Life Afterlife: the Purg

Episode 2

I scream as I’m dropped onto a dusty floor, landing on my rear from at least several inches high in the air. Pai flashes to life next to me, its face still glowing with an emotionless smile.

“My apologies. I will have to recalculate so that you are able to land on your feet next time.” Pai emits a few whirring and beeping sounds as it hovers by my head.

“Please do,” I grumble, dusting myself off as I get to my feet. “Where am I now?”

I swivel my head around, my jaw dropping as I get a good look at mew new surroundings. I’m outside, standing on what looks like some sort of enormous, gladiator-style battleground – except for the fact that it’s completely desolate. Gray ruins of unidentifiable structures are collapsed and scattered across the dusty floor. The air is acrid, filled with tiny flecks of debris, and I only now realize that my eyes are stinging.

“Where …” I begin again, but I can barely speak.

“I am pleased to announce that I have successfully transported us to an empty checkpoint within the first layer of the Purg,” Pai says, twirling. “Now, I am obligated to give you more information about your mission. Please hold.”

Pai clears its throat – or does its best reenactment of what would be throat-clearing. It spins on its side, as though preparing to charge off into the sky – but then stops just as quickly as it began.

“Allow me to formally welcome you to the Purg, Skye. We have departed from the loading section and are now standing on the Layer 1 – the first level of the Purg. Here, you will face a vast open world with a variety of creatures, environments, and missions to explore. You will remain in Layer 1 until you have reached Level 30 or have received another method of progressing.”

“Level wha –” I stop myself, shaking my head. “Never mind, Pai. So, what’s the point of this stupid game?”

“I am so glad you asked, as that was going to be my next point of speech!” Pai beams. “Once you are able to complete all three levels of the Purg, you will be allowed to return back to your life, having made a full recovery from death. You can be sure that your second life will be filled with much luck from that point on – riches, happiness, whatever you can imagine! It will be the life you never had. The creators of the Purg have been generous enough to grant this opportunity to you and various others who have had unfortunate life circumstances. Do you have any questions?”

I stare.

Pai blinks back.

The audacity of the question finally drags an explosion out of me. “Are you kidding me?”

Pai keeps smiling.

“Look,” I say, wringing my hands wildly, “if I’m supposed to die, I’m just going to accept death. I don’t want to participate in some creepy-a*s game to go back to my shitstorm of a life, all right?” I turn in circles, head flinging in every which direction. “How do I get out of here?”

“If you would like to leave, you must win or fail the game,” Pai explains matter-of-factly. “But I assure you that you should do the best possible job you can in order to win. Imagine …” Its voice grows wistful. “Seeing your father again, paying off your death, going to college –”

I freeze. “How do you know all that?” I didn’t know my voice could sound like this. “Don’t talk about my –”

“This information is encoded into me by the creators of the Purg before I even meet you in the loading stage,” Pai says, tilting its body in confusion. “Please do not be alarmed, Skylar Song. This is the case with every contestant. Each Pai is tailored to its respective player, and there is no danger of a privacy breach in the Purg.”

I let out a slow breath. “Listen. Pai? Buddy? Pal? Let me get out of here. Please.”

Pai nods eagerly. “Of course! All you have to do is die –”

Pai suddenly lets out a yelp as the battleground beneath us begins rumbling. The entire field is somehow jerked into the air – as though someone had broken off this piece of ground and was now dangling it from their fingertips. I scream, clinging onto one of the ruins still attached to the ground as earth and stones fly past me. I don’t dare look at the horror that is taking place below my dangling feet as the ground – now, now dirt – crumbles into the air.

Pai floats beside my face, its voice urgent. “It looks as though we are under attack from a Goliath!”

“That’s great, but what do I do?” I screech.

The piece of earth suddenly wobbles back and forth, as though the entity holding it is shaking it up and down. My stomach churns angrily, and before I know it, my fingers have slipped from the stone I had been clutching. I let out an ear-piercing shriek as I fall through who-knows-how-many feet of air, my eyes squeezed shut. Pai is yelling something at me, but I can’t hear any of it.

I brace myself for impact – but instead of the hard splat I was expecting, I find myself yanked onto something soft.

“Hang on!” a voice yells from right behind my head.

