"Go Back! Go Back!" I shouted at my friend, my voice echoing in the digital world.
We were all just playing an FPS game after school, enjoying the adrenaline rush and the camaraderie.
"Crouch, crouch," I whispered to my friend, urging him to stay hidden.
We both crouched low, trying to avoid the enemy sounds we heard nearby.
"I'll take a peek," my friend said, eager to get the jump on the enemy.
He took the lead, moving ahead of me. There was a left turn up ahead, and turning corners in FPS games was always risky. Snipers loved to camp in those spots, waiting for unsuspecting players. My friend peeked around the edge.
BANG
"Last Man Standing."
"HAHAHAHAHHAH!" I laughed, my heart pounding with excitement. I ran away, knowing my friend was out of the game.
"I shouldn't have done that. You're the only one left, and there are four of them," my friend grumbled, his voice laced with regret.
I ran back, searching for a safe place to hide behind the enemy lines.
"Clutch it! Clutch it! Clutch it!" My dead friends chanted, their voices echoing in my headset, urging me to pull off a miracle.
I found a sniper rifle left behind by one of the enemy's fallen teammates and switched to it. I hunted for the enemies, my senses on high alert, aware of every sound and shadow.
"The Enemy Has Planted The Bomb."
"Clutch It! Clutch It! Clutch It!" My teammates' chants grew louder, their hope fueling my determination.
I rushed towards the bomb site, my heart pounding. I saw an enemy crouched, camping at the bomb site. I aimed for his head.
BANG!
"Headshot!"
Killing him might alert the others. I stayed crouched, my senses on high alert. Suddenly, an enemy walked towards the body of the player I had just killed. I aimed again.
BANG
"Double Kill!"
"Two More!" one of my friends yelled, his voice filled with anticipation.
I knew my cover was blown. I ran back the way I came, then veered off to the other side of the bomb site. I scoped in, spotting an enemy sniper camping and aiming at the spot where I had been before. I aimed.
BANG!
"One Enemy Left."
"One Minute Left Before The Bomb Explodes."
"Better hurry," one of my friends urged.
I walked towards the bomb, searching for the last enemy.
BANG!
"Huh?" I muttered, confused.
I saw a line hit the ground above me. He missed! He had sniped me, but missed.
"He missed! Hide!" one of my friends shouted.
I stood up and ran back to find cover.
"Play safe, play safe," my teammate proclaimed, his voice calm and reassuring.
I jumped down to the ground below, heading towards the edge of the building.
"I can hear footsteps behind you!" another friend shouted.
I turned, and there he was, the last enemy. He crouched, aiming his scope at me.
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"Oh Shit!" I yelled, my heart leaping into my throat.
I ran to the other side of the wall, desperate to escape his shot.
BANG!
"Wait, No Way!" I shouted in disbelief. I was still alive.
"He hit you in the chest area!" one of my teammates exclaimed.
Thank goodness for armor! If I hadn't bought it, I would have been one-shot. I checked my health. Only 10% left.
"Play safe, play it cool," one of my friends said.
"Hey, I bet ya 360° no scope," a teammate proclaimed, his voice filled with bravado.
"Wait what, that's suicide!"
"Hey, don't do it, Julian!"
"Fuck that plan!"
My friends started arguing, their voices a cacophony of concern and disbelief.
"I'll try it," I said, a surge of adrenaline coursing through me.
"Look at the score, 14:13. We need one more score to get 15 and we win. If they win this round, there's a chance they'll win the next round, and we'll lose," a friend shouted, his voice urgent.
I was streaming, and 10,000 people were watching. This was a moment of history. Without hesitation, I jumped, spun a full 360 degrees, and clicked my mouse button.
BANG
Headshot
"Whaaaat!" All of my friends screamed, their voices a chorus of disbelief.
The stream chat exploded with excitement.
CHAT
anon:ClIP THAT
HaaNnahh:OOOHHHHHH
IloveanaL:whatdahell
Sqnammw:ClIp that
$$amm:aint nooowaaayyyy
Fackme:A 360° NO SCOPE
CHAT
I ran to the bomb and defused it.
Bomb Defused
Defenders Win
I could hear my friends screaming, the chat going wild. I stared at the screen in shock. There was no way I had just pulled that off, a 360° no scope on my first try, a moment that would forever be etched in the history of my gaming life.
"Good game guys, good game," one of my friends said.
"Yeah, tomorrow again," another added.
We all said goodbye, and I bid farewell to my viewers. I closed my streaming app, the game, and shut down my PC. I decided to heat up some water for coffee and grab some bread.
I got out of my seat and went to the living room. I saw my mother cleaning the dishes.
"There's hot water on the kettle," she said.
I grabbed a cup for my coffee and a plate for my pancake. I poured hot water and added powdered coffee. I put a pancake on my plate and went back to my room. I placed my coffee and pancake on the table near my bed, lay down, and started playing on my phone.
…
Hours passed. I was getting bored and started watching funny videos. I took a last sip of my coffee and a final bite of my pancake.
Vrooooom
What was that sound? I looked down, and I saw what looked like a black hole. White dots surrounded it, like the void of outer space. Everything around me started floating, even me, my blanket, my cup, my table lamp, and everything else. The hole started to get bigger, and we floated higher.
"What is happening!" I shouted.
