THREE

People trembled visibly while some had tears running down their faces without making a sound, probably because they didn't want the stone creatures to get them for making noise.

Looking through the crowd there were a few that didn't react like the rest of us. Some looked like this was just another normal day for them and wore an indifferent look on their faces while some had their faces squeezed to show that they were more angry than scared.

"Corridor guy," I said as I spotted the guy from earlier. The tall guy who was lost in his thoughts in the corridor that I went to hide from the world.

Even from afar, I could still feel the aura that radiated from him. The aura of someone who had the world in the palm of his hands.

Someone who was in control of every situation he found himself in. Even though he still looked like he was absent in his thoughts I felt like hanging around him would be the best thing.

It was so relieving to see a familiar face in such a strange place even though we were strangers.

Walking towards him as he stood looking like he was lost in his thoughts with the aim of introducing myself there was rumbles on the ground.

Were the stone creatures coming back? They didn't make any noise during their first appearance… but who said they couldn't appear from the ground since they appeared from nothing? Were they going to take the rest of us?

But it wasn't them that time. The ground shook as some parts of it were giving way for something else to rise from it. There were several partitions on the ground; long slender cracks on the ground that were slowly becoming bigger.

People stepped off from areas that had partitions. Just as the partitions grew wider something rose from it. Large slabs of block fashioned in the way of long rectangular tables with smaller equally long and rectangular slabs on the two longest sides of the larger rectangular slabs.

Just after they appeared large tablecloths of different colours appeared on the various larger rectangular slabs looking neat as though they had been there all the while.

Everyone was looking around in confusion? What was all that about? They were all guessing what was going to happen next.

Just as the tablecloths appeared the table became stocked with different sorts of foods. Foods from all parts of the world were arranged on all the tables. I knew they were from various parts of the world because I only saw some of them on TV.

'strange'

What is going on? I wasn't planning on eating anything there. Who knew what was in the food? Especially since they appeared out of nowhere.

Although I had once dreamt of traveling the whole world to taste the foods of different cultures this wasn't what I had in mind. I didn't think I would want to eat food that appeared out of nowhere.

Then the voice spoke again. I was beginning to dread that voice more than anything. It was like the harbinger of evil things. Each time it spoke things just got messier and messier.

"WELCOME TO ARENA TP53." It said "You have three thousand six hundred seconds to clear this stage. Punishment for failure to clear this stage will be a trip to the land of red"

As it spoke a light shone into my eyes making me reflexively shield my eyes with my elbows. As I brought down my elbow I could still the light hovering in front of me.

It was a lighted rectangle with a dark blue background that had 'player 1759' written in large letters. It was almost like those things I saw in American movies but it was better and more real especially because it was hovering in front of me.

It was not a part of fiction anymore but as real as me or anything that was happening in that field.

I looked around to see people gazing off into the air like they just saw something shocking.

"Hey. Do you see something too? "I asked the lady beside me but she just stared at me and turned to gaze into the air.

 ' Everyone else must be seeing this same thing too' I thought as I turned to face the floating rectangle.

Moments later other words started to appear on the floating light.

PLAYER'S PROFILE was written just below the PLAYER 1759.

Then at the top right of the floating rectangle, a symbol blinked at intervals. It was the popular envelope that was used to signify messages. This envelope was black and had a red number one on its top right edge.

I knew what it meant. It meant that there was a new message. But what was confusing was what I was supposed to be doing with this information.

And like I always did whenever I was confused I looked around. Everyone was busy with their own invisible floating rectangle.

They all looked like they were crazy as they pointed up into the air like they were clicking something. That was when the realization hit me.

I was supposed to click on the message to find out what it was.

When I clicked on the message the things that were displayed disappeared and a new set of words popped up.

"FEAST" were the words written in blood red color. Below the word feast were the words "ACCEPT CHALLENGE"

Then thoughts of not accepting the challenge came to my mind. What if I didn't want to eat foods that appeared from nowhere would they also send me to the land of red?

But just as I was deliberating what to do next the Accept challenge was gone and replacing it was a sixty seconds countdown.

Then a huge sound echoed into the air and I looked up to see an even larger sign that read 1:00:00. It was grey and even though it hovered so high up in the sky it was so large for everyone to see.

The FEAST was no longer there but in its stead was the punishment for failing the challenge, which was a trip to the land of red.

 The timer was on 10 then 9 then 8… as it counted down my hands trembled and my rate of breathing became faster. It was obvious what we were supposed to do next but still somehow I was enveloped by fear. The thought of the land of red made my insides turn.

Soon the timer was done and the floating rectangle dissipated into thin air like it was never there to begin with.

Just then a ticking sound echoed through the space and I looked up to see that the large floating timer was no longer grey but was green and was already counting down.

Shuffling of feet filled the air as people hurried to stuff their mouths with food. It was a simple task to do, in fact in normal circumstances it would've been like a dream come through.

But the food wasn't looking appetizing especially after I had just seen for the first time in my life a human being's insides not on TV but in reality.

Somewhere at the back of my mind, I wished that what was happening was some insane prank show and at the end of it all the owners of the show would come out from wherever the backstage may be grinning ear to ear and scream "You've been pranked!"

I wished that those people torn to pieces were some kind of special effects made to look real. The distance was large enough to manipulate the eyes into believing fake things using some insane technology.

 But my body shivered as I stood with my head up watching the timer go closer and closer to zeroes. Somewhere in the corner of my mind that was the reality.

The world was shitty enough to kidnap a bunch of people and use them as entertainment for millionaires and billionaires.

Some people hesitated like I did and just watched others as they stuffed food into their mouths like hungry pigs.

Half of the time passed and I still stood there, the only one who wasn't hunched over the slabs filling their faces, with two options resounding in my mind.

'Eat the food' or 'Go to the land of the red' 

I wasn't certain which was going to be worse but before I could decide which option I'd opt for I found my head deep into something really soft. It was the cake I had been looking at for a while.

Someone shoved my head into the cake and when I looked up It was the lady I had asked a question earlier.

She yelled out something in a strange language and returned to eating food. I wouldn't even call it food. It was transparent and looked jelly-like and danced around whenever she scooped it up to her mouth.

She must have told me to eat because she looked up again and pointed at the squashed cake on the slab and pointed at her mouth.

*****

There wasn't anything wrong with the food except it made me want to eat more food. I went on to eat the ones I couldn't recognize.

Minutes after delving into the food I had forgotten about all the worries I had earlier on and was trying on different delicacies.

I didn't notice when the timer finally counted down to zero.

Another large sound filled the room and the slabs and everything on it disappeared leaving us with our food-stained lips, faces, hands, and for some people food stained clothes.

"Congratulations" popped up in front of me but it wasn't in the floating rectangle with a dark blue background.

It was in a floating square that had a mixture of green and blue colors dancing around each other.

'At least I won't go to the land of the red' I thought as I read the 'You've won this challenge' just below the 'congratulations' 

Everyone stood looking around with the "What's next?' expression on their faces when another sound filled the air. Large sounds; another marker of doom, second to the instructor's voice.

There were two floating words exactly where the timer was. It was the words 'SIDE QUEST' Underneath the words new letters started appearing slowly as if to cause a build-up of tension within us.

We couldn't guess what would happen next because we didn't even know why anything was happening.

 SIDE QUEST: DEFEAT THE MONSTERS

 RULE; DON'T DIE

 STATUS; UNCLEARED

 PENALTY; DEATH

 TIME; TILL ALL THE MONSTERS DIE