As the elevator doors parted, YOUR eyes were drawnto the flickering display showing Level 2. A brutal gust of wind immediatelyassaulted them, carrying the metallic taste of a world transformed.
Before you stretched a cybernetic wasteland – theskeletal remains of once-proud buildings jutting like broken teeth against asky swirling with otherworldly hues of midnight blue, crimson, and pitch black.The ruins held whispers of ancient dynasties, their glory now reduced to rubbleand digital decay.
A visceral fear crept through your veins as thereality of this desolate landscape sank in. "What cataclysm befell thisworld?" you wondered, your thoughts interrupted by an ethereal glow atyour feet.
There lay a backpack, its surface emblazoned witha message that seemed meant for you alone: "This is for you, House ofKong. Supplies for survival – Elixir, Cupcake, and Munch. Seek out others ofyour kind to survive and ascend." Seek and find more of these supplies inorder to survive.
With trembling hands, you opened the pack,confirming the three mysterious components within. Looking up at thekaleidoscopic cyber-sky, you took their first tentative step into this strangenew reality, the final warning of the message echoing in their mind: "Becareful."
A low hum resonated through the crumblingcyber-landscape, like the distant breath of sleeping machines. You clutched thebackpack closer, its contents – the Elixir, Cupcake, and Munch – providingstrange comfort in this alien environment. The wind whipped around them,carrying fragments of holographic memories: fleeting images of ancient templesmorphing into towering digital spires, now reduced to glitch-riddled ruins.
Your footsteps echoed against the fracturedground, each step sending ripples of neon energy through the surface likedisturbed water. In the distance, something massive shifted among thedevastation – a shadow that seemed to pixelate and reform, never quite settlinginto a definite shape. The air crackled with unseen energy, and your skintingled with the sensation of being watched by countless unseen eyes.
The question burned in your mind: where are theother members of the House of Kong? The message promised they existed,scattered perhaps across this broken digital realm. But survival would meanmastering this strange new world first. Understanding the mysterious suppliesyou had been given. Learning to read the signs in this techno-wasteland wherepast and future collided in a dangerous dance.
A sudden burst of static filled the air, and inthe distance, a tower's remains flickered like a failing monitor, revealing forjust a moment what looked like a doorway – or perhaps a portal – pulsing withinvitation. You tightened your grip on the backpack. Sometimes survival meanttaking risks, and in this shattered cyber realm, standing still might be theriskiest choice of all.
Feeling hungry, your backpack immediately lit uplike it somehow knew what you were thinking. You opened the backpack to a neonmessage that appeared on your hand. Connect each component to power up.
NEAL LLOYD
