[A New Player has Entered the Game!]
I heard what felt like an announcement.
My eyes opened instantly as my body shook in instinct as my dream felt like I was hit by a truck.
My senses slowly came back as my perception came back to my skin that felt cold-hard rock touch my arm and cheeks from when I was laying upside-down. The air felt humid and damp, enough for me to want to cover my nose.
I tried to get up as a throbbing headache was still present when I heard murmurs from the distance. I switched my focus from myself towards my surroundings as I saw that I wasn't the only one present.
There were a lot of people, I would guess about 50. We seem to come from a variety of races, age, and gender—it seems like this kidnapping has no discrimination involved.
"What the... hell, my head...", A deep voice was heard just beside me as I turned my head the other way around to see a bulky man try to stand up.
He noticed me watch him as he asked, "Who are you?", he asked nonchalantly.
I used the remaining amounts of my power to sit on the ground, "Lucius, you?", I answered while questioning back.
"Michael, you don't seem American.", He answered as we continued to exchange words.
"No, I'm Filipino.", I answered back as I looked around to notice, "and it seems like there are a lot of races here.".
Michael was bulky—ripped. He was wearing a dark green shirt and camo pants, with a blonde hair that flowed towards the back. He has chiseled jaws, blue eyes, and he seems like a little older than me.
Michael looked around him to notice that too, seemingly gathering his thoughts.
"Something's got me curious, how did someone kidnap a ripped guy like you?", I asked Michael.
"Uh... I am Michael Barlowe, Private First-Class of the U.S. Army." He answered, quite unsurely like he was trying to remember something.
I waited curiously, thinking that there might be something more, and I was right.
Michael continued, "I was deployed to Iraq in 2020... I remembered we were given a mission for a recon when a missile shot... us?", He said as his eyes slowly started to rise as the memories gradually resurfaced.
"I died." Michael said.
"It seems like we're in some kind of afterlife since I remembered dying quite clearly." I mentioned to Michael as he looked at me with shaking eyes. I saw in him a man that could not believe he was dead but I seem to accept it quite easily.
"Wanna team up?" I asked as I had a bad feeling about this.
This kind of kidnapping isn't some kind of human trafficking. We were not in handcuffs, nor are we enchained of any kind. People of all races are placed into one cage, like some kind of arena—some kind of game. Having Michael, a strong and sturdy man, would surely become a reliable ally.
Looking at the others, it appears that not all reactions are the same. I see people sit in the corner gripping their hair, crying profusely. I see others who are shouting at the distance, demanding to be let go, some are just sitting or standing with a blank stare on their faces. There are a lot of responses... but the ones I'm wary of are the people that are calm and ready; and so far, I have only observed three, including me.
For now...
"I was about to think you kidnapped me but knowing the fact that we're probably dead... sure, let's team up." Michael spoke his mind but agreed in the end.
He will be useful.
As soon as we shook hands, a radiance so bright suddenly bursts into the room. So bright, in fact, that I could only see nothing but white for a couple of seconds despite having my eyes closed.
[The Fae 'Quarts' has appeared!]
As the bright light gradually decreased, we took a gaze into the area where the light appeared to see a figure floating in the air.
She was a woman wearing a beautiful white dress with designs that looked like gold—but that's where the similarities between humanity ends. She had blue-grey skin with somewhat pointed ears and hair that looked like tiny vines flowing and twirling down its voluptuous body, crystal-like rocks that protruded in areas of her skin, wings that looked like that of a butterfly shined like emerald. She looked like a moving rock, yet elegant like a gem. she was so beautiful that the only way to describe the beauty is "diamonds polished to perfection ".
Everyone was enthralled by the sudden appearance of an otherworldly goddess.
"Is that a goddess?!" Some people shouted.
"Oh my God, are we saved?!" Another added.
Some people began to kneel and pray and from those who kneeled, some even began to cry out of joy. I don't know why, but I just have a bad feeling about it.
However, not everyone felt the same way.
"Who the fuck are you?!", apparently, some people can't read the atmosphere.
Me and Michael snapped from what felt like a trance as we turned our heads towards the direction of the voice.
An old man, he looks Asian. He's wearing a brown-leather jacket and regular-looking jeans. Balding ang sagging, with his lips completely folding inside his mouth. He's the stereotypical old man that shouts out you to get out of his lawn.
"Don't you show respect to your elders?! Get me out of here right now, you stupid hag!" The old man continued to shout as some people tried to soothe the old man into calming down, holding him into suddenly turning things physical.
The people that prayed was shouting at the old man, saying how sacrilegious he's behaving. Some just watched and enjoyed the show.
"Damn, things are getting heated." I muttered enough for Michael to hear my thoughts. Without moving my head, I turned my eyeball towards the pretty Fae lady as I jumped a little from the shock, yet smirked, a bit fearful by the expression she was now wearing.
For such an attractive being, she sure looks feral.
She closed her eyes and lost her anger as I widened my eyes to see such emotional control. I guess that's what you expect from a person that looks like a deity.
"Hmm?", a curious hum escaped from my lips. She raised her forearm... and she snapped her fingers.
The noise that the snap produced felt like a huge crack, enough for it to feel like some high-pitch screeched whispered into your ears; painful enough to want to cover your ears.
However, one person experienced a different effect...
The old man's head exploded.
It was so unexpected. His head popped like a balloon, gushing huge amounts of blood like a fountain. It's body didn't even kneeled and slowly fall like what you expect in movies. It just flopped like a ragdoll, it behaved like how you make your teddy bear stand but just instantly falls.
People screamed as some were bathed in blood. People ran and it looked like a riot was about to begin. Michael was starting to panic but the soldier in him seems to prevent him from moving recklessly.
I glanced at the woman, which I remembered, was mentioned a Fae in the screen that suddenly appeared earlier. She was fuming. Her eyes widened in anger and her teeth was gritting like she was about to crush it.
"SHUT UP, YOU FUCKING ANTS!", Her voiced echoed as her holy-like aura shattered into a million pieces.
"I've been trying to be understanding since it's your first day, but how dare you act like livestock in front of me!" She spoke with an aggressive fervor. Her words felt like chains as every time her mouth opens, it just gets harder to move!
Despite being calm, this numbness in my body is unnatural. How could someone's words dictate someone's being this much?
If I don't do something, we'll die!
"If you fat-headed pigs move even an inch, I swear, you're going to end up like that old fuck from earlier.", The Fae ordered as her once angelic face has now turned to what looks like a merciless psychopath. It's not everyday you see a beautiful woman's nerve pop out of their forehead.
And so, we froze.
Most of us tried not moving, but humans are not the listening-type when their emotions are on overload. Some began to panic even further, despite the words that the Fae emitted felt paralyzing.
And so, their head popped like popcorn.
This... is making me anxious.