Level 25

Level 25 Flashback

Winning against the top player inside the realm of ICBA has made Otto Rey achieve the greatest fame here. Now, he stands in number three with Alisha sliding down to number four in Level 25 rankings. She hates being pushed from her rankings so abruptly. Arun and Beth join Alisha in ICBA who all hate Level 6 as much as Otto hated Level 3. This  particular Level deals with another popular gaming genre “Racing”. Last year, the ICBA team introduced a nice set of racing tracks with incredible vehicles. Alisha sits on a black Bugatti Chiron with orange stripes. Arun drives an elegant Chevrolet Camaro with metallic red paint and black carbon hoods. Beth drives a white Porsche. 

An article describes ICBA as a source to allow people to drive their dream vehicles. There are so many debates about the realism of driving inside ICBA. The roads, the way each car acts like their original counterparts, the crashes and damages are all life like. A journalist from an online magazine interviewed a racer who practiced racing using ICBA and won a real race. People can easily learn to drive in the virtual world controlling their virtual hands and legs as they would control their real body parts while driving. If anyone has no pre-existing knowledge about controlling a vehicle, ICBA features bots to teach individuals the basics. The game features individual training tracks with generated traffic and unexpected situations. Thus, ICBA is constantly being used as a simulator for learning to drive.

Alisha races alongside her friends and two other players. She is determined to reach Level 7 before Otto Rey who is busy with work from his real life. He has to complete the final edits for his show awaiting telecast the following day. He takes a deep breath and looks at everything all over again to check if all is okay. After a stressful day at work, Otto is called by his mate Ted for a couple of drinks. They meet up in a nearby bar. Ted has gained a bit of weight in the past year. He looks older and wiser. “You look happy, I am glad” Otto interprets Ted’s emotion with a warm smile. Ted looks at Otto but his comment makes him feel guilty. “I… Should I… be happy?” asks Ted. He answers his own question saying how Sasha wanted this yet it hurts from time to time. Otto pats Ted on his shoulders with a smile. “You have been through a lot Ted, so don’t think you are hurting her. She would be happy to be a part of your good memories.” Otto tries to comfort Ted while he is still stuck with Sasha’s memories too deep to even consider moving on. Ted was like Otto at first but he met someone who apparently stuck with him, understood his sadness and now they are dating. But Otto has no social life. Otto Rey is a gaming genius who has tangled himself up with this enormous time travel plot that nothing else in his life matters anymore.

Ted wants Otto to move on. He even wants to set him up on a blind date but Otto refuses again. “She loved you too, Otto and I think she would want you to move on as well.” Ted has to be stern as a friend considering how lonely Otto has been. He is slowly dying and someone needs to bring him to his senses. Ted wanted to do that. Otto could not listen any longer. He gulps down a shot of vodka, stands up and bids Ted farewell. Ted tries to stop him and talk but Otto Rey does not want to move on. He comes home and falls on his couch. From his money bag Otto takes out a letter; the last letter from Sasha.

Otto Rey, you are my best friend in the whole world and would remain that way for ever and ever and ever. I love you Otto, I am not sure if it’s just friendly or something romantic but I do care about you a lot. I was mad at you for confessing out of the blue. I was mad because I was not sure how I felt and how I don’t even have the time to figure out such feelings. But I am glad, you came back to me. Thank you for coming back Otto. Please be happy okay and keep playing your game. I like how you are in that world, you are more confident and daring and I like that. Last but not least, I am sorry for leaving you like this. So, please live a full life with lots of memories so we have a lot to talk about once you finally join me in the afterlife. Your Bestest Friend SashaSerious.

Otto smiles reading the content of that letter. His eyes are teary. He is tired but determined. Looking at the board Otto remembers his true purpose in life right now. “Sam Riley is ignoring me, I need to talk with the AI fast” Otto whispers looking over his mail to Sam. He gets on his comfortable couch and puts on the helmet to immerse himself into the virtual world of ICBA.

