Game of DIcE

Saved

The Flee landed slowly on the ground, in front of which seemed to be a small village guessed by a boundary in front of her with embossed words 'Spurious Village' and inside were successive lines of old-style houses built through woods, and quiet pathways.

There were other people going inside, even running in desperation of finishing the level quickly, some were by groups but mostly individuals. However, when she walked inside the place, there was a note attached to the door through the cardboard with a note written through red ink saying that only one person was allowed inside every house, and if there was a check on the mat, the room was occupied.

She walked more towards the straight path, not bothering to turn to the other sides though there were also houses at the back. She was actually only following the houses with a checking line and looking for a vacant house which she found one a little far from the boundary.

She stepped in front of the door, putting her things on the basket on the side of the door since no other things were allowed as she turned the mat on the opposite side which showed the check before she knocked and opened the door, but as soon as she stepped inside the dark room, she fell instantly on the water, there was a light under which made it blue in her eyes, and she found the die at the very end, on the very side sitting alone and waiting to be out the water.

However, it felt like both of them do as she also suddenly needed to get and breathe air, she wasn't ready and did not have the slightest idea that this was what inside the house, She tried swimming upwards, but it felt like something was stopping her to move up, her body suddenly felt heavy and her eyes were slowly closing and getting dizzy for lacking an air until everything went black.

"Riley! Wake up!"

Riley slowly opened her eyes upon hearing that voice and the hand that was pumping her chest, she immediately sat up and coughed water as a soothing hand of her father patting her back and the worried eyes of her mother and brothers met hers.

"Oh good Lord, Riley!" Her mother exclaimed, hugging her tightly in relief that she was still alive. Her father joined the hug and so as her brothers. It was their family hug, but Riley didn't felt like it. It felt... superficial.

"What... are you doing here?" She suddenly asked, eyes fixed on them then turned to her surrounding. Her eyes widen to see that she was in the first division, by the side of the small stream near their house to be precise.

"What do you mean what are we doing here? We're here to eat lunch together. Are you okay? You suddenly vanished in water." Her father told her, combing her hair.

"No... I'm in the game." Riley muttered, looking at her clothes but it was her usual casual clothes and not the uniform, "I'm in the game father!"

"What are you talking about, Riley? Come on, you must have hit your head somewhere, let's go and eat, you almost die."

Her father and Servy took her arms and helped her stood straight, however, Riley couldn't rest her mind. She could feel their warmth, the cold breeze of the air could hear the voices of her family, she was happy that she but she finally saw them after her days of being stuck in the game but she was sure... it was just an illusion.

"Father, I'm in the Game of Dice."

As soon as she said those, she felt a heavy force that was taking her back to the stream, and before she falls back down on the water, she looked at her family's eyes. She saw her father opened his mouth,

"Your strength could be your weakness too. Be careful, Riley."

When she opened her eyes again, her breath was getting short again, and she was in the water inside the house. She immediately swam to the end where the dice was, the heavy thing that was forbidding her to move earlier was now gone.

As soon as she got the dice she gave all of her might to get to the top and out of the place which she finally got to. She put the dice on the edge on the side and sat there, panting heavily as she inhaled all of the air she could take. She rested for a little while before she took the dice again and swam towards the door, emerging outside the house.

She sat in front of the house again, still not recovering from what had happened. Though she almost died, and probably she would if she chose to stay at her illusion, but her father was right, they were her strength, and her weakness too.

After spending half an hour, the sky was in an orange hue, it was already afternoon, she rolled her dice on the ground and waited for it to turn, hoping it would be higher this time but once again, she frowned when it showed only two because it hit the stone nearby.

"When will I be lucky in rolling dice?" She muttered to herself sulkily as she walked outside the village and waited for a Flee. She was now in level 18, so it means she would be in Stage two, level 21.

---

"Is that Cole?" One guy asked while they were each on the Flees. He was pointing to the woman in front of them who was also on the Flee, they were facing her back but by the usual tie of her raven hair that fell down to her torso, they were sure it was their target.

"Sho, it's your day. We've looked for her so long." The on the left implied, grinning to the man in the middle who was intently staring and boring holes to the lady's back through his deathly glares.

"She's still aloof. Even the other losers in the lowest class don't even want to get along with her." The man on the back remarked, chuckling the weird woman in their eyes.

Sho looked up at the tally of the survivors, they were still more than two digits thousands of participants. He looked to his friends and smirked, "Don't you think our competitors are still a lot? How about eliminating one now?"

The three of course got what he was implying as they nodded vigorously, "She's going to die anyway, why not advance it a little. We're giving her a favor."

"Surround her," Sho ordered, kicking his Flee a little hard which made it flew faster until they got next to the woman in target and surrounded her.

"Hey, loser! Haven't seen you in a while! I thought you were already dead. What a shame."

The boisterous laughs from the men who surrounded her echoed in the skies and even earned a little attention from those who were near them. Roley looked at them, and sighed, they were none other than her bullies in the school, they were also heading to their respective levels like her. They were, as always, four annoying heads.

