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Madeline and Isabella watched from a distance as the volcano erupted, expelling burning hot lava through its various orifices. Rivers of scalding red gushed out from its sides, flooding the plains with fire.
The sisters knew no living being in the vicinity could have survived this eruption. Zach had assured Madeline that he’d teleport himself to a safe location, but her gut feeling was telling her that something had gone wrong.
“Where is he? Is he safe, sister?” Isabella asked, with uncertainty in her voice.
Madeline hesitantly opened the friend list on her Z-band, hoping against all hope to see the green light beside Zach’s name. Alas, it was just as she feared! The dot beside Zach’s name had turned solid red, indicating that he was offline now.
“Oh God, no. This is not happening!” Madeline was in a state of complete shock now. The green dot beside Aaron’s name was still blinking, but in Zach’s case it was red. This only meant one thing—Aaron could still be saved, but Zach had been disconnected from the server permanently.
Reading the expression on her elder sister’s face, Isabella could already tell Zach hadn’t made it out alive. But she still harboured the hope that they might be able to bring him back. Her illusion was soon broken by Madeline’s downcast eyes and hushed tone.
“Izzy....Zach...he’s not coming back.”
“What are you saying, sis? You know he can respawn if we find a save point. That’s how this game works. You told me so!”
Isabella refused to believe that there could be a more permanent impact inside a game world. In her mind, she was pretty sure that respawning was as natural as breathing. Gilbert himself had made it abundantly clear that this was just a game and they would re-spawn in their virtual avatars if anything went wrong. She still hadn’t realised that she had been lied to and this was nothing like those VR games she was used to playing.
“Izzy, just listen to me please.” Madeline went down on her knees and cupped Isabella’s face in her hands. She looked into her eyes with all the tenderness of a mother and calmly began explaining the harsh reality of their situation. “Gilbert lied to us, Izzy. This is not like our favourite games. You can get hurt here, just like in the real world. And....the players don’t come back sometimes.”
Isabella listened quietly and tried her best to understand what her sister was trying to explain, but she couldn’t quite grasp the concept of players not returning.
“If they don’t come back, then where do they go?”
“They just...disappear.”Madeline paused to gather her thoughts and then continued. “When they don’t come back that means they can’t wake up inside the real world.”
“But we all went to sleep there. Why can’t we get up?”
“They get sick Izzy, very sick. They can’t move their muscles anymore and their brain stops working.”
“So, Zach can’t wake up again?” the young girl asked, with fear flashing in her big watery eyes.
Madeline gently shook her head. She didn’t have the strength to put her reply into words. It was only going to hurt more and make her sister feel even more scared. There was nothing they could do for Zach, but they could still try to save Aaron.
Now with 2 players down, the team was back to where it had started. Madeline and Isabella had to play as a duo once again. While they had managed to get through Solaris just fine as a pair, things were a lot different here on Ashenfort.
There were no human settlements here for them to rest and resupply and they couldn’t even save their progress. On top of that, the enemies here were not organic life forms and they had limited options when confronted with a group of fire-based life forms. Aaron and Zach had the most suitable Predator builds for surviving in this environment, but both of them were dead.
Madeline’s first priority right now was to find a way to bring Aaron back. She knew they would need a good team leader, someone with a good bit of gaming experience to get through this island. They still hadn’t encountered any Zone Guardians here, but they would almost certainly have to defeat one to unlock the next Island. And their best chance of defeating such a strong foe would be to fight it with a strong and well-balanced team.
After consoling her little sister, Madeline got back on her feet. There were no visible enemies in the vicinity, but that was no reason to let their guard down. Before moving on, Madeline decided to consult the map once more. As she was scanning the holographic image, something weird caught her eyes. The quest marker on the volcano was missing.
Normally, when a quest was failed, the marker would still be there. The volcano had erupted, but it hadn’t been destroyed. The treasure chest with the Revival Gem inside was still supposed to be inside it.
To get a better understanding of the situation, Madeline opened her quest log. The side quest was still displayed there, but it was labelled as ‘completed.’ This didn’t make a shred of sense to her, since they hadn’t been able to recover the game. The only conclusion she could draw here was that Zach had managed to unlock the treasure chest and obtain the Revival Gem inside, before dying in the volcanic eruption.
Madeline was still studying the map, when a glowing red portal opened in front of them. She immediately equipped her dual axes and yelled at Isabella to get back.
“We meet once again, brave adventurers. I hope you haven’t forgotten me,” a familiar old voice greeted them from the other side.
“You bastard! You never should have come back!” Madeline gritted her teeth and transformed into her Whirlwind form.
The person who stepped outside the portal was that same mysterious stranger who had given them this side quest. He was still wearing that red robe, but he seemed to be shrouded by a misty gray veil.
“Who the hell are you?” Madeline questioned. “You can’t be an NPC. You’re something else. Speak up before I slice you open!”
- Writer
