The Games
The man led them to a round glass wall. He told them to go inside and wait a few moments, "It will start to rise so don't be startled."He shook each of their hands and told them good luck. They loaded onto the platform. A glass wall shut and it started to slowly move upwards. "Ugh, this is such an ugly color." Evan said. He lifted his hand and turned the tunic to purple. The platform stopped and they were put inside of an open roofed car. There was a window that was about at their shins. The car had seats and a small pit for when they stood, which they currently were standing. Moments later the wall in front of them lifted and the cars started to move. The four of them were towards the back and heard what sounded like hundreds of people cheering as the cars moved into that area. Chris looked ahead of them and saw that the people in front of them had on very nice clothes. Suits and dresses. Chris looks at his outfit. He was wearing beige khakis, a light blue sweatshirt and his grey backpack straps over the sweatshirt. He also had the glasses that Evan gave him. Chris took them off and looked at them. He never noticed that they were round glasses. The lens was a shade of blue. He put them back on as they entered the area with the crowd. The crowd got quieter as the four passed. Chris glanced at Evan who looked back at him, then glanced at the floor of the car. Chirs looked down and saw the tunic lying on the floor of the car. Chris looked back up. The car stopped inside of another room. The driver told them to hop out of the car. They did so, and the driver drove backward out of the room, the wall behind them closing. It was dark for a second then a light in the middle of the room turned on. The room wasn't very big, it took Chris five large steps to get across the room. A female voice suddenly spoke through some speakers "Please deposit your weapons into the box below the sign. Please deposit your weapons into the box below." over and over again. Chris looked at Evan, "What should we do?" Evan looked back at him, "Put your weapons in, it'll be fine." Chris nodded and took his sword from his backpack. "Sir, listen to Evan, he must know what he's doing." He dropped his sword into the bin, but never heard it touch the ground. Evan dropped his staff, Dakota dropped his bow, along with his arrows and Dean dropped his gloves. The female voice stopped, then spoke again "You are ready." The light turned off and the four stood in absolute darkness.
"Process complete. The doors will open soon. Wait for the countdown, then run." The voice said through the speakers again. The light came back on but red instead of its old white. "What now?" Chris asked the group. "We wait, it happens everytime." Dakota answered. "Yeah. I never thought I would be standing in one of these rooms." Dean said. They waited in silence for a few minutes then the voice said, "One minute, get ready." A wall started to lift up. And the voice started to count down from thirty. Evan stood up from his position on the wall and rubbed his eyes. "15. 14. 13. 12. 11. 10" The voice still counted down. The wall finished lifting as she hit 0. Dakota and Dean ran out, Evan grabbed Chris's shoulder and they were at a large rock. Chris looked out and saw that there were many other people running at them. Chris felt a hand touch him on the shoulder and it was Evan. He was holding all of their stuff. He handed Chris his sword. "I'm glad to have you back." Chris said to the sword. "It's good to be back." The sword responded. Dakota and Dean arrived and Evan handed them their stuff. "Alright boys, listen, it's different this time around. So stick together." Evan told them. Evan looked around, then stopped. "I think we should move towards that forest." Evan pointed towards a forest a ways away. The other nodded and they started to make their way over. Evan led, and as he walked passed a rock, a man jumped out, tried to stab Evan but instead Evan poked him with the tip of his staff, some yellow sparks flew on impact and the man went flying. They started on their way again. Chris looked around to see people fighting, running or dieing. Chris was full alert, because he didn't feel like dying in a place where they were originally supposed to steal a gem. Eventually though, the four made it to the forest. The forest and the desert were complete opposites. The desert was hot and dry, but the forest was wet and cold. "Alright, well, let's start the trudge." Evan told them.
They made their way through the forest until they were a decent way away from the desert. "This should be a good spot." Evan told them. He looked around and pulled out a small glass box. He opened it and pulled out what looked to be a small house. He threw it in the air, and shot it with something from his wand. It hit the ground and started to grow into a normal sized cottage. "No one but us can see it, so we'll be alright." The four walked inside. The inside was very rustic but taken care of. It was two rooms, the living room and kitchen were not separated by anything. The floors were made entirely of brown carpet. There was a door to the right of the room. Evan noticed Chris looking at it, he pointed and said, "That's the bedroom." Chris nodded, The middle of the room had a doubledecker couch and a large flat screen T.V on the opposite wall of the door. "Make yourselves at home, we have a while to sit and think." Evan told them.
