Life was good. He had money, resources, power. He had travelled to lands beyond mortals, beyond existence, even to the depths of hell and back. However, he wanted to explore more. He still had much of his life left and his desire to explore was still there. As he thought about what wondrous lands there might be out there waiting for him to explore, what mysterious ruins he might find, what old relic he might discover! This thought stuck with him till right before he fell asleep.
However, when he woke up he was in complete darkness, not on his warm bed in his luxurious home. For the first time in a long time, he was scared. He was hungry. He was weak. All of his possessions were gone. Yet he managed to stop panicking. He calmly started to feel his surroundings carefully. The walls and floors were made out of stone, but he knew nothing of the roof because his hands couldn’t reach them. He was in some sort of large, enclosed hallway. He could probably break through if the walls weren’t so well-made, and he didn’t know exactly how deep he was underground. He could possibly cause lava to leak if he made one wrong move.
First he needed to get out of this large and empty room. He didn’t notice earlier due to the panic, but it was eerily quiet. With his possessions taken away; making the situation he was in even more foreboding. He continued in the darkness for a long time, expending what little energy he had. Suddenly, he could make out a glimmer of light in the distance. He ran as fast as he could towards the source of light. It was some sort of otherworldly rock emitting the light. He had seen some in his travels. So taking the rock with him, he continued onwards. As he did, the amount of the strange rocks he encountered increased, giving him freedom from the darkness.
As if it would never end, the hallway continued on. That is until he encountered purple light. It was emitted from a bunch of purple stones arranged in a pattern. Inside, was a portal. Seeing there was no other way to go, he jumped inside. He wished he didn’t. He was once again in a familiar place, a place he never wanted to visit again. He was on a large flat area surrounded by nothing except lava. The heat was unbearable, his shirt was drenched with his sweat and his throat was parched. There was nowhere he could go. There was nothing he could do. The Portal was in a high ledge he couldn’t reach. He was stuck in this hell.
He laid there for hours. He could have even laid there for days; at this point his sense of time was gone. The hunger and thirst were unbearable. His stamina was drained and all hope lost. That is until he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Darkness was enveloping everything around him. It was far away yet it was fast approaching. He was hungry and weak, yet he got up and ran. Ran for his life. Ran. Ran. Ran...until his legs failed. Until he was slowly engulfed by the darkness.
He wasn’t dead yet. He was floating in space. It was black and devoid of anything. It was empty and cold. Again he was assaulted by fear. He wanted to be in his home once again. Just one more time. To see the world he had loved so much. The world he had so many memories of.
But then he stopped feeling his legs. He looked at it, and he saw it was being disintegrated. His hands started to do the same. His mind was filled with fear and regret. Soul crushing regret. He wanted to scream loudly. Yet he couldn’t. In the last moments of his existence, he saw a vision. A vision of a creature. A round creature he had never seen before. It’s face was greasy and pimple covered. It’s eyes were half shut. Obviously it was sleepy yet it was staring at something he couldn’t see. Yet it only lasted for a second before his existence was gone.
In another world, far away from him began the journey of another. He had woken up in a strange land. He had nothing, he knew nothing. Except his name; Steve. He had no food, no water, no tools or shelter. He had no companions and he needed to survive. Off he went to collect chop down the lone tree unaware of what awaits him in the future.
So is the existence of every Steve out there.