"Maze Event: Ring Toss has been concluded. Congratulations to all the remaining Survivors."
The area was quiet, or maybe it was more that my breathing was louder than anything surrounding me. My body was shaking and blood was still pouring out from my hand.
"Ignis!" I looked up, and a worried White came running up and held me in her arms. Her body was also shaking, and I could feel her tears dripping on me. Stepping back she crouched to my height and looked at me everywhere.
"Are you okay, Ignis? I'm so sorry." She stammered out from amidst her tears. I didn't have the energy to sign back to her and could only watch as this young preteen broke down in front of me. My stomach twisted at the sight.
"This is all you're doing!" A growl rang out, and the room once again shook but this time not from the event but because a person was sent flying across the space.
I looked over at the groaning Bear, then at the stalking Leopard.
The Leopard girl took off her mask, allowing me to fully see her appearance. The girl had slender eyes, with irises that looked bronze. Her dark brown hair was cut short, an oddity at this time, but it made her look more opposing. However, the most striking appearance wasn't her eyes, or hair but the light patches of skin that intertwined with her darker skin.
Vitiligo?
"How is it my fault? I did not do anything wrong!" The Bear boy spat out, before standing back up. Both older children looked to be around the same height of 5'7, both with aggression seeping from their bodies.
"Not your fault? Then who caused all this massacre?" The Leopard took on a calmer tone when she spoke, but her tensing body betrayed her, each time she advanced to the also tensing up boy.
"No one! You think this wouldn't happen whether I was here or not?!" The boy screeched.
I saw movement on the side and when I looked over three other children came stumbling over to us. No other body was moving besides us. 121 children became 7 in a matter of several hours.
A mocking laughter of disdain brought my attention back to the situation. The Leopard girl shook her head while laughter that soon became anger surrounded everyone causing a feeling of strangulation.
"White tell him how this game should've been played." The Leopard girl said to White before facing the Bear who was showing hints of confusion to spread on his face.
"What do you mean?" The boy stammered which caused the Leopard girl to laugh more.
"No, do not get scared now. You wanted to play a hero? Then see the results of your so-called heroism." The Leopard hissed before turning back to white and commanded, "Tell him."
White's body looked apprehensive as her pink eyes looked around at everyone staring at her. Her eyes glanced at the walls and even the walls were staring, evident to see where this situation was going.
No one said anything while the girl drenched in white became anxious. The Leopard looked to be getting frustrated over time, but she still didn't speak, wanting White to explain which caused even more stress to the child.
The visual of the girl holding in the corner scared for her life came to mind, and instantly I grabbed hold of her clenched hands, causing her to jump before glancing down at me.
"It's okay. Just explain what the game was supposed to be like. No one will be angry or upset at you. None of this is remotely your fault." I signed to her.
"You being here is my fault." She mumbled.
Shaking my head I retorted, "Believe me when I say that this situation would eventually happen whether by the Ringleader or someone else." Remembering what Alene said, my stomach turned again, but I still tried to comfort the sullen girl.
White looked confused but once again I reached for her hand and gave a gentle squeeze. She looked down at the two hands before maneuvering them so she could give me a gentle squeeze before turning her head to the two older children.
"The game got redirected from a different route than attended." She started off slowly. The Bear looked like he wanted to say something but was immediately silenced by a glare from the Leopard.
Coughing, White stood up straighter and clenched my hand before explaining, "The game Ring Toss has two different versions. One that is relatively hard and another where it is extremely hard to the point it's a massacre."
The Leopard girl hummed before turning to the Bear who looked to be turning paler by the second. "The one we went through is the latter right?" She said but everyone here already knew the answer.
"Yes." White said quietly.
"Quiet!" The sudden outcry caused me to flinch, and White to immediately place her body in front of me. I looked from behind White's body and the Bear was pointing at the Leopard girl who was looking at him like a spectacle.
"So you two want to make me the villain, is that it?! You want to push all their deaths on me?!" The boy scratched. White was shaking her head no, but the boy wasn't hearing any of it.
"What did you want me to do, huh?! You wanted me to suck it all up?! Wanted me to turn a blind eye to the death of my brother?! My only family?! The only one who ever cared for me?! It has been me and him ever since I was born! And he was killed! For what?! For what!" The Bear collapsed onto the ground, his body shaking, while he pulled at his hair.
His cries were piercing. No one came to comfort him. The three children didn't take off their masks, but the blankness of their eyes showed how tired they were mentally and physically. White was squeezing my hand, and when I looked up at her, she was facing up at the ceiling with her eyes closed.
When I looked at the Leopard, she stared at the broken down with no emotion on her face. I didn't understand what was going through her head before she spoke out, "That's right, you're supposed to turn a blind eye to it."
