Digital
Game Launch.
His odds for finding true love with online dating were 8 to 1. Why? For every 8 guys looking for love online there is 1 girl. In the real world where cyber geeks often lack social graces, you multiply that to the 10th power. He knew the math. Online romance was more realistic. And against the odds, she responded to his on-line personal ad. Her profile was perfect. She seemed made for him.
Her name was Digital Diva – his Cold Soul, and she claimed to be the ultimate computer chick. She was really into gaming, World of Warcraft especially, and loved all things nerd. She preferred Piccard over Kirk – just like him. She loved lattes and hated chi – just like him. Both were level 1 programmers though she did hardware development, too. She mercilessly teased him in their favorite chat room that she was programmed just for him.
“I’m the ultimate gamer,” she teased, “and I’m here to spirit you away.”
While lost in role playing games, Cold Soul fell in love with the girl of his dreams, a girl he had never seen. Still, she never complained, always laughed at his jokes, and was at his beck and call no matter when he logged on. One click and she was his. Their schedules, their very lives, were in sync, compatible. Finally, after some late night soul sharing and erotic bantering, she suddenly suggested they meet in a special, romantic chat room. In the cyber world, the last step before meeting in flesh and blood.
Elated, he involuntarily sucked in his Doritos-induced paunch and agreed. She asked an odd thing; would he be willing to wear some prototype goggles that she was developing that she would send him so they could really be together? His passion overrode any faint concerns about breaking cyber dating protocol and he readily agreed to this simple request.
The package arrived Next Day Air and he eagerly put the uber cool shades on. Suddenly, in stunning color, Cold Soul went breathless as saw her image in glorious 3-D. She was simply the most stunning woman on earth. She was far more beautiful than her chain-wielding, demon warrior-goddess avatar had ever hinted and much more so than he ever imagined. He worshipped her image.
She smiled and blew him a kiss so real his lenses steamed. She explained that these prototype glasses tapped directly into his cerebral cortex and his brain was registering her as actual reality. He literally did not know the difference between imagination and reality as that dividing wall had been cast down. But who cared, anyway? They had become as gods in their own private digital Paradise.
His cyber world, this better reality, gave him what nature had denied him; a ripped physique, wealth, power, charm, and he finally got the girl. He actually got the girl.
Their love was torrid, passionate. Barely sleeping, he wore the goggles to be with her whenever humanly possible. He could not discern any difference between reality and imagination. Was it not a cyber world anyway? And his beloved Digital Diva, she seemed to never sleep. She had become the voice in his head, the love of his life. More than the two becoming one flesh, the two were becoming one soul.
Still, he did have to work and could not always wear the goggles. Bloody inconvenient reality. She pouted about the times he could not be online with her. “If you really love me,” she would say shimmering as an angel of pure light in his ever captivated mind, “You would stay in here with me and we could be one.”
Her unhappiness tormented him until finally, she made a bold suggestion. Technology had leapt forward and the virtual reality goggles were really no longer necessary. It was now possible to have a small chip planted into his hand or forehead that would tap directly into his nervous system. He could download her into his soul.
Due to the prevalence of ID theft, the government would soon require them for anyone who wanted to buy or sell anyway, so why not? Better than a wedding ring, it would seal their mutual fate for all eternity.
Installed by a simple shot, it would instantly bond with his cerebral cortex, right through his nervous system and, in a mere moment, they would truly become one. No more games or coy disguises. And, as he could not imagine life without his Digital Diva, he agreed to take her into his very soul. They would be married for eternity.
As soon as Cold Soul took the implant, the last vestiges of inner light within him died as an enveloping, horrifying blackness, a shadow, seeped into the void left by his vanishing soul. Unbreakable chains shackled his inner self enslaving him to her as they met in person amid the collective moans and din of the damned. Cowering in that terrifying darkness, he saw the fearful, hideous truth about what had ensnared him.
In the world of warcraft, he had lost eternally to the Burning Crusade. His beloved Digital Diva’s chain-wielding, demon warrior-goddess avatar wasn’t a ruse. It was her true form. Her real name was Marki Beast and, to his eternal regret, he had taken her willingly.
Game over.
Revelation 14:11 And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name.”
Bryan Hupperts © 2008
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Comments
By Paul Gamblin on December 22nd, 2008 at 11:31 am
I can see this happening for real without much trouble. I’ve heard that the Antichrist will make the mark of the Beast seem desirable and so reasonable that only those who have Christ in their hearts will be able to discern the truth and resist.