Game of DIcE

Through

"Run!" A man running inside the cave shouted, pulling her out of her fixation on watching how the man that he didn't even get the name of abruptly changed onto something she was not aware what of.

Riley blinked twice, then finally got her strength back, she took the man's spear that was thrown on the ground and ran with it. She looked around, looking for the possible reason why the man had suddenly turned into a monster, or might she call a Zumbe which she learned from her brothers who always watched on television and they always play with Servy always acted like weird and Thirdy would run around the house and if he was feigned to be bitten, they both would turn into weird people making weird low and irritating noises, their hands were spread forwards as they walked slowly with their eyes white, and would run after her who was just silently judging them on the side.

It was exactly how the man was right now. She heard the groans and the scary noise of a monster to her back, and the yell and crying out of the man who told her to run but was now fighting for his life against the man, and the other people who were trying to get past the now completely turned into a full-fledged Zumbe.

As far as she could remember, from the history lesson she had taken at the institute, the Zumbe really had existed before, at around the 1800s, it was first spread across the world first found by a person not in the land of Asovine first but in the Dreyt, the country near the Asovine where the people frequently eat raw food and critter, even came to the point that they feast with bats not knowing the vermin it contained which then sparked the new disease that shook the whole world because of how fast it changed the people.

The man probably had caught the vermin on the wall where she saw him last put his hand, she stopped on the side and hid on the wall, not making a contact with the wall of course as she peeked to the commotion,

"Oh my..." Her breath had caught to her throat upon seeing the situation, the man who had shouted at her and practically save her was now lying on the ground, also slowly turning into something like the man, and she knew by then that she had to run to the light that she saw especially when she came eye to eye to the man who was bending and eyes slowly turning to red.

She ran fast with a squeak, when she looked back, the two were now looking at her and started moving slowly until they were running fast towards her as well.

"No!" She said through her panic, running fast in adrenaline with her teeth gritted no matter how heavy her bag was and how full her hands were because of the spear and the slingshot that she kept on guard.

She looked at the back again and was surprised when the two had their claws ready as the new guy jumped on her but she managed to move to the side, making him fall flat on the ground and the other man behind him tripped on his foot making him fall on the ground as well.

"Stupid Zumbes." She muttered as she looked to the front again but instead tripped on the protruding stone which made her belonged to the two on the floor and groaned, "Aw!"

She felt a hand on her foot which made her shriek, she immediately stood up and kicked the zumbe on his face, but the other had caught her other foot instead, "Let me go in peace! Have mercy on me, it's only my first roll for goodness' sake!"

She looked in front of her upon seeing another zumbes coming, about four, and she guessed those were also the people who held the floor and got the bat's pees, in short, foolish people. Leaving her with no other choice, she took the spear on the ground and breathed a sigh, with her eyes closed, she pointed the sharp edge to the man and stabbed the zumbe who was holding her foot on the head, followed by a loud outcry of pain as the hold on her loosened, she pulled the spear and also did the same with the other.

She continued running, suddenly feeling sorry for the man who helped him and for the man who accompanied him inside. The light that she was eyeing was already near, and the four zumbe were gone because of the new people who came inside the cave, so she got to just walk. She held the spear on guard, slowly walking towards the cave where the light was coming from.

"Woah!" She uttered to herself, gasping as she found the wide green pasture before her eyes, the cold fresh wind even hit her face that blew her hair to the back. This kind of scenery was her first time on witnessing right before her eyes, that she could even have a feeling of the softness of the grass under her feet, could hear the rustling sound of wind and the grass, the sky was so blue and the clouds were so white, it was overwhelming but she kept herself on guard.

"I could only see this in my dream, and often there are always wild animals and such around, so there could also be one or two here." She told herself, carefully walking and looking around with the spear ready to stab whoever or whatever came out of nowhere.

She had been walking for a while now but there was no trace of anything, not even a person, and that made her wonder if she was the first to reach the end. She kept on walking until she reached the middle where there was a tree, the lone tree with a lot of fruit in the middle of the pasture that it had become weird when she came by the tree and looked up at the reachable fruit.

She reached out one fruit that she deemed already riped, it was circular, the size was about a half of a palm and could be eaten in just one bite, the color was so pretty, the riped ones were clear red while the others that were unripe were green, and those that were already too much and already becoming old were in a color of brownish-gold. She raised her hand, enticed by the color of the ripe fruit which looked drooling just by its outside color, and also fired by the curiosity of how the fruit tasted like. the fruit was already in her hand and only a slight pull could trigger it from being picked out, but a voice had surprised and stopped her from doing so.

