by Zachery Nims
Chapter 3: Six Years Prior
Source: Personal Computer Log
Name: Evo
I stared at myself in the mirror alternating between full armor and no armor. A Polaroid picture of my former self, taken fifteen years ago, was taped to the lower right hand corner of the mirror. I didn’t recognize myself in that photo. I was an obese teenager smiling with sporadic facial hair, holding the BIG AMERICAN FRIED PLATTER, at a county fair. My collared shirt was barely able to tuck into my pants over my enormous belly. Now I stood solid from head to toe, my abs rippling with perfection, a sculpture that the Greeks would have raised proudly.
Pressing the green square button near the center of my rod made my body transform. An oily black battle scorn Spartan helmet masked my cheeks accentuating my eyes. Traditionally the plume was made from coarse horsehairs but mine was lit with a bright red fire that rose a foot above my helm. My chest plate was hardened black steel with white gold rimming my shoulders. My left arm was bare, displaying my sleeve tattoo. It paid homage to the glory days of pixilated graphics. It started with Mario and ended with Guybrush Threapwood, my favorite character from the Monkey Island series, battling Lechuck, the evil villain ghost pirate. My fists were covered with hulk sized black gauntlets. They had a spiral design on the top of each hand, made from glowing gold. The colossal size of them made me appear as a giant in a mere mortal sized body.
I turned my wrists up and down admiring them in the mirror. Then I smiled at my black leggings, seeing the beautiful golden triforce resting just above both of my knees. I had won them in a Zelda quest in Ireland at one of the final castles in an epic battle against Gannon. I pressed the warm circular red button near my trigger finger and my enormous sword manifested itself. It was loosely based off the “Buster sword” that Cloud wielded in Final Fantasy VII and it stood so large that it exited the ceiling of my now seemingly small bathroom. I rested it upon my shoulder and grinned into the mirror.
Tonight my guild was going to raid a PVP castle set up in central park. PVP stood for player verse player. It was almost outlawed if it weren’t for the amount of revenue it brought VEG on an annual basis. Since the government took over, lots of what Charles fought against came into play and come to think of it, it was the only reason I supported them. When PVP was first introduced, it was gaming heaven. People created entire concrete arenas for it with beautiful augmented overlays. These bare concrete structures looked bland and ugly to the naked eye but through the Jacker glasses they became other world terrains, medieval castles, or underground caverns on the surface of Jupiter’s moon. PVP started out harmless until the first PVP death occurred.
An elite warrior named Nemesis Enforcer (His name probably taken from the original cartoon GI Joe movie) led his clan called Young Bloods into a PVP zone in the Arizona desert. The Young Bloods were comprised of mostly eighteen to thirty year olds with a few exceptions, which were the members that had started the guild. They were a relatively younger group hence their name, but regardless of age they were said to be one of the top clans in the world. The challenging clan came from the northeast and were called the Spartans. They were known for their formations and the fact that no matter what army they approached they would always bring a smaller force to battle. What they lacked in numbers they made up with in skill. Their leader was a dual wielding warrior named Leonidas. PVP was exciting because once a player was killed he was not allowed to enter anything VEG related for seven days. That rule made it so that battles wouldn’t last forever especially since reviving in the arena was banned.
The battle lasted for four days. On the fourth and final day Nemesis Enforcer stood against Leonidas for a final push. Both armies had lost all but around twenty players, most being healers and DPS that were still alive. They were casting buffs on their leaders as they slashed at each other again and again.
Nemeses Enforcer had lost one of his key healers in the final moments of the battle and the tide began to turn into the hands of the Spartans. In a sole act of desperation Nemeses Enforcer lunged at Leonidas, his right fist making contact with the center of his face caving in his nose. Blood began to pour from Leonidas’s collapsed nostrils. The other players stopped in disbelief as Nemeses Enforcer tackled Leonidas to the ground whaling his fists with murderous intent. Leonidas struggled to defend the murderous blows at first, his arms flailing at his sides until his screams slowed and stopped, turning to soft gurgles. Nemeses Enforcer then regained his footing and destroyed what was left of the Spartans army, which had begun to scatter.
The creators hadn’t accounted for any kind of physical ramifications. With the user unconscious or dead one could easily destroy their character still logged in. Through a loophole in the system, Nemeses Enforcer finished Leonidas off and claimed victory as his teammates stood silent. Shortly after, the police arrived on the scene to arrest Bobby Sparks aka Nemeses Enforcer while paramedics tried to save the life of Brandon Miller a twenty eight year old law student from Ohio. He died before he reached the nearest hospital. News stories ran rampant across the nation. Charles banned PVP and installed new programming that would banish your character the second that physical contact was made. The game footage would be reviewed and if they deemed the contact non aggressive then you were given back full access. The government stepped in, saying the decision was made with haste and reinstated PVP after the rules had been revamped proving once more who had true control of the game.
