In the near future, a crystal ball began to shine. Slowly, it was devoured completely by darkness. Suddenly, an eyeball formed inside the crystal and opened. The eye was red.
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In Beijing, one of the buildings began to crumble down. It collapsed upon twenty people who were unable to escape. The ground shook a bit at the impact. This was the beginning of a period called "Mayhem".
Not only in Beijing, strange incidents happened from all over the world. Buildings collapsed, bridges fell into the water, and natural disasters occurred unusually. Flood happened in areas normally not affected by it, earthquakes occurred even more frequently and increasingly violent. Not willing to believe the paranormal, the people termed the collapsing buildings and bridges due to terrorist attacks and the disasters as a scientific reason of Earth experiencing change.
This was not the only thing occurring. More and more people were becoming violent and many people were getting killed. Some were killed in an inhuman way as well. The human population was seriously dwindling and some economies even collasped due to lack of human resource. Poverty was even more prevalent and prominent in more areas.
Even when the people were getting more and more little, poorer and very desperate, losing heart in the increasingly hopeless and dark world, "monsters" sprung out from nowhere. Creatures with distorted features and claws, and inhuman strength and power. They destroyed everything within sight. Cities and civilisation were ruined by them. They were also unkillable by guns and bombs.
To restrain from further damage, the people arranged high priestesses and priests to make a barrier around a big spot, containing the most number of "monsters". The remaining survived people were abandoned by the government and had to hide in fear and find ways to survive. The spot was named the "Dark Hole".
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A girl was sitting in front of a computer. She was munching on a lollipop and leaning causually back on her chair.
"Hmm.....it seems the game is still on. Glad to see that humans are not that weak after all," the girl cheerfully said, closing her eyes.
Meanwhile, the screen flickered and a whole screen of words appeared on the computer. Then, the words disappeared and an eyeball formed. It opened and a red eye was seen.
*****************************************
Three years later after "Mayhem", throughout the world, peace had resumed. The disasters had stopped and "monsters" were seemingly kept in the "Dark Hole". However, there was a rumor going around.
In a school, Realing High School, a group of students was gathered around.
"Hey, did you hear the rumor?" Fernalia, a student, asked in earnest.
"The rumor that you can send your enemy into the Dark Hole?" Kidi asked, looking up at Fernalia, standing beside her desk.
"Oh cool! Imagine that I can send my step father there!" Betty chorused and clasped her hands together in delight.
"But isn't that too cruel? I hear Dark Hole had dangerous creatures inside," Georgia said, frowning.
"Yeah, it is unfair to punish anyone in this way," Victoria said softly.
"Why worry? It may just be a joke and besides it's not us going there," Adam said bluntly.
"Hey, that's rude!" Evan punched Adam's arm. "I agree with Georgia, that's really a cruel way to treat somone we even hates."
"I got an idea! Why don't we try it on Ms Lee. She is always so harsh and mean to us," Fernalia's eyes lit up.
"I don't know..." Georgia hestitated.
"Come on, we are always punished by her! I say, it's a good idea!" Adam said energetically.
Evan and Georgia had worried expression on their faces. Victoria's face was expressionless.
****************************************
They arranged to meet in Fernalia's bedroom where she kept her laptop. Fernalia already had the website ready for them. It was a website, empty of everything and black everywhere. There was only a box and an instruction to type the name in.
Adam helped to type the name. "Alright, here it goes!" Adam said, and was about to press Enter when Evan stopped his hand.
"Are you sure you want to do this? This may not be just a joke. It may be serious," Evan said anxiously.
"Oh, don't be just a wet blanket. I'm sure it is just a rumor," Adam said and pulled away his hand from Evan's grab and pressed Enter.
The screen went all red, startling everyone. Fearing a virus attack, Fernalia quickly shut the window. But the computer remained alright. Later, no matter how many times Fernalia typed in the website, the window only showed a red screen with no box in sight.
*******************************************
The next day, they arrived at school to hear a shocking news. Ms Lee had disappeared and nobody knew where she was. Everyone was uneasy.
At the rooftop, Fernalia, Georgia, Betty, Victoria, Adam, Evan gathered together.
"Oh no, what if she really went to the Dark Hole and gets killed?" Fernalia chewed on her lips.
"I told you it's dangerous!" Georgia said agitatedly.
"Calm down, everyone! Maybe she left for some place or got abucted," Adam said anxiously, looking around to make sure no one was nearby.
