“Do you like it?” Iliya asked the kitten in his lap, a little nervous. Despite the warnings from the portraits on the walls, Iliya had assumed the worst she could do was maybe a kitten bite, or a swat with her claws. Even if he continued assuming that being able to unhinge her jaw and eat inedible materials was the only thing Peaches could do to harm him, she could still easily rip off his hand if she tried.

Instead, Peaches butted her head into Iliya’s hand. He gave into the temptation and gave the little monster some pets. She smacked her lips a few times, happy. “I like it! There were some fruity notes, but there was also something smooth, and salty? And the crunchy, metallic outside really gave it some depth.”

“That was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich,” Iliya elected to ignore the tin foil. “The salty spread was peanut butter.”

“Peanut butter,” the kitten echoed. “I like it. Thanks for the food,” she chirped.

Immediately, Iliya’s phone began vibrating. Peaches arched her back, surprised, and jumped off Iliya’s lap. “It’s okay, just my phone,” Iliya reassured her in a distracted manner as he pulled his phone from his pocket. His screen no longer reflected his conditions for winning, or the amount of time it had left.

We are receiving conflicting reports about Red’s completion of Feed the Kitten. Please resolve the issue with your Moderator. Thank you for playing World Game Room!

The words flashed on the screen, as if in warning. Peaches hobbled back over to Iliya and looked at the screen. “Looks like you have to go meet with the big cat.” Peaches stuck her head in Iliya’s abandoned lunch bag and sniffed his remaining fruit and juice. Rejecting them, she scrunched up her nose.

“Is this a bad thing?” Iliya asked.

“How would I know? I’m just a kitten!” Finished, she turned her back on Iliya and returned to her sun spot, tail held high as she lithely moved. “But I do know you should go fast. If it’s bad, you’ll want time to fix it if it’s not an infraction bad enough for punishment.”

Punishment. That word again. “What happens if you’re punished?”

Finding the perfect warm spot to return to her nap, Peaches tucked her legs under her body, forming a loaf. She closed her eyes again. “Depends. You probably won’t like it though. See the pictures on the wall? Those are challengers who were sent to punishment.”

Iliya examined one of the portraits in the room he was in. The most vivid depicted a large, balding man. His eyes bulged and his mouth was open wide and was stuffed full with what looked like dark fur. If you looked closely, there were even some lumps piercing through his throat, presumably from the fur forcing itself down his throat. There was so much, a few strands even poked through from his nose. Iliya could practically hear the grotesque choking noises, just from looking at his portrait. When put together with the starving man’s portrait, the woman who had her eyes clawed out, and all the other portraits that made up this hall, Iliya resolved that he would not be punished. Especially not on his tutorial level. But if the punishments were this bad on the introductory challenges, what would they be like once he passed to the next level? It felt like there was a hand deep in Iliya’s belly, pulling him down. He forced himself to look away from the grotesque images, and focus on the task at hand. Returning his phone to his pocket, despite the fierce vibrations against his stomach worsening his nausea, Iliya went back to the kitchen to talk with the Moderator.

Iliya opened the door to the kitchen where the cat was still sitting on the table near Iliya’s backpack. It was methodically grooming itself, but it looked up when Iliya entered the room. “Can I help you?” The cat asked, clearly uninterested in helping Iliya.

“I hope so.” Iliya held up his phone, and showed the screen to the cat. It read the same thing.

We are receiving conflicting reports about Red’s completion of Feed the Kitten. Please resolve the issue with your Moderator. Thank you for playing World Game Room!

The cat eyed the phone, then its tablet, which told it only an hour had passed since the game began, and that there was a full hour left. “I’ve never seen a tutorial challenger break the game. What did you do?”

“I fed your kitten.”

“Did you, now?” The cat pressed its paw to the tablet. Immediately, the screen played a video of Iliya giving his peanut butter and jelly sandwich to Peaches. Just as it did minutes before, the kitten on screen unhinged its jaw and swallowed the sandwich whole, tin foil wrapping and all. “So you did. I haven’t seen her eat with such zeal in days. Maybe next time I’ll change up the food in the stash.”

