Page 4 of 3013: SAVIOR

What had started out as a simple game concept had been turned into a fully interactive game world. At its core, Evolution was an advanced multi-layered survival game that combined several different types of programs into one complex universe. Inside the game there was no limit to what a player could do. People could become someone else and design their own perfect dream world where anything was possible.

They could live out their wildest fantasies and build a whole new existence to enjoy. While it could be played by the standard formats, it went beyond wrist units, screens, virtual reality, and holo-tech. To fully experience Evolution, the Artane brothers had decided to try something that had never been done before.

They’d made the game an actual reality.

After they had arranged to purchase the planetoid located in an isolated area near a giant blue star, the Artanes had formed it into a live-action version of the Evolution game. The planetoid was made up of an endless sea of vibrant blue water and multiple islands with a wide range of different landscapes. Each island was designed to represent various settings and stages from the game. There were also some special locations created specifically for Evo that didn’t appear in the virtual version, but most of those sites weren’t open to the public yet.

Everything was powered by a reinforced electrical grid, cutting-edge nanotech, and an extensive network of satellites that surrounded the planetoid. The islands had been terraformed with the help of some Dragon Warrior magic, and the end result was a wonderous merging of magic, technology, and innovation.

What Zack had seen of Evo so far was impressive as hell, and it had exceeded any expectations he’d had. The Artanes’ plans being successful wasn’t surprising. He knew that Artane Electronics was at the top of their industry for a reason. They had proved exactly why many times over the years with their latest creations and inventions.

Still, nothing could compare to Evo.

The Krytos brothers had certainly outdone themselves with the creation of the live version of their game. While Zack was damn proud of what his friends had accomplished, he hadn’t exactly been jumping for joy at the thought of joining in the beta testing stage of the project. He’d tried to put it off, claiming it would be too damn crowded. While that was true enough, the Artanes had seen through his ploy.

To make sure he attended, they had arranged for his transportation to Evo and set him up with a beautiful suite at the luxury resort. After he’d checked in, Zack had taken a walk around the main island to get a general feel for the place. Seeing everything for himself had exceeded any expectations he’d had, but Zack knew he still had a lot more to see.

He'd missed the first few weeks of the beta testing, but the excitement about Evo hadn’t died down. If anything, experiencing the game for themselves had made the beta testers even more enthusiastic about the place. While Zack certainly didn’t fit into the crowd of gamers, celebrities, and influencers that were currently present, that didn’t matter. Everyone was enjoying themselves, no matter who they were or where they came from.

For his first night on the planetoid, he’d joined his friends for dinner over at Wonderland, the massive sanctuary and casino run by the Barra siblings. It had been a long night of drinking and catching up with everyone, and that alone had made the trip worth it. His friends had been there for him during his lowest point, so he was glad to be there to celebrate the opening of their new business venture.

It had pleased him immensely to find out that the Artanes were finally mated to their long-time crush, Brielle Lee. They’d spent years dancing around each other and hearing the story about how they had ultimately gotten together had been highly amusing. Having an AI system play matchmaker for them seemed quite fitting since they were the designers of Evo. Even so, he had to admit that it was also a little creepy that a computer system could be so intrusive.

While the Artanes’ new relationship hadn’t been that surprising, Zack had been shocked to discover who else had recently found their soulmate. His old friend Zenix Li, the Chief of Security on Evo, had recently mated Ayla D’Nye, the famous D’Aire singer. For someone as secretive as Nix to end up with one of the most popular celebrities of their era was irony at its best.

After a long night, he'd planned to spend the day relaxing, but Nico Artane had shown up at his door bright and early to drag him to the newest island that had been created. Being able to travel to the other side of the planetoid in the blink of an eye was definitely a convenience he could get used to, and seeing the new site was pretty damn astonishing.

Finally deciding on how to answer his friend, Zack said, “I can’t decide if you’re a fucking genius or just plain crazy.”

“Can’t I be both?”

The hint of pride in his friend’s voice made him chuckle. “Either way, it works. Is this supposed to be old New York?”

“Not exactly. It’s a combination of a few different cities from the historical records and old vids blended into something new. We wanted to make the city unique since there is a lot of shit going on here. This island is pretty large, so it’s the host of several different game sites. Since they all required an urban landscape, it made sense to put them all here, and just split them up into different sections. Like the Zombie Apocalypse—”

“Ah, hell no. Been there, done that already, and have the scars to prove it,” Zack quipped dryly.

While he could joke about it, the thought of being back in that kind of scenario had his stomach clenching and his pulse speeding up to a frantic rhythm.

“Yeah, I know,” Nico said lightly, but his steady hand came down on Zack’s shoulder in a comforting gesture.

Even though his friend knew his darkest secrets, Zack definitely did not want to have a panic attack right now. He took several deep breaths to try to calm himself down and was relieved when it worked. It had been weeks since the last one had hit him, but he was aware it could happen again at any moment.

Considering the absolute mess of his life, having random panic attacks was pretty low on his list of shit to worry about. As melodramatic as that sounded, sadly, it was true. The past year had been an excruciating hellscape to endure, but at least he was still breathing.

The same couldn’t be said for several of his closest friends.

A killer headache made his head throb as it did every time he thought about what had happened, but he gladly suffered through the agony. In a strange way, the pain made the memories of his friends feel more real.

Zack’s entire Strike Force Team had been doomed the day they had been sent to Light City on his last mission. What was supposed to be a simple reconnaissance assignment had quickly turned into a deadly rescue mission.

After they had been lied to and sent into the city with faulty information, what had awaited them had been a fucking bloodbath. The evil mastermind behind a slave trading operation had attacked Light City by tainting the water system with a drug that could control humans and drive Krytos and Helios crazy. An aerosol version of the drug had also been released into the air, making the entire city a veritable death trap.

Light City had descended into complete chaos and countless people had died as a result. Even with their extensive training and experience, it had been a struggle for Zack’s Strike Force Team to survive. In the end, he’d been badly injured, but losing several team members had been worse than any physical pain he’d experienced. He would have gladly traded places with any one of his team members to give them a chance to live again, but that wasn’t possible, no matter how much he’d wished it were so.

Zack knew he had been suffering from survivor’s guilt, and that had taken a long time to come to terms with. Longer than dealing with the pain of losing his left leg and having a metal plate put into his head to replace part of his damaged skull.

And recovering from that had been fucking brutal.

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