"If she really went to the Dark Hole, we are the ones responsible for her death," Victoria said softly, looking down.
Everyone was stunned speechless at this revelation.
*****************************************
Georgia tossed and turned in her bed, unable to sleep. Ms Lee's disappearance weighed heavily on her conscience. Suddenly, the clock struck midnight. Georgia felt a strange feeling and opened her eyes instantly.
***************************************
In a dark room, there is only a computer and a chair with a girl and a man inside the room.
"Missy, a busy day again?" A man dressed in black suit asked.
The girl spun around in her chair. "Appears the game is on again tonight. More characters are added." She smiled even as the screen faded to black as a eyeball showed.
******************************************
"Where the heck are we?" Adam demanded, looking around in disbelief.
His friends were thinking of the same thing. They stared at the scene before them in disbelief. They were no longer in their bedrooms. Instead, they were in a barren land with sand, rocks and cliffs. Few grasses grew and there were no buildings in sight, only ruined buildings walls remained.
"Where are we?" Fernalia squeaked in fright, spinning around.
Georgia was frightened as well, straining to find a human but no soul was in sight.
"It's useless to wait here. We need to find someone to tell us where we are," Evan said reasonably. He started to walk away. Everyone followed, still in shock.
After half an hour of walking, Betty stopped and sat down on the sand. "I can't walk anymore! There isn't anyone here at all!"
The others agreed. So far, they only saw rocks and grasses. There was no living things around, not even animals nor water. The rest sat down as well, exhausted and tired.
"I had a sudden thought...do...you think...we....we are in Dark Hole?" Fernalia asked nervously.
The rest all looked at her in shock.
"Then we will be killed?" Georgia asked, her eyes wide with fright and shock. She shuddered. Everyone was silent, pondering this possibility.
"What should we do now?" Betty cried. "I don't want to die here!"
Suddenly, they froze. They had heard the growl. They slowly whirled their heads around and screamed wildly. Standing right before their eyes was the ugliest creature they had ever seen. It was drenched in blood and the claws stretched towards them were huge and sharp. It snarled and growled. They stood to run but the monster was faster than them. In one scoop, it had grasped Betty and slashed her. Blood spilled out from her body and her head lolled backwards, her eyes wide with pain and fright. Now everyone was screaming their lungs out as the creature walked towards them, its eyes rolling and staring at them like a predator. They were about to be killed when someone yelled.
"You bastard dog, killing people again?"
Everyone, including the creature, turned to see who it was. It was a boy, looking to be eighteen years old, standing on a rock, along with Victoria.
The creature showed its teeth even as it lunged towards the boy. The boy pushed Victoria out 0f harm's way and pulled a sword out. He pushed the sword into the monster's mouth and struggled. Then, a gunshot rang out. The creature stepped back, writhing in pain. The boy gave a huge swung of his sword and slashed the monster. It collapsed and laid motionless.
"Can't do it without me, huh, David?" the man, holding the gun, said.
"Sam, mind your own business," David said sternly but breaking into a grin.
"Apparently, this must be that young girl's friends," Sam said, looking at the group of four.
Victoria nodded.
The rest was recovering from shock and grief at losing Betty. They followed the two saviors, who motioned them to follow them. They went to a van, in which a lady was standing beside it.
"You are finally back," the lady grumbled. "I am so bored."
"Zeni, you are so impatient as usual. The place is huge, for god's sake." David shook his head and rolled his eyes.
"Who tells you to throw me alone with this van and go hunting," Zeni retort back as she climbed into the van.
Inside the van, Evan finally spoke up. "Where are we? Are we...we..in the Dark Hole? What are those....things?"
David looked at him. "Yeah. Don't you know that?"
"But why are we....here?" Fernalia cried, her hands in her face.
Zeni sighed. "You go to that website, didn't you?"
The four of them gasped. "How...do you know that?" Georgia whispered.
"Because three of us did too.....two months ago," Sam answered from the driver's seat.
David stared into space out the window. "We thought it was just a rumor since there was no evidence so we thought we can experiment it. We wrote Sam's name and the next day, we found ourselves stranded here."
"We think this is retribution," Zeni chirped in.
Adam's jaw fell open. "Then are we stranded here forever??? How can we get out?"
David and Zeni looked at each other. "We will tell you when you meet them."
"Them? Who?" Fernalia looked up, tears dribbling from her eyes.
David changed the subject abruptly, "You should thank your friend there. If she hadn't told us all of you were involved as well, you would all be dead in a world like here." He pointed to Victoria.