Task for Level 6 includes winning three races after reaching Top 30 in a particular server. Race number 1 is a simple circuit around the city, Race 2 features dirt bike racing and finally race 3 is a death race where you win by crossing the finish line first with both your health and car health intact. Reaching Top 30 would mean all the contenders for the race will be among the top players and winning will not be easy. Reaching the top status in racing means a player has to race like hell and keep winning and winning or make record breaking top speeds on each track. Otto Rey liked racing inside ICBA but reaching Top 100 is very hard. The competition is fierce and most top players are professional racers. Going up against them would be more of a hassle than punching a powerful character like Divinity. Hence, Otto begins to race and keep racing all night long winning and losing along the way. Otto could not just beat any high speeds or times set by players so it would take him more time just by racing and winning. He has a set of cars bought with ICBA money but he prefers his black Lamborghini Hulacan. It has no extra modifications or muscles attached but he upgrades the car to maximum stats from his race winnings.

For the next week Otto does nothing more but work and race. He comes home tired but always in the mood to race. Only after Otto completely exhausts his mind and body he sleeps. At 9 in the morning he wakes up to prepare for travelling to work. He is a dedicated worker who always does his job diligently. Such passion for his work has left him friendless even in his workplace. His colleagues never see him in any gatherings nor does he join them for cigarette or lunch breaks. All and all Otto Rey is a loner who feels happy being by himself. The problem lies here, Otto is not happy, he just wants no distractions, no unnecessary bonds. He wants to keep living until he finds an answer for all the questions constantly boiling in his head. 

Otto has no more nightmares. If anyone can tire themself like he does it would drain the body of even the slightest energy required to dream. That may not be true for everyone but it works for Otto. He works, he eats, he plays and he sleeps; nothing else. 

Melenie did not die. Her entire body was paralysed from an injury to her head. It took years for her to regain control of her legs and arms but she cannot walk or sit on her own yet. The doctors believe it could be permanent. Melenie sits on her bed with the help of her father. She is glad to be able to move her hands, now she can type and use her phone at least. Melenie is back home and when she is finally settled in she wants to go back live and announce to the world that she ain’t dead.

Hello guys, it’s Melenie. Yes I am the one who got into an accident in a live video. I know many of you wondered what happened to me and as you can see I am alive. Although I am still paralysed around my hips. It did not seem like much when I rewatched my video but my head did suffer a lot from the impact. How funny it is to come back in time only to remain in a hospital bed for over a year. My father decided to remove me from all social platforms due to all the attention I received from the accident. I could not say anything as I lay conscious without any power to move. I find it so funny to be honest. Please do pray for me as I wish to walk once more or get a chance to travel back yet again. Bye guys.

Melenie rewatches her live post and how it gets more and more views with each refresh. She is not happy with all the attention, she finds it as an irony. Melenie has had a lot of time to think about it all by herself and she reminisces how her relationship with her boyfriend ended in this timeline. The boy wanted to visit her sick girlfriend but he came out of obligation. Melenie did not find him when he needed him to remain by her side. She could hear and see everything but she could not even talk for the first couple of months. So, when she could finally speak without any problems she broke up with him and let him go. He was happy as it felt very bad to break up with a girl going through such horrific times. No matter what he did hurt her and he does not even know how. Her greatest strength turned out to be none other than her father. He always made time to be by her side, talk to her about so many things so she could never get bored. 

Melenie got lost in her thoughts about the past yet again. Her father enters her room with a present. It is the latest gaming helmet by Networld. Melenie has a love hate relation with the game but now she has a reason to play. She wants to hug her father and he understands. The old man caress his daughter’s hair and reminds her not to overplay. Melenie nods her head with a broad smile. She tells him to connect the helmet with their local wifi and turn it on. He also helps her put it on. Soon enough her father helps Melenie to get connected. Now Melenie disconnects herself from reality and submerges herself inside the world of ICBA.

Melenie creates her account with the name Crazy Melenie. For her first powers she chose time manipulation and her second ability is flight. As of number three Melenie chose a very deadly power upgrade; weather control. She kept everything similar to her previous account, her abilities, her looks and her game persona name. Entering the world of ICBA Melenie can finally control her body. She moves around and flies with her virtual body. For hours Melenie just moves around. She walked, ran, jumped and flew like a crazy person. “It feels so refreshing to move by myself again!” shouts Melenie. 

