Maya waved at the two, as she trotted on the sandy beach. She called out 'hello' to them and they waved back. They were rather surprised to have found a woman known for her adult entertainment exploits to be stranded with them on this island. She had medium sized eyes, a chiseled narrow nose and a square shaped jaw line and hidden cheekbones. Her breasts were within the B cup range and she looked a bit under the weather as far as her hair was concerned.

The two of them drew closer and John told Tinashe to not mention anything about them knowing about her, in the event that there would be a mix up and she would think they were perverse prudes. As soon as they were within a few feet from each other Maya said, “I can literally see your names and level bars, that’s some really crazy stuff. Do I also have one, like on top of my head?” The two were taken aback, a bit, and then John was quick to answer, “Yes, I think both of us can see your name, you’re Clarice right?”

“Yeah, Clarice is my real name. So are you guys, the others? Like the 1000 mentioned by the purple guy with the staff. I mean I hope you are because I was beginning to think that this was all just an elaborate tasteless joke or something. So, where have you guys been all along? Like fuck, I had to deal with the monkeys and the weather here. Plus there seems to be no houses or any means to communicate.” she said, seeming flustered.

“Well the island is pretty big so we travelled all the way here to explore some parts we hadn’t reached. The fact that we have taken this long to find you means that the others could be in areas we haven’t explored yet. By the way, you said houses and means of communication, were you expecting for there to be modern technology or even houses here?” he said, curious as to why she inferred such.

“Why, would it be a stretch? I mean, if you haven’t found any then there probably aren’t any on this island. Anyways, is there like more of you or is it just the two of you. Also, I noticed that your short friend has been staring at me. Do you recognise me or something?” she said, taking note of the fact that Tinashe was eyeing her. Tinashe was trying to fathom the fact that the woman in front of him had been involved in extremely explicit scenes and had soiled herself with many men’s bodily fluids.

He was trying by all means to keep it together, but being in the presence of someone he had seen naked before was proving to be an arduous task. John noticed the struggles of the young man and then gave him a hard nudge on the chest to get him relax. He then told her, “Don’t mind him, he is simply overcome by seeing a beautiful lady like you, but I just have one thing to ask you before we get into anything, are you aware of how you got here? Like you do know what happened before you woke up on this island right?”

“Yeah, I am well aware that I died and this is some sort of afterlife, but it feels more like a video game from what I can see. The whole inventory slot, like a video game and I can see things like I am playing on my screen on the TV. You see it too right?”

“Yes.” they both answered.

“Okay, so everyone is going through this, alright then, so I am Maya…, no Clarice. Don’t mind that slip up. So how have you guys been holding up on your end? Like shit, If I were to go for another week of this shit, scrounging for food and sleeping in trees or sometimes caves, I think I would go cray cray.” she said, moving her hands a lot.

“Well we managed to set up base back at our camp. I managed to pull something together like basic sleeping accessories and a hideout that won’t get affected by rain or even monkeys. It’s quite a long as march back there, but I think me and my friend would like to find out more about this side of the island before we do anything, well despite the fact that you can already see my name, I will just greet you. My name is John.” he said, offering his hand for her to shake. She obliged him and then offered to shake Tinashe’s hand. Tinashe offered his hand but felt really strange about it. Maya who was going by her real name Clarice, shaked the young boy who clearly recognised her. Instead of playing pretend she then confronted him by saying, “Is this your first time shaking the hand of a pornstar? Well don’t think to much about it. I am just a normal person like anybody else. Don’t be scared blue eyes.”

“Ahh, yeah. Um.” said Tinashe, who awkwardly shaked her hand. John found this scenario rather hilarious to behold, but said nothing of it. Clarice then glanced at him and said, “I guess you knew as well, but pretended to be oblivious. If there is one thing I never expected to see is people who jacked off to my content being in the afterlife with me. This some SNL type shit.”

“Yeah, SNL, well whatever your past was, we can always delve into that subject matter later, for now, I would like to know whether or not you have seen others on this island or if we are the only two you have seen so far.”

“Well you’re the first guys I have seen, I think I have heard some noises beyond the river back there, but there are a lot of monkeys and tigers so I haven’t tried going past there. As you can see from the tearing of my top, I got cut by one of the tigers, but somehow their claws didn’t leave permanent marks. I thought I would get rabies but I never got sick and then some stat…” she said, pointing at her torn shirt which slightly revealed her back side before being interjected.

“Mithridatism stat appeared presumably right?” he said, looking at her with much curiosity as to what she would answer.

“Yeah, like how did you know. Are you like good at guessing, John with the long beard?”

