The wish

Mmm. Yess. This one is ..different.

Gretchen came to from the haze brought on by the blinding lights. When her vision cleared up enough she recognized that she wasn't in a living room anymore. In fact, she was nowhere. But then again, everywhere is somewhere. Yet, she deduced that her current location had to be nowhere. Because you couldn't find nothing anywhere, thus this had to be nowhere. Confusing? Good.

She couldn't describe the place as being a room, but it still felt ..confined. She instinctively knew that she wouldn't get anywhere if she tried, but there weren't any immediate hindrances either. An open field of white eternity and nothing else. Actually. Strike that, I lied. There was someone ..or something with it's back turned. Gretchen didn't need to see it's face to understand what it was.

For the first time in a while, Bitch remembered what both she and her friends used to be like. She also had memories of the consequences of the game. So why was there a copy of herself present? Well.. Copy might be a tad far fetched. It didn't look anything like the original Bitch, that much was certain. But a few key elements from her final "form" had been left out. This "Copy" was younger, not to mention healthier. Just from the backside alone she could deduce that the entity was an amalgamation of the various lesser changes she'd endured over the course of the game. The aging and weight gain were left out, but the race change and latex wardrobe were very much present. Her twin turned around to face Bitch, revealing that it'd also retained the improved eyesight which had gotten Bitch hooked on the game to begin with.

Looking her copy up and down, Bitch couldn't help but feel that she was forgetting something. Something important.

"Welcome to my humble abode, Bitch".

That name! For the first time since it's inception, the vulgarity of the name made itself clear to her. Not to mention how absurd it was for someone to be called Bitch as a legal name in the first place. It was part of her punishment. A curse for breaking the rules of the game, that much she knew. That's where she got lost though, she couldn't bring herself to remember what her name was supposed to be.

"Heh. That's the punishment for cheating. Don't worry though, if you play your cards right ..you just might get it back. All you have to do is wish for it".

Bitch had read enough literature featuring evil genies, wishing and monkey paws to know a trap when she saw one. The spirit of the game or whatever it was clearly wanted to divert her focus away from something ..but what? She could wish her name back? Even though she couldn't remember it AND the fact that it was the results of a punishment?

"..So I can truly wish for anything then?"

"Absolutely, so long as you can phrase it into a single, coherent sentence.."

"Well in that case- "

"Remember. ANYTHING at all! Be it wealth, fame, eternal life even! The sky is the limit!"

The crude copy of Bitch's body pointed to the whitely illuminated "Sky" to emphasize it's point.

It's stalling.. But why?

Bitch's vision suddenly blurred, causing her a brief moment of confusion before realizing what had happened. Her body was the one she'd entered the game with. Her original self, bar the name.. And somehow her vision had become corrected. The spirit was stalling for something, and her vision had suddenly improved. She couldn't be sure, but she had a decent idea of what was going on. All she had to do was wait and see if her hypothesis stood true.

"Anything, huh? So I can wish for more wishes then?"

If otherworldly or divine beings could have such a human emotion as patience, it sure was being tested right now.

"My ..apologies. I was under the impression that most humans were familiar with the four universal rules of wishing. In any scenario where wishes of this magnitude are involved, those are the rules.
No killing, no making people fall in love, no resurrections, and most certainly, no wishing for more wishes!"

"Right. Yes. I've heard of those. But you did say anything! "Sky is the limit!"."

"That I did, but under the assumption that you knew about the basic four rules."

"So I can't wish someone back to life, nor can I kill anyone. But I can wish for eternal life? How is eternal life so different from resurrection?"

"The soul.. It's a finicky thing. A soul which has departed your realm can not so easily be returned. That requires greater power. Power which I don't possess. But don't be mistaken, my power is beyond what your feeble, mortal mind can comprehend. So long as your wish is within the scope of the established rules I'm sure you'll be surprised at just how far reality can be molded."

Bitch pretended to ponder her wish. In reality, she'd pretty much already decided what she wanted with her wish. She did in the meantime want to know all the facts before making the wish for real. Thankfully, the confirmation she was looking for came sooner rather than later. Slowly, but undeniably, her skin tone darkened. If that wasn't enough evidence already, she subtly brushed what were supposed to be red locks of hair. Instead, what she felt was anything but. She had to reach much higher to reach actual hair, and when she did, it was coarse and curly. Like an afro.

A smug smile formed on Bitch's face.

"I don't think I need any of those things anyway, Because I wish that reality was as though we never found that game!"

The otherwise inscrutable being showed a single crack in it's facade as a momentary look of annoyance revealed itself.

Throwing it's hands up in defeat, the spirit simply voiced the words "So it shall be."

The surrounding light which made up the boundaries of the perceived pocket universe collapsed in on the two, consuming them entirely.

I'm back!

Not that I was ever really gone. I've just had a lot to do over the summer, not to mention the whole "planning out a new Chicken out branch and generating photo realistic images for it".. That's not relevant right now though. What IS important is that you'll be seeing new chapters of THIS branch released regularly again until it's completion. The thing is, I've always been sure to upload the chapters to Chyoa in tandem with the ones on Patreon, albeit always lagging a bit behind story-wise. When I concluded the original branch (this one), I didn't post anything new for this on Patreon, meaning the remaining chapters have been put on hold until the continuation of a second, BETTER branch. For anyone interested in that one, It's live on my Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/Felixfalck) with it's first chapter right now. Following this chapter, there's one additional one with the epilogue for this ending. And another couple of chapters left for a whole different ending. Once all three have been released the next branch will begin to appear, so keep your antennas tuned for that! In the meantime, enjoy the remaining few chapters of the OG branch. It's been a blast to write it and I'm very happy with the reception it got. So thank you all for reading!