Level 14:

Arching an inquisitive eyebrow, Milo bent over to pick up the peculiar motherboard, studying the anomalous object with a sceptical yet fascinated expression. Bringing it closer to his eye, he noticed how incredibly detailed and complex it was. Tiny wires and thin copper lines ran through it like the blueprint of a metro map. A small fiery spark skirted along the edges of the intricate square. Why on Earth was it in the post-box though?

Excited to show the others, he ran back into the house as he waved the motherboard in the air, sprinting towards the lounge, keen to show his siblings.

Panting, he finally arrived in the large room, only to be greeted by the normal sight of his siblings playing video games and sleeping. His sister Ash was lazily covering the whole couch, her eyes sleepily shut, with a thin silk blanket draped over her. Occasionally she would squirm or start sleep walking or talking, but for the most part, she spent most of the weekend, sleeping in bed. Kai and Cole sat lazily perched on the other velvet sofa, concentrated expressions plastered on their faces as they stared intensely at the small glowing screen of their laptop, their fingers dashing around the keyboard. Sighing, he decided it was better if perhaps he just tested it himself. He didn’t want to anger them anymore, it seemed that whatever he did he was always the one being shouted at: ‘the consequence of being annoying.’ As Ash called it. All he ever wanted was to play with them, but they were always too busy playing video games and texting their friends.

With a sharp inhale, he made his way towards the Xbox, careful not to trip on any of the headphones and Coke cans messily scattered across the carpeted floor. Squatting down, he fished in his deep pockets until he pulled out the motherboard. He stared at it, it looked about the right size. Then, with a deep breath, he slowly slotted it into the thin slit at the back of the Xbox…

After a short delay, Milo heard a quiet hiss as the screen sputtered to life, and a low-graphic 2D game appeared in front of him.

Would you like to enter FlameTree Island: Return of the Crabs Part II?

Below was a pixelated video of a very low graphic pacman–style giant crab chasing a human off the screen, then emerging on the other side again in a repetitive loop. Next to it there was a simple set of instructions:

To continue press A.

Milo had never been the biggest fan of video games, and much preferred playing with his toy car collection, but he had to admit, this did look fun.

Then he heard some funky, Egyptian-sounding music creeping up his ears, then realised it was resonating from the amplifiers. He turned to see that both Kai and Cole had somehow managed to peel their eyes away from their computer screens and made their way over to the TV. Leaning against a nearby chair, Kai read the screen aloud:

“Would you like to enter FlameTree Island?”

“Man, what is this? Some sort of Pacman simulator-gone-wrong?” He scoffed, then abruptly turned around and made his way back towards his laptop. Cole followed.

“Wait, Cole! Kai! Don’t you want to play?” He called after them desperately.

He sighed; he had just messed up probably the only opportunity to play with his siblings that he would get for the whole month. Slumping his head against a pillow, he picked up the controller and pressed A.

What happened next was definitely not what he was expecting.

…

He opened his eyes to find himself lying face-down on a beach, half of his body submerged in shallow water. His trousers were drenched in cold seawater that seeped through his boots and he could feel the coarse texture of sand in his mouth. Small white waves lapped up at his ankles as seagulls cawed distantly and the spray of a tangy sea breeze settled on his tongue. Getting to his feet, he spat out a mouthful of sand and dusted his t-shirt. Confused and worried, he felt the shiver of a panic slowly oozing up his spine. He turned around to call for his brothers when a powerful gust of wind blew the sand up and stung his knees. What was happening? Quite terrified now, Milo reached into his pocket to fish for his phone only to find an antique looking chisel. The faint thump of his heart quickened, thundering in his chest as a heavy bead of sweat trickled down from his forehead. He begin calling for his siblings.

“Kai! Cole!”

Then, he heard an ominous rustle in the bushes, as a sleek, brown cobra slowly emerged from the tall grass, its dark, beady eyes set on his terrified face. Letting out a menacing hiss, it steadily made its way toward him, baring its razor sharp fangs as it readied its mouth for a lethal strike. Frozen with fear, Milo felt a heavy bead of sweat trickle down his forehead… Now only meters away from him, the large cobra drew his head back, preparing itself to lunge forward and dig his venomous fangs into his leg…

Then, out of nowhere, Cole jumped out from the branches of a mangrove tree and lunged on top of the snake, fearlessly grabbing its neck with his hands, disallowing him to bite.

“Quick, grab something to kill it with, I can’t hold it much longer.” He said wrestling the giant cobra.

Milo scanned the area for something to use as a weapon. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a large, brown coconut. Without thinking he picked it up and hurled it towards the snake, striking it perfectly on the back of the head, watching in satisfaction as he saw it flop to the ground in a small heap.

Sighing with relief, he turned towards Cole.

“Nice one.” He heard deep voice call from behind him.

Milo turned to see that Kai was standing behind him, a large vieny fist held out in front of him and that same wide, easy smile spread across his whole face. Milo knocked it with his noticeably smaller hand. He smiled.

