Kai had expected to find himself in another room.
He expected too much. When he opened his eyes, it was dark around him. So dark, he couldn’t even see his hand when he lifted it. He flailed his hands, but it was just emptiness. Finally, he turned.
Far away, above his eye-level, Kai saw a beam of light. It was just a speck, a rope dwindling in a well. Kai stepped towards it. The more he approached it, the more he felt he was moving up a slope. Not too steep, but just enough to give him a sense of height.
He ambled. He jogged. And when he couldn’t sense any danger, he bolted. He could feel it, his Agility. He was faster and more agile. Nimble! Kai thought, stopping just before the entrance. Sweaty, but not out of breath.
It’s a cave, Kai reflected. He looked back and saw the slanted ground. It’s like I am coming out of the earth itself.
The darkness had almost receded, enough for Kai to see the red-orange hues outside. A smell hit his nose, of heat, soot, and dust. He looked down, feeling the clothes over him. He was wearing a plain white shirt which brought out the hazel of his eyes. There were a loose black pants under it, tightened at his waist with a belt. His leather shoes were ordinary, and suitable enough for running.
Kai scanned his Inventory, making sure everything was there. Well, here we go then, Kai thought, taking a deep breath. Ten steps brought him to the mouth of the cave, and with twenty more Kai found himself in the open. A gust of dry air welcomed him.
Noise!
Kai’s ears came alive from the sudden cacophony. He twisted his neck right and left and found many similar open mouths within the earth. It seemed like hundreds of dark worms were trying to crawl out of the earth but got fixed in time by some higher power. There were others too, coming out of the caves. Some were wary, some were scared, and a few were like Kai, emotionless.
“HERE!” a powerful voice thundered in Kai’s ears. He looked straight ahead, and in the distance, found the silhouette of an armored knight. Even from a distance, the knight seemed tall to Kai. The voice came back as Kai stepped towards the figure. “HURRY! HERE!”
Kai didn’t hurry. He mingled with the crowd, not too near, and not too far from the shouting figure. Now that he was nearer, Kai could see the knight clearly. The armor had a dull-silver color, covered in signs of heavy battles. Scarcely any part of the armor had remained smooth. It was plain, and nothing seemed special about it.
The white cloak, fastened at the knight’s shoulders, sang another song. Strange! Full of mysteries! The gusts of dry air made it flutter high and low. Kai saw it then, the sigil embroidered over the cloak.
Yin-Yang?! Kai could tell at one glance. Even in his previous life, the Essence Cultivators had given high emphasis to this symbol. It was understood that one needed to maintain a balance between the human and beast’s essence. But the Yin-Yang symbol Kai knew had white and black for the colors. Red?! Blue?! Somehow, it feels wrong.
Kai felt a weird itch inside him as he saw those colors. The red entwined into blue, and the blue in red. And when the strong, dry air gusts waned, he found the reason for that itch.
What is this? Kai asked himself, his eyes widening. The Yin-Yang was a symbol of harmony and balance. What balance? What harmony? The blue was still acceptable, but from the perimeter covered by red, hundreds of weapons were jutting out. Tiny images, just clear enough to tell them apart. Swords, spears, maces, armors, and many more. It threw everything that Yin-Yang meant off the cliff.
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It was unnatural!
It was Chaos!
Few were concerned about the sigil. Most of them hadn’t even noticed it. Their gazes were planted on the knight, and at his helm with the opened visor. He was a man, of course. Kai had already found that much from the voice. His eyes were deep brown, and a thick mustache rested over his upper lip. When all the new Contestants had gathered up a few meters in front of him, his voice boomed.
“I am Ser Morgan Tussy,” the knight introduced himself. “You all will address me as captain from now on until you can’t anymore. The Initiation Mission must have given you enough opportunities to know about the mess you have come to. So I won’t waste my breath on that.”
He is strong, Kai thought. Weaker than Arlen, but stronger than Desmond. He must be a top 2nd floor Contestant. Why is one of his caliber here, welcoming the 1st floor’s newbies?
“Night is approaching,” the knight continued, looking at the sky. “I am assigned the detail to drop you lot at the 1st floor’s city. I will say it one time. Don’t break the line. Don’t open your mouth. When I question, you answer. Simple enough, right?”
Many gulped when the knight showed a grin at the end. Kai could feel it too. The knight’s intense thirst for blood. Kai wanted to grin in return, and it took him all his strength to hold that back.
“Then what are you all gawking at?” the knight suddenly snapped. “Line up.”
Kai joined the crowd to make a single row. He had been looking around, but he could find no sign of Shae. Are there more of these caves? He asked himself. There must be, otherwise, it would make little sense.
When they had made a single, long file, the knight shut his visor, his eyes hiding behind the metal. He whistled loudly, and the ground shook. Kai saw a tall, black destrier running towards them from far. Ser Morgan mounted the horse and trotted it along the column’s length.
He is making a count, Kai could tell. It had become completely silent, following an unspoken command. The knight returned after the task was done and gave a hard look to anyone who could still feel the thirst in his eyes.
“Haha! Thirty-three and a hundred,” Ser Morgan Tussy said, chuckling, his destrier whining in excitement. “Let’s see how many of you will reach the city. Last time there were double of this number. You know how many made it?”
And then he answered his question, turning around. “Twenty.”