Khan and Yozen were almost at the climax of Acadia. The rush of adrenaline surging through their blood as they hit those buttons was surreal. Yozen was about to lead his avatar through the final stage of Acadia. He was going on a battle against an intergalactic demon when it happened. The screen suddenly turned off and on twice. A twitching sound followed before the backdrop of a weird stage different from the typical game of Acadia decorated their screen.
The boys froze. Instead of fighters in battle shields, Khan and Yozen witnessed the game being intercepted by demons and shape-shifting avatars. Although the scene appeared enigmatic and captivating in a mysterious way, The setting had the panoramic lore of an archaic game. The clip only lasted a couple of minutes before the scene was reverted to the cinematography of Acadia. Khan and Yozen exchanged glances. This was something very unusual and it made them both uneasy.
They failed to notice that while all that peculiarity was occurring in the game, their living room had also altered to look like something from a long time ago. This went on to occur in a quick series of alternation and reality for the next two minutes before everything reverted to normal.
“That was rather strange and terrifying,” Khan finally broke the silence.
“ Yeeaahh. I guess?” Yozen shrugged and rolled his eyes continuously. He paused for a moment. “Do you think the organization has something to do with this? I mean, we could be in some sort of a conspiracy right now. The organization is no foe to stuff like this.” Yozen squinted and raised his brow.
Khan and Yozen used to work at the lower level of the organization before they got kicked out for being too nosy. They wanted access to the secrets of the organization. They wanted to know who exactly was running the show.
The organization owned the game Acadia. They were an anonymous group of people who have been rumored to be connected to mysterious and unexplained occurrences around the world. In the face of the world, they claimed to be merely a company that had licensing to develop games. However, in the deep dark web, there was nothing innocent about the organization.
The most famous conspiracy tied to the organization occurred forty years ago in 1984. The group had millions of people across the world volunteer for an experiment. They were going to develop a game based on simulation of human behavior. While many thought it was brilliant, others feared it was dangerous. The experiment secretly involved injecting the participants with a chemical compound that could alter a person's DNA sequence.
Here is where it gets weird and scary. While that rumor was common knowledge for people who sought information beyond what the government let out, there was no evidence nor proof that it happened anywhere. No memories or records of such people and time existed. Only stories murmured across the web. It was as though that moment in time had been erased from the minds of Earth's inhabitants.
This unexplained event begs the question; Did the organization have the power, knowledge, and resources to alter time and the human mind like that? What happened in 1984?
Later that evening, the entire gaming community was in disarray. The internet was rumbling and in a state of jumble. Apparently, other gamers across the world had witnessed the exact scene Khan and Yozen caught earlier. The same sort of glitch was occurring randomly at several places around the world. Players found it strange as it wasn't part of the game's handbook.
The word had gotten out. It was no news that something strange was happening across the earth and the human plane of existence. The sudden glitches and disruption didn't stop with Acadia. Numerous strange texts and scripts began appearing on search histories and engines. Videos and content never seen before, people never heard of in the history of Earth. It was almost like the content had always been hidden right there. The occasional glitch was merely the torch that revealed the unseen. The organization and governments announced an intensified deep web exploration to decipher the mystery.
“Are you up for an adventure? Let's go snoop around. We still know our way around the organization?” Khan’s eyes lit up.
“Mr. Wonka? The tear is giving way. We need to fix it before things get worse. It was only a matter of time before this day would come.” A man with an iron mask glued to his face spoke with a wired voice.
“I'm piqued, Blanco. We will watch things naturally unfold. If some outer forces are interacting with Earth's plane, this would be the best simulation for our latest game.” Mr. Wonka merely swiveled his chair without turning to look at Blanco. “Inspired by nature. Let the game begin.” He focused on the large wall in front of him housing hundreds of surveillance monitors.
“There is nothing natural about this Mr. Wonka. Stop acting like you don’t see the portal threatening to rip apart.” Blanco pointed toward the ground in the middle of the laboratory. “Did you forget we used X to create a rift through space forty years ago when that experiment failed? We could have opened another dimension for all we know.” Blanco felt uneasy. His voice began to tremble as he spoke. “ Do you ever wonder if they are lost somewhere in another dimension? The chemical, X, was altering their genotypes. They were changing into something we could not handle. Bizarre phenotypes, unexplained strength, and abilities.…”
“Blanco! I know what happened right here forty years ago in this very lab.” Mr. Wonka slammed his fist on the table. “It is true that we couldn't control the experiment anymore. The best decision I made was to create a rift to erase that moment in time. All the participants who had chemical X disappeared into it. End of story. This… this is something else happening. Lock up for the day.” He pressed a button and all the screens went off.
Khan and Yozen ducked behind the lab door. They exchanged glances with eyes wide open. They had tried to peek at Mr. Wonka's face as he left the lab but he had a silver mask on.
Blanco stood there hesitant. He glanced around the lab filled with chemical vessels, sleep pods, gas canisters, cryo tubes, and satellite surveillance monitors. He then opened a lid in the middle of the lab that looked like a tunnel to the ground. Green neon lights began sparking from the tunnel. He merely shook his head before storming out of the lab in rage. He didn't bother locking up.
When Khan and Yozen were sure that he was out of sight, they let themselves into the lab. Khan quickly grabbed a canister of Chemical X as his eyes roamed the intricately designed futuristic lab. It was like nothing they had ever seen before.
“Woah Khan! Look at this.” Yozen was almost whispering. He had opened the tunnel and the sparks oozing from it left them awestruck. In a split second, Khan accidentally dropped the canister into the tunnel.
Just like that, what was originally a tiny black hole of neon lights materialized into a huge portal right before the two boys. The chemical had sped up the rift that was forming. Between twitching and expansion of the hole, four beings emerged through the hole. They were dressed like humans from the 80s. They had an aura of a strong demeanor and intense gaze. They looked at the boys, then at each other before aligning in pairs of two.
Right before their eyes, these pairs of beings fused into each other like melting magma. They were now two beings staring back at the boys.
“Hello!” They said in unison as they extended their arms to Yozen and Khan.
Before these strangers could say another word. The boys bolted. They didn't stop until they got to their home.
A couple of days had now passed with more mysterious occurrences around the world. The boys were too petrified to say a word to anyone. They even began questioning their sanity. One evening, they sat watching the news when the announcement came on.
The government had revealed the existence of another world from outer space, Pixelverse. To know more about this discovery, they sought the expertise of game players and developers to help foster interactions. The organization was now responsible for giving out licenses to participants ready to take on this adventure.
Yozen and Khan had many questions about what they saw that night. Who was running the organization? Was the rift a natural occurrence? Are the pixelians different beings from another planet or are they the mutant participants of the secret 1984 failed experiment?
Yozen and Khan made up their minds. They were going to purchase the license from the organization. They would interact with Pixelverse and uncover the truth.