The Chosen One Part 2

Hayato flung his eyes open, holding his head. He remembered the events from last night. Did he float into the sky? Where was he now? He pulled himself up, looking up. A tower pillar extended beyond to a dome made of stained glass panels. Candlelight flickered around the empty hall. A red carpet lay beneath him, and cloaked figures sat staring at him... or at them. A man with pointy long ears looked at him. “He is the first one to wake up, others should follow soon.”

Groans grew louder, he found others like him, dressed in modern day clothes, unlike these cult-like people. He estimated there were eight of them. Where did the others go? “Where are we?”

A thin being, with long bunny ears, unnaturally blue, almost two meters tall, sharp black talons, wearing a robe, warped into existence. “Welcome players to Riverend, the city of ruins. I’m your guide, Ruri. Today you’ve been summoned, by each member of our prestigious clans, to play a game.”

There were confused noises at the terminology and how everyone looked like a mythological creature.”Is this where the missing people went?”

Hayato observed his surroundings. If this is where all the missing people went... Yuka’s family must be here too. Thank god they are alive.

“Yes. I’m sure you’ve noticed how in the past three years, many people were disappearing. That’s because they are summoning you.” Ruri glided his arm towards the mysterious people. “These are your sponsors. Each of them is assigned to one of you.”

Hayato noticed there were eight of them too. Someone from their group raised his hands, having a question similar to the ones he had. “For what reason did you summon us here and where are the rest of them? Didn’t you take a million of us each year?”

The numbers weren’t adding up. Ruri grinned, lips stretching wide. “Good question. The others are summoned in a different hall… you are among my people. I have to care and take care of you to win. As for why you are here, it’s because our prophecy has predicted there is a hero among you, especially this batch has a more spectacular hero who is said to be a true saver of our world. A strong, exceptional-” The creature dramatically moved his arms around in emphasis, almost shifting their thoughts from the real questions they should be asking. “-Powerful mage! Once you leave you will be blessed with the ability to pick power.”

The crowd seemed amazed by the revelation. “It’s like a video game.”

Hayato raised his hand and Ruri pointed at him to answer. “Why isn’t the hero among you?”

The eyes of the rabbit narrowed into upside-down crescents. “Good questions ...Because you are the key. There are rules, very ancient and unbreakable rules, that bind even me and them-”

He pointed at the sponsors who looked at them with a scoff, an arrogance that Hayato can’t explain. The rabbit slouched his shoulders and pouted, looking pitiful. “We are too weak... But you are not.There is a formidable enemy that only the hero can kill and the hero… can only be human by our law.”

There was a lot of confusion. He can hear the whispers among themselves. “There is a hero among us? Who is it?”

“Doesn’t that mean we can be more powerful.”

“We can have powers?”

“Who is the hero?”

“I would love to know who is the hero too but that’s for you to figure out. You are tasked to do one thing for me. Right now, you need to pass specific trials and we will start with a simple game. In order to gain an ability, I need you all to form a team of 4. I’ll give you ten minutes to decide who you want on your team. Until then, I won’t be answering any more questions. Bye bi.”

The celestial rabbit disappeared. That was very confusing. Hayato turned around to see who among the people here would want to be on his team. Although from the corner of his eyes, he noticed a short brown hair and hazel eyes familiar to him.

“Yuka?” He didn’t notice her before. “You are here too?”

Yuka locked eyes with him and approached him. “Yea, after you let me go, I started to float too.”

Her eyes weren’t looking at him fully, instead she was observing the “sponsors”. Then her face twisted and she locked eyes with one of them. Her eyes went wide and sinister looking, almost having a staring contest. Hayato took in the sponsor’s appearance. He had dark brown hair tied in a ponytail, wavy bangs on each side of his face, tanned skin, slit-like yellow years and scales on his skin. What was he? A reptile? The man looked annoyed at her gaze before he looked away first.

Yuka then turned to Hayato. “That guy must be my sponsor.”

“Did you try to scare him off? And… it worked?” Hayato titled his head in question. Yuka placed her hand on his shoulder. “You need to intimidate them before they intimidate you.”

Hayato placed his hand on her shoulder too so they were both holding each other, comically. “You were dropped when you were a child.” He smiled beautifully.

