Lights lit up.
The luxurious room was illuminated under the fluorescent white lights, painting the white marble tables underneath—
Hmm… no, that's not it.
The luxurious room was illuminated under the fluorescent white lights, engulfing us in that—
No, no. This is not good either.
The luxurious room was—
I stopped again.
Sensing that the atmosphere around me brightened, I realized that the light had already returned. Knowing that, I stopped whatever I was doing before and focused on the thing that was right in front of me.
The screen that occupied half of the wall went black.
It was over. Well, for now. Though, by that point, we all knew the next one was about to begin.
I was sitting on one of the overly large couches with another seven people at one of the long white tables. My seat was at the end. A bunch of other tables were neatly ordered all around us, and just like with the table I was sitting at, the others, too, had eight people occupying them.
Does this thing even make any sense… ?
No, I-I can't be bothered with that. Everything—Yes, everything will work out in the end.
He can do it. I know that. It's already been decided.
Trust the process. Just trust it and…
I put my glove to my chest as a word crossed my mind. As soon as I got hold of that thought, I wasted no time saying it in my head.
Yes, believe. I just need to…
I took a deep breath, sniffing in so much air that my lungs could no longer hold any.
I kept thinking of the word, repeating it over and over again.
Believe. Believe.
I kept repeating the words, hoping that eventually they would calm me down.
Believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe.
Even though I kept saying the words, my heart rate did not deplete. It beat faster and faster. Each moment. Each breath. It increased.
I grabbed my suit and twisted my glove. My other arm covered my face.
Then I repeated:
believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe
Each word followed the one after it faster and faster until I could no longer think of that word anymore.
Thunder raged in my heart. Trembled through my lungs. Echoing.
I had to put an end to this.
Knowing I had failed in making peace within me, I no longer thought about the words they said would help me get better; instead, all I was thinking about was nothing. I let silence take me wherever it wanted. Wasn't quite calm, though; the suffocating feeling went away, so for the time being, that was the best I could have.
I just sat on my couch with shut eyes, holding my head in a not particularly comfortable position, although, I probably had no idea what was going on in that room—aside from the blazing light, of course—so I wasn't really bothered by that inconvenience.
.
…
.
There it was: silence. Pleasant silence.
But it did not last.
Not long after, something unpleasant began to fill my ears.
Murmurs.
With my eyes closed, I heard them. They were all around me.
Eventually, their voices returned.
"Is he ok?"
"I don't know. He always felt a bit… off."
I snapped back.
Faint sounds lingered in my mind. Soft, though, not that much. Just the kind of voices that would be distracting enough to wake someone up from the captivity of their mind, but not so strong as to shake them up from the dream they were having if they were in deep sleep like a bear's winter slumber.
My vision was yet to experience the light that surrounded the room we were all in, only lightly lifting my eyes to let some of the brightness enter the gates.
Eventually, my eyes were open, and the overwhelming stimulation made my vision disappear for a few seconds before returning. I put my black gloves on my eyes and rubbed them thoroughly, making sure no more exhaustion remained in them.
"Are you good?" asked one of them, lifting their cylinder enough to see me. "We have been waiting for you to wake up, but all you did was lie on your couch."
I raised my head, glancing at him with piercing eyes, as though I were a grumpy cat who had just been awakened.
"Finally, he's awake," said another guest in a red suit with a white dress shirt and black tie under it, sitting on a red leather couch at one of the white marble tables. "It's your turn. I get that you don't interfere or whatever, but the rules clearly state you have to make a move. And last time I checked, you are not above the law."
I rolled my eyes, almost opening my mouth.
This again? Well, whatever, I'll do some random shit as usual.
I deliberately moved my facial muscles in an exaggerated way as I asked:
"Huh? Did I doze off again?"
Another guest who sat at the same table as me replied.
"Yeah. Again."
He let out a heavy sigh.
"Just make a move before we die of old age."
A smirk appeared on his face. Though, it wasn't the typical mocking kind, rather… his was sadder? Something like that, I think.
Man, I still suck at this, I remarked to who knows who.
As I was busy doing… whatever, another guest pointed at me with his gloves—although it could have been the same guy who was talking to me before. Well, I'm not really sure.
Don't really care. Either way, it's the same to me.
Well, anyway, this person said this in a slightly harsh tone:
"And why are you still wearing that thing on your head? It's totally unnecessary."