Her monotone voice hushed everything. My heart pounded in my chest, and my gripped hand was squeezed harder.
The crying boy looked up, and his face was twisted together between pain and shock. "What?" He asked quietly, his voice pitiful.
Step by step the Leopard walked up to the crying boy talking as she made his way up to him. "You think you're the only one who has to go through that? The only one that had to watch a loved one die?" She stopped right in front of him. Her face became colder, as he looked up at her with pain flashing through his face.
"We are in enemy territory. All we're going to experience is pain from the enemy. We're going to lose people to them whether we like it or not, but it is up to us, to not be the reason for that pain to be our fault."
She crouched down to his height and pointed her finger at his chest, "And you didn't start this pain, but you caused more than needed to be." She turned to look behind herself, causing everyone to do so as well.
All around the area looked like Hell. Dead bodies, blood, acid, and destruction at every turn.
"Some of these deaths are because of you." My heart dropped, and I quickly looked back as the Leopard girl stood back up, leaving the Bear to stare blankly in front of him.
Staring down at him for a bit, she shook her head before walking to us. "Let's find a quiet corner. Who knows when they will come to get us." She said before looking around and walking in a direction.
White looked between the Bear and the Leopard but turned to follow, bringing me along. Behind us were footsteps and when I looked it was the three children. I glanced behind them at the boy who was staring in front of him and compared to the holes on the ground, his body looked so tiny.
"This is the cleanest and less damage in the vicinity." I looked over and saw the Leopard standing in the front corner of the space, looking around with her hands on her waist.
"You sure Polka? We're close to the front." White said concernedly, glancing up.
The Leopard girl, Polka, nodded her head but didn't say anything as she dragged away body parts. I looked away, while White let go of my hand and helped the other girl out.
I looked up, and the walls had a noticeable change in the number of eyes. There were still a lot, but not as much as there were before.
A tiny whine sounded out before my chin was licked. Looking down, Po looked up at me, with big black eyes before licking me again. A noticeable movement can be seen in my shirt from his tail wagging.
"Puppy?" Po and I both looked over and one of the three children, a little girl with the mask of a doe, took a couple of steps toward us before being pulled back by the other two children who also wore doe masks.
The two children, who looked to be boys, spoke to the little girl in a language I couldn't understand, while her eyes looked from them to me, or more specifically at Po. Taking a look at the reluctant girl, I took out Po in full view, and waved her over.
Instantly she abandoned the two boys, much to their unwillingness, and hurried over. The little girl was a bit taller than me by an inch or two; thus she was easily able to see Po.
"Newborn?" She asked quietly before reaching out and petting Po, who leaned in to her touch. I nodded my head, even though I had no idea what age Po was. I didn't even know what exactly Po was. Though it was easy to mistake Po as a newborn now as he was able to hold in my 3-year-old hands.
The little girl smiled brightly, and shortly after the other two children came up and looked at Po as well. No matter how much they tried to hide it, their eyes were holding a strong desire to want something, common to anyone their age.
"I often saw that look on Vince." I thought before, smiling as a memory of my little brother looking at the snacks whenever he went to the store came to mind. Mama would tell him no, but secretly I would get it for him and surprise him with it at night, so Mama wouldn't notice, but knowing her she probably did.
Instantly I felt my stomach drop and a pain came stabbing me from it. Taking a breath in, I tried focusing on the current matter before more memories came punching me.
"Hey, you four come over. We cleaned up the area." Polka said before sitting down. The other three children hesitated while I instantly walked over and sat down with White who was waiting for me.
The other three children stalled for a bit before coming over and also sitting down. No one spoke for a bit, as we finally calmed down a bit from everything that happened.
Eventually, Polka began talking to White, and the two talked to one another. I was paying attention to what they were saying before I felt a tug on my Hanfu and I looked over.
The little girl, who took off her mask, sat there looking between me and Po. The little girl looked to be around 6 or 7, and looked relatively like any other little girl. The only thing that was different from her was that her eyes were cartoonishly big.
From behind her, I could see the two boys staring strongly at me, but I didn't say anything while I put Po down and the tiny dog came stumbling over to the little girl who squealed before picking him and started gushing over him.
The two children looked visibly relaxed, and they also came over and played with Po. Following the little girl's example, they took off their mask, and they also had the same eyes as the little girl.
Megalocornea? I theorized before turning my head away so I wouldn't be caught staring. I never personally met with someone who had the eye condition, but when looking through medical books it is one of the ones that stood out to me.
Megalocornea is an eye condition where the cornea is bigger than the norm, making the eye look big. It can be caused by genetics or trauma, and from the looks of the three of them, it looked to be from genetics.
"What's his name?" The question brought me from my thoughts, and when I looked over, all three of them were staring at me with their big black eyes.
