A part of me had been fully ready for the party last night to become some fireball of disaster, someone attacking, invading, or general un-natural shenanigans leading to something bad, but no, everyone had the party, talked to people and went home.
Yet at the same time I was worried, mainly for two reasons. The first was that Pip guy, his confession was strange and out of left field, but Selene's succinct rejection would probably spark some animosity. So I was worried he may try to sabotage us in some way. The other was the fact that after Selene's rejection Ymer seemed to be talking to Pip for quite some time with a sort of evil grin on his face. Though Ymer in general gave off an evil vibe, so he may have just been smiling, but Im going to assume it was a sinister grin.
"I think you're looking into it too much."
Jax said as we all made our way to our pillar in the arena as we saw others doing the same.
"Hey, dude brought his whole squad to attack Selene and I in the street with plans to kill us, I doubt he has had a sudden change of heart."
Liora said, crossing her arms as we all took our positions. I found myself staring to the side where Ymer's group stood, seemingly in small talk much like our own. Yet I couldn't help but feel a level of ominousness from that.
My thoughts on Ymer and his group were cut off however by our platforms beginning to rise as they had done yesterday. We rose up to the top where to our surprise we saw that one of the 5 judges was standing on a small semi transparent platform, however what terrified me was who stood behind him. His mask, and attire were just the same as before, the cruel cresents that made space for eyes and mouth despite being seemingly void and empty, like staring into an abyss instead of the space behind the porcelain. Though what was the most unsettling was the strange silence in comparison to the fear we had felt last time. He had been like a hurricane moving through, everyone clinging to whatever they could to not get dragged away in its fury, but to not even know he was there until we saw him was like standing on the beach and turning around to see a tsunami just inches from you that you never noticed. I felt like I should stumble back, but my body refused to move, that familiar feeling of locking up to prevent myself from moving, in case it told him where I was.
Red stood behind the judge who I think was named Fable, as he leaned down, and whispered something to him before vanishing. A noise like a thousand heald breaths escaping everyone as they realized they were safe once again. From the middle platform Fable clapped his hands together as the sound echoes throughout the silent coliseum.
"They say a person is tied to their fate at birth. Let's test that theory shall we? Each of you here will be assigned a random number to determine your bound fate. If you take a moment to reflect, you can see it. It's up to you to have the highest fate before the time is up. At any point, you may forcefully swap your fate with up to two people who haven't swapped with you by simply pointing at them and snapping your fingers."
Around the coliseum several rectangles with rounded corners appeared in the sky like massive system screens. Each depicted what seemed to be rooms of a large mansion floating inside of a strange starry space like a chunk of ground had been ripped up. Fable once again clapped as we all turned back as we saw what looked to be a set of floating cards on either side of him, one held a closed black eye on both sides, the other an open golden eye.
"During the event, if you're lucky, you'll find black or golden cards. You may use them to exchange a swap of yours into a boon. The golden cards give you Golden Eyes to see the fates of everyone around you. The black cards give you Shadow Eyes, to hide your number from those with Golden Eyes."
"I hope this is part of the event."
Beatrice said behind me as I turned and saw that everyone seemed to be turning into sparks like when they enter a dungeon. I turned to look at the other groups, however it seems only 4 pedestals were being affected. Were our group, Loners and Friends, Leftovers and Co, and Please Don't Split. I knew the people from Loner and Friends, and we saw Leftovers and Co yesterday at the party, however I missed seeing Please Don't Split. There was a third clap as we all turned to Fable as he said.
"While you can't say what your number is, you're free to cooperate with your team as you wish. The team with the member who has the highest bound fate wins. Now, let the game of Fatebound commence!"
I found myself waking up to a strange room. Next to me a fireplace crackled with a flame that didn't seem to grow or shrink as if sustained by magic. I shifted and found that I was seated in a large, fancy velvet chair. The kind you could imagine a noble in a robe resting in with a book and a warm drink next to the fireplace. Looking around the room there were racks with a deer, elk, and moose head on the wall, boxes were piled in a corner and a small table sat with a three pronged candle illuminating a few plates with scraps of food. I saw that I was not alone in the room.
There were 4 chairs, facing in a sort of X shape. Across from me I saw Cassius who seemed to be rubbing his head as if he had smacked his head when he came in somehow. To his left was the human I had seen yesterday with the hearty smile and beard. He now had a hammer on his back and his normal smile was replaced by a look of confusion as he looked around the room. Turning to my right was something strange sight. She was the beastkin fox women who has been with the bearded man before, however she was oddly gray in color, frozen in place as if a picture instead of a person.
"Uh, is she ok?"
Cassius asked as he pointed towards the girl and looked to the rest of us.
"I sure hope so, is she stuck in something?"
The bearded man said as he stood and walked over, gently shaking his team mate's shoulder as if to wake her. She didn't move, but a system message appeared before the bearded man as he scratched at his chin and turned to Cassius and I who were now on either side of him observing the girl.
"Got a message, says that we need to solve the puzzle of the room to release the trapped teammates within."
"A puzzle? I thought this was a mind games thing."
Cassius said as I headed for the doorway of the room. I reached out and sure enough, a strange unseeable force stopped me from moving through as if there was a wall in the way.
You have not solved the puzzle within the room, solve the puzzle to explore the rest of the manor
"Its not letting us out until we solve the puzzles either, any Ideas where we can start?"
I said as I turned back to the others. The bearded man shrugged as he began to scan the room while I looked to Cassius who was staring at a nearby tall mirror and glancing up.
"Huh, this thing says I'm number 1 at something."
"What do you mean?"
I asked walking over to the mirror. I didn't see anything where Cassius was looking, however floating over my own head was the number 18. My mind flashed back to the introduction and the use of the word reflect in the description.
"I think thats your number for this game, so its less your number 1 and more your in last place."
The bearded man said patting Cassius on the shoulder. Cassius seemed to deflate slightly at this, probably because he both revealed his cards for the game itself, and because he was in fact not being judged as number 1. The bearded man headed back towards the fireplace and continued to look around as I said
"Before we begin, how about we get some introductions out of the way, Im Aiden of the Hogs Feet party."
I gestured to Cassius, hoping the momentum of the conversation would prevent the bearded man from trying to hide his name or something else like that.
"Uh, I'm Cassius, and I'm a member of Loner and Friends"
We both turned to the bearded man who put his hands on his hips and said.
"Names Cal, I'm a member of Leftovers and Co. The frozen woman in the chair over there is Tess, she is another member of my party"