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2024-10-29 19:42:56James was spooked as he saw the man. He stood in the dark of a corner, while smoking a cigarette. It seemed that the smile design on his mask had a small space in between allowing him to smoke without a problem.
The mask had no other features except that detail; even eyes holes, making it very unsettling.
The man wore a long, dark coat with black pants and shoes of the same colour. In his hand was a thick brown book that he looked to be reading.
James finally stood and looked around the place. It looked like an enclosed warehouse with nothing in it except windows and a door at the far end. The walls looked rather crude with chipped paint.
The lighting came from some hanging light bulbs on the ceiling.
The man in the mask suddenly walked up until he reached a certain distance from the people on the floor who were still waking up and struggling to stand.
"Welcome," he said in a particularly masculine voice. "You have qualified and have met the conditions to play a game."
Everyone looked at the man in confusion. They were processing what he had just said while trying to alleviate the heaviness they felt in their bodies.
A certain man in an office shirt and formal brown pants walked sluggishly towards the man in the mask, unveiled annoyance on his face.
"Hey! What the hell is this? Where are we?" he asked.
"You are currently at the venue for a game that you have qualified to participate in," the man in the mask answered.
"Is this some kind of a joke?! Drugging people and hauling them off to who knows where is a serious offense! Get us the hell out of here!" the man in an office shirt suddenly advanced towards the man in the mask.
As he reached within three meters of the man, he struck against what seemed like a transparent barrier!
There was no sound when he knocked against it, but be found himself unable to advance further.
"What the.. What is this?" he said with a look of shock as he attempted to advance a few more times.
The sensation he got from the barrier was unlike anything he had ever felt. It simply stopped him from going forward.
As he pressed his hand against the barrier, a realisation dawned on him.
"W..wait..are you a Super?" he asked with a shaken expression on his face.
As soon as everyone in the building heard the word, they panicked, some even shrieking.
James' eyes widened.
Katie, who struggled to stand started panting in fear.
The idea of having a Super with unknown intentions in the same space as them caused to panic.
"Your movements are currently restricted to the boundary of the game venue. Do you wish to rescind your participation token?" asked the man in the white mask disregarding the man in the office shirt's question.
The man in the office shirt swallowed hard, his disposition shifting immediately. He backtracked a few steps, his eyes gazing at the man warily
"Do you wish to rescind your participation token?" the man in the mask asked again.
"We can choose to not participate in this?"
"Naturally."
The man in the white shirt warily looked at the man in the mask.
James suddenly asked.
"And you will let us leave? Alive?"
No doubt this was the question on everyone's mind. It sounded too good to be true, considering that if this man really was a Super, their lives were in his hands.
The man in the mask turned to James who shuddered at being gazed at by him.
"Naturally. However..." the man said with pause, which made everyone hold their breaths.
"..the participation token will be granted to a random family member of the former participant, forcing them to continue the game on their behalf."
Everyone had their eyes widened.
Implicating their families in a game they didn't ask for was too low a blow. Many were enraged while some dropped to the floor.
"What kind of sick bullshit is this?!" bellowed a burly man with fiery hair in a crew cut. He pointed his finger at the man in the mask threateningly.
"Why the hell are we even here?! Is this some shitty stunt to get your name out?! Having us play some sort of death game and make people fear you?!"
The man in the mask turned to him and replied in a nonchalant tone.
"The game does not strictly demand any form of murder. All you have do is follow the rules of the game to win," he said.
"Is that right?!" the burly man asked in an unsure tone. "What do we win then?"
"The winners get two prizes."
The man in the mask raised the book in his hand to show its title.
'Rules of the Game.'
"The first prize is one random rule from this book to each winner. The second prize is an offer that will be disclosed only to the winners."
"The hell?!" the burly man blurted in confusion. "The reward is some nonsense from a book?!"
James had his mouth agape, after hearing what the man said.
Their purpose for playing the game was not even clear and the reward for winning was also as vague as it could be.
Katie reached into her purse and hurriedly took out her phone. She turned it on and tried to make a call, only to receive no signal.
"Shit!" she cursed in frustration and bit her thumb while her face looked pale.
"With the basic rules out of the way, allow me to inform you that you have 24 hours before the game begins. The time can be adjusted provided the participants vote on it. You are free to prepare in the meantime," the man in the mask said.
He walked straight to the front door which was open and exited, smoking his cigarette as he went.
A woman with a pale face ran up to the door hoping to somehow go through, but a barrier prevented her from advancing once she was within three meters of it.
"Please let me out! I have a children at home! I'll do anything, please!" she cried.
In everyone's minds, a super villain had abducted them to make a name for himself. Nobody bought anything he said, believing that this was just a game that demanded them to play for their lives.
Their moods were somber. The man in the office had a particularly distressed face as he gnashed his teeth.
'Why?' he thought.
James cursed as he sweat bullets.
'Damn it! 24 hours?! I can't wait that long! I need to get home to granny and fetch her medication as well,' thought James as he gripped his satchel.
'He said we can adjust the time for starting the game if we vote on it, right? I just have to convince everyone to get this over with. But...'
He looked around seeing the different expressions on the people's faces. People tended to choose irrationally while in tight situations. He had a feeling it wasn't going to be that easy...
