"Ahhhhh!" Natasha screamed in agonising pain as the horde of green dwarfs bit of her flesh in frenzy.
She had made a careless mistake and suffered grievously for her mistake at the final moment.
The green monsters with pointy ears smiled cheerfully as it finally tasted food, with part of her ripped flesh and skin hanging in between its lips.
A latecomer to the feast, looked at the rest who were eating from the best portion of the food, the legs and arms, without giving him any space.
Natasha looked in fear and apprehension as the green dwarf sighed before walking closer to her.
Natasha ignored the rags and the rotten stench coming from it, as she was locked in terror with what he was about to do.
The dwarf slowly extended its right arm with 4 green fingers with an extremely pointy yet firm nail.
It gouged out her right eye, along with part of her eyelids and some flesh that tore and came along with the eyelid.
The excruciating pain she felt at this moment made her feel the pressure her grandfather exuded when he was angry was nothing.
Before her remaining left vision, which was partly covered in tears, the green dwarf ate her right eye which later showed a face of disgust at the yucky tastes from the fluids of her eye it chewed before her.
After finishing his meal, the dwarf moved his hand towards her right eye.
"No! Please stop! Ahhh..." Natasha pleaded in agonising pain, all while knowing it was futile as the dwarfs seemed incomprehensible to her language.
Natasha didn't know if the dwarf understood her, but the hand he stretched out hesitated as it stared at her.
Following which, to the joy and shock of Natasha the dwarf retracted its arms.
The dwarf stood in silence for a moment, while staring at her, while the remaining dwarfs had almost finished feasting on her limbs.
Then the dwarf moved.
Before she could sigh in slight relief, she understood the dwarf didn't touch her remaining eye not because it understood her plea, but because it didn't like the wet taste of her remaining eye.
To her horror, the next moment the dwarf ripped a piece of her mouth and slowly dragged the extremely juicy red meat to its wide-open mouth.
The pain she was made to endure during training and the pain endured while dying where 2 different kinds of pain. She understood that at this moment, as the last light left her remaining eye.
The green dwarfs were not even bothered why their food has gone silent, as they moved onto eat the torso.
However, unknown to both parties was the screen that appeared before Natasha counting down.
[3]...[2]...[1]...[0]
Suddenly everything froze before Natasha, even the pain, and slowly the scene before her started to warp and distort.
Natasha, however, was unconscious to notice this magical effect as she laid on the white floor, she was in before she got sent to that monster-infested den.
Before her unconscious body, a screen popped up.
[Fully restored after Mission]
[Main Mission completed]
[Rewards gained 1 point]
[Completed an Easy difficulty scenario – 1 point]
Suddenly the whisper came back to the unconscious Natasha.
"You shall get as much as you give." This time with a different meaning.
The screen disappeared only to be replaced with another one.
[Shop]
[Missions]
[Miscellaneous]
The laughter of the whispers was soon followed by their agonising screams.
Anyone standing there would do nothing but cover their ears at the pleadings of the whispers, crying of the mercy they will never receive.
After a while, the screams had died out.
Darkness slowly crept into the white room.
The darkness was everywhere.
Soon everything was devoured in the darkness except the 1 meter around Natasha.
Unaware of what was happening, Natasha slept comfortably.
She didn't want to go out.
She wanted to stay here.
She didn't want to endure the pain anymore of her flesh being ripped out, even though she knew not waking up means death.
In her dreams, she lived her life as a mother. Taking care of the household and her children's.
However, when she tried to look at her children and husbands face everything changed.
She was now watching as the green dwarfs ate her husband and children's in front of her.
She tried saving them only to have the green monster jumping to eat her.
Suddenly a force puller her from her dreams back to the cruel reality.
"Ahhhhh!" Natasha screamed as she came back to being conscious, remembering the last pain she had to endure.
She kicked her arm and legs in pain.
Suddenly, she stopped as she noticed something.
"My legs! Arms?...but how?" She touched her limbs to make sure they were real and hers. Her right arm, which was nothing but a skeleton with her red blood leaking of it before was now intact with her fleshy arms.
"My eyes too!" Natasha cried as she noticed her right vision was back. She touched where her eyes were gouged out earlier, and felt no scars or anything to show it was taken away.
She was sure those green dwarfs had eaten her arms and legs, then how was it that she now had it back.
She had heard the capabilities of the healers in her father's employment, but this was her first time seeing the capability of actual healing.
She was too engrossed in the joy of being healed and having her life back to notice the change in her surroundings.
"They are called Goblins, not green dwarfs." A deep voice sounded next to her.
Startled from her thought, she crawled back in surprise and looked at the source of the voice.
A figure clad in white smoke sitting on a seemingly normal wooden chair, except that this chair was all black. The figure was sat with his arms resting on the slat, and his chin resting on his arms watching her.