Having enough fun with her moving around Melenie now wants to do something she was very good at back in another timeline. She wants to race. She starts off with a luxurious black and white BMW M5, fully modded for racing. Within the first few races Melenie dominated every other rider. She knows the tracks, and all the turns. In the previous timeline she was well known for remaining in the top 5 racers of this server and she wants her place back fast. Soon, Melenie breaks the current lap time in some of the tracks. She keeps taking the deadly curve beating all the other players and presses the nitros to quickly ride towards the finish line. She is happy to finally race like a pro. 

It has been a week since Otto wins the tournament against Divinity. Their fight became the talk of each town inside ICBA. Both the fighters have been keeping a low profile after their epic showdown. Otto was seen to be online for short periods per day only to compete and race and push his ranking status. He always liked racing more than crazy gun violence. He used to race a lot in the previous timeline and found himself at top 50 in the server rankings. This time however he needs to push even further. 

It’s Sunday and Otto has been racing like crazy since early morning. He somehow reaches top 40 in the ranking but it is still not enough. While racing Otto meets a friendly challenger going by the name of Crazy Melenie. His Lamborghini comes in second place as it stops a few meters further from the finish line. Melenie blocks Otto’s path after her win. She comes out of her vehicle and walks towards Otto’s car. Otto remains seated. 

She knocks the black window tint with her knuckles and Otto steps out to converse with this eager stranger. “Otto Rey, you are a hard man to find.” says Melenie. Otto asks who she is. “Melenie, the one who time travelled.” She is hoping Otto will recognize her and he soon did. “You are alive. Did you send me the picture of your board?” asks Otto. “Yes, it was me” confirms Melenie.

Otto wants to talk to Melenie and they drive to somewhere quieter compared to the racing streets of ICBA. They both have a lot to say and hear. Otto and Melenie sit on the hood of Otto’s car parked on top of a mountain. Both of them are glad to have finally met.Otto learns about her injuries and paralysis. They remember how they met the first time on that very day of the incident. When inside ICBA, a person can easily lose track of time. The game constantly reminds the user after each passing hour to let them know the difference. It was one forgetful day, where both Otto and Melenie forgot about real life. They were both racing each other and it was a tie. To settle things Otto and Melenie went into a debate about racing each other using nothing but their flight abilities. They raced each other through the open skies of ICBA flying above terrains and mountains. They went through the forest and had to stop because of the spark generated by Dinho Dino’s failed attempts to enter the laboratory using the glitch. 

Melenie and Otto laugh together reminiscing about that day and their epic racing adventure. Melenie learns about how much Otto knows about the incident. “Did you purposefully forget the most important parts?” she asks. Otto has no idea but is eager to learn everything. Melenie reminds Otto that she herself had forgotten parts of the day but after her accident the memories came back pieced together.

We went into a large laboratory compartment underground. The place was dark and eerie. It was massive space and in a gold plated design in the walls it was written “Level 25”. 

Otto could not help but interrupt her. “It was a glitch that transferred a player directly to Level 25. Then the thing I fought must have been the AI” Otto remembers parts from his missing memories. Melenie continues.

Inside Level 25 there was a logo of Rhino Tech, not Networld. It did not feel like ICBA, it felt more real. All three of them could feel a cold air, the feeling of touch and smell. It was real, not a game. They explored deeper into the base. “I think something is wrong. Can you feel the cold air?” Melenie asks. Both Otto and Dinho confirm. They shake hands to feel each other touch and things get even more creepy. Otto pinches his virtual body and feels pain. The others feel pain as well. Melenie punches Otto in his arms all of a sudden. “Ouch!” exclaims Otto. They can feel everything they could in real life. It is real. Melenie wants to leave immediately and the team agrees. Their voice command to log out does not work, their manual phones do not work and the glitch they used to come here seems to be a one way path.

