Nayowmi

"Any last words, Nayowmi?" The tip of the gun was pointed point blank on Nayowmi's forehead. She was sprawled on the cold ground, a gust of wind blew past, its icy breath leaving her to shudder.

Nevertheless, she glared at Xenon, the smirk on his lips was inevitable.

"Go to hell!" She spat.

Bang!

Nayowmi felt the ground spiraling beneath her. Her eyes were closed, and she didn't want to open them, afraid of what she would see upon regaining her vision.

She anticipated feeling the pain of the gunshot from Xenon's level five sharp shooter. However, instead of the numbing pain, she felt cold.

Images of her fallen comrades flashed before her mind's eye. It had her to sob for a while before she gathered herself and finally had the courage to see where she was.

Her surroundings were pitch black, a single light illuminated from the top of her head and she couldn't decipher if she was dead or simply floating in the in-between.

The familiar translucent screen came before her, surprising Nayowmi.

Displayed on the screen was the veiled woman who welcomed her when she first came there. Squinting, Nayowmi gasped when the image on the screen parted the veil that covered her face, revealing a beautiful woman.

"Prie—"

"Shh." The woman immediately cut her off. Surprised that it wasn't the usual mechanical voice she heard, Nayowmi put a hand over her lips.

"Please don't mention her name."

"But… okay." Nayowmi uttered, uncertainty making her nervous. "Am I dead?"

"No, Nayowmi. Inside this game, no one really dies."

"What does that mean?"

The beautiful lady sighed. She stared at Nayowmi.

"Listen, I'll tell you all about that next time. Right now, I don't have much time."

"Who are you?" Nayowmi asked, staring at the lady over the screen. She somehow looked familiar, but with her lips painted blue, she couldn't really tell if she met the woman before or not.

"My name is Avalon, Nayowmi. And I need you to do something for me."

--

[Welcome to the Golden Gate players!]

Zera couldn't keep her eyes off of Naywomi despite hearing the mechanical voice announcing their arrival at the gate. Her friends huddled together and only Naywomi was confidently walking towards a circular platform.

It glowed bright blue upon Nayowmi stepping foot on the circular sphere.

Compared to the purplish sky from where they had left, inside the Golden Gate, the sky went back to its normal hue.

But like the previous place, it was just them who were there and no one else.

The circular platform dominated the place. Their surroundings didn't show any buildings.

Zera was actually counting to see some castle and meet a king or whoever it was who would welcome them properly and explain things.

She got disappointed when none of that happened.

Beatrix had inched closer to Zera.

"Where do you think did she come from?" she whispered to which Zera shrugged at.

She had no idea how things work inside the game. She clearly had no clue where Nayowmi came from.

What was so surprising about her was that her points were way above theirs. Nayowmi was like the pro player among them, but Zera couldn't quite understand how that happened.

She was brimming with so many questions, but she cannot even push herself to ask Nayowmi and from the looks of it, neither did her friends feel confident to ask her.

They all watched her walk across the bluish platform. When she reached the middle, it immediately glowed even brighter.

"Weaponry."

[Weaponry activated]

Like a powerful gust of wind, a variety of weapons appeared all around her. It filled the enormous circle.

Nayowmi clutched the samurai sword she was holding, her eyes wandering around the set of weapons.

"Whoa." Jaspreth whistled. "That's so cool. Would we have the same privilege if we stepped onto that platform?"

"Yes." Nayowmi replied. Her voice echoing. She dropped the samurai sword and grabbed the big rifle in front of her.

[Weapon selected]

The four friends watched the samurai sword disappear into nothingness and, slowly, so did the weapons displayed before Nayowmi.

She walked back towards them.

"If you have questions, I suggest you ask them now. Once you each choose if you want a weapon upgrade or not, we would immediately be sent to the next stage."

"Have you played this game before? You seem to know a lot." Beatrix went ahead, eyeing Nayowmi.

Nayowmi turned to her.

"Yes. I have."

"What happened? I mean, shouldn't you be with your own team?" Astherielle followed, her eyes going animatedly wide as she covered the gasp from escaping her mouth.

"Did… they die?"

The four friends exchanged nervous glances.

Nayowmi looked at each of them.

"I cannot answer that. But at some point, we got defeated. Hence, we lost our progress. They might have been sent to aid a new group, just like I was."

"That explains your advanced level. So cool." Jaspreth expressed, the awe in his voice was evident. It had Zera rolling her eyes.

"You mean to say, if we don't win the next round, we would be disbanded and become a fifth player for another team?" Astherielle asked.

Nayowmi only nodded.

"I think so."

"You think so?" Zera muttered.

"Look, I know you don't trust me and you don't have to. But there's only one way to get ourselves out of this. If we don't reach the final stage, we'll be stuck here forever. Fighting non-stop and being in battles we didn't even wish to."

Zera knew Nayowmi was right. She couldn't even begin to imagine what that would be like. Fighting with monsters such as the one they have faced for the rest of her life.

It already made her feel exhausted.

"Ugh," Beatrix complained. "I'd rather hear my mother's non-stop scolding than be stuck in here for good."

"Me too. I promise to do better in school if we make it out of here. I'd be a better person, I swear."

"Not if, when. When we make it out of here, let's promise to do better." Zera eyed her friends.

"Yes. So, what are we waiting for? Let's go! On to stage 2!"