“Hello~ it’s me again” I knocked on the door and entered. I definitely need to remember not to ride a bike with Ellis in the future; it won’t do any good for my heart or for my mental health if I did. That shit was stupid, and I don’t even know how she could stay calm after all of that. The girl was a thrill seeker for sure, living life on the edge.

“Wait for a few minutes while I have someone call for George” she rings a bell that was on her desk and someone entered the room. It was weird how that happens, I was just outside and I didn’t see anyone else before I entered. How do they even here the bell ring from afar? Or are they hiding somewhere where I can’t see them…

“Walt, kindly call George to come to my office. Tell him it’s about the duel” she said.

“Yes, ma’am” he bowed once and then made his way out, closing the door as quietly as possible. You could hear how his boots where hitting the floor when he ran. Ninja like guards? Hiding from plain view to await their master’s orders, like the perverts they really were. I now you’re peeping in the bathroom and telling others when you get caught that it’s all part of the job. Lucky pricks, where can I apply for the job?

“Why don’t you sit down and have a cup of tea while we wait for George to arrive” she said while getting two white porcelain cups from the cupboard behind her. Fancy, plastic cups in this time would be considered high class already, and she has ones that are made out of porcelain, fancier.

I sat down in the seat at the front of her desk and waited for the tea. She then goes to the stove at the side of the room, carrying a brown kettle in her hand as she comes back. She then lays down a cup in front of me and poured a dark brownish liquid from the kettle.

“I hope you like black tea” she said as she pours the same liquid on her own cup.

“Oh, I absolutely love it” I said, but I really didn’t know if I like the stuff since I haven’t tasted anything like it before. The only kind of tea that went down my throat was fruit flavored ones that were sold in a convenience store. Add in some ice to make it more refreshing and it will be a great drink in summer.

I took the cup in my hands and blew away some of the steam before I take a sip. It tasted sweet but not too sweet, just enough to balance the strong flavor of it. I liked it, but not to the extent of my fruity flavored tea.

“It’s good” I told her while I took another sip.

“I’m glad you like it” taking her own cup and drinking the black liquid too. I feel so sophisticated and extravagant when I drink it. Maybe it’s because of all the rich people that I watch in movies that drink the stuff too.

Oh, it’s good to see your Grace, Duke Cock Alorum. Would you like to join with this humble one for some afternoon tea?

Why, of course I would like to join you this afternoon, sir Lick Spittle.

Why do people with a high social standing sound so stuck up? They’re basically the same as us, they’d just have large amounts of money that they don’t even know what to do, a huge-ass mansion, a million dollar car, a billion dollar company, a beautiful model wife…maybe that’s why.

A minute later, a charismatic looking man waltzed inside the room and stopped in front of me. Maybe he was two or three more years older than me. At his late teens or early adulthood I think? I don’t know, he just looks too young for an adult man with that demeanor.

“Red, this is George” she said. He was a handsome man with a chiseled face and a good stature. His gray hair was swaying with the wind from who knows where it’s coming from. I’m telling you right now, mother nature is biased. Why is he the only one that has that wind effect on his hair? Why can’t I get one too?

“He is the current captain of this community’s guards” he was wearing a leather armor and a brown cape, that would make you think that he was from the medieval ages. His hand was resting on the pommel of the sword, which was dangling from his belt to the side. This man is a hero, was what I thought. Well, he looked the part, so maybe he was.

“Is this him?” he looked at down at me and asked Leticia with a deep voice that was calming to the ears. God damn, even his voice sounds so cool.

“Yes. This is Red, the new person who wants to join our humble community” maybe I should affix a tittle of my own when I introduce myself next time. Guard captain sounded cool, so maybe something like this. Red, the Master Baiter.

“Are you ready for the duel now?” she asked George, which he responded with a condescending sneer.

“Let’s just get this little show over with. I don’t have time to play make believe fights with a kid” he was looking at me and showing a contemptuous smile. Seems to me that we won’t get along well.

Leticia then got up from her seat and went to the door.

“Let’s change venue” she said. We then went down to the first floor where people were eyeing our group of three as they followed behind, mostly due to the captain being so eye catching in his gallant form. Nice, now we have an audience for everyone to see the Hero beat up Villager A. By the way, I was Villager A by default.

“There sure are a lot of people following us” Ellis came next to me as she looked at the people around us.

“Well, they’re here to watch the hero win” with no cable television around, the next best thing is to watch some people fight in real life. Who doesn’t want blood splattering around you for some fun? I know the Romans liked it a lot, they even built a venue just for watching some blood and gore action.

“Is the parking area clean?” Leticia asked a person wearing overalls next to us. It wasn’t the Flavian Amphitheatre like arena that I have in mind, but the parking lot should also do the job. I mean, most fights happen there anyways.

“Y-yes, ma’am” he answered, surprised that he was called. She then went ahead of the group and turned left after going out of the entrance. We followed behind her with the one hundred people audience behind us. Can’t blame them for wanting to see how things turn out in the parking lot, since it was between a handsome heroic figure and a nobody from Nowheres ville.

Guess how it’s going to turn out in a few minutes, nine out of ten times, the hero is going to win, and that one loss is because he grew pity on the villager and just gave him some pity victory. But with George, I don’t think that he’ll do something so kind like that. When we just met a few minutes ago, I already felt a strong ‘Arsehole’ force from him. I look at him, and I saw that he was looking at me too, while he tries to hold down his laughter. Yep, a condescending prick.

