by Dante Doom
"Nice work, Sang!" Neil said as he raised his hand, expecting a high five from her.
"You punched me in the eye and shoved a gun in my mouth," Sang said. "I'm not giving you a high five."
"I'm not asking for a high five for that; I'm asking for a high five because we cracked the case of the mysterious mole!" Neil said, his face shining with pure enthusiasm – and perhaps a touch of delirium.
"If I high five you, will you go back to the hospital?"
"Maybe."
Van opened his eyes and realized that he was standing in a large square room. There were hundreds of objects scattered all over the floor – pots, pans, swords, marbles, and even something that looked like a bicycle.
"Interesting," Van muttered as he inspected the room. He realized that there was some kind of pattern to the items, but he couldn't quite figure out what the pattern was.
"I'm here," Kylian said as he appeared in the room with Van. "I miss anything?"
"Nah, you're early," Van replied as he looked around some more. "I think this is the next part of the tournament."
"Gee, you should have been a detective with that kind of insight," Kylian said.
"Is there a reason you've gotten more grumpy lately?" Van asked.
Kylian shrugged. "I'm an old man, I can be as grumpy as I like. I worked hard to stay alive this long and that means I get to enjoy the fruits of my labor."
"You're gonna enjoy my boot up your –" Van's words were cut short as Sang, Sahara, and Fredlin all logged into the game at once.
"Yes, let's do this!" Sahara said as she began to spin around. "What is all of this crap?"
"Looks like some kind of puzzle," Sang said.
"I could not sleep well last night," Fredlin said. "If I stop responding, it's because I OD'd on Cwake."
"I'm pretty sure that's the case with all of us," Van replied.
"The hell is Cwake?" Sahara asked.
"One of those new fangled stimulants; they're called drugs," Van said. "They're really popular with the kids these days."
"I've forgotten more about drugs than you'll ever know," Kylian shot back.
"Did we miss the rundown?" Sang asked as she walked over to one of the tables and inspected it.
"Nah, we're still waiting on someone to give us instructions," Van replied.
"Well, I wish they'd hurry up – I'm getting bored," Sahara said as she kicked one of the cups on the ground. As soon as she kicked at it, though, the floor began to rumble and groan.
"Great, what did you do?" Fredlin asked.
"I didn't do anything!" Sahara protested as the ground continued to rumble.
"You have one job," an ethereal voice within the room said. "To escape!"
"That's not much of an instruction set," Van said. "How long do we have?"
There was no reply, but the rumbling sound grew a little more intense.
"Well, I don't know if we have time to ask for repeat information," Kylian said. "Let's figure out how to get out of this damn room."
The room itself was nothing special – it looked like a standard dungeon interior with hard stone walls. There were eight torches on the walls, but no doors.
"Well, maybe there's a secret room," Sang said as she began to feel along the walls with her hands.
"Doubtful," Fredlin said. "These items all correspond in some way. It's gotta be a puzzle."
"Holy crap, I found a note in this pan!" Sahara said as she held up a scrap of paper that was tightly bound. She ripped it open and read aloud. "If you wish to escape, you must find that which has a heart but no other organs."
"That some kind of a riddle?" Kylian asked. "Alright, I'm gonna figure this one out."
"What has a heart but no other organs?" Sang asked as she looked at all of the clutter.
"Does a plank of wood count?" Fredlin asked. "Wood has hearts, right?" He picked up a piece of wood and waved it around for a moment, but nothing happened. He shrugged and went back to searching. "I freaking hate puzzles."
"Aha!" Van said as he pointed to a deck of cards sitting on one of the tables. "A deck has hearts!"
"Brilliant," Sang said as she walked over and grabbed the pack. She opened the card deck and looked inside. "It's empty."
"Tear it open," Kylian said as he grabbed it from her. "Watch." He gingerly ripped it open and turned it inside out. Sure enough, there were more words on the inside of the card deck's box.
