Isak growled low and deep as he walked with his brother Johan. His eyes still hurt from the explosion of light at the house earlier. It was a new trick that Laura had pulled out that he didn't know about. He shook his head again while listening to his game manual, Milky. Milky was a rotund-looking man with the palest skin he had ever seen. He was naked, with no genitalia, no hair, and no eyelids. His eyes were glossy, black orbs that always watched. The first thing Milky had done when Isak and his brother had activated their game tokens was to infect Johan's game manual. Before, Johan's game manual was some jellyfish-like creature, but then it became another Milky. They apparently spoke in unison, from what the brothers could tell.
"The witch must be found," said Milky. He was floating while looking at Isak, eyes unblinking. Isak growled in response. He was feeling himself become more animalistic. Was this because his race had changed, or was he acting the part? Johan answered for his brother.
"I think we'd rather just do a quest or some nonsense instead. Your advice hasn't been the best, Milky." Johan put an extra sound of disgust on the name. He disliked the game manual thoroughly.
"This is your quest now," Milky replied. Isak snapped at the round creature, but his teeth passed through. He knew it wouldn't do anything, but it felt nice to express his displeasure. He too wasn't fond of this game manual. Laura's manual was called Lucy, and she would not allow Milky to replace her, despite Milky claiming he alone could assure her survival.
"Do not think you choose for us now," Isak growled out. "Your choices have lost us a party member, nearly made us blind, and now we are lost in this maze. We go to Tulsa for this damn quest." Milky kept floating and staring, but Isak was not bothered by this anymore than he was a fly. He used to be so mild-mannered before this maze had started. Johan reached down to touch his brother's shoulder in comfort, and Isak appreciated the gesture. Despite everything, he was glad they were together at least.
As they walked, uncertain of where to go, the sky became opaque, and that giant-headed Jessica appeared. The brothers stopped to look up. The crazed-looking woman was telling them that twenty-seven percent of the population had been reduced already. The brothers did the math silently in their heads, and both knew the toll. Slightly over two billion people had died already. Isak took pride in having lived this long. Jessica continued on blabbering, now talking about how they'd change the theme of the maze. It was at this moment that a loud, tearing noise was coming from behind them.
The brothers turned to see that there was a rip in the air behind them that expanded open. Out came a tall man with white hair and a mustache, with the deepest set scars on his cheeks. They had not seen this man before, and Johan raised his rifle to greet him. Milky was frantically waving his arms at Johan, but it was too late. The old man lifted his hand in a dismissive wave, and Johan exploded. Blood and viscera went everywhere, with a good amount covering Isak. All he could do was stare at the red mist of where his brother once stood. There were words being said, but Isak just kept looking at nothing. It finally registered with him after a moment that his brother was dead, and Isak roared as he stood up to his full height, towering over the old man and cocked a paw back to swipe down with all his might.
The old man answered by snapping his fingers. Isak could no longer move. It felt like pressure all along the outside of his body was holding him in place, and the pressure extended into his mouth as well, as if a rag was stuffed inside. His eyes would have gone wide if those, too, weren't frozen. A chair materialized behind the visitor, and he sat down on it. Milky was to the side and was visibly shaking. He had never seen the manual express any emotion. The man finally spoke in a soft tone.
"A former party member of yours is now travelling with a man named Max. You are to kill this man at all costs. Do you understand?" Isak felt fury inside and attempted to lash out, but his body would not move. Then the bastard smirked at Isak and stood up. "I will be taking your game manual. He is better used elsewhere. In his place, I will give you a gift. If you do not wish to lose this gift, then you must kill Max before half the population has died. By my understanding, that gives you about a week to accomplish this. I will even graciously give you a tool to help find him. " The man stood, and the chair behind him vanished.
He walked up to Isak, reached out to his paw, and pulled his game token out. It hurt more than any pain Isak had known before. Every inch of his body screamed in agony, and the pale body of Milky blinked out of existence. Then, the man produced a new token from his pocket and inserted it where the old one once was. This, too, brought new shocks of pain, but Isak could not physically react in his current state. The old man turned, waved his hand to create a new rip in space, and walked through it; he was gone. Isak fell suddenly forward onto the ground and hit it hard. Instead of getting up, he lay there, breathing deeply before crying. He was alone, and the only family he had was now gone.
A rip in space appeared again, and Isak barely looked up. Was the old man coming back to kill him? Was this a cruel joke before the punchline? Instead of the old man coming out, a heavyset man with his face cut off fell out onto the ground. Isak stood and looked at the man who was slowly writhing on the ground. How the hell was he alive? That was when he heard a familiar voice.
"Isak? What has happened to me?"
Isak turned to see his brother, looking as he had before this damned maze started, standing there. He was examining his hands before looking to his brother. Isak was in shock. What was going on?
"Isak, my screen says I'm your game manual?" Johan said. Isak's eyes looked down at nothing as he thought. Game manuals were recordings of players, so is that what Johan was now? As this thought swirled in his mind, he heard the old man's voice once more, inside his head.
"If you do not wish to lose this gift, then you must kill Max before half the population has died."
Isak looked up at his brother, who looked confused and scared. He had one week, or else he'd lose his brother a second time. He could not let this happen.