Age of Serial Synot

First Act (7)

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!" 

"Arggggggghh..Please don't kill- argkkhhkhkchlll!"

"Run!" 

The chaos had begun. Some people were resolute. Choosing to start killing their way out of this. Others chose the easy way out. Replacing themselves with loved ones.

'Damn it. Its barely been 3 minutes and there's already this much chaos?! I guess everyone was already at wits end,' James thought.

By nature, James had always been a person who considered people's emotions before he acted. He was often left questioning other people who didn't do the same. He was not a saint, but could be said to be closest thing to one.

He appreciated and empathised with people a lot. 

However, when his parents died in the altercation between the famous hero and villain, he had been left questioning his own morality. There were always times when people wouldn't give a shit about you and your problems. And that was his moment of realisation.

As the world changed, the heroes creating an organisation of their own called the Confederation of Justice,  everything changed.

The public opinion on most matters, the state of the law and security issues in general. Naturally, the first thing that was done was the signing of numerous contracts by many rich companies and individuals with the heroes for either their services in protection or in their company for fame.

Before anything else, being hero or a Super in general, made one rich.

The heroic stuff would come later or worse, never.

Fighting crime, protecting the peace, blah blah blah, was something that most of these heroes chose to leave behind in spite of literally having the power to enact these in their hands. They thought they were petty ideas. Ironically, they had previously thought the same to the notion of having super human abilities.

James' opinion of heroes had been good at first, but after seeing the lack of heroism they exhibited, he slowly began to think others. Many factors influenced his decision. From the lacklustre speech that LaserEye gave when addressing the damage accrued during the fight, to failing to capture the villain in question, James felt the reality hit him.

Nothing had changed. 

Selfish bastards who didn't take responsibility still existed. 

As he heard the screams and cries for help he thought.

'If only true heroes existed in this world.'

He struggled to keep a level head.

He looked ahead of him, and another dark grid box was before him. He shuddered.

He could only move forward.

He looked to his side and saw a light grid box in the distance diagonally placed from his own grid box. He looked to his other side as another light grid box was diagonally positioned as well.

This really was a chessboard. A gigantic one.

He was still feeling like he underestimated the size of each grid. It was the size of the warehouse after all. Roughly 50 meters wide and long.

'I have no time to hesitate,' he thought as he ran amidst the noise.

He wondered if the other pawns on his side were moving or were still quivering in fright.

He reached the edge of the dark box and took a deep breath before rushing in. 

The familiar atmosphere of the dark grid box enveloped him, making him feel almost suffocated from the surrounding darkness.

However, he didn't stop.

He ran.

The muffled vibrations of his steps on the floor and the eerie quiet was harrowing. He ran, aiming to get to the next light box and see if he would encounter anyone. There he would deliberate on what to do.

BUM!

!!!

James panicked!

 He bumped into something!

 It was definitely a person!

'Holy shit!'

Without even a second worth of delay, James hand which held the dagger in a reverse grip, swiped hard towards where he had felt the presence of the person!

James himself was flabbergasted. He didnt even understand how his body just reflexively went for the kill.

Was it the tense atmosphere?

Was it the will to live? The will to be rush back to his grandmother?

He was shocked by his own action, but he didn't stop!

As the dagger sliced through the darkness and aimed for the unseen enemy, it suddenly stopped along with James!

'The hell?!' he thought. A force prevented him from moving the dagger. No. His entire body wouldn't move either.

James panicked again. 

At first he anticipated to be attacked by the other person, but nothing came. His hand stopped on the person's collarbone. He couldn't move it.

He felt the rising and falling of the person's chest as she also panicked.

Yes. A she.

He could vaguely feel the soft protrusions from her chest. It was definitely a woman. His arm made contact with her chest at rapid intervals as she panted so quickly he thought she would die from fear.

'Why can't I.... Wait. Is she a pawn?!' he thought quickly.

In chess, when pawns from opposite sides faced each other, they would naturally be blocking each other's way and hence couldn't move.

Unless, an enemy appeared in the diagonal box from where they stood that is. They could then attack and assume a different position.

'Shit! So we can't move until someone shows up for either of us?! But the time!!' thought James as he felt the time racing forward.

Time waits for no man.

All he could do now was wait. 

James was distressed. Feeling the time move by quickly as he was stalled here was an excruciating experience. All that ran in his mind was getting the heck out of here.

Slowly, his mind began to wish for someone to appear from the dark grid box that was diagonal to this one. He wasn't sure if he would be notified of it.

'I have to be notified right? It wouldn't make sense if I get penalised without even knowing that there's an enemy nearby,' he thought as he gnashed his teeth.

Time moved and nothing happened.

In the dark, he was only stuck with his thoughts.

In the first minute, he was depressed.

In the next two minutes, he became even more so.

After two more minutes, his heart was beating extremely fast and he held his dagger with a malicious intent.

'I have no choice! Anything that comes up, I have to kill it! I have to!' he thought. The quiet and heavy atmosphere in the box made him wish he was anywhere else.

He thoughts kept going back and forth between morality and reality, but ultimately, reality was winning.

'Since when do I feel so bloodthirsty? This isn't right! I can't just kill!'

'What then? Refuse to kill and then get detained here for who knows how long while gran spends her last moments alone?!'

'Maybe there's another loophole that I don't see. If I can figure it out..'

'I don't have the time!'

'But taking a life...'

'Do I have a choice?! Shit! It feels like either way, I lose something.'

His hand was turning numb from the five minutes of remaining in the same position. He couldn't even bring himself to empathise with the woman before him who had been feeling the cold blade near her neck.

Another minute passed, bringing the elapsed time since he was stationary to six minutes. 

"Come on! DAMMIT! Give something! Anything!" he bellowed into the nothingness. He couldn't afford to think about anyone else anymore. It was him or them.

Right then, he felt a flash in his mind, someone was finally moving within that diagonal box.

The restrains on his body were released and in the next second, he didn't even hesitate to move.

He vanished from where he had stood and shockingly felt himself travel at breakneck speed towards the target...