The clock ticks and the beast awakens, it read. To escape this room, you must find that which has a head, but not a body, and a tail, but no eyes.
"Any idea what this would be?" Van asked.
Sang began to sift through some of the items on the tables, mumbling to herself. "I know I heard this one before. I just can't remember from where."
"Probably grade school," Fredlin said. "I had all sorts of riddles that they made me solve when I was in grade school."
"Got it!" Kylian said as he pointed to a large, golden medallion sitting on the ground. "It's gotta be a coin." He picked up the coin, causing a loud click to emanate from one of the walls. There was a grinding noise as the wall slowly began to swivel, revealing a secret mirror.
"Aha!" Sahara said, pointing at the mirror. Then she reflected, "This… this does nothing for us."
"Maybe we should smash it?" Sang asked. "The secret passage has got to be behind that thing."
"We need to think like a developer," Fredlin said. "Any game designer would know that the first thing any player would do when trying to solve a puzzle is to smash stuff. So that can't be the answer."
"Good thinking," Van said as he leaned forward to investigate the mirror. As he looked at his own character's reflection, though, he realized that there was something different about the wall behind him. The torches in the reflection were flickering, turning off and on rapidly. Yet, he spun around to see that the actual torches were quietly sitting, perpetually burning.
"Interesting," Van said as he looked back at the mirror to watch the torches continue to flicker. They were going in a certain pattern. "Sang, look at this," he said as he pointed to the torches.
Sang leaned forward and watched. "Hey, I think that's Morse code! It's spelling something, alright."
"Gee, because everyone knows Morse code," Sahara said. "That's kind of a crappy puzzle."
"There's a guidebook over here!" Fredlin said as he picked up a book. "Check it out, it's got the whole alphabet."
"Luckily, Sang can already read it!" Van said. "That'll save us time."
"That's good," Kylian said as he pointed to the ground, "because that's starting to rumble a little harder."
"I think we're making good time," Van said. "Well? What's it say?"
"From the looks of it, I believe it's telling us that the only way to escape this room is to flip all of the tables."
"Is that the exact wording?" Van asked.
"The exact wording is, 'To get ahead, you must turn the tables,'" Sang replied.
"Well, I guess we could flip the tables," Kylian said. "But that sounds too straight-forward."
"Yeah, because reading a message in a mirror on torches that are blinking in Morse code is straight-forward," Sang replied, her voice dripping with a venomous sarcasm.
"Let's just try it," Sahara said as she grabbed one of the tables and flipped it over. Kylian and Fredlin grabbed the other two and flipped them over, as well. They waited for a moment, but nothing happened.
"Clock is ticking," Fredlin said as the ground continued to rumble. The sound beneath them was growing more fierce and Van knew it was only a matter of time before something bad happened.
"Turn the tables, turn the tables."
"Wait!" Kylian said as he pointed to the place where the coin had been. There was a small hole where the coin would fit perfectly. "The coin was in the tails position when we pulled it out." He flipped the coin so that it was facing the heads position and placed it back in the hole.
There was another grinding noise, but this time it was the north wa
ll, slowly shifting and transforming into a large lion's head.
"You may pass!" the lion statue said as it opened its mouth very wide. The mouth was wide enough for everyone to be able to crawl through.
"Quick!" Van said as he scrambled through the hole. "We gotta move."
He crawled for a few feet and then emerged from the other side of the hole to see that he was in some kind of a lobby. It looked like a waiting room – a few other players were sitting around, pouring orange juice from large carafes and talking amongst themselves.
"Move it!" Sang said as she climbed out of the hole and fell onto the ground. Kylian, Fredlin, and Sahara poured out on top of her.
"Man, I think we're in the waiting room for the next challenge," Van said as he helped Sang to her feet.
"That food smells good," Sang replied as she walked over to one of the tables and began to eat some of the bacon that had been piled up on a plate.
The rest of the team joined her, indulging in the virtual food. Sure, it served no nourishing purpose, but it was incredibly delicious. As Van munched on a virtual bagel, another player walked up to him. His name was Peterson and he was looking rather nervous.
