke.
"I can't really complain about them, after all they are paying for my entire studies. Right, it would have been a waste of money if I had gone with them. It's just a bit mean that they didn't tell me." Jonas said this in an attempt to convince himself, but it did not work and only caused him more pain.
Lost in thought, he did not notice the fire in his apartment or the sirens outside. Had he opened a window and drawn attention to himself, he could probably have been saved, but he chose not to, using the excuse:
"They should first take care of the other residents. Once that is done, they will surely find me in time."
Time passed. Jonas inhaled a large amount of smoke while sitting on the couch and eventually lost consciousness.
That day, only one person died in the fire. Jonas never felt the fire burning his body; due to his unconsciousness and smoke inhalation, it was a peaceful and painless death for him.
…
End of the prologue