The sun was scorching my skin with how hot it was right now in the afternoon. Wiping the drops of sweat that were forming on my forehead, I look at where we were. The parking area was vast, spanning almost a kilometer long for just parking cars, there was even an underground parking lot beneath it. But to people living inside this city, it was a norm for them.

“So, how’s this going to go?” I asked them both. People started to form a circle around us to make space. Ellis was to the side waving her hands yelling ‘Goodluck!’ while the others cheered for their heroic contender. I don’t mind that I don’t have a lot of people cheering for me, but the thought that at least someone believes in me makes me want to beat this person in front of me. Maybe a few punches to his face to make him… why did I just get the urge to beat his face to an ugly pulp? Just straight out beating him should be fine enough.

“You’ll use real weapons since as we don’t have any wooden made ones, so be sure that you don’t injure each other too badly. We have a doctor in our community so a few scratches and scrapes would be fine” oh, I understand everything, but I think you should tell those things more clearly to the other guy, he’s looking at me kinda funny.

“The only winning conditions are when the opponent surrenders or is unable to fight anymore. Inflicting any lethal wounds to the opponent will be considered as an automatic loss and he will be banned or excommunicated from the community. Got it?” she said to the both of us. Well, there goes the ‘stabs’ for making a comeback. Not today, stabby, maybe on another occasion.

“But I don-“ when I was trying to protest that I didn’t have a weapon, George threw something at me. I caught the thing and I saw that it was my silver handled knife that was confiscated.

“Just try to block if you can, so I can give the audience a good time. If not, then that’s fine too” he told me before we distanced ourselves from each other. He then unsheathed his sword and took on a stance, looking cool as he challenges me with the same condescending smile from before. Well, well, well, look at what we have here. I’ll show you a ‘good time’ you handsome bastard.

“Both sides ready?” Leticia asked. I unsheathed my dagger and made slight jumps on the spot, watching his facial expressions closely. Good damn, his handsomeness is distracting me. My mistake, I should focus on the eyes more. Holy shit! Why are his blue eyes sparkling!? Fucking hell, I’m going to beat your face to a bloody pulp just so I could look straight at you without losing confidence.

““Ready”” we both said.

“Fight!” I made a dash towards him and closed the distance quickly. Surprised, he jumps back to widen the distance, but it was already too late as I was already in front of him. Slashing my knife at his hand as I observed his face, but he pulls it back quick enough that it only made a slight wound on his fingers. I then followed up by throwing a punch at his face and it connected, making him stagger backwards a few steps.

“You…” he glares at me and then spits blood on the floor. This fight’s just started, wait until I can have my fun. I ginned at him as annoyingly as possible. Shit’s just ‘bout to start.

I then turned my body to the side, expecting him to charge towards me, and he did. He brandished his sword, making two consecutive horizontal strikes. If I knew any better, I think he’s trying to cut me in half.

“Easy on your swings there. We don’t want to let the kids see a fountain of blood to fly everywhere, alright?” dodging more of his swings. After you pass the sparkling effect of his eyes, his moves were so easy to read. His body twitches were also very noticeable, even making a noob like me distinguish from where he will strike next.

When I turned my body to the side to evade his vertical slash, I threw in another punch to his face. He staggers to the side and I follow up by slashing his right hand where he was holding his weapon. The sword falls to the ground as he loses his grip. When I looked at his body again, somewhat red lines start appearing on his chest and the other parts of his body. As if Butchers Instinct was activating without my consent. Or is it all just in my head? I close my eyes and shake my head a few times and when I opened them, the red lines disappeared. Weird.

“Surrender?” I asked him, but he only glares daggers at me and gets his sword. I thought this was going to be a fair fight, with all his appearance and all, I even thought I might lose. I guess Villager A is just too strong for a hero to beat.

“More practice for me then” I said as I turn my body to the side. It’s better if the opponent comes at me when he’s hot blooded. You could already see in his eyes the growing hatred for me. What? Only just that and you’re already having a personal vendetta against me? Grow up, there were spiders who ate my flesh and I only try to kill most of them when I have the chance.

He charges at me again and I try to anticipate where he’ll strike next but when I was about to dodge, his right hand twitched. He suddenly stop a meter in front of me and leaned his sword to the side. Oh, I remember this! Ben told me that he’ll go for a quick strike or something when he does this. I then jumped back to create distance, making George ‘tsk’. Not everything is going to go the way you planned pretty boy~ you’re better off in a pageant than here.

“Pretty boy? Pageant?” His death glare intensifies, as if I just ridiculed his entire clan. Oh, shit. Did I say that out loud again? Why is it that the only things people hear from me are nonsense or insults?

“I didn’t take you seriously at first just to entertain the crowd. But let’s see how you’ll fair now” his body relaxes and his grip on the sword tightens. It feels like he’s going to surprise me with some secret crazy martial arts move that was passed down from his ancestors a thousand years ago. He then runs towards me like before, but he did something that I didn’t expect.

“!” I was surprised at what he did, but it wasn’t because he charged at me. When he was close enough, he stopped and threw his sword at my feet! I immediately jump up at the air, only for the sword to miss my feet by a few inches. What the hell bruv! Don’t be rude, can’t you see that I’m happily using my feet right now!?

He then continued running, using that momentum to kick me while I was in mid-air. I managed to block it with my arms, but the force of it sent me tumbling backwards a few feet. After rolling twice on the ground I looked at what he was doing, only to see that he was already headed towards me with his sword in hand.