"Hey," Peterson said.
"Hi," Van said.
"We lost one of ours to the fire. That riddle at the end was insane," Peterson said. "You guys doing okay?"
"We're doing fine," Van said, unsure what this guy was looking for.
"This next challenge is going to be crazy. It's some kind of survival contest. All of this food? It's meant to help fuel us up."
"Fuel us up for what?" Van asked.
"The Survival Quest! Apparently, they've got some kind of stats system rigged where it will track our hunger and our thirst in the game. We'll actually have to eat and drink in order to keep playing," Peterson said. "That's crazy, right? That is some hardcore survivalist stuff. I mean, I dig it, but I'm just interested in what it looks like."
"Sounds interesting," Van said. "Did I miss orientation?"
"Nah, some attendant comes in and reads the instructions for the next mission every twenty minutes. I'm assuming this will keep going until everyone finishes up in their escape rooms."
Van nodded at the guess in between bites.
"Hey, let me ask you something," Peterson said as he leaned in close to Van. "This next operation is a little… brutal sounding. The gist is that we're gonna be dropped into the woods, the remaining players. Now, every player still sticks with his team, but the fact is, our job is to eliminate every other team. Since the elements are gonna be extra harsh, we're fighting against our hunger, the land around us, and our foes. It's gonna be tough. You got five guys, and we got four. Only five will remain, so what do you say we make a little arrangement?"
"I'm listening," Van said.
"It's simple; your team and mine have a nonaggression pact until the remaining 16 are eliminated," Peterson said. "I'm not saying let's work together, because let's face it, neither of us are going to trust one another. So, if we see each other, we just go in different directions. In a scrap, maybe we help one another out. Here's the beauty of it, too: this is the final test, so only 5 survivors will win the tournament. So if your numbers drop below five and if we take some losses, both of us could win here. If not, and we get to the point where there are only us 9 left, I say we agree to meet up in the middle and just duke it out… no surprises, no sneaky raids. Just honorable fighting."
"How do I know you'll keep your end of the bargain?" Van asked.
"We have no way of knowing that," Peterson said with a chuckle, "but let's face it, it's not a bad idea. If you don't come at me, my team won't come at you."
"Have you made this arrangement with anyone else?" Van asked as he looked around at the lobby.
"Nah," Peterson said as he shook his head. "A lot of these other teams are looking pretty rough and tumble. You're the only group with a wizard and a ranger, so I figure your chances of survival are a little lower. No offense, but the more you lose, the better this arrangement becomes for you, and vice versa."
"No offense taken," Van said. "Alright, we've got a deal. We don't go near your team and you don't go near ours, but if I see you guys within 50 feet of us and your weapons are out, the deal is off."
"Good deal," Peterson said as he extended a hand. Van shook it, knowing the handshake was meaningless if the man had some kind of clever scheme planned. He had no way of knowing if this Peterson was trustworthy or not, but time would prove whether or not it would be a problem.
As Van and Peterson discussed their favorite parts of the game in idle small talk, a short man scuttled out from an ornate, golden door.
"Attention!" the man said as he opened up a long scroll. "For those who have just joined us, I implore you to listen."
This quieted down the entire room as everyone looked at the little man.
"You have made it to the final part of the tournament. You are one challenge away from becoming a professional Draco player, adorned with riches and splendor that will last you the rest of your life! Yet, Draco is only looking for the best of the best. Those of you here have displayed cunning, teamwork, martial prowess, intelligence, and problem solving, and these are all strong qualities. But there is only one thing we cannot prove in a simple simulation: true courage. If you wish to prove to us that you have true courage and strength of character, then you must be willing to face your greatest fears. Listen, then, as I warn you now, those who opt to remain in the next part of this tournament will have their biofeedback systems activated to a lethal mode.