“She really liked the peanut butter,” Iliya offered.

The cat hummed, and tapped on the tablet twice. There was a menu that replaced the video, and the cat pressed something before Iliya could digest any of the options. Words appeared on the screen, and Iliya read them with undisguised interest.

Feed the Kitten

Red: To win, you must do as the Moderator asks.

Blake: To win, you must ensure no one steals from the stash of food.

Introductory Monologue

Thank you for playing Feed the Kitten! Oh challengers! How could I possibly thank you enough for coming to my aid? The streets have been vicious, the drought unbearable, food so scarce. Oh, how my kitten and I have hungered! But you challengers. You came at just the right time. I have caught wind of a hidden stash of food, hidden somewhere within this building. I implore you, oh brave challengers! Please feed my kitten!

The cat read over the introductory message once, and then twice. Meanwhile, Iliya looked at the two missions. It seemed the original intention of the game was for the two players to face off against each other. So the professor had indeed raced off to find the stash of food, but it wasn’t just to prevent Iliya from beating him there. Based on the monologue, Iliya had assumed they had the same challenge, but he was clearly wrong. Professor Antoni’s mission was to prevent Iliya from being able to complete his. And it was unfair, too! The professor had completed at least one other game before this one. He had a clear advantage over the blanant newbie that Iliya presented as, even with tutorial mode on.

“I guess it never does specifically say that you need to feed the kitten peaches from the stash,” the cat mused.

“Probably because as the Moderator, you can change whatever is in the stash, right? But you can’t change the monologue.” Iliya said.

The Moderator turned its head to look at Iliya. “How did you know I can’t change the monologue?”

“It just doesn’t sound like you.” Iliya refrained from mentioning what he was really thinking. It was so obvious the cat didn’t want to read it! “So why can you change the stash and not the monologue?”

Without looking away from Iliya, the cat tapped on the monitor, returning it to darkness. “You ask a lot of questions, Red.”

“Got me red-handed?” Iliya attempted, with a smile. The cat was not amused. “Anyway,” he continued, “you did say I could ask questions. You just don’t have to answer.”

The cat sighed. “As Moderator, I can’t answer that question. Understand?”

“Yes.” Iliya nodded, face turning serious again. “Then you don’t have to answer my conjectures, but I can always talk to myself out loud. Right, of course right…”

The Moderator waits, patient.

“As Moderator, what can you do?” Iliya reaches up like he wants to run his hands through his hair. He stops himself, remembering his hair was tied up into a bun that was already messy enough. As a compromise he crossed his hands in front of his face, fingers interlocking. “You’re not in charge of the game, not really. But you have control over smaller aspects, like players, or things that won’t really make a difference if they’re changed. But you can’t change the game itself. That’s why you can’t change the monologue! And that’s why I had to be the one to open the door for the professor. This is my tutorial! I got the chance to accept or reject the person who would challenge me.” Iliya’s eyes turned somber. “I gave you guys power over me.” His hands dropped.

The Moderator tilts its head, eyes bright. “Smart boy.” It gets up and walks down the table until it is just inches away from Iliya. It looks up into his face. “If this were another challenge, I can’t say what I would do. Not punishment, I think, not punishment for being clever. But I don’t know if I would give you a pass or make you grab from the stash.” It checks the tablet, where there is still over an hour left. “You have the time. But I want to see what you would do as an official player. I’ll give you a pass, but with no reward.”

Iliya considered. This was his first game. Taking the pass and leaving could be a good option. But then he remembered the professor’s face from before the game had started. He looked at Iliya like he was an idiot. He looked at Iliya like he was naive for trying to help him. He looked at Iliya like he deserved to die for it.

He turned to look at the Moderator, a steely glint in his eye. “What if I can ensure the other challenger will fail? Can I get my reward then?”

The cat grinned and it was terrible in its cheshire manner. “I’ll even give you a bonus.”