When Alex finally came to, he found himself blindfolded, his wrists and legs restrained and…

Am I…? Yep, I am definitely naked.

When his mind finally processed his precarious situation, his reaction was to start yelling for help and start struggling to get free. Instead, he laid still, cutting off the dozens of expletives he wanted to start shouting. His mind raced as he tried to remember what he could.

I came out of the Piggy Bank and then there was an…explosion?! But wait! I feel fine- Oh yeah, HP Regeneration! I remember a bright light, then flying through the air, hitting the pavement with my face. Ouch! And yelling. Who was yelling? Pretty sure it was Danny. Was she hurt? No, no I don’t think so. She was at the back of the group so maybe she escaped most of the blast. Then what? I was picked up and carried away. Who picked me up?

His thoughts were interrupted as he heard someone speak at the furthest edge of his hearing. He could tell they were speaking English but their accent was odd.

“…prisoner is still out…just kill…others ran after…lost them…”

Well, that doesn’t sound good. What’s a guy gotta do to get a safe word around here?

Still, it was something to go off of. Alex tried shifting his arms slowly. His hands had been tied behind his back and the rope was tight, pinching his wrists when he moved. Unfortunately, he was lying on top of them, so both of his arms were asleep, that annoying tingle running through them. He shifted his feet and felt the rope scrape against his bare ankles. Tilting his head, he tried to see past whatever was covering his eyes to no avail. Either the blindfold covered his eyes completely or the room he was in was pitch black. The floor was also hard and cold, like concrete. Wait, was he outside?

Ooookay! So, I’m tied up tight and can’t see. For all I know, several people are standing around me, just watching me wiggle around in my birthday suit. Kinky, but not my type of fun times. And why the hell is the floor so damn rough? At this rate, I’m going to have road rash all over my backside. Thank all that is holy for Vitality!

The sound of footsteps approaching caused him to stop testing the strength of the ropes and he laid as still and naturally as possible. A telltale sound of a tent flap being thrown open almost caused him to flinch, giving him away. The footsteps didn’t enter the tent and whoever was checking on him said not a word before the tent flap closed again. As the footsteps faded away, he let out a quiet breath.

Need to find something to cut these ropes.

He spent a good amount of time twisting and pulling. All he received for his efforts was a nasty amount of rope burns. They were well tied, so well tied in fact that every miniscule movement sent the ropes digging into his skin

Alex would have facepalmed if his arms were not tied up. Finally remembering, he focused on his Interface. His kidnappers might have taken his clothes but there was no way to remove his wristband, short of cutting his hand off, which they thankfully hadn’t done. Alex and several others had tried to remove the wristband the first night in the Bellevue. The band was fused to the skin, and wouldn’t budge.

While the System Shop had several odd and semi-useful items, what it didn’t have was weapons. It only carried upgrades for the weapons you already owned or extra weapons that pertained to your specific Class, like Silvia and her Javelins or Ty and his little bombs. Alex had none of those things. Not even a simple dagger, which Alex thought should have been available to everyone. However, if a person was clever enough, there was always something useful lying about. He looked around the System Shop for a minute until he found what he was looking for.

Nail File

100xp

The funny thing about buying from the System Shop is that the amount of light that is produced from the System Shop is tantamount to the size of the item you are buying. Alex doubted he could force the flash of light to stop altogether, but considering he was laying on top of his hands and that he seemed to be in a tent, hopefully by himself, meant the he might just be able to hide the flash of light from his captors.

Alex wasn’t the religious sort, but if he had been, he would have been praying about now. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he bought the Nail File.

He didn’t see the flash of light, but then again, he was blindfolded. The six-inch file appeared in his hands and thanks to his Dexterity, he was able to angle the file and start sawing at the ropes.

It wasn’t a quick or pleasant process but the Nail File did decent work and didn’t make a sound. His fingers manipulated the file just enough to keep the constant saw-like motion going for half an hour before the sound of footsteps could be heard approaching again.

