Game of War : Part 2

"What do we do?" A girl that was probably Azazel's age uttered nervously. She kept playing with her blonde hair, twirling it around her finger.

"I don't know." Answered the teen boy beside her, protectively holding her other hand. "Just stay close to me, okay?" He gripped her hand tighter, as if she'd disappear if he ever let her go.

"What is happening?" Another person chimed in from afar.

"What the hell is this?" The person behind Azazel shouted with irritation. Then more people asked the same question in a different tone, creating a whole mess by uttering words at the same time.

Azazel tried to remain calm despite how his heart was beating irregularly, how the screaming in his head shouted everything was wrong, and how his feet kept tapping to the ground every few seconds. One second, he was focusing on every person's reaction to the situation. The other second, his midnight purple eyes landed on the roller coaster that kept moving without people on it.

He observed the roller coaster, thinking how it would be deadly if someone ever rode that thing. It would actually be an instant death because of how fast it went and how craggy the trail was. The person that rode it probably would fall, and then their head would kiss the ground—oh, they would probably be lucky if they got stuck into the looming tree.

But that would still be deadly, wouldn't it?

"Of course, the day I decided to finally fucking pray to my so-called God, this happen." A voice made Azazel's thoughts gone in a second and completely absorbed to the new person.

He just realized that the man was not like the others. By 'not like the others' meant that he was older than anyone else in this place. Whatever this place was. A room. Maybe he could call it a room. Because this was like an arcade and—

"God of Everything just don't give a shit about his 'followers', eh?"

The voice of the man once again refocused Azazel's thoughts. The white-haired boy blinked and realized that people went to look over where the man stood. The man looked like a businessman with the neat navy suit.

So a rich middle-aged man—probably the follower of God of Everything had gotten dragged into this mess. Azazel scanned the people once more and saw an old lady, looking terrified and confused at the same time. The rest of the people were as young as Azazel was and probably had the same purpose in mind; to become an acolyte of their chosen God.

"'He will always be by your side' my ass." The businessman snorted, rolling his eyes, and diverted his gaze to his expensive golden watch, tapping his foot impatiently.

"Is God of Everything mad because we try to abandon him?" Someone that did not stand out that much for Azazel to notice finally voiced his thought. The voiced thought itself followed by murmurs and whispers, considering what the guy had just said.

"What? No. This like- happens every day. Everyone tries to be an acolyte and leave him. Why would he get mad?" A girl defended God of Everything, or maybe she was just denying the truth.

Just like Azazel on a regular Monday, or his whole life.

"Maybe he finally had enough, and we got unlucky?" The boy beside the girl tremblingly tried to speak up, adding more oil to the fire.

The blonde girl from earlier yelped at the boy's words, burying her face in her boyfriend's shoulder. "Babe, I'm scared."

"It's okay. I'll protect you." The boyfriend caressed the blonde's scalp, trying to calm her down.

"Then are we being punished by him right now?" Uttered the person beside Adaila, causing the sudden silence between the teenagers that would turn seventeen soon.

Azazel took the sudden silence terribly. He could hear his overlapping thoughts loudly, and he hated that. The doubt, the bad whisper, and the negative words inside his brain kept fighting with each other, making his head ache. He could not focus on what he actually should be thinking right now.

"You really should face your mistake without dragging an innocent person." And yet, once again, the businessman yanked him out of his drowning mind with his nagging voice. The man impatiently clicked his tongue, rolling his eyes toward- well, everyone.

"Innocent people?" Without Azazel knowing, he said his thought out loud. As a result, the businessman returned the question with an annoyed glare.

"Yes. Me." The man phrased it like it was an obvious answer. "You dragged me here because you want to leave God of Everything."

"Ck, youngsters these days…" The businessman shook his head when he received no talk back from the white-haired teen.

Azazel bit his lip. Well, it was not actually his fault that the man got dragged here. But Azazel always held down to defend himself. He would rather take the blame than start an argument.

Though, it was another case for someone else. He always put people first and himself second. So sometimes, he stood up for people without thinking. It was as if his body moved itself. It was a bad habit of his to be a sacrificial person.

He was no hero, he was just a sacrifice.

