Chapter 3: Monopoly

"I am so bored! Do you have anything we could do?" asks the man.

The box reappears with another letter.

We can play Monopoly.

"Sure, I am down," says the man.

The pilot presses a button to activate autopilot mode and a noise is emitted from the plane. The passenger seat slides back while the pilot's seat turns 180 degrees, the two seats are facing each other now. A small glass dome slides over them, enclosing them within. The man looks around in fascination as a table slides out of the floor, a box labeled Monopoly laying atop it.

"Alright, how do we play?" questions the man, looking at the box.

The pilot opens the box and offers the man the small guidebook that comes with it. The man scans through the pages and gets the gist of how the game works.

"So, basically, there is this thing in the game called money and properties. And I need to get all the properties using the money to win. Also, the properties, in turn, help me earn back the money spent." he speaks to himself, summarizing the rules.

"Alright, let's play," says the man to the pilot.

The pilot sets up the board and offers the man to choose between 4 different pieces: knight, dragon, queen, king.

The man chooses the knight while the pilot opts for the king. The pilot then switches the queen and dragon pieces on.

"You are all going down!" comes a voice from the queen.

"Wait what?! How can it speak?" asks the man as he looks at the different pieces in surprise.

"Don't ask too many questions, let's get to the game, boy," rumbles the dragon.

The pilot takes 2000$ from the bank, but he is the only one who is allowed to do that.

Right.

Rule number one: only the pilot gets to take the initial money at the start of the game.

Since I have no source of income and no money, I will have to depend on the lottery cards to gain it and hopefully get the lucky 6000$ lottery card.

He speculates as he studies the Monopoly board.

As the game progresses, the pilot starts buying lands after one lap of the board. The man is on his second lap, however, luck doesn't seem to be on his side, causing him to gain a very small amount of money. The game continues, each time the knight, dragon, or queen step on any of the pilot's lands, they take a loan from the bank so that they can pay him. The condition being that they will have to return the money back with an increased interest rate of 10% each time they loop the board.

The man is in the middle of going through a lap when he realizes the strategy of the game.

This . . . this is impossible for me to win! I started with no money but now I am in debt. Why don't I and the other players get to start with initial money too?

The pilot proceeds to win three games in a row with ease.

"This is frustrating, I haven't gotten the 6000$ lottery card even once!" grumbles the man as he glares at the board.

He decides that the fourth game will be the one he wins.

Once the game begins, the man immediately steals 3000$ from the bank. Because according to the rule book:

Rule number five: Players can steal 1000$, 2000$, 3000$ or any amount as long as it is in thousands. However, beware that for every 1000$ a player steals, they will be thrown in jail for two turns and bailing themselves out will not be permitted.

I will be in jail for 6 turns, but now I might have a chance.

The queen manages to acquire the lucky 6000$ lottery card at last and it turns out to be a close game between them, but the man finally wins at the end.

"Alright, I am done. I want to take a nap now," says the man.

The pilot arranges the game set back into the box and presses the button again to turn everything back to how it was.

The man leans back in his seat and dozes off.

. . .

He stares around in wonder.

What is this place?

"Are we here? Did we make it?!" questions the man enthusiastically, leaning towards the pilot's seat, "Hey, take the plane a little further so I can look around better,"

The box slides out and the man grabs the letter distractedly.

This is not our destination, nor is it salvation. I recommend ignoring it and going forward. But the choice is yours.

The man contemplates the situation and curiosity gets the better of him.

"I would like to know more about this place. So, please, if you could take us a bit further, that would be appreciated," he says to the pilot.

Slowly, the plane moves away from the wall and other things come into view, the man looks around animatedly.

"Isn't this what they call a Castle?" he murmurs to himself.

The plane is hovering around a floating Castle.

"Hey, look! Try landing there, I want to take a look inside," requests the man, pointing to a large runway at the Castle's side.

The pilot obliges, and the plane lands on the runway safely. He drives them to a hanger where other planes are parked, the pilot parks their plane at a designated spot.

"I'll go out and look around the place!" says the man, undoing his seat belt and jumping off the plane.

He pauses as he hears a sound behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he sees the pilot walking towards him.

"You're coming with me? But what about the plane, who will look after it? What if it gets stolen?" asks the man.

The pilot hands him a letter.

Yes, I will explore with you. Don't worry about the plane. No one will be able to steal it. Trust me.

"If you say so," says the man, frowning with uncertainty.

They both walk towards the gatehouse and the man pushes open the gates excitedly.