This story was, as usual, NOT made using AI. The title of the story reflects the contents rather than the way it has been written.
11:55 pm
A gust of wind barreled down the street. Fallen leaves, candy wrappers, even pieces of gravel tumbled at speeds nearing 50mph, whipping and slapping anyone that dared cross their way. Against all odds, the lampposts held strong, shining their warm yellow lights against the flooded concrete. The cold rain still battered against the windows, whistling through the long overdue cracks in the caulking like a cautionary tale.
Inside the house, however, there was nothing to be heard. Apart from the occasional snore coming from the room across the hall and to the right and the tippy tapping of cat paws on the bathroom’s ceramic tiles, silence reigned. Most of its inhabitants had long faded away into slumber, although not all of them would go through the night uneventfully.
From under his pillow, Jason’s alarm buzzed on his phone. He hadn’t been asleep. Not that he hadn’t tried, but sleep had lost its fight against his excitement. He had lain with his eyes closed for hours, unable to get some rest, while the clock continued ticking towards the day he had been expecting for what seemed to him like forever.
He tiptoed out of his bed and silently closed the door of his room, making sure there was no interruption to the silence that stretched on the upper floor. He sat at his desk and booted his laptop, filling the room with the soft whir of its fan. A single piece of paper fell on the floor silently.
Sorry! The website you’re trying to reach does not exist. Did you mean…
Jason looked at the time and bit his lip.
11:59 pm.
He took a deep breath and sighed, reaching for a dirty shirt and a pair of loose fitting pajama shorts. The contact of the cold fabric against his skin made him shiver. He turned on the reading light on his desk and rubbed his hands together underneath.
00:00 am.
The website refreshed on its own. Instead of a blank white page with a comic sans apology written in a corner, it had become alive.
An astronaut taking her helmet off during a space walk only for her head to explode into a bouquet of flowers ; a fighter jet taking off of a carrier in the shape of a chicken nugget ; a tornado the color of Kool-Aid tearing down a neighborhood of gingerbread houses ; a handsome stranger on the street sharing a secretive look with a hidden camera : Generative videos played one after the other in an uninterrupted series of fever dreams, limited only by the imagination of its prompter. And while minor defects could be spotted in the background of a few clips, most of them felt and looked unnervingly realistic.
Jason logged in and sat for a minute, rummaging his thoughts, before letting his fingers run across the keyboard.
girl early twenties, blond shoulder length hair, blue eyes, pale skin. Sits cross-legged on a bar stool, a drink in her right hand. Short black skirt and lime green crop top. Heavy eyeshadow and cat eye makeup.
Another gust of wind shook the windows. Jason jerked his head back, fearing that someone was at the door. He listened attentively but still heard no sound in the house.
Meanwhile, the generative AI had done its work.
On the screen of his laptop, Jason’s imagination had been manifested into the most realistic simulation he had ever seen. At the darkened mahogany bar of a bistro sat a tall woman wearing a short black pencil-skirt that left most of her legs exposed. The left crossed over the other away from the camera, the muscle lines of her toned thighs were on exquisite display. She wore a sleeveless lime green crop top with a plunging view on her modest yet tastefully rendered chest. An amber liquid twirled in the stout glass nestled in the palm of her right hand as it moved along with the silenced speech they had provided her. The wavy bleached blond hair barely reached her shoulders and, while her roots showed a lack of upkeep, they gave her a messy-on-purpose kind of look that complemented her heavily shadowed eyelids.
He couldn’t believe it. He stared at the looping clip for longer than he would’ve dared to admit trying to convince himself that it hadn’t been pulled directly from TikTok. The way the alcohol moved and swirled in the glass, the sway of her hair with each movement of her head, the naturally irregular blinks of her eyes, it was breathtaking.
He tried again.
Fairy or Elf women, late twenties, otherworldly beauty, ashen hair, purple irises, pointy ears, leaf green dress, walking barefoot in the forest, surrounded by centennial trees, giddy smile on her face, weightlessness to her steps.
A minute passed. Jason walked over to his door and cracked it open.
Silence.
He closed it again and sat back.