"Alright, everyone, let's calm down." A teenager that was Azazel's age stepped up, waving his hands in the air to catch everyone's attention. His voice was low and firm, yet there was an apparent sincerity in his tone.

"I'm sure we can search for a way out." The guy smiled, and Azazel believed all the girls in this place instantly fell in love with him. His quiff haircut went well with his diamond-shaped face. His red hair stood out among the crowds for Azazel to easily catch the guy's sapphire eyes.

"Let's work together to solve this problem, okay? There is no use in standing still. But we also have to protect each other if we want to find an exit." He began explaining. Somehow, his low soothing voice entranced everyone in the room to listen.

"How exactly are we going to solve this 'problem'?" Adaila finally spoke up with hands crossing over her chest, tilting her head with a raised eyebrow. Her brown wavy hair fell to the side as doing so.

"Let's divide into groups of ten. I've counted all of you and there are exactly fifty of us in this place. We'll start searching through the area. If a group found something, go back to this point and ring that bell." The red-haired guy explained, pointing at the big bell in the middle of the arcade.

Azazel could see that Adaila was intrigued by how her façade changed. "Okay, I'm in." She chimed in, walking closer to the red hair.

"Okay, first of all," the guy cleared his throat before raising his voice. "-those who can fight please raise your hands."

There were about eleven people that raised their hands at the same time, including the blonde girl's boyfriend from before. Three more people hesitantly and belatedly raised their hands afterward. The businessman clicked his tongue as he did not raise his hand at all.

Azazel didn't raise his hand. Adaila did. She was part of the eleven people.

The red-haired guy began to manage the group. He organized it well, somehow. He looked like the main character in a story that was just perfect in every way.

Azazel ended up in a group with him and Adaila. The businessman and the old lady, alongside the teen couple, were in the group too. There were three more people that Azazel hadn't noticed until just now.

Every group had three people that could fight. The three would lead the group, with two on the front and one on the back. Adaila and the red-haired guy that Azazel learned was named Zacky lead the front, while the blonde girl's boyfriend stayed at the back with her.

They walked past the doll house as they entered the giant forest. There were broken dolls in front of the house, and Azazel swore one of them had just moved. He did not mention it, though. He knew that the others noticed it too and just trying to ignore it.

"You have a good heart, dear." The old lady uttered kindly with her shaking voice to Zacky.

The red hair turned his head to look toward the lady and gave her a friendly smile, tugging his lip a little. "I just believe that faith could help us all together, ma'am."

"Are you going to be the acolyte of Goddess of Faith, young one?" The lady continued talking to him, giving him a warm smile in return.

"Ah, yes, ma'am." He scratched the back of his neck shyly. "I am hoping to become her acolyte."

Oh.

Azazel knew immediately that Zacky would be accepted right when he prayed before the Goddess of Faith. Unlike him that always had this buried doubt in his heart, he actually had faith that the guy would be an acolyte straight away.

Azazel still wanted to believe in faith anyway. He wanted to. He needed to. Faith was the only thing that made him survive until now. So he would be clinging to faith more and more, ignoring the doubt in his heart that maybe deep down, he was never worthy of being her acolyte.

"I think it'll be an easy pass for you." The blonde girl's boyfriend added from behind, with the girl herself nodding along in agreement. There was a faint blush on Zacky's cheeks as he cleared his voice to hide his embarrassment.

There was a few moments of silence, but it was not as eerie as before. They just kept walking through the forest in peace, ignoring all the creepy things that might be lurking behind the trees. Well, it was peaceful until the businessman started to open his mouth again.

"Ah, I remember how naïve I was at that age, thinking I could have been an acolyte." The man sneered, causing everyone to glance his way.

"You shouldn't expect too much, boy. You may look like you've got everything in the palm of your hand, but you should remember that you have never held anything at all in the first place." The man looked toward Zacky up and down as if judging him.

"With all due respect, I don't mind about that, sir." He still politely smiled, respecting the older. "I just believe in faith."

"Ah, of course, of course." The man waved a dismissive hand and chuckled.

"-And here I am, used to believe in faith and all that just only to become God of Everything's follower in the end." He continued, telling the people how he used to wish to become an acolyte too.

