Evolution Island: Kill to Survive

A tale for another time

Madeline didn’t accept Aaron’s helping hand, but got back up on her own. Sighing heavily, she slowly looked up. Her eyes stared at him, almost blankly, with an expression bordering between annoyed and anxious.

“Gilbert won’t like it if we team up,” she spoke at last. “We all have our reasons for being here, but have to fend for ourselves. If he finds out that we’ve teamed up, he will increase the difficulty and try his best to kill us.”

“He can’t change the difficulty now,” Zach replied. “I’ve activated a global anti-cheat. It would take the whole team of devs to bypass that.”

“See? You’ve no reason to worry about Gilbert. He no longer controls this world,” Aaron added in support.

“It doesn’t matter. Our bodies are in life pods now. Gilbert can pull the plug any time he wants,” Madeline said. “This isn’t just a game. Our lives are on the line here. If Gilbert feels we aren’t playing by the rules, he’ll not hesitate to kill us. That man is dangerous!”

“He’s got around 500 people watching the stream. Killing us off would hurt his viewership. He wants us to go down fighting. People are literally betting on our chances of survival. Gilbert would never do something as stupid as pulling the plug.”                           

“What if you’re wrong? What if he’s got others to replace us?”

“He’s invested far too many resources to get us here. He wouldn’t just let it all go to waste.”

“But we still need his permission to get out of this world.”

“We don’t,” Aaron said, shaking his head. He opened up his digital map and pointed to the last island. “All we have to do is reach the fortress. There has to be some mechanism there to teleport us back to our own world.”

“Why would the Conqueror’s Fortress have such a device?”

“Because Gilbert would never enter this game without a safety net. If, at any point of time, things get out of his hand, he’d need a safe way to get back to the real world.”

Both Madeline and Isabella looked at Aaron, confused. They had no idea what he was talking about.

“Hold on a second,” Madeline said, re-assessing the situation. “You mean to say that Gilbert Hawthorne is inside this game world?”

Hearing this, Zach’s lips curved into a half-smile. He looked at Aaron and said, “Looks like they didn’t get the memo. They still think Gilbert’s pulling strings from the outside.”

Madeline gave Aaron a questioning stare, her face beset with confusion, while Isabella stood quietly behind her.

Aaron picked up the Restoration Potion and placed it in her hand. As she sipped on the potion, he explained everything from the beginning, filling out all the missing details. He revealed how Zach was one of the part-time game testers working on the project and slowly things started becoming clear to her. There was surprise written all over her face as he disclosed the real identity of the Global Champion. It took the girls a good few minutes to accept the fact that Gilbert was actually the player occupying the Conqueror’s fortress.

This key information changed everything. Madeline and Isabella had been doing their best to avoid upsetting Gilbert in any way. All this time, they had no clue that he was in the same virtual world as them. They were under the impression that Zeus911 was actually a pro e-sports player who had been hired by Gilbert to raise the stakes.

When Aaron had finished explaining everything, he asked Zach to take a look at their Z-bands. It was exactly what Aaron had suspected. Both Madeline and Isabella had complete communication and tracking functionality enabled. Zach quickly disabled all comms channels and deleted the tracking program.

“Gilbert’s deaf now,” Aaron said. “And his only eyes are the streaming channels.”

“And you think he will just sit there and watch while we try to take him for a ride?” Madeline asked.

“No, I expect him to make life super difficult for us, but that won’t stop us from getting to him. He can’t change the original source files anymore. So, it severely limits what he can throw at us.”

Madeline remained silent for a few seconds and then asked, “How sure are you that he will fight us fair and square and actually allow us to reach the final island?”

“150%!” Zach replied. “I’ve worked with Gilbert long enough to know how vain he is. All his precious viewers are watching him now. That puts us at an advantage. He has already entered the game as the Global Champion. If he backs out now or tries something sly, it will ruin his reputation. He thinks he is the best MMORPG player alive, and he will do anything to prove his point. So, yeah, he would never shy away from a challenge. He feels the need to show his viewers that he can defeat the best gamers all by himself.”

“His pride will be his fall, but for that we need to work together,” Aaron said.

“Our goal is to reach the last island and enter his fortress. The mechanism to get back to the real world should be in his personal chamber,” Zach explained.

Madeline reconsidered all her available options and then asked, “Why are you guys here?”

“We told you already, we were updating this game when suddenly our consciousness merged with our characters,” Aaron answered.

“So, Gilbert didn’t reach out to you?”

“Why would he?”

“Because he did contact us,” Madeline replied. “Gilbert reached out to us via email and offered us a contract for testing out the game in person.”

“Why the hell would you even agree to something like that?”

“Cause we needed the money.” Madeline gripped her twin axes firmly, her eyebrows furrowed and her expression underwent a drastic change. She looked disturbed by her thoughts. “We never expected this game to be this realistic. The NPCs here have real emotions and are capable of thought. Everything is messed up. We can feel the pain even though our bodies are in the real world. And there is no way to know if the re-spawn mechanic will work all the time. This was supposed to be a 2 hour long gameplay test, but he tricked us. And now we’re just stuck here. I don’t even know how much time has passed in the real world.”

“Our final exams were due in two weeks' time, when we first arrived here. All of us have been screwed over by Gilbert. But I swear to God, he won’t be having the last laugh. We will beat him at his own game.”

“I hope you’re right, Aaron,” Madeline put away her weapons and let her expression soften towards them. “I don’t care what happens to me, but I love my sister above everything else. It’s my fault that she’s in this mess.”

“Don’t say that, Maddy,” Isabella’s voice trembled as she tried to hold back her tears. “You’re the best sister ever. I know how much you care about me.”

Madeline teared up and hugged her little sister. Aaron felt like there was a lot more to their story than met the eye. Madeline seemed overprotective about Isabella, almost too overprotective. For now, he decided not to pry too deep into their personal affairs.

“I need an answer from you,” Aaron said. “What’s it gonna be?”

Madeline pulled herself back from the hug and looked into Isabella’s eyes. “It’s your call, Izzy. You’ve got better gut instincts than me.”

Isabella wiped the tears from her cheeks and put on an act of being strong. In her confident voice, she replied, “I want you to beat the crap out of Zeus911. And you’re gonna need a team for that!”

Madeline smiled at her and patted her on the head. Clearing her throat, she turned around to give an answer to Aaron. “We’re ready to team up with you guys, but I’ll take the lead.”