Read Gamers' Challenge for Free Online Page A

Tark,’ said Tee. Sadness washed over his face and he lowered his eyes. ‘But when my wife died - when my Zyra died - I couldn’t use that name any more.’
    ‘Ya is me.’ Tark stared incredulously at Tee, then shifted his gaze to Hope. ‘That means ya is my ...’ Tark’s face turned red.
    Hope lifted a gloved hand and waved, grinning broadly.
    Tark looked to Zyra and saw the devastated expression on her face. His shoulders sagged and he slowly turned to face Tee.
    ‘We ain’t the first,’ he whispered, barely able to get the words out.
    ‘We is just copies,’ said Zyra.
    Their minds reeled with the revelation. To be a created character in a game was bad enough - to be a copy of a created character was completely demoralising. Zyra felt her knees weaken. She took hold of Tark’s arm to steady hersel£ His hand grabbed onto hers and held tight, a slight tremor running through it as he drew in a long, slow breath.
    ‘You started out as copies,’ said Tee. ‘As did I.’ Helooked at Tark and Zyra’s shocked expressions. ‘Yes, there were others before me. Like me, you became individuals. If the two of you were just copies, you would still be playing the game. But there will be enough time for explanations later.’ Tee looked at Hope. ‘Stine?’
    The young woman shook her head sadly.
    ‘Tell me what happened,’ said Tee.
    ‘We came here to salvage materials for the pro£ Next thing I know, there are four of them swooping in through the door. We got one then ran.’ She paused.
    ‘Stine wasn’t fast enough. I tried to help but-’
    ‘Four!’ blurted Zyra.
    Hope scowled at her in annoyance.
    ‘There were four of them VI things,’ continued
    Zyra, releasing her grip on Tark. ‘Ya gots one at the start. We gots another two just then.’
    ‘We need to get out of here,’ said Hope.
    ‘Wot’s that?’ asked Tark.
    In the distance they could hear whistling.
    They all turned to look at the main door as a man entered from the darkness of the corridor. Dressed all in green with a peacock feather in his cap, he walked in, casually tossing a red ruby from one hand to the other. He was whistling a happy little tune.
    At that very moment the final VI came shooting through the opposite door.
    ‘Run for the exit,’ yelled Tee.
    Tark, Zyra and Hope bolted. They were past the man and halfway down the corridor before they realised that Tee had not followed them. All three stopped and turned back. As they approached the door, they saw Tee running at the man in green, the VI literally a hand-span behind.Just as he was about to collide with the stranger, Tee threw himself to one side. The VI connected with the whistling man. The two entities froze in their moment of collision.
    Eyes wide, Tark and Zyra watched as the man wastaken apart. They had only seen bolts and throwing stars and other inanimate objects disassembled. Watching it happen to a person was another thing altogether. They knew they should be using the time to run away or fire their weapons. But they simply watched in horrified fascination, as outer layers of clothes and skin disappeared to reveal bones and muscles and internal organs, which in turn were also deleted.
    As the last trace of the man vanished, the air filledwith the most ghastly screeching noise they had ever heard, like worlds screaming as they are torn apart. A huge gash of light split through the air and widened to reveal the static Interface of Designers Paradise. It was as if the very fabric of their reality, their World, was being torn open to reveal the unreality behind it. The VI was sucked through the tear and then, with another ear-splitting sound, the wound healed itself, disappearing as if it had never been there.
    In its place stood the man dressed in green, faceblank, totally immobile. As Tee slowly got to his feet, the man in green started to move. First he tossed the ruby from one hand to the other, then he started whistling, and finally he walked off, across the factory