The Never Ending Tails
A God among Us

JulioMakarov became in the space of a few years the most important human being onEarth. The establishment of the “Another Life” franchise, especially its latesthardware and software products: The Interface ID Ship and the Life 2.0 gameprogram monitoring the rest of humanity’s existences created a new paradigm forthe human race, the end of an era and the beginning of a new age. In this newworld, Makarov was on top of everything and everyone else. He was the one andonly Omega, the game master who had complete control over the parameters of thegame. It was Makarov himself who designed the cast system and all the basicgame mechanics of Life 2.0. He was also the first person to be equipped withthe Interface ID Ship, and wasn’t subject to any kind of restriction using thetechnology fully and extensively.

Makarovknew that his creation was going to change the face of the world. He saw theimmense potential that it had and all the possible applications that it had tooffer, but he also saw how much dangerous and destructive the Interface couldbe if misused. What was certain for him was that people with the technologywould have a huge gap with the ones not equipped. So the first action ofMakarov was to push for a global dissemination of the technology.

By 2050,almost all the human race was equipped; on the first of January 2051, the firstphase of the Game started: Life 2.0 was fully functional and the unstoppablemachine started. The very meaning of being human changed with the game. Withthe cast system, society was fully functional. Everything that was slowing downhumans disappeared, death itself was vanquished. Humans were having the abilityto virtually do anything they could imagine and more.

The lowercasts were carefully chosen and modified to fill the very basic needs of thisnew humanity. They were counted and their population was kept alive for anindefinite period of time. No need for them to breed, they can stay in theirpositions forever, and they wouldn’t complain about it. The game was there tofix that. With the mechanics of the game, motivation was fully stimulatedthrough a process of rewards in forms of direct brain signals to the pleasurecenter with achievements related to the task the people of the casts wererequired to do.

The gamewas quite different on the higher casts’ level; first they were able to breedand were also given the choice to renounce immortality as well as a more properfree will. Makarov didn’t want everybody mindlessly doing what he asked them todo; he wanted to make the game more interesting.

For him,the game was the ultimate form of his art, and the very materialization of hisvision of a perfect world. Of course, arguments can be made against hisperspective, but with the power that he had over the game, he wasn’t caring atall if his actions were considered honorable by everybody. He was a visionary,and he strongly believed that the world would never be much interesting if notgiven a notch of control.

Heempowered the higher casts, and made their lives more exciting, stimulating andrewarding. The Betas were given the chance to live parenthood once, accordingto Makarov, he wanted to preserve a part of the social structure that isfamily, but more suited to the logic of the game. The Betas were also given thechoice to terminate their game after a run of 150 years. Makarov noticed thateach and every one of them chose to terminate as soon as the run ends. It madehim understand that completely taking death away from the equation will spoilthe entertainment value of the game. He also believed that free people shouldchoose to live or die. Living forever can become pretty unbearable if you havea free enough will.

Which getus to the next concept that Makarov wanted to let in the game, higher free choicelevel. A game that is fully controlled is never really “fun”, Makarov thoughtthat by letting free will, the outcome will be more unpredictable, although hestill had full control to stop any severe alteration to the Game. He was veryinterested in the entertainment value of the game as he thought of it as a maincatalyst and a strong motivation for the player to keep playing the game.

He madethe Alphas the stars of his show. The Alphas were kind of his children, in aGreek mythological context, they would be considered as Semi-Gods. The Alphashad no tasks to fulfill, they were as freer as one can be in the game, andtheir programs were the more advanced and the more complex among the casts.They were given powers that are above the capacities of any normal human being,entering the realm of super powers all possible through the polymorphiccapacities of the Nano-Robots.

The Alphaswere also able to achieve reproduction as any regular human being, a love letterin a way that Makarov made about life before the game. During reproductionperiods, the super capacities of the Alphas program are blocked so they livethe experience the old human fashion way.

To addspice to his prime show in the game, he Gave the Alphas randomly designedorgans that if triggered can lead to an instant death of the player. That way,Makarov was limiting the Alpha population, as well as creating a thrill leadingto epic events surrounding that specific concept. Some Alpha players weretaunted by the thrill and high rewards of cheating death. Special events andachievements were made in the game to push the Alphas in a constant dare devilroutine.

ConcerningMakarov himself as the Omega, he was fully in control of his mind, and was ableto do practically anything in the Game. He was also the ultimate player, andwas able to control anyone equipped with the technology and use them as avatarsin the game. He was able to constantly keep record of everything happening inthe game, and for 900 years, he entertained himself by playing the game throughevery possible perspective.

He livedmore lives in those 900 years than any human being could have lived even ifthey were reincarnated on earth since the down of the human race. After 900years, Makarov’s knowledge of the human race became so complex that he came totake a decision which would change his life forever.

JulioMakarov, man born in Italy in a modest family decided to rise above the humanrace and become a living God.

In 2951,Julio Makarov showcased his rise in the minds of the whole human race, makingthem know of his change of status, and demanding their faith and completesubmission to his Omega will. Julio Makarov was no more that day, only “TheLight” remained.

The Lightdisappeared into the game following his mental broadcast in the minds of thehuman race. For 123 years, nobody heard about him. The game continued as itwas, the conditioning was too good for it to be completely altered by theapparition of the Light as God of the game, and thus self-proclaimed God of thehuman race.

What itdid was the creation of a cult to the Light, people kept on their programs, butadded the concept of faith to it, which provided more interest toward the gameitself. Rumors started to appear in the higher casts concerning the implicationof the Light becoming a God. Theories started to appear among them concerningthe new nature of death, and what would death mean at that point if the Lightwas living through the entire game.

The 5thSeptember 3074 was a historical day in the new world that Julio Makarov built;this day was known as the day of the return of the Light. During that day, TheLight reappeared in the game in a physical form. His new body was glowing sointensely that no one was able to directly look at him, pretty much like howthe biblical god is described to have appeared to Moses when asked to show itstrue form.

Looking atthe Light was like looking at the sun, but for those who were brave enough tokeep looking for a little moment, they were able to discern a human shape atthe center some even said that the Light had the shape of his former body as ahuman, some said that the light had a female body, no one could really tell forsure.

The lightspoke to all the people of Earth at once, “Children of the game, People ofEarth, I have been long gone and unheard of. It wasn’t without purpose that Iconcealed my presence; I wanted to see the value of my children. I wanted tosee what you will do on your own, and I am satisfied. Most of you chose toaccept me as their lord, and many of you have achieved faith. I came back toreward your efforts and show you the path… to The Light!”

Followingthat came 926 years of peace and prosperity under the Light. He shaped hisreligion as a major part of the game, and gave back mortality to the humankind. However, he also announced that their faith after death would be in hishands, so he made his status as the one true God more powerful. The ultimategoal in the game became to reach the Light, and join it at death.

During thelast years of what was known as the Era of Light, certain groups of peoplestarted to oppose it, and wanted to get back control of their lives. They feltthat the game had gone way too far. Those fluctuations in the game ended upleading to the events of the fall of the Light in the year 4000.

Even afterthat, Julio Makarov stayed in the minds of the human race as a God among man,and the oldest man to live. Julio Makarov had a run of 2020 years on Earth, andchanged everything conceivable about life, but also triggered the beginning ofthe end