"Woman, you shouldn't do that,"

Riley let go of the fruit and immediately readied the spear, pointing to the woman at her back with a suspicious glare. She was a little scary, her jet-black hair was so straight as if was ironed, her skin was as white as a snow, lips as red as the fruit, nails were painted with sparkling gold, the shape of her eyes was sharp, but the color of her irises was as green as the pasture, her posture was also as straight as the tree trunk, she looked young, but the obvious creases on her face couldn't be denied that tells about her age.

She was also wearing a black off-shoulder dress, elegantly flowing to her bare feet, she had also a crown of wheat perfectly fit on her head, a necklace with. a green jewel pendant, and various design of bracelets, there were a lot of things going on on her body.

"I am no harm, lady, you can put down your spear," She said again, walking towards her previous place earlier and reached over the fruit that she was holding earlier.

"Who are you?" She finally asked, pretending to be unfrightened and strong but she had been imagining worse things in her mind and those were all not good. She always tends to be ready to think about possible scenarios, even if they involved life-risking events, and that was one of what her parents admire of her because she often thought of her decisions seriously and assessed the outcomes of each every choice she had and choose the one with the least risk and more positive outcome.

"I am the Way. What are you doing in here?" She asked, picking out the fruit that she forbid her on picking and rubbed its soft texture while she looked at her with those intimidating eyes.

Riley tilted her head in confusion about her answer of who she was, "You are the Way? You mean you can give me the die I need? The way to the next levels?"

"Ah, of course, the die." She nonchalantly replied, "Would you mind sitting for a while?"

"W-what? But..." She hesitantly mumbled, watching as to how the woman sat on the grass and looked at her expectantly, tapping the space beside her.

Riley sighed, though she needed to hurry and finished the level as fast as she could, seemed like she couldn't say no to this woman especially that she looked scary, she didn't know what else she could do. With a reluctant move, she strode towards the space beside the woman, stiff and kept her eyes to the ground.

For the first time in a while, the woman gleamed at her, she kindly offered the fruit she was holding in front of her which she again conflicted on taking but still did because the woman showed no sign of backing down as she kept her smile. She looked at the fruit in her hand, rubbing it using her thumb, wasn't really sure if she should eat it or not that she might end up the same with the woman that she had watched before.

"This is no Snow White, woman. I am no witch, you can eat that fruit." She said as if she could read what was on her mind just a while ago, "You are my visitor so I am being generous."

"I am the first?" She reiterated, a little surprised at the information. "I've seen... not a lot but there were still a few people choosing this cave, how come I am the first?"

"As you have witnessed, the cave only let the purest souls in, only the people with a good heart can see the white light which leads here, but to tell you honestly, everyone could see this, it varies on how good still left in their hearts, and everyone could get here freely, that's if they were not caught on being a Zumbe first." She explained, flicking her finger as another fruit suddenly appeared in her hand and straightly bit on it.

"How many had tried on coming in here? And what happened to those people who had turned into Zumbes?" Her eyes darted to the path she came from, if she saw white light on her way to the pasture, there was also a black entrance there which the way back to the cave.

"They're going to move on the other cave, and that's exactly what the people who chose the other cave are against with, and sadly, there was no way for them to be back, that ends their journey." He said then looked at her, "For you to survive, you should be aware of the people you are going to accompany with, you can't trust anyone but your judgment, in that way, you will survive, longer if not completely."

Riley nodded, taking the advice in her heart and mind, "I will remember that. But how do I get to another level, where can I find the dice?"

"Dice varies in size, once you eat the fruit, you'd get to see the dice." She explained, "Please, eat. You have already spent five hours here."

"F-five hours!?" She blurted, standing up abruptly in an uproar.

The woman nodded, "The time here is slow. You might think that only an hour had passed, but it's already half a day."

Riley grimaced, mumbling to herself, "So that means, only one level was that I had been through in a day?"

"Don't rush things out, lady, the other challenges took months to finish and the other took forever. Always gather yourself together, that helped as much." She said, standing up as well.

Riley just nodded as she was already eating the fruit, but being careful as she might bite on the hard dice because it would surely hurt. When she was done, and already had the die in her palm, she looked at the woman, "How can I get out of here?"

"Just close your eyes." She replied which Riley did, "I hope you success."

The last thing Riley heard was the flick of her fingers and the sudden hit of different air and when she opened her eyes, she was now back outside the cave and it was now dark.

She got through her first level easily. Thanks to her intuition.