"Evan, we've been sitting here for five hours. When can we go out and do something?" Dean asked Evan impatiently. "I don't know. " Evan told him, snarkily. "Well, i'm going to go outside, would anyone like to come?" Dean asked the group. "I'll come." Chris said. "Alright, lets go." Dean opened the door and an arrow flew inside the house. "Get out!" Evan yelled. The four rushed out as the cabin blew up. An arrow shot past Chris' head, cutting his cheek in the process. Chirs found a tree, and hid behind it. He looked to each side of him, and saw that the others were doing the same. "Sir, as we were waiting I did some research on these glasses, and found that they turn into a helmet. I'm not sure what happens, but the magic says that it covers your face." "What do I do to activate it?" Chris thought. "Oh, right. There is a small button on the front of the glasses arm." The sword finished. "Alright, thanks." Chris thought, then reached up and pressed the button. As soon as he pulled his hand away, metal plating came up and over his face. It was pitch black, then a small blue light popped up. It got bigger and turned into a rectangle that said "Welcome." It then split into many tiny squares and went to certain spots of the mask. A box popped up with a message, "Sorry about the long wait, this is the first time starting up, it'll take a second." The box disappeared, and the entire face of the mask displayed what was going on outside. He could see Evan, Dean and Dakota pushed against the trees. "Audio test." Chris heard, all around him. "Audio test done. Welcome Chris. Giving audio and combat controls to Mante." There was a small hum, then he heard the familiar voice. "Hello sir. I forgot I had never told you my name, but now you know it." Chris nodded. "Chirs! Get out of there." Chris looked at Dakota. Then he was lifted off his feet as the tree got blown up. The explosion sent splinters everywhere. Chris looked up and the boxes moved across the helmet's screen. "Sir, the boxes are scanning the blast to gather data. Just stay where you are." Chris didn't notice it, but the tree landed only feat away from him. The mask lit up red then Chris got the urge to run. He moved his arm to get up, "Sir stay down, everything is being handled." "We're going to kill you you know." Chris heard someone yell. "Yeah, good luck with that." He heard Evan yell back and laugh. "You're gonna regret that boy." The voice sounded familiar. "Your friend over there. He's dead!" The man said again, then Chris heard laughter from behind him. The boxes moved back to where they originally were. "The scan is complete, sir." "What now?" Chris thought. "Now we wait."
"Why don't you make this hard for us, boys." The man yelled. "What's the plan, Evan." Chris heard Dean say, it was faint, but Chirs was glad to hear he was alright. The boxes started to move again. They tracked something across the screen, but there was nothing there. "What's it doing." Chirs thought. "Scanning someone." "There's nothing there, it must be broken." "No sir, the helmet is fully operational." "Wait, so that means…" Chris' thought was cut short as he felt something hit his back, hard. He yelled out in pain. "Oh so he isn't dead." The man called out. Chris turned around and the boxes started moving from what they were scanning to what hit him in the back. THe message box appeared and displayed "Two scans complete." The boxes moved back and the message box disappeared. "Kill them!" The man yelled. Chris grabbed his sword as his helmet lit up red. He immediately blocked and felt something hit the blade. He pushed back but the force matched his. He looked along his blade, and saw a small, metallic spot pushing on his blade. He was fighting an invisible person! Chris his sword full control now, and he started to run. He darted past trees, jumped over fallen logs. The rain from the forest made it hard to see what was going on. He jumped over a log but there was no ground under him, it was a hill. He went flying through the air, his body rotated and he was now falling face first. A box appeared, "Impact inemate, deploying fall safe." A soft padding shot up, Chris closed his eyes and felt his face push against the soft padding. He opened his eyes and the padding retracted as he got up. The boxes were flying around his screen. The message box was adding new scans by the second. Chris looked around and saw that he was right outside a city. He looked at the ground. Plants were growing through the cracks in the roads. The boxes finally stopped. The message box said "Two hundred and fifty three scans complete." Then disappeared. "Why did it scan so much?" Chirs thought. "That fall you had, sir." Mante said. Chris nodded. "It appears that our chaser has stopped chasing us. I'll update you if I get anything else." Chris nodded and started to walk into the city.
