Raen lifted the backside of his hand to his forehead, wiping away the sweat.
The thick layer of sawdust that coated the front side of his hand prohibited him from using it to clean himself, lest he covers himself in the annoyingly sticky material.
The warehouse that surrounded him was old and decaying and was falling apart as much as the people inside of it were.
The rusted support beams and the stagnant water in the corners of the building managed to go unchecked for years.
The people that worked there were… characters.
Self-important, egoistic, and unchecked leaders ran the company, only looking for their next check rather than the stability of the company.
So, how did a 19-year-old find himself in this dusty dumpster of a warehouse?
Well, for starters Raen got kicked outright at the age of 18.
His parents were religious zealots who didn't like religious "blasphemers", so they kicked him out to set an example for the younger siblings, which is funny because his younger siblings didn't like him anyway.
Many weeks of couch-surfing later, he eventually got this job online and was able to start his lease on his apartment.
The job he got was a piece of work, and not enjoyable at all.
Thankfully, the job was within a couple of miles, so being able to bike there in a couple of minutes made it slightly bearable.
"Hey, bitch! Time is almost up, shut the fuckin' garage doors. Unless you want your pay docked for the shit you pulled earlier!"
One of the old bastards, named John, quickly yelled at him and walked away back towards the offices.
This was the daily cycle, go to work, work his ass off, and still manage to get yelled at for doing seemingly nothing wrong.
He didn't even remember what he did earlier, but he was sure it was something rational and not something you should get docked for.
Raen looked up at the clock and felt relieved, the day was finally over.
He reached over to one of the nearby air hoses and picked it up, spraying himself down with it to get all of the dust off of himself.
Raen heard John's voice again from behind him, "Hurry up Raen! I need to talk to your dumbass in the office. I don't have all day."
Raen groaned to himself and walked towards the warehouse garage doors as John scurried away.
"Money is money." His daily mantra he repeated aloud to himself.
4:00 P.M.
His saving grace.
However, this day was slightly different.
As he went to pull on the rope that was used to shut one of the giant bay doors, the door slammed down at an incredible speed by itself, causing Raen to jump back.
The repulsory sound of his overseer speaking echoed from the other room.
When he came back to his senses after the sudden shock, he realized all the bay doors had shut, which was an eerie sight to behold.
Each door had to be shut and locked manually, so unless there was some miraculous strong wind current, the situation was bothersome at least.
As he looked around to a few of his coworkers scattered across the large warehouse, they all looked to a small red rectangle in front of them.
As Raen turned back towards the door, a small red rectangle had formed right in front of him as well.
Text began to appear across its glassy surface:
<|[ LET THE ELIMINATION CEREMONY BEGIN ]|>