Awaken

Ace stared blankly at the women, men, children and soldiers trying to run away while being eaten alive, their screams filling the air.

"Ace," Ajax shouted as he turned to his brother and looked back at the women being attacked, conflict written all over his face.

I was about to be eaten like that. Ace thought, eyes widening. Why does it look more horrifying when it is happening to other people as compared to me?

"Ajax! Help us!" They heard some of the other children run to the monsters.

Many people are going to die today. Ace thought, looking at the children, not older than sixteen, run into the monsters, brutal and bloody.

Ajax looked at them and then at Ace, frowning deeply.

"Ajax!" One other kid shouted as a monster sliced him right in the middle and began to devour his body.

"Ajax! Come on!" More shouted as Ajax's grip on Ace tightened and he made up his mind.

Instead of running in the direction of the monsters, he turned around and ran in the completely opposite direction.

"What are you doing?!"

He did not answer them as he kept running until he reached the end of the camp and placed Ace in a completely protected barrier.

"Stay here." He said, running back as Ace sighed, sitting down on the ground.

"Now what?" he asked as Cleo appeared. "I don't think he is going to survive this. How did the game even say he survived?"

"The game left this part out because it would be a bit of a plot hole. Ace is not supposed to have the magic of the royal family and Ajax is powerful but his magic awakens only later in the game.

"Continuity error. Ace mentioned it just once when he is talking to the player. It seems like the adults came in and took care of everything but as you can see, there is no help coming."

"What should I do then? I can't just sit here." He said, standing up.

Cleo touched the barrier and broke it, "Why don't you put those skills in the forest to use and see what you can do to help them? There has to be about ... two hundred of them."

"This was a part of your plan, want it?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at the fox.

"We will never know, now will we?" It asked, floating to his face and whispering into his ears. "You better hurry before some more people die."

"You are quite a sadist, aren't you?" He asked, frowning at the fox before taking off in the same direction that his brother took off in.

_________

He passed bodies littered all along the ground and frowned slightly as the smell of blood and iron filled his nose.

Just how many people died just now? He thought, running as fast as he could. I need to get to him. Of everyone in this family, Ajax is the most important.

As he was running, four of the creatures suddenly appeared in front of him.

Before he could have a chance to react, two people appeared and cut them down with one swift motion.

"How is this happening?" The boy, Ace's stepbrother asked, swinging the sword in his hands as the blood splattered everywhere. "They can't come out of their forest."

"Someone let them out." The girl shouted, strawberry blonde hair dripping red with blood. "When I find the culprit. Just watch me rip them open."

"What is he doing here?" The boy asked, pointing to Ace.

"Why are you asking me? Ask him?" She said, wiping her sword with the hem of her shirt.

Every one of them had the same sword, which must be because this is supposed to be the hunting competition.

Every child here is a child of the king and this hunting competition is something he made to get rid of the weak ones and also see who are worth the crown.

The ones with the most kills here were given a brooch from the king and they are also one step ahead of becoming the crown prince or princess.

It also means that the king remembers who you are, name and family you are from as well.

So far, the king has about twenty wives, still alive, from all the different kingdoms and each of them has multiple children, most already dead.

In total, there are fifty prince and princesses still alive and out of the fifty, five have the brooch.

It is a very tough competition out there. Every child that is to get the brooch will have to kill more creatures than the previous child did.

Right now, the highest record number right now is one hundred and thirty-nine held by the fourteen-year-old child of a servant woman that the king found off the streets and took in.

No one knows his identity nor hers. Even in the game, his face was never shown, just a very vague description as he was not the antagonist or even a bad character.

He was just mentioned here and there before being forgotten completely.

These two twins are some of the few that have this brooch from the king. Zachary and Zoe.

This is because those at the top remain at the top and are not interested in making room for their other siblings to even have a chance to reaching the level they are in.

"What are you doing here, kid?" Zoe asked, tilting his head to the side as his eyes turned into an almost crystallized white colour with a hint of light blue in it.

Sloth.

"I am looking for my brother." Ace said nonchalantly. "Now, if you will excuse me."

"Now. Now. Now." Zoe grabbed the boy by his collar, stopping him from running. "Why are you in such a hurry to go there? Your brother let many of our siblings die to get you to a safe spot."

"Let the boy go if he wants to die so badly," Zachary said, resting the blade of the sword on her back as she smiled lazily at them, her eyes white and slightly orange.

Wrath.

"But the despair on his brother's face," Zoe said, clearly not feeling anything other than amusement.

"You want to see it, don't you?" She said, laughing as she turned to Ace. "We will take you to your brother then."

"But don't say we didn't warn you."

He wouldn't be dead yet. He is the main antagonist, the game would have reset. Ace thought as Zachary opened up a portal and threw him inside.

He fell to the other side, face scraping against the dirt as he sighed.

"Come on." Zoe picked him up and held him to see the enormous number of bodies around this place.

Most were children but there were a lot of guards and hardly anyone survived this.

"Where is Ajax?" he asked, turning to them.

"Where do you think?" Zachary said walking on the field of bodies, carelessly stepping on them as she continued to make her way to the front.

Ace noticed that there was a crowd of people and the three were pushing their way to the front where jeers and teasing were taking place.

He pushed himself off Zoe's grip and ran forward, making eye contact with Ajax before he came in contact with something hard on his face.

Rubbing his throbbing nose, he touched in front of him and saw a barrier was made to keep the creatures out. But ... if that was the case, why was Ajax on the other side of the barrier?

"Ajax!" He shouted, slamming into the barrier as his brother's battered face and torn arm looked at him in horror.

"I thought I was imagining when I saw you. What are you doing here, Ace?" He asked but Ace's attention is only on the creatures behind Ajax.

"What is happening?" He asked, turning to the other children just watching him struggle to put a barrier up to protect himself. "You need to let him in."

"Those creatures were released by him, he needs to take care of them himself."

"How could he do that?" Ace shouted. "He was with me the whole time. Whoever released them here is probably already dead."

"Do you hear something?"

"I don't hear a thing at all." They mocked as Ace's frustrations mounted up in him.

Don't they understand that they will have to go through this all over again if he dies? Or will there be a new antagonist?

"If Ajax dies, so will you." he heard a voice say to his left ear as his hands clenched into fists.

"What am I supposed to do now then?" he asked out loud.

"Ace. It's ok." Ajax said, smiling at him as blood ran down his nose. "Everything's ok."

Everything's not ok, you idiot! I don't want to die yet! After everything, I had to do.

"Want a tip?" The voice came again.

"Tell me."

"Ace loved his brother deeply. So why not take advantage of that? Let go." The voice completely faded and Ace looked as the barrier Ajax created began to crumble as he slowly lost consciousness.

"OK." he sighed, closing his eyes as he allowed that sickening feeling that grew in him as he remembered his brother's face, letting it consume him completely.

His eyes opened as the barrier finally cracked and the creatures tried to pounce on Ajax's body.

"No!"