His words had once again manifested on the screen. A month’s work of the world’s best CGI artists couldn’t’ve yielded a better result. A woodland elf now strode before his eyes, beautiful like the rising sun, as timeless as the ice-capped mountains of lands long forgotten. It felt as if he could’ve reached through the screen and taken her hand. Around her, the forest looked pulled out of a fantasy novel. Millennia old trees towered over her, their bark spotted with green and dark blue moss, overgrown roots tangled underneath her feet.
He scrolled back to his first generation, to the girl sitting at the bar, and edited his prompt. His dick stirred inside his boxers.
The blondie was back in all her smoke-eyed splendor. Crossed legs, twirling amber liquid and all the rest. However, most of her left arm was now missing below the elbow.
An inch or two below the articulation, her arm stopped short in a ridiculously flattened patch of skin, as if it had been sliced off with a knife and patched up with molten plastic.
Jason adjusted his prompt again and was blown away by the results.
Gone was the plastic doll appearance of her limb. From below the elbow, her limb instead tapered into a rounded stump, akin to someone affected by a congenital deformity. The tip of her arm showed no scars and no indentations, and she moved it to and fro organically in the generated loop.
Jason sent another query in the system excitedly.
Head tilted upwards, arm extended and cellphone in hand, she posed for a selfie, lips pursed halfway into a smirk. Meanwhile, her glass had migrated to her other side and was being held against her chest by an arm without any hand of fingers. While it still ended a few inches below her elbow, it seemed to take her no more effort to hold it in place with her stump than she would’ve done with a complete limb.
Another query.
The same girl now walked on a beach of white sand, phone in hand, a straw bag across her shoulder, stump hanging limply beside her waist. She shielded her eyes from the sun and, as if recognizing a friend off camera, smiled and pivoted due left towards Jason. The fact that he had prompted her to wear a bikini meant little to him right now. His focus was set entirely on her asymmetry.
His breath quivered as he sent another query.
She laid on her towel with her eyes closed, taking in the fresh saline breeze in long deep breaths, with the sound of waves and gulls as the only background noise. Even in the far back of the scene, thin wisps of clouds had been rendered in astounding details. They drifted lazily along, like someone begrudgingly trotting towards an unwanted destination.
The new black one-piece swimsuit Jason had prompted for her left little to the imagination as it so perfectly fit even the most minute angles of her body. He watched her chest rise and fall in rhythm with her breathing, almost squinting his eyes trying to peek through the tight mesh of her clothes, like a kid staring at a naked woman for the first time in his life. Ever at her left side, the stump of her left arm laid against her ribs, absentmindedly running back and forth on the wet fabric. The precision and uniqueness of her difference sent his mind reeling.
A toilet flushed somewhere inside the house and Jason almost yelped in surprise, sending his mouse flying halfway across his desk. Hands against his mouth, he turned towards his bedroom door and held his breath for as long as he physically could, terrified of being discovered. When he was on the verge of passing out and started breathing again, he stayed still for several minutes, listening. The sound of his own heartbeat seemed so loud in his ears that he almost thought it would wake up the entire house. He felt like the walls themselves were shaking because of him. Sweat dripped down his back, but he felt his hands and feet cold as ice. Only when he was absolutely certain that the person had gone back to bed and that they had fallen asleep did he turn to face his computer again.
The video was still looping. The sun was still shining. The clouds were still drifting and the arm was still oscillating. Her face however, had been obscured by a pop-up window Jason must've hit by mistake. The caption instantly grabbed his attention.
Create character
He frowned, unable to remember if he had read about this feature in the Before Launch Preview. He clicked and was brought over to another page.
Welcome to the character creator!
Generate a character that can be used to generate an infinity of different scenes!, or place them in the simulation room to bring them to life before your eyes!
Jason clicked and started writing.
With shaking fingers, he spent the next 10 or so minutes describing his thoughts in exquisite details. From the clothes she wore and how they fit her to her hairstyle and the decor around her, nothing was left to interpretation. After seeing how accurately it had portrayed his earlier ideas, he had decided to go all in, going as far as adding a few personality traits. He envisioned a hidden gem kind of vibe, like a girl that is secretly gorgeous but doesn’t usually dress to let it show. One that has a shy demeanor, protected by a cocoon that needs to be inched open to reveal the fully formed butterfly inside. He sent the query and a still image of the results appeared almost immediately.
