Haze's eyes fluttered open and a sudden wave of headache hit him, he groaned and covered his eyes with his hand.
"What's wrong?", A soft tiny voice asked beside him.
Haze peeked through his hand, the voice felt familiar for some reason. Through his hand he could see that the voice belonged to none oether than the maid who had been assigned to him.
She leaned over his bed, worry was etched in her face.
"Are you alright?", She asked.
Haze removed the hand from his face, he nodded and sat up slowly.
"What happened?", He asked but the girl took off running out the door.
"Have to tell master Gatti you're awake!", She yelled.
The screen blinked again.
[Do you want to check your profile]
Yes. Haze said in annoyance. Yes I want to check my profile.
Ding!
[Here's your profile]
[Name: Haze]
[Level: 1]
[Rank: Human]
[Strength: 10]
[Speed: 10]
[Stamina: 10]
[Senses: 10]
[Hp: 9/10]
[Exp: 20/100]
[Skills: None]
Haze read each attributes with a puzzled face, they seemed like the character bar in a video game.
Am I in a video game? He wondered.
Gatti came into the room a few minutes later. He was dressed in a large robe and held a cup in his hand.
"How's your body now?", He asked and sipped out of the cup.
"I feel good, other than the headache", Haze replied.
"It will pass", Gatti assured him.
Haze felt his arm. "My wound is completely gone, how?"
"Immorality is one of my lord's many gifts, he gave you a piece of it to heal you", Gatti explained.
"So I'm immortal?", Haze asked.
"No, it's an inconsequential piece", Gatti chuckled.
What is the Hades system? He asked Gatti.
The what? Gatti asked incredulously.
The system, you know, with the blinking screens and character profile. Haze explained.
Gatti shook his head and wondered if the boy was crazy. I don't know what you're talking about, there's no such thing here.
So he doesn't know about it huh? Haze thought. This means I'll have to figure it out myself.
"What happened after I passed out?", Haze asked the more pressing question on his mind.
"Well, Akio died and the referee did not know if you could be declared winner since you had external help", Gatti explained. "But my lord said it was allowed and you were declared".
He sure does allow a lot of things Haze thought.
"My lord is a liberal man", Gatti said as if he could read his mind. "Rules are a hindrance to freedom and can be broken if the consequences are not too great".
Haze noted it, this place was a strange place but that strangeness had worked for them so far and it just saved his life so he was willing to allow it.
"Which other contestants won?", He asked Gatti.
"You'll find out tomorrow", Gatti smiled and left the room.
Haze sat in bed wondering who survived and why Gatti was being secretive about it. After a few hours of musing, the maid brought in food, Haze stuffed his stomach till he was full and sat at the edge of the bed.
What is the hades system? He asked aloud.
Ding !The screen came to life.
[Welcome to the hades system, designed to help you become the heir of Hades, follow the instructions to get stronger]
So this is like a video game? He asked but there was no reply from the system.
The next morning Haze was awake by the time Gatti came to knock the door.
"You're up", Gatti said with obvious amazement in his voice.
"I slept well", Haze said with a smile. He realized it was the first time he had smiled in a while.
Gatti must have noticed too but he kept quiet and walked towards the door.
"Rest for now , the tournament starts in one hour", He told Haze and disappeared through the door.
When Haze got to the arena that morning, he saw that a large portal had been open directly facing the spectators.
"What is that for?", He asked Gatti.
"To watch your tournament", Gatti replied.
Haze looked up to see Hades seating on his throne, watching the proceedings with a bored look.
Is he always bored? He thought to himself, Hade's lips curled in a slight smile and Haze felt an inkling that Hades could hear his thoughts.
The referee was a different one to the previous day, he blew his whistle when he saw Haze.
Haze looked at the contestants who stood there, the slightly muscular guy with one eye, the tall guy with half green hair, the chubby guy with a ponytail and the wide-eyed girl who saved him the previous day.
Haze wondered how she managed to beat her opponent, she must be stronger than she seemed. She caught his eye and the two of them stared at each other for a while before she looked away.
"This next stage of the competition is a race!", The referee declared. "The five of you will run through the mythical forest to reach the red mountain, the last to reach the mountain loses".
"So out of five, only four of us can win", Haze thought.
"What happens to the last person who loses?", The muscular guy with one eye asked.
Hades stood up from his throne. "The last person", He said with a smirk. "Will be swallowed up by the forest'.
What does he mean by that?, Haze thought. Does he mean he will die?, He shuddered.
"No more questions, I assume?", Hades said, the muscular guy shook his head and Hades sat down again.
The referee cleared his throat and continued. "Well, let the tournament begin!".
The five contestants were immediately transported to the edge of a forest, Gatti appeared beside Haze just before the race started.
"Don't forget, things are not always what seem in this forest", He said as he fiddled with his collar.
Haze didn't know what he meant by that but he filed it mentally and nodded.
Ding! The system suddenly sounded.
[You have a new mission]
[Mission: Betray a contestant]
[Reward: +10 Exp]
The referee blew his whistle and the race started.
Haze shook off the system and immediately took off running, he entered the forest and looked behind him, the others were there, struggling with the shrubs.
At least, I'm better than them at something, He rejoiced. All those years of running have made me faster.
After a few minutes of running, he came across two almost identical caves, Haze stoppped running and walked slowly to the caves, he checked out the one to his left first, it was dark, gloomy and scary, eerie sounds echoed off the walls of the cave. He then checked the one on the right and saw that it was green, peaceful with more than enough sunlight and birds chirping.
