Chapter 2: Embrace of the Unknown

Chapter 2: Embrace of the Unknown

"Who or what the hell are you? Did you cause that hell outside?" Moose growls as he grabs the jester thing by its collar. 'Damn, he's stupid,' John thought to himself. 'If he was the cause or even related, do you really think grabbing and threatening him is in any way smart? Damn idiot,' John mentally says to himself, and almost as if his thoughts were clear as day or said out loud, the jester turned to him and nodded its head before looking back at Moose and tilting its head to the side.

"Kindly let go, you rude little boy, else I promise you won't like what comes next." It slowly says to him, the eye holes in the mask slowly bleeding to red as it seemed to stare at him. "And if I don't want to? What's a stick-looking freak like you going to do about it? Now you are going to tell us what the hell is going on, or else I am going to-" He got cut off.

"To what? Hit me? Threaten me? I'm not your wife, correction, your ex-wife. Now I was going to explain things anyway as it's part of my job, but it seems I need to set an example. The other guides may enjoy this part, but I have grown bored of it, so here's a lesson to the rest of you before I begin to explain what's happening."

And with that, faster than their eyes could see, Moose's arms were cleanly severed from his shoulders and falling to the ground. Two large blades black as night with a red tint and blood-looking speckles over them were held in the jester's hands, or where hands should be, instead clutching those blades were three-fingered clawed appendages covered in fur, clearly far from being human. It took a moment for Moose to register the pain, but once it did, he began screaming in pain and swearing profusely.

"Oh, does it hurt? It seems like it does, and I very much hope so. But here, let me help you feel a bit better." The jester continued and put the blades to his back, seemingly causing them to disappear. Moose's screaming seemed to stop, falling to his knees and from there into pieces, a large puddle of blood forming from his now-fallen parts on the floor. The girls scream, and the guys stand in front of them trying to shield them from the gory scene, except for John, who watched as everything was playing out, entirely numb and honestly scared yet a glint of excitement in his eyes along with some other unknown feelings.

"Now now, enough of that, he made the first move, not me. But enough of this and that, time to explain to you lucky survivors, and boy are you lot lucky. Normally it's just explained by a screen that should pop up soon. I am one of the game masters, set and in charge of making sure things run smoothly. You lot honestly probably shouldn't have made it. I mean, you lot should have been roasted by the mother dragons flying over to find a nesting ground for the baby dragons that you will be facing in this area. The big guys and girls upstairs are watching you lot now. The world you knew is over. Things are now more comparable to what you humans would call a game. In a moment, you will all be given a choice of class, and if you're lucky, a special class if there's something special about you or you catch the interest of, well, they are far beyond your reach, so think of them as gods. After you make your choice of class, I will explain more," the jester explained to them, and as soon as his words finished, a transparent screen appeared in front of all of them.

Seeing them stare blankly at the screen, the jester seemed to slowly grow impatient, as no one seemed to even touch it or do anything at all. "Come on, I don't have all day, choose already!" the jester snapped at them, causing them to jump.

"But what do we choose? There are only names and no description or anything. Do you want us to just pick without even knowing anything on what we're picking?" Steel managed to ask through his fear, drawing the jester's attention.

"Yes, the name says it all, so choose something interesting because the more the gods like you and your performance, the better things can happen to you. So choose already!" The jester snapped at them. Confusion and fear filled the room as the group tried to make sense of it all. Hana, Steel, Shay, Stacy, Andy, Lucy, and Amy all made their choices hastily in fear of suffering the same fate as Moose should they draw its ire from taking to long their appearances transforming in response to their chosen classes right after making there choices.