[Flash back ends]
As 22 stood there watching the two bicker in front of him he heard a guard yell at them from afar.
"Hey! Get back to work already!"
The three nod in agreement while slowly walking over to a pile of pickaxes.
"Hey! Over here 22!" shouted Eruien from across the way. The other three were also waving at him beckoning him over. 22 smiled as he gleefully skipped over to them, pickaxe in hand.
"Man, I guess those kids are a good match." Nathan remarked with a smirk on his face.
Aelinor nodded in agreement before the two of them walked over to where Laedireil was mining.
They mined for around one hour until 4 p.m When they heard some unsettling news.
"Attention everyone! I will be here for 1 month starting today. I will also be in charge of District 3 during this time. My first order is all Numbered to please line-up!" Shouted a very familiar yet sinister voice. It was Gyrard.
"Damn! I thought he wasn't coming back due to the incident three months ago!" Nathan cursed under his breath.
Five slaves lined up, including 22.
The numbers lined up in descending order from 1001, 503, 202, 109 and 22. 202 was clearly shaking but 22 didn't understand why. Gyrard walked by the five slaves holding a piece of paper as if to taunt them. Then, Gyrard stopped in front of 22 and stared at him for a brief moment. Gyrard glanced over 22's shoulder to see Nathan and the six dark elves preparing to assault him the second he said 22. However, Gyrard was not here for 22. In fact it was quite the opposite. He merely wanted to see what 22 thought of his number. He asked the boy in front of him, "Do you know what your number stands for?"
22 slightly cocked his head to his right before answering, "It means i'm special... Right?"
"That's correct! But do you know what it means to be special?" Gyrard said in a child-like voice as if to mock 22.
22 took a brief moment to think about it before answering with "No..."
Gyrard stared deep into 22's eyes as if staring into his soul before coming to the conclusion that the boy was telling the truth.
"It means you get lots of treats and cookies when you are called! Do you want treats and cookies?" Gyrard said. To the others, it was a blatant lie that was used to lure numbered slaves to their deaths. Despite this, 22 still answered with "No... You are lying..."
Gyrard now curious asked, "How do you know if I am lying?"
"Your hands, they twitch when you lie." 22 responded with. Truth was, it was THE GAME that had let 22 know that Gyrard was lying just now.
Gyrard, clearly shocked, looked at his hands, noticing that they were twitching. Impressed Gyrard then said, "Impressive. You are quite observant aren't you? Well someone in this line does know what it means. Can you guess who it is?"
Gyrard grabbed 22 by the shoulders and walked him out in front of the four others numbered while slouching over his right shoulder.
"Come on man! Why do you have to play with the poor boy like that?!" Shouted out Aelinor.
The others proceeded to cover her mouth but it was too late... What had been said was already said. Gyrard, now glaring at Aelinor, stood up from his slouched posture later saying,
"Well, I guess it wouldn't be fun since the answer is so cle-"
" Number 503."
Gyrard was cut off by 22 answering without a moment's hesitation and pointing. Surprised Gyrard asked the boy why 503 and not 202? His answer was so obvious that Gyrard couldn't help but to leave his jaw agap.
"Number 503 is looking away from you and towards the ground. Yet the other three are looking at you in the eyes. 202 may be shaking, but it's probably due to the cut on his right leg that is infected."
Gyrard, now shocked, looked down towards 202's legs to see red inflammation spreading upwards his leg.
"Oh for pete's sake.... Someone take him to the infirmary!" Gyrard now annoyed said.
"Yes sir!" replied one of the guards.
Gyrard now annoyed sighed, "Alright, take 503 away already."
"Sir?" one of the confused guards said.
"Did I stutter? Take him away already! Send him to interrogation to find out who told the man." Shouted Gyrard.
Number 503, a 23 year old woman started to panic and run before getting karate chopped in the neck and losing consciousness.
22 clicked the close button to close the systems "stats" button. He found this button pretty useful. It not only told him about his stats but also little features of other people. In this case, the system told him about number 202's status "INFECTED lvl1, BLEEDING lvl2" and 503's status saying "The person you are looking at is in a FEAR status and is Paranoid". This allowed 22 to see the small details and look past the obvious ones. As Gyrard who was now clearly annoyed that he missed these obvious inspections walked away and ordered everyone to get back to work. While he walked away 22 had a message pop in front of him saying "Skill created. DETECTION lvl 1. error, host has not completed trial 3, TRIAL OF PERSISTENCE. To do TRIAL OF PERSISTENCE, host must complete Trial #2. TRIAL OF FEAR."
"huh, how comforting. Who designed this stupid thing anyways?!" 22 thought.
