The Game
Chapter 24
There was something on the monster's head.
Eidolon squinted.
Wait... is that-?
Floating just above the chimera's crown was a symbol.
A red arrow-shaped icon, sharp and unmistakable-yet it glowed a bright, toxic green, pulsing faintly as if alive. It bobbed up and down in a slow, deliberate rhythm.
Like it was... marking the beast.
Eidolon glanced right.
Then left.
"Isn't anyone seeing that?" he whispered, panic threading his voice.
No one answered.
The arrow continued its gentle movement, rising and falling, almost patiently.
What does it mean...?
"Haaaa-"
He never finished the thought.
A scream tore through the coliseum.
One of the forty children-near the edge of the arena-had broken. Pure terror spilled from his lungs, raw and unrestrained.
The drums stopped.
Instantly.
Silence crashed down so hard it hurt.
"Tch."
A voice chuckled.
"Silence, you useless worm."
The speaker leaned forward from the elder's platform, his presence oily and wrong.
"Save your screaming," he continued lazily, "until that thing over there comes to gobble you up."
He laughed-slow, amused.
Eidolon's blood ran cold.
Who in God's name is that...?
Then he saw it.
Stitched into the man's cloak-
The number 2.
An Elder.
Those bastards...
The Second Elder rose to his feet, spreading his arms as if welcoming an audience to a festival.
"Listen well," he announced. "You are all gathered here today to be chosen by God."
His smile widened.
"Rejoice. Before today, your lives were meaningless. But now?"
He tapped his chest.
"Now they finally have purpose."
The children trembled.
"Bleed," he continued calmly.
"Rage.
Scream.
Feel pain."
He leaned forward, eyes gleaming.
"And absolutely die for our God."
Eidolon's stomach twisted.
"Oh, I'm sure you're wondering why," the Elder went on, pacing. "And what you're doing here."
He raised one finger.
"I'll answer one question."
The finger pointed downward-toward them.
"You are here to play my game."
A pause.
"And play it you shall."
Is this guy a lunatic...? Eidolon thought wildly. I don't understand a single thing he's saying-
"No-"
He froze.
"Let the game begin."
Chink.
Metal shifted.
Chink.
Iron groaned.
Chink.
Cracks spread across the massive cage.
Then-
BOOM.
The ground exploded outward.
"W-what-what was that?!" Eidolon shouted, stumbling as dust and debris filled the air.
From the collapsing cage-
A roar shook the heavens.
And above the monster's head-
The glowing arrow flared brighter.
--