The game (II)

Snow walked around to take a better look at what she was up against. She then found Tommy wearily poking around one of the booths. She debated whether he wanted to take a stab at one of the games or was just playing around because of how he went about trying to scare the ghost away or the other way around.

"What are you doing?" Snow asked. Seeing Tommy lumbering his body shimmy on over with half his eyes closed was quite amusing to see.

"What? Oh. Ms. Receptionist." Tommy tried to cover up his act, coughing a few times. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking around. Aren't you going to play a game?"

"Well, about that." Tommy turned slightly red. "I don't do well with those ghosts and stuff." His serious expression made Snow smile.

"Don't worry. I'll protect you." Snow gave him back a serious reply, which she was trying her best not to chuckle.

"I'm serious. I just don't do well with ghosts." Tommy pulled back his hair, giving her a heartfelt confession. "Plus, I should be protecting you, Ms. Saintess." He goaded at her back.

"Oh, shush. I am not a saintess. Get that silly thought out of your head." Snow waved her hand. She didn't expect Tommy to say such things back at her. Mostly because Tommy had known her for a while now and her being a Saintess wasn't something that he would say. The only reason that he was saying it was to get back at her for her little jabs.

"As you wish, Ms. Receptionist." Tommy gave her a graceful bow, making Snow roll her eyes.

"Anyways, besides the ghost. Why don't you just pretend there isn't anything and just win a few tokens. The faster you do this, the less you have to worry about looking at them."

Realization dawned on Tommy's face. With boisterous laughter, he pounded Snow's back. A sharp sting went up and down her shoulder as she scowled at Tommy's rough pat.

"Easy for goodness sake, your strength is inhumane." Snow whined, it was one thing to have armor on and not feel a thing, it was another if she still felt the pain that Tommy had given her with a simple smack on her back. She couldn't help but wonder if Falcon's armor was defective for a moment.

She knew that Falcon's armor was considered pretty good, but to still be able to penetrate it made her wonder how strong Tommy was.

Tommy just kept laughing, shrugging his shoulder as he didn't mind it at all. He went back to his usual strange behavior of pacing back and forth, muttering to himself how to slay a ghost. For a moment, Snow thought she had heard him speak of asking her for some Holy Water. Snow quickly left before she was caught up in his shenanigans.

For the next hour, Snow went around to check out the different booths. She was curious about what was in store as well as if she could escape. Most of the booths were simple games that she had seen in any amusement park--from dart games, hoop throws, sack throws, pin the donkey, and many others. The exciting thing about these games was that a simple action of the game wasn't going to cut it. Magic seems to be a big part of it as Snow had watched a few mishaps.

She had seen how the physical strength that the Players used without magic backfired, and they got injured.

Even Snow had to heal a few from the danger that these games had brought. There were quite a lot of pretty bad cases that made Snow feel a bit woozy. Some got to the point that only the brave few who either were extremely lucky or skilled would take part. Such people were Micheal, Rodney, Red, Tamaki, Mr. Everrett, and Dairen. The others weren't blessed with such luck and got injured from the blast.

Snow couldn't help but watch as some of the Players played the game, even if she warned them they would not listen as the fever of getting tokens was rampant. Rodney had to calm a few down by giving a few examples for their hardheadedness, which a few had to learn the hard way.

"Hey man, back up." One of the Players ordered sounded more arrogant. "We got here first."

Snow noticed a group of three Players, huddling around one of the two others who were about to play hoop throw.

"What are you talking about, Ryan?" The female Player said with annoyance as she held the ball.

"We got here first. Are you trying to bully us into taking our spot at the booth?"

"No. I am asking you to back off."

The tension in the air was high, but when they saw Rodney walk past them and glare without a word, every single one of them settled down, remembering the beating that a few had gone through not too long ago.

"Whatever, here." The female Player threw the ball at him, leaving the booth with her friend.

Ryan smugly took the ball and stood in front to shoot. He jokingly spoke in laughter, showing off the ball in his hand. The others laughed alongside him as he shot.

The moment the ball touched the rims and was about to be tipped over into the hoop, it disappeared.

"What?" Ryan was confused about what just happened, he looked at his friends wondering if they did something to it.

"Not me, dude." A red hair man held up his hand while the others did the same to show that they weren't the culprit.

Just when Ryan turned around to look for the ball, it sporadically reappeared in his hand as if it wasn't thrown at it. Suddenly, the ball burst into blazing hot flames, scorching his hands red.

"Ugh!" Ryan threw the ball into the air, it dropped with a thunk and bounced toward Snow.

Snow, who was watching the whole thing, raised her hand and sent out water magic at it. It doused the burning flames, allowing her to pick up the ball afterward. She could feel a sharp tug of magic, seeping into the ball. Already, she was on guard, realizing how much magic was needed to contain the ticking time bomb inside the ball.

Ryan's friends panic. They didn't know what had happened and even started to blame each other.

"Would you guys just shut up and help me?" Ryan cried out in pain, holding his hand close to his body as tears streamed down his face.

The two stopped, looking around for anyone that could help.

Snow walked forward, shaking her head at the three. Her frown deepened when she saw the extent of the damage on his hand. It was already blistering red with puss coming out.

"Saintess?!" The two shouted out in unison that made Snow flinch.

Snow raised up her hands to stop them from bombarding her with words. She spoke, "I saw how you treated your fellow teammates."

The three realized what she had meant. Ryan held his arm tighter. He moved away from Snow as a flush of red encompassed his whole face and up to his ears.

"Be kind to your teammates, Ryan. For who knows, they might be the one saving you." She rummaged through her inventory, taking out a small vial of liquid. "Put this on your skin, it will take twenty minutes to heal. We aren't in a hurry to fight." Snow threw the vial and the ball to his nearest friend. She turned around, leaving the three behind as they stood silently.

They looked at the vial that Snow had given them, unmoving until finally, Ryan barked out orders.

Snow shook her head. She felt a bit of regret handing over the vial that would heal his wounds but felt a tiny bit of satisfaction as she knew that the itching would be horrible for the next twenty minutes.

If they tried to even scratch their hand, a painful zap would shake their very core, making it very tricky until twenty minutes passed.

She wasn't a saint, she wanted to give out a bit of retribution to the three for bullying the others. Maybe they would get angry at her, she didn't care. She wasn't doing this for their lip service.

As she continued exploring, she noticed that the number of Players who came running to her was increasing. Some Players, who weren't paying attention, would be burnt horribly to the point where they were immobile and whisk away to their healers. Others, which some couldn't heal, were brought to Snow to save their comrade's lives. Instantly, people were on guard when they started to play these games.

Even though Snow didn't participate in it, she could tell how dangerous it was to play such a game without draining one's magic. It was enough for a single player to drain all their magic on one game before they could play a second, and without any magical ability, it was considered suicide.

If Snow wasn't there, she was sure that they would have died.

Still, Snow went around the area a bit more, feeling out each place as she noticed that there was no other way to go across the river. Even if she kept pushing forward, following along the river edges, she was brought back to the beginning magically as if the area wanted her to stay. She knew that there was some kind of foul magic at play that wouldn't let them go even if they tried.

It was different from the previous battle where the tent had a barrier set in place. This area seemed more like an illusion and a teleportation spell, but which one, she didn't know.

Snow extinguished her scanning spell and went back to the beginning from where they had entered.

Dairen had come over with Mike in tow. Both of them had not participated in any game as of now as they too were looking for answers.

"Did you find anything?" Dairen asked. He was pulling Mike around as Mike seemed ecstatic about playing a gambling game in a few booths.

"Yes, just a few things," said Snow.