Well, in this modern era, almost everyone wants to be an acolyte. You would rarely meet anyone who never wished to become an acolyte in the first place. By rare, it meant that it was one in a thousand.

"You can see where it brought me, naïve boy. It brought me to this nonsense." The businessman remarked pointedly and shrugged. "You're not the only one who used to believe in Faith."

His eyes landed on Zacky with a judgmental look, sharply antagonizing him. "You are too naïve."

"Ck, youngsters these days…" This time, that sentence was not meant for Azazel, it was for Zacky.

The businessman actually had a pretty good-looking face that could almost be compared with Zacky. Despite having a nice look, it was no matched with his personality, unlike Zacky.

Zacky bit his lower lip and tried to keep his polite smile to the man. The confidence in his sapphire eyes that was there earlier to solve the problem and lead the people slowly faded away. Azazel knew an insecure person when he saw one.

And for Zacky to have felt that way was just not right. The red-haired guy himself could be the definition of perfect and yet he looked like he accepted what the businessman had said about him.

So Azazel once again spoke against his will.

"Well, I also believe in faith, sir." The white-haired boy opened his mouth so fast before his brain actually realized that he was talking.

And so his mouth kept moving.

"I don't think that it's wrong to believe in something without knowing what lays ahead." Azazel blinked when he realized everyone was looking his way except Adaila. The realization that he had stepped up to the scene hit him late, and so the boy relied on the moment of adrenaline to continue.

"You used to be like us too, didn't you, sir?" He cleared his throat and started to act like he knew what he was talking about, completely becoming a person that had big confidence. Though, it was all just his mask for the moment.

"It's not naivety. It's called faith." Azazel stared at the businessman's eyes, trying to control the high ground.

"Maybe you didn't have that much faith on Goddess of Faith herself that led you not to become an acolyte." He ended his statement with a cherry on top, catching on to how the man had gotten angry at him for what he had just said.

And honestly, it just proved his point.

"Who are you to measure my faith?"

"Exactly." Azazel agreed, and it caught the man off-guard.

He tilted his head down, raised both of his eyebrows, and continued. "Who are we to measure anyone's faith?"

Then he added a polite smile that accidentally turned out to be more sarcastic than he originally wanted. "That goes for you too, sir."

"Tch." The man clicked his tongue, and Azazel once again got distracted by the man's face. It was such a waste to have that good-looking feature just to be a douchebag.

"Watch your mouth, boy. You might not have that much faith too."

Oh, ain't that hit too close to home.

Azazel decided to end the argument there because technically, the man was not wrong. He believed that he had faith, and yet he did not know if it was enough or if his belief in faith was just him being in denial over his life.

And he was just tired of trying to talk with the man. He could feel his brain aching for every word the man had uttered. His mother once said that arguing with stupid people would make you stupid too, so he just decided to stop.

Before anyone could try to break the awkward and intense atmosphere that the rich man had caused, something was fizzing near the group. It sounded like a broken machine trying to force itself to work. Everyone suddenly became on guard, and Zacky instinctively protected the lady behind him.

Azazel managed to admire him in between that nerve-wracking second.

Then a really wrong-looking robot appeared. Azazel was not surprised, though. His heart was beating as if he had just finished running around the city, yes—but it really ruined the twist when you already heard a literal loud broken machine sound before it appeared.

"Hello, humans." The robot's head twitched, and was his hand falling from his body?

"This era of peace is boring, isn't it?" Its voice was distorted, like a sound of a mic falling to the ground.

Azazel blinked, taking a sharp intake of breath.

"It's modern. L-like me! And cars, planes, and phones." The voice had gotten even more distorted, hurting his ears a little. A spark came out of its split eye, indicating that its inside was on the verge of breaking down.

"Therefore, let's recreate a scene from the past." The robot tried to smile as he spoke. Azazel wished it didn't. Because holy shit, what the hell was that thing?

"Let's play a game." It tried to clasp its hands while the other hand was actually lying on the ground, broken.

"A game for you to always remember history. A game about the world before peace." The robot's smile turned into a maniacal grin, creaking slowly, forcing the tip of its mouth to turn upward.

"A game of war."