Evolution Island: Kill to Survive

‘If you fall asleep now, you will dream. If you study now, you will live your dream.’ Aaron read the motivational quote on his wall for the hundredth time. He was sitting at his study table, gazing at the sleepy black letters which danced across the white pages of his textbook. The ‘Advanced Text Book of Vertebrates’ was currently his greatest foe. No matter how many times he read that stupid inspirational quote on his wall, he couldn’t find the slightest motivation to continue reading that dull text book. Come to think of it, he was quite annoyed with its message. How could he live his dreams if he was stuck in a small 8 by 10 matchbox of a room, wasting his life, reading about boring classifications of animals? “I’m sick of this crap!” he shouted, banging his fists on the table. Deciding to major in Zoology had been the greatest mistake of his life. There was absolutely nothing interesting about the anatomical details of birds and animals living in this world. His final exams were due in two weeks' time and he had barely covered a fraction of the huge syllabus. He had somehow managed to obtain passing grades last time, but this time he felt certain that he was gonna fail. Things would have been a lot different if he had been asked to study about monsters or aliens or the mutated hybrids he fought in his games. If only his books were about the different types of zombies or the various classes of sentient robots which roamed the vast post-apocalyptic wasteland of the future, he would have aced his exams. Aaron leaned back in his plastic chair, put his feet up on the study table and tilted his head back, till he was able to see the other boy sitting on top of the wooden bunk bed. “You know what the problem is?” The curly-haired boy in his early twenties closed the book he was reading and stared in Aaron’s direction. “What?” he asked. He was just a couple of years older than Aaron and studied at the same university. His name was Zachary Finch and he was a full-time student and part-time game tester. Aaron and Zachary had been roommates for over a year now and, since they were both gamers, they bonded quite well. Aaron leaned back even further, almost tipping the chair over and replied, “We live in the most boring world. No one understands gamers. Our parents just want us to get a useless college degree and work a 9 to 5 job like the rest of the lot.” There was frustration in his voice and a look of despair on his face. “I don’t wanna become some vet or environmental scientist! I wanna be a streamer and spend my days playing my favorite games. But they just don’t support me!” “Look man, becoming a famous streamer is not as easy as you think. Even after streaming weekly for 2 years, I have just 300 subs. Finish college, get a job and then you can play games in your free time.” “Gosh, you’re starting to sound exactly like my dad,” Aaron shrugged. “Can’t help it, man. I gotta pay back my student loan somehow. With my current job, I can’t even afford to buy a decent cam. I need to clear my finals this year or I’m screwed.” “I don’t think I’m gonna pass mine,” Aaron sighed regretfully. “I just keep forgetting everything.” Zachary huffed and jumped down from the bed, landing on the ground with a heavy thud. “You seem pretty licked, bro. You gotta blow off some steam.” He took out his laptop from his bag and pulled open a small cabinet. From inside, he fished out a couple of VR headsets and tossed one to Aaron. “How about some Evolution Island? They are introducing a big update tonight.” Aaron’s eyes immediately lit up with excitement. He quickly put on the VR headset and switched on his old gaming PC. Evolution Island was an online VR RPG developed by an indie studio. The game featured an enormous island with 4 different zones, where players would begin their adventure from level 1 and gradually gain experience points through exploration, crafting and combat. Each player was required to choose a playable character, known as a Predator, and select a class, before starting the adventure. To obtain new adaptations and increase character rank, the player had to kill and devour the different creatures on the island. It was one of the first fully immersive open world VR games, and was still in its production phase. Currently, the game was still in its closed beta state, allowing only a few select streamers and testers to access its server. Zachary was one of the part-time testers working on the project, so he had complete access to it. With his special access code, he could invite three other players to join the game. So far, he had only invited Aaron to try it out. As Aaron switched on his PC and turned on his VR headset, it quickly got his adrenaline pumping. He couldn’t wait to escape from this boring life of his and immerse himself in the game. “You all set, Zach?” he called out to his friend as he logged onto his account. “All set here, bud. Let’s go!” After the password verification, they were connected to the main server. [*EVOLUTION ISLAND: KILL TO SURVIVE!*] Bold red letters flashed on the screens of their VR headsets and the intro music played in their ears. The loading screen presented a slideshow of the different zones on the starting island and took them to the profile selection screen. Zach and Aaron eagerly clicked on their profiles, their hands and feet already starting to feel tingly from excitement. In just a few minutes, the game’s biggest update was about to go live. No details had been mentioned on the official website, since the developers wanted it to be a surprise. Aaron gazed at his level 30 Pyromaniac, admiring every piece of his blazing red Flame Deity armor. He had to grind non-stop for 3 weeks to obtain every piece. Even the accessories such as the Fire Demon’s necklace and Phoenix amulet were extremely rare pieces, obtained by completing a set of 50 grueling challenges. He was proud of his character. This was a culmination of many weeks of hard work. “Oi, Aaron, the update goes live in 20.” “That’s a long time.” “Seconds!” Before Aaron could respond, a message popped up on his VR headset. [*A new update is available*] Do you wish to download? [Yes] [No] Without a second thought, he clicked on ‘Yes’. As soon as he made his selection, a blue downloading bar appeared on screen. [*Download Started*] [Downloading update. (3300) Speed: 30 Mb/s Estimated time remaining: 3 minutes.] The downloading continued smoothly and he thanked his lucky stars for the stable network. This was the fastest download speed he had ever seen on his cheap internet. He was beginning to get real excited, when suddenly the download froze halfway and the game crashed. [*System Error*] Would you like to send the error report to the developers? [Yes] [No] [Maybe Later] “Oh, this is just f*****g great! I hate my— He was about to fling his headset away in rage, when suddenly he was zapped by a steady electric surge which caused him to shake vigorously in his chair. The shock paralyzed his whole body and he eventually passed out.