"Po." I signed, but they all looked at me confused. Sighing, I wrote it on the ground, and they all cast curious glances at the name.
"Your writing isn't very good." One of the boys commented, and I felt my eye twitch, but someone already beat me to the punch.
"Ow! Why are you hitting me?!" The boy screamed, looking at the girl who just hit him on the head.
"Because you're so mean! You can't bully a person younger than you." The girl berated the boy while I felt my eye twitch. She turned to me while apologizing, "Sorry about him, he speaks what's on his mind when he gets comfortable."
The berated boy's face noticeably got red while the other child laughed. I heard a giggle by me, and when I looked over both Polka and White while watching, White was smiling while Polka had a small smile on her face.
"It says Po." White said to correct the child and for the rest of the time, everyone was talking to one another besides Polka who sat on the side watching everything.
When everyone was lying down, the space grew noticeably darker. The eyes on the wall were now barely there, while the area began to have a noticeable chill.
I looked up at the dark ceiling, not thinking much. My stomach begins hurting whenever I think of my current situation, and trying to even bother to fall asleep here was close to impossible.
A snore sounded from beside me causing me to flinch, and when I rolled from my back to my stomach I found out the source. Huddled in one area the triplets, which I found from the conversation earlier, were huddled together.
The oldest boy who was named D, was the one making the ruckus which seemed not to bother his siblings as they slept like a log, but unfortunately for me, I couldn't do the same, and apparently so couldn't Po, who was looking at the boy from with the girl's, E, hold.
Chuckling, I stood up and softly took Po from the sleeping girl's grip. When I looked up, I made contact with E's eyes. His eyes despite being black were very noticeable in the dark, especially when they were directly aimed at you.
I nodded my head slowly before showing him Po, quietly explaining why I came up to them. The boy with big eyes glanced at Po before nodding his head and closing his eyes, though he probably wasn't going to sleep.
From what I could tell O was the much mature triplet, D was the most outgoing, and E was the most caring and sociable. Their personalities all differ from one another but their bond they displayed earlier reminded me of the Twins. Tight and dependent on one another.
My stomach began hurting again, and I turned away from the triplets and notably there was a crouched figure in the distance. I looked at the lonely salute and another person overlapped him.
Was Vince like that?
My stomach twisted more causing me to take long silent breaths. I turned around to ignore the boy, thinking of resuming laying down, but the image was stuck in my head and regardless of what I couldn't forget about it.
Looking at Polka who was courageously leaning her body on the wall with her arms crossed, and eyes closed, I stalled for a bit before turning around and cursing myself as I made my way over to the Bear.
I dodged to the best of my abilities, but no matter what, I always ended up stepping on something. I didn't have the guts to look down and see which part of the body my unlucky foot stepped on.
When I finally made it over the boy, he was awake and remained in the same position. He didn't move to look at me and barely reacted when I stood right next to him. I looked at him up close and didn't see any features that marked him unique.
I would be stupid to not notice that all the Circus was collecting kids who noticeably looked different. For the triplets it was their eyes, for Polka it was for her two different skin colors, for White it was her body and for me, it was the same as White with the limited edition Otherworlder next to it.
"So what is different with him?" I wondered before I hugged Po close to me while I squatted next to the boy and wrote slowly on the ground, "You plan to remain here forever?"
The Bear didn't react at first, but eventually, his eyes moved down, but he still didn't answer my question. My eye twitched before erasing what I wrote and instead wrote, "So you're giving up on your brother?"
This finally got a reaction out of him as he swiftly turned to me and quietly yelled out at me, "Who is giving up on whom?! My brother is dead!"
I didn't flinch as I erased the words and wrote, "Yes but his murder isn't."
His eyes glanced at the words before a mocking smile spread on his face as he looked back at me, "What am I supposed to do? You all experienced what happened when I was trying to fight back and look where it ended me. A murder just like him."
Tears gathered in the Bear's eyes, and he sniffled as he whipped them away. I didn't say anything as I let the boy gather himself. Sighing I place Po on the boy's lap who straightens up from shock.
He looked at Po confusedly but nevertheless he petted the dog while I wrote out, "How old are you?"
"6." He answered with a sniffle, and my head nearly tore off my neck. Six?! This kid is Six?! I looked at him up and down and doubt was spreading from everywhere. The oldest of us all, was Polka, who is thirteen and White the second oldest is 12. Polka and this kid are nearly the same height, he might even be a little bigger than her.
"I really need to stop judging people off their looks." I reminded myself while looking over this oversized six-year-old. "Is this his difference?" I judged, but I didn't comment on his size as I instead wrote, "You are not a murder."
He looked at my words, and it was evident he didn't believe them, so I continued writing, "Do you know the definition of a murder?"
He sniffled as he answered, "A person who kills people."