"22! That was amazing! How did you do that?!" Baraor said while rushing over to 22.
"Hehehe... You will never believe me unless I can show you. But now's not the time. We gotta go to District 7 now since it's 6 p.m!" 22 responded with
"Right, ok! let's go!" Baraor cheerfully said.
The eight of them proceeded to walk over to District 7 and pick up the axes to start chopping. Since 22 wasn't very strong, he and Laedireil were sent to load the carts with the logs. 22 curious of Laedireil stats tried to check them before the system popped up stating, "Host has not completed Trial 3 yet. Unable to use Detection. If the Host wishes to check their effects and debuffs then that is possible. Or you can check your own stats. Do you wish to see your stats?"
A button with the word "PROCEED" popped in front of 22 before he clicked the button.
Name:#$@%$#
Str: 4
That of below a regular 9 year old
SP: 5
Your speed is average
END: 10
Through constant swinging of axes, pickaxes and delivering goods, the host has achieved endurance that of an average 12 year-old
DEX: 7
Through years of abuse, you regenerate at faster rates.
INT: 5
Your Intelligence is that of a typical know it all child that doesn't actually know squat.
LCK: 0
Lady luck has turned a blind eye towards you
Mana: 0
No magic capabilities
Currently equipped:
Necklace of Protection
A gift from your past father. This necklace cannot be taken off or forcibly removed. Will be destroyed if the host dies and will continue to protect you.
"Huh, I wonder why my name is censored. Probably because I don't remember my name. And WHAT TERRIBLE LUCK!! Absolutely bullcrap! Oh well, at least I still have my necklace protecting me." 22 Thought to himself. The necklace was precious to 22 but he just couldn't remember why. He always has dreams of a time when he was happy. Walking through a field of wheat with a man and a woman. However, No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't remember their faces or names. Although he does one tier 1 Rank A Blood clan member trying to yank it off him when he first entered THE BLOCK. When he tried, he was suddenly zapped to a crisp by a mysterious bolt of lightning from above, despite being indoors and sunny outside. From then on, no guard dared to attempt to remove it. Before 22 knew it, he was lost in deep concentration before Laedireil handed him some lumber.
"Are you alright? You seemed to be lost in thought, young one." Laedireil carefully stated
"Oh, sorry, it's nothing. Just some worries I have on my mind" 22 responded while loading the logs into the cart while the huge demi-human hauled it away.
"A great sage once told me, The only life you need, is the one you lead. At first I didn't know what he meant by that but gazing at it now. I understand." Laedireil casually said while staring off into the distance.
"Huh, The only life you need, is the one you lead. That's a bit vague isn't it?" 22 naively responded
"Perhaps, but in due time you will need to make choices. Some will be challenging while others will try to trick you. Be careful what you hear and always look between the lines. Remember this." Laedireil said.
As 22 stared at Laedireil in awe, he almost got clobbered by the set of logs being past to him by Laedireil.
As they continued to load the logs into the cart, 22 couldn't help but to ponder on what Laedireil had told him. He looked around him to see Moryen, Baraor, Siltral and Eruien chopping down trees. Yet despite being new here, they hadn't once looked sad or disappointed. Maybe they were doing it out of denial of their situation but they always looked at the bright side. Before he knew it, 8 p.m. had struck and they got another break until dinner time. The eight of them decided to grab dinner and then walk over to District 17 to relax for a bit before needing to return to their cells. Nathan, Laedireil and Aelinor walked over to an open area to chat for a bit while holding onto their bread to eat a bit. 22, Moryen, Baraor, Siltral and Eruien however, scarfed down their food and started to venture into the forest.
"Don't go too deep in!" Nathan shouted over the other slaves relaxing and chatting on the hillside.
"Hey guys, lets go to that one spot!' Moryen said to the others.
"But it's night-time, we shouldn't go" replied 22
Moryen, Baraor, Siltral and Eruien all looked at each other and nodded in unison.
"Don't worry, we got something cool to show you!" Replied Siltral.
"O-okay..." 22 replied nervously
"Hey Siltral! Race you there!" Eruien said as he quickly scrambled up a tall tree and started hopping to the next branch.
"Hey! That's not fair!" Replied Siltral as he too began to Race across the branches.
"Sigh, those two. come one 22, lets walk" Baraor said
The three started walking through the forest while Siltral and Eruien were racing through the trees. While they walked, they saw the number of passing kid slaves reducing by the minute due to how dark it is. Usually, others would come down here to relax or play with sticks. When they reached the "spot", they stopped at a small open, secluded area where no slaves were. 22 stopped in awe as he saw the once lit up pond now perfectly blue and moonlight shining perfectly through a hole in the trees. Usually they wouldn't be here at night but this day, they were feeling braver. The three stopped to see Eruien and Siltral standing in front of them way out of breath.
