Game of DIcE

D-1

"Still weak, brother!" With a laugh, the man told his friend as he detached himself and his short sword weapon that he luckily got on the table last week from his friend's neck. He took his friend's hand and helped him stand, the other man had a bastard sword but since he was a frail man who could barely carry the metal sword and a noob man when it comes to sword fighting, it just eventually thrown to the side which made the other won against him no matter how advantageous his weapon was.

"I don't think I will be ready for the game tomorrow." The disappointed man remarked, dusting off his gray sleeveless shirt and black pants then picked up his weapon, "I don't want to die."

"No one does, bro. But what can we do? We are already here, let's just do our best to survive. Don't look too gloomy, come on, we still have one whole day before the game, you can master this sword up." The other encouraged, patting his shoulder for comfort, "You are improving, let's have another fight."

The man nodded, breathing deeply before smirking, "Rematch?"

The sound of the people shouting as they move from left to right, back to front, grunting in frustration, breathing heavily in exhaustion, sweat mixing with tears which were falling because of their hard work and anxiousness from the nearing day of the opening of the game. Flying metals, clanging sound of two metals hitting each other, words of encouragement, and other noises which told about the people's busyness especially the parliament who were already promoting the game around the world and readying the fifth division with now a countdown on top inside the game, all in preparation for the upcoming start of the game tomorrow.

However, in contradiction of what everyone's diligence was showing, Riley remained to be on the side and preferred to just observe everyone's hard work, well, it's not like she had a choice, as much as she wanted to train herself with her weapon— unfortunately, the one and only thing left on the table which was a slingshot, she was so accustomed of using that kind of slingshot because they were taught of using that back when they were kids by her father, and they often shoot birds and sometimes deer so they could at least have something good to eat other than the vegetables from her parent's farm.

She wanted something else, a sword perhaps, or even a dagger, but when she tried asking for one from the people in higher levels, she just received a bunch of demoralization of her status coming from their filthy mouths and selfish ego. So, disheartened and pissed off and not wanting to cause a fight which she knew she would just lose in the end, she just silently went back to her place and watched them train themselves.

But, it's not like she had no weapon at all, she wouldn't condition herself. In the past days, all she did was to stretch, jog the whole wide space of division four because she knew she would just run and run in the game, gather as much muscle as she could in her body through lifting heavy things such as stones she found everywhere, she was also doing push-ups, sit-ups and strenuous exercises on her own, and after days of continuously doing them, though she felt like it was not enough, but still, she could spot the difference and the improvement she made from the day that she arrived at the fourth division to the day that she will move to the last division for the real deal.

"Good afternoon, participants. Stop from whatever you are doing and listen to what will I say." The voice of the emissary once again was heard at the whole vicinity after eight days of silence, "The game will start tomorrow, everyone is expected to be up and ready at three in the morning because, at exactly that time, you will be sent to the fifth division for the opening of the game at six o'clock. Again, as soon as you come inside, you can start looking for your dices, it is everywhere, one dice per person, roll it and go step on the next level your dice tells you, I repeat again, no cheating because there are eyes everywhere, you can take your time but you have a year to get out of the game. And, the good news and the very first time we are doing this since the game is getting popular, we have decided to provide a uniform for all of you that you will wear inside."

The sentries went out of their caves carrying what seemed like their uniforms by how they were folded, and even still inside the plastic. They were given two each, and two different styles, one a black jacket with the Land of Asovine's flag which was a black one with a circle in the middle and six dots inside formed like the six dots in the dice, and truly the Game of Dice was what it literally symbolizes. The flag was on the side, on the left chest, and under it was the word 'Asovins' embossed with pitch color of threads in a cursive type and a small dice at the end which was used as a dot. On the other hand, the other one was also a jacket but it was sleeveless, with two pockets on each side which were certainly helpful to not carry things around by hand, it was also black and had the same style and decoration on the left part just like the other. It was cool, it felt like they were really going for a survival game.

"Those are your uniforms, you will have to wear one of them atop your clothes, it is advisable to wear it along your journey, and you can only be excused to take it off when the two uniforms are torn. We expect you to wear it tomorrow in the morning. That is all, good luck with your game tomorrow and we hope you will give us an entertaining game because a lot of people now were looking forward to this another chapter of our game, and I am sure a lot will bet on you so try your best to survive. Have a good day, participants." He said, then turned off the mic again.