Georgia asked Victoria, "Where did you appear? How come you are separated fom us?"
Victoria shrugged. "When I awake, I already see them standing over me," she nodded towards Zeni and David.
"You are lucky to fall into a place close to our abode. Otherwise, you would be dead before long," David said. "A monster was closeby."
Victoria remained silent, looking down.
"Wait a second, I hear that no one can survive from those creatures," Evan said in confusion. "But you all can kill them so easily."
Zeni and David glanced at each other again.
"Young man, you will soon find that reason out soon enough," Sam helped to answer.
It was an uncomfortable silent drive.
****************************************
The van finally stopped. There was a church. Everyone climbed out in astonishment as they looked at the church. It was the first building that they saw that was not ruined. A girl banged the door open and rushed out.
"Welcome! Sam, David, Zeni!" The girl shouted, rushing to hug Zeni.
"Let me introduce her," Zeni said awkwardly. "This is my younger sister, Yynette."
The girl turned her head around Zeni to see the group of people and smiled. "Hi."
"Hi," the rest said awkwardly.
"Are the others here?" Sam asked as he walked to the church.
"Yup! We are as instructed to remain here till you returned," Yynette chirped.
Everyone entered the church. Fernalia, Adam, Georgia, Evan were surprised to see a group of thirty people inside. David introduced them and mentioned who they were. They were also embroiled in the website thing. Some of them looked scared and confused, some of them looked calm as if they had a lot of experience.
"Now, you ask how come we can kill those monsters and how to get home," David said. "Yynette, show them the book."
Yynette eagerly went in to a room and returned shortly with a book. It was a thin booklet, with a red leather cover. Its papers were black and rough.
Evan opened the book even as the rest all clamored all over them. It was a "map" with routes and an "X" on the top corner.
"What is this?" Adam asked impatiently. "A treasure map? Are you kidding us?"
Sam put a hand over Adam's shoulder. "For us, it is indeed a treasure. The "X" show us the tools needed for us to return home. There are many maps and tools needed."
Adam looked at him with disbelief. "What...what?"
Zeni sat down on a bench and took out a chewing gum. "I don't know who invented that website but that person also tossed the people who wrote the name into the Dark Hole and created a game specific for us. It is our job to find that "X" and get the hell out of here. But we can only find the "treasure" one by one. Each time, the road to there is dangerous and took weeks. The monsters also get increasingly powerful."
David threw open a bag and out dropped daggers, guns, arrows. "That person also put these weapons here. These unexpectedly had the ability to kill those monsters. But only these weapons, coupled with our stamina, can kill them."
Fernalia sat down slowly. "You mean.....we have to fight those monsters?" She said, horrified.
Zeni nodded calmly and expressionlessly. "Either that or die."
Georgia's legs sank out from underneath her. Evan grasped and held her steady.
"And the bad news is that even if you get one "treasure" ready, there are more maps routes to go. We don't even know when everything is gathered finished, maps keep appearing one after another after we find one treasure and the next," Yynette said cheerfully.
The rest gasped even as Zeni chided," Yynette! They aren't ready to hear that!"
Yynette shrugged.
"Is..is that true?" Georgia asked in shock.
Sam nodded solemnly. The church was filled with silence.
"But why can't we all run away from this place? We are just in "Dark Hole", right?" Evan asked reasonably.
Sam and the rest looked at one another briefly. "Don't you think we hadn't tried? But there is a barrier-like thing at the edge of the "Dark Hole" keeping us out. We cannot pass through it at all to get to the outside world. We can only wait and hope that we could escape from this place by finishing the game," Sam said, dejected.
"But at least food, aids and water were supplied to us along with the map, which appeared from thin air," David said.
"How do you know about this place and the map and weapons?" Victoria broke the silence.
David and Zeni was startled. "What do you mean?" David asked.
Victoria stood up, with everyone's eyes on her. Her eyes had turned cold and calculating and they were directed sharply at David and Zeni. "You have met Ling Ling, didn't you?"
Zeni gasped loudly. "How did...you know?! Who are you?"
Victoria was silent for some seconds before she said softly, turning her head away. "She was here before, right?"
David looked into space. "Yes. But she was killed when she tried to save us.....She told us of this map, game and weapons before she died....But how...do you know?"
"You don't need to know this," Victoria said coldly, and walked away.
"Wait a second, there are monsters out there! Where are you going?" Georgia asked anxiously.
