The Game of the Duke

Here I am with my little brother just on our regular visit in our parents’ graveyard. The next event was too sudden that I couldn't even understand how it started. An earthquake split the ground in half causing the old withered tree by our parents’ tombstone to fall. I panicked and grabbed my brother but there comes crowd of people also running for their lives. I didn’t expect that it escalated that much causing the wave of mob to pull my brother away from me. I felt a huge blow at the back of my head, I was hit and that was the only thing I remembered.

The headache woke me up but my reflections on the walls of mirror on that room made me realized that this is totally absurd. I was there alone and tied on that single chair in the middle of the room. My mind was already processing everything that had happen when the mirror in my front blinked and revealed my brother on the other side.

My poor little brother who seemed to be on a more awful situation that I have. He was still unconscious but unlike me there are more chains tangled in his body than I have. Each chains were connected to locks and each locks were numbered.

All I wanted the moment I saw my brother was to tear off my own chains and go to him but a voice echoed in the room and introduces himself as the Commentator.  The Commentator has only offered me the one and only chance to release my brother. He forced me to play the Game of the Duke and that alone will leave me with no choice but to follow their scheme.

The mirror where I can see my brother started to blur as my chair turned to my right and suddenly dropped on high speed until again I lost my consciousness.

I woke up wearing a weird armor, my body was covered with leather and I have a pouch and gadgets which I’ve never encountered before. There was also a small blade slipped on my thigh, my watch keeps on blinking ever since I woke up but everything was surreal and I don’t have any time to check it. My attire barely cover my skin, like I am only covered with multiple black elastic bandages but lightweight enough to not hamper my movements.

I went outside the empty room and found this regular looking street. I tried to get back to where I came from but the room was already closed. There was this girl wearing a pink skirt who approached me, she was nice to give an advice to not show my armor. I tried to ask her for information, at first she hesitated but then realized that she also undergone on the same situation before and it doesn’t hurt to share a little.

She says, we are inside a world called the Game of the Duke. It is simple, each one of us were targeted by the Knights of Baron, each one of us has somebody dear to protect and in order for us to save them all we need to do is survive the game. The game don’t have a particular rule but I remembered what the Commentator have said before I was sent on this world. That this world is full of quest and accomplishing each quests means releasing one of the locks and chains I saw on my brother.

The quest are laid but are carefully hidden and currently we are in a place called the common city. No quest are hidden nor given here and the entrance to the Duke’s Manor are yet to be found, meaning nobody yet have figured out where the entrance was. The girl taught me simple gesture to check my status and how to use some of the gadgets attached to me. She left when her group called her telling me she already belonged to a guild and if coincidence permit us to meet again she would invite me in. I was used to solitude and I prefer working alone and never bothered on joining any guild like she offered. I used my watch to choose the clothes that would make me comfortable and decided to do my best to save my brother.

The entrance to this so called Duke’s Manor was not yet found even if numbers of guild were already formed. Many have already checked the caves, churches and even ancient landmarks indicated in our electronic maps but found nothing not even a clue. Many were already stuck on those places but I know it wasn’t that simple. I used the watch to check the places and I was searching for a place where they could not obviously put the entrance. The church has the highest place which was the bell tower, the park has the lowest ground level and nobody could get outside the city and even the stalls seems to be only a display which are impossible to open.

I checked my watch for the game guide as how the previous girl taught me but found nothing useful. It was fascinating how each one of the players can be tracked on the electronic map as yellow dots. I navigated the whole map and saw the common or obvious areas were full of yellow dots. I accidentally pushed another button and from there I discovered that in a certain place the yellow dots become brighter. I followed the place where it was all concentrated and reached an old school and there I found five dots roaming around the school.

My gut tells me there is something inside the old school, it might perhaps have a clue or the entrance might be located in there. As I entered the school I saw this boy staring on a blank wall. There was nothing in there, I ignored him and continued but as soon as I passed thru that wall an ability unlock. It looks like wings so I immediately check the map for the highest place of the school and found the library which I figured have already four yellow dots roaming around. I was already thinking that the library was not that big yet these four player haven’t found the entrance yet.

I tried to activate the wings but it never worked. I also tried to leave the school but it already locked down the moment I entered. My instinct might be right because it means there was only one way in and no way out. I returned to the blank wall and tried to talk to the boy but he was too focused on the wall that really has nothing. I offered my help but he rejected. Like them, I also wanted to find this entrance but I didn’t want to waste my time and his rudeness was already keeping me annoyed.

I scanned my watch and in that moment I saw on my exact spot was a hidden tower higