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Breaking the Chains

Path in the Shadows

Anything for a Kiss

Popular Now
Sebastián Iturralde
February 23, 2022
2 minute read
Dark Light
If you disagree with the actions of your leaders, it’s time to stop using their currency.

Looking aimlessly, enjoying the sunset over the skyline, hurt by the injustice—Jared admired the city. Life was too much for him. Unable to complain, Jared was forced to answer for the bills that arrived at his house. How long has it been like this?

Nobody could remember the beginning of the cost of living. Everyone Jared remembered was forced to go through the same process, and silently dreamed of a different future. Was it always like this? He asked himself.

On his desk were the bills and notices. He had no alternatives. In a few days he would be living on the streets of a big city. Through the cold of the night between dark alleys. Fearing a night without shelter.

Jared was tired of playing. The rules seemed unfair and designed to benefit a few. Who is not affected by the rules? It was a simple question but the answer was hidden. He sat in front of his computer to find out more. There must be an answer?

The hours passed quickly. Jared got lost in an ocean of information. It was almost impossible to find a true answer. Little by little he was tying ideas until he got to the root of the problem. It had to be that, it was as deep as he could go.

Behind it all, beyond the smoke screen, was the creator of the game. Society revolves around rules that everyone accepts because everyone is involved. It is a board in which we have the dice and reach for the cards. Our turns allow us to move in a circle that always returns us to the same place.

That’s it, thought Jared, the game belongs to the owners of the cards. He quickly began to imagine that all the cards were created solely for the game to exist. Official documents that everyone must accept in order to play. Money. This cannot be. The largest number of official documents printed for the game are money.

Jared was surprised by his discovery. Is everything a game? But that was not enough. Jared was about to have to live on the streets. What good would it do him to know… It was all over. Jared was lousy at playing, and now he was beginning to think the game was rigged.

At that moment he remembered the word decentralized, and began to search for everything within his reach. The Internet was full of information about the new game. This time, the bank was a computer with rules that cannot be changed. The game was starting but nobody knew what could happen.

Jared looked for people currently playing the new game. Companies that have decided to stop working with the old rules, entrepreneurs who have realized the pitfalls of the old system. There were quite a few. They will discover the rules for future generations, hoping that this time the game will be fair to everyone.

 

Author

Sebastián Iturralde

Writer of enigmatic tales, weaving captivating narratives that provoke thought and stir the imagination. Unveiling the depths of human experience through words.
123 comments

  5. This is a very real story for today, Sebastian.
    People are loosing their jobs, there’s food insecurity and homelessness.
    People freezing , wrapped in damp blankets, on the streets.
    On top of this we also have covid and severe weather!
    What is happening to our world?
    Anna Claire

  6. There is a bigger game that was has been played for millenia and we have a guide who can lead us to win it. Only if we realize our inability to cope and look to Him then He will lead us there . . .

  11. Wow that was great! A cross between The Matrix and the reality of the new world we now live in (sharing much more due to covid) and many hidden realities surfacing
    Welcome back 🙂

  12. Rules favor the rich and wealthy as opposed to the Middle Class and the Poor!
    This essay content is a masterpiece of struggle to survive and make edns meet!

  14. Great story, Sebastian. I just had the same thought last night: the old schema of ‘Left’ and ‘Right’ no longer accurately describes our global political reality. If the events in Canada are an accurate indication of the global trend, we are now living in a worldwide civil war between ‘Centralized Collectivists’ on the one hand, and ‘Decentralized Individualists’ on the other.

  15. Hi Sebastian! I’m so excited you’re back to writing some of the most interesting stories I’ve ever read. I’ve literally been looking forward to new ones this whole time you’ve been gone. In this one, I love the way you blended imagination with the struggles we all face in reality. Extremely well done! Great work, your stories keep me coming back for more. Bravo! Thanks for reminding me about your exceptional work and have a great day!:-)

    1. You are correct in my estimation. Of course, the dealer has a ‘shiner’ or knows your ‘tells’ Life does seem like a game when you see it in this way. There is another way.

