The Hunt

The facts, as I remember them

I love dreaming. The joy of falling asleep and losing control. I love dreams that last days. Whole stories and worlds and characters to explore. When I talk about my dreams, I often meet people who do not like them. They tell me that they are afraid of dreaming for too long. They are afraid that they will never wake up.

Right now, I am in a virtual reality game. It is like a dream, but you have more control. It was a new attraction inside an augmented reality resort in Batangas. I remember the beach, and the salty sea air. I remember the game staff strapping me into a chair.

The owner of the resort was Jean Monte, a retired pro-gamer who had found international success and made a lot of money as a result. He spent his days sipping on caipirinhas and lounging beside infinity pools. His 'Gram filled with electric cars and sneakers. He hosted parties and entertained his guests by letting them experience his new rides before anyone else. You would see his name in the news now and then, claims of sexual harassment that always ended up dismissed.

It is worth exploring his background. For I feel he has something to do with the situation that I am in right now. Currently as I speak to you, or at least as I think I'm speaking with you, I am in a forest following pink turtles towards a waterfall.

Jean Monte. In his younger years, he started a foundation for the urban poor to get into pro gaming. If you were good enough, you'd get a full scholarship. This included food, board, and a generous monthly allowance. He acknowledged the creativity and technical knowledge you needed to play a good game. And so he called his initiative the Good Game Foundation. It inspired young boys and girls for decades. I was one of them, and this was my ticket to one of the most exclusive resorts in the country.

Satisfied with his contributions to the world of gaming, he decided to have some fun and invest his money on something he enjoyed. It was a technology called Capsule. It was both a device and a drug. You wore a VR-headset to simulate audio and visuals. Then you took a drug to sedate parts of your brain. The idea was to keep the illusions as real as possible by suppressing the conscious mind. Alcohol, Jean says, would have the same effect.

On the day I went to the resort, I had my girlfriend with me. We were invited to test The Blast Zone. It was so named because you were supposed to have a blast in it. Yep. I don't like the name either. The seats were brand new, and smelled incredible. And so there we were -a dozen young adults from the GG Foundation strapped to leather recliners. It was comfortable and inviting. It looked nothing like the sci-fi pods we were expecting.

There were three scenarios available. In the first scenario, you could play as an adventurer. Your goal was to explore ancient ruins in a remote jungle. This was the most fun, as you had access to all kinds of acrobatic abilities. The second scenario was more dramatic. You were a zombie apocalypse survivor stranded in the middle of the ocean on a cruise ship. You could make all kinds of choices on this ship. You get to choose your allies and weapons. You get to choose who makes it, and who has to be left behind. It's interesting, but I found it boring after a while as there were too many cutscenes.

The third scenario? This was where I was genuinely surprised. The Capsule would ask a series of questions about myself. It was like a personality test, but with a few interesting questions such as -would you participate in an orgy? And -which world leader do you identify with the most?. From your answers it would build a world for you. So far this customizable world was the most interesting scenario. I had played as a detective in a murder mystery, and as a monster hunter in a medieval world. This was, perhaps, what the developers used to forge the first two scenarios.

As testers we didn't have to finish the missions and could skip scenarios if we wanted to, so I got to try all three. And then of course, I kept re-playing the third scenario because it was like designing your own dream.

The problem is, now I don't know if I'll ever wake up. As I talk to you now, or as I think I am talking to you now, I've gone through the game at least twenty times. I am no longer sure what day it is, or how to get out of it. I am not sure if I've fallen asleep, and am dreaming of the game. Or if I am somehow trapped within it.

I am not sure what is happening in the outside world. But what I do know is that there are a few strange details about this third scenario that could not have been created by the developers. Things that only I knew about.

Then there's that other thing I noticed. This figure that keeps following me in the game. He was an ordinary looking man, but his eyes were filled with sadness. I didn't notice him at first. It was his behavior that caught my attention.

I'm losing it. I can't tell whether I'm dreaming, or still playing the game. I need to tell you something, a memory before I got here. This is the only way I can think of to confirm that I'm still alive. I must have a brain if I can still access my memories...right?

I need to tell you a story. I need to tell you about the day before.