Second World



The others were staring at Master. This ethereal had always been silent. His unexpected outburst drew everyone's attention.

"A god…?" Naomi asked.

Jack said to them. "No need to listen to him, especially what he said about that dictator shit. He is a megalomaniac who tries to conquer the world and imagines himself as a God enslaving everyone. You can just treat his words as farts."

Stefan rolled his eyes at Jack. 'Wasn't it you who baited him into this conversation?' His eyes said.

Master realized he had let his emotion get the better of him. He harrumphed and leaned back onto the wall. He turned his face away from Jack.

"Hey, we just starting to know each other. Don't stop when the conversation starts to get interesting," Jack said to him.

"I've conversed enough. Are you going back on your words?" Master said.

"Ugh, fine. I will not bother you… for a few hours," Jack said.

Five minutes later, Jack asked him, "Hey, you are a genius, aren't you? Do you have any idea how we can get out of our current situation?"

Master was peeved. He wanted very much to cast his spells on this chattering fool, but he also couldn't access his spells. He was indeed thinking about a solution to his current predicament. But with this noisy man beside him, he was unable to think properly.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He had suffered through such fools his entire life. People who didn't know what they were talking about. Even when he tried explaining to them, they still didn't understand. That's why he had learned to not bother explaining anything to such people. Their limited intelligence rendered them unable to comprehend his train of thought.

He was concentrating. He shut himself off from all outside noises. His thought was only on the problem at hand. His mind was focused. Solid as a fortress that repelled all the clatters from the outside world… Then this fortress was shaken.

Master opened his eyes as his body shook. He looked down and saw the hand that was responsible for the shaking. That hand belonged to Jack.

"Hey, I'm asking you. Do you have any idea? It will be better if we work together," Jack said while continued shaking Master's body.

"You…! You, insufferable, obnoxious piece of a pestering buffoon! You, vexing…"

His rant was interrupted when a loud voice boomed from above, "The last participant has arrived…! We finally have four full teams! Ladies and gentlemen, the game will begin shortly! Take your time to say your goodbye and maybe some prayers. Some of you might not make it. But hey! It's all worth it as long as we have fun, isn't it? The game will begin in ten minutes!"

The vine face had formed without anyone noticing. After delivering its announcement, the vines broke up and returned to its natural state. The dungeon returned to being silent.

"Last participant…? That participant must be in the other teams. By the way, does anyone know what this game is about?" Jack asked.

Everyone shook their heads.

Jack turned to Master. "Do you know? Oh… You were saying something just now. What did you say? I didn't quite catch it," Jack asked.

Master's face twitched. He didn't know if Jack truly didn't hear or if he was pretending. The result was the same, he was infuriated.

He gave Jack the silent treatment again. Just ten more minutes, he thought. Whatever this game was, he hoped he got separated from Jack. Or better yet, let him fight Jack. He would very much like that. Thinking of that possibility, his mind didn't even have the room to process an escape plan.

Since Master ignored everyone, Jack took the initiative. He said to the others, "Well, whatever this game is, the vine face said four teams. We must be one of those four. There is a high chance we will be pitted against the other three teams. I don't know what happens if we lose. But from what that vine face said just now, I don't think it's anything good. We will have a better chance of winning if we all work together. So, we need to be of one voice! We need a leader. I propose that…"

"All of you should listen to me!" Master interjected.

Everyone was startled by his sudden declaration.

Master was surprised himself. He didn't truly care who was the leader. He planned to study the situation and find a way out for himself. But he somehow just couldn't accept letting Jack be the leader. Anyone else except this buffoon was fine, even though the said leader was only figurative.

"Dude… Chill down," Jack said to him. "I was about to propose you as the leader."

Master thought he must have heard wrong.

"I hate to say this, but among us, you have the most knowledge of this faction or any secret mechanism at work. I know you won't share any of them with us, but you should be able to direct us properly with that knowledge."

Richard asked, "Why does he know more about this faction than any of us?"

"Trust me. He just does," Jack said.

Richard gave him a face that said, 'What kind of explanation is that?! Why should I trust you?'

Jack ignored Richard and turned back to Master. "But of course, if you give us instruction that purposely harms any one of us. Prepare for retaliation. Don't think you can take all of us on without your spells. Even I am confident I can deal with you in this condition."

"Then why do you not? This is perhaps your only chance to defeat me," Master asked.

"Your overconfidence will bring you down," Jack said.

"Right back at you, moron," Master returned.

"Never picture you to be so foul-mouthed," Jack remarked.

Master thought the same. He didn't seem to be able to keep his cool with this guy.

The others didn't truly understand the two's conversation nor were they fully listening to the two. They were at the moment very anxious about this game that was about to start. On one hand, they were glad they no longer had to wait endlessly inside this dungeon. On the other hand, what if this game was worse than they thought?

"Ten minutes are almost over," Jack said. He had been keeping tabs on the time by counting in his mind.

When the counter in his mind reached zero, a flash of light enveloped all ten of them. They felt themselves become weightless. When the flash ended, they were gone from that dungeon.