  20. What a great piece. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if people were looked after and loved everywhere not just the top three percent. Lovely piece. Have a blessed evening. Joni

  24. Interesting…. a seeming critique on our current system of financialization. I need to reread and think through this. As usual you manage to land the reader in the middle of a fully created world, implied with a few key words and phrases. Your command over the form of the ultra-short story is impressive. This one has made me think more than many of your other stories, but they all make me think; this one requires even more. Cheers.

  29. Sadly I related to your story which felt very real for a person who now feels like Jared in understanding the cost of this game if you don’t have those documents. I have seen up close how it is played but I just don’t wish to join in.
    Just surviving with the basics feels enough now.
    Because in the end that game is meaningless.
    Beyond that for me it’s all about love which often comes in the simple currency of care. The only currency I’m interested in now.
    The rest really is smoke and mirrors.
    I really like your stories.

  32. Thank you for the alert of your new story and glad you’re back 🙂 Love this piece and can relate to Jared. It really is a game.

  34. The “new game” is being run by the same psychotic elite that have warped the old game by their power and greed. Klaus Schwab, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Zuckerberg, etc.etc.etc.
    The secular progressive Left have brought America to its knees, and Capitalism, the only system that has ever brought the greatest number of persons out of poverty, is under attack. Really, the only game to play will be revealed if we turn back to Faith in God instead of fear and obedience to the bureaucratic tyranny of godless unelected oligarchs. Go inside and act accordingly. Stop allowing the Device and its hypnotic hold to guide your every thought and movement. Lies and deceit abound. Reason and conscious action based on Truth must abide us through this darkness. Evil is roaming the world and we must Fight with confident Faith, disavowing fear.

  35. Hello Sebastian! How have you been? It’s a relief to know that you exist and are back.

    Thanks for notifying me about the new post!
    There’s a shift in your writing style and I’m actually liking it! The language is fluid as ever but it also resonates deeply as the framework is so real. As in current day and age.

    Keep writing, keep sharing

  36. The metaphor of ‘currency’ is so interchangeable. Forced pressures upon us are created by those with power. Sometimes we may feel like we have no voice, right? Hang in there, though. New and fresh days await.

  37. The question is – someone has to behind the computer programming and how do we know they are fair and that no-one can change the rules or that there are not unseen consequences? But as Einstein says all great change comes from a shift or change in a paradigm. The question is the new computer program transparent as well as unchangeable? Do we want a system that is completely private or one that is completely transparent? Can we live in a completely transparent society ? What would be the consequences of hiding transactions through a decentralized system? A thought provoking post.

  40. I like the way you conceive money. We have forgotten that by its origin money was just a easier way to barter. From barter to money to the new economy of virtual money is all just a way to represent bartering. It’s all confusing and I like the way you presented it.

  44. Not fiction, no. Ironic, perhaps. But, just exactly what I think. You read my mind through synchronicity.

  45. I was just about to write to find out if you’re okay, because it had been awhile since I heard from you, and the notice of your new story showed up in my inbox! I’ll read it on the radio Friday night.

  46. At the end of the article, I thought I’d caught something about the paradigm shift to crypto-currencies, online banking, and digital transactions… Then just like Jared, I wondered what good it would do me not to comment.

    Excellent writing, my friend.

  47. Finally!

    You are an awesome writer; don’t ever stop doing it and sharing your gift with the world!

    Sounds like we need to push for you running for office?!

    Red

  48. It’s a good story it bought up an old memory of being on the street when I was a kid. There was this old church to get soup and bread at night you had to go down a long dark alley to get to the back door. It was a heavy old wood door after knocking a window of sorts would open. Someone would ask, How many? As in how many are you feeding I’d always say “Eight” for eight you would get a pint of watered – down Campbells Vegetable soup and a crust of bread. Thank You for the memories..

  49. Thank you for sharing this.
    Whenever Mind wakes, there is no force that can truly limit It, or keep It in the sinking S.H.I.P: sickness, hatred, ignorance and poverty, as KRS ONE taught. And there is no world, nor elite either. Everybody is his or his own elite – that’s the beauty of the future, which is already now, if your Mind is also waking. And if you want to wake, that’s already the victory – and how to keep it everlasting.
    Thank you again for writing!

  51. If you’re not reading these posts, well I’m guessing you’re out of wifi or you live off the grid. Great stuff.

  52. Sebastian:

    I am very happy to see that you are writing again. I missed reading your stories over the past two or three months. Welcome back, and keep up the good work.