“Heh~” I grinned at him. The blood in my veins was boiling hot with excitement. I hate to admit it, but when I’m in tight situations like these, I start to get thrilled. The feeling of death looming near you keeps things more interesting to a certain extent. Not that it would be ideal to have that feeling 24/7, but it was a nice adrenaline jump. Unlike when I was facing Mr. Gulliver with wooden weapons, we were now using real weapons where one mistake could cost me my life. It makes me more ecstatic to be a part of it.

I used my hands and feet to push myself backwards, using the momentum to get myself up while I did so. I then turned my body from side to side as I evade a barrage of vertical slashes coming from above and below. It would’ve cut me in two if I didn’t do so. I try to slice at his face, but he jumps back and follows through with a diagonal slash while he retreated. I quickly ducked so that I wouldn’t get cut and charged at him, closing the distance in a heartbeat. His sword was useless when I’m in front of his face, so I head-butted him.

“Arhh!” he held his head were we made contact and staggered backwards. Good thing for not feeling pain! However, I’m slightly dizzy now, but I’ll manage. I didn’t want him to get enough time to recover as I throw my knife away and followed through with a barrage of amateur punches to his face.

I think you’ll need a plastic surgery after this! Too harsh? Well, he just tried to cut me in half and chop my feet off my body, while I just tried to disarm and punch him, so I think it’s fine for a little punishment. What, I tried to slice his face with my knife? Are you serious? That wasn’t even lethal!

I continued raining punches at his face, as he also retaliates by punching at me too, albeit weakly. I was also looking at his shoulders when he’s about to move so that I could easily predict and block his punches with my arms. It may seem like a bloody struggle to the viewers watching us, but I consider this as practice for when I really get to fight someone like Mr. Gulliver again. The man was a beast and I will take him down someday…a man can dream right?

His right eye is now half closed and his face was swollen red from all the punches that I threw. Can you just give up already? I’m starting to feel guilty right now. Throwing another punch to his face. Maybe not that guilty since I can sense that I was smiling while I did so.

“I gi-“ oops, I think he was trying to say ‘I give up’ there for a second…must be my imagination, as I throw another punch. Using my knife here was overkill, so I just used my fists instead. Like real men, we use our fists to communicate with each other. What does this punch say? It means I love you. This one? It means we’re meant for each other.

“Oof” I think he said ‘we’re going to be the best of buddies after this is over’. What a swell guy, he can forgive and forget that fast!

“HAHAHA!” fighting’s so fun and exciting, I wonder why I was incessantly avoiding most of the people looking for trouble back then? I still remember that man who killed me with his magically appearing axes. I’ll have my revenge one day, I just have a dental appointment where I might need to go to the dentist anytime this month or two. He’s lucky that I care a lot about my teeth.

He then collapses to the side when I punched him one more time after that. Looking at him, his face was now unrecognizable as it was all swollen and covered in blood. I think his nose is also broken since it was facing at a weird angle.

“I think that’s enough!” Leticia rushes over and looks at George. She frowned as she saw his face and looks at me weirdly but I just shrugged my shoulders. Not my fault the bastard tried to cut me in half. He should’ve lost the moment he tried to do so.

“Get a stretcher and bring him to Doc. Carlson! Quick!” she shouted at the other guards nearby. They immediately ran towards the mall and came back with a stretcher and then carried him inside with Leticia at her back. The crowd also disperses as they followed them inside. No celebratory cheers for the underdog winning the fight? Damn, I wished we were fighting in my home turf…but this city IS my home turf!

“Are you okay?” Ellis came over carrying a handkerchief in hand. She then started to dab my face to get rid of the blood, wiping a hefty amount of it, where most of it came from George. Meh, I don’t need anyone one of you. Home turf? It could burn to the ground for all I care. I just need an Ellis to support me by my side and everything will be A-Okay. Oh, Ben is also giving me a thumbs up from afar. What a nice guy.

“Told you, a piece of cake” making an ‘okay’ hand sign. If George was really the best that this community has got to offer, then I’m fearing if whatever comes at them might just get everyone killed if they were the once protecting this place.

“Should we also go inside to check up on him?” she asked. I really didn’t think that it was a good idea to go in right now. I just beat their captain to a bloody pulp and I don’t think most of them wouldn’t take kindly to me doing so.

“Maybe later” now that I look at it, I was also a thrill seeker that’s living life on the edge. Mine’s just more of an ‘almost getting cut into two’ thrill while she was ‘jumping down on a hill with a bike’ one.

“Okay, then let’s go rest for a few minutes in the shade and go somewhere else” she said

“Huh? Where are we going next?” I asked her. Maybe she has something to do, and if I’m coming along that means she needs my help. It’s a given that I’m already going to help her out. If it needs assassinating the president or the senate, then I, John Faux, shall do it without failure!

“Where going to find out if you’re fear of heights is cured already” oh… well shit. Can I take back everything that I just said?

------------------------------------------------------------------

In a corner of a bar where two men were isolated from the rest of its inhabitants. They were talking vigilantly in a hushed voice as if they were being watched by something. But they’re worries were needless as their words were drowned out by the noise the patrons were making. The place was lively as it was already evening, filling the establishment with men who just finished their work a few hours ago. Drinking booze and singing drunkenly to anything that was started by one of them.

“How many are they keeping at the hospitals?” a man with a goofy looking hair and chevron mustache asked.

