By: Daniel Kendle

“The accepted theory that the serpent is evil cannot be substantiated. It has long been viewed as the emblem of immortality. It is the symbol of reincarnation, or metempsychosis, because it annually sheds its skin…It was also believed that snakes swallowed themselves, and this resulted in their being considered emblematic of the Supreme Creator, who periodically reabsorbed His universe back into Himself.”

– Manly Palmer Hall

. . .

            A small crowd had formed around the cutout, varying sizes of men and women clustered together, trying to peer at the thin figure. They chattered, a collection of the like-minded. Emrys watched them from across the convention hall.

            The pop-up, a cheap plastic setup, was of some kind of video game character. He was clad in green, with metallic armor that segmented his arms from his chest, legs from thigh, and head from neck. A helmet rounded off the suit, giving off the impression of some kind of insect. In his hand was a sword – sword? Gun? Emrys couldn’t tell – that almost glowed, being a light blue with 2 separated, parallel blades. To the side, a small signpost read, “‘HALO: INFINITE 2: 2 INFINITE 2 HANDLE’ – COMING SOON TO GAMEPASS.”

            Fans gawked; clearly, this character meant a great deal to each of them. A couple had pushed their stroller in a blitz to be first, where the pair were now taking photos of the pop-up with their baby, much to the ire of unamused attendees.

            Emrys stroked his lanyard’s cloth, up and down, then back again. He felt the cool plastic, then warm weaving as he brushed his fingers over the letters “E3.” He was fairly anxious; his foot had fallen asleep despite constant tapping.

            His brother was now 30 minutes late to arrive.

            “Mr. Bach?” A curious voice came from behind him. Emrys turned to face an older man, somewhere in his 50’s. His hair was white, shirt, blue, and he wore a necklace similar to his, only with a gold trim. “I was told to expect your arrival for the tour.”

            “Oh, uh,”  the boy said, quickly sneaking another look outside at cars and gulps, “yes, that’s me.”

            “Wonderful. Please, if you’ll follow me – Microsoft’s conference will be beginning soon, and the rest of the group is getting…antsy.”

            Emrys nodded, and the man and boy started off toward the convention hall’s innards. The man’s sunken eyes occluded subtle thought, and Emrys ignored any attempt to vie for a conversation. They walked in silence, with the roar of surrounding guests replacing a dialogue.

            “…and we hope that, in today’s showcase, you’ll see the Power. The Power…” a green-shirted speaker said, “…of ‘X.’”

            The thickly-packed crowd cheered. Lights flashed, then dimmed, and the stage was enveloped in dense smoke. Emrys and the other tour members smiled; this was it. The Microsoft presentation. It was E3 2037, and the company behind your favorite data encryption controversies was only moments away from announcing their newest console. The lights further dimmed, and a low murmur from the crowd became a raucous roar as the CEO of Microsoft, Mike Rosoph, strolled onstage. He gripped the microphone in one hand, pocketing the other. Clapping soon followed.

            “Yes, yes, hello, my loyalists,” he chuckled, “and welcome to E3 2037. Haveth the dawn cometh soon?”

            “Soon and well, master ‘Soph,” Emrys and the crowd repeated. They all did a gesture with their hands as if their digits were a game controller; a cult-like symbol.

            ”We here at So-er, Microsoft, have much to show y’all today. A fact indeed – as for Sony, well, that promise is merely a farce” The crowd laughed softly. Rosoph pulled out a clicker and clicked it a few times. See, using the clicker, he was able to catalyze his joke through audible response, letting the audience know when to laugh. See also the fact that Mike Rosoph was a narcissist.

            “We’ve a good handful of exciting announcements for you chuckle-ducks. ‘DOOM: Song of the Damned,’ ‘Fallout 2020,’ and a new screenshot of the horses in ‘The Elder Scrolls VI,’” Rosoph said. Another cheer went up. It had been only months since a fan programmed ‘DOOM’ to run on a stretched piece of the muscle tissue of a pig; who knew what else the future had in store for the series?

            “However,” Rosoph continued, “we also have, erm…another surprise in store. And hey, I suppose it’d be right to show y’all now, huh?” The crowd cheered again. The CEO pointed his now-glowing clicker at a black box hung above the stage. It began to descend, with more smoke wrapping around its edges.

            “I ask this to everyone: do you have any guesses as to what this box means?”

            A sea of heads turned. The cube was alien, really – it was so large, unlike anything they’d seen before. Murmurs spread, and a hand rose.

            “Uh…er…a collaboration with N-Nintendo?” A lowly voice asked. Rosoph chuckled again, just as a trained sniper from the back of the auditorium readied a shot on the unfortunate man.

            BAM.

            The CEO smiled tightly, brushing a bloody tooth aside with his shoe. He clasped his hands together.

            “Unfortunately, no. Instead, the boys and I down in Silicon Valley have been tinkering around with some new space-age tech for you ruffians to fiddle with. What we have here today is, well, let’s just say a prototype for a soon-to-launch update for our Game Pass subscription.” The man shifted a bit in his spot during the last sentence.

            The crowd roared. Rosoph clicked a couple times again, and the cube opened like a sideways music box. An even thicker, greener plume of smog seeped from the growing crack. A noxious stench wafted through the air.

            “We all have hobbies, yes – and it just so happens that ours has its limitations. See, my team’s been trying to figure out how to best merge video games and reality together, to leave behind the screen, the VR headsets, all that jazz. And so, we here at Xbox Studios and Microsoft proudly present…Gamepass X.”

            A shaded figure could now be seen from inside the box, seemingly tied up with rope and chains. It took Emrys a minute to adjust to the smoke, but once he did, he wished he could look away. He wished he could vomit.

            It was his brother.

            A torpid knot in Emrys’ stomach curled, loosened, then curled again. The gamers around him paused in shock, then slowly began to clap. This spiraled; the applause evolved into a rhythmic clapping sensation. Rosoph clicked the clicker a final time, then threw it to an assistant offstage.

            The boy began moving forward. He tried muscling his way to the front of the audience, now a standing mass that obscured most of the presentation.

            “Do you want to see? Do you?!” Mike Rosoph screeched, electrifying the chorus before him. “See me, gods; be my acolyte!”

            With that, the box closed around Emrys’ brother once again, with only a sliver of green light poking through. Screams echoed through the cube as the lights dimmed, and a spotlight remained on the shape, transfixed. People slowly quieted as the moans continued, until all remained in awe of the horror before them. Emrys was the only attendee still in motion, struggling towards the sight.

            Ding! The cries stopped suddenly, and steam silently erupted from the box, unfurling once again. Emrys stopped in his tracks, startled. He was only a few feet away from the stage.

            For a moment, everything stood still. The sun, the moon, and everything in between paused as onlookers watched the future turn and writhe. Then, a giant, green, raptorial leg reached high into the air, then slowly set back down onto the concrete below again. A skin-wrapped arm next, then a long, scythe-like tail. Visions of blood filled Emrys’ head as he began backing away.

            Then, just before he turned to flee, he noticed a mark on the stretched skin of the newly-emerged bat-like wing.

            It was an X.