A being introducing himself as the Designer was in front of them and he looked "almost" human.
To begin with, he had a black mask covering his head completely, forming pixelated expressions on his face.
His body looked humanoid, except the fact that he had a right arm and a left leg that were replaced by cybernetic prostheses that he left naked for all of them to see.
He wore earthly clothes. A sleeveless jacket with a broken heart on the side, and a black jogging on his right leg, which looked more like a short for the other leg.
But the most disturbing thing for Maalick and the people in the room. It was that he was floating above their heads, sitting on a triangular plate.
'What the hell is this?' thought the transported.
The Designer jumped out of his vehicle and opened his cybernetic arm to store the triangular object.
He stepped in front of the crowd with a ^_^ "Well it looks like everyone is here. We can finally start the explanations..."
But he was interrupted by a man who tried to attack him "You sick bastard. Tell me where we are!"
The Designer dodged the man with ease.The man tried to hit him again, but the cyborg dodged his second attack with grace "I think you have a saying in your world. What was it again? The third one is the right one?" he asked, rubbing his chin.
The attacker attempted to kick him. But the Designer teleported behind him and being exasperated by the situation, he sighed "I guess we need to make an example. As usual"
He ejected from his left knee a mechanical scepter with a floating ball on top. He grabbed it and got into a golfer's stance. The mechanical being hit him in the ribs with a club and the ball was absorbed into his flesh.
His attack sent him flying through the air.
Then he began to grow until he imploded. Turning him into a rain of organs and blood.
The Designer put his hand on his forehead to contemplate the show and his expression changed to a ^o^ "Damn, I've never been this far with a human!"
Everyone remained stayed here, in the ground, in front of the supreme strength of this thing.
Then the lack of reaction turned into horror, dread and panic. The kidnapped began to shout and recite prayers in different languages, imploring their gods to save them.
Maalick went to the Designer.The teen looked at him with a look that meant 'Don't try anything stupid'
His facial expressions, his actions, his behavior of taking everything for a game, reminded him of one person 'Happy Face'
Although this man would probably thought that all these deaths were more of a painting, which he would surely describe as magnificent.
The Designer took out of his arm the triangle that grew quickly. Protecting the humans from the red rain while putting away his scepter.
"As you have seen, I am clearly superior to you. To be completely honest with you, I am a God. And mister in the leather jacket, I am not who you think I am" he said as he pointed his human finger at Maalick.
Everyone in his sight looked at him and thought he had offended him.
The Designer de-escalated the situation "Oh, don't worry. I'm not going to do anything to you and yes I can read your mind, old man with a beret"
The person in question lowered his hat to keep a low profile.
"Let me explain why you are here"
He brought up a giant blue screen like in the video games by snapping his fingers "Normally you should be able to understand better with this"
"Point number 1: You, the 500 candidates, have been teleported here according to an algorithm that I HAVE created and that guarantees a EQUITY that cannot be questioned" exclaimed the Designer, who looked over his shoulder.
"Point number 2: You are going to be transmigrated. In other words, your souls will go into bodies in a fantasy, but Earth-like world called Lockarte. You will be assisted by a "System." I'll let your Entities explain what this is all about, as they have greatly annoyed me with it..."
"And finally, point number 3: You will have Entities. They are different Gods of the Universe who have decided to join this game. They will give you some of their power in order to protect your frail and miserable life"
All the information was written down on this board. But many people did not understand his explanation very well.
The designer's emoticon changed to a -_- and reluctantly said "Does anyone have any questions?"
To his surprise, some brave or foolish people raised their hands.
The Designer took out a microphone from his upper body. He teleported it next to one of the questioners.
"Normally with this, it should translate and amplify your voice so that everyone can understand you" soberly said the half-machine half-man.
The man holding the communication device asked him "Do we have to take part in this so called... "game" ?"
The whole crowd looked at the participant as if he had just signed their death sentence.
The master of this place answered him as if there was nothing more normal "You are forced to play. On the other hand, nothing obliges you to commit suicide. But I strongly advise you to not make this choice. There are more painful paths than death"
His answer sent a chill through the room.
The microphone teleported to another person who was trying to sound as nice as possible "Hello, Mr. Designer. I wanted to know if you could give us an example of what kind of power we might have?"