    Steve Rhinelander

  56. Not sure how this decentralized new system works. As I see it I feel like I am running in circles chasing my tail like a dog or cat. That makes one dizzy and nauseous. By this I mean the crypto is still linked to or even created and still supporting the same elite I/we in my family want to get away from. If Bitcoin ties to a patent I have studied from Gates and Ethereum to Musk my studies show it still ties entirely to same technocrat system I want to not participate in which is seeking to own everything on the 3D globe and act as a dictatorship or autocracy of tyranny. The problem I see is cognitive dissonance around divide/conquer or Hegelian Dialectic where they created the problem, we have reacted, and they provide us a solution we accept. Yet locally or in groups of our own we have to create an alternate system/reality and timeline that in the metaverse diverges from theirs to break our chains. At least that is now where I sit in my studies. The problem being I use my blog to kind of brush upon a lot through esoterics while avoiding stating the obvious due to censorship being rampant. Social media for me was a nightmare watching how controlled it is indicating a need for an entirely new separate way to exist requiring the greatest of change and losing our limited beliefs. But I do not know what this looks like totally yet. I can not jump from one system run by a perceived megalomaniac to another they create. Insanity does the same expecting it to equal change. I am tired of being taken advantage of or seeing others abused by the twisted minds of the same parasites feeding off their hosts.

  58. I was tense reading this one Sebastián. Your story definitely has a personality and it pulled me into every word; Yes, its entirety. I loved it. #grapplinggreatstory

  63. Inflation the cruelest tax.

    This reader wondering if he will hit the street, our if he will find everybody already in the street

  66. Welcome back Sebastian. It would really be nice to discover the real keys to life’s game. This is a true story or based on a true story, both! Kudos!

  67. Hinting at things, rather than actually saying them. Great writers throughout time have done that. Cheers, Sebastian!

  70. A very realistic short story with succinctly relevant references and reflections about how rigged and unfair the financial system is.

  71. Interesting story which highlights the increasing income gap between rich and poor and the shrinking middle class. Thank you, Sebastian, for calling attention to this growing worldwide problem. The selfishness of some has become the suffering of many. All the best! 🙂

  72. Hello Sabastian! Many go about their lives backward, seeking for themselves what this world has to offer. God said seek ye first the kingdom of God, then all things shall be added unto you! This is what man should seek for, bur man has forgotten their own Father in Heaven that watches over all. The good and the bad! All of our works are recorded in heavenly books. Everything we do from the time we get up in the moning till we go to sleep at night is being recorded. See Revelation 20:12. How many of the people on this earth die without even knowing the purpose of them being born? We living on this planet have been put here for reason! We are to choose who we will follow, God, or Satan. We are being chosen, those God chooses He draws to His Son to be Saved. This is what I believe: https://bit.ly/3IuSAPf Sabastian, I am no writer, but I have been shown something extraordinary. I believe the LOrd Jesus Himself gave me knowledge, secret knowledge hidden by God until the time of the end to be revealed. I know what’s to come. I understand Revelation very well. If you would like ot help me show the world what was shown me, Get in touch. I postedmy web page to my original posts below. If you want to know anything about the time of the end, most of it is there. Good hunting. JImmy Ray.

  74. As it is unfolding, crypto does not seem to be any different, just one more delusion. Sad.

  75. Hoping you are warm and well. Decentralized, digital currency is already rigged. It was a nice dream though. I’m moving to gold and silver.

  77. What an awesome article/story my friend! Yes, we are in a huge monopoly game and like everything in life, there’s a pattern, a recipe, for the outcome. We must figure out what part of the game we’re on and how to either overcome the circumstances or create our own rules. We are the makers of our own universe within this Universe. We fear what we don’t understand, so it’s time to find the pieces to this game, rearrange them and make them work for us. But is it too late? I think there’s still a small window of time left. God bless you always my good friend! Always, MysMav

  81. A great post. The rules are unfair in our society, and they don’t benefit everyone. Why rich become richer while the number of the poor increasing.

  85. Welcome back Relato.

    The way you draw us into the desperation of Jared is superb!
    Have a hundred questions about Jared. Is he a person who had lost his memory?, an immigrant from a peaceful island where he has not been inculcated into “the game” from a young age?
    Is he a late-blooming genius??
    Great satisfaction indeed.
    Wondering if this is part of the novel coz this would be a great plot for it.