“More than a hundred of them, not including the once they’re hiding in the ‘homes’” a long black haired youthful looking man said. He might look young and people would often mistake him for being in his early twenty’s but in reality, he was already thirty-nine years old.

“…we can’t do this by ourselves” the mustached man said, which made the man he was speaking with to grow silent.

“But we can’t trust anyone else. They already have their claws deep in the local government, much less the police around this place” the man knew that it was already hopeless to try to contact the local authority since he already investigated enough of who they were dealing with.

“We can only watch and wait in the meantime” he sighs as he takes a drink of his beer, though he shouldn’t have done so, if he didn’t want hear another earful from his daughter.

“Since, Jacob’s taking care of what’s happening inside the game, I’ll start gathering the personal data of the people that were affected tomorrow. Maybe we might find some outsiders who’s willing to help us” not like it’ll be certain that they will help, but the thought of having more people is a comfort. Most of the family’s and people who’re close to those who were affected where already agitated and worried as to why that said person’s personality was completely…’broken’, or for a lack of a better term, missing something that they once had. Most of them wanted their loved ones back but they soon found out that the goliath known as Grand Gift Corp. drowned out their voices in a sea of deceit, fear, and money.

“Wasn’t your son playing it too? Aren’t you worried for him?” he asked the goofy looking man.

“Not too much, since I had someone modify the Gift machines that we bought, so we could monitor any brain activity and record them down in a separate computer. I also had someone put in a warning and fail safe device to eject the user from it whenever it reaches a certain threshold” smiling as he wiggles his mustache. The man opposite to him then thought for a moment about what his companion just said.

“Do you think that the person who put those adjustments to your machine would help us?” he asked, hopeful that they might get another person to carry the burden with them.

“I don’t know, I’ll have to ask her myself when I get the chance…but I think she’ll agree” he shrugs. However, she might be a little quirky and her actions might be a little extreme, but if she sees anything she doesn’t like, she will do anything to get rid of it, even as to utter the words ‘I’ll eliminate every single scum on earth if I have to’.

“Heh, you and your connections” he smirks.

“I’m not the only one who has it you know, Mr. Governor? We’re only a group of fools who’s poking it’s stick at a dragon” he said, but in a slightly quieter voice.

“Then, cheers. To us few good fools left” he raised his beer and so did the other man.

“To us” clinking their bottles of beer together and having one last laugh before they chugged the contents down their throats. They then started a trifling conversation between a behind the scenes jokester and a governor who’s concerned about the wellbeing of his citizens.

------------------------------------------------------------------

“Can we do this tomorrow? I just had a fight and…” I tried to reason out with her, but she just won’t budge. Doing it once a day was good and all for a treatment, but doing it repeatedly in the span of a day was just too much for my body and mind to handle.

“We’re already here, so let’s just do it” we can always turn back you know? Why does she have an incessant drive to cure my fear of heights anyway?

“There isn’t really anyone stopping us from going back down the pleasant route and go eat some cute broccoli monster again” I said, but my words only fell on deaf ears.

“One, two, three. GO!” she said. I was now facing my fears once again, which I didn’t want to. I open my eyes wide and grab tight onto her waist. Well, the sooner this ends the better, right? I might need a little heart-to-heart talk with her after this though, because I wasn’t kidding when I said I needed some rest, else I might just collapse from everything that she’s making me do.

“I-I-I-I cAn D-do Thi-ssSsss!?” my voice was jumping in octaves as we ride down the stairs to hell for the second time today. I just hope that she doesn’t make any mistakes while we’re riding down.

“Oops” she misses a flight of stairs and the front wheel hits one a lot earlier than the back wheel, making the bike along with us, start to tumble forward when the bike went up in the air again.

“WAAAA! ELLISSSS!” I completely wrapped my hands around her waist and my legs start to harden from the fear. We were now going in circles in mid-air, like some contestants in the x games.

“I got this!” she said. We then stopped going circles when she did something, and took control once again. We landed with both of our lives on the stairs and rode forward with the momentum. We then made it down to the bottom of the park in a matter of seconds.

“Ahhh….” putting my hand on my chest. My heart was palpitating again and I’m also drenched in sweat, but at least I didn’t get the feeling of fainting this time around. Hooray for progress!

“Getting better now?” she asked me with an innocent face.

“To hell with that, just teach me how you stay calm in situations like that!” I said to her. It might be better than this shock therapy that she’s making me do.

“Well, I don’t clearly remember most of what I did, but I think it started from when we first rode a rollercoaster a few years back” rollercoasters are already out of the picture, I hate riding those damn things. My lunch won’t last long whenever I ride them.

“Anything else?” I asked.

“Hmm, there was mountain biking with my friends” mountain biking… just strolling in the mountain roads while riding a bike? What’s so dangerous about that?

“Let’s try that tomorrow. I think I had enough of the stairs”

“Okay~” she seems happy for some reason. Might be because we’re going to do what she and her friends used to back then. That’s nice.

“How about let’s go and see Leticia before we do anything else” I said.

“Then let’s go”

“Hm~ hm~” we then rode towards the mall as fast as Ellis could peddle, while she was humming a sweet little tune. She’s a ball of energy I tell you, we were riding on for about an hour now, and she isn’t even slowing down in the slightest bit.

“Aren’t they going to be mad at us when you did to did that to the captain?” she asked, concerned that what just happened might bring forth the anger of the people residing inside the mall.