"You'll see that with your Entities, fucking hypocrite" the Designer said curtly.
The woman shook her hands not in fear, but in anger because he had seen right through her ' How does he know?!'
"And yes, I know. In fact I basically know everything about your lives, your goals and especially your past. To put it simply I am omniscient. But I'm surprised that there are so many bastards among you" he said, while looking at the crowd.
"This will be your last question for taking me for a fool. Take it Stella"
The mike appeared in the hands of a high school girl whose hair was dyed in crimson red.
She caught the object by the skin of her teeth. The girl spoke with apprehension "Um, I was wondering... if the Entities know about our past like you do. Will that affect their choices... I guess?"
The Designer replied with a more detailed answer than the others "In this game, there are 500 Entities for 500 candidates. You are chosen according to your compatibility rate with the Entity. So to answer your question, yes your past does count. But who you are now counts too"
He took his microphone back and put it away in his finger. His bloody triangle folded in on itself, like origami, and stuck perfectly in his palm.
"Good, now I'll explain what's next" began the Designer, as he opened his robotic skin to insert a line of code.
A little further ahead of them, a huge circle stood vertically with handrails lining the steps, emerging from the ground.
"You're going to say 'Status' in your head and don't freak out okay? You will see a number in the upper left corner. That number will determine your order of passage to meet your Entity. Do you understand?"
Everyone nodded.
But a latina dared to disrupt the emerging silence of the Designer by stepping in front of him "Why are you doing all this? What is your purpose?"
He put his hand over his face, unable to contain his robotic laughter. And when he looked up, his expression changed, revealing a (^o^) "It's so funny how you always have such shitty timing, just like when your own son ratted you out to the cops"
The Designer removed his hand and she saw that his emoticon had turned red "But you know what, I'll answer you. The Gods are just bored, that's all"
Maalick couldn't believe the Designer's words "What?! That's the only reason they kidnapped us from Earth and forced us to play in this other world?!
"Yeah, just for that"
The cyborg propelled himself into the sky with his cybernetic leg "But who cares about all that. I'll start the roll call now. So hurry up and get through that portal, unless you want to end up like the other guy"
Maalick studied the possibilities of escape, but he found none 'The Designer is too strong, too fast and able to read our minds. On top of that, he is omniscient.
There was a small chance he could escape, but he couldn't risk it "Even though he said earlier he wouldn't do anything to us, I can't trust him after seeing him blow that guy up'
The SAS soldier clicked his tongue 'I have no choice. I'm going to have to go by the book'
'Status'
[ Race: Human ]
[ Number 274 ]
[ Level 0 : 0 / 100 ]
[ HP ] : 5/5 [ PM ] 0/0
[ Strength ] : 5
[ Resistance ] : 5
[ Dexterity ] : 5
[ Speed ] : 5
[ Stamina ] : 5
[ Perception ] : 5
[ Willpower ] : 5
[ Intelligence ] : 5
No sooner had he noticed his status, than the Designer began the call.
"Number 1!"
While the semi-human, semi-machine, and semi-god being was pulling people one by one into pink and blue spiral portals, of green with a bow and a hunting knife crossed in white and yellow with computer inscriptions.
Maalick tried to figure out the system by himself 'So my number is 274. But what are these categories and why do I only have 5?'
"Number 144!"
There was so much new information coming into his brain, that he was saturated with it 'Breathe Maalick. Just like with the SAS'
He took three deep breaths to clear his mind 'Let's start by checking what I already have'
The military man searched every pocket of his jacket and jeans but found nothing 'OK, I don't have my stuff anymore. But I have this... "system"'.
Maalick tried to touch the blue board. Unfortunately, he only passed through it.
'So if I had to take a guess, the bracketed categories represent my physical and mental abilities in a numerical way. But why am I only at 5? I've been training all my life, much more with SAS and I'm sharp. So why?'
"Number 274!"
The SAS agent advanced to the circular platform 'Well, hopefully my Entity will teach me more about this thing'
Maalick saw his portal in front of him.
It was basically orange with little black bits swirling around in a spiral, which made it look more like an erupting volcano, than something that could teleport him to see a God.
'You only live once, right?" he tried to put it into perspective.
The Designer behind him said to the soldier "I'm not sure about that" and pushed him with his mechanical foot into the portal.