    Keep them coming.

  87. Beautifully crafted, Sebastian, as always ! Thank you for inviting me to read.

  88. Excellent story, I like how you smoothly transitioned it from a pessimistic outlook on society to a more hopeful one.

  89. Love the Plato cave imagery and the way you describe the circular game that we all feel we have some small control over. If Jared hacks the system, do have him share. Of course, we’re all hoping for a extra turn, a get out of jail card, or maybe just a bit of property to call our own. I have missed your voice, and I’m pleased to see you back in the blogosphere, although a bit jealous of a few months of special novel writing time. How did it go? Kind regards, K.

  91. I like this story. Just enough information for me to use my imagination, but not too vague as to be boring or uninteresting. You are very talented.

  94. It the Great Reset. The people don’t have to play the game. We decide the rules of society. Not let these rules create them. Why must we always be slaves to the game?
    It a short story but very deep. Great job!!
    This story got my blood boiling!!

  95. An ancient game with a fixed pattern where the rules change according to the times so no one really catches on; distraction from reality remains, while the few who see…are cast to the street. Nice piece.

  98. The rules favor those who are not a slave to money. Once someone takes on debt they become chattel to the owner of that debt. Financial over extension yokes you to the plow.

  101. Nice to see a new story from you! I’ve been hearing the term “Regenerative Capitalism” lately. I need to do more research on the topic, but I’m skeptical that any real change will come of it. As long as there is greed (and we have never known a world without it) I doubt that there could ever be an economic system truly fair and balanced.

  102. This aspect of our lives, to do better, to be better; needs to be talked about more.
    Nice way of bringing it to the fore.

  107. Oh wow. I read this piece, and it affected me dearly. I can relate to Jared wholeheartedly, I’ve fallen to the pitfalls of the rat race time and time again. I’ve been homeless more than once. I’ve suffered bed bugs, sleeping out in the cold of winter in New England, digging through garbage cans for food, and I cannot help but have compassion for all the unfortunate few who are going through Jared’s struggles. The system is rigged. The richer will only ever grow richer and the poor will only ever grow poorer. It will not be long until a loaf of bread will sell for the wages of a day.

  108. I love the ethereal nature of this piece. It mirrors the way the game is, how sometimes we don’t know the rules or even know there is a game. Thank you for sharing this, and thank you for its thought provoking nature. 😎

  109. Thanks for the like (Liberty Belle – global South and cryptos)…thought I’d return the compliment by having a look at your site, and found this story! How apposite!

  111. Okay, I like this very much. It is an interesting strategy you are using in centering the fiction on rules and the games we must play, even when we have to play those games in real life, which of course is non-fiction. I thought this quote “Our turns allow us to move in a circle that always returns us to the same place.” was the most concerning for me because it reminds me of a literal cul-de-sac, and our lives can feel that way. I like this. Nice job!

  113. That was prophetic for me! I closed my linkedin today. No benefit to my life – just my own ego. I don’t care what people think. And these days, nobody knows me, and I don’t know anyone else. 🙂 It was a perfect story for today. Everyone is worthy of a place to belong. Great story and message.

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  115. I really love your artwork – the darkness – and appreciate the effort you make as an artist, including the time taken to translate your stories into English, and present them in such a professional and appealing way. This one speaks to me as someone who has managed to escape wage slavery, but still struggles to find my way where there’s no clear path and I now oftentimes have to make the rules up as I go. Great job Sebastian! I’m happy to support you whenever I can.

    Martin

  116. It started out so depressing, and all I wanted to do was go to sleep, to dream it away. Then the character unlocked the idea that offered him a solution and I woke up from my drowsy depression.

    Well written.

  117. This is not merely, we should say not merely, “It is impossible for the same thing both to be a, and not to be a, ” or “a is not not-a, ” but also, “a is known to be a”-or even, “a is a ‘-” by reason of its exclusion of not-a.” This is not merely a fictional story for it “is” a work of genius.

    Bravo
    sorry so late but it deems that I have Leukemia and that just fucked up everything.
    Namaste’
    Loose Cannon

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