“I don’t think so” I did win the ‘friendly’ duel, so I guess I could stay at the mall now. Although, thinking about what I did to the man, I might have over done it… on the other hand, he did try to kill me. I just can’t get past that part, when it was already stated in the rules that any ‘fatal’ injuries was a no-no, and most of his swings were going in for the kill. Next time, play by the rules pretty boy!

After ten minutes, we finally arrived in front of the mall. We then parked the bike to the side and the guards who saw us stood at attention. Some were even shaking when they saw me smile at them. Heh, I see that my charming smile has a drastic effect on them.

“Afternoon boys” I wave at them, but except of greeting me, they retreat for a few steps back. Huh… I guess they’re too shy to greet me back.

“Don’t be shy, I won’t bite” I show them a toothy grin, but that just did the opposite effect. Some of them even started to grab at their weapons. Sheesh, what a grumpy bunch.

“I think we should go in” she pulled my arm and we went inside the building. The inside of it was filling up with a lot of people again, mostly because the time was late afternoon already. You can’t even hear yourself think while they gossip with each other.

We then made it towards the second floor of the mall, where the people here were starting to setup some pots for cooking. I wonder what I’m supposed to do here. There really isn’t a clear goal that I need to accomplish, not even something of a hint as to what this place’s purposes was. It was just a scenario that I was put inside of…maybe I need to kill those ‘fakers’ to end this all. Sure, meeting Ellis was fun and all, but I definitely want to go back and play the game. What was it again? Ten times the flow of time while I’m inside here, and I’ve been here for a day and a half I think, so… roughly about three hours in game time.

“I’ll be leaving you for a while. Need to do some cooking and all” waving her hands at me as she goes to help the others cook the food. Now that I think about it, that isn’t a whole lot of time wasted. Maybe I should stay a little while longer and enjoy the place. I found someone fun to hang around with, might as well enjoy it to the fullest. Wait a minute… Log Out!... I waited for a moment and tried it again, but to no avail, it didn’t work. Well now, that makes it a lot harder for me, don’t you think? I can’t even get out again… meh, just gives me more of a reason to stay for a while.

Using the unmoving escalator to move up, I saw people were gathering at the entrance of one room on the second floor of the mall. Guards were stationed outside of it to keep most of the people from entering. Must be something important if they put six of them to guard the entrance. It might be a room filled with candy… or a working toilet. Weird how I eat a lot of things, but I don’t get the urge to use the toilet.

“Hey, it’s me, Red” I knock on Leticia’s door. This game might be a glutton’s wonderland. You can eat anything you want and you won’t even get fat! This will be popular to the women who don’t want to ruin their figure. Or will that cause a backlash when they eat too much and return to the real world?

“Come in” she said. She sounded tired for once, unlike the happy tone that she always used when she talks with someone.

“Well, first and foremost. I’d like to formally welcome you to our community” she said, while rubbing her forehead as if she’s too tired to greet me. Was it because of me?

“Oh, sure. Thanks I guess?” did I do something that would make her like that? I really can’t remember anything that would make her troubled though…

“Uhmm… you seem tired for some reason” I asked her. I’m a part of this community now, so I may as well help out if I can. Or do I get kicked out if I don’t?

“Ah, just a little” she smiles weakly.

“We’re a little short on guards you see, since George’s still unconscious, and I sent a few of them as escorts for the city’s hunting party you see” ah, I might not have pummeled his face too much if I knew this was going to happen…oh, who am I kidding, I’d definitely do it again if I had the chance.

“We only have five abled guards at the moment, and the night shifts might be a little too hard if I factor in the night patrols…do you want to become a guard?” night shifts, huh. It’s like an all-nighter of playing games, but replace the games to watching nothing but darkness and waiting for something to stab you from behind. Sounds exciting.

“I can do some guard duty if you want”

“Then I’d have to ask you to be on guard duty for tonight. You can ask Miles for any equipment that you may need, although we don’t have much in that regard”

“Okay, but I think I won’t need to. I only need my knife and I’m good”

“It seems so. But I must say, you were respectable in your duel. Although, I would like to apologize for George’s behavior on behalf of him, but you also went overboard”

“Oh, that? Don’t worry about it, and yeah I did go a little bit overboard. I’m sorry” forgive and forget, that’s me. Yup, don’t hold any grudges.

“If there isn’t anything else, then I’m going to go greet Miles” she nods her head and I leave the room. Miles… was that the person who accompanied me yesterday with Ben? Eh, I’ll just ask around. I then went to where the guard’s quarters are, seeing Ellis along the way cutting some vegetables. I wave at her and she waves back. I didn’t want to bother her since she was doing something, so the next best thing is to find Ben.

I pass through the crowd of people, I make my way to the remodeled clothing store and found Ben sitting on a bed with one other person. Ben greets me while the other person was startled when he saw me.

“Uhh…I’ll c’ya later Ben” he ran outside as if he forgot to turn off the stove.

“What’s that about?” I asked him.

“Uhmm, how do I put it?” he scratches the back of his head and looked at me as if he didn’t know what to say.

“Well, they’re scared of you” What? Why? When? How? I’m slightly confused at what he was talking about.

“Why? I’m a friendly person don’t you think?” a charming smile and a nice attitude. What’s there to be scared of?

“Yeah, but you went loony a while ago”

“Loony? How the heck am I loony?” I’m a sensible person, you can talk things through with me… most of the time.