Haze didn't think about it twice, he ran into the one on the right.
As he ran through the peaceful cave, he kept looking around him as the cave got greener and greener until it finally opened into a garden.
Haze was welcomed with beautiful smells of fruits and flowers caressing his nostrils, he stopped running and started exploring the garden, he had forgotten about the race.
He wandered from bush to bush, tree to tree, exploring in amazement, touching the fruits and smelling the flowers. He kept walking till he saw a giant tree standing in the middle of the garden, it contained the biggest, ripest looking fruits Haze had ever seen.
He was suddenly overcome with a great desire to eat the fruits, he walked as if he was in a trance and reached out a hand to pluck one. He bit into it and his eyes widened.
"Haze?", A soft female voice called out, she sounded unsure.
Haze turned around sharply, he recognized the voice, he looked for where the sound was coming from and he eventually saw it, there she stood, exactly how he remembered her from the pictures.
"Mom?", He asked, confused.
"Haze!", She cried with more determination.
"Mom!", He shouted too and ran to meet her.
They hugged each other with tears falling down their faces.
"Why did you leave me?", He asked as tears streaked down his face. "Why did you leave me?"
"I'm sorry my love", She said and stroked his hair.
"I've missed you", He said. "My life has been nothing but miserable since you left".
"I've missed you more my boy", She replied. "Come with me, stay with me forever", She stood up and started leading him to a part of the forest.
"I will", He said and followed her.
They had only walked for a while when Haze kicked a stone and stumbled. As he stumbled, his hand brushed the sword tied to his waist and as he touched the sword, he suddenly remembered what Gatti told him.
Things are not always what they seem. The words rang in his head.
What did he mean by that? Haze asked himself.
Then understanding dawned on him, his mother passed away long ago, there was no way she could be holding him at the moment. Even if she appeared in front of him, she would be a lot older than the picture in his head.
Haze jerked his hand away from the woman leading him on.
She stopped walking and looked at him in confusion. "What are you doing Haze?"
Haze could not be deceived again however.
"My mom would never call me Haze", He said slowly. "She called me pumpkin".
Then like a veil was lifted over his eyes, the illusion of the garden was broken. Haze looked around and saw a dark creepy forest around him with all sorts of dangerous sounds, he stepped back in alarm but what he saw when he looked at the woman made him jump back in fear.
It was no longer his mother standing there, it wasn't even a human, it was a monster in the shape of a giant caterpillar. It had twenty eyes and a large mouth from which large teeth could be seen and a large tongue protruded.
Haze immediately pulled out his sword and ran at the monster, the monster lashed out its tongue but Haze moved out of the way quickly, he ran to the side of its head and stabbed his sword deep into it.
The monster let out a screech and tried to shake Haze off, Haze pulled out the sword and aimed higher, he stabbed it in the monsters neck and pulled it down, cutting the side of its neck open.
Black coloured blood began to seep out of the monsters neck, it screeched and trashed violently for a while, then it stopped moving.
[Ding! Cursed Beast killed]
[Reward: Time stone]
It's blood began to crawl in a straight line away from Haze.
Haze watched it confused for a while before realizing that it was forming a path for him. He followed it quickly.
He had not walked for long when he saw the wide-eyed girl who saved him the previous day, she was being held by a large grasshopper shaped monster, obviously she was still caught in the illusion.
The system's mission came to his mind and he thought about chaining her to a tree there or slicing her ankle to weaken her but decided against it, she saved his life earlier and he owed her a debt.
Haze brought out his sword and crept up behind the monster, then he trust his sword into its stomach, the monster screeched and let go of the girl.
She screamed as she looked at them, then the illusion broke and she saw the monster for what it was.
"It's a monster?", She asked Haze who nodded grimly. He pulled out his sword and wiped it clean.
"It was going to devour me", She said. "You saved me".
Haze shrugged and started walking. "You saved me first".
The girl followed him, she had to jog to keep his pace. "It just felt right, I didn't think it through".
"Yeah you didn't", Haze said curtly.
They walked in silence for a while, following the blood trail.
After a while of walking, they saw the chubby guy with the ponytail still caught in the illusion.
The girl wanted to help him but Haze stopped her.
"What do you think you're doing?", He asked.
"Helping him", She replied.
"Leave him", He ordered and dragged her along. Haze only took a few steps before he stopped and walked back to the boy.
"You've changed your mind?", The girl asked hopefully.
Haze said nothing, he took his sword and raised it, then he sliced the boy's left ankle, he was about to keep walking but he decided it was better to be safe, so he sliced the boy's right ankle too.
"Why?!", The girl screamed and moved back in fear.
Because of the system. Haze said simply.
What system? The girl asked with confusion written all over her face.
Haze realized she didn't know about the hades system so he chose a simple answer to give her.
We need one person to lose, this guarantees it.", He replied calmly and started walking again.
Ding! The system came up.
[Mission completed]
[Reward obtained: +10 Exp]
Haze was finally understanding the system he was in, it was like a video game and completing missions gave you more Exp until you had enough then you leveled up.
The girl followed behind him but kept a few feet from him. They walked in silence till they reached the red mountain.
When they walked into the mountain, they met the guy with the half green hair waiting for them. They stood with him in silence waiting for the next contestant to show up.
After a while, the muscular guy showed up and entered the mountain. As soon as he entered, the forest collapsed in on itself and they were transported back to the arena.