The Desolated

Chapter I: The Game (Part One)

Chapter I

"In my 32 years of living... I've never seen someone do 'that' before."

"She's different"

"Yes... She is indeed Sir"                                          

"I want you to program more difficult games for her..Let the computer do dirty tricks I want to see her response "

"Sir all of our programs are symmetrical.. We just can't reprogram the system just for 'her'.. That would mean---"

"Are you opposing my orders Major?"

"No sir"

"Reformat the program"

"Yes Sir"

***

'Play Again?' the screen displayed those words as Rouge irritably touched the screen.

Stupid Game. She thought.

For players, dying in the virtual world is not really a big thing since it can regenerate the avatar but for Rouge, it was a big deal. For her, it doesn't matter if the avatar have like a hundred one lives, for her...life is valuable, everyone of them.

"Darn it", she cussed. When her player died. "How can I move on?", irritated, she shut down the system.

"Not really a fun game to play?",a man who looks like maybe around his sixties. He was white...infact too white that you can see his veins bulking out his neck, legs and hands. He was quite tall but a little crooked, his hair white and his teeth...well not too white, it was a little yellowish and one of his teeth upfront was silver. He was wearing clothes of a beggar. It was perculiar, a man with white skin wearing beggar clothes that looks like it was never been washed ever.

"It was fun at first", Rouge awkwardly answered.The old man didn't bother to listen, he walked away.

"Creepy old fart"

She restarted the game. 'Welcome', the screen view. After the ceremonial introduction of the game. The setting change. A landscape of dying flowers appeared, petals floating in air--flowing like there in water. Skies that look like it's gonna cry anytime, matching the ablazing wind. A snake appeared, the snake was her avatar. She crawled at the center and climbed the old apple tree, splinters where all over the tree barks. The leaves and branches were falling off, tearing apart. But the snake easily crawled the tree while Rouge was impatiently waiting for the climax. An eye appeared, it was an eye of the giant. "You have the power to choose, One hundred and one apples. One apple is poison, the hundred are not. Choose well", this game might sound easy but it is not. Everytime Rouge play, she would always lose.

The apples all look the same--faintly black, burnt-like and all look poisonous.

The snake bit the apple. Rouge was sweating, waiting for the after effect. The mouth of the snake started to released white substance, bubbling like crazy. And for the 21th time she lost the game. It always end up like this last time she played the snake was on fire, then the next one the snake turned to dust fading away like daisies. 

"Hahaha! You lose", the giant laughed annoyingly, his eye even closed and tears of joy came out. His laughters were big and crazy. "Fuck this game", told Rouge. She was furious. She started the game again. The same place and ambiance. "You have the power to choose, One hundred and one apples. One apple is poison, the hundred are not. Choose well", unlike the other games this game is awful, this game cheats. Can't even remember what I keep playing this game. She thought."Haha! You lose", she played again and again but all fail.

"This time you will not laugh at me"

 

As the snake's slender body moved around. "A hundred and one apples. One is poison the other is not. Choose well", replays on her head.

As Rouge manipulated the game control--furious, angry, impatient. Her eyes were different. "Ahhhh! Cheater!Cheater!", the giant proclaimed. The snake just kept on digging up his eye "Cheater!", blood came out, his pupils gone black. "Who's the cheater now?"

The snake went dipper and after a couple of minutes. The reptile went out through his ear. Blood all over.

"I'm sorry but I have to make sacrifices"

 ***

"Surely that's cruelty", told Agot, the major Kernel of team Nonageni "But in a sense", Agot just shrugged and avoided to answer because he knows that Lieutenant General Grendel will not listen to him leading to more conflicts he doesn't wanna have. "I think we should send her as our representative", Agot ignored the thought, again he doesn't wanna have any conflicts with the Lieutenant. His rank was higher than his, his more wiser and more experienced. But still he had doubts... how can this low profile girl be their representative? I'm sure she has surviving skills since she lives in Agora and from what he had observed the girl's got brains. He never thought that she could do that surely she can do amazing things, but 'that'? that was more amazing. How can an Agora girl extend her way of thinking like that?

A question that can't be answered.

He could not stop Lieutenant Grendel. He is more powerful and the board trust him more than me. He thought. I should not go against his decisions.

The games are approaching like any other games. This game was different, this game is war. War that they know they couldn't win. The board are just making things up so that people would not get messed up! Freakin' liars. But that is the safest way to keep the humans calm blinding them with false hope. "Look what she can do", Agot looked at the monitor absent minded trying to figure out what Grendel see in this girl with black hair. Well not totally Black she has this hair upto her shoulder with red higlights. She was tan and skinny. She looks like a troublemaker with her faded black shirt that looks like its been worn for years and denim jeans, ripped off on the knee and her hair messy like hell. In the monitor she was facing some self-proclaimed gangsters trying to rob their little house. She talked calmly to the intruders "Listen stay away from me or else", placing her FT at her back, that's the only thing that looks like expensive. "What bitch?"

"I'm gonna hurt you", the group laughed "You?", again throwed some insulting laughs. "Seems like you are all idiots", they stopped. Agot looked curious while Grendel was proud somewhat like a dad watching his son graduating in college. " Y'all gonna rob me look at my place the only thing here that looks like its gonna sell is my crooked table", the boys stopped and stared trying to ingest what she said " And you all look like you go to school. I myself can't even afford to go to a public school", the boys turned red and back down but one didn't "What's that thing your hiding?"

The boy walked aorund her and took her FT behind her back and raised it  "HA! Nothing worth selling", the group was struck how can she have 'that' when it's worth half a million. "Give that back", too bad she was too short for the boy. As she tried to reached her FT, the boy is carefreely exporing her FT, fascinated until he opened the Mind game, he immediately dropped the FT and ran away trying not to vomit, the other followed him while she was left behind. She picked up her FT luckily her half a million dollar price was not easily broken.She tripped it over and saw the screen. She remained calm as her eyes explored the screen. The giant-- his corpse, blood all over the eye while the other was looking upward. Worms coming out of his body, vultures eating the flesh..It was just gruesome.