The room was silent--except for the clicking on Yael's keyboard and mouse, and the notifications from the chat. This challenge was huge with lots of risks--losing the game, because one of the theories was correct, losing subs because of that--losing his reputation of not ever losing. But if he won, it'd be the biggest hit ever--more subs, more money, more known. And just maybe a collab with Orson.
The chat was full of excitement. As he glanced at the viewers--each time it went up--from 3.8k to 4.2k to 4.7k.
"Alright, guys. We're stepping in." Yael's voice was more calm than he felt. The cordinates for the 'nerds' was on-and showed E-2.
The air in-game changed the moment he stepped in. The usual soundtrack of distant gunfire and digital wind was gone, replaced by a low, atmospheric hum and the occasional groan of straining metal. The color palette is drained to the color of gray, green corrosion, and oily shadow. His character, 'Wraith_19', stood at the edge of a canyon littered with the carcasses of jumbo jets. Their fuselages were torn open like tin cans, wings snapped off and scattered. A perpetual, sickly fog clung to the ground.
Eggs_Dek20: "omg the ambience is TERRIFYING"
CanaryCode: "thermal is picking up NOTHING. no life signs. thats not right."
"That is right, canary..." Yael confirmed.
The first thing in E-2 airplane graveyard. There were unwritten rules-that first rule is no data. maps won't load. Enemy indicators are not trustworthy.
Yael took one more step in. The screen suddenly glitched and in two seconds flashed all screenshots of the game from the player's viewer point. It was eerily more realistic than one might think. Too much--After that two second flashing of those creepy realistic pictures-the character 'wraith_19' spawned in one of the airplanes. It was empty. Perfectly fine. The chairs seemed alright, so did the floor. Everything was okay--but it creeped out Yael, since it was silent. No signs of anyone else there. His map is occasionally glitching. His character made its way to the front door to get out. But the thing was it was a few meter long jump, since there were no stairs to get in or out.
Yael risked his jump and lost half of his health. His character walked further in the graveyard. In the game, he reached a clearing dominated by the colossal, upright tail fin of a crashed airliner. The Bismuth Crystal's waypoint pulsed on his broken HUD, just on the other side.
Shadow_Flare: "This is where the clips always end."
Lirael_42: "Yael pls be careful."
Yael was 199 meters in. Or so the map said. "This is it..." Yael said in a shuddering breath. "The point of no return."
He stepped into the shadow of the tail fin.
The world glitched.
Not a lag. But a violent, screen tearing distortion. Colors inverted, the sound shredded into digital screams. For three full seconds it went.
Then it was gone.
The computer suddenly shut off.
One.
Two.
The computer burst into flames, catching Yael in it. The stream had caught his death...Leaving many traumas.
thorno_PaX: "Interesting."
It was the last thing Yael saw.