"ARE YOU READY?"
Fei went to our room, which seemed a little empty because we lost Oakley's presence. That changed the mood, unlike earlier, we had those jokes, those pranks. Now, Ellis and I were just simply staring at each other and had small talks like, "Where's the soap?" or "What are they serving later at the banquet?" I really missed Oakley.
"One moment," I said as I faced myself in front of the large mirror and fixed my hair.
"You looked handsome, Trick," Fei said.
"You too," I said back. Well, his blue tux was really off the charts. I was just wearing this simple black suit with a golden tie, tucked inside my black vest.
"Hey, Fei. Is Haru ready?"
Emerged from the bathroom door was Ellis, who was stunning in his peach-colored tuxedo, with a blue bow on his neck. His blonde hair was brushed up and contrary to his drag makeup, he just applied the minimum of it. He can pass as a straight guy, despite the choice of the color of his tux.
"Hi, Ellis. Haru's almost done. He'll be here in a minute," Fei said. "You look great. I didn't peg you like this."
"Well, I'm full of surprises," Ellis winked and returned inside the bathroom.
Fei turned to me and asked, "How are you feeling?"
I sighed. "There's an emptiness in my heart. Oakley's death was unexpected. We didn't really think that the Vegas team was still after us."
Fei tapped my back. "I am sorry you're feeling this way. I hope I can do something to make you feel at least a little bit okay than this."
"Seeing you safe makes me okay. By the way, what happened with you guys in Level 2?"
Fei explained to me the scenes in Level 2. The team from Santiago, Chile was their opponent and surprisingly, it didn't reach a strenuous fight like ours. Somehow, just a few minutes after the treasure hunting started, they were lucky enough to find the three treasures. Hence, they went out of the building faster than most teams. I even told Fei that we saw them from the window of the other building.
The sad thing was… when the Santiago team saw Fei being allowed by the Sovietsky guards to move out of the building, Fei, Haru, and Jia looked back and apologized to the Santiago team. However, they didn't take the apology and… took their lives themselves. Fei said that in their minds, they'd rather die than other people felt sorry for them.
"That's just sad, and odd at the same time," I reacted.
"They take pride in whatever they do. When they knew they won't be able to pass through the next level, it only told them that it would be their last hurrah," Fei said. "Anyway, past is past. I'm really sorry about Oakley's death, but we have to move on and prepare for the next level of the competition. Now that there's only two of you under Queens team, you should be really vigilant about your movements. You cannot trust anybody."
"I trust you," said I. Well, that's a fact. It's not just an opinion. I know it won't change.
Fei giggled. "What if… Just what if… What if we have to face each other? I don't want you to hold back. I want you to fight for your life. If you have to bring out your monstigna, do so."
I shook my head. "I won't."
"Why?"
"Because we're gonna win. We have to win this by doing all the ways we can. Since Season 3 of RuPaul's Drag Race, there's always a Double Shantay. In All Stars 4, there are two queens crowned. So, I'm hoping Manhattan and Queens will emerge as winners," I joked, but somehow I am really praying we don't have to fight against each other.
"I'd like that, too," Fei chuckled and kissed me on the cheek, then he whispered something to me. "Do you think we can steal some time to have sex in this place?"
"Fei!" I murmured.
"I like what you're thinking, Fei. I'm actually scouting the building the moment we arrived here if there are some blind spots of the CCTV cameras in every corner," Ellis said when he went out of the bathroom. "Let's go?"
"Yeah, we still have ten more minutes, before the banquet program starts," Fei said. "Let me know if you have found any, okay?"
Ellis winked. Fei snickered. I groaned.
When I opened the door, I got goosebumps as Haru was standing outside the door, wearing this blue vintage tuxedo, you know, those with ruffles in the middle. It looked really cool, but I didn't expect that he would look like someone who time-traveled from the '80s.
"Ooh, category is… '80s Prom Guys," Ellis blurted.
For a second, Haru's jaw left open when he saw Ellis in his manly look. "That's surprising you won't be causing a commotion with your silly bow dress."
"You see, Haru, you think you're so hot…" Ellis walked out of the room and after a few seconds, we all became silent. He then glanced back at us who were left confused. "Oh, are you expecting something after that?"
Fei and I giggled. Haru then clapped back. "You said I think I'm so hot, or is it you saying that I look hot?"