“Didn’t you notice it yourself? You were laughing and grinning while you beat the shit out of the captain. You didn’t stop either when he repeatedly said ‘I give up’. Nope, you just kept on punching”

“I remember him saying something like ‘I gi-‘ but he didn’t finish it, so I continued on”

“What are you talking about? He said that it more than ten times and you just happily rained punches on his face”

“Then why didn’t Leticia stop the fight by then?” if that did happen, then why not just stop the fight and declare me the winner already?

“Well, I looked at her expression and I saw that she was too shocked at what happened. And If Miles didn’t shake her awake then the captain might not have a pretty face left” captain George without a pretty face? Sounds good to me.

“Is that so?”

“Yup, so exert a little self-control there buddy” he asked.

“Yeah, sure…” okay, number one priority for whenever I fight, try not to loose control.

“Anyway, why did you come here? Don’t you want to hang out with your girlfriend” he gives me a smug look.

“Who?” girlfriend? Where?

“That green haired girl of course. You lucky son of a gun, she’s a cutie and very friendly. The girl’s a walking sunshine” what the hell is a ‘walking sunshine’? Ben’s daydreaming too much I think.

“Oh, me and Ellis? No no no, we’re just friends” first female friend I made in the game. Not considering Shen, because he wasn’t a female. Or did she change her appearance to become a male in the game?

“Doesn’t look like it. When I see you around the place, she’s always right beside you”

“Nah, we’re just friends”

“Okay, then can you put in a good word for me?” he was grabbing both of my hands tight as he was anticipating for an answer.

“Uhmm, sure, I guess?” why not be an agent of love, right?

“Oh, by the way. Have you seen Miles?”

“Miles?” he looked confused.

“Yeah, I’m on guard duty for tonight” it would be better if I had a stun gun though. When I find someone and I tell them to ‘Freeze!’, pointing my knife towards them might not be a good idea.

“Ah, okay-okay. I’ll talk to Miles later about it. He isn’t here at the moment, because he went outside to gather some herbs. And it might not be a good idea for you two to talk for a while” herbs? Why would he gather that by himself?

“Why not?” I asked.

“Well, you just beat his cousin’s face to a bloody pulp. So, you know…” he said.

“Oh…” there goes my chance to make friends again.

------------------------------------------------------------------

“Eva, don’t stare at the man like that. You’ll make him cry” he asked his other companion who just arrived. She was currently glaring intensely at a merchant who they were trying to sell their loots from monsters that they killed.

“She can’t help it if she’s nervous” Lenneth pats Eva’s shoulder to break the glare, but she just redirected it to her instead. She wasn’t affected by it at all as she pulled her out of the shop.

“I’m sorry about that, she just does that when she gets nervous” he tried to explain his companion’s behavior to the merchant.

“A-ah, I don’t mind. So, that will be 15 gold and 8 silver in total. Here you go” he put the coins inside a pouch and handed it to him.

“Thanks” he took it and left the shop. They just finished clearing up a dungeon floor and went back to resupply, and to meet up with their glaring companion. She doesn’t usually do that, except for when she gets nervous and puts on a hard and scary look, while giving off a terrifying aura to anyone who looks at her.

When he went outside, he saw Lenneth holding Eva’s hand and to calm her down. The girl was a walking darkness but her looks didn’t portray it at all. She looked like the girl who was easily approachable in the classroom, who’ll you’d befriend in a few minutes.

“Why did you get nervous all of a sudden, Eva?” he asked her. Not that she was naïve or something, it’s just because she was giving off the feeling of being comfortable to talk with. And she was, only when she can’t sense that you’re doing something weird or bad to her wellbeing or some people close to her.

“I-I-I didn’t” she wasn’t exactly very believable when she says it like that.

“Uh, I think you did” he didn’t believe her one bit. She was a sensitive girl, she can sense things that others couldn’t. Kind of like a sixth sense and that makes things for her… more complicated.

“Hah, he was trying to haggle down the price while she’s the one who was selling it. What do you expect would happen?” she said. The merchant’s first offer was half of what they got, and that may have triggered something in Eva and put on glaring mode.

“Oh, well. That’s fine I guess, we got 15 gold and some silvers for it” glad that they brought her in with them. Now that that was over, they went to an apothecary and bought potions for their next target. Which was a secret chamber hidden inside the sanctuary’s third floor.

“Maybe if you met my best friend in Dawn, you’d get along well with him” he was currently thinking of his russet haired friend and how Eva and him would hit it off. The first time they’d met he was glaring at him, which unnerved him so much that he got angry. Though it was all just a misunderstanding on his part as he was only staring at his colorful eyes. And his glare was just his natural look because of his almond shape eyes, and when he squints, it just looks like a glare from some peoples point of view.

“From what I heard from you, they won’t” Lenneth said from beside him. Eva was twirling her staff behind them like a majorette, her black long hair was moving from side to side as she also does a simple dance.

“Why not? John’s the type of person who’ll be your friend in no time” well, he assumed it was. Since they fought about eight times before they came to peace and became friends. Add to the fact that most fights they get into was due to his cold look towards others, but he can’t help it, that’s the look he was born with. And under all that, there was a good friend that’ll stick to you through thick and thin… except when it involves cute things. The guy was a total sucker when it involved something fluffy, cute, or adorable.

“First time meeting plus a cold and indifferent look is a definite no-no for Eva” Lenneth was giving her two cents on the matter, which might be correct like her other assumptions.

“I can handle it” she exclaimed.