Milo smiled back, it was good to have his real brothers back.

“Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything, or at least everything I understand. First let’s get some water though.”

It was then that he noticed the small digital countdown on the coconut.

4, 3, 2,..

“Um, Cole, Kai!”

They were immediately launched into the air. The sky was cast a dark, grey hue, as an enormous cloud of ash and smoke filled the air. Fires tore through the lagoon, destroying palm trees like ants as they raged through the beach. Late explosions were still going off, like the eruptive splash of a raindrop hitting water, only much more large scale and lethal. Behind the thick layer of ash and smoke, Milo spotted a faint figure of a curled-up sillouhette in front of him. Coughing violently, they realised they were falling at an extremely rapid pace, building momentum as they neared the side of the volcano below them. Screaming, they braced their heads as the air was quickly sucked from their lungs.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!”

Coughing, Milo slowly opened his tightly shut eyes to find that he had landed on the edge of a cliff. Only centimetres from falling, they quickly scuttled backwards towards a safer distance. Knitting his eyebrows in confusion, Milo then realised that they were not at all injured. A bomb like that should have surely killed them all, but it didn’t even hurt when they smashed against the hard rock. With his eyebrows knitted together in a confused expression, he turned to the sleeping figure next to him and realised that it was actually the face of his sister, Ash. With her eyes tightly shut and still curled up in a ball as if nothing had happened, Milo squinted in pure fascination as he tried to understand the superpower of how his sister could never wake up. Bamboozled, Milo shook his head in disbelief and awe as he noticed a small black watch on her wrist. A small neat black button was carefully placed on one of the smooth, clean edges. Curious, he drew his finger towards it, then stopped.

This was the same curiosity that had gotten them all in this mess in the first place.

Deciding he was going to risk it, he pressed the button and was immediately blinded as a bright purple hologram splayed out of the screen. It showed a picture of herself, and below several labels and statistics.

Aurora: The All-Rounder.

Weakness – None

Strengths – Everything.

Weapon – Bow

Power - Teleportation

No. of lives left: 4/5

At first he was confused, but then it all made sense. They were stuck inside the video game they had entered back at home. That would explain why it didn’t hurt when they smashed against the rocks. He was extremely grateful they at least had multiple lives. He turned to press the black watch on his wrist and a bright blue hologram appeared in front of him.

Ajax: The Immaculate Craftsman

Weakness – Sand

Strengths – Carving and crafting, communicating with animals

Weapon – Chisel

Power – Turns invisible

No. of lives left: 3/4

But why did he look the same and wasn’t wearing the skin of his character? He decided it wasn’t important, and he would rather channel the last trickles of his rapidly draining energy into finding out how to escape this dangerous island.

To his left he spotted a small wooden sign out of the corner of his eye and turned to look at it, reading the message over and over again, trying his hardest to decode the message:

Where sleeps the fiery mountain,

There lies a wicked crustacean,

Whom plans to overtake the island.

To leave FlameTree Island,

You must first prove yourselves worthy,

And put an end to this terrifying violence.

"Hey guys, come look at this!, he turned towards his siblings who had just discovered the holograms on their watches and were avidly reading them.

“Oh man, I got the worst character.” He heard Kai say from behind him, pressing the button as a bright green hologram appeared in front of him.

Mr Garret: The Passionate History Teacher

Weakness – Heights

Strengths – History, English, basketball.

Weapon – Pen

Power – None

No. of lives left: 2 /4

“Like, bro, I literally have a pen as a weapon.” He pointed towards a leather belt strapped around his waist, with multiple varieties of pens dangling from it.

“And why do I have two lives left when you all have three?” He said dissatisfied.

‘’It’s because of the heights.” said Cole, who was nodding in satisfaction at his character, displayed on a red hologram.

Kylo: The Fearless Warrior

Weakness – Water

Strengths – Hand to hand combat, fighting.

Weapon – Spear

Power – Mind reader

No. of lives left:

He glanced down at a belt, which was dangling with several intricately carved spears. He then crawled over to Ash, who was still sleeping in a curled up ball. Grabbing her wrist, Cole pressed the button on her watch and saw a purple hologram jump out of the screen.

Aurora: The All-Rounder.

Weakness – None

Strengths – Everything.

Weapon – Bow

Power - Teleportation

No. of lives left: 4/5

“What! No fair, how come Ash gets the best character when she’ll probably just be sleeping the whole way!“ “Look, she literally has 5-“

“Guys, listen to me! I think this could be important.” Said Milo, more desperately this time.

They turned towards him when suddenly the ground began to shake and wobble below them.

“What’s happening!?” demanded Kai, as a family of rhinos ran past them. A row of palm trees toppled like dominos whilst a stampede of animals bolted past them, nearly squashing them in their flurry of panic. The cliff was beginning to shake even more violently now, swaying back and forth like a seesaw. Latching a sweaty hand on to a steady looking tree branch, Mylo swung himself forwards, managing to safely clear the path of the stampede. Squinting, he scanned the area for the faces of his siblings. He saw Cole and Kai safely perched on another tree near him. Relieved although panicked, Milo skimmed his eyes over the blur of the stampede for his sister’s face.

