SURVIVAL 30: POINT OF VIEWS PART 5

*tok**tok**tok*

"Heavien, Author's here!" It was Rochevel’s voice. I immediately ran and opened the door for her.

"Rochevel, there's a boy here in my room!"

"Huh? Where?" She immediately entered my room.

"Over there-huh?" When I pointed out to Rochevel where the boy was earlier, he suddenly disappeared!

"Come on, they're waiting for us." She grabbed my hand, and we ran downstairs.

Where is that boy? What just happened?!

"Greetings, everyone, the battle 7!" Author greeted us. Battle 7?

"Battle 7? Aren't there six of us? Must be Battle 6." Trake queried Author. He’s puzzled.

"Why did you show up today?" Seyah asked. Seyah is becoming more confident day by day. Just remembering what she did… I can’t grasp how gruesome she was.

"I was not supposed to show you myself when you're in the middle of dreaming, but I must when the ex-player revealed himself to one of you.”

FOURTH'S / ROCHEVEL JAVINENDO'S POV

Mr. Author is now in the middle of the mansion’s living room, where we gathered.

"Reveal yourself," that's what Mr. Author said. It seems that he is waiting for someone to show up.

I was a little surprised when I saw a man in a school uniform, and at my age. He has semi-blonde hair, tanned skin, his height was just right but a bit taller than my brother. His clothes were a bit torn and dirty.

"Greetings, peasants!" he greeted us, smiled, and waved a hand.

"Who're you?" Brenille asked seriously.

Brenille can be scary when he is serious. We also talked about my brother's death. It still haunts me, but I have forgiven him.

"Y’all too serious. What a bore," He held out his right hand to everyone. "I'm Thirzen (13th), the luckiest number! The one you thought had died when a giant dog rushed into the forest.”

I-Is that him?!

"Thirzen will be the new player of level 3. He, fortunately, managed to survive the Neinuko scene and lived. He will be staying with you for the remaining hours. Level 3, which is the time level, will start after 17 hours. Mechanics will be given when the game is about to start." And Mr. Author, the hologram is gone.

"I thought you were 'game over'?" Heavien asked him.

"I've been game over at another level and stage. But at this level, not anymore.”

“But, when Author projected a screen and gave us number names, your profile said, ‘game over’.” The two who were thought to be dead have a big red X mark on their faces.

“That thing only showed up once, right? It’s supposed to be shown on every stage once y’all clear the game. The system got interrupted because of the hack I did.”

I noticed that too. Mr. Author only showed us that profile screen once. The reason for it is that this boy hacked the game system.

"How did you live?" Trake asked.

"I escaped from that monster.”

Heavien asked again. "Is that why Neinuko's shadow made you scare us?”

Oh, I remember now. He was one of the first to die on this planet. It was Eleventh and Thirzen in level 1. Only the body of one was found, and the other was not found. Then the one body we’ve buried must be Eleventh’s.

"Hehe, yes! I did it to be a clue that I'm Thirzen—the one who appears during midnight. Y’all have forgotten about me, so I made my dramatic entrance by scaring y’all. It didn't affect others, and I was ignored... but you're the only one who noticed me." And he winked at Heavien.

"How did you survive and manage not to come back to play?" This time, Brenille asked.

Thirzen sighed. "I didn't come back because I envisioned that this game doesn't make sense. I lived by just hanging out in the woods. Don't you know that you remain in the same place when you play? The background changes, and your eyes are deceived into thinking you're moving around from different places.”

I just recognized that he has a reddish-pink scar on his left arm.

"You’ve been just watching us the whole time? Why didn't you play?!" there was a threat in Brenille's voice. His current vibe scares me.

Thirzen scoffed. "Because it's not required to play. You were just told to play, and you believed it. You put too much effort into something that you have a choice not to. That's all there is to it. Y’all worked your ass up to reach this level, but me?” he sneered. “Hmp, that was a piece of cake.”

So, this is what he meant by hacking the game system. The profile screen malfunctioned because of what he did. If he means what he said, I don't think that's fair for us.

"Um, why did you join us today?" I questioned him this time, hoping for a good answer.

"I won't win if I don't play the last level. Anyway highway, enough with the interrogation, okay? It’s not like I’m a star but get yo heads flippin’!”

“D*mn bastard,” I heard Brenille mutter. It was a good thing that Thirzen didn’t hear him.

I lowered my head. If I only knew it was like this, I wish my twin brother and I hadn't played. I wish he were still alive with me.

When my brother got a girlfriend, I was very happy for him but that was his greatest heartbreak.

I grieved when my grandma died. Then suddenly my father is also sick. It was hard for us to live far from our parents now that we had lost our grandma.

I hope that our father and mother can come back to our home so that our father can start his medical treatment, and we will take care of him. We have financial constraints so I stopped doing theater arts workshops because of that. I decluttered and sold some of my stuff to buy my school supplies.

“Ma, Pa! I passed the exams and got a full scholarship. Yahoo!” My brother reported his success to our parents during the video call.

“Wow! I knew you would ace it.” Pa looks so happy while he’s in the hospital for a checkup.

“Well done, Dadan! We are so proud of you. We’ll surely go home to see you all before your enrolment starts.” Ma cried out of happiness.

I would like to cherish their happy faces. I would love to see them every day like this.

“How about you, Vevel? You took the exam and submitted your papers, right?” Ma asked me.

I came back to my senses when I heard Ma’s question. “U-Um, yes Ma.”

“How was it?” Pa asked.

“It was…” I looked at my brother, he nodded. I sighed. “I did not get in. I passed the college entrance exams, but I didn’t make the cut for the limited slots scholarship I was aiming for.”

My brother applied for an athletics scholarship, while I applied for the academic excellence scholarship. My previous grades and leadership portfolio weren’t enough, that’s why I didn’t make it.