The buildings were all being taken by plants growing on them. Some were falling apart, some were still standing high. The roads didn't get any better either. But something that was always the same, was the pouring rain. Chris didn't notice it as much in the forest because of the trees, but now it was very apparent. Every now and again a box would move quickly then go back, and another scan would be completed. He walked down streets, every now and again he would hear a faint thud, but didn't think much of it. He found himself in an empty square, surrounded by the broken down, empty buildings. He looked at one and started to walk to it when the boxes went behind his head. He looked back and saw 3 people walking, not noticing him. The boxes immediately were already on top of them when he looked back. The boxes then went back and Chris rushed to the building entering through a window. He ran up some stairs that were in the same room. When he got to the top, there were two doors, another flight of stairs and a window looking out. He perched himself under the window sill but was still looking at the square. He watched them go inside a building. "What should I do?" Chris thought. "Just stay put, if anything happens, I'll take care of it." Mante reassured him.
Chris started to get bored of sitting there. "Can I look in the rooms?" Chris thought. "It may make some noise, but the rain outside should block it out." Mante told him. Chris got up and put his hand on the door. "Before you open in, it could be a trap, sir. I suggest not being in the way of the door in case it is." Chris nodded and nudged the door open. Nothing happened. "Be careful, sir." Chris walked in the room, slowly with his sword raised. The blocks began to scan again then went back. The room was a mess. The floors were made of wood, but they were all rotted and falling apart. Most of the wall paper was falling off revealing rotten plaster. Chris rounded a corner and was in what seemed to be a dining room. In the middle of the room was an oval table with two chairs on each side. Above the table was a small chandler. Under the chandler was a dark blue vase. Chris looked around but saw no kitchen. He turned around to leave the room but heard some rustling behind him as well as the boxes on the screen move in the same direction of the noise. Chris turned around and the vase had moved to the left side of the table. The boxes were on top of the vase, Chris moved towards the vase. "Sir, I think that vase is a trap." Chris nodded. "There is a wire attached to the vase, but it doesn't show that it's connected to anything." Mante told him. "I just won't touch it." Chris said. "Wise idea." Mante responded. Chris turned back around and started to walk out of the room when his mask flashed faintly red. "What does that mean?" Chris asked. "Those people that were walking around are getting closer, I advise we get higher in the building." Chris nodded and started walking out of the room. He made his way up four floors before going into a new room. When Chris got in he noticed that this room was very similar to the room he was in before. But this one was in better condition. The walls weren't all rotted and most of the wall paper was still on most walls. The boxes scanned the room then went to their usual spots. Chris walked into the dining room and saw that there wasn't a chandler and the table only had one seat directly facing a red vase. The boxes scanned it and the screen turned red around the vase. "Sir the scans say that the vase is wired into an explosive. I'd highly advise not to touch it." Chris looked at the chair and saw a note. He picked it up and read, "Run." Chris set the note back down, "Spooky." The helmet lit up red and lost control. He felt himself duck and pull out his sword. He spun around and was face to face with a black creature. It was so black that Chris felt it was sucking away the light. It swung, hit Chris' blade and sent him flying into the wall. It lifted its fist and swung again, Chris jumped out of the way and its arm went straight through the wall. "What is that thing?" Chris yelled. "It looks like a manufactured creature of darkness." Chris ran behind it and stabbed his sword into the monsters back. It screeched and swung, hitting Chris over the table. He looked up and saw the monster struggling to get its arm out of the wall. Chris tried to get up but his leg was now stuck in the wall. He struggled for a few minutes but was successful in getting his leg out. He hopped up but was greeted by the monster's fist. He flew over the table and into the wall on the other side of the kitchen. The monster jumped over the table. Chris shot up as it was getting ready to punch him again. Chris head a thawng and the table blew up sending Chris and the monster through the wall. Chris looked over to see that the monster was dead and started to get back up. He had control again so he grabbed his sword and put it away. He stood for a second wondering what had just happened when his screen lit up red and he felt himself dropping to the floor as a massive beam of red, orange pink and white shot through the building. It stopped but he didn't get control. He shot out of the room and jumped down the stairs. He didn't know what was going on. "Did Mante take control and is going to kill me?" Chris thought to himself. He turned and jumped down another set of stairs, touched the ground briefly then jumped out the window between the two doors. He hit the ground hard, but got back up and shot to the left. He felt the ground shake and something hit the back of his legs sending him onto his back. The squares were going crazy on his screen. He didn't jump back up, he just laid there wondering what had happened. Eventually he got up and saw that the top part of the building had collapsed into the square. The rain was still pouring down. "It seems our shelter has been destroyed." He heard Mante say. When Chris heard his voice, he got frustrated. "Why didn't you tell me what was going on?" He yelled. "Because everything was happening so fast, sir." Chris couldn't think and was starting to get light headed. He felt Mante take control but he couldn't process anything and his vision started to fade away.