"Huff, huff, I-huff-I Won!" Eurien exclaimed out of breath.
"Fine! You get to show him first!" Pouted Siltral while still out of breath.
"Show me what?" Replied 22
The others just looked at each other before circling 22. They picked him up and threw him into the pond.
SPLASH!!
"Gasp! Hey! You know it's cold in here. Why would you do that?!" 22 said as he stood up in the water.
"What do you mean by COLD." Moryen started with a smirk on his face.
Now that 22 had finished pouting, he realized that he wasn't cold. In fact, he was hot. He looked below his feet to be surprised with blue luminous light shining through the floor of the pond.
"What is this?" Responded 22 out of pure curiosity.
"This, right here is a moon pool." Said Eurien.
"When the sun shines into the pond, the stones in the pond absorb the light." Baraor said while taking off his clothes to prepare to jump in.
"Then why is it blue?" 22 asked before tossing his clothes onto a branch for it to dry.
Splash!!
Siltral, now in the pond, exclaimed that "The moonlight from the moon is absorbed and turns the rocks light blue instead of a bright Gold."
"Of course, the moon has to be a full moon like it is today in order for the light to be gold." Moryen said stepping into the pool.
"What's even more cool, is that it can heal wounds at extreme rates." Eurien stated while cutting his hand with a stick and placing it into the water.
22 watched as the wound on his hand healed almost immediately. Clearly amazed, the other four simply chuckled before Eurien followed up with,"Follow us, we have something even more amazing to show you!"
The others began to slowly drag 22 deeper into the pond. Thankfully, 22 knew how to swim because over the last 2 months, when they first discovered it, they taught him how to swim. Of course when they started, it was very hard for him but he got used to it.
They got to a point where 22 needed to go under the water. With one deep breath the five of them went under the water. 22 felt a nudging feeling to his right shoulder. When 22 opened his eyes, he saw Moryen pointing deeper into the pond. There he saw a terrifying beast in the deep that had a beautiful gold shine to it. 22 let out all of his air out of fright and swam back to the surface.
"Gasp! What was that?!" 22 frightfully asked
"That there is what we call in our village, a Margok. It's a huge snake that lives at the bottom of these ponds." Replied Baraor
"We need to get out of here!!" said 22 frightfully.
"Don't worry, it's usually peaceful during these nights. That's why it's at the bottom." Eurein Reassuringly said
"It only attacks if someone were to cause trouble around the pond." said Moryen
"hey guys, I think we should get out and put clothes on." Said Siltral now just breaching the surface.
"Why is that?" Eurien asked confused
"Well... It looks like it's preparing for an attack. As if it knows something is coming." Siltral replied with a pale expression
They looked at Siltrals pale yet serious expression and quickly scrambled out of the water. Hurriedly putting on their ragged and torn clothes before hiding in a bush.
They waited for a couple of hours until...
HISS!!!
A huge Lizard had appeared from behind the foliage. It's black and deep red scales reflecting the moonlight off. It was clearly searching for something.
"Right, I forgot. That Lizard there is Margok's natural enemy. If the Margok doesn't win the fight against the blood lizard then the lizard will eat the Margok's eggs." Eurien said.
"However, this battle should only occur every ten years. We are truly lucky to see such an event!" Siltral whispered to 22
However, just as the one meter long lizard came into view of the 3 meter long snake was when the real battle began.
SPLASH!!!
The snake thrusted itself towards the wolf at full force, making a huge explosion.
In spite of that, the Lizard dodged to the side. It's mouth agape making a loud hissing sound while fins appeared behind it's head like a shield.
The Margok, now standing out of the water showing off it's impressive silver scales and a red gash in its side.
"So that's why!" Baraor bursted out while slamming his left balled hand into his right hand.
"SHHHHH!!!" the other four voiced out
"Sorry" Baraor sheeply returned
"yeesh, gonna give us away, however, that does make sense." Eurien Whispered
"What do you mean? Make what sense? And why hasn't he healed?" 22 asked
"Well, usually the Margok is able to make quick work of the lizard due to it's speed. However, it must have had a fight with something in order to cause it to slow down like this. Also, the lizards are i the monster category while the Margok is in the guardian category. This means that while the pond does heal, it won't heal nearly as fast as it might heal others." Moryen whispered to 22 from behind his right shoulder.