Then, much to Milo’s horror, he saw Ash sleep-riding a rhino like a cowboy.

“Yee-haw!” She mumbled as she wobbled like a drunk man on the rhino, just inches from slipping off the edge.

Then in a flash of dust she was gone.

Arching a confused eyebrow in disbelief, Milo turned to see that she had teleported right next to her, still sleep-talking.

“Giddy up!” She shouted, kicking Milo hard in the ribs, still sleeping.

“Phew, you’re ok.” He said, relieved.

Eventually, the stampede ceased and a gigantic crab thudded forwards, shaking the ground with each loud, resonating footstep.

Milo knew instantly that this was the “evil crustacean” he read about on the sign.

He was humongous, with claws that looked like they could cut through bone and a menacing stare that sent icy shivers down your back. His elevated beady black eyes were like raised all-seeing cameras on his head, and his plated red shell was an unbreakable armour around his body. There was a health bar hovering above his body, divided into seven segments.

Lashing out a razor edged claw, the crab grabbed a coconut tree with ease and ripped it out of the ground, shaking it on top of Kai, Milo watched horrified, from behind the safety of a tree as he tried to dodge the falling coconut-bombs. Small explosions erupted near him, like the splash of raindrops hitting water. Raising himself onto his hind legs, he slammed his enormous claws back down on the earth with a mighty thud, echoing through the ground like a powerful ripple, knocking Milo off his feet. He then thrust a serrated claw at Cole, who dramatically leaned over backwards, dodging the claw by mere centimetres. With his other serrated pincer, he snapped at Kai, who tried his best to evade the razor sharp, blade like spikes, but eventually was caught. He felt the piercing blades on his claw stab into his skin as a stream of blood trickled down his leg. Meanwhile, Cole slide tackled underneath the crabs body and stabbed his silver spear into the crustacean’s unprotected abdomen. He heard a robotic noise as he saw a section of the crabs health bar go down.

✅✅✅✅❌

Writhing and squirming, Kai felt the crab’s grip tighten as the crab slowly squeezed the air out of his lungs like a python. Each passing second, he saw another one of his lives go down on his health bar.

HEALTH CRITICAL: ✅❌❌❌❌

Somehow managing to pull an arm out, he used that to propel himself out of the crab’s grip just managing to squeeze himself out of the choking tight claw. Backflipping onto the crustaceans back, he tried to steady his balance as he did his best not to slip off the slippery shell. Unleashing a pen from his pocket, he scanned the platy armour for a weak spot to stab it into. He noticed an unprotected wound near his head and impaled it there, watching in satisfaction as blue blood oozed out of his neck.

✅✅✅❌❌

Throwing it as far as he could, Milo passed him a wooden stick-spear which he had hastily carved with his chisel from a fallen branch. Catching it in one hand, Kai swung it at the crab’s left eyeball, lopping off the black pupil in a single swing.

CRITICAL HIT: ✅❌❌❌❌

Letting out a furious hiss, the crab raised itself onto its hind legs as he groaned in agony. Kai slipped off the platy exoskeleton like a very uneven seesaw and landed in a weak heap on the ground, only centimetres from falling off the edge. The crab turned around to face him, his single, cold black eye staring into his soul, sending icy shivers down his spine. He slowly thudded forward, closer and closer, forcing Kai to shuffle backwards each time, nearing the edge until he was only millimetres from falling.

“HEY! OVER HERE!!” He heard a voice call from his left.

Cocking his head in confusion, Kai watched as the crab bolted towards the sound, half-blind and inches from falling off the edge. Then, he saw Milo’s head emerge from behind a bush as he sprinted forward, a wooden spear clutched tightly in his right hand as he impaled it deeply into the crabs back. Piercing the flesh, Milo watched in satisfaction as he toppled down into the pitch black abyss below. After several seconds, they heard a loud thud as he hit the bottom.

…

They were instantly blinded by a flash of light as they found themselves back in the lounge room, where they had left. Milo felt a massive grin spread across his whole face as he began to feel the adrenalin pump into his body.

“We made it.” He said, shocked.

“Yeah.” Said Cole, thrilled.

Then, they heard footsteps on the stairs as their mother came into the room, a furious expression on her face.

“What were you guys doing?” She said, her hands planted firmly on her hips in an outraged expression.

“Nothing.” They all replied simultaneously.

“I was looking everywhere for you!”, ’I nearly called the police.” She said, infuriated.

Sighing, she rolled her eyes in annoyance ; “Anyways, dinners ready come down in 5.” She said, turning back down the stairs.

When she was gone, they all turned to each other and winked.

“Don’t say a word.”

They grinned.

THE END.