A rundown house stood amidst a forest of strange trees, their barks were reddish and there branches seemed to coil around anything they could reach, giving the forest a warped aspect.
The house seemed perfectly normal and uninhabited, some parts seemed to have been broken as if someone or something has charged out right through a wall, the few windows were either broken and planked up or so dirty that nothing could be made out through them.
The whole place reeked of the smell of the old, one didn't have to be inside to smell it.
"I can't believe we got there without any problem" remarked Jake as the three otherworlders stood before the old house.
"What did you expect? For some random people to show up and block us from specifically going here?" responded Aiden.
As these two were busy with their back and forth, Grayson scrutinised the whole place, scanning each of the windows and slight openings for movements, the house seemed to be a two story one but he couldn't tell if there was an underground area or not.
"Well then, let's investigate" spoke Aiden, analysing the things around him to avoid any traps, he was followed by Jake to his side but both were stopped by Grayson.
He put a hand in each of their shoulders.
"Not through the front door" he said with a serious expression.
"It's trapped" he added, Aiden checked again but noticed nothing of the sort, considering that Grayson could see in the future, he must have been right, meaning that it was a trap that even he couldn't detect with his analysis skill.
"Let go around to the right then-" offered Jake but Grayson raised another objection.
"Also trapped, let's go to the left and we'll enter the second opening we find" he said, taking the lead, guiding his two unaware comrades through the only safe path this place had to offer.
He wasn't allowed to directly speak in details of what he had seen due to the restriction on his ability but it wasn't pretty at all.
The other paths were filled with deadly trap from all sides, even Jake with his insane reaction speed couldn't dodge them all and getting alive out of a single one of those traps would be a miracle but they also seemed to be coated with venom, just to make sure.
The one who had placed those traps knew what they were doing, that was for certain, had he not been able to see what would have happened, everyone would be dead.
Still, that begged one question.
'Why would such a meticulous trapper not put a single trap in one path?' wondered the blonde haired otherworlder.
He felt like he was going straight into a trap but he knew that whatever trap it may be, he would be able to see it coming.
He managed to predict each attempts at killing or locking them up that was thrown at them, they advanced at a steady pace, searching the house and running into various room that reeked to high hell of death.
These rooms had been the theater of vicious games and each of them had resulted in the death of every single one of its participants, clearly, these games weren't meant to be won and didn't seem to be meant to be played again it seemed as the rotting carcasses were left behind.
The horrific wounds that had been sustained were unidentifiable after so much time had passed.
As they walked through a hallway, Grayson kept silent but knew that they were about to have to go through one of those games.
Suddenly, while nothing about the hallway changed in appearance, it definitely wasn't the same as before, Grayson struck the wall next to him with his sword and it bounced off as if he had struck metal.
Aiden pointed his crossbow at end of the hallway while Jake grasped his mace nervously, it was as though they were frozen in place, kept from moving forward until they were allowed to.
The sounds of footsteps was heard coming from around the corner and soon, a figure appeared.
It seemed to a man wearing a slightly square-like burlap bag over his head, he was wearing a white shirt with a brownish waistcoat and trousers of the same color, the clothes seemed to be filthy, he appeared to fit perfectly with the ambiance of the desolated house.
"I am supposed to be overlooking a game of blackjack at the moment you know? Well, no matter, it was completely one sided anyways, I kept on adding bullshit and she didn't even lose once, I guess I found my first winner..." monologued the strange man, Aiden was trying to shoot his crossbow but the bolt wasn't being fired no matter how much he tried.
"You can't attack because you have to abide to the rules, I may be an amateur compared to the Father-Lord but weaklings like you won't be able to ignore them" he said, his voice was perfectly suited for that of an announcer.
The three otherworlders couldn't help but listen to his words despite how little they understood what was being said.
"I will make it quick and simple, I am basically handing the victory to you" he said.
Coming into existence by shaping itself like soft metal would move, various blades appeared on the walls, ceiling and floor, moving in unnatural but consistent ways.
"I will ask you two simple questions, you must answer both of them correctly while avoid getting slashed to death by the blades, easy enough right?" spoke the bag man as the blade started to move, slowly at first but steadily gaining speed.
"What is the most obvious difference between the seven cardinal sins and the venial sins?" he then questionned, he had clealy lied, this wasn't easy at all.
"A small hint, it isn't their status as sins" he added afterwards.
Grayson could see the result of multiple answers being given as he tried to gather the little information he had on those beings, doing all that while brainstorming with his two comrades and dodging blades that were moving faster and faster was insanely difficult.
But since he could test multiple answers, he managed to find the answer quickly enough.
He could see what the bag man meant when he said it was simple, the answer isn't exactly convoluted but without knowing all of the sins, it was hard to come up with it.
"Their sexes!" he said, not elaborating since he couldn't at all, it was just the result he had come to with his meagre knowledge.
The game master clapped for a little too long as the blades were still moving.
"Correct! I wonder how you managed to get it?" he said with a tone that expressed suspicion.
"Now, onto the second and final question!"
"What is special about the ruler of Heilig?" he asked, a question just about anyone with some knowledge of Heilig would be able to answer without any issue.
'This bastard knows that we aren't from this world...' thought all three of them at once.
It truly was a simple thing, it was what everyone knew about him.
"Heilig, Heilig..." muttered Aiden as he tried to bring back his memories on this country, he had heard of it at some point.
Jake did the same, remembering one thing about the country he had almost never given any thoughts to.
"It's a holy country, there must be something linked to that!"
'Perhaps he is also a pope?' that was false.
'Maybe it's the secrecy around him?' that was false.
'There are no rulers in Heilig?' that was false.
'Maybe he is a holy being?'
'Close? What does he mean by that?' Grayson thought on the words of the game master in this future were they failed.
"That's it! It's the holy power, the ruler of Heilig has tremendous holy power!" answered Grayson.
The game master didn't respond as he had foreseen, when he gave the correct answer, he simply went away as the blades stopped.
"Don't chase after him" he said to Aiden and Jake, the game master wouldn't let them follow him.
__________
Meanwhile, the abducted woman who had wiped the floor with her opponent in blackjack had been suddenly brought back to her village after being knocked out again.
In her hand, she found what appeared to be a piece of paper with a small, basic coin inside.
"Your prize for truly winning" was what the paper read.