5 Game World 0: The Obelisk

Aectaeon felt a prickling coldness invade his body. His eyes were still tightly shut, adding to the disorientation that he was feeling. The man couldn't figure out whether he was standing or lying on the floor. He couldn't see a thing, even his own body.

Everything around him was thriving silently in the darkness.

In the next second, a ringing sound pierced his ears. It gave him a headache that rattled his entire being. He immediately put his hands over his ears in hopes of lessening the pain. Unfortunately, it wasn't the slightest bit effective.

After a few seconds of suffering, quietude suddenly descended. He then heard a voice urging him to open his eyes.

Before Aectaeon could even adjust to the grainy darkness, his ears were violated for the second time. This time, the perpetrator was the high-pitched voice of a young girl overlaying a broken robotic voice.

{ "Players, you have all arrived at your destination." }

The man tried to plug his ears with his fingers, thinking that it would bring a better result than his earlier attempt. However, it seemed that the voice was directly invading his mind. There was no escape from it. Refusing to give up, he chose to focus his energy on his sense of sight.

{ "All of you, please open your eyes to the new reality." }

In less than no time, Aectaeon opened his eyes only to be welcomed by the blinding whiteness of the surroundings. The great contrast between the two environments he woke up to irritated him to the greatest extent.

He closed his eyes once more, and after a few seconds, opened them slowly to allow his sight to adjust.

'Where in mercy's sake is this place?!' Aectaeon screamed in his thoughts as he let his eyes adapt to the new scenery. Once he could see clearly, Aectaeon roamed his gaze around the area.

An enormous crowd had locked him in his spot. To his relief, it wasn't that cramped considering that they were all, at the least, a meter apart. Hence, there was still room for privacy.

Thereafter, he remarked on the varying expressions of the people around him.

He observed how distraught some people were while the others just looked dumbfounded. Several individuals appeared as if they were wailing out of fear, but not a sound was able to escape their wide-open mouths. The man chose to avert his gaze from those people. He didn't like the view of people succumbing to their weaknesses.

On the other side of the spectrum, a select number were ceaselessly trying to search for a way out of the situation. Unfortunately for them, there was an invisible wall that had enclosed every single one of them individually. The walls did vibrate upon making contact with their attacks, yet they didn't show any signs of breaking down, much less a crack.

'Should I be acting like them? Well, I don't think it's smart. I don't want to risk wasting energy here when I have to get up early.' Aectaeon said to himself, resuming his agenda shortly thereafter.

The thing that Aectaeon found relieving was the fact that there were a few who were like him -- calm all the while gathering information about their unfamiliar environment.

'See, it's doable after all. Staying calm, that is.'

Without waiting for Aectaeon -- or anyone for that matter -- to finish explorating the area, the young girl's robotic voice began to make itself known once more.

{ "Player's welcome to the Obelisk's first floor." }

{ "In this area, you are all equal. Only those who follow the system will be able to thrive the Obelisk as they wish." }

{ "But before anything else, let me introduce myself." }

{ "I am named Luluwa. I am one of the five guides that rule the Obelisk." }

{ "I will be giving all of the pieces of information that you will need to survive the system." }

Aectaeon didn't pay heed to the young girl's announcement. He didn't have any inclination towards children's games. Though, there was one question that Aectaeon had to answer.

Despite how inexplicable his circumstances were, why was he able to uphold his composure?

The reason was as simple as it could be.

{ "Players, heed my words." }

Luluwa's voice resounded loudly throughout the area. Nevertheless, the distraught ones became even more distraught while some began to harbour anger in their eyes. Almost no one was willing to hear Luluwa out.

In the intervening time, Aectaeon assayed to find the source of the voice. But that was harder done than said. The voice merely echoed from all directions, making it difficult to pinpoint where it was coming from.

Soon, his curiosity would be quelled by the appearance of a figure in the far distance. He wasn't sure if it was the middle of the crowd, but he assumed that it was to satisfy himself.

'Where else would this Luluwa person appear? Somewhere on the sidelines? That sounds inconvenient for someone who wants attention.'

Despite the great distance between Aectaeon and Luluwa, the man could see her face as if she was right in front of him.

Luluwa had a golden crown. It appeared like the thin rays of the sun had solidified and nested on her head. Her ears were similar to a feline's, only it had the same colour as her crown. Luluwa's hair, wavily reaching her shoulders, had a rose gold shade.

Her irises were pure white orbs under her sunset painted eyelids. Six streams of golden tears were dripping down her eyes, stopping just above her cheeks. She had donned a white coat that covered the rest of her body. Based on her stature alone, Aectaeon presumed her to be within ten to twelve years of age.

If it were not for the extra eye on her forehead and the two eyes on both sides of her neck, Aectaeon would have classified her as a human.

He was repulsed seeing the eyes on her neck move. The man couldn't even begin to imagine how her optic nerves were tangled inside her throat.

'It's final. This dream is really weird.'

Aectaeon scrunched his nose as his eagerness to wake up increased. He didn't want to indulge in a fantasy with such a bizarre character.

{ "Players, this is my final warning. Heed my words." }

Sensing the threat behind her words, Aectaeon fixated his eyes on Luluwa. There were some who followed his lead. Regrettably, not everyone had the composure, or rather, were well in their rights to continue grieving.

{ "I've given my warning." }

{ "However, I will still give a chance to those who want to escape the Obelisk. Please raise your hands if you aren't willing to partake of the glory of the system." }

Sure enough, a plethora of hands was suddenly seen in the air. Without a delay, a square-meter section of the floor below each of them collapsed, sending them to the lowest floor of the Obelisk immediately. They all landed on their rears, afraid and at a loss.

As for those who had remained, they were free to watch the quitters since the ground had become transparent. To their horror that went beyond expectations, the so-called prison didn't have an ounce of resemblance with the floor they were currently in.

Within the Obelisk's prison, the worst levels of hell were awaiting to swallow the absconders.