I hummed while erasing my words and wrote, "You're right but also wrong. One of the traits of a murder is killing someone, but that alone doesn't make you a murder. Do you think a person who killed another person to protect themselves is a murder?"
He looked at my question in deep thought, but eventually, he shook his head. Nodding my head, I wrote down, "A person being called a murderer could be factual or subjective because even though you may not feel like that person who protected themselves isn't a murderer, other people can. Especially the aggressor's family, or people who had family who were killed in a similar action."
He looked at my words, and before he could say anything I continued, "Though I'm not trying to dismiss what happened earlier. I won't blame you for how you reacted. You're a child just like everybody here. You just saw your only family die, and you reacted to it like any child would."
Tears fell down faster on his face before finally he sat down fully on the ground. His legs were shaking probably due to falling asleep, while he was wiping his tears and he said through tears, "But I did cause destruction to the other kids. That girl was right."
"Yes, that's why you can't mope here. You need to get stronger and take revenge," I wrote, causing his eyes to expand. "You can't let their deaths go unanswered. So if you would rather not avenge your brother, then you should at least avenge the children you feel guilty of."
The words left a bitter taste in my mouth. In no way did I want to talk to a child who barely just got out of his toddler age like this. No matter their mentality or size, but it was obvious this boy was giving up on himself and this is the only thing I could do.
It worked on me, so I'm hoping it would work on him.
The boy didn't comment, but his body language did change. He looked like he gained more energy even if it was a little. Thus, I stood up, and reached out a hand. He looked at my hand before shaking his head and standing up by himself.
"You will get pulled down if I grabbed onto you," He explained himself but truthfully. I wish he didn't. Once again I'm reminded of my current body size and my heart broke a little.
I didn't comment, as I grabbed his hand and slowly dragged him where the others are. We walked slowly, as the boy grew nervous and kept walking slower, but I didn't mind. It wasn't like I was going to sleep once we got there.
Once we got to my "sleeping" spot, I was going to sit down but stopped as my hand was gripped tightly. I looked up at the boy then looked at the girl he was looking at.
Polka didn't say anything. Her face was unreadable, but eventually, she hummed and closed her eyes, which made the boy's grip lax enough before he finally settled down on the ground.
Settling down by him, the boy laid down with Po in his arms, and soon he was off asleep. The ability to do so makes me low-key jealous.
"I didn't realize he is six." I looked over at Polka who was staring down at the recently fallen asleep boy.
"If you did, you wouldn't react the way you did earlier?" I wrote on the ground.
"Truthfully, I do not know." She truthfully answered before asking a question of her own, "You think how I reacted earlier was unnecessary?"
"I think it was justified, but it would've been better in a calmer situation, but currently we are not in such circumstances." She hummed at my answer. "Why is your name Polka?" I asked, catching her off guard.
She looked at my question for a bit before pointing at her face, "Polka as in polka dots. Why is your name Ignis? What does that mean?"
"Fire."
"Who gave you that name? The Fire Master?"
"No. Someone special." I answered vaguely.
She hummed for a bit before saying, "The Clown was the one who named me."
"He has terrible naming senses." I wrote honestly.
She laughed at that before saying, "Yeah, but it beats the names I was called before."
I stopped writing to look up at her. She was looking down at her hands, studying them as they moved to show all the markings.
"I don't think Polka fits you at all." I wrote, catching her attention.
"Oh yeah? What fits me?" She asked with genuine curiosity.
I thought a bit before writing, "Jie."
She looked at the word confused and only then did I realize I wrote it in Mandarin. Just before I could erase it and for her to ask, another person already answered her own unsaid question, "Jie. It means Heroic in the older language." Both of us looked over at O who sat up from his sleeping spot and placed his back on the wall.
"You know how to read the older language? I thought only nobles were able to read it." Polka asked.
O thought a bit before replying, "Yes and no. Our parents abandoned us when we were babies, and we were picked up by a wandering scholar, who was more focused on the older language than the current languages. We know mostly how to read and write the older language, while we can only speak the current language without knowing how to write or read it."
"What kind of teaching is that?" I wondered in my head while Polka actually asked out loud.
O gave a mocking smile as he said, "That man was obsessed with the older language. He only picked up the three of us to pour his knowledge into us since he found out he was dying. He believes since we have bigger eyes, we can pick up on things quicker. Jokes on him, all three of us are going blind."
My heart pounded as I heard that. Megacolorena does mention it could lead to blindness, but the triplets didn't look like they were going blind at all. The fact that they survived the whole event was astonishing.
"Yet you are here?" Polka asked.
"Who would turn down a pill that will rejuvenate their life span by 100 years? Maybe someone who truly loved you," He said monotonically.
It grew silent after that. All of us staring in the middle at an imaginary fire.