The night was unusually quiet as Alex sat in front of his gaming console, the dim light of the screen casting shadows around his room. The ring on his thumb felt cool against his skin, a constant reminder of the inexplicable changes he had experienced.
He couldn't shake off the feeling that the answers he sought were somehow intertwined with the game, "I.Zombie."
He loaded his game, staring at his level 26 character, a stark contrast to his current situation. The idea struck him – what if he started from the beginning? What if the key lay in retracing his steps in the game?
Creating a new character, Alex watched the familiar level 1 zombie appear on the screen, eerily reminiscent of his own reflection. As he navigated through the initial levels, he felt an odd connection with his character, a synchronicity that went beyond the usual player-avatar bond.
It was then that the ring began to react.
Each time he defeated an enemy or completed a task in the game, the ring emitted a faint glow, pulsating gently.
Alex was taken aback – was the ring responding to his actions in the game? It was as if the ring was trying to communicate with him.
Intrigued and a little apprehensive, Alex continued playing, leveling up his character from level 1 to level 2. Since Alex knew the game better than anyone else, maybe except for the mysterious developer, it did not take him long to reach the next level.
As his character reached level 2, a sudden rush of memories flooded Alex's mind. These memories were of his character in the game.
He recalled how the world was turned upside down when the Zombie Virus (Zvirus) overtook humanity, how the game depicted a world overrun by chaos, a desperate struggle for survival, and underlying it all was the mystery of what caused this in the first place.
Alex was not stupid by any means; he was always smarter than he appeared to be. He played off the feeling of being aloof due to the environment he grew up in.
If Alex showed aptitude in academics, teachers would allude to the fact that he was a cheater; if he tried hard at sports, his bullies would only become more physical.
He was always held down in that sense, so Alex decided it was easier for him to go with the flow than go against it.
Which was one of the main reasons he resonated so much with his character in I.Zombie; it was a place where he could be whoever he wanted to be, and that someone was strong, efficient, and knowledgeable.
Shaken, Alex paused the game, trying to process what had just happened. As soon as he leveled up, he felt the ring's emotions. It was real this time; he felt it deep within his soul.
'His' ring was happy. For the first time, it felt like Alex was slowly unraveling something new, and that feeling excited Alex but also scared him.
Is this ring linked to the game somehow?
But that wouldn't make any sense; the ring came from his parents' possessions, and as far as he could remember, his parents had never played any video games in their life.
Recalling all his memories of his parents, he realized that he didn't actually know anything about their personal lives, other than the love they showed him.
Now that Alex understood there was some relation between the ring and the game, he continued his journey, but to his surprise, the ring did not react at all as he played.
He killed monsters, ate their remains, and eventually realized he was not gaining any experience.
Alex's mind started spinning, thinking of any logical pattern or explanation.
'Why am I not gaining anymore experience? I'm only level 2, just killed a few monsters should have leveled me up again, but my XP bar is not increasing? What the hell is going on, is the game bugged?
I'm also not feeling the ring react any more, it's like it turned off once I level up to 2? Hmm...'
In the game, a fascinating correlation existed between character progression and their virtual appearance. As characters leveled up, their virtual forms underwent a gradual transformation, becoming more human-like with each advancement. This metamorphosis continued subtly until reaching level 5, at which point the character resembled a human being—one capable of blending seamlessly into the game's chaotic and disfigured world.
Alex had always found this phenomenon puzzling. In a realm teeming with chaos and grotesque entities, why would the character resemble a human, in a human-less world? It was an feature that he had always thought as strange.
His mind raced, contemplating this connection between the game and his own transformation. It led him to a singular conclusion: if he currently resembled a level 1 character in the game, he needed to "level up" in real life.
Perhaps by doing so, he could gradually regain a more normal appearance and unlock additional information from the mysterious ring.
Above all else, Alex yearned for the warmth and comfort that the ring had offered him; it was akin to a powerful drug, and he craved more of it.