Truths Revealed

When they opened their eyes, they were in front of the building that they had entered with the other 95 people. The party outside was still going on, but people couldn’t help but kill each other. Guild members surrounded them and stopped them in their tracks.

In this commotion, they darted out of there to avoid a few people that had vendettas against them. Although out of the corner of his eye, Astro saw Naoki and Souta look over at him as they ran off as well. Tomorrow, they would meet together to discuss, but for now, they bolted off to hide for the night.

‘He’s smart. I’ll ask about Shin tomorrow. He seems to know a decent amount about this place. He’s the only other one that wants to get out of here,’ he thought.

Octavious: “Here. This way is my place. Come on.”

He pushed aside a garbage bin revealing a small passage against a wall. They entered and walked down a flight of stairs to a small room with a bed, small kitchen, and collection of different items that they had never seen.

Octavious: “Pardon the mess, but man those games were something, right?! That was so much fun. We ended up with a good amount of tokens. I can go buy more stuff now and add to my collection.”

Astro didn’t even realize the weight difference in his pockets. He reached in to feel the coins. He had 130 from the last game alone and spent the rest on the sniper. ‘Wait, where is my sniper?’ he thought. He felt something else in his pocket with the coins. It was a small cube. He took it out.

Octavious: “What is that?”

Astro threw it on the ground and it formed into a diamond plated sniper with heavy optics. Blue flames surrounded the scope and the trigger as if it had boosted abilities.

Octavious: “When did you buy that? Must have been before the games. Good choice. That is a good weapon to use in the tournament. You got that for me, didn’t you?”

He handed Welpen the sniper, completely ignoring what Octavious had just said.

Octavious: “Hey!”

Welpen: “I don’t want this. I don’t want to kill anyone.”

Astro: “I’m not saying you have to, but if you don’t want to die and a situation arises, then you will have to. That’s just the way it is. Otherwise, I know about a weapon that will be better for you. We’ll wait for tomorrow. We have to meet up with Naoki and Souta.”

Welpen: “Okay. Oh, by the way Astro, look. I got a death token. I’m amazing. Oh, I’m feeling a little tired though, I’m probably gonna go sle–”

Welpen fell to the ground and fell asleep without even finishing his sentence. He was exhausted…

The next day arrived and the energy resumed with both Octavious and Welpen. They had even figured out their own special handshake with each other.

Astro had not slept the entire time. He stayed up making sure Octavious didn’t do anything to Welpen. They all headed off to meet up with Naoki and Souta. Throughout the city, people still partied and danced like their own lives didn’t matter. People killed each other constantly too away from the guild.

Octavious: “How do we know where they are going to be? What’s the meeting spot?”

Astro: “He said that he will find us, so I’m just going to keep walking around until he does.”

Octavious: “Splendid! Wonderful! Amazing! Awesome!”

Welpen laughed at Octavious’ weirdness. He enjoyed his presence heavily because of its overwhelming difference compared to Astro’s. As they walked around some more, Naoki and Souta showed their presence.

Naoki: “Hey. I stuck to my word, didn’t I?”

Souta: “Naoki, I swear my life would be better if you were dead…Hey there, pretty boys.”

Naoki: “Follow me. Let’s go somewhere where nobody can hear us. There is an abandoned bar not too far from here.”

Everyone followed them to a broken down building that was molding and dusty, just right for them to talk in.

Octavious: “Oh, no, no, no! This is gross! Not splendid! Not amazing!”

Souta: “Ha. Suck it up buttercup.”

Astro: “Nobody tailed us. We’re good to go. Now, let’s make this quick. I don’t wanna be here another day.”

Naoki: “Relax. You still have a little while until the tournament starts. It will begin tomorrow morning. Make sure you get there at sunrise. But, I agree. Let’s get talking.”

Souta still sucked on his lollipop and started mocking everyone around him, eager to joke about serious business.

Naoki: “Knock it off Souta. These are our allies.”

Astro: “We ain’t allies. We don’t even know you.”

Naoki: “Fair enough. Did Shin scare you so much that you’re paranoid?”

Welpen: “Shin? How come you know Shin? And, what’s so bad about him? What did he do?”

Octavious: “Shin? Who is Shin?”

Souta laughed as he sat down in the corner.

Welpen: “You don’t know him either, Octavious?”

Astro: “What do you mean, Welpen?”

Welpen: “When I talked with Izumi, she didn’t know who he was either. I was confused, so I just stopped talking about him.”

Souta: “That’s common down here. People seem to not know who Shin is. They also don’t know about any place besides here. I’m sure you’ve already experienced this.”

Astro thought about the interaction he had with the girl at the guild that confirmed this.

Naoki: “Octavious, let me ask you something. Do you know anything besides this place?”