Suddenly, the hole sucked me in. I started to fall into the void, my screams echoing in the darkness. I fell endlessly, then suddenly stopped, floating in place. Something started glowing in front of me. A girl appeared, looking about my age, dressed in white.
"Hello there, fellow one. I am Mia, god of wishes, but cursed by the god of punishment. I need your help to break my curse," the girl said.
"What can I even do to help?" I asked, my voice filled with confusion.
"This will be hard to accept. You need to live on a small island for two years. Try to survive. If you die, you can go back to your world alive, but please, I need your help. I'll give you 15 wishes as a reward," Mia explained.
I was in complete shock. Mia's expression changed when she saw my reaction.
"Here, catch this," Mia said, throwing something at me.
It looked like a necklace. I caught it. Suddenly, I started falling again, plunging into the void of darkness. The void turned into clouds, no longer a void but a real world. I looked down. I could see sand. I think that's the island Mia is talking about. I braced myself for the fall.
Thud
I landed on the soft sand. I opened my eyes and was met by a beautiful view of the ocean. I stood up and looked behind me. There were trees, and behind them, another ocean. This island was very small, with dirt in the center and sand surrounding it. The island's length wasn't very long.
I was still holding the necklace, its lace black and a white circle hanging from it. I put it on, making sure it wouldn't get lost.
"Hello there again," a sudden voice said, seemingly coming from nowhere.
I jumped, startled.
"Don't worry, it's me again, Mia. I'm in this necklace I gave you. This necklace can be my home, and I can get out of it and go back in. I can see what you're looking at or doing, so no naughty things while wearing this necklace," Mia said.
"There are 8 billion people out there, but why pick me?" I replied.
"That's what a person would say if I picked them, but that's not how it works. Before you, there were eight people who already lived here. You'll be the ninth. Some of the eight gave up, and some died, but as I said, if you die here, you'll go back to your world alive. The system here is that if you die or give up, you can select a person who will live on this island. The eighth person who gave up just picked randomly, and it was you. The God of Curse was the one who picked the first person to start the curse. I hope you understand that and help me break this curse. I just want to roam around the world again," Mia explained.
"What about me? My family? My grades at school? I'm in senior high now, and if we miss even one day, they'll call our parents," I replied.
"Don't worry, two years on this island is one week in the original world. Don't you remember? I'll give you 15 wishes as a reward. You can ask for money, knowledge, power, and more, but you can't grant bad wishes," Mia replied.
"I mean, yeah, but how does two years equal one week in the original world? Is it like other planets or galaxies or solar systems where some rotations are very slow, so it takes a lot of years to rotate around their sun, or it takes short years to rotate around their sun?" I asked her.
"You are right. I didn't know you were smart," Mia replied.
"Shut up. I always get an average grade of 80 to 75. Our president says 75 is okay, so that means an average of 75 to 80 is a very low grade. I only learned that on a platform because I'm very interested in space," I replied.
"I remember. How can I even survive on this island? I might have some experience in survival, but not very much," I added.
"Don't panic. You see that over there? Just right of this island if you face the trees?" Mia replied.
I looked to the right. I could see a white thing over yonder. I walked straight towards it. I could see it clearly now. It looked like a numpad but had no number buttons or any buttons, just a screen.
"This thing will help you survive on this island. This thing will give you quests for money and let you shop for anything, like weapons, things, foods, houses, and a lot more," Mia explained.
"Because you just started, the pad will start at level one. We call it Sam instead of a pad. The quest is just collecting things or doing things. You can repeat the quest to gain money. Remember, the lower the quest, the lower the level-up experience. The higher the quest, the higher the experience and rewards. If Sam is at level eight, you can unlock quests for beating monsters and weaponry. The products in the shop are cheap, exciting, right? Try opening it now. The hand biometrics are from the recent person, so you can register yours like giving your phone a pin, and you can unlock it with your fingerprint," Mia added.
I tapped the screen. It opened, and I was greeted by a chibi girl flying around the screen.
"Hello there, user. My name is Sam, your personal helper. Before continuing, I need your handprint for security and your name," the pad said.
The pad showed me a hand on the screen, like asking for my hand. I put my hand on the screen, and it scanned it.
"Scan completed. Now for your name," Sam said.
The pad showed me keywords. I started tapping on the screen to type my name.
"J"
"U"
"L"
"I"
"A"
"N"
"_"
"V"
"A"
"L"
"E"
"N"
"T"
"I"
"N"
"E"
"Julian Valentine, hello Julian, nice to meet you. You are now welcome," Sam said.
It showed me some options: shop, quests, and expand land. I clicked on the shop. It showed me a lot of options like foods and drinks, houses, tools, and more. I clicked on food and drinks. It showed me a lot of options, like chips, cooked meat, meat, coffee, milk tea, and others. I clicked on chips. It showed me a lot of choices again. I could find some familiar products and unfamiliar products. The prices were very low, the lowest I could find was 4 credits to 8 credits.
I went back to the main menu and clicked on quests. I scrolled down. There were a lot of quests, with rewards mostly ranging from 50 credits to 500 credits. I scrolled down more. The quests were now gray, which meant I needed a higher level to unlock them. I could see the rewards were 1,000, 2,000, 1,500, 3,000, 6,000, and higher. I scrolled up again to see the first quest.
"Collect 5 sticks."
"Reward: 50 credits"
Wow, that sounded really easy.
But I couldn't believe I was going to stay on this island for two whole years.