“No, you can’t. I’ve seen it enough times to know what’ll happen. Both of you just glaring at each other” maybe I should first warn John before I introduce them.

“We can worry about that later. First, let’s clear that chamber before we do anything else” Eva said. She was talking about the secret chamber, which they already entered once, but they died a few minutes later due to the high-leveled mobs inside of it.

“Please keep me alive this time Lenneth. Losing 30% of my experience would suck a lot” she sometimes fools around and ignore him while they were fighting, and when she was about to do something, it was already too late.

“No problemo, compadre~ Lenneth is on the case!” he could already tell that he was going to be buried six-feet under again. He just wished that they’d finish it before it happens.

“Ah, John. I miss you old bud” he would definitely save his ass if he was here, maybe he’d even take a bullet for him… or not.

------------------------------------------------------------------

“Okay, time for night duty!” pumping myself up. It was already late at night and it was our turn to guard the perimeters of the wall. It was him, Ben, and the other person who ran away a while ago, which he ignored me when I greeted him. It feels bad to be snubbed like that.

“You’ll patrol the back of the mall, while me and Kyle go to the side, then we rotate” Ben said. Why don’t we just position someone on the rooftop then? The vantage point there is better than walking around…ah, right; we don’t have a lot of torches to go around.

“Call out when you find something out of the ordinary” something out of the ordinary you say…

“Is a clown standing in the middle of the road something out of the ordinary?”

“A clown? Well… I guess so?”

“Good, because there’s one staring straight at us” I pointed towards something that was standing in the middle of the road. It wore a colorful clown dress with all the colors of the rainbow. It’s only my first night and we’re already at a good start.

Not that finding some clowns in an apocalyptic world where seven-feet tall monsters kill people and take on their appearance was out of the norm. They’re jobs would probably be important as to keep people all happy and joyful, but they’re creepy as fuck. I mean look at their faces and how they always need to smile all of the time, making erratic movements and noises to keep the crowds attention on them. I don’t know, it just feels unnatural and eerie.

We take out our weapons and got ready for whenever it was going to attack…or to kill us with it’s stupid humor. Besides their creepy appearance and demeanor, I find them unamusing. To sum it all up, I really don’t like clowns, but not as much as spiders.

“Want to go take a look?” might as well see if it’s just a person who was trolling or if it’s a psychopath on the loose.

“I’d rather not” Ben said. I also asked Mr. Snub if he wanted to come.

“No way” he rejected my offer while he shakes his head from side to side. Well, I guess I’m the only brave soul among the party. Or the fool who dies first.

“Be right back then” I ran towards the clown with my knife on hand. Now that I got a closer look, it wasn’t smiling at all. It wore a frown and I think, under that thick makeup or whatever, it was a female clown. I ran towards her as fast as I could, but when I was ten meters away from her, the earth began to shake and a medley of loud animal noises started to happen. That doesn’t bode well for us.

I look towards where the female clown was, but she just disappeared. I just took my eyes off her for a second and she already left, typical horror cliché. Why not just appear in front of me to get it over so we could skip to the cut scenes.

“Get back inside!” Kyle shouted, he didn’t need to tell me anything as I break into a run. If I remember correctly, the animal noises were something like a warning device before the big black things spawn. All three of us went inside and we saw people waking up and clamoring on what was going on.

“Stay here, I’ll go and see ma’am Leticia” Ben then ran up towards the third floor while we stayed behind and calmed down the people, which wasn’t effective at all. It’s like trying to calm down a baby inside a football stadium. You just can’t. With everything Kyle and me did, I just leaned at wall of the entrance and waited for the panicked mob to calm down by themselves. If you can’t beat ‘em, sit down and watch ‘em win.

A minute later, Leticia and the other guards came down and calmed the crowd. I don’t know how she did it, but maybe a natural leader would be better at this type of things. Leticia then called for the guards and fifteen other individuals to come with her.

“We’re a little short on hands here, so I’d like you all to be look outs until morning. Remember to report anything that you’d find immediately, even if it’s trivial just go straight to and report” she said. All of us nodded and the newly enlisted guards went to the guard’s quarters to gear up, while the others went down to guard the entrance and exit of the mall.

Someone taps my shoulders from behind me, and I already have a good idea as to who it was. I turned around and saw Ellis with a slightly panicked look on her face.

“Hey, you doing fine?” I said. From the looks of it, she wasn’t but it may just be me misunderstanding things.

“Not at all. What’s happening?”

“Nothing much, just the usual things” if everything’s going to shit, just act natural to calm down someone that’s about to panic.

“This doesn’t look like the usual” she looks at the mass of people who are on edge.

“Nah, just usual” you might think telling the truth is better than lying in this situation, but trust me, it’s better for them to not know anything. If I were to tell her, It might cause a lot more trouble than you’d think. Better to just cover her up in blankets and tell her to wait until I come back and say it’s fine to go outside now.

“Hmm, you’re lying” she looks at me with one of her eyebrows raised.

“Me? Lie? Never” I do it most of the time, but people will mostly just assume that I’m telling the truth. So that means, in their perspective, I’m not lying and that I’m telling the truth.

“…” she stares at me, but that isn’t going to work on me.

“Everything’s fine. Just go back to bed and have a good night’s sleep. If you want I’d even sing you a lullaby” heh, a lullaby.

“Then sing me a lullaby” huh… I didn’t think she’d accept my offer.