The first thing Chris heard as he started to wake back up, was loud explosions. He felt the hot air pound his body, but not his face. He put two and two together and knew his helmet was still on. His vision was still blurry but he could make out the oh so familiar blast of light that tore through buildings next to him. "Welcome back sir. While you were out, Dakota, Evan and Dean found you and are now engaged in combat. Dakota is dragging you along with them." "Sounds good." Chris told Mante. "Oh, and your leg is fine." Mante told him. Chris tapped Dakota's arm who let go so Chris could get up. Immediately when Chris got up, an arrow landed beside them, Chris' mask lit up red and the arrow blew up. The two of them went flying through a nearby building. "Ahh, that hurt." Dakota groned. "You can say that again." Chris said as he got up. He walked over to Dakota and helped him up. "You alright? You were quite banged up when we found you." Dakota asked Chris. "Yeah, my leg is a bit sore, but other than that, running fine." Dakota nodded and looked out the window. "Hey, check this out." Chris walked over to the hole in the wall. "That wizard and Evan are going at it." Chris saw Evan standing with a purple aura around him. His hands glowed purple as well. The wizard used the blast of light hitting Evan. When the blast stopped Evan was still standing there, unfazed. The boxes were going crazy around Evan. The wizard blasted Evan again, nothing. Evan is still standing there, completely unfazed. Chris watched the wizard blast Evan and nothing happen for a while until his mask lit up red and he lost control.
He grabbed his sword and blocked it. Nothing was there but he could most certainly feel the pressure. Just like before. "Dakota!" Chris yelled. Chris struggled with the invisible man. He watched Dakotas bow get shot from his hands. Chris pushed the person, confusing them for a second, but Chris didn't hesitate. He swung his sword at the figure. His sword hit the person's weapon and he stumbled back, right into an arrow that was meant for Dakota. Dakota looked at him. "Get you bow." Chris told him. Dakota nodded and held his hand out, his glove started to glow white and his bow came straight to his hand. Of course the boxes were all over it. "Why hasn't she shot?" Chris whispered to Dakota who just shrugged. Chris looked around. He was behind a wall, and Dakota was crouched behind some fallen debris. Chris peaked behind the wall and an arrow shot right over his helmet. He pulled back to his cover. His screen lit up red and he swung his sword like a baseball bat and hit them right in the face with the flat side of the blade. They fell on the ground unconscious. Chris and Dakota looked at each other, then at the body. It was a girl, she looked like she was in her mid twenties. The invisible person was now visible. It was a man. He looked much older than the woman, probably in his early forties. The two of them were very fit, and they seemed very prepared to deal with combat. The two looked out the hole in the wall again to see Evan shoot the wizard with a blast of dark purple. Dean ran over to him a moment later. They talked about something but the rain was too loud and they were too far away for Chris and Dakota to hear what they said. "We should head over to them." Chris told Dakota. "That's a good idea."
When the two of them arrived they heard a voice come from seemingly nowhere, "Weather change." It was a robotic voice that was hard to listen to. "Ah, is it finally going to be dry?" Evan said as it started to lightly snow. But then it started to pick up. The snow became so thick that Chris couldn't see any of the buildings around him. "Oh my… I'd rather it rain!" Evan shouted in the air. With the snow, the temperature also dropped exponentially. "This sucks!" Evan shouted again. "I'm going to give you weather adjusting jackets." Evan said in sheer disappointment. He touched each of their coats and they all could feel themselves warm up. Chris looked around and saw it was quickly getting darker and darker. "We need to get moving, to the desert or something. I hate the cold." Evan complained. "Why not just throw down a house or something?" Dakota asked. Evan looked at him, "I don't want to do anything right now." "Which way is the desert anyways?" Chris asked. "Let me check." Evan responded. He pointed the palms of his hands at the ground and jumped, he shot himself in the air with his hands. Chris watched in awe as Evan jumped higher than most of the buildings. It was short lived though Evan got shot out of the sky by an explosion sending him crashing into a building. The three looked at each other and ran towards the building. They started up the stairs in the familiar looking building, and met Evan halfway."Well, good news. I found the desert, but another squad is already there." Evan looked completely fine, there was some dust here and there, but he didn't seem hurt at all. Evan passed the other who just stood there looking at him, trying to comprehend what had just happened. "Well, come on." Evan told them a flight of stairs down. The three hustled down the stairs to catch up to Evan.
They were back outside and in the miserable snow. No one said anything as they trudged through the thick snow. The snow had accumulated and was now ankle deep. The four trudged on. Eventually they made it to a very long stretch of street. Chris could make out a small bit of light. "Do you guys see that?" Chris asked the group. "Yeah, that light?" Dakota answered. Chris nodded and they continued on. As they grew closer they found it was a street light, and they weren't alone.Chris' screen started to scan what he thought was the light, but when he looked up, he saw three shadowy figures in front of them. The four stopped along with the three infront of them. Then out of nowhere two more figures appeared. "Oh boy, it's a squad of five." Evan said. "Yeah, we can see." Dakota responded. All of a sudden the snow started to slow down to a stop. Chris could now make out their clothes. All of them were dressed in a light grey with a full face helmet on that was the same color. The person in the middle pointed at Chris then disappeared. The person on the very left threw a spear directly at Evan. Chris' mask lit up red and he lost control
He swung around and his fist was met by the person's plastic mask. The impact blew a fist sized proportion of the mask off. Chris could see his upper lip and eye, he looked very very angry. He disappeared again and Chris ran to the light to see if he could find the others but he couldn't see anything but the light. HIs mask lit up red again and he saw a glimpse of the man attacking him, before flying into the light pole. Chris drew his sword and waited for the next attack. It came sooner than expected as Chris' mask lit up red again. He lunged his sword forward successfully hitting the man. Chris looked down the blade of the sword and saw that he had stabbed the man right below the heart. Chris let go and the man fell, the sword still impaled him. He looked at Chris and waved him closer. Chris approached him, and he whispered, "No dejes que ellos… tengan la misma suerte… que yo…" He smiled at Chris and looked at the sky. His smile faded. "We translated what he said, sir." Chris jumped by the sudden voice, "He told you not to let them have the same fate as him." Chris pulled the sword from the man. "Any sign of them?" Chris asked. He put his sword back and took off the man's helmet and put it where he stabbed him. Then put his hand over the helmet and closed his eyes. Chris looked around in hope to see something he hadn't seen before. But there was nothing, just snow. Chris started walking again but didn't make it far as his helmet lit up again. Chris dived out of the way of an incoming object. It crashed into the ground with a massive thud. "Chris get up." he heard the familiar voice say then lift him up and push him to the side. A second later he heard the person get hit by another object. Chris jumped up and narrowly avoided getting hit. He started to run. He heard heavy thuds from behind him as he ran, but it eventually stopped, and Chris had a moment to catch his breath before everything went dark. "Was that you?" Chris asked. "No sir, it seems some kind of dark energy has engulfed us." Mante told him. The boxes on his screen were scanning what had just happened. Chris started walking again but tripped and started to fall down what he thought to be a hill. He felt his mask crash against something and he started to slow down. He got up but it was still all black. "Sir, the mask took some damage, we should find Evan so he can help fix the damages." Chris nodded and sat down. He got comfortable and fell asleep.
Chris was woken by a faint rumbling and freezing snow on his face. He took a deep, cold breath of fresh air. He laid there for a moment before slipping off his helmet. He looked at the face of the mask and saw there was a broken piece in the right eye. He sighed and put it back on. "So get to Evan ay?" Chris told himself. "Shouldn't be that hard." He got up and put his backpack back on. He blindly took a step forward but there wasn't anything under him, and fell. He was falling face first and fast. He saw the ground and felt Mante take over right before hitting the ground.
