It begins ...

Just as knaglost was getting off the bus, an old woman trudged up to him. She was clothed in a cloak and a hood covered her face. Knaglost, who had taken a step and was about to put the other one outside, paused and was startled.

The old woman waited for him until he came out.

"You must never ignore the call, you've been chosen, you must enter, it is a melody you have to taint", she said.

Knaglost was befuddled. "Excuse me ma'am".

The old woman looked sideways and touched knaglost on the neck. Before knaglost could react, she had slumped on the floor. Knaglost quickly crouched to help her but then two cars crashed at a far distance on the road, it was an accident. Everyone's head spun to the direction including knaglost. Some people had already whipped to the scene and was helping the victims. Knagslot turned back to look at the old woman but she had vanished.

He was genuinely shocked, this was outre, he thought. Confused and bewildered, he walked into the massive crowd going down the streets. Knaglost was actually an accountant at a company and he was just returning from work.

He was clothed in a black silk suit with an expensive wrist watch on his wrist. He had a light complexion with some freckles on his face and a tall height which greatly helped as he jostled himself through the crowd, a briefcase firmly held in his right hand.

Finally, he opened the door to his house, an almost small apartment and got in. He clicked on the switch on the wall and flinged his briefcase on the small bed on the corner at the farther side of the room. He sighed, life in this large and populated city was so stressful.

As knaglost was about to step towards the wardrobe, he saw a white piece of paper beside it. He was startled for a moment. He crouched low and took the paper in hand and read the details of it.

It was ( in bold capital letters written):

YOU ARE INVITED.

His brain suddenly spun around and he felt dizzy. He fell on the floor and tried to wave off the dizziness but it persisted and became vociferous.

"Arghhh!", he screamed as a pang hit him - a really sharp pain.

A gust of wind opened the closed windows and blew inside. It swirled and twirled, spinning and rolling, like an elastic twister. It came at him and…

ZILCH!

___________

He opened his eyes. His vision was blurry. He heard distant noises, chants that felt different. Claps of hands and the whistling of whistles.

The ring of a bell!.

He was in a ring, he looked sideways and saw a massive crowd, filling seats, clapping and chanting.

A stadium!. It was a damn stadium.

Knaglost looked at his hands, boxing gloves were now on them. He gasped and was stupefied. A tall, hefty goblin walked into the ring, clothed in baggy jeans , shirtless with a top hat on his head. He held a microphone and spoke into it:

"Meet Dot korreto!".

The stadium exploded into more chants and claps.

A very big beast also entered the ring, it was clothed in boxer shorts with a hideous face, sharp brown teeths, a twisted horn and a pair of gloves on its hand. Apparently it was a male and about 6ft tall. Knaglost looked at himself, he was also shirtless and clothed in boxer shorts.

Suddenly a shining long card appeared floating in front of knaglost. On it was written:

NAME: DOT KORRETO

RANK: FIST SLEEPER - [level 1]

FIST LORE: SWERVING -[ level 1]

PUNCH CORE: SOFT - [level zero]

SUPER STRIKE: [NONE]

The goblin spoke: "Welcome to A NIGHTMARE FOR CLOWNS. The contestants are to fight in different rounds of battles to win. Boxing, wrestling, swords, guns, it all depends on the stage. We've selected a bunch of humans who voluntarily volunteered to be part of the games. They are blessed with a system and along the way, they must level up to unlock greater powers".

The stadium erupted in chants and claps and even howls.

"Now", continued the goblin. " Here is Dot korreto versus SMASHY MONSTER!".

"Get me out of here", cried knaglost to the goblin. " I can't fight, get me out. What's this, I was in my room a couple of minutes ago and now I'm here. Get me out!".

The chants and voices of the crowd drowned knaglost's complaints. The goblin simply ignored him and said: " Let the match begin!".

The monster came at knaglost, hitting his gloves together. The monster smiled and winked at him, bouncing to one side and then to the other. Knaglost was an avid fan of wrestling and boxing but he hadn't really did the sports physically. Nonetheless, he steadied his fists that were already shaking and moved about the ring. The monster followed his every move and he felt as scared as hell.

The monster targeted a punch to his left jaw, it hit the targeted spot censoriously and knaglost almost croppered to the floor, but he maintained his stamina. The place ached him badly and he was tempted to nurse it, but he finally didn't.

The monster threw another punch at his right jaw, which he dodged and then suddenly,like being fueled by adrenaline, he sent a thick punch right into the face of the monster. The monster reeled back and before it could steady itself, knaglost had given him punches to the left and right of his face simultaneously.

The monster croppered to the floor with a loud : THUD!

Knaglost looked at the gloves covering his hands and was surprised.

'Easy', he thought.

The goblin counted now:

ONE…

TWO…

THREE…

FOUR…

FIVE….

SIX..

SEVEN…

EIGHT…

The monster was slowly turning over now. It put a hand on the floor and was trying to raise itself up…

NINE…

The monster was almost up…

TEN!

Knaglost had won. The stadium exploded into noise. They clapped and chanted his name. Knaglost almost smiled. The monster still lay on the floor and then the goblin with the top hat entered the ring back.

"Dot korreto wins!", the goblin screamed into the microphone. The audience clapped and chanted knagslot's name the louder:

"DOT KORRETO!, DOT KORRETO!, DOT KORRETO!".

The goblin walked up to knagslot and raised his hands up. And then, it quickly put his mouth beside knagslot ear and whispered.

"Don't get your hopes high pal, the first one's always easy".