Chapter 18: "Meeting"

The sun was rapidly vanishing as we walked down the streets of Climax City. Squares hovered by the sides of the streets, stacking atop one another to form bigger squares, before disintegrating back into tiny squares that reminded me of pixels.
Long red shadows draped over us. Archiver plodded slowly, methodically, an awestruck grin permanent on his face. "Amazing," A flutter of squares flew above our heads. "So many, many years and the stories remain as breathtaking."
We went up a gentle slope leading to a vast brick hall. At the far end sat a towering silhouette, partly concealed by the shadows.
Was it Him?
"Indeed it is," Archiver said in a hushed whisper. "Now, bow." He made me get to my knees.
The silhoutte got up. Garrick. I heard him speak in my head, the way a passing thought would.
Do you know why you are here?
I tried to look up, but an unseen force kept my head lowered.
"Where are my friends?"
They are not your purpose for being here. A means, but not the purpose.
"Show them to me. Now."
You play by my rules now. Your friends will have to wait. I need to speak to you now.
I tried to catch a glimpse of him, but it was getting too dark.
You are here because I allowed you to. From the moment you clicked on that site of blogspot.blogspot.com to this meeting here, all has been planned by me.
I saw in you the same zeal I have for righting all the wrongs in blogging. The same disdain at how something once highly regarded could have been so utterly bastardised time and time again.
"You mean those so-called mediocre blogs?"
Mediocre? More like degrading.
When blogging first began, the world stood still in wonderment. Here was something so personal and life-changing, and accessible to all. The common man on the street could share his thoughts and stories to the world.
Everyone said that blogs would someday rule the world. They would shape the civilisation of the 21st century and slowly phase out all other methods of communication.
But just as the common man made blogging so unique, so too did he destroy it. We watched in horror as blogs became synonymous with mainstream stupidity and irrelevancy. The insightful reads gave way to giggly schoolgirls and ranting lunatics no one understood. And the more such disgraceful writers populated the web, the good writers either stopped blogging or shied away.
Before we knew it, blogging's moment in the sun had passed. It had been nothing more than a fad, a boy band, a way you wore your cap.