A caucasian girl sat on the edge of a cleanly made bed. Around her, the room seemed just as neat and tidy : a tall wooden dresser in one corner, a short stool and table filled with make-up, combs and brushes at its side, and a vine-looking plant that had climbed a fake brick wall all the way to the ceiling. Jason turned his attention to the girl and was gobsmacked again.
A dense head of auburn hair curled around her ears and trickled at the sides of her face, messily held back only by an oversized forest green hair clip. Her skin was fair, and her face gentle. A small and perky nose sat above a subtle emerald Medusa piercing and roséed lips pursed in apprehension, and her honey-colored eyes made Jason’s stomach grumble, reminding him of the golden hue of homemade caramelized sugars. His thighs pressed together under the desk.
To his eyes, she was absolutely perfect.
With respect to his unusual tastes, Jason had made sure that her right side was completely devoid of limbs. On her right hip, the missing leg didn’t even seem out of place. Instead of a limb, the flesh had stopped short and budded into a rounded nub that sank deep into the foam mattress, skewing her pelvis ever so slightly to the side. Even her legging had adjusted to her anatomy, snugly fitting against the congenital stump, like custom made.
He had pushed the limits of the generative AI even more with her arm. Instead of simply erasing it at the shoulder, he had decided to omit the articulation altogether. Atrophied collarbone and shoulder blade met at half the width of her complete twin into a rounded bump the size of a small plum, which transitioned on her side into an inward dimple half an inch deep. Her profile widened again at her chest, highlighted by an asymmetrical sleeveless white top that completely exposed her reduced shoulder.
It was only then that he noticed the stillness of the picture. The AI hadn’t generated a video this time, but only an image of the girl he had described. He clicked his tongue and clicked in the top right corner, going over the settings of this specific feature. He opened a new dialogue box and was prompted with new options.
Save character?
Yes.
Generate your interactive character?
Yes.
Choose environmental settings.
Current.
This generation may take a few minutes to complete. Continue?
Yes.
Generating…
Jason leaned back into his gaming chair and blinked rapidly a few times to get rid of the annoying prickling sensation in his eyes. He rubbed it off with a closed fist and yawned. The lack of sleep finally caught up with me, he thought to himself, uselessly swearing he would never do it again. Video games, horror movies, binging watching, there was always an excuse. At 22 years old, he was old enough to make his own decisions, but he often ended up making the wrong ones anyways. He reached inside his boxers to fix the position of his junk and, eyes still closed, listened again attentively. Not a step, not even a snore.
Nothing…
Wait.
The sound of a yawn jerked him upright in his seat and he turned towards the closed door again. Can people yawn in their sleep?!, he asked himself, ready to pull the plug on his computer and dive right under the sheets in case someone would approach his room.
Then, he heard something else.
A sound so subtle, so muted that it couldn’t possibly have come from the other side of the door.
The ruffle of fabric against fabric, like someone turning over in their sleep, or pant legs brushing against each other when walking.
And a sigh. Behind him.
Holding his breath, he pivoted on his chair and stared into his monitor with wide eyes.
The girl on the bed had started moving.
She still sat on the side of the bed where the still generated image had set her, yet there was something different about her movement. Jason hadn’t prompted her to do anything, yet she curiously seemed to act on her. There, she reached for her hair and scratched her scalp, leaned forward on her leg to adjust her position on the sheets, or yawned yet again, the back of her single hand hiding her open mouth. Instead of looping around like a short clip, it looked like the AI was generating a live environment specifically for his character.
Prompts
Discussion
Two other boxes had appeared for him to enter text in. Assuming the first one would accomplish the same function as before, he typed in something simple and sent the query.
stand up, hop around the room, smell the flowers
Almost instantly, the girl stood up, expertly balancing on her leg, and started making her way towards the stout table where a vase had just materialized. She leaned into a half squat and buried her nose in the flowers to take a deep breath.
Mmmh that smells good.
Jason jumped forward and turned the volume of his speakers all the way down, switching the output to his headphones. He placed them askew on his head, keeping his right ear free. What she said had also appeared in the Discussion box, but he shied away from it for the moment and sent another query.