Alex almost started to panic. His first reaction had been to start sawing as quick and as fast as possible, but where would that get him? Best case scenario, he would cut through the bonds and still be stuck in a tent with his legs tied tight. Thinking quickly, he pushed the file between his wrists, hiding as much of the file as he could. If he was lucky, they wouldn’t check the rope too closely.

The tent flap opened and a set of strong hands grabbed each of his arms, lifting him up to a sitting position. He continued to fain unconsciousness, his head falling forward towards his chest. Either they didn’t believe him or they didn’t care because a large hand smacked him in the face.

An actor, Alex was not.

He let out a yelp of pain and surprise as pulled back, trying to escape being hit again. It didn’t work.

SMACK!

“What the fuck!?” Alex yelled, struggling against whoever was holding him.

The next hit didn’t come and the people holding him stilled as he shouted, almost as if shocked that he would complain about being smacked in the face again.

“Where did you learn our language?” A thick, unrecognizable accent asked him. It must have been whoever had been hitting him that was talking.

“I’m speaking English, fuckass!” Alex yelled. “It’s the only language I know!”

Another smack sent his head reeling back and he tasted blood.

Oh yeah, don’t cuss out the ‘slap happy’ idiot while tied up, check.

“My name is not Fuckass! I am Dohbrah!” The deep, masculine voice growled at him.

It might have been the slight concussion Alex was probably suffering from, or the fact that he was as helpless as a babe, but his smartass odometer suddenly kicked in.

“Got it, Deborah.” Alex said. “Nice to meet you.”

SMACK!

“It is pronounced, Dohbrah!”

Ow! Worth it.

Alex did his best not to grin, which was easy considering the headache he was having. Also, he was sure it would have led to another slap.

“Where are your people from?” Dohbrah asked. “How many came with you to the testing grounds? Where is your base?

Alex was not about to offer up that information.

“I’m gonna have to plead the fifth.” Alex said.

“What is this ‘fifth’ you speak of?”

“It basically means that I’m not telling you jackshit.”

His interrogator paused. “I did not ask about any jackshit. What do you speak of? Is this your leader?”

Alex couldn’t help himself. He started laughing. These people might speak English but idioms and slang were completely lost on them.

Oh! Maybe these assholes aren’t speaking English at all. I wonder if the System was translating everyt-

SMACK!

Alex spit blood and smiled while fighting against the urge to throw up.

“Listen up, Deborah. I’m not telling you anything. You kidnap me, tie me up and expect me to do what exactly? Give you information so that you can kidnap my friends as well? That’s not happening, so do the world a favor and go fuck yourself.”

It wasn’t Shakespeare but it would do.

Alex’s blindfold was ripped off his head, along with some of his hair. He squinted as the light from an odd-looking lamp nearly blinded him. When his eyes finally adjusted, he craned his head up to see Dohbrah clearly. The asshole was definitely not human.

The first thing he noticed was the gold-colored skin on the large man that was kneeling in front of him. Not gold as in tan, but actual gold colored. The next was that the man was nearly twice the size of him. Dohbrah wasn’t kneeling to talk face to face, he was kneeling because it was the only way he could slap Alex with those dinnerplate size hands of his. The last thing he noticed was the completely black eyes that were staring down at him. Fully black, no white or color whatsoever. He also looked pissed, which stole some of Alex’s courage.

“You will tell me what I wish to know or I will tear your limbs from your body!” Dohbrah growled.

Alex might have very well pissed himself, but all he could think of was his friends being attacked by this golden douche bag. What would they do to Ty, Toby or Rishi? What would they do to Silvia or Danny? That unpleasant thought lit a fire in his chest. Alex might not be a hero but he wasn’t about to out his friends, much less the entire Human Race.

Gritting his teeth in a rictus grin, Alex stared into his captor’s black eyes.

“Fuck you, Deborah.”

The look in the golden man’s eyes spoke well enough to let Alex know that he was about to die. Hate, unadulterated hate, radiated from the giant, but Alex refused to flinch or turn away. Oddly enough, Alex thought of Michael in that moment. He had lost so many fond memories from blocking out his friend’s death. Years of childhood buried away, just so he could hide from the fact that his best friend was dead. He didn’t want to ever do that again. He never wanted to feel the shame of abandoning his friend’s memory again.