“Anyway-” Yuka retracted her hand. “Yours must be that on- that looks like a beautiful fairy.”

He looked at another sponsor, a blond man, hair pulled into a bun with a side bang to his face and pointy ears, his eyes were the brightest of blues. The cloak fluttered, showing a green, forest like two piece outfit which showed his midriff. He was flying in mid air, with glowing eyes, arms crossed, mouth grimaced.

“Why is he… angry too?” Hayato sweatdropped. He avoided eye contract. This place was scaring him! “Yuka… we are a team right?”

She furrowed her brows. “Of course. Why else would I be next to you?”

He let out a small relieved noise now focusing on looking for another team member. Someone immediately approached. “Aren't you Ishikawa Yuka? The sharpshooter? I'm a fan. A huge fan. Can I be on your team? I'm Aoi, by the way!”

Yuka remained silent for a moment, dismissing his hands before she nodded. “How good are you at games?”

“Umm I've been playing ranked since the age of 11 and been in the top 10 the past few years.” He pulled his hand back slowly, scratching his head. Yuka nodded. “You are in.”

Hayato couldn't help but notice he didn't say he was his fan too… losing meant nobody likes or remembers you but he was used to this treatment.

Everyone spent the next few minutes forming a team as masked maids came in, bringing a table, then others came with a tray of boards, not just one board but multiple. Until the last of the group placed two bowls filled with the letter “X” and “O”. Ruri materialized back in as the time was due.

“I’m back to announce the first game! The first game is tic tac toe. In this game, one team just needs one win to move forward. If the game ends as a draw, you go to the next board. Every player gets to play by turn.”

It was a very… simple and easy game but Hayato knew better. He looked down at the board, 9x4; Nine columns and three rows.

“You only have 10 seconds to decide your move otherwise, you are disqualified.” There was a timer stopper that counted the seconds for them with each tap. “We only have one rule, you are not allowed to talk to each other when you are playing. Now let's begin, you- nerdy looking one-start the game.”

Hayato looked around and noticed he was the only one wearing glasses. He came forward and played a safe x in the middle and tapped the timer. The next team did the same, they rotated by moving ahead after each tap, and turn. The first game ended in a draw.

As he expected, nobody was failing at the first game. Hayato placed a finger on his lips as he looked over the other boards. This could turn out to be a very strategic game once they advance further.

“Next board.” They moved to the next board. It went on for a good few minutes because it was much harder to outsmart someone in tic tac toe. The game wasn't built to be challenging yet… Once they reached the 11x11 board. Hayato, as usual, started the game.

Yuka observed the board closely. Aoi failed to block one of the enemies and she hoped the other team didn't notice as it was a critical mistake. And thankfully, the player who had to go next didn't seem to take the game too seriously so he overlooked it.

I understand now. The more this game goes on, the more relaxed you get and become prone to making mistakes. And the short timer causes you to make rash decisions whenever you move, not giving you a chance to fully take in all the details of the board now that the board has 121 tiles. Yuka quietly fixed the mistake Aoi made and she saw the way the other team seemed bummed by her move.

It was Hayato’s turn as he looked at the board. The person who plays after me has a specific pattern in playing. He always focuses more on the right side of the board so I’ll quickly place my move on the right so he won't have time to focus on what I added and where. He blocked the next move immediately, and walked slowly to observe his game style again before he went back to the end of rotation, wondering how everyone was doing.

We need two pieces to go there... and someone to block the other team. Although Hayato has always been last in the Olympics, when it comes to games, he was competitive and observant. He may not always win but he makes sure he does.

“And the game ends here.” Ruri announced as Yuka placed in the final move, making a six slash, the winning move. “Congratulations to the winning team, you have passed to the next round.”

“Now what?” Someone from the other team asked, hands on the hip. “Is there any point in doing any of this?”

“Yes… it's clear the hero isn't among you therefore-” with a snap of Ruri’s finger, the people in front of them exploded, blood splattered on them."-We have no use of you.”

Hayato gaped as he stared at the blood that got all over his glasses, blinding him. Someone screamed and went silent almost immediately. He shakily took off his glasses, his gaze looking at their lower body intestines.

“Congratulations on winning the first round, heroes.”