"Greedy things goblins are, no matter the version. The typical version shows them being greedy for either money or food or to hunt and capture female beings of different species to sate their desire for sexual pleasure." Ignoring the wariness shown by Natasha the figure carried on, ignoring the magi particles gathering around her arms.
"Lucky for you the one you encountered was only greedy for food."
"Bind!" Ropes unseen by the eyes entangled the being and restricted its movement. Natasha finished casting the spell and stood up preparing another spell.
"Who are you?" She moved closer to the figure and raised the icicle above where the heart of the being should be, through the gap in the chair.
"Ah yes, the royalty, always assuming things and wanting to use everything to their advantage. Did you know I am currently preparing a surprise gift for a special one amongst you lot?" The figure not bothered by the threat in front of it asked back.
"I will ask one more time! Who are you?" Natasha asked while pushing the icicle closer to the being's chest almost touching the white smoke.
She was all too familiar with the power of award. Especially award that is able to generate an illusion like this is.
"Amongst the various names I have, you can choose between Fake or Lord Fake as many like to call me. I prefer Fake, to be honest." The being replied back.
Irritate by the person's sham to appear mysterious Natasha ordered: "Remove the smoke!"
"You sure?" The being asked back.
"Remove..." Before Natasha could finish speaking she saw the white fog surrounding the being disappearing.
"Ahhh!" Natasha knelt down holding her head while screaming in agonising pain.
*Snap* Natasha gasped for air as the pain left her while blood dripped from her nose and ears.
Fake chuckled as he watched Natasha breathing rapidly trying to devour all the air around her.
"For a royalty, you sure are an ignorant one. Wanting to directly look at a being more powerful than the Deities?"
Natasha was wiping the blood from her nose when she heard what Fake just said.
She froze in shock hearing the word 'Deity'.
She slowly lifted her head back up to look at the being again, before she remembered what just happened when she looked at him before.
However, luckily for her, the smoke was back on covering Fake.
Natasha stuttered as she struggled to spill the words in her mouth. "All..mighty...one!"
"Allmighty one? Nah, I am not that weakling. I am more of an observer, that likes to watch my puppets dance from the shadows, including the almighty one and his deities.
I mean you should see their arrogant face and action, thinking that nothing is above them, while a being more powerful than them is watching them. If you had seen it you would understand why I quit governing the whole world a long time ago."
Natasha reeled back in fear hearing the valuable information being sprouted as casual conversation from Fake.
A being more powerful and stronger than the deities? She knew all too well the terror of apostles of the deities. From there she could easily comprehend the terror of a deity.
But she could simply not comprehend a being who watches the deities for entertainment.
"Before you start fawning all over me, I suggest you don't do that. I hate praises and those kinds of stuff. It was one of the reasons why I gave up guiding you, folks, mortals and immortals alike.
Imagine having to hear everyone praising you for everything you do." Fake started reminiscing his past.
"I mean I once decided to live as a human for a few centuries. The stupid immortals at that time decided to copy me and started following me while praising me." As Fake spoke a screen appeared next to him showing what he was saying.
On the screen was a young beautiful charming woman who seemed annoyed by the surrounding beautiful men and women, praising her and worshipping her everywhere she went.
"Imagine walking into a kingdom having hundreds of humans following you while praising you left and right.
It didn't take long for the king to feel threatened thinking a subject was raising a challenge to the throne, and send an army to take me out.
Not that the kingdom survived the disaster trying to attack hundreds of immortal beings."
Natasha watched as the army sent by the king raised their weapons and ran towards the hundreds of humans sat in a field surrounding the beautiful sleeping women, with an annoyed expression in the centre.
As the army grew closer many of the people, surrounding the woman, had displeased expression on their face. A woman who was sat the farthest away from the group stood up in anger seeing the rampaging army growing closer.
She proceeded to raise her thumb and index finger and simply flicked it towards the army.
The next moment to the shock of Natasha, the approaching army along with whatever was behind them simply vanished in a cone shape radius, including the castle behind.
While the remnant of the kingdom was trying to comprehend what was happening, the women looked towards others who nodded and let her sit down, this time much more closer to the centre.
After she sat down the screen changed the view to the remains of the kingdom. People holding the remains of their loved ones in tears and in agony, as not even blood remained after they vanished. Many children's sat down crying quietly for their parents who vanished before their sight.
Yet no one raised a voice, no it was more like one dared to even cry out loudly, seeing what happened to those who cried out loudly. Those who made any sort of noise to disturb the beautiful women in the centre simply vanished. The only clue showing it was the group of people who were behind this was the occasional person who stood up from the group to snap or wave their hands to make the loud ones disappear. Then as they sat down, they will move much more closer to the women in the centre, from where they were before.
"The breaking point was when those idiots built a grand temple for me on the ashes of that kingdom and blowing my cover.
Along with the fall of that kingdom was also the death of many of those immortals as well by my hands.
Hence the need for me to make new deities to manage the world, unaware of my presence." Fake finished his short story while the screen showed the new changes.
