Debut Flash: 'Your New Video Game' by Mina Otsuka

Your journey began in a village.

You met an old villager who told you about the wolf. You asked the villagers how they would fight it. “We don’t,” they said. The wolf would come to the village every once in a while, wander around, and leave. As long as they avoided direct contact, the villagers were fine. “What would happen if you encountered it?” you asked. “The wolf would bite you and you would be dead,” they said. “Can’t you just kill it?” you asked. The villagers all looked dumbfounded. “What for? Once you kill the wolf, you’ll just start seeking another one,” they said.

Your next stop was a lake. You started off fine, as you managed to float and swim about ten meters. Suddenly you realized you had no idea how big the lake was. The thought was terrifying enough for you to start panicking. You flapped your arms in random directions and thrashed your legs, but slowly your body started to sink. Just when you thought that your life would end as the water covered your nostrils, you noticed that you weren’t suffocating. You could breathe underwater. Without the need to come up to the surface, you reached the other side and resumed walking.

The end of the road you’d been strolling turned out to be the edge of a cliff. You saw a bald eagle flying in a circle above you. “You’ve managed to come this far. Do you know how your journey ends?” the eagle asked. “I deserve something special,” you said.
“Your goal is to jump off this cliff. Then the game will be over,” the eagle said.

So you quit the game there, restarted, and sought the wolf instead.