“No. I am just good at deduction. Me and my fellow here were drinking alcohol that I made and after getting a bit of intoxication, I am guessing our bodies reacted to it and the mithridatism stat appeared as a by product of our bodies dealing with the alcohol poisoning. As for your cut, I think getting slashed by any animal with k9s would warrant getting a rabies shot at the doctors. SInce our bodies have a regenerative property, I think it boosts itself to counter any infections so I believe that’s why that stat appeared.”

“Some deduction, well, it makes sense now that I think about it. You seem to have an idea about what’s going on so, tell me what you think is intended for us 1000 who are all her?”

“Well it’s pretty simple, the purpose is to level up and we are probably going to be pitted against each other like some survival death match. Are you aware of the Assimilation method?” he said, with a brazen tone.

“No, I don’t know what that is.” she said, with a rather perplexed look.

“As I suspected, unless people dabbled into the mechanics of the custom goals and entered the relevant goals, they would be unaware of this,” he said, whispering to himself, “the assimilation method, Clarice, is when others like us, kill each other to gain experience points to level up. There is no guarantee that people would choose this method, but the fact that it’s even stated means that anyone who managed to figure this out, like me, would know and they might kill people, so I want to inform people because it seems like this game system we have isn’t holding anyones hands.”

“Wait, you’re being for real right, no bullshit?” she asked, doubting the credibility of his information. John showed her the truth just like how he showed Tinashe and she seemed rather perturbed by this new information. Despite barely knowing these two, the fact that she had been made aware of the potential motives of others in Goshem really woke her up and she decided to be on guard. She then asked him, “So you said you figured this out by entering specific things on your screen, well from the custom goal thingy so , what if someone does know and just like you, you don’t take advantage of my ignorance, do you think you will likely find others who think like you?”

“Well, there is no guarantee that there would be more amicable people out there, but if we find hostile people, I am prepared to beat the shit out of them. My current strength is at 80% and my agility is maxed out. As far as anything required for combat is concerned, I am quite strong plus I did brazilian jiu jitsu before I killed myself.” he said, holding her shoulder to reassure her.

“I thought you said you were a writer?” asked Tinashe, who seemed shocked by the revelation of John’s past athletic activities.

“Well the blue eyes speaks.” she said, interested in finally hearing his voice in an audible manner.

“Well I was a writer, but more of a method writer. Just like how some actors do method acting to adequately prepare themselves for their portrayal of a role, I did the same to understand my characters and even did gender swapping roles to understand female characters. Research and imitation of real individuals was done to capture their realities to make them real in my works of fiction. So I tended to go in too deep, but I at least picked up a positive trait.

Ji jitsu was one of the things I got into.” he said, moving his hands about with a stern face. As soon as Clarice heard him mention gender swapping, she cringed and then broke into laughter. She eyed him out and then Tinashe and told John, “I think your friend, Ti-na-she, would look hot gender swapped. You seem to manly to pull that kind of look off. Anyways I guess all people in the entertainment industry are weird.”

“Well unless you’re nymphomaniac which you probably are, considering, your past profession, then that is a rather accurate deduction.” said John, who made it seem like a witty remark. The two of them laughed, but Tinashe was left out of the inside joke. The eccentric method writing author and the pornstar were having a laugh whilst he was just looking, blandly with nothing to really offer to the conversation.

After the small talk was done, John asked her if she was interested in returning with them or waiting for the following day to travel. Clarice wanted to at least gather some things she had made, a bunch of shambalas and a weaving basket she made that contained her food and something that looked like an oil. Her base was a total mess; a primitive place with a lot of left overs of peeled fruits, fish, shellfish and some vegetables. John even commented saying that their place looked more ‘rad’ and she probably believed him. They packed up and headed out, but instead of walking, they proceeded to jog. Walking would take forever and it was time to exercise.

Tinashe seemed to be the least fit and had a strength level of 8% despite how John had tried to aid him in some physical training. As they meandered through the thick vegetation, trying to pass the gorge, they began to hear sounds of a cry. It sounded like a young girl, crying tremendously as if in severe pain. The cry was accompanied with a cacophony of monkeys going hysterical. John took the initiative to run towards the trouble whilst Tinashe and Clarice played catch up. What lied before them was a rather depressing situation.

The girl who had been screaming was underneath a tiger like creature with blazing purple eyes and a level 3 reading on its bar. She was lying face flat with her face being pressed against by the creature’s paw. Her right hand was partially torn up, revealing flesh. She had ginger hair and she seemed to be crying for someone to help her. The girl and the carnivorous creature were surrounded by monkeys that seemed as if they were interested in helping her. The monkeys would hurl stones, and even sticks at the beast to try and dissuade it from harming her. The girl looked pretty helpless and didn’t know what to do. John immediately devised a plan and then went forth to save the girl from death.