I obey without much time to think about it, my hands gripping the soft thing under me. We’re shooting through the sky, soaring above tree canopies and stony crags. When I dare peek over my shoulder, I see multiple gigantic, rocky figures – like mountains come to life with sharp, jagged stone teeth and nothing else on their faces – a couple hundred meters away, standing between the clouds. They’re rampaging through forests and uprooting trees, and I see one distinctly shaking the battleground on which I had been standing just a few moments ago. It looks like it’s waiting for something to fall out, but when all it gets are stones and dirt, it lets out an annoyed growl and flings the earth away.  

“What the hell …” I breathe.

“Hold on tight,” the same voice from before says. “We’re going back.”

“What?”

We make a sharp turn and head straight towards the giants again. The whipping wind on our faces makes it hard for me to say anything, but I want to scream at the driver of this airborne vehicle to stop.

Then, I see it. It’s a person, clinging onto one of the giant’s arms. The giant is trying to grab at the figure, but its hands are too bulky to aim properly. The person on the arm manages to get to his feet on the stone bicep. He looks like he’s contemplating jumping off.

“Over here!” the driver yells, and we rush hastily towards the stranger.

The stranger looks up at us, surprised, and then lets out a yelp as the giant’s hand comes swatting down on its arm – the impact sending the person tumbling into the sky.

“Make some room,” the person sitting behind me announces, but before I can react, something heavy slams into me, and a head crashing down onto my lap.

A young man’s face stares up at me with wide eyes, his face pale with shock. He quickly pulls himself up and looks from me to the person behind me and then back to me again.

“Hello,” he finally says, his voice wavering. “I’m Noah.”

“Congratulations!” Pai materializes out of the air next to me. “You have unlocked an achievement: First Flight! Your reward, one hundred gold, will be deposited into your account.”

A second Pai appears out of nowhere and says the same thing to Noah.

“Word of advice,” the person sitting behind me says gruffly. “Mute those things. They’ll get pretty annoying after a while.”

I finally turn to get a look at him. He’s probably several years older than I am, with unruly, wavy brown hair that’s been haphazardly cut. His golden eyes stare stoically ahead, even as I’m observing him, and his chiseled face looks like it’s been the victim of a DIY-shaving incident – stubble growing in mismatched directions along his jaw.

Then, I look down. My fingers are still gripping the giant brown feathers underneath me.

“Is that a giant eagle?” I say.

“Glad you finally noticed,” the guy behind me smirks.

I’m suddenly very self-conscious of the fact that I’m sandwiched between two men who are a little too close to me for comfort right now. Yet there is no way to put any distance between us because we’re riding a giant. f*****g. eagle.

“So, are we going to talk about it?” Noah asks.

“Talk about what?” Eagle Man says nonchalantly.

“Those giant mountains trying to kill me.”

Eagle Man snorts. “You and her both, kid. You’re both clearly new. Those were Goliaths. They’re violent, vicious, and have no vision and smell, but make up for that with their hearing. Typically, they’re not a problem, since they hate water enough that they’re confined to that specific area. Too bad you two got unlucky enough to be dropped off there.”

I throw Pai, who is matching our speed in the air next to me, a dirty look.

“Thank you for saving us,” Noah says earnestly. I feel a little bad now, compared to this kid’s politeness.

“I’m Skye,” I offer.

“John,” Eagle Man says without missing a beat. He then lets out a small, dubious laugh. “Man, you kids got a lot to learn. Giving away your real names to me like that – you must really trust me already, huh?”

“You did just save our lives,” Noah says.

“John” sighs. “You can’t believe in everyone who does one nice thing for you. Some people will come take advantage of your trustingness and catch you off-guard. You have to be on your toes here.”

“That’s right,” I say, Pai’s explanation of the Purg flooding back to me. “This is some stupid game we’re supposed to be playing.” I’m suddenly filled with a rush of annoyance. “Well, in that case, I do not thank you for saving me, sir. I don’t actually want to play this.”

The man sounds just as annoyed as I am. “Kids these days. Don’t understand the value of life.” He shrugs. “Suit yourself. I’ll push you off Eagle right now if you’d like.”

Looking down at the hundreds and hundreds of feet below me, I suddenly don’t feel as compelled to be stubborn.

I clear my throat. “Well, John. Where are you taking us?”

He smiles. “Somewhere that’ll make you want to stay.”