The guider

[ "It's the guider".]

He opened the door and a gust of wind went inside the room as he did so. A lady, clothed in a crimson coloured gown stood in front of him, her head made into a ponytail and her eyes almond shaped and charming.

"Can I come in?", she said.

Knagslot was relieved by her beauty, he didn't know what to say. He just stood there like a moron and stared at her.

She waved at him. " Hello, can I come in?".

"Sur - e - sure", he said, a stutter. He went to one side and she gracefully entered the room. Her charisma surprised him as he closed the door. Finally, he came to his senses enough to say:

"What I'm I doing here?".

"Playing in the nightmare for clowns. Apparently, you are now a clown. The minion's clown".

Knagslot was aghast. " But the goblin guy said we willingly chose to enter into the game. Well, I didn't, I don't want to be here, I don't want to play in the games, I want to go home".

"To be frank, you can not. There's no turning back, you are here until you win the games. The price is basically your life", said the guider.

"My life?', said knagslot. " This is crap!".

"You were chosen".

"By who?".

"By the witch of the clowns", said the lady.

"Wait, you mean the old woman who told me those scary things?".

"Yes, she was sent to recruit players for the event and she picked you. This is not a game but a kind of realm, let me say empire or even a kingdom, if that is the right word".

"So what's the the point?", knagslot asked.

"Humans get to fight monsters and beasts, if they win, they level up and move on to the next stages of the tournament but if they lose, they die", said the lady.

"That's brutal", knagslot said as the lady sat on the bed. " But what do the owners or conductors of this game tend to get?".

The lady smiled and looked at knaglost straight in the eye. " Don't you see the stadium is full of people, they pay to see you guys fight and this is how the owners make money".

Before knagslot could utter another question, the lady brought out a small mirror from the side pockets of her gown and gave it to him.

"What should I use it for?", knagslot asked.

"Take a look at yourself", she said.

Knagslot looked into the mirror and saw to his surprise that his face had changed. The light skin colour, his freckles and curly hair had gone. And so was his boyish and handsome face. What he saw in the mirror now was a man with a hardened face, small lips, red almost bloodshot eyes and low cut brown hairs on his head. He gasped and threw the mirror at the floor. The mirror broke into pieces and he breathed heavily.

"What!", he screamed as he turned around and faced the lady. " I've - I've - I've -".

"Reincarnated as dot Korreto", completed the lady.

Knagslot fell to his knees, his face facing the floor and his hands on it. He breathed really heavily.

"Check your neck, at the right hand side", said the lady.

Knagslot did so and noticed that there was a mark on it, he picked up the fragments of the broken mirror and checked his neck. It had a sign of MINION'S CLOWN.

The lady stood up. " I'm your guide, well, people call me the guider but you can call me yilong. I'll be showing you around. And note, you're someone else here. You are dot Korreto and dot Korreto was once a person".

Yilong went to the door and opened it meticulously - discreetly if that was the word. She walked outside and said sharply to knagslot:

"Follow me at once".

Knagslot did so and went out of the room, yilong bolting it. The sharpness of the wind entered into knagslot's body outside. It chilled him and he felt cold. The walk was a silent one, they passed the places knaglost and the goat beasts had passed before coming to the room. But before they reached the exit door, yilong turned to a wall with a sign like a flying bird on it, she pressed it and the wall opened, her hands quickly grabbing on knagslot hands as she pulled him inside.

It was dark and then there were dim lights, illuminating a big hall filled with men and women in boxer shorts and boxing gloves. It felt inscrutable to knagslot. What had just happened was amazing him. They had just entered a wall!. The people in the hall stared at knagslot with probing but yet indifferent eyes.

"Hey everyone, welcome a new contestant, his name is Dot korreto", said yilong to the inhabitants of the place.

Some waved at him while others simply scoffed and went back to what they were doing. Knagslot noted that the people were hostile but he didn't seem to be bothered. Moreover, who would be happy waking up to find him or herself reincarnated as different people and then get to compete in a game against their will.

The place seemed like a gym. There were heavy weights being lifted by some people and there were others which were untouched. There were also punching bags hung behind a wall and some people were punching it censoriously. Knagslot breathed in and out, being a stranger in this gathering, he felt like he didn't belong there.

Yilong faced knagslot and said. " I'll leave you to train and make some new friends. Another round of the tournament starts in some hours".

Knagslot nodded in the affirmative and yilong walked to the wall, doing a sign with her fingers which opened the door. Knagslot faced the people and felt uneasy. He walked over to a bench were a heavy weight layed behind and sat on it, staring at the people blankly. There was a bottle of water by the bench and as he was stretching his legs, he mistakenly knocked it over.

A fat and short man who was lifting a weight behind him shouted: " Hey!, what was that for!".

Before knagslot could say sorry, the fat man had delved his left fist into the face of knagslot who reeled off the bench and onto the ground.