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The tension in the room was so thick that one could almost touch. Everyone was trying to wrap their heads around the situation and figure out what to do.Some had already resigned to their fate warily gazing at others, trying to determine which of the other participants could be the biggest threat.The diverse reactions among the people represented the different attitudes and convictions that they had cultivated throughout their lives; the die hard, the quick to give in, those who lost it entirely.Among the sixteen people in the warehouse, most could be said to already have given up on getting out of this alive, after all, fiction may be made up, but it is based on real life events most of the time.James slumped down and took a deep breath. The thought of his grandmother suffering even for a minute hurt him.She could barely walk as it is, her one feature that spelled out loud that she was alive, being her eternally yammering mouth.
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James stood within the dark grid box. He held onto his dagger with a steady grip.He felt that time was moving. It was information that flowed within him constantly. In the darkness, he was still deliberating. However, there was no way turning back.Literally.As a pawn, he couldn't turn back.He mustered his courage. For his grandmother, for his future. He couldn't remain idle.He ran within the darkness, the feeling of the eerie pitch void making it seem like he was going nowhere. However, he raced forward, dagger in hand knowing that there was an end to the darkness.After running for a while, the scene before him changed abruptly.He was blasted by the return of information into his surroundings.He clutched his ears as he heard the chaos."WHERE AM I?! HELP! PLEASE SOMEONE HELP!"&
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Erica Monstroll, daughter of Carl and Olivia Monstroll was a 19 year old girl with a spoiled personality.She was born in New York, being given all she wanted when growing up. Her father who worked for a multi-million dollar company was too busy to spend time with her hence he compensated for it by giving her large amounts of money every week to splurge to her hearts content.Her mother was even worse, having married Carl for his money and having Erica before she was ready to have children. She owned her own firm which she had started thanks to the funding she received from her husband and used it as a way ti escape her parental duties.She too spent more time away from home, leaving a couple of maids whom she had hired to take care of her daughter's needs.As such, Erica grew up with a rotten personality that only kids such as herself could put up with. She was stuck up and would never allow herself to hang out with people she didn't consider to be
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The sheer scale of the whole setup was staggering. What had been a warehouse just moments ago, had turned into one huge grid box among the many that surrounded it.James looked around in shock.When he saw the alternating grid boxes of dark and light, he shivered.The name of the game had also made him swallow hard.Chess.Was this going to be some complicated game where they had to move their own pieces and take down the other team's pieces until they won or....He didn't want to think about it.Katie, turned and looked at the next grid box which was dark. She couldn't see anything beyond it. From up to down, it was all extremely dark till the start of the next grid box.Everyone was looking around nervously.It was simply one giant chess board!Their apprehension towards the man in the mask soared. Fear turned into terror and terror into hopelessness.If this man could create such a humongous
- Age of Serial Synot
First Act (4)
The tension in the room was so thick that one could almost touch. Everyone was trying to wrap their heads around the situation and figure out what to do.Some had already resigned to their fate warily gazing at others, trying to determine which of the other participants could be the biggest threat.The diverse reactions among the people represented the different attitudes and convictions that they had cultivated throughout their lives; the die hard, the quick to give in, those who lost it entirely.Among the sixteen people in the warehouse, most could be said to already have given up on getting out of this alive, after all, fiction may be made up, but it is based on real life events most of the time.James slumped down and took a deep breath. The thought of his grandmother suffering even for a minute hurt him.She could barely walk as it is, her one feature that spelled out loud that she was alive, being her eternally yammering mouth.
- Age of Serial Synot
First Act (3)
James was spooked as he saw the man. He stood in the dark of a corner, while smoking a cigarette. It seemed that the smile design on his mask had a small space in between allowing him to smoke without a problem.The mask had no other features except that detail; even eyes holes, making it very unsettling.The man wore a long, dark coat with black pants and shoes of the same colour. In his hand was a thick brown book that he looked to be reading.James finally stood and looked around the place. It looked like an enclosed warehouse with nothing in it except windows and a door at the far end. The walls looked rather crude with chipped paint.The lighting came from some hanging light bulbs on the ceiling.The man in the mask suddenly walked up until he reached a certain distance from the people on the floor who were still waking up and struggling to stand."Welcome," he said in a particularly masculine voice. "You have qualified and have met the
- Age of Serial Synot
First Act (2)
A short man in a white office shirt that had rolled up sleeves, a blue tie and flat front navy blue pants stood on the other side of the secure interview room.(A/N: Interrogation room).He had light brown hair in a quiff and a clean shaven face, his sharp, deep set hazel eyes intently looking at the process ongoing in the room.A middle aged man in a dark jacket was being interrogated by a young man who looked to be frustrated.The young man glared at his counterpart, shooting up from his seat in the next second and his pointing finger at the middle aged man, who, despite the pressure applied on him, only smirked at the young police officer's display.The man outside the room held the bridge of his nose and grimaced. He knew it wasn't going well. Just like the other six cases before this one.A middle aged woman in her police uniform walked up to his s
- Age of Serial Synot
First Act (1)
2029.New York, USAJames rushed around in the small apartment.There was a small kitchen with a stove, a small fridge and a few cabinets near the ceiling as well as the floor, made of cheap wood that housed a few water glasses, mugs, cutlery among other things.It was tiled, facing the small lounge where only two brown sofas could be found, a TV, a few picture frames and a window.James rushed from his bedroom and into the lounge with a toothbrush stuck in his mouth. He walked briskly into the kitchen where he saw the frying pan giving the smoky signal of proudly burnt meat.He removed the pan, made some toast and placed it in a plate with a frustrated shaking of the head as he packed all in his lunch.He ran to the toilet. A spit, rinse and splash later, he was rushing to the lounge with a satchel on his back.
