Starting the Death Game

"...So you're certain that this is the legit gear?"

"Are you doubting me now?"

"Yes—I'm a bit of skeptic, and your reputation is infamously lacking..."

"...It's legit, I swear. People have been selling them off since before people have been disappearing, but no one wants to touch them anymore—save for the truly insane."

A click denoted the beginning of a flame, and in that flickering light that shorted out, there was the face of a handsome, yet older man. Salt and pepper hair and wrinkled, tan skin were illuminated before being hidden beneath his classy hat.

He gave no offense to the man's remarks—he was truly out of his mind to be doing something this.

Only a madman would participate in that heaven forsaken game when it was an almost certain ticket to the life of a vegetable or a seemingly magical disappearance.

'This heaven forsaken sense of responsibility... honestly, that darned junior ought to be thankful for having such an impeccable senior and mentor...'

That's right; in all his wisdom and experience born from years of his miserable existence, Wisdom Hallock chose to enter "Five Kingdoms", otherwise dubbed "the death game" by those who went in and never returned. Of course, for the greater good of mankind, he was going to be monitored within a hospital, to be studied and examined in hopes of perhaps waking up from the "game" alive.

No one knew this, naturally.

See, last night, when he held his gun to his head in hopes of blowing out both his misery and brains, a sudden thought entered his mind:

'...It would be a real shame if Mirabelle died for nothing...'

He knew what Celine, Alf, and Mirabelle would do.

Celine would charge in headfirst, without a thought of consequences ahead in order to bring back her daughter; Alf would analyze the situation, and depending on the loss and gain, he would act—most likely in favor of sitting it out.

Mirabelle would quietly help what she could on her end, caring for her granddaughter until learning of a certain, permanent method of either making contact with her, or bringing her back.

Wisdom wasn't like them; he wasn't impulsive but with a big heart like Celine, logical yet cutthroat like Alf, or even cautious but considerate and determined like Mirabelle.

No, he was just Wisdom—clever, cynical, bold, cowardly and tired old Wisdom who dug his feet into the ground while waiting for the rain and the mud to take him to the grave.

So, as he trudged away from the broker and towards his sad, dilapidated house that had held him for years, the weight of the gear had never been so heavy, yet so light.

———

"Hm?"

Markle, who had just entered the office, was alerted to a beeping near his ear, one that was specifically designed to denote contact from his mentor, Wisdom Hallock.

With a sigh and a dread that the older man would be waxing lethargically and pessimistically cynicism, he tapped his communer, the device behind his ear growing to link to his ear, a point forming to pick up his voice before he accepted the call.

"Detective Hallock, if you're going to be pessimistic, then please don't use me as a soundboard sir—"

"Shut it. I'm gonna do something really stupid, so you better drive me to the hospital for observation. I'm already hooked to a portable generator, and have already signed the papers consenting to hospital admittance for a long time. Wish me luck. Hallock out."

"W-Wait, sir—"

"Take care of yourself Markle Dorian. I... I consider you to be... one of the few decent people left..."

With that the call hang up, and for a second, Markle was left unable to move. He stared ahead at nothing, eyes blank and head emptier, before it kicked into high gear.

"...That stubborn old man!"

He ran out of the police station, calling a public hover to take him back to Wisdom Hallock's house. He threw the credits and punched in the address before clambering into the back seat, yelling something about going the highest legal speed, as he preferred not to be held back by one of his coworkers for a ticket.

'Please, please, please not be what I think...'

———

It was exactly what he thought. As he stared down at the inert form of Wisdom Hallock, head gear over his face and as motionless as a corpse, he felt a dread and exhaustion that left him staggering, falling to his knees as if he had lost all strength.

"...Wisdom you old fool... weren't you supposed to be the smart one?"

Wisdom Hallock had started the death game.