Then he thought of his teammates. Those were his friends now. As sad as it was to admit, they were the first real friends he had made since Michael’s death. Alex hadn’t realized how much he had kept people at arm’s length before. That’s why he spent so much time alone in his dorm room studying. That’s why he would decline the invites to the various parties around campus, where young people make poor choices. He had pushed most social interactions away, until he was brought here, to this fucked up game.

Ty might act like a thoughtless dork, but Alex remembered the way he reacted when they discovered Toby, Rishi and Silvia had been kidnapped. That hard look that promised death to anyone that would harm them. That was the kind of friend that everyone wanted. Someone so loyal that they would stand beside you through fire and brimstone.

Then there was Danny. The woman was half nerd, half badass and all compassion. The woman could literally jump into a fight, changing the very spells she cast on a whim while worrying about your wellbeing, all at once. Alex had trouble believing if she was real most of the time. Maybe being put in a life-or-death scenario changed people or maybe she had always been this way, but Alex was sure he wouldn’t have made it through if not for her.

He might not know Toby, Rishi or Silvia as well as he knew Ty and Danny, but they were a solid group of people. They had fought together, protected each other.

There was no way in hell that he would give them up to this gold coated asshole.

The tent flap opened again and a much more normal size, golden skinned man stepped inside. He was much thinner than the muscle-bound brutes that surrounded him, but his body was still wrapped in dense muscle. Where the three others looked like they were entering a Mr. Universe competition, this man looked like an Olympic sprinter.

“Dohbrah.”

The man spoke quietly but his disapproval was clearly written on his face. His voice resonated through the tent and Alex’s captors all looked down as if caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

“Rahzoh.” Dohbrah said as he bowed deeply to the man.

“Leave.” Rahzoh said.

The three men left without even a passing glance at Alex. Whoever this man is, he felt far more dangerous than the men who had just left.

Alex and Rahzoh stared at each other for a moment before Rahzoh pulled a large pillow from the corner of the tent. He set it a few feet in front of Alex and sat down. Alex was thankful, his neck was starting to hurt from having to look up at the man.

“I am Rahzoh, Chief of the first testing grounds for my people.”

Since the man was here in the first zone, he had to be under level ten. Still, the man radiated power unlike anything Alex had ever felt. There was a distinct electrical feeling in the air that made Alex’s hair want to stand on end.

“What is your name?” Rahzoh asked.

“Alex.”

“And where are your people from, Alex?”

Alex didn’t answer. He stared into the man’s black eyes, trying not to shake in fear.

“Do you not understand my question?” Rahzoh asked, tilting his head to the side.

“I understand perfectly.” Alex said, trying to act casually.

“Then why do you not answer?” Rahzoh asked. “You are our prisoner; you must concede to those who bested you.”

Rahzoh didn’t act arrogant or angry. He seemed genuinely curious. Is this why Dohbrah was so pissed off?

“Bested me?” Alex asked. “One of your people ambushed us and kidnapped me.”

Rahzoh nodded. “Yes, you were taken unawares and brought here so that we might learn about our new enemy.”

Huh. That was actually pretty smart considering the history of Earth was to kill shit first and ask questions later. Still, Alex wasn’t about to agree with telling them anything that could lead to the harm of his friends.

“Sounds nice and pretty.” Alex said. “But how are we enemies if we have never met? Is there a height requirement?”

Rahzoh’s face screwed up in a look of confusion. “We are enemies because the testing grounds requires it. Your people must be very new to this world if you do not know this.”

Shit

Alex had already given away information without meaning to. Trying his best to keep the grimace from his face, he decided to deflect.

“You still haven’t bested me.” Alex boasted. “You just kidnapped me and ran away like a scaredy-cat. None of my people would answer any of your questions.”

Alex could feel himself sweating now. He was arguing bullshit semantics with a man that could probably rip him in half, while he was tied up and as naked as the day he was born.

Maybe I should have gone into politics.

Rahzoh nodded. “We have met other Races that have the same thoughts, though, they are much larger than even us. It surprises me that people of your stature follow such barbaric ways.”

