Unexpected Concequences

Ember began to stir, vision and sensation returning to him gradually. He was on the ground, face down in an unfamiliar room, shrouded in complete darkness save for the floor beneath him. A spotlight from an unknown source shined down upon him with three other lights in the room as well. In the center of each light was a familiar figure. To his right, also rising to his feet was Moze. to his left was Lian and Koumei who had begun to stir, and in front of him was Maggie who had her head propped up, looking around curiously. Their positions made it appear as if they were all in some sort of ring formation.

Ember let out a groan as he forced himself slowly to his feet. “Oof, what happened?” Ember asked.

“Mmph, Looks like… looks like we didn’t manage to beat him… Sorry about that, I let myself get out of position. Guess we weren’t prepared for a fight like that, or at least, not expecting it.” Moze said, shaking his head. “Still, looks like we’re still kicking after all. We just need to take him on again. Should be alot easier now that we know he actually has mechanics to look out for.”

“Yea, maybe… Still, any idea where we are?” Lian asked, looking around.

“No idea. Maybe this is just what it looks like when you’re respawning or something?” Moze asked.

“Heh heh, not quite~” Sounded a rather husky voice.

Everyone suddenly perked up at the sudden intrusion of the unfamiliar voice, their eyes all drawn to an empty space in the center of them all. Suddenly, another spotlight illuminated the center, and there stood another humanoid figure. They were tall and their body made of nothing but carved and painted bones. A skeleton wearing what appeared to be an old american western leather gambler’s hat. It was brown with bones slotted between the band. In fact, his entire ensemble resembled that of a western cowboy. Leather spurred boots, a long duster coat, chaps, and a button up shirt fitted with golden buttons. At his hip, the creature also possessed a pearly white revolver-like weapon in a holster. There was also no way he had already been standing there however as his silhouette would have blocked everyone’s view of the person across from them.

“And just who exactly are you?” Moze asked, narrowing his eyes at the figure.

“Who am I? S’pose y’all can call me Charon. Yea, I think that title will suffice. As for what that name might mean to ya, well, I suppose I’ll leave that for y’all ta decide. But, on topic o’ your first inquiry, I’d like to welcome y’all ta the Chamber O’ Fate.” Said the skeletal figure, delivering a bow as the entire room lit up.

The party raised their hands to block out the sudden blinding light, and as their vision steadily returned to them, they found themselves standing in a large room. All around them were wooden props of various scenes, including one of Santa Rio’s town hall among many others that were unfamiliar. Beneath them however, they found that they appeared to be standing on a giant roulette wheel, split into four colored sections with each of them occupying one quadrant. Around them meanwhile, was a deep pit, separating their platform from the rest of the room, with a bottom so deep down that it couldn’t be seen. Nervous eyes scanned the sudden change of environment, uncertain as to what any of this was supposed to mean.

“So, what? Are we supposed to be gambling or something? What is this, I thought we got knocked out by the fort’s boss, why are we here?” Lian asked frantically.

“Good questions. Indeed, y’all met an unfortunate defeat to ol general Kailos, but s’ alright, y’all are still learn’n.” Charon said, turning to get a look at everyone.

“Learning?... wait… so, are you involved with what’s really going on then?” Moze asked.

“What’s ‘really’ going on? You say that like you think nothin else you’ve done so far was real. But if you’re refer’n to your lil’ condition there then yea, I suppose I am. Ya see, my role in all this is… well, I suppose you could call me a debt collector. Y’all failed yer challenge and completely wiped in a dungeon. No matter how small that mistake may seem t’ y’all, there is a price to be paid for it.” He said as he slowly drew his revolver from the holster with a bony left hand, and looked it over.

The chambers of the weapon glowed with an eerie blue light, and all eyes were now laser focused onto it.

“W-wait, hang on. Yea, we wiped in a dungeon. Doesn’t that just mean we get kicked out or need to restart it or something?” Lian asked.

“Oh, well, for most players, of course that’s the case, but for y’all… Well, you’re somethin special in this world, and with that comes special rules. Surely you’ve already noticed a couple of em’. Well, one o’ those rules is what happens should y’all find your whole squad taken down in a dungeon. There’s a price you see, the price of failure, and the price of a second chance. When we’re done here, three o’ y’all will get to walk outa here all peachy keen. As for the one that doesn’t, well… this room will be the last place you’ll ever see.” Charon said casually as he cocked back the hammer to his gun.

A cold silence washed over the room as eyes pivoted from friend to friend. In the center of the room, Charon simply sat there as if soaking it all in. There was no doubt he was expecting this very moment. Suddenly everyone was aware of the beating of their own hearts as seemingly all other thoughts had been sapped from their minds.