"I know how to protect myself," Victoria answered as she walked outside.
"It's dangerous out there!" David was about to chase when he was grasped by Sam.
"Are you Ling Ling's friend?" Sam asked at Victoria's back.
Victoria stopped. Everyone looked at Sam.
"Renald, you know Ling Ling. Do you know this young girl before?" Sam turned to a guy. The guy stared at Sam and then looked at Victoria.
"Are you Meldoine?" Renald asked softly.
Victoria continued to walk outside.
"Meldoine? Who's that?" Fernalia asked in confusion.
Renald remained silent.
***************************
They decided to set off the next morning. The night was an even more busier time for monsters.
Everyone was tense, holding their weapons tightly as they walked along the path. The van had no space for all of them. Surprisingly, Victoria was not even carrying a weapon. She was however emotionless.
Along the way, in just an hour time, they have battled ten monsters. Two people were killed and five were seriously injured, who were assisted back to the church for healing. The way to "X" was not even halfway done. Most of them were depressed. They went to rest by hiding in an abandoned ruined building. They were all exhausted and yet they could not sleep at all. Victoria kept standing throughout, looking outside.
"How long do we have to walk?" Fernalia sobbed. "We have been walking for three hours!"
"Keep quiet! Do you think we all enjoy this? Why don't you stay behind and get killed? Don't you think we are tired?" Zeni snapped exasperatedly.
Fernalia shut her mouth.
Suddenly, a fog came out of nowhere and surrounded everyone.
"What's going on?" Fernalia cried out in fright.
"Apparently, we are targeted by a monster who have superpower," Sam said grimly.
"What? They have superpower too?" Fernalia screamed.
"Only a minimal few but they were really powerful," David said calmly.
"How can you be calm? Why didn't you tell us this earlier?" Adam shouted as he kept spinning around to look in all directions.
"Shut your mouth up! They can hear us!" Zeni hollered.
It was too late. Screams of pain were heard all around. By this time, the fog had thickened, effectively removing all sight of everyone. They heard growls and claws slashing. Most panicked, turning around and around to search for the monsters. A claw appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Adam's neck. He screamed as his head was cut off. His body collapsed in a pool of blood. The fog suddenly cleared and Fernalia and Georgia screamed at Adam's headless body.
David and Sam quickly attacked the monster but it dodged the gunshot and sword. They could not even scratch it a bit. However, the monster was able to slash their arms and legs easily. David and Sam were fast enough to make it a lighter scratch. Zeni and Yynette tried to help with arrows to no avail. David's heart was about to be ripped out as the monster's claw reached for him when a whip came out from Renald. It pushed the claw back. David gasped for breath as the monster turned towards Renald with vegenance. Just before the monster could rip Renald's throat out in fast motion, a scythe was placed underneath the monster's throat and his head was cut off.
Fernalia, Georgia, Evan, David, Sam, Zeni, Yynette, Renald looked in astonishment at the person holding the scythe. Victoria threw her scythe into the air and it disappeared into her hand palm.
She looked at them critically. "You should not underestimate them. Your weapons would not always help you, you know."
"Who are you?" David gasped out.
Renald sank down onto the sand like the rest. "I hear Ling Ling say before that there was a group of people who were kept from society. They were members created during experiments. And a girl called Meldoine had the highest rank of them all."
Victoria glanced at Renald coldly. "Meldoine is dead. My name is now Victoria."
"Haha, you escasped from that crap of organisation, did you?" Renald threw back his head and laughed. "I always did hear rumor, that it was really an organisation trying to gain power and control all over the world. There was even rumors that they were the one who created these monsters in the first place."
Victoria stared at the corpses lying all around. "Humans are weak. They are always greedy for power and survival."
The rest were silent. Only a mere ten people survived. They finally arrived at their destination and got one tool. Their battle for survival is still continuing. Strangely, even after the whole group returned to the church, Victoria had disappeared and the rest did not see her again.
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The computer kept flickering.
"Alright, alright, stop complaining! I'm working on it, ok?" The girl said in annoyance, munching on chips.
There was a soft knock on the door.
"Come in," the girl said without any thought.
It opened to reveal a maid. "Missus, the meeting is about to start."
The girl swung her chair around. "I guess it's time then."
The maid bowed her head. The girl jumped out of her chair and snatched up a mask on her table. The mask was plain white but it only hid one side completely, including one of the eyes. She put on her mask. One of her eyes, her red eye, shone brightly out from the mask.
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