Chapter 96: Chapter 94: What Did We Just Do?

System, after dropping that bombshell, waits for our answer.

The very idea of being manipulated by this seemingly benevolent AI System makes me see red. It’s insidious. Seducing us to stay in the game. Luring me into the game via isekai rather than letting me stay and fight for my life. Pretending to be a sagacious guide and even a friend.

I turn to Damon. “Do we take that bet?”

Nodding fervently, he vows, “We will win our freedom. We will train hard.”

“You will need more than hard work and discipline,” System says with a peevish, haughty tone.

It didn’t expect us to fight back, clearly. Maybe it mistook our hours and hours spent playing the game for an obsession that translated to being perfectly happy to spend our literal lives as game characters in this alternate dimension.

“Then we’ll do whatever it takes,” I vow.

Although this phase of my life has been fascinating, I want the real life that I took for granted. To hear my own voice and have others hear me. To eat food with my hands. To walk upright. I may be a good tiger, but I swear to God that I will be a better human.

System says nothing for several interminable minutes.

Damon and I watch Lightning, or Amber, lie asleep with Kasz, a NPC who suddenly somehow became an important figure. Did System engineer Kasz’s woes to distract me?

[Why do you want to return?]

The inquiry floors me. System knows that I’ve always wanted to return to my life.

“I’ve wanted that from the beginning. You know that. And maybe my human life wasn’t all it could be, but clearly, I have friends and family wanting me back, and that’s enough of a reason to choose my real life over my virtual one.”

My words hang in the air, perhaps giving System something to chew on.

Damon adds, “We miss him. And we’ve always wanted him with us. Mom and Dad even admit they pushed him too far. They want a do-over. It won’t be easy, but it’s better than living out his life as a game character.”

[But he has powers. And magic.]

“What good are they if I can’t talk or use my hands?” I burst out. “Animals are amazing, but I’ve lived my life as a human, and that’s what I want to be. I don’t want to rely on other people when I need to communicate something important. I know that animals communicate non-verbally, of course I do. But it’s not the same.”

System sounds petulant. [Talking is overrated.}

“Not to me, and it’s my life,” I argue. “And by the way, you lied to me about me being dead. Wy should I ever trust a word you say?”

[I didn’t lie. You are dead. You are enslaved to your parents’ career path–]

“DON’T.” Damon is furious. “Lots of people get pushed into careers by their parents. That’s not the same as dying! Dying means you can’t make choices. You can choose a new job.”

He’s balling and unclenching his fists, outraged on my behalf.

“You lied,” I shout. “You lied to me. Because you knew that if I knew the truth, I would choose to leave the game. And you need me here. You need players to inhabit these beasts. Why? Aren’t the beasts good enough on their own?”

[Enough questions! Do you accept my challenge or not?]

Well, I definitely got under its skin.

“Yes,” Damon and I both chorus.

[Then on your own heads be it. In six weeks, you two and Amber will be mine for all eternity. Perpetually playing the game, your human lives forgotten. And you will lure others in.]

System falls silent, since it knows it has said too much. Being mute is the smart play here.

Of course. The game needs new blood. Not to get meta, but don’t all games need the same thing? Eventually, players win, quit, or just ghost the game. Life intervenes. Or the players get what they need from the game and move on. So, the programmers find ways to hook people, to keep them coming back. The developers of the game create new games in the same universe. Or they unlock new missions once the game ceases to be entertaining. Some game developers even allow user input, and that becomes part of the game.

I know Damon is thinking the same thing. Thank God we are on the same page.

Damon scrunches up his face in profound reflection. “Six weeks, huh? Six weeks, and we might potentially have to say bye bye to sentience?”

“DON’T. We’re going to win.”

My words have force and conviction. I have never been more assiduous about anything. There is no way I am spending my life as a fantasy world tiger. I always had my misgivings, even when I was having fun in this new world. And when Lightning got pregnant, that was the ultimate trap. Not that I blame Lightning, or rather Amber. We were both set up by the world’s most devious digital Cupid.

System sounds like we just decompiled all its code. [Very well. Have it your way. But I want you to know, Blaze, that I am still your friend.]

“Thanks, I guess.”

System finally falls silent once Damon refuses to acknowledge its overtures of friendship. For several minutes, we languish in awkward silence in this idyllic setting.

“Thanks?” he questions once it’s apparent that System has retreated. “You thank our jailer?”

“I am trying to keep the line of communication open,” I assure him. “I have to know what it’s thinking, what it’s doing.”

“As if it’s going to bare all its secrets!”

I acknowledge his disgruntled statement with a “mrrrp”. Honestly, the day I can once again form a good human noise of disgust or surprise will be a legendary day in my life. A personal holiday, if you will.

“Damon, I’m sorry I listened to System the first time–”

His trenchant words interrupt mine. “You never question authority, do you? You always do just what people want. Mom and Dad, the law school, even this creepy System. I liked it better when you were saving me and going against Minette and Lamant.”

“What’s wrong with Minette and Lamant?”

God, how defensive I sound on their behalf!

“They’re not Mom and Dad,” he says, pointing out the obvious. “They’re game characters, and yet you still worried about disappointing them. You know, I thought you changed. When you went behind their backs, I thought that you changed. But you haven’t.”

I shut my eyes, because all this feels overwhelming. Learning that you were both terribly wrong and appallingly right is exhausting.

A wolf paw pokes me, and I’m jolted out of my momentary peace. Damon has resumed his wolf form. “Change to your human form,” he says, his human words incongruous with his wolf mouth and tongue. “You know you want to.”

“It’s not real.”

My brother refuses to budge. “CHANGE. Or we might as well not bother with the fight at all.”

If it makes him happy, I’ll do it. Maybe complying will shut him up.

Human. Think human. Think the 206 bones in the human body. Think skin, the largest organ in the body. Think of the big brain that is the size of two fists but has so much power…

“You did it!”

It’s dizzying! I’m suddenly so tall. My legs feel ungainly, and yet natural. God, I’d kiss my own feet if I was able. I stand in front of Damon. We are both naked as the day we were born. There’s symbolism to be found in there somewhere.

I pull Damon into a hug. The warmth even feels real. If this is a simulation, it’s a near-perfect one. For several minutes, we hug, but we break apart, glancing around the den and peering into the shadows, expecting System to send the Hug Police after us.

“We only get one shot at this.” I stare into his eyes. “Everything is riding on this Beast Taming Elimination Tournament. So no pressure. And unlike the law exam, I intend to see this through, regardless of the outcome.”

He beams, proud. “You’re crazy, you know that?”

“Obviously.”

A snort of laughter. “You’ve changed. You’re more relaxed. Approachable.”

“At this point, nothing surprises me anymore,” I reply. “We have to come up with our game plan for winning. Do all three of us have to win?”

“Well, yes, because only one house can be the ultimate winner, I think,” he replies. “Lightning–Amber–is technically part of this house.”

“You bring up a good point. We have to check the rules. I know, I know, I’m too rule bound, but in this case, they’ll serve us well.”

He offers an ominous perspective. “If System doesn’t change them like in The Hunger Games.”

“Ack! Don’t even go there. For right now, let’s just assume the rules won’t change.”

Although skeptical, he concedes. “No more distractions. We’ll train as if our lives depend on it. Are you in?”

“I’m in!”

An unwelcome noise makes us jump. Lightning is waking up and looking right at us in human form! What do we do?

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