Signing in

The gates flung open, revealing the city they were about to enter. Liam and Fiona grasped in surprise while Leo watched their enthusiasm with a gentle smile on his face.

The city was filled with people from different tribes. Some people were even half animals! They had animal-like features like cat ears and tails and some even have the faces of animals.

Liam dashed into the city without waiting for Fiona and Leo, he was too excited to even stand there for a second. He was looking around the city, his eyes widened with shock. He was so amazed by all the special characteristics that he didn't even realize where he was going. He then locked his eyes on two lizards featured couple walking past him. They were clinging to one another as they walked, Liam was staring at them, he didn't even notice he was still walking until he hit something in front of him.

"Ouch!"He mumbled as he rubbed his head. He felt like he just hit steel but he knew he crashed into a person since he saw their shoes. (It was shiny and made of iron...This person must be rich!)Realising that Liam immediately apologised."Sorry about that!"

"Hm! You better be!"Liam heard that person replied in a sassy tone. (Yup...definitly someone of high standard...)

After hearing him say that, Liam looked up. That 'rich guy' was tall and what are the odds, he's blond like any other person with an asshole attitude. Liam was staring at him with an annoyed face as he was thinking.

Not another blondie...

"What are you looking at?"The guy asked, looking at him with an annoyed look too. But his expression showed that he was thinking.

Disgusting poor people...Which made Liam feel the urge to punch that look off his face."Scram-"

Before he could finish his sentence in shooing and insulting Liam, he was cut off by a sudden yell from a distance.

"Liam! Wait up!"

Liam looked to where the voice was coming from and saw Leo squeezing through the crowds to get to him, followed by Fiona. The moment Leo managed to get through all the human obstacles, he grabbed Liam's shoulders with both his hands and said.

"Don't ever run off like that! You could get in trouble! I haven't even explained the town's rules to you yet!... Who are you?"Leo stopped his lecture when he noticed the blondie's existence.

"Uh-hm!Who am I? You asked?"He said, sassyly as he combed his hair back like he was some kind of big shot that is about to flex his success."I usually go by the name 'Ace' since I am always number one in boring competitions like this!"

Both of them silently looked at the man and soon switched their gaze to one another. Leo was looking at him as if he was asking 'You know this guy?' While Liam stared at him with a shrug like he was saying.'I have never seen this man in my whole life! I don't know what's he talking about!'

"Umm...so, you must be here for the competition too, right?"Leo asked after recalling him mentioning something about 'boring competition.'

"Definitely! Why do you think someone as handsome and professional as me doing in this small town?"The guy that went by the name 'Ace' said as he bent his knee a little to match Leo's height.

Seeing this, Liam was taken aback, he never knew there was someone taller than Leo. He was stunned but not for long since Fiona suddenly appeared. They didn't even realize she wasn't here until she suddenly appeared before them, trying to catch her breath.

"Do you know how hard it was to catch up to you two?! The crowds are so wild!"She breathed in a huge sum of air before complaining to them."Oh, a new face?"She was just like Leo when he arrived, took some time to notice that guy.

The guy was standing there, stunned even after Fiona noticed him. But a second he hastily tidied himself up by combing his hair back with his palm.

"My, my...what a beauty you are."He gasped, flirtily as he lowered his stand to kiss the back of her hand."How may I address you?"

Fiona was stunned by his flirtatious attitude at first but soon she let out a little chuckle before continuing.

"You can call me Fiona."She said without the slightest shyness in her voice.

"I see, what a pretty name."

"Anyway, sorry to interrupt but do you know where we can sign up for the game?"Leo cut off their romance.

"I would suggest you not sign up since it's obvious who's taking the prize home!"'Ace' replied, guaranteeing of his victory."I suggest you go back home before you embarrass yourself in the match."

"You!"Liam was about to wipe that smug off his face, how there he insults his friend! But before he could say or do anything, a hand blocked his path.

"Please do not say something like that, "Leo joined in, his voice was calm but his expression wasn't. Liam could see veins forming at the side of his head as his teeth were gritted together, he was mad and by that really mad."You can't always guarantee a victory especially since the competition hasn't even started."

"You-"The guy was about to talk back but was stopped by Fiona.

"Can you please tell us where to sign up?"Fiona grabbed both his hands in hers as she asked in a nice and gentle tone, charming him with her looks.

"Oh, um, it is there!"It was very effective as 'Ace' immediately pointed to a stall that was in front of a huge steel cage, which was the cage they saw in the hills. There was a sign hanging on the stall written in black 'Who's Up For A Game?!'

All of them looked to the stall and turned to look at one another as they all nodded as if they were saying 'Guess that's it!' before looking back to 'Ace'.

"Thanks!"Leo and Fiona said and all of them walked toward the shop.

Liam was the last one to leave and before he left, he heard 'Ace' mumbled.

"Try to be tough all you want, we can already see who's laughing in the end."