"Oh I get it, so that's why Eurien heal- HURK"
Suddenly, Eurien snatched 22 and jumped onto a high branch. Before 22 could ask Eurien why, he looked to the spot that they had just been to see it melted away by acid.
"Is everyone alright?" Commanded Eurien.
"All good on my end!" replied Moryen who was sitting up even higher on a branch. There Baraor and Siltral could be seen.
"Good, that was a close call. Let's keep an eye on the battle so no accidents happen." Eurien said.
The lizard had been spitting acid at the Margok while 22 had been asking questions. One shot of acid had soared past Margok and towards 22, hence why Eurien grabbed 22.
"Thanks..." 22 vocalized clearly embarrassed.
"Don't worry about it! We got you!" Siltral told 22.
"Let's just focus on the battle now." Baraor expressed before pointing to the battle.
By this time, the battle had moved from land to water. The lizard so carelessly walked on the surface tension of the water while the snake struggled to keep distance from the poison.
it doged right nearly avoiding the next shot of poison. Then in one motion, it snapped at the lizard, but it was too slow. The lizard launched a counterattack biting the snake in its neck. The snake recoiled and launched the lizard across the pond onto land. It was clear who the victor was gonna be...
"We have to help Margok!" 22 sounded out.
"Are you kidding me? I thought you were afraid of the Margok? What made you change your mind?" Eurien returned while still holding onto 22 under his armpit.
"Well... Margok has a family! We HAVE to help!" 22 loudly whispered
"You do realize that one spit of acid will melt you to your bones right?" Moryen responded with
"Yes... but we can't just sit here and do nothing..." 22 naively said
Eurien looked into 22's eyes before his expression hardened.
"Moryen, distract the lizard. Baraor and Siltral attack on the left and right sides of the lizard when he's distracted. 22, you stay here and out of harm's way. I will go and take the frontal assault." Eurien gave his commands the others responded with "YES" in unison. Eurien jumped down and placed 22 in some bushes before giving his signal.
Moryen rushed out with stones in hand and threw the stone at the lizard's head before it could finish off the snake with poison. Both the lizard and Margok looked towards the direction of the rock.
"OVER HERE YOU UGLY MUTT!!!" Shouted Moryen while waving its arms.
The lizard glanced at the snake before another rock powerfully knocked into the eye of the lizard. Now the lizard was pissed off. It turned and charged towards Moryen with such lightning speed but not before Siltral and Baraor could ambush it from it's sides of its face. With the branch in hand, they powerfully smashed the branch into the side of the lizard, completely obliterating the branches. Knocking it off balance causing its weight to shift forward. It started to skid across the ground towards Moryen with its mouth wide open. However, Moryen was the distraction as the real foe the lizard was about to face was the person hiding behind Moryen. Eurien, who used Moryens shoulders to launch himself up into the air performing a spiral axe kick.
"EAT SHIT!" he yelled before slamming his foot into the top of the lizard's head. The force of the kick was so explosive it slammed the lizards mouth closed and slammed into the ground below. Thinking that would have been enough, Eurien jumped off the lizard when suddenly, the lizard spurted out acidic blood from it's eyes towards Moryen and Eurien.
"Shit! Were done for!" Thought Eurien as he shielded Moryen. However, instead of Eurien, 22 had launched himself in front of Eurien determined to save them and block the hit. The only thing that ran through his mind was Laedireil's words. "The only life you need, is the one you lead." and this time, 22 was gonna take the lead of his own story. Well that's what he thought when suddenly,
"TRIAL BY FEAR COMPLETED! RETRACTING EVERYTHING AROUND YOU! CONGRATULATIONS HOST!"
A bright blue aura surrounded 22 just like the one from when he was in the infirmary for the first time.
BOOM!!
The light had blasted everyone back 20 feet from 22, but most importantly, the lizard flew back onto it's back. In that moment, the snake took it's chance and bit into the lizard's gullet.
SQUISH!!
The sound of the snake ripping out the lizards gullet.
"...."
A moment of silence occurred as they watched the monstrous snake swallow the lizard whole. After that it looked at 22 and as if to say "Thank you" it lowered it's head and then slithered off into the pond.
"What the HELL WAS THAT?!" Eurien Erupted
"Yeah, what was that 22?" Blurted out Baraor towards 22.
"Well, it may be awhile for me to explain... Can I explain at the cell? It's getting towards curfew." 22 pleaded
"Yeah, we all had a rough day, but you better tell us what's going on when we get back!" Siltral demanded
"Alright, but let's head back now." 22 said
As the five walked back towards the others, the one thing that ran through the four of their minds were, "What happened to 22 during the explosion?"