"If your character suffers from a lethal blow, or if your character dies of dehydration or starvation, a powerful biofeedback force will end your actual life. This is not a joke, nor a reference; what I tell you is truth. If you enter this next part, you will be risking your life to become a Draco pro."
This caused a murmur amongst a few of the newer players who had emerged from various holes in the wall during Van's conversation.
The attendant continued. "We do not wish to have cowards in this team, so the door to exit is over there. You may choose to walk away from this, to walk away from living life as a king, to be paid to play this game and live a life beyond your wildest dreams. If you fear committing to the murder of a fellow player, remember that they also will have agreed to this pronouncement. The rules are simple: you will all be dropped in the Woods of Terror and Haunted Dreams, armed with nothing but your wits. Weapons are scattered about the woods, but you will be low on health due to hunger and thirst. The last five players remaining in the game, the last surviving people, will go on to live a good life. The rest of you will be dead."
"Holy crap, this is some kind of a joke!" shouted a woman wearing golden armor.
"No, ma'am, it is not a joke," the man replied. "Draco is not interested in cowards. Should you wish to remain living, please, the door to exit this tournament is right there. Let no player believe he is forced to play this game. You may leave now, but if you do, you will be nothing more than a coward."
"Yeah, I'm not a coward," the woman replied as she stormed towards the door. "I'm just sane. See you jerks later – have fun dying over virtual internet points." She promptly vanished upon touching the door. A few other players made their way to the door, and Van counted afterward that there were only 27 players left in the room.
Van glanced over at Peterson. "Are you really staying here?" he whispered. "You're really going to risk your life for this?"
"You don't know me and I don't know you," Peterson said, "but I have lost everything else in my life. This is the only thing I have going for me, so yeah, I'm gonna go for it. I'm gonna go big or die. Nothing else matters."
Van didn't like the sound of desperation in the man's voice, but before he could open his mouth, Peterson leaned over to him. "And before you start to wonder if my desperation makes me untrustworthy, you've got to ask, how desperate or deranged are the rest of these people here? I mean, I don't see you marching for the door. I just don't want any
one to die unnecessarily. So, we gotta be fair as hell towards each other, because it would suck to die from an arrow to the back of the head while bending down to get some water."
Peterson's plan suddenly made a whole lot more sense to Van. He nodded. "As long as you guys stay away from us," Van warned, "nothing changes."
"I figured you'd stick around," Peterson said. "But I'd make the wizard leave. He'll be the first to go."
Those words rang true to Van's ear. Van turned to face Fredlin, who was busy fighting with Sahara over the last piece of bacon.
"Fredlin, you should get out of here," Van said.
"Come again?" Fredlin asked as he let go of the bacon long enough for Sahara to snatch it and pop it into her mouth.
"Guys, we all knew it would take this turn at some point," Van said. "No one here signed up for this without knowing what the risk would be, right? But, Fredlin, your class isn't optimized for this kind of fighting."
"No one else has a spellcaster," Fredlin replied. "I'm gonna be the most valuable part of this team. I have spells that locate water. We'll be doing awesome in there!"
That did sound credible to Van, but the fleshy, spongy nature of wizards meant that it would take barely any damage at all to kill him.
"Sorry, man, but you came this far, and you really made a difference in this. But it would be idiotic for you to risk your life at this juncture."
Fredlin scowled. "Then consider me an idiot. I got word the other day that Savorn, my best friend, died from the attack in San Fran. Draco killed her in that explosion and I swore I'd get revenge." His face grew red now, and tears began to well up in his eyes. "I had so many things that I wanted to say to her, but I didn't get a chance to say any of them. I'm not leaving this place, Van. If you think I'd be better off sitting on the sidelines, hoping that you guys survive, then you're wrong. I want to be in the action."
"Let him stay," Kylian said. "He's got some useful spells that can really help us out here. That invisibility is priceless in this kind of tournament. I'm assuming you want to minimize the amount of people that we fight, right? Staying hidden and out of the way is a great way to do that."