I got startled when my Pa is clapping his hands. “Good job! Congratulations, Vevel and Dadan! You both made us proud by going to the university that we have wished for!”

“That’s right! We cannot wait to see you all again.” Ma giggled while hugging Pa.

“Dadan, no girlfriend until you finish college, okay? You have learned your lesson. Vevel, you did great, okay? So, process your enrolment papers as early as you can. The slots in that university sell like pancakes.” Our Pa instructed us.

“Don’t worry. Ma and I will handle the rest. Just focus on your studies and take care of yourselves until we get there.” They both smiled. I cried.

Yes, I am weak and cry a lot over simple things. This has been my way of releasing my emotions. This is my form of escape and face my problems again with a stronger version of myself. Crying won't resolve a problem, but it can lessen the pain.

THIRD'S / BRENILLE ARTHEO'S POV

What's with this moron? He thought we were just playing Tri-Games all for fun?! He joined level 3 so easily as if he just entered the mall. I'll slam on his face that this game doesn't take a liking to him.

I recollect my memories and somehow, I remembered that jerk. We didn’t find his dead body, so we shouldn’t be surprised if we ever see him one day, which is today. He is standing in front and laughing at us as he does now.

A serious-looking guy approached Thirzen. It was First. “Wait, if you are Thirzen, that means you were with Eleventh the time we thought both of you were dead. What happened to Eleventh?”

I don’t know his name, and he doesn’t want to tell us. He's quite secretive. I heard Heavien still call him First.

“The h*ck you’re talking about?” Thirzen rolled his eyes.

“You were with him during the Neinuko battle.”

“Neinuko?” his question made Thirzen force himself to recall his memories. “Ah, that one. Yeah, must be the sloppy coward dude.”

“He’s wearing a Peleya School uniform. He’s the same height as me. The same hair color but with a slight difference in hairstyle.”

Thirzen’s face screams he doesn’t care what Eleventh looks like and what he was wearing.

“Right,” Thirzen crossed his arms. “He was my partner when we gathered wood in the forest when the giant dog went after us.”

“How did he die?”

“You know what? I barely remember anything that happened yesterday. So don’t bother asking me. What matters to me is the present, and that is to kill you all.”

Thirzen took two steps away, but his way was blocked by First and he stood right in front of him.

“Why did he die?” He is glaring at Thirzen.

Thirzen raised the tone of his voice. “Neinuko stage was just a trial one, and nobody supposedly died. He’s just dumb that he was the first one to die on a trial game,” he scoffed.

First grabbed Thirzen's collar and gave him a death glare, followed by a straight-up punch. We stopped First before he was thinking of killing the jerk. No one knows what's happening between the two. Even Thirzen looks surprised at what First did.

If First is planning on finishing that jerk, then better wait after 17 hours when level 3 shall begin. A little patience, First, and you’ll get your hands on him in no time.

"We should head back to our rooms while we wait for the next game. It's no use talking to that idiot," I suggested.

"What am I?" And the idiot pointed to himself.

"Yes, you," I cleared up his question.

Even before he could retort to my insult to him, I went upstairs. I entered my room, and it was already 1:45 AM. Thanks to that jerk and my sleep got disturbed. I seem to have been struck by what Thirzen talked about Eleventh. He called him a coward.

Yes, I'm a coward. Coward enough to be called 'parents' puppet'. I'm Artheo, Brenille. I am the student council president of our school. Unexpectedly, I discovered that I have a talent and passion for photography.

"What are you thinking, son? You won't get anything out of your picture taking." My mom said. What’s worse is I know it's not a joke. It was a big insult to my guts.

"Yes, it's better if you do engineering as our neighbor’s son did. Look at Randy's son. His eldest son finished an engineering course. The second is a doctor, and the youngest is now a lawyer. There, they are swimming in money." My dad added an insult.

“Oh, also, do you remember your cousin who’s your age? He said he’ll take the science, technology, and engineering track next school year. That boy is goofy but smart in choosing the right field. Right, dear?”

My dad agrees. “Yeah, yeah, besides you have the brain, so that won’t be a problem for you. You excelled a lot since you were a kid. What’s with the uncalled change of heart?”

"Mom, Dad, I don't care about their opinions. I'm going to take arts.”

"What a waste of your talent if you take an art course," Mom replied.

"But-”

"Brenille, can I have just one word? Follow us because we are the ones who were born earlier than you! We did not choose this for us but for you." Dad exclaimed.

Passing your dreams to your child because you failed to do it is intolerable. I am not them, and they are not me.

I fell in love with multimedia arts in 10th grade. Aside from photography, I learned videography, graphic design, video editing, and digital media. I can at least take multimedia arts in college, if not photography.

"Mom, Dad, I want to take multimedia arts in college. I’ll take the arts and design strand for the next academic year."

“Arts again?!” she shrieked. “Multiple arts this time? Brenille, I’ve had enough!” Mom has had it.

"Quit with your fantasies and listen to us. Just do what we say." Dad still disagrees.

I didn't listen to their advice. I borrowed my former classmate’s camera, who taught me about multimedia arts. My parents caught me and kept the camera I borrowed. They limit my allowance until I give up taking arts. Then I saw Dad broke the camera. The camera is a witness to the hardships my parents have caused me. Living up to my parents' expectations can kill someone.

That's the reason why I almost killed Rochedan. I saw grave fear in him when he was one of the people I expected to win this game. He was afraid to fight against me and wanted to protect his sister. Good thing, Seyah butted in and finished him off.

It is to eradicate the weaklings and reduce their existence. Because of this game, I will be given a chance to turn back in time, or maybe I can go fast forward and reach my goals in life. This time, I'm a coward no more. Losing is not in my vocabulary anymore.