"So, these are teams you have made in the last 24 hours.", the devil says with that same toothy grin on his face.
He had made us stand in an orderly manner with our group members. Our group stood at the very last.
"Okay this is Team 1", the devil says pointing to the group nearest to him. Like that he gives all groups specific numbers. We were team 10, the last group.
This was good, now we could observe the groups who play first and maybe even get some clues to what exactly this 'game' was.
'Kuhum', the devil clears his throat to get the attention of all the sinners and continue on,
"In the first game, two teams will face off against each other. So, the first teams to face of against each other will be…. Team 1 V Team 10!"
The devil's proclamation is accompanied by a drumroll.
Shit….It seems that we're going first.
That isn't necessarily bad… let's calm down for now.
Everybody in both team 1 and team 10 had very tensed expressions on their faces.
"The game they will be playing will be decided by the WHEEL OF DOOM.", as the devil shouts the last three words. a huge 'wheel of fortune' kind of thing comes down from above stunning the spectators.
The Wheel of Doom had several games written in it. The name of the games sounded ominous to the ones who read it.
"Spin the wheel please.", at his words the wheel starts moving quickly and stops after a while.
"The game that decides the victorious team is…. 'Capture the body' ! "
Several people start murmuring amongst themselves. Nobody knew what exactly this game was about… I think I know how this game might go.
I feel dread creeping up on me,
'Let's hope this isn't what I think it is.'
"Now, quiet down folks… I have a show to run here.", the devil says to the confused sinners.
By now, I was used to the devil's shamelessness.
"Now, members of team 1 and 10 please follow me.", saying this the devil leaves through the way in which he had come through.
All of us had many questions, but we were helpless. All we could do was follow him. All the other people in the room stare at us with pity.
~~~~
After walking through the door, we entered a narrowly lit hallway and started following the devil to where he was leading us. After reaching a huge obsidian door, he stops and turns towards us,
"Before we get into the details of the game, there is something else we must do.", saying this he pushes the huge door open with just a single hand
"Choose a weapon to defend yourself."
Inside the room all kinds of weapons were arranged in an orderly manner. The peculiar fact was that there wasn't any weapon that from the modern times. The weapons displayed were those used in the olden times like a swords and bows.
It must because the world we're going to isn't that advanced.
As everyone goes forward to pick a weapon, I stay back and think which weapon would best suit my needs best.
I think I don't have any experience using any of these weapons. so, I'll have to choose something that's easy to use.
Being in close quarters during fighting would be a mistake for me as I'm just a beginner. So, I'll have choose something that helps me to fight while keeping some distance with the enemy.
The first option that came to my mind was the arrow but I quickly dismissed that idea since using a bow wouldn't be that easy.
A crossbow ?
No, that wasn't right either.
As I was thinking on what weapon to choose, I see a weapon lying down on the floor by it's lonesome. It was a spear.
Why is it lying on the floor ?
Who cares ?, this was perfect.
A spear is perfect for me to use untill I learn what weapon I have a talent in using, I go and pick up the spear swiftly.
After everyone picks their weapon, we all stand in a vertical line before the devil
Is this hell or military school ?
"You'll be given two hours to familiarize yourself with the weapon you have chosen… untill then ADIOS AMIGOS.", saying this he slides out of the door and closes it behind him.
It was good that I had time to practice with the spear, I go into the edge of the spacious room and start thrusting the spear , the thrusting was very easy to do… I wonder why ?
After a long time of practicing, I stop as I didn't want to overexert myself even before the game even began.
I balance my head on the wall of the room and observe how the rest in my team were doing.
Anya was trying to use a crossbow and she's pretty good at it. Does she have some sort of experience using it ?
Angela had gotten herself a halberd, which looked way too heavy for her thin stature,,, but who am to tell her that ?
Eric had taken a longsword and was swinging it around.
Hank, Frank and Pat had chosen a sword as their weapon.
Michael chose a dagger for himself, which by the way looked like a sword in his small hands.
I watch them train untill the door to the room opens once again and the devil walks in.
" I see that all of you have made your choice, that's good. Give yourself a pat on your shoulders."
The master of hell seemed to have become a cliché host from one of those 90s shows but I strangely found his attempt interesting.
"It's time to get into the details of the game, "Capture the body". Well basically, it's just "Capture the Flag" with a little a twist… instead of capturing the enemy team's flag, you have to capture a person and…well kill that person to win the game."
I sigh internally… it was just as I thought.
"Now would one person from each team come forward to pick a name from this bowl ?, the person whose name is chosen will become the 'flag' for each of your teams."
A bowl with pieces of paper inside it, magically appears out of thin air and floats around the room.
Eric takes the initiative from our team and steps forward to the bowl and takes a piece of paper out.
Another bowl materializes in front of the other team and one of their members takes one as well.
"Well, who did you get ?", the devil asks with anticipation in his voice.
"Kevin.", Eric says while looking at us.
"Elsa", the other member of the team says.
"Well this is just a fabulous turn of events isn't it ?", the devil says trying to hype us up.
"There's also something that I forgot to mention last time…. Have you all seen your respective statuses ?.. there's a mysterious part called 'mana' right ?. It's basically a form of energy that is slowly expanding over the entirety of existence, The reason none of you are familiar with it is because of the fact that mana hasn't yet spread to your world yet. Anyways the world the winner of all the games will be reincarnated into can be a world where mana has yet to spread or it could be a mana rich world… that's right, the world that you will be transported to hasn't been decided yet. It will be decided after the there is a clear winner.", the devil stops to catch his breath
It all felt a little complicated but I think I get the gist of it.
"As everybody here at hell is so kind. We decided to let you worthless ingrates experience mana beforehand, even if the world the winner is transported to is one with mana or not. I mean, you're already in hell so you don't have much to lose either way eh ?"
The devil lets out a little laugh before continuing on,
"Spoiler alert though, it's going to hurt like hell when you first experience mana… so that's something to look forward to huh ?"
Another laugh slips out of the devil's mouth while we just stared at him silently.
The Devil snaps his finger and the scenery around us change… it was as if we had been transported to someplace else
I was scared but not that surprised… I mean he's the devil, Do I need to explain more ?
We were in a forest of some sort.
I notice that the other team was nowhere to be seen. This must be our starting point.
The devil gives us a devilish smile and says,
"This is where I must bid adieu to you all.", he turns around and a door just appears out of thin air.
He opens the door and starts to walk in but stops to turn back and say,
"Oh, I almost forgot… I've set loose three monsters in this forest... to make things interesting."
" M-monsters ?", Hank asks with a face filled with horror.
Seeing his reaction, the devil lets out a little chuckle and says,
"Not actual monsters… they're human like you. They're some of the oldest occupants of hell… that personally volunteered to help their juniors grow or be cut in half… hahahah."
The devil leaves through the door laughing,
What does that even mean ?
Mayb-
But before I can complete that thought, an immense pain befalls me. It felt as if a thousand needles were pricking my skin or something….
" AHHHHHH", I start screaming but my screams are drowned out by the screams of my teammates.
This doesn't feel like a good start.
~~~~