Alex grinned at the man, trying to play it up. “No one kills better than us. Are you sure you want to be our enemy?”

Rahzoh sighed. “There is no choice. We fight for our peoples Ascension, just as every other Race brought here does. Only one race may Ascend.”

While Alex kept his stone-faced façade, inside he was screaming.

What the fuck, Jeffrey?! There are several Races here and only one can Ascend? What utter bullshit! Fuck the System and all of its inbred children! You Hal knockoff piece of-

“It seems we must first best you in combat before you will concede, is that correct Alex?”

“That depends.” Alex said carefully. “I will fight when my gear is returned to me. If you expect me to fight like this, you are out of your mind.”

Rahzoh laughed. “Yes, we will return your weapons and armor. We might be enemies, but we are honorable.”

Alex wasn’t convinced. “Oh yeah, Deborah was really honorable.”

The mirth fled Rahzoh, his black eyes turning cold. “Dohbrah is young, as are many that are called to the testing grounds. That is why I have chosen to stay here, to help guide my people while the others of our Race have gone on ahead.”

Alex didn’t think that Rahzoh looked that much older than Dohbrah, but the man acted like a damn elder.

“How long have your people been here?” Alex asked.

Rahzoh smirked at Alex’s attempt to glean some information but he surprisingly answered.

“I came here over three thousand sunrises ago.” Rahzoh answered. “And I was not the first of my people to be brought here.”

Alex wasn’t a math wizard but that meant Rahzoh and his people have been here over eight years! He couldn’t keep the shock from his face.

“Alex, tell me why your gear as you call it, refuses to be separated from you?” Rahzoh said, pulling a heavy looking chest from the wall. Alex wasn’t surprised he hadn’t noticed it. He had spent half his time blind folded and the other half being interrogated.

“What do you mean?” Alex asked in genuine confusion.

Rahzoh frowned, looking from Alex to the chest.

“We took your armor and weapons from you. However, when we tried to step away with it, it disappeared and when we came back, we found that you were wearing it once again. What magic have you used on it?”

Alex had never heard of that happening, but then again, how often did anyone walk around without their gear on? In fact, aside from the training areas in the Bellevue, when was the last time he went anywhere without his gear. Why hadn’t he or anyone else wore anything else besides their full set of gear?

Was their gear Soulbound? Alex tried to work through that idea. In games, Soulbound gear would stick with you beyond death, but second lives weren’t really a thing here, unless you counted Alex’s necklace.

When was the last time I was more than twenty feet away from my gear? I take it off to shower and sleep, but that’s it.

Someone should have gotten agitated or upset at wearing their armor at all times. Toby even wore a heave steal chest plate and he had never once arrived at the dining room without it on. Maybe Soulbound gear was inherently different here. It was something he would have to bring up when, or if, he saw his friends again.

“I cannot say, Rahzoh.” Alex finally answered. “That is as much a mystery to me as it is to you.”

“Interesting.” Rahzoh said, standing up. “The Races we have come across are all very different and the testing grounds gives each of them that which will balance the strengths of all the Races brought here.”

Rahzoh made his way to the tent entrance before turning to look at Alex.

“Know this, Alex. If you somehow win your fight, you will most likely be challenged. I am afraid this is a poor situation you find yourself in.”

“When will I be fighting?” Alex asked.

“When the sun rises.” Rahzoh said. “I would wish you a good fight, but my people’s very lives count on Ascending. There is only so much I may offer you.”

“So, either I tell you what you wish to know and I die, or you kill me…and I die.” Alex stated flatly.

“Yes.” Rahzoh said solemnly. “The testing grounds are harsh. I can only hope that your spirit will one day be reborn to peace. Farewell, Alex.”

He left the tent and Alex sat quietly as he processed it all. It was all a little hard to believe, much less understand. What Alex did know was that he had absolutely no intention of fighting fair. Why would anyone fight fair in a situation as screwed as this one? As angry and as frustrated as he was, he had no choice but to pull out the nail file between his wrists and start sawing at the ropes again.