"I could say the same to you." Riley casually replied, huffing as she couldn't fly forward because of the guy in front of her who was blocking her and the other behind her. She was basically cornered.

"That's impossible, Cole. We'll win this game. Too bad you won't witness that because you are going to die right here." Sho replied with a smirk and mischievous eyes.

Riley stared at him, he was wearing the vest uniform, while on the inside was a silver metal chest armor, cuirass, which seemed like the four of them had distributed the whole armor they got back on the fourth division. The Burgonet helmet was worn by the man on her left with a gorget, the man in front other was wearing a rerebrace on his arms and the gauntlet, while the man at her back was wearing the cuise on his thigh. The metal armor was fairly distributed.

"You must be so threatened of my existence that you are dying to kill me this early? This was just my sixth roll." Riley scoffed, she meant it as a joke or even a brave conceited remark, but because of her meek voice, it went out to be like a desperate indirect request of sparing her.

The four of them laughed at her, they were even clutching their stomachs and throwing their head back. Sho being the loudest of all, "Aren't you too scaredy-cat to be in this game? I wonder now how did you manage to get through the last six levels you've been through."

"You don't need to know, and it should remain that way. Stay out of my business. I just want to live until the end." Riley replied solemnly, she already saw the level 21 that her die led her to.

She had already spent twenty days inside the fifth division, it was not like she had been slacking off as it was only her sixth roll of dice and it had been twenty days that had passed. The levels that she had been through were just so much time-consuming, every level that she went into was like going through a different part of the world and the time there was slower than in the fifth division. She also realized that the stage one of the Game of Dice focused on the Heart, there was not much fight going on in the level one to twenty and they were against of only themselves, probably that was why they were like going against of time only, it was only getting back through spending their time faster because the first levels were easier.

The last that she had been through before she the level 18 she came from earlier was a test of her kindness, They had to climb the high mountain where the dice were, she even finished three bottles of water in so much tiredness, and in the middle of their journey an old woman would show up pretending to be a participant as well and would ask for water and food, but in reality, the woman was a die herself, choosing someone who could be granted of a shortcut which thankfully, she did.

When she gave the woman her spare food and water and even volunteered on carrying her things and accompany her to the top, she was thinking at that time of her mother because she could see her to the woman, they were in the middle of the mountain when the woman stopped and shook her hand, telling her that she passed the level and do not need to go to the top which would take two more days, The woman just suddenly vanished and the next thing she knew she had already a die on her palm and a Flee by the side.

"Too bad, your end has come," Sho said and took out his sword probably the one that belonged to the armor as well. The other three released their weapons too.

"Wait, please just leave me alone." She pleaded but keeping the spear on guard.

"Sorry but we ain't sorry about this plan that we longed for so long. You put me to isolation, this is my way of getting back to you." Sho said through a smirk then swung his sword reaching over Riley but she managed to move to the other side.

However, the guy on the other side threw his whip on her which unfortunately caught her. A few people who saw this yelled at the boys, trying to stop them through words but of course, bullies never listen.

"Pull it!" Sho demanded, "Let her die falling on the ground!"

Riley tried getting away from the whip, but it was too late as the guy listened to Sho and pulled the whip to the side which caused her to fall out of her Flee. It felt like the world had suddenly slowed down, she could see the red information at the top, the spear that was falling on top of her, the four boys smirking as they watched her fall, then decided to flew away from the assault they just did like nothing.

Riley slowly closed her eyes, a tear escaped her eyes as her heart tightened in thinking of how unfair life was. Of how some people could bring someone down and step on them as if they were a ladder that would bring them to the top. She was so frustrated at how she looked helpless, and how everyone looked at her with sympathy without even trying to help her. It was frustrating and infuriating how she would die at the hands of the people she didn't think deserve to be happy and to win. She would definitely accept it if she dies voluntarily or her life for other people whom she thinks really deserve to win.

Another tear left her eyes as she thought of her family that might probably be watching this heartbreaking scene. She just hoped Servy and Thirdy were not watching that part, but thinking of her parents crying for her only made her sob and muttered apologies in the air, hoping that it would get to them. She just saw them earlier even if those were illusions and almost did not made out of the house, and somehow, she appreciated the thing especially now.

"Raelle, get the spear!"

Riley opened her eyes again upon hearing a voice near her, and the next thing she knew, someone grabbed her bag and a firm arm wrapped on her waist and pulled her close until she was seated on the back of a Flee again. However, since only one participant was allowed on one Flee and the creature couldn't carry too much weight, the Flee started slowing down and stopped on swinging its wings which made them slowly fall down.

"Balance yourself! I'm going to jump!" The man who saved her shouted, and as soon as he said those, he immediately jumped on the vacant Flee on the side, and the Flee she was on started flying upward again.

And just like that, she survived two life-risking events in just a day.