As his hand moved up, pointing at me with his white gloves, his red suit lifted, revealing his white suit pants under it with a black belt wrapping around. In the middle of the belt, a white circle separated by a thin line of the same color as the belt at the top middle part of the circle, making the white circle disconnected from its two edges at the top.
I kept my gaze where any human would and ignored the person with the rude demeanor, already preparing myself to say something, but before I could, another person started speaking.
"I don't want this one to go on for ages, either," another one interrupted, rudely cutting in before I had even started my argument. "We were waiting enough, anyway." His gloves grabbed the two sides of the sofa.
An invisible puff of air flew out of his nose as he looked at me menacingly. Or however the person tried to instill fear in me.
I didn't break eye contact, simply made my muscles tense as my voice came out.
"I-I'm so sorry. I'll make my move right away."
My tone perfectly portrayed the image of an anxious person apologizing for even existing.
Without delay, I continued.
"So, I'm the last one then, right?" I asked, knowing the answer even before it came.
A deep, exhausted sigh washed over the atmosphere.
"Have you forgotten already? You're the worst," one of them said.
He didn't raise an eyebrow, only looking at me with cold eyes that met mine. Then, he continued. "Or have you yet to remember the rules clearly stating that the last one is always the one with the lowest points? Is your memory even comparable to a fly's?"
Fly? Are you telling me I do not have the greatest retention rate? If so, why haven't you said, like, I don't know, maybe a hamster or something?
As I was having a deep, philosophical discussion in my mind, I glanced at the tablet before me. All the others had the same black tablet in front of them, just mere inches from their hands.
Then, I shifted my attention back to him.
A smile formed on my face as I said, "Oh, I'm the last one."
I decided to ignore bringing up his weird analogy about the capacity of my memory and moved on, my hand already moving towards the marble table.
Though I had no room to talk either.
Shifting my body, I picked up the tablet with the same insignia on the back as the belt and entered my usual preferences. When I finished, I put the tablet back on the table, and my preferences were displayed on the big screen for all to see.
"49,545!?"
A collection of voices engulfed the room within moments.
"You don't have the authority to even do that!" One shouted from the crowd.
The smile did not disappear from my face.
"Have you forgotten?" I said, making the question linger in the air before continuing. "If you have enough credit, you can buy the higher-rank exclusive options."
Nobody said anything for seconds. A quiet tension swept across the room.
Then, someone who was just quietly observing things unfolding from the other side of the table spoke up as though he was the only one there capable of speaking.
"Indeed. However, such a purchase would require no less than 100,000 credits. How could a lowlife like you afford something so expensive? You must have cheated," said one of the noble-like figures.
Lowlife? Yeah, perhaps I am.
I kept smiling. Not letting my muscles rest even for a second, I asked:
"Cheated? How?"
"How you did it is of no importance," he said coolly. "There exists no conceivable way for someone of your standing to amass such a sum. Even at the maximum reward—less than a thousand credits per game—it would take far longer than a person like you could endure."
He looked me over, his soulless eyes capturing mine.
"That uniform is nothing more than a formality," he continued. "Do not mistake it for belonging."
I gazed at him.
"We've been here for ages. That's how I got that much."
I leaned back, ignoring half of what he said, and narrowed my eyes while making the smirk on my face even more ridiculous. Then said:
"But unlike all of you, I've gathered all of my findings to make a big investment."
After finishing my speech, I turned to watch the big screen in front of us, unbothered by the red-suited crowd around me.
They talked, or maybe they didn't. It didn't matter. There was this path before me; whatever tried to steer me away from it could not stop me. Try as they might, I was unreachable. Only one goal lingered in my heart. I couldn't care less about those who tried to take that away from me.
Big risk, high reward.
I said in my mind as we all simultaneously pushed the button that started the game.
Like before, all the lights turned off the moment everybody was ready, leaving nothing but the big, bright screen in the center of our attention.
I brought a glass of champagne to my mouth, made a drinking gesture, then put the glass down on a red wooden table next to where I was sitting.
From now on, let's all watch how everything plays out exactly how it was meant to be, shall we? I said in my mind as the white glow gradually weakened, then disappeared, leaving nothing behind.
Then the familiar sight appeared before our eyes: darkness.
.
And… the faint light emerged, taking us back where it all started, once again.