What remained of the glorious and lively kingdom was now a silent and ravaged kingdom. Everyone wailed quietly while covering the mouth of any children too young to understand what was going on as they cried.
As the group of hundreds received the previous tranquil, one of them suddenly stood up with a bright smile.
With a wave of his hand, the previously destroyed kingdom transformed into a massive majestic temple made of precious materials.
The centre of the temple where the throne room used to be, was now the place where a massive statue of a man was. The face in the statue looked similar to the women sleeping in the middle of the group.
The remaining wailing citizens of the previous kingdom had their clothes replaced by brilliant white robes.
Everyone looked in terror at the group surrounding the women.
The man who did all this received gesture of appreciation as he moved closer to the centre.
After a while, the women in the middle woke up. Seeing her wake up the silent group suddenly started praising her.
The citizen who was watching from afar finally understood that they were in the presence of a god and joined in the worship.
The women looked in shock at the drastic change to the kingdom before and after her sleep.
She then looked at the citizens of the kingdom prostrating before her while holding back their tears of anguish.
The clothes on the women's body transformed into brilliant white as the expression of annoyance increased on her face.
Before the group of immortals could say another word of praise, everything went quiet as the group of people surrounding the women disappeared.
The women looked at the citizens prostrating before her as she sighed in defeat.
She waved her hand and time started rewinding to the moment before she appeared to the kingdom with the immortals. The lively kingdom and its happy citizens appeared once again before her sight.
The women waved her hands again as new immortals started appearing around the world.
The women's nodded before her beautiful appearance slowly changed to that of an average man in rags as he carried on his journey, watching people from the sides.
The screen disappeared, and along with it, Natasha awoke from her immersion.
"Did you like it? It was a happy ending after all." Fake asked.
Natasha started sweating heavily at being asked a question by a deity.
Natasha was silent for a while as she decided to say 'Yes'. However, before she did, she remembered the morale of the story she just saw, the being before her hated being praised.
So, should she be honest? Would he kill her if she was honest? But he would definitely not like it if she tried to praise him.
In the end, she made up her mind trusting her instincts.
"No." She prayed she made the right decision.
"Why?" Fake asked her simply.
"It seems too fake. Why would deities who are wise beyond mortals not sense the displeasure coming from their lord as they followed you? Why would the king send an army instead of investigating properly what was going on?
If he had sent someone to investigate he would have come to the conclusion that either a deity was walking amongst them or it was a bunch of walking fools.
Along with this, there are other several flaws in the story, hence it is not credible, Lord Fake." Natasha nervously replied to the divine being, this time addressing him politely.
Fake was silent for a while. Natasha's heart started beating so loudly she could literally feel each beat shaking her body.
"Excellent, you are not hopeless at all." Fake replied from his chair.
"I usually don't like people in authority. They tend to usually suck up to beings with a power greater than them, even though the being has made it clear not to. I was just doing the same to you" Fake explained.
Natasha sighed in relief. She felt extremely lucky for finding out the story was a trap that was trying to cover up what he had instructed earlier.
'Before you start fawning all over me, I suggest you don't do that. I hate praises and those kinds of stuff.' This was what Fake had instructed before starting the story.
The question of asking if she liked the story was just to see if she remembered what he had asked of her earlier. If she had said 'Yes' to the question and lied, then her fate would have been left to the unknown.
"That test was to show that in here, there is no point sucking up to me. Here everything is earned by hard work.
You were asking yourself earlier if it is even possible to have the power to be free and what sort of power it is. Let me show you." Fake said as he snapped his finger.
Suddenly Natasha saw a piece of dark tendril leaving its abode of darkness around her and dancing its way towards her. She tried to move back only to find she could not control her body at all.
The darkness reached before her and danced. She had a feeling that it was mocking her or even laughing at her, as it soon latched onto her face, and covering her whole being.
Soon she could move again, as she knelt down gasping for breath as the darkness crept inside her mouth as if being sucked in.
"Game realm? Players?" Information about the place she was in and everything slowly showed itself as she finally understood where she was.
She wasn't chosen because she was special or because she was worshipping the being in front of her. Rather she was chosen because the being believed she would prove an excellent source of entertainment to him.
As long as she provided entertainment to him she would be given the opportunity to get anything she wants, even power rivalling that of apostles.
She finally understood what kind of power the whisper meant by the power to be free was.
It was the power of a player from the game realm.
"Remember with enough points, only your imagination and rules are the only limiting factor of what you can't buy.
If you have any question ask the whispers. They are the voice of people who had fallen before they could buy their freedom.
So be careful not to be too greedy like the goblins. Otherwise, you will join them." Warning her Fake evaporated into the darkness.
Natasha ignored the changes happening to her surroundings along with the whispers as she filtered and processed the information she received.
After a while, she made up her decision.
After calming her mind she fiddled with the screen, before choosing the option before her.
[Easy Scenario]
[Generating Scenario...]