\r\nThis was written December 18th, 2025<\/i>\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\nThe Terminal<\/h2>\r\n
\r\nAll of a sudden, you find yourself in the middle of a terminal. You remember who you\r\nare, yet you don’t remember much beyond that. The sensation is reminiscent of waking up\r\nfrom a dream, any and all traces gradually fading. You have a vague impression of knowing\r\nwhat it was about, yet you can’t quite remember\r\n<\/p>
\r\nIn front of you, a counter. You look around, and realize you have no luggage with you,\r\njust the clothes on your person. All around you, frenetic people moving about, looking\r\njust as confused as you. An announcement resonates, reminding all the patrons to head for\r\nthe counters in an orderly manner.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nAs you look around, you catch, from the corner of your eyes, light emanating from your\r\nwrist. You look at it and simply notice a few digits. Though it’s completely static, doesn’t\r\nappear to be a timer or a clock. You ponder upon what this could mean. Maybe your customer\r\nnumber?\r\n<\/p>
\r\nLooking around once again, but observing more closely, you notice everyone around you\r\nalso appears to have a number displayed on their wrist, and the value varies greatly\r\nfrom person to person. Speaking of the others, you start noticing that people all come\r\nfrom extremely varying background, all ethnicities, old and young, etc… What more, and\r\nseems like not everyone _feels_ human to you. You don’t know what it is, but some of them\r\ngive you an impression of an…animalistic vibe. Actually, if you peer at them, that\r\nsensation seems even clearer, and you can even identify what animal. How odd, and you\r\nhave no explanation for it.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nRegardless, you eventually make your way to the back of the line and wait. You’re a bit\r\nnervous, but can’t quite explain it. There is restlessness all around. But surprisingly\r\nenough, you don’t have to consider this for long, already you’re at the front of the\r\nline, and it’s your turn to be served.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nThe person behind the counter, and they seem to exude a special, angelic aura, greets you\r\nand finally explains what’s happening to you. You are at the Nexus, a point between life\r\nand death. You’ve died recently and thus ended your previous life. Now, it’s time to book\r\nyour next expedition. You must choose from the list of different available reincarnations,\r\neach with a cost to it. You pay for it with the credits you’ve accumulated through your\r\nprevious lives, based on how you’ve lived them, and which are currently displayed on your\r\nwrist. Well, that would explain it. Amongst the options, there’s also a special destination\r\nthat is much more expensive than the rest, and seems like a final destination. Something\r\ninside of you stirs at this sight, making you crave for it, yet you have nowhere near\r\nenough money to book it.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nWhile you’re pondering upon this, you’re tempted to ask what would happen if you ran out\r\nof credits, but at the thought of it alone you shudder. You seem to innately know, and\r\nfeel like asking would be pointless. As you’re browsing through the option, you keep\r\nfinding yourself attracted to a specific option. It’s within your budget, and you’d have\r\nleftover credits, so you simply trust yourself and go for it. From this point on,\r\neverything goes rather quickly. You go through some checkpoints, where people take different\r\nsorts of measurements and the likes. At last, you arrive at the gate, where you’re left\r\nwaiting, albeit not on your own.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nIt seems like a few other people are headed for the same destination. You can’t help it,\r\nyou’re simultaneously anxious and excited. Another chance ahead, still full of potential.\r\nIf you play your cards right, you might also significantly increase your credits. You\r\nfeel like you learned a lot from your previous incarnation, and that should be helpful\r\nto you, moving forward. But hard to say, after all, it’s not like you have active memories\r\nof it.\r\n<\/p>
\r\nAt last, your gate is boarding. They’re boarding you by number, so you patiently wait for\r\nyour own. When it comes at last, you approach the gate, your heartbeat acceleration. You\r\nfeel ready and excited, each journey is always so unique, and this could be a great one.\r\nFinally, you cross the gate, and your vision is overwhelmed, everything turning to white,\r\nuntil…\r\n<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This was written December 18th, 2025 The Terminal All of a sudden, you find yourself in the middle of a terminal. You remember who you are, yet you don’t remember much beyond that. The sensation is reminiscent of waking up from a dream, any and all traces gradually fading. You have a vague impression of … Continue reading Writing Challenge 2025 \u2013 21 – The Terminal<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2566"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2573,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2566\/revisions\/2573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnmeanders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}