Ten Years Gone

"User MY had some...interesting ideas about what will happen to us in the future. But regardless of what happens to the Users in this world, or where each of our worlds' stories end, I know that BZPB has been a part of our lives in so many ways. We've laughed. We've argued. We've cried. We've helped each other. We've forged ideas and conversations across oceans. All of us have grown as writers and as friends. This decade taught us so much, and I hope it will continue to inspire us, not just in fiction, but in our own real battles. Not against robots, or Makuta, or wizards, or aliens, but against our own personal trials and tribulations. Whether we stay with this place, or move to something else, we’ll always remember our experiences, and each other."

- The Architect (as written by User MK) to King Charvak

Ten Years Gone is a single-chapter short story featuring the Users that was posted on March 31st, 2018, to coincide with the tenth anniversary of BZPB itself.

Summary
Within the User HQ on BZPower, most of the remaining Users - the Architect, User MK, User Kon, User LM, User Red, User Paws, User MY, User Ferret, User Zev, and User Shroom - gather to celebrate the tenth anniversary of BZPB. User Nif joins them via a video call and User JS/Captain Eurobeat and User Clay arrive soon afterwards in the Night of Fire, which touches down on a landing pad adjacent to the User HQ.

Though User MK enjoys the celebrations, he can't help but wonder what it would have been like if King Charvak, the man who created the first ever BZPB topic (described in this story as "the man who provided the paper" for the Architect's drawing board), had stuck around to witness what BZPB would evolve into past 2008. This gives User MK an idea for a BZPB tenth anniversary special story, which he pulls User Kon aside to tell him about.

Later, the Architect leads King Charvak, who is stated to have been "on ice for far too long", into a previously-unseen room in the User HQ that is filled with arcade-like machines, each one containing a BZPB universe. The Architect demonstrates to Charvak how BZPB has evolved over the past decade by showing him the machine that contained the first ever version of BZPB, then the machines that contain the Original Universe, Reborn Universe, Unending Universe, SORAverse, and many others. Each machine serves to recap the events that defined those universes, with on-screen annotations labelling multitudes of characters and concepts that featured in those universes.

Charvak is amazed at how BZPB has evolved in the decade he was absent, but grows concerned for the future of BZPB when the Architect states his intention to retire and let the other Users take over his duties. The Architect reassures him by explaining that BZPB is not dying; it is changing, just as it has always been. His comments are supported by User MK and User Kon, who appear to join the Architect and Charvak to reflect on a decade of BZPB.

Characters

 * The Users:
 * The Architect
 * Captain Eurobeat
 * King Charvak
 * User Clay
 * User Ferret
 * User Kon
 * User LM
 * User MK
 * User MY
 * User Nif
 * User Paws
 * User Red
 * User Shroom
 * User Zev