Frederick had been focused on winning all his life. There was nothing he cared more about.
His grandmother found his cousins playing of the violin more beautiful than his? Then he would practice until he couldn't feel his wrist anymore and could play pieces 3 levels more difficult than his cousin could.
He was in danger of losing his position of first in his years class ranking? Then he would forfeit sleep and study until no one got close to his grades. His health be damned.
There was a free place for a promotion at his office? He would make sure to be the most outstanding choice for it even if it meant that he had to spread nasty rumors about his coworkers and badmouth them.
One time a coworker asked him if he had no shame. He laughed in her face. "What do I care about shame if having shame means having to lose?" She was left speechless at this statement of his. She threw another not very pleasant remark at him of which he couldn't remember the specific choice of words and then left their workplace forever.
Nothing could compare to the feeling of winning for him. Whenever he won, be it in a boardgame, his job or any type of competition, the rush that overtook him was worth having no social life (his grandmother and cousin who despite his unlikeable character still never abandoned him being rare exceptions) and being single all his life.
One evening he went to bed and a ping sound from his smartphone alarmed him to a new message. He wondered who it could be. Normally only his cousin - that sleepless scoundrel - would text him this late but they hadn't conversed in a while.
When he went to check it was a message from an unknown ID.
[You will qualify for the Desert Games tonight. Prepare yourself.]
Nothing more. Just those two strange sentences. Frederick frowned.
Who is this? He replied but got no answer in return.
Well, nothing he could do about it. The person must have gotten the wrong number. Or it was a joke message. Without wasting another thought on this mysterious message, he deleted it and went to sleep.
When he awoke, he couldn't recognize his surroundings. Grey fog filled his vision and the sunlight had to fight its way through thick clouds to illuminate even one step ahead of him. And even there ahead of him, all he could see was sand. It must be a dream, he thought.
Ping.
The sound of a new message alerted him to the smartphone in his right hand. Strange. Hadn't he put it on his night table to charge? This really must be a dream.
[Walk.]
What? That was all it said? No directions, just walk? So this wasn't only a dream but a shitty one.
But alas, walking sounded better than standing around with no goal in mind, so, still wearing the pajamas he had worn to sleep last night, he set out, walking in a random direction.
While he walked towards an unknown goal for what felt like an eternity on never ending sand hills, the sand under his shoes sank in a bit with every step he took. After a while his leg muscles got really tired but strange sense of urgency kept him walking.
For some reason he just knew that if we would stop know he would lose – whatever there was to lose. He also didn't know against whom he would lose but that wasn't important.
His mouth started to dry up and he was starting to get a headache because of the lack of water. This was seriously a strange dream. Could he please wake up soon? Walking endlessly without a distraction was boring him.
It got so bad, he started singing the current trendy top song you could hear being played at the radio station every hour or so in his head. It was only in his head instead of out loud, what was scientifically proven to be better at spirit lifting, because he didn't want to let his mouth become any drier.
After what felt like a week, but what might have been only a few hours, he felt a strong sense of relief wash over him when finally something else came into his view in this wasteland and the fog seemed to vanish.
It was... a giant billboard surrounded by a mass of people? It was made entirely of wood and its two pillars seemed to be sprouting unnaturally out of the sand. Around it a crowd of confused people stood. They must have arrived here before him.
Some were sitting on the sand, not talking with anyone. Others had dispersed in small groups and seemed to be conversing with each other. A few people were looking at the board in confusion. It felt like they were trying to find some hidden meaning.
Frederick stepped near the board as well so he could read the words without others blocking his view. In big, bold letters that looked like they had been carved in by a small child stood written at the top:
Welcome to the Desert
Beneath it, other words filled the board in more elegant and delicate swirls as the few words before, as if they were carved in the wood by someone way more artistically.
You died an unnaturally death and those met the requirement of joining the Desert Games.
Every player can choose between the following main goals and will acquire missions based on the path they chose.
Main goal no.1: Be reborn and pursue a new life on earth.
Main goal no.2: Return to your old life shortly before the moment of your death.
Main goal no.3: Become a servant of the current ruler of the Desert and assist in leading the Games or obtain daily living as an immortal in Azreel, the Empire of the Desert.
Main goal no.4: Become the new emperor or empress of Azreel and rule the world of the Desert.
Warning! Those who chose no.3 or no.4 will never be able to return to life on earth and instead continue living in Azreel forever.
You will have to play five games before you have to decide on a path.
Suddenly he heard the simultaneous sound of a new message from the phones of the people around him as well as his own.
[Beginner Game no.1 starts in 5 minutes. Prepare yourself.]
"Did we all receive the same message?" A young woman who stood near Frederick questioned and showed her phone to the people around her, getting confirming nods as a response.
"Man," she sighed, "I really wonder what I did to deserve all this hassle. I was just waiting at the bus stop to go home from university when a strange man came up to me and just stabbed me."
Her being a student aligned with the fresh air of youthfulness her stature expressed. "At least my stab wound is gone."
She was talking about all that if it really just a small hassle and not like she had just gotten the news about losing her life. Safe to say, Fred was also not outright freaking out but he would not be able to talk about being stabbed to death like it was a tea of which he didn't like the taste of.
Another man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties furrowed his brows, "I have no burn scars either even though I died in a fire."
Had all these people really died before coming here? Frederick couldn't for the life of him remember dying. He just went to sleep. Maybe it had been a heart attack in the middle of the night?
But no, the board had said the requirement for participating in those games was dying an unnatural death. There was nothing unnatural about a heart attack.
Besides, he liked to consider himself too healthy and young to die randomly because of a heart attack. Though there was a saying that exceptions proved the rule, he still was in doubt about it.
Perhaps someone had murdered him in his sleep? There were many people in his life who he had wronged so it didn't seem too unlikely. For now, it was better to not dwell on it.
The thought that this was just a dream he had given up a while ago. Everything just was way too strange and realistic. There was no way he could dream this.
[Two minutes remaining.]
"But what exactly is this strange place," an elderly man muttered.
A man in a suit shrugged, "Must be the afterlife."
"Oh no, this cannot be the afterlife," another person said in disagreement. "This is not how it was described in the-"
The man in the suit scoffed, "Really? Because of your own personal beliefs, you think this cannot be possible? Well, it's time for all of us to wake up now. We all have died, there is no denying that. So, what if not the afterlife could it possibly be?" He talked with an arrogant tone to his voice.
"Perhaps it's like a place in between earth and the afterlife," the student spoke again. At the thought of a mystery her eyes started to sparkle.
[One minute remaining.]
"I want my parents," a new voice suddenly sobbed. It was the first time Frederick and the other people in the crowd looked at the young boy who had gone unnoticed before.
A shocked clamor went through the crowd. He was one of the few people who didn't seem shocked at the appearance of a child. Children were no exception to death. He knew that.
He also couldn't let his focus slip at this unknown place.
[Beginner Game no.1 starts now.]