“B-but wait.” Lian began to stammer out. “I-I… I died once already, b-but I came back. If… if we can still respawn, doesn’t that mean we’ll just come back or… I mean, w-we’re still allowed to die anyway, right?”

“Oh Lian, I understand what you must be go’n through, what all of y’all are. I’ll just rip the bandage off for ya now. Once you’re in here, one o’ y’all dies. You can plead all ya like but in the end, it’ll always be the same, and once you’re dead here, yer gone fer good. It’s the price fer failure, and the price fer a second chance.” Charon explained as if merely stating facts.

Bit by bit, everyone’s shock turned to terror, their gaze darting around to one another as if to suddenly notice a solution to their predicament. Ember was no different, though instead of fear, his teeth gritted and blood boiled with anger.

“Y-you son of a… This, this isn’t fair! If we knew about this, we would have been able to prepare better! Why, why do you even need to do this!? If you’re letting three of us go anyway, why does anybody need to die at all! You can’t just do this, none of us even wanted to be here. What are you people, what do you even want with us?!” Ember shouted in a frenzy.

He dashed forward, only to smack face first into some sort of invisible barrier. Bouncing off, he tried the left, then the right. No matter which direction he attempted to reach the skeleton with however, he was met with a barrier locking him into a single small area.

“This is a game after all, to a certain extent. Rules are simply to letchya discover the consequences of your mistakes on your own without interference. Think of it like… a tutorial, one that don’t go hold’n your hand; and as of right now, you’ve come to learn that being underprepared and making too many assumptions is a dangerous thing in this world. I should also inform y’all that y’all should be thankful that only one o’ y’all has to pay the cost. Once upon a time, the rules saw to it that all o’ ya would be done if ya failed a dungeon run. But, I suppose I’m ramble’n. Rest assured, that should you survive and complete your mission, you’ll earn yourself some answers. Now, the way this is gonna work is simple. I’m gonna give the chamber of my gun a little twirl. The floor underneath yas will then begin to light up. When y’all hear the tolling of the bell, whoever’s quadrant is lit up is the who pays the price. Now, How about we get things underway.” Chiron said.

His words did nothing to prevent outrage and pleading that began to spill out from the party. Still, shutting their words out of his mind, the skeleton raised his right hand, pressed a finger into a groove of the cylinder of his gun, and gave it a spin. Immediately, the lights that had filled the room focused on the platform, and the uproar from the party went silent. The floors beneath them had begun to light up, the light in question shifting rapidly from quadrant to quadrant as if a wheel had begun spinning beneath everyone in time to the clicking rotations of the skeleton’s weapon. As if to further emphasize the fate that was supposedly about to befall one of them, he flicked his right wrist at his side. Immediately, in a flash of pale blue flames, a scythe of bone and an ethereal blade manifested in his hand. It was as if to claim that this being was not merely an executioner, but the embodiment of death itself. He tilted his head, staring up above to a darkened ceiling with pure indifference, paying no mind as to where the light currently shone.

It was all so sudden that none had yet to properly process the situation. Lian stared forward, fallen to her knees, praying in her head that the light wouldn’t land on her while also praying it would land on nobody else either. Ember continued thrashing at the barrier like a caged animal, acting like he only needed to build up enough rage, enough willpower, then he could shatter that barrier and tear that skeleton to shreds bone by bone. Moze stood there, braced and teeth gritting, eyes wandering around the area looking for something, anything he may have missed that would get them out of this. Maggie on the other hand just cried. She was curled up in the fetal position, face buried in her knees just like she had been when Ember first encountered her. Despite that, in the middle of it all stood that same indifferent skeleton, a grim reaper in comparatively outlandish duds just sitting there, staring at the sky as the clicking of his revolver felt like it would continue on until the end of time.

Unfortunately, that would not be the case as slowly but surely, the shifting of the floor lights began to steadily wind down, becoming trackable as everyone was given their own turns in its foreboding incandescence. With bated breath, the rotation grew slower and slower, switching to Ember, Lian, Maggie, and Moze, and then, with a final click, the light stopped altogether. The one left remaining in the light, to Ember’s left, was Lian. Her heart stopped as she saw this, her eyes quaking in abject horror. No… was this it? Was she selected for death? Then, with another click, the light shifted, it turned to illuminate Maggie as the reaper had used his finger to roll the cylinder once more. Still, this wasn’t it, for the bell had yet to toll. It was not Maggie’s turn to face the ultimate fate. Then, with another click, another turn of the cylinder, the light turned once more.