Chris jumped up, panting. He looked at his hands and sighed a breath of relief, it was just a dream, well most of it at any rate. His helmet was still broken and Evan was nowhere to be found. "Bad dream, sir?" Mante asked. "Yeah, happens to the best of us." Chris said as he hopped up. He looked at the ground and was in fact a step away from the edge of a very tall cliff. Chris looked around and saw an explosion in the distance, followed by another and another. "Could that be Evan?" Chris asked. "Very possible." "Alright, let's start the trudge then." Chris put his backpack on and started to wall along the cliff's edge. It wasn't long before he arrived at level ground and the forest. Chris decided it would be a good place to stop. He sat down to take a breather. A few moments later, Chris was back up and walking. He made it to the desert where he had to turn. He saw smoking from the distance and knew that's where he was headed. When he arrived there was a massive crater. He walked in the direction that he saw the second explosion. The craitrer was as Chris had expected, very large. Whoever was being chased must be long gone by now, in one way or another. Chris shook his head and started walking again. After a few steps, an announcement was blared overhead, "There are only 10 people remaining. A squad of four, a squad of five and only one remains from a squad of three." The announcement ended, and Chris went on his way again. "Have you seen any sign of Evan?" Chris asked. "No sir, if I do I will be sure to let you know." Chris nodded and continued to walk aimlessly.
Moments later his mask lit up red. He looked around and saw nothing but vast desert. He noticed the boxes going upwards, so he turned his head in that direction and was met with a fireball. He immediately started running, but he wasn't far enough to outrun the blast. A strong force of wind and dust hit him and threw him off his feat. He hit the ground with a thud. His mask turned red again and he was back to his feat. He looked up to see not only a fireball, but Evan! He shot the ball with a ray of light. The fireball blew up into many pieces. Evan flew down beside Chris. "Looks like the helmet took a beating." "Yeah, but other than that it's held together nicely." Chris responded. "Oh for sure." Evan said as he waved his hand over the broken bit of his mask. When he took his hand off, it was good as new. "Ah, the dust is clearing. Do you think they're gonna send down another meteor?" Evan asked. "Those are meteors?" Chris exclaimed. "You didn't know that?" "No, I thought it was just fiery rocks." Chris told him. "Yeah, a meteor." Evan told him. Chris looked up again, the smoke was gone and he could see the figure of a person. Evan moved his hand towards the figure, and made the shape of a gun. He moved his thumb down and a ray of light shot out, hitting the figure, sending them flying down into the surface. Chris and Evan started to run over to the person. When they arrived, they saw it was one of the people in white clothes. Evan looked around. "Lets try and find the others, this blasted game is almost over anyways."
"Evan! Chris!" They heard someone call as they walked. "Do you think that's Dakota and Dean?" Chris asked. "It very well could be, but it may also be a trap." Evan responded. "Well that's not too bad, because we have you." Chris replied, and glanced at Evan, who was already glaring at him. "Uh… there's not too many people left, that's good." Chris said, trying to make conversation at no avail. The two approached the source of the noise, only to see Dakota and Dean tied to chairs under a few trees. Chris noticed the trees and thought, "Why are there trees in the desert? The forest is across from us." Chris looked over to glance at the forest and saw that the city and the forest had started to merge together. Chris was abruptly taken from his thoughts as his mask turned red. A man jumped down from a tree from above but Evan shot him with one of his light rays. Chris spun around and was face to face with another person. Chris tried to spring his sword but was stuck in place. The man pulled out a knife and held it up to Chris' arm that was going to swing at him. "I'm going to ma-" He didn't finish his sentence because Evan blasted him as well. Chris was immediately able to move afterwards. The two ran over to Dean and Dakota and united them. "What happened?" Chris asked the two. "We were walking and the ground started to move. Before we knew it, we were under some trees, and then we got ambushed by three people, we killed one, but the other two took us hostage. Then you guys arrived and here we are." Dean explained. "That must've been the five." Chris said. "So there's only one guy left?" Dakota asked. "Should be, we just have to find them." Chris told them, and they started out to find the last person.
Within ten steps from the trees, an announcement blared overhead, "The games have been finished. The group led by Evan has won the games! The pickup squad will arrive shortly, congratulations." The four stood there for a second then heard a loud thud, followed by the sounds of engines. They looked towards the noise and saw a truck followed by a car. When the first got to them, a group of men dressed like the people in grey got out and led them to the car behind them. The four got in and the vehicles took off, leaving the arena.