“I was just kidding about that”

“But you said you’d sing me a lullaby so I could have a good night’s sleep” well, I did say that, albeit jokingly.

“I was ju-“

“Sing. Me. A. Lullaby…please?” AH! Stop it with those puppy dog eyes!

“How about I just tell you a story?”

“SING. ME. A. LULLABY…PLEASE?”

…

“Fine, let’s go then” had better get this done quick so I could patrol. Don’t want to be a useless freeloader now, do we?

We went towards the second floor where there weren’t a lot of people around, but there were some adults trying to let the children sleep. And now I’m about to let my little child sleep also… it’s hard being an adult.

She led me to her bed that was in the room next to the cafeteria. There were a few sleeping people inside of it, including some panic stricken fellows also. Holding their heads while they were lying down on the beds.

“Lullaby, please” she gets comfortable as she looks expectantly at me. Sheesh, my little girl was just shaking in her boots a few minutes ago and look at her now, she can’t even wait for me to settle down and think.

“Yes-yes, now be an obedient little girl and let me come up with something” I drape the blanket over her and patted her head, which elicited a giggle from her.

“Rock-a-bye, baby. On the treetop. When the wi-“

“Not that one!” she said, startling the other occupants of the room.

“Well, look who’s a spoiled brat” now, for the hard part… well, she if she likes star gazing so much, why not make something out of that?

“Alright, I got something, although it’s more of a poem than a song, so bear with me” I then started to recite my made up poem/song.

We lie on the grassy fields without a care

Listening to the wind as it brushes our hair

Grinning and laughing away at your silly stories

But our day’s about to end in a quiet glory

So go close your eyes

Trust me, you’ll be fine

The winking stars are observing us from up high

No need for unnecessary words like goodbye

Tonight we’ll just lie down and enjoy

So go and smile, laugh, but don’t be coy

As we take up residence under fate’s ploy

Let’s just wait for tomorrow to arrive in a parade of light

Cause it’s ours, and only ours, the bright hope of the night

So we could see it again, a lovely home

The starry home where we belong

I look at her face to see that she was already asleep, with the others in the room as well. Ellis was kinda like Tala when I took care of her a few years back, always at my side and trying to catch up. I still remember the days when she went to my room to sleep in my bed with me, just because she felt lonely in her room, and when she couldn’t sleep, I just told her some made up stories. Cute little girl, she only stopped doing so when Diddy and Dymo came in. And she had to act as a big sister for them.

“Heh, sweet dreams” I stroke her hair, as what I did back when Tala slept next to me. I then went outside and moved towards the first floor’s entrance where Miles and the other’s where watching the outside of the mall like hawks waiting for their prey.

“Nothing interesting yet?” I asked Ben. I ain’t talking to Miles because that’s what Ben said, so here I am, ignoring him as if he didn’t exist. Miles? Miles who? I took a glance at him and I saw that he was looking at me with a glare. Doesn’t exist, he doesn’t exist.

“Not sure… there’s a lot of people going outside from the other buildings, but there isn’t a commotion yet” he said. Looking outside, I saw about fifty or so individuals eyeing their surroundings. Nothing of note happened after that, not even a single fight outside. We waited for until the sun peeked from the horizon before every one of us stepped down and took a rest. Which wasn’t much at all because we had to rise up a couple of hours later.

“Didn’t get much rest?” she asked.

“The people in the room kept talking all night long and I couldn’t get to wink of sleep at all” yawning as I rub my left eye.

“If it makes you feel better, I had a good dream”

“Well, I did sing you something with my enchanting voice. Of course you’d get a good night’s rest”

“But it wasn’t a song. It’s more of a poem with a little rhythm to it”

“Yeah-yeah”

“It was nice” she smiled sweetly, which made me almost extend my hand out to ruffle her hair. But I abstained from doing so.

“Heh, glad you liked it” I just settled for flicking her forehead, which surprised her a bit.

“So, how about we go eat first” but before we could go to the cafeteria, another earthquake happened. This time, it was of a higher magnitude as the mall’s wall began to crack and the building swayed slightly. I think going under a table in this type of earth quake was definitely a bad idea.

“Get out!” someone shouted. I immediately grabbed Ellis’ hand and dragged her along with me to the outside of the building. I looked back when we were at a safe distance away, and saw that the building was already swaying from side to side. The city’s concrete road began showing huge cracks as the other buildings in the vicinity were also falling apart along with the street lamps and trees.

“What the hell is that…” something big was growing up from the horizon a dozen or more kilometers away from us. It was like a small green tower, but it had a pink flower on top of it, with something like big and long vines that’s hanging from the petals.

“Go to your respective groups, we’ll do a body count!” someone yelled. I look towards where the voice came from and I saw that it was Leticia in a haggard state, hair all messy and clothes disheveled. It looked like she just woke up.

Everyone then went to his or her groups, where Ellis went to the people who were assigned to cook, and I went to where the guards were gathering. After a few minutes of doing so, we had totaled up at two hundred and thirty-six people. Excluding the guards who were sent as escorts, everyone was here and present. Oh, George? Don’t worry about him, he’s being a sleeping beauty carried away in a stretcher by two other people.

“Miles, take ten other people and go talk with the representative of each nearby communities to meet up somewhere, then report back to me ASAP” she said.

We had to wait for a few hours before each community agreed on where to meeet, but one thing is for sure. That plant tower was probably my ride out of here and it’s honking it’s bugle for me to come over and go home. But here’s the thing…

I don’t want to go home.