Before her eyes, a card appeared amid the flowers, on which could be read in thick cursive letters :
D o y o u l i k e t h e m ?
She turned in surprise, almost falling back on the bed
Who did that?
She looked around the room intently as Jason moved the point of view of the camera. There were no doors or windows for her to look through.
He sent another query prompting her to drop her inquiries and added a quote from an old videogame he used to play when he was a kid. The screen froze for half a second and Jason almost thought the page had crashed, yet it went through anyway. She spoke under her breath unconvincingly.
Must've been the wind…
She frowned and scoffed.
Why did I say that?
She hopped across the room and leaned against the blank wall, as if looking for a seam in the structure. Before she could move again, Jason typed something in.
slip and fall on third next hop
She straightened herself and twisted skillfully on her foot to take another look at the room, hand resting on her hip, while Jason held his breath, wondering if she would comply soon.
She groaned, hesitated, and decided to get back to the bed to ponder her situation. Hopping forward no more than twice, she pivoted 180° and sat graciously a few inches to the right of where she had initially been.
An error message buzzed in Jason's ears.
prompt canceled. character decided otherwise.
He frowned and murmured to himself. “Decided otherwise?” He sat back in his chair just as thunder started rumbling outside his window and repeated slowly. “Character decided otherwise?”
The phrasing felt wrong in his head. The AI algorithm simply acted on his input text as best as it could, filling in minute details that hadn't been specified or would've seemed improbable. By this logic, there was no way the generated character could decide anything. That the algorithm would fail to implement his prompt was one thing, but that? He was highly skeptical. He tried something a little more absurd.
nose itches. stick index finger deep up left nostril.
The effects weren't immediate this time, either. Reaching for her hair clip, she let her mane cascade down her shoulders and rolled on her back with her arm bent over her forehead. She laid there with her eyes closed, just like Jason had done for hours that night, until an invisible cat hair came to tickle her nostrils. Seeing as her attempts to blow it away were fruitless, she scrunched her nose and rubbed it with the palm of her hand.
Another error message.
prompt adjusted. character decided otherwise.
He typed angrily in the Discussion box.
Why won’t you do what I ask?
“What kind of bullshit is this if I can’t make her do whatever I want?”
She opened her eyes inquisitively, like someone who finally understands what’s happening, and her gaze instantly locked in with Jason’s, piercing through the screen.
The blood froze in his veins.
Who's there?!
While her lips had moved at the same pace as the text in the Discussion box, the sound of her voice had lagged half a second behind. She lifted a finger aggressively, as if the wall itself was trying to kill her.
Okay, the joke's over. You can come out, now..
Jason was still frozen in place. Could she actually see him? Or was there a point in the room where his voice was coming from, like an artifact of the AI-created space?
Answer me, fucking shit! I know there's someone, somewhere behind this wall!! Speak up!
A system error popped in the feed.
Awareness approaching critical levels.
Simulation on the verge of collapse
He reached for his mic with shaking fingers and adjusted it in front of his lips. “Um.. Hi, I'm… Jason.”
She jolted backwards. Jason.. Jason, please tell me where I am.. She felt at the mattress with her hand, suspicious of everything. Did you kidnap me? Is this what's happening..?? Her voice broke and her chin started quivering.
Jason shook his head. “No, I didn't… kidnap you, you're…” He clicked his tongue and began clicking through the settings for a way to stabilize her.
Can you at least tell me how I got dragged here? She pushed herself to the edge of the bed and stood up again, hopping forward to feel the wall in front of her. Her face grew to fit almost the entirety of Jason's monitor. Why can't I remember anything?
The video feed crackled and shook. “I don't think you're supposed to know that.”
He looked back at the door for good measure, although he had become a lot more interested in his new creation than the possibility of being discovered. He sent a new query and waited a few seconds for her to process it. The feed stabilized.
“Do you remember who you are, now?”
I… She got back to the bed and absently put her hand on her empty shoulder. My name is Josie, I'm 26, and… She ruffled her hair and smiled. …And you're my friend Jason.
Another system message popped up
Simulation stabilized
He sighed and smiled in turn, wiping the sweat from his brow. “Exactly.”