Octavious: “Hmm, I’ve heard about the surface from someone a really long time ago, but I’ve never really thought of leaving. This place is fine. Plus, there is a barrier anyway. I couldn’t leave if I wanted to.”

Astro: “That’s impossible. In the games, you described a story of the Infinite Library. That doesn’t exist down here. There is only 1 in the whole world. You must know of the outside world.”

Naoki: “You’re right, but you’re also wrong. It does exist down here, but it’s a false one. The story is probably correct since he came from the surface. He just doesn’t remember when he came down here or when Shin got to him. His memories have been wiped. That’s how it is with a lot of these people and monsters, but most are also born here and have never seen the real world.”

Octavious: “H-Huh? Not splendid! Not awesome! Who the hell are you? Telling me a bunch of fake crap. Come on Welpen and Astro. We have a tournament to get ready for.”

Naoki: “Believe me or not, I don’t really care. It’s the truth. Haven’t you noticed the weird weapons that people have? It doesn’t align with the stereotype of swords in the real world.”

Astro: “Octavious! Sit down. We’re not done here. You’re testing my patience.”

Souta: “Hahaha. The big guy is getting mad. This is getting interesting.”

Astro: “So, what’s the deal here? How do we get out of here? And, how do only us four remember where we came from and who Shin is?”

Naoki: “I don’t know. We’ve been here for 3 weeks and ever since, we’ve been figuring out ways to get out of here. We lie to people to try and get information, but nobody tells us much. I’m not sure why or how we remember things, but forget that. We’re not going to figure that out. Anyways, that’s when the tournament was mentioned to us. People claim that this only happens once in a blue moon, but I don’t know how true that is. Regardless, you may wish for any one thing that you want within their capability. Hence, you can ask to leave this place.”

Astro: “Yeah, I’ve already heard. What about your idea? What’s your plan to leave?”

Naoki: “That door that you came in, there is no way back out that way. We’ve tried multiple times. Both doors on both sides won’t open. However, when we ventured out further beyond this city, the ground suddenly became black and the air became thinner. The guild immediately came after us and when we stepped back over the border, they left us alone. It’s like they are programmed to keep us out. There has to be an exit all the way at the end.”

Astro: “You’re telling me to trust your plan on a hunch that there is an exit? Yeah, I’ll pass.”

Naoki: “Woah, woah, woah. Wait, please. There is a reason we didn’t try to go back by ourselves. We wanted to make sure we had enough power to get there. So, we struck a deal with someone else who remembers the surface. That’s why we joined the tournament. We needed death tokens. He likes this place and wants to stay here. All he asked for was death tokens and he bargained with someone to get a good weapon from the tournament for us. As far as he knows, we are playing in the tournament, but that is a lie. We just need the weapons. We only have Estron and Gut Spiller swords. They aren’t strong enough.”

Souta: “Are you in or out pretty boy? We want to get going. We are leaving tonight.”

Astro looked at Welpen and Octavious who remained silent through this whole conversation despite the information that was being exchanged.

Naoki: “You’re odds of winning that tournament with you three are close to none. The people in those little games we just played are not even half of what you will face.”

Astro: “You say that like I had a problem with any of those people.”

Naoki: “No. I know you’re strong. Stronger than me and Souta combined. You’re an 81 like Souta stated. I’m a 60 and Souta is a 63. Just stating a fact with the other 2 people you have. No offense.”

Astro leaned forward and glared directly in Naoki’s eyes with an untrustworthy aura.

Astro: “2 things. One. If the boy is in any danger at all, then I won’t hesitate to protect him. The rest of you can perish without a second thought. Two. If this doesn’t end up being an exit out of this place, then I’ll personally kill you both myself before we come back and enter the tournament.”

Naoki: “Rest assured. We won’t be wrong. This is definitely the right way. We just need to avoid the guild the best we can. Meet us by the guild in 8 hours. We’ll be ready.”

Astro: “Okay. You better no–Wait. Shh!”

Everyone stayed quiet and Astro closed his eyes and activated his clairvoyance. He sensed someone from the sound, but he confirmed it with this. He whipped past everyone to the door outside and grabbed the person by the neck in the air.

Astro: “Oh, it’s just you. The hell are you doing here? Leave. I won’t kill you, but they might.”

Ryoko: “Agh. That hurt. Th-This is my home. Can’t comprehend. Why are people here? Don’t know what to do.”

He started to bite his fingernails nervously and looked around at everyone while repeating the phrase, “Can’t comprehend.”

Astro: “Everyone leave. We’ll follow what you said before.”

Ryoko dropped to the ground coughing. He wasn’t expecting Astro to barge out at him like that. As everyone left the abandoned place, they walked right by Ryoko, but not in annoyance. It was of respect for nobody else noticing him outside the building.

Astro: “Don’t do that again, kid. You might mess with someone not as lenient as me…”