"Oh, Haru… You never learn…" Ellis shook his head and walked the hallway. "Where are the Campbells?"
"And why are you looking for the Kiwis?" Haru grunted and followed Ellis. Right then and there started again another cat-and-dog argument between the two of them, which Fei and I loved watching.
"Where's Jia?" I asked Fei.
"Oh, she's there at the ball already. She was surprised that Dakarai was here. We figured that Dakarai is part of the medic team hired by the Sovietskys for the tournament. He told us what happened to those who didn't make it through Levels 1 and 2," Fei spilled some tea.
"What?"
Fei started to explain everything as we walked to the ball. "In Level 1, remember the AI room where you will be assisted with an AI character? The initial plan was to make the participants kill each other unknowingly. You know, they're inside a room that they didn't know others were there. The AI may have changed the image of all of them into something else, say, wild animals. So, what would the participants do? Attack them. Kill them. Not knowing they're killing their kind. Yet the plan didn't go as smooth-sailing as possible. As out of the 300 plus participants who didn't make it, around 50 died because of what I said earlier. So, there are 200 more that they need to eliminate. The authorities of the competition had them annihilated one by one by the Sovietsky guards."
"I gasped in terror. "No way."
"Then in Level 2, they double-checked if there were survivors in the demolition, and fortunately, there were. Yet again… Sovietsky guards," Fei added.
"Oh, gosh," I said. "The Russians are really powerful, aren't they?"
"Well, they're powerful because they're super rich. The ones we need to be careful of would be the Hyeons and the Borgs. They can be ruthless. Even Jang-mi, the host of the entire event, she's totally nuts. She may look like that timid K/orean girl, but inside that shy woman lies a wild dragon who devours anyone in her way," Fei confessed.
"That's the opposite of what she looked like!" I said.
"Well, you can never tell who you meet here. Just be careful, okay? I'll do my best to protect you," Fei reassured, which somehow made me feel okay.
"Thank you, Fei," I honestly said.
In just a few more moments, we arrived at this prestigious hall downstairs. All of the teams were there, looking really dapper and dashing. Even those who looked really scary earlier dressed up really well. Everyone looked really expensive, plus the hall had these chandeliers and all those sparkling decorations. It really matched everyone.
"I feel like I'm in this auction even where they're gonna auction the rarest objects in the world," I commented, as one of the ushers lead us to our table, where Jia and Dakarai are sitting. We all sat together and meet Jia's boyfriend.
I then stared at Rakisha on the opposite table. Her jolly face was replaced with a stern countenance, that was really unexpected of her to have.
At exactly 1800 hours, Jang-mi emerged to the platform and welcomed everyone. "Good evening, distinguished guests, tournament participants, and everyone who are here with us tonight. It is my highest privilege to welcome you to the third level of the competition. However, tonight, we are gathered to have a feast and relax a little bit before the fights begin. To further give you an overview of the succeeding levels of The Krieg, please all stand for the appointed director of The Krieg, Mr. Jager Borg."
Everyone stood up and applauded for the arrival of this Jager Borg to the platform. When he arrived, he asked everyone to sit down and relax.
"Thank you very much, Jang-mi. You've been a wonderful host," Jager commented. "Currently, I was appointed by the elders whose families were the former members of WOCOSO to lead in the meantime. However, in the next few weeks, we will determine the team who will take over this leadership by finding out who deserves to lead us all, magical beings of this planet. You all know that the rise of technology has been a threat to all of us, magical beings. The access to information has become a boon and a bane to everyone. They think that one simple click on Google can make them witches, magicians, alchemists, sorcerers, illusionists, wizards, and the like. Through this tournament, a leader will emerge to guide us all in this new world where we can hone the power of technology to our magic. You, participants, have accomplished two levels already, which were commendable, actually. Those levels were really difficult and I must say, the artificial intelligence courtesy of our partner, the Sovietsky Conglomerate, you've done a really good job to bring out the best among these warriors before us."
All applauded once more. Well, only if they knew what the Sovietsky guards did to those who didn't succeed.
"Now, I believe all of you have gathered these wonderful treasures. Please take them out now and open them…"
I took ours out which I kept safe in Valenti earlier. Haru kept their periwinkle-colored treasures. Then, all of the participants did as instructed… and after that, when we opened our chests, something appeared out of it…