THE MOMENT
Mundo was startled awake by silence. She'd gotten used to the constant hum of background noise in her mind enough to ignore it. But at some point during her nap the world went silent. After staying silent for a while, Mundo's mind decided something was wrong and woke her up. She glanced around the empty, dim classroom but it didn't answer any question.
"Where is everybody?" she wondered. Her first instinct was to reach out with her mind, instead of sending a Whisper to one of her friends. She could find anyone anywhere on Earth; but, she only found one other person on the entire planet.
"Finally! You're awake! Be right there," Mundo heard a voice in her mind and realized the other person was a Mundo also. She needed to wait, and she was curious about the dark sky. Mundo walked to the closest window and was surprised by the sight.
Her classroom was on the fourth floor of the school. She should have been able to see the city and the school grounds between; but, all she saw was smooth, glassy ocean. Water surrounded the school, and she could only see so far until a thick wall of fog interrupted her view. The grey fog extended into the sky and muddled its usual azure color; the sun was nowhere to be seen.
Then, a shadow under the water caught her eye. A large, long farm that looked bigger than the school swam towards her. A giant sea serpent with prismatic, aquamarine scales broke the surface in front of the school and flew upward towards Mundo on the fourth floor. As the leviathan rose in the air, it shrank and changed form. A tan woman with leathery skin and aquamarine stubble on her head landed on the window, then slipped in as Mundo stepped back. She could see that the woman was a Mundo too.
"Hey Mundo," she smiled. "My name's Meredith," she introduced herself. Mundo tilted her head curiously, but nodded. She'd heard the name before and had a general idea who the woman was. She realized she had a chance to ask a question that had been on her mind since she heard about Meredith.
"Not Mundo?" Mundo asked. Technically her name wasn't Mundo either, but like most Mundos it's what she preferred to be called. Meredith grinned.
"Nah," she chuckled. "That started after I was already used to my name. So, feeling rested?" she asked. Mundo felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment and she decided to pick a different topic.
"Where is everyone?" she asked.
"Chroma asked everyone to leave the server so I can make some changes."
"Ohh...," Mundo felt some disappointment from the fact that no one bothered to wake her up. But, Meredith picked up on it.
"They tried waking you. As you can see, that didn't work out," Meredith chuckled.
"Oh?" Mundo asked. "That's weird. I'm usually a light sleeper...," she mumbled to herself more than to Meredith. But, Meredith nodded along in understanding.
"It was weird, that wasn't a normal nap," Meredith said. She stood in front of Mundo and clapped her hands together once. When she pulled her hands apart again she held a small sheet of water between them. It grew wider as Meredith pulled her hands further apart. "See anything different?" Meredith asked. She held a mirror-like surface up but Mundo could still see the faint current of running water that made up the sheet. She looked and it didn't take long to pick out a bright red streak of hair. It stood out from the rest of her green curls.
"What happened?" Mundo asked as she stared at herself. She reached up to tug at the red lock to make sure it was real. Meredith let her hands fall and the mirror evaporated into mist. Then, she reached behind her head and pulled a long, red strand from the back of her head forward.
"You got updated like I did. It's happening to all Mundos," she said.
"Updated?" Mundo asked. "What does that mean?"
"How many Unique Souls are there?" Meredith asked.
"70," Mundo replied. But, her brow furrowed when her own answer confused her. "70?" she repeated. Meredith chuckled and nodded.
"There are 70 now, not 54," she said. She gestured at Mundo, then shrugged. "Updated."
"Wait...," Mundo was used to knowing everything and she didn't like the feeling of being unsure about something. "There are more Unique Souls now?...what does THAT mean?" she asked Meredith.
"THAT means...," Meredith paused for a moment and gave Mundo an appraising look. Then, she chuckled and shook her head. "...it means that there are some answers you don't want," she said. "Now hurry up and log out so I can get started."