"Are you awake?"

The smell hit me first, meat cooking somewhere nearby. My stomach growled, but the hunger was quickly pushed aside by confusion. Where was I? The last thing I remembered was heading north, and then... nothing. Just darkness.

I opened my eyes and saw a man sitting across from me, watching me like I was some kind of prey. But if he wanted me dead, I'd already be dead. That much was clear.

"Where am I? And who are you?" I asked, my voice rough.

The man didn't answer right away. His eyes darted around the room, checking every corner like he expected something to jump out at us. The place looked fancy—expensive couches, intricate tapestries, and a chandelier that probably cost more than my entire family's estate. Not like I'm part of the family anymore.

"I don't know where we are," he finally said, his voice low and quick. "And I don't think asking about me is the best thing to do right now."

He gave me a strange feeling. He had a sword at his waist, nothing too special about it, but the look on his face was different. He had a serious expression most of the time, but his eyes… they were just not normal for a man who woke up here without knowing anything. So maybe I'm alone in this game.

"There's food, there, on the table. Eat my plate too. You'll need it more than I."

It's weird to just eat food a stranger gave you, even if I am hungry. So I asked for his name.

"Can I at least get your name? I'm Arthur Gates. And you?"

"The Drifter."

Short and to the point.

I stood up, went to the table, and started eating. I wanted to think about the situation I was in, but food came first for me. I had already given up on my life, so it didn't matter if I got kidnapped to some nobleman's castle. This would be a gift more than a curse.

I ate the first plate and the second, and then heard the man standing, walking to the expensive-looking door in front of us that had the number one on it. Before I could finish the last bland meat, I heard him speak in a calm voice.

"This will be the first room of eight. If you keep up with me, it shouldn't be hard... That is, if we weren't unlucky and got a death room."

I didn't know what he was talking about. Why did he always talk like that? If you want to explain something, do it the right way.

"Can I get more explanation for what you just said?" I asked, finishing the last plate, trying to be as respectful as possible to the man who calls himself "The Drifter."

"Take them as challenges. They'll be randomized. If you follow me along the way and do what I say, you'll stay alive. Sometimes, we may not be able to communicate—" we already don't, I added in my head. "—but this shouldn't be a problem since normally, they won't be that hard if we're separated."

Is this some kind of rich kids' game? Where the rich watch us from above while we try to fight for our lives? I heard they have something like this in the House of Nobles in Athera, even if it was just a rumor. This could explain most of the things. This is what I get for calling our family a joke? I got sold to some rich people who want to have fun watching me try to live. But let's look at the bright side. I have food and a roof above my head. You don't get that every day.

I stood up and went behind "The Drifter." I guess I'm going to call him that until this game ends or whatever. "Do I also get a sword?" I asked, a simple question, not expecting much.

"No."

Yeah, didn't expect anything in the end.

The Drifter opened the door slowly, and it was all dark. It felt like the room led to nothing but darkness. He stepped inside, and I couldn't see him anymore, as if he had disappeared. But this didn't scare me, not even a little. I didn't hesitate. I just followed him and stepped into the room.

All of a sudden, I found myself in another room. Beside me was The Drifter. We faced two statues without heads. Both wielded weapons. One had a sword and a shield, and the other had a hammer. I didn't ask questions like how we got here, or anything. It was strange, but I didn't expect an answer that would actually clear anything up.

"Can you run?"

"Is this a question? For sure I can."

"We have to choose one of the statues that you think has the chance to win. But the real challenge is to stay alive while they're fighting."

"Then it will not be that hard." I commented with full confidence. If there was one thing I was good at—except wielding swords and losing everything I had—it was survival.

The Drifter walked up and touched the statue with the hammer, and then a spark of light came out of the statue from where its head was. I followed The Drifter and did the same. Moments after touching the statue, it started moving, and the other sword statue followed it. I saw The Drifter running away as fast as he could from the statues, and my instincts kicked in. I ran as fast as I could. The room was empty, so there wasn't really anywhere to run, but I just got as far away as I could before they started their fight.

After taking a good distance, the hammer statue struck first, hitting the shield statue with all of his power. The shield statue blocked with his shield, and the air in the room trembled. It didn't stop there. With his sword, the shield statue swung at the hammer statue, but the hammer statue dodged, and just because of that, the ground started shaking. I was about to lose control and fall down, but when I saw The Drifter standing like a wall, I controlled my self, I knew, I couldn't lose this challenge to some weird guy.

The battle went back and forth with the hammer statue leading, and there was no real danger at all. But suddenly, the room started shrinking, giving us less space to get away from the attacks. It shrunk to the point where we were standing right next to the two statues, fighting for their lives. The hammer struck the ground once, and it was about to make me fall, but the sword statue followed with a jump, landing exactly behind the hammer statue, where i was. It wasn't a problem since I was a good runner in the end and I dodged it effortlessly.

I was evading the sword attacks and hammer slams all the time. It didn't feel tiring or scary at all. In fact, I was having fun—jumping around and running constantly, just like the old days. What was scary was that The Drifter was keeping up with me and doing it even better. Did he have some training before? I wouldn't know, but what I did know was that this guy had some physical strength, and I shouldn't expect less from someone who knew about the challenge from the start.

As the fight went on, the sword statue hit the hammer statue and broke his arm.

Crash!

"Hey, is the hammer statue losing?"

I yelled as loud as I could, while the fight seemed to reach its end.

 But all I got was silence. I'm sure he heard me, but just ignored me. He wants to act mysterious, I see. Does the hammer losing mean the end? If I think about it, he never stated that, but this still makes me curious.

The sword statue continued the fight, cutting the hammer statue's hand off, but I dodged in time with no trouble. He finished it with a strong swing, cutting the hammer statue into two parts.

"This means we lost, right?"

I said while watching the hammer statue crash to the ground.

The sword statue went back to his place, with a broken shield. A small door under the feet of the sword statue opened. 'Guess we didn't lose in the end,' I thought.

"The winning of the hammer statue would just have been a bonus. The main goal was to stay alive." The Drifter said, as if he was reading my mind.

"So, what was the meaning behind guessing the winner? What kind of bonus do we get? Gold? Weapons?"

The Drifter looked at me without saying anything. Again with the mysterious act. You know, when I think about it, this guy has a really punchable face.

"Now we have to complete the rooms, just like this one, right? I wonder what will happen next."

We entered the next room, and I was shocked.

People in fancy clothes were eating and having fun. We watched as we entered the room in surprise.