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LOCATION: ISLE OF DARKNESS – SPECIAL CHALLENGE
CITY: SEYCHELLES
DATE: ??? | TIME: ???
One hundred Coral Knights lined the beach, surrounding Gideon and the others on three sides.
In front of the lineup, the Coral Knight Captain stood eight feet tall, his crimson eyes boring into Gideon's soul like a jackhammer.
Gideon could feel the constant pressure as if the Captain was burrowing around in there, trying to find something in particular.
"We are so fucked…"
Gideon heard one of the men a few feet away speaking, but the sound was distorted as if he was underwater, trying to listen to someone shouting at him.
And then something shifted in his mind, and a voice came through. Loud and clear.
---
Gideon Blackwell.
You have achieved much in your life.
But wealth is not the measure of a man.
I am here to judge you.
Are you worthy?
Or will you fall like you have so many times before?
---
Gideon held up his hands.
"Hold, everyone," he said. "Do not attack."
He set down his daggers and knelt on one knee.
Gideon bowed his head to the Captain, just enough to show respect, yet he still maintained eye contact.
He spoke aloud and responded to the Captain's question.
"If you leave my men unharmed, you can do with me what you will. I have made many mistakes in my life. One of them forced these men into this space with me. I offer myself willingly in return for their safety."
The Captain laughed.
It was a deep, gurgling sound that wrenched at Gideon's very soul. He felt like he heard it both with his ears and inside his mind at the same instant.
---
So be it.
---
The Captain stepped forward, and with a swing of his encrusted sword so fast that most failed to register its movement, he removed Gideon's head from his body.
The torrent of blood that spurted forth surprised most of the men. They were in the military arms industry, but it's not like they were on the front lines when their wares were being put to use. This brutality, right in front of them, was utterly foreign to their frame of reference.
The 21 men stood still, too shocked to do or say anything.
The Coral Knight Captain looked upon them, moving his gaze from man to man.
None dared to move. Their eyes flicked from the grotesque corpse of their friend bleeding out on the ground, to the head being held at the Captain's side, then up to his eyes. Those deep red eyes.
The look on Gideon's face was one of surprising serenity.
After several minutes of total silence, the Captain spoke aloud.
"This man has offered his life for your safety."
His red eyes swept the men again.
"The debt is paid. We are satisfied."
The 100 Coral Knights turned all at once toward the water and began walking slowly into the sea.
The Captain sheathed his sword, put his shield upon his back, and reached down to pick up Gideon's body with his other hand.
And with one last look at each one of the men, he turned and followed the others into the ocean.
Moments later, the fog dispersed, and the sun came out.
It was the first time they saw anything other than overcast, stormy skies for almost two weeks. They shielded their eyes against the brightness.
Then the 21 men all received a notification at the same time.
---
System Message
Through his actions, Gideon Blackwell has caused the death of 1,213,586 lives.
He has suffered death 1,006 times in his private scenario.
He has now offered his own life to save twenty-one men.
How do you respond?
There will be no more enemies today. You may rest. Ponder your situation.
At the end of the day, you will be given two options.
Choose wisely.
---
Suddenly the sound of a gull shrieking overhead surprised the men. It was such a normal thing after spending so many agonizing days in a hellscape that it caused one of the men to laugh.
Another joined him, and then several more.
"What are we going to do?" one of them asked.
"Do you think he's really gone?"
"I think we have to assume he is. As for me, I plan to honor his sacrifice. You saw the way he set his weapons down. You heard what he said."
The man looked around at the others.
"I will seek no vengeance for Gideon Blackwell. But I will live my life differently from now on. That I can promise you."
"Do you think we'll be given a chance to go back to our families?"
The men speculated for an hour before they all returned to their rooms and got some much-needed rest. It had been many days since they got to sleep in beds, and their bodies ached from the endless exertion.
Apparently, even with Vitalyx and Rejuvenex, there were limits to what the human body can withstand.
Nobody left their guest house after that, and when night time came around, each received the same message. Without consulting each other, they each made their own decision.
---
System Message
You have experienced Special Challenge Scenario Alpha.
Your leader, Gideon Blackwell, has offered his life in return for your safety.
Option A:
If you refuse this gift, all Stats and fighting skills will be increased by 25%. You will be provided with armor and weapons befitting your new Stats.
Enemy waves will come half as often and your rest periods between will be tripled.
Option B:
If you accept Gideon Blackwell's gift, you will confront the weight of your choices. This may be difficult, given your past. The outcome will be calculated based on your own decisions within the scenario.
Choose one:
[Option A]
[Option B]
---
Without exception, every one of the 21 men selected Option B. They were impressed with Gideon's path of self-reflection, and the changes it had made in him were clear and obvious.
Each of them knew it wouldn't be an easy path, but they told themselves if Gideon Blackwell can do it, they would honor his memory by confronting their own past.
The scenarios each man faced were just as brutally honest and haunting as the one Gideon had faced. Days of dying on a dark beach alone were punctuated by moments of clarity, until each man was brought to a scene where a critical decision had been made.
Each one, after the brutality of hundreds of deaths, made the right choice to change that decision and the direction of their lives.
The scenario would then fade to black.
And when they awoke, it was September 3rd.
All 22 men, including Gideon Blackwell, found themselves aboard Gideon's yacht, The Arms Race. It was just pulling into the cove at the Isle of Light.
"Gideon? Is it really you?"
Gideon looked down at his arms and clothes. He was wearing normal, everyday casual clothes. Something he would wear on his yacht.
His hands reflexively reached up toward his neck.
He was back.
The last memory he had was that of the Coral Knight Captain swinging his sword through the air faster than his eye could see.
And now he was here. On his own ship, with the others. Pulling into the cove as if they had been away on a fishing excursion.
The moment the ship was in its slip, the men ran down the gangway and toward the center of the island.
The Isle of Light, it seemed, had been transformed. Obstacle courses lined the beaches. Water slides loomed above, and the laughter of children filled their ears.
Gideon let all the others run first, and then he followed behind.
When he reached the warm, white sand, he fell to his knees and cried. They were the most genuine tears that had ever graced his face in his entire 55 years of life.
"Fuck me," he muttered, "it is good to be back."