Riley couldn't help the scoff coming out of her mouth upon hearing his last statement. They really found leisure and entertainment in watching people die, and with no remorse, they laughed at someone's demise. They took advantage of someone's life and make a profit of them, they were more than just being inhumane, a bunch of monsters. And the way he said to try their best to survive became a sarcastic remark to her ear.

After the announcement, the participants just tried the comfortability of their uniform for a while then went back to their practice. Riley remained seated on the side, putting the uniform inside her bag, and did not bother on trying them, she just looked at her stored food and made sure that the eggs were still whole wrapped inside the shirt that she sacrificed for the sake of her food inside the game while she was not sure what she could and could not eat inside. So far, inside her bag, she got her limited clothes, twenty-eight eggs, ten bottles of water, and one plastic of plain biscuits, it was heavy but not too much probably because she made use of herself carrying heavier things than her bag.

"Hah, young lady, you've got a whole lot of chances in surviving. Lucky you." An old man, already with grizzled hair, sweaty because of his perseverance on handling the spear that he was holding now which only made like a cane to him by how he used it on walking while holding his waist which probably hurt. "My chance of surviving is ten percent while you have more than half of the chance."

"That's not guaranteed, sir. I don't know what's waiting for me inside." She answered, she closed her bag and looked at him, "Ten percent chance of survival is still a chance to survive, and no one knows what will happen, who knows that what you said as the half percent of the chance I got that I am sure you based on my healthy appearance is just as leveled with what you deemed the chance of your survival is, and it could also be vice versa. We don't know what will happen, but we can always be prepared, that's the least thing we can do for now. You can survive, sir, if you will believe and persevere. As long as you are living, there is still hope."

The man looked at her with a genuine smile plastered on his face, his eyes were looking at her with admiration, "In my nine days of staying here, all I hear were claims of their defeats, acceptance of their deaths, and the silent farewell and prayers for their families that they will be left out, but you are so different, you are the only one I hear who remain positive, and that is seriously inspiring and uplifting. Thank you for that, young lady, I hope we survive."

"You know, sir, deep inside these people who are claiming their deaths is a seeping hope that they are jinxing those words and they could actually survive, we all are hoping to survive, and we will if we want to. There is no age in this game, though strength is really a must, but you have your spear, just think that has some sort of power that strengthens you." She remarked with silliness, pointing on the tip of the spear, and imagined that there was magic coming out of it.

The man laughed at her playfulness, but then again stopped upon noticing something, he looked at her hand, but found them empty, "How about you? Where is your weapon? Did you got any?"

Riley's smile turned into a sigh and huge frown as she slowly shook her head, "Unfortunately, no. I tried asking to those who got a lot but they just couldn't let go of even a small dagger, though I got this," She took the wooden slingshot from her pocket, "But I don't think this is useful enough."

"Well, obviously it's not. It has no sense if it is just like that, where are your stones? You should gather bullets now, the best stones to use for that are stones from small streams, those spherical, smooth stones, but unfortunately, there is no swamp nor stream here, so come on, let me help you find and collect stones so it would have finally use for you."

The man stood up and stretched his back, Riley doing the same as she carried her bag, agreeing to the man to help her collect temporary stones, she was really planning on doing it tomorrow in the actual game but since she didn't want to reject the man, she just goes with the flow since it would also be for her own. They walked around the place, talking about their lives before they were sent to the fourth division and she was so shocked when she learned that the man was from a rich class, he looked so simple that she didn't notice, she also got his name which was Ralph Raniego. They were conversing while the man was pointing to her what were the best stones to pick and once they found one, she would immediately pick it and put it in the small, brown stone bag. They just decided to stop when it was already dusk and the sentries were now starting to distribute their dinner.

"Thank you for helping me collect the stones for my weapon, sir, and for being my company this day." She said, bowing to him deeply to express her gratitude.

There was a sentry who came to them and handed them their food which was, as usual, an egg and bottle of water.

"It's nothing, Riley. Though I want to request for something," He said with a smile, it was not a smile that reached his eyes, it was more solemn.

"Anything, sir."

"If it happened that you survive and I did not, please keep this and give this to the person addressed. If no one among us survives, just let it bury with you." He said, handing her a folded paper before he smiled at her one last time and turned his back.