This chapter continues with George being back in the game and crossing the Pit. My proofreader found it kind of nice the way I presented the scene of Jessie’s death from another perspective. I hadn’t really much thought about it, but I find looking at things from different angles does help comprehension, especially in human misunderstanding.
One thing I personally like is the clear distinction between Evylin and Jessie. Evylin seems to be in complete control physically as well as erotically. Her actions verge on the edge of brutal. It is not surprising that George is attracted to her because of this. Her strength, agility, her femininity, and her powerful body, added to the cold-hearted killer surely has to be attractive? (Personal attractions perhaps – it is not George but me, who is attracted to her. Smile.) Jessie on the other hand is described as sweet and nice, and George even for a moment wonders where she lives in the real world, but only for a moment, instantly forgetting this on seeing Evylin again in her tight body suit waiting for him on the Pit Wall plateau.
Throughout this chapter George’s gaming capabilities seem to be influenced by his emotions. He questions this behavior, wondering if it has anything to do with the fact that his avatar is now part virus.
What I am trying to build here is a kind of split personality, a form of schizophrenia. On the one hand, there is the real-world George, who no longer can relate to his dad, and has joined the game to forget the horrors of his real life – and then there is the online one, who is killing his way through the game, with the sole intention to ‘End the world’ and thereby earn him enough e-Terra to free him from the real one he lives in.
The problem is, the more he plays the more his emotions seem to grow. His reactions are no longer mindless and without thought or caring. The virtual world is becoming increasingly more real. He is learning his actions have consequences. If he is to free himself from the real world he must not behave like his forefathers – yet the game is slowly demanding and provoking exactly such reactions.
Evil, the Avatar, is awakening in his avatar, God, all kinds of pre – digital desires and lusts.
Leaving the question open as to when do desires and lusts become negative? Is it a moral issue? Is it a state-controlled issue? Who decides? In my book, the government along with the insurance companies have decided that any kind of physical contact is unhealthy, backed up by research, surveys and collected data. Their solutions are based on these results and physical contact in any form has been replaced by the healthier and more enjoyable form of digital, conscious manipulation. Replacing all physical needs, breaking down every moral, religious and humane barrier between good and bad acts of stimulation, leaving only physical stimulus as the incorrect form.
