You Will All Die...But Not In Real Life

“Stop!”

L’vanquiet was not one for a quiet entrance. Before Tilak could charge at Blime and Javilier after too many rude comments convinced him of their supposed assassin secrets, he materialized between them in a puff of smoke.

Behind Iosperia, who still stood closest to the clearing entrance, Sylvia entered, wearing a black, beautiful ball-gown. In contrast, L’vanquiet wore white robes typical for mages, with various odd charms and trinkets made of glass hanging off of it. For once, though, his hat wasn’t as comically large, revealing the face of a sickly looking man with dark black hair and beady dark eyes to match.

“More Fleshlings?”

“Precisely!” L’vanquiet stuck a finger in the air. “As much as I would love to test and study your combat styles and prowess—love the use of ice magic!—I’m afraid I must put this to a stop before we get too far. It would, er…”

He reached for his hat and pulled it down to obscure his gaze, though Sylvia’s own apprehension betrayed their shared remorse. She folded her hands in front of her and stopped a fair distance away from the group.

“Greetings,” Sylvia said and bowed. Her mouth was pulled into a frown like a knot tied too tight. In the confused silence that took over the four already there, the light laps of water against the edges of the lake rang out louder than ever. “First, I must tell you. Now that you’ve entered, you’ll be unable to leave this place until you are freed by our will.”

“What!?” Javilier was the first to speak—or well, scream. “Are you intending on holding us hostage!?”

“Oh, c’mon. That’s obviously a bluff.” Tilak laughed, but at the same time, Iosperia simply sighed and began to walk to the clearing entrance. When she walked a bit past where Sylvia was, though, she stumbled back as though she ran into an invisible wall and collapsed onto the ground.

Sylvia’s grip around her other wrist tightened. L’vanquiet cast his gaze towards her and continued her warning.

“If you attempt to leave,” he said, “a barrier will keep you in place until they’re done with you. Don’t worry, though, you’ve got an archmage and royalty to look after you~.”

Though he tried to ease the mood with a playful wink, no one was having any of it. Tilak glared at the archmage and charged at him, an attack that he quickly dodged with a teleport to the left. Tilak yelped and stumbled over his feet, hitting the ground and leaving a shattered mark behind.

Tilak groaned and got to his knees. “How the hell did you do that so quickly!?”

Iosperia raised her staff at Sylvia, though she didn’t dare to attack. “Who are you two? Why are you here?”

“You better give us a good answer before I get bored,” Blime said, though the way she stepped back betrayed her fear.

She didn’t look anyone in the eye. “…I am Sylvia, heiress to the throne of Sapphire.”

L’vanquiet tipped his hat over his eyes. “And I am an acclaimed archmage, L’vanquiet. A loyal servant of Sapphire.”

“And…” Sylvia winced. She couldn’t bear to finish her words. How weak she was—pathetic, unable to acknowledge even…

“You are all here to die,” L’vanquiet finished in a tired, quiet voice, just as always. For her to smile, he would bear all her pain. “For the sake of the world.”

-------

rainDrips was right.

In the end, it took several hours to wrap up the introduction to the world and the setting. To explain the mechanics of the survival game conveyed as an experiment. We figured something that was designed for everyone to die in universe would make the most sense for our perma-death mechanics, along with the added tension it would bring to the characters. Luckily, everyone seemed to be enjoying it well enough, as replies were near constant even after dropsgum and I’s characters ended their explanations of the experiment and took off.

“Do you think they liked it?” she asked in a giddy voice.

“Of course they did!” I leaned back in my seat, nearly falling over in my reckless amounts of confidence. But how could I stop!? They loved it! They loved this thing we created!

“Aw, I just can’t wait to reveal more of our lore. I mean, I know it’s obvious Sylvia and L’vanquiet are being forced into this, but I can’t wait to get a chance to be nicer to these poor guys…”

“But being a reluctant game master of death is fun too, right?”

“It is pretty nifty.”

I leaned over my desk and propped my head up using my hands. “You don’t mind if I step away for a moment, right? My mom needed something and it completely slipped my mind.”

“Oh!” Her mic crackled a bit. “Sorry if I was holding you up—go ahead!”

“You weren’t, seriously, pretty sure neither of us knew how long this was gonna take.” I sighed just at the thought of how long I spent watching and typing, watching other people type, waiting and waiting and—

AUGH! I clutched my head just at the memories. If it was like that every day, I’d die, seriously…

“Ah, if you’re sure.” She laughed a bit, then said, “When you get back, maybe, like…we could watch a movie through Laserbeam? If you have time.”

A…

Movie?

Movie?! With?!

DROPSGUM?! No, no, no, no, I’m not freaking out! This is just what friends do, and I’ll respond like a normal friendly person would.

“Yes! Yes, of course!” I felt my soul die at the crack in my voice. If it was possible to crush yourself with the weight of embarrassment, then surely, I would’ve passed away in an instant. “I mean, I…yes.”

I’d caught hints of cackling, but that soon blew into laughter from her. Before I could experience ego death, I mumbled out a ‘be back soon’ and bolted from my room. When I got down to the living room, though—

There was no one there. I checked the kitchen, then my parent’s room, but the house was completely empty. The lights were turned off as well, and with the sun almost below the horizon, violet light leaked in through the windows in scare drops, leaving most of my surroundings in the dark. Everything, except for the blinking message light on the land-line phone.

I crept over to it like it was a bomb about to go off, and hit play on the voice message button.

“Augustín? If you hadn’t noticed already, neither of us are home.”

Her voice was quiet and frail, which only served to further the dread inside my heart. “I had to take your father to the hospital. He collapsed. Once you’re done with your computer work, can you take his car over here to see him? Just…just in case. It’s the hospital closest to the house.”

Click.

…