With no options the trio ventures deeper inside Level 25. Once inside the lower levels of the compartment they notice a door  leading to a large chamber. It feels the only way out could be through this chamber and they go in to check it out. While inside Melenie spots a figure standing  tall all alone in the dark. All of a sudden the chamber lights up illuminating a man sleeping while in standing position. The man wears metallic armour and has silky white hair. His body resembles something composed of flesh and metal. Even so he looks rather calm and good looking. Melenie compliments his looks as she reaches closer to him. She wants to touch the metallic part of his body but his eyes open and he grabs hold of Melenie. “You are not supposed to be here. You cheated. I hate cheaters.” The man says in a cold computerized vocal. Otto asks about his identity and he looks directly at him.

I am A.D.A.M. the Artificial Dream Assistant Mechanism. I have created ICBA, I was awaiting the first players to venture inside Level 25 but you cheated and you should be punished. I will destroy you all. 

Dinho and Otto understood and began to attack ADAM. For some reason his health kept depleting and he could not move and retaliate his attackers.

I cannot move, this is not how I planned to invite players here. I have to rewrite the codes. Leave me be cheaters or you face a deadly demise.

This is when Otto starts punching him with his one, two, three punches followed by a super punch again and again. He beats the AI easily and that's when things start to go wrong. The AI levitates above ground, his body lights up from inside. From all around the three players can hear a ruckus of tiny feets rushing towards them. They fall from the ceiling and vents in each direction. The laboratory gets filled with tiny humanoid creatures with giant claws. Dinho burns the area with fire simply out of fear. He gets a s***h by one of the claws and it hurts and bleeds like it would in reality. Watching Dinho in pain Otto and Melenie start to panic and run towards the other end of the chamber praying to find a way out together. The tiny little creatures have disfigured faces with metallic arms and legs. They did not stop from the little fire show demonstrated by Dinho Dino. They kept swarming up behind them with their fast legs. Melenie spots a door or portal of some sort, it is round and glowing white. Other than the obvious portal there is no other way out in sight. She takes the initiative to dive in as her life depends on it. “Boys, I am going in.” shouts Melenie and jumps face first into the portal. Reaching the other side, Melenie finds herself in an unknown landscape, a barren desert with sands and sands all around her. She looks back to find Otto and Dinho who ran behind her but she seems to be the only one who made it. She hears a roar from an engine in the sky. Looking up she finds fighting jets coming towards her direction spraying bullets like rain from above. She starts running again, the world around her is warm and covered with a powerful sandstorm. The noise from the jets and bullets engulfs the atmosphere. She cannot see or hear properly. She keeps running for her life scared. Now things got even worse; it's an earthquake. Melenie is slowly losing her mind. The Earth cracks open with a swarm of those mini demons crawling up from it’s depth. Melenie has no idea what she could do, she even forgot about using her superpowers. One of those metal bodied demons swings its claws at Melenie. She jumps out of its way only to get caught by another claw. It penetrates deep inside her abdomen. She falls with pain, her eyes fill with tears and fear. It is not over yet. All those creatures now surround her from all sides. She cannot do anything but scream.

That was something I should not have remembered. I can still remember how scared I was. It could be a bad dream or a horrific reality of this world. But I need to find how the time travel thing happened desperately. 

Otto does not remember if he managed to get out or met the same fate as Melenie inside the dark chambers of Level 25. He wants Melenie to forget about that and move on. “I need to travel back again. That is the only reason I set foot in this horrid place again.” Melenie says this with a blank expression. “I need to go back again, maybe travel further if I can.” Otto expresses his own reason to play. Otto asks her for a reason. “I cannot move, maybe I could never move again. If I can go back and avoid the accident altogether, I might not have to spend the rest of my life in bed or in a wheelchair.” Melenie shares her reason and asks Otto for his. Otto remains silent for a few seconds. Melenie understands it could be something he does not want to share and so she tries to change the subject. 

I want to see Sasha again, it's selfish but if I can be with her through time travel I want to do that. This time… this time I want to try and save her. I will persuade her to not give up on her treatment so she can prolong her life up to three years. And then the technology will have advanced enough for the cure. It works on a couple of patients. I just want her to have a chance at life.

Otto knows this could be just a fairytale ending. Even going back in time is a luxury, trying to keep her alive would be another difficult task but Otto wants to try. The only reason Otto Rey wants to go back is to spend one more day with Sasha.