Liam turned around to look at that asshole but he was gone in the busy streets. Seeing his target gone, he turned back and followed Leo and Fiona to the stall with the banner.

"Hello, Outlanders! Are you here to join the competition? There are only 10 more spaces left! You better make your decision quick!"The person in the stall called to them as he saw them approaching.

"Yes, but can I ask? What sort of challenges are they holding and when does it start?"Leo asked as he stood in front of his stall.

"The competition starts..."He mumbled as he pulled out a piece of paper to look at the date before continuing in a surprised tone."Huh, you guys sure are lucky! It starts tomorrow and..."The man pulled out another random paper and placed it on the table before pushing it to them, it was an entry paper."It's hard to say about the challenges since there's a roller for it. But the first game is already decided, you will all be separated and put into a maze. And whoever gets out first would get to draw the next match on the roller."

Huh? Seem easy enough...Liam thought as he peeked to look at Leo's reaction.

Leo was nodding with a smile craved on his face as he signed the form. He then passed it to Liam.

"Sign here, right under my name," Leo said as he pointed to the very bottom of the long list of names.

Liam grabbed the quill from Leo and wrote his name on it. Then, passed it to Fiona. While he was doing so, he overheard the host talking.

"Oh, you gotta prepare yourself. It may sound easy but there will be creatures blocking your path too."

"What?!"Liam yelled, shocked.

"What? Do you think it's that easy? If it is there will be thousands of people joining in."

Liam felt sweat dripping down his forehead as he stared at the man with regret. He then looked to Fiona but he was too late, she had already passed the form back to the man.

"Can...can I withdraw?"Liam asked, shakily as he held out his hand, expecting to receive the paper back.

"Huh? No can do, the moment you sign this form, you're already a participant."

He stood there, stoned in place as he stared blankly at the man. He felt himself shattering into pieces as fear and regret overtook him.

Seeing Liam's reaction after hearing about dangerous monsters, Leo patted him on his back.

"Hey, look on the bright side, at least our journey from afar finally paid off, right? We did enter the competition we are here for."Leo said, encouragingly, trying to make him feel better.

"Why...why didn't you ask him more clearly?!"Liam snapped.

"Calm down, jeez, why are you acting like a wimp? I'm joining too so, man up! We're all in this together!"Fiona judged him as well as trying not to hurt his feelings too much, she couldn't stand his cowardly attitude.

Liam whimpered as he looked at the ground, worriedly.

"Come on, I know what could make you feel better!"Leo wrapped his arm around his shoulder."Let's go there!"

Liam dragged his head up and saw Leo pointing to a few stalls just across the street. There were a lot of people standing there, both young and adult. Liam couldn't see what were the stalls about since it was too crowded to even see. As he was about to ask, he was immediately interrupted and was pushed and dragged by Fiona and Leo into the place.

After squeezing through the first layer of crowded people to get to the other side of the road, Liam could smell tantalizing aroma of food, it smelled like roasted meat which caused Liam's stomach to growl. And surprisingly there were lesser people here.

"Huh? There seemed to be fewer people here."Fiona spoke out, asking the question Liam was curious about.

"I guess, it's because the shops are about to close. See! The sun is about to set!"Leo said, pointing at the yellowish sky."Guess, they don't open at night."

"Ya..."

"Come on, what are you waiting for? Let's get ourselves a feast! You know to celebrate our arrival to a new city and our upcoming challenges!"

"Yeah! Let's go!"

Fiona and Leo cheered as they dragged Liam to various shops. All of them were selling delicious, mouth-watering food that made Liam couldn't resist the urge to taste and devour everything. There were meat skewers, scorpion tails and even dragon scale? It's not actually dragon scale, they are just potato chips dipped in food coloring, which made it look like scale due to the shining color.

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After a while, they were finally done.

"I'm so full!"Liam burped as he sat down on a stool."I can't eat anything anymore! My stomach's about to explode!"

"Haha! That's what you get for eating everything you see!"Fiona laughed as she took a stool to sit next to him."Anyway, where did Leo go?"

"Ya, now that you mention it, where is he?"

Both of them looked around the place but couldn't see a familiar figure of a guy with red hair.

"Did he get lost?"Fiona wondered, after seeing everyone without such characteristics.

"No...I don't think so..." Liam objected, he couldn't possibly think Leo would get lost. He was the tallest of them all so he could definitely find them...right?"Wasn't he walking behind us before we decided to sit here?"

"Ya, but his disappearance shows that he didn't follow..."

"Hey! Where were you guys?"They both heard a familiar voice yelling from the right.

They turned to the sound and saw Leo, waving his hand at them. They rushed to him and noticed his other hand was holding something.

"Where did you go?!"Both of them asked but before Leo could answer Liam added another question."And what's that?"

The thing Leo was holding, was a green glass bottle with a sticker stuck on it.

"It's booze! I bet you never had it before, right? Let's go to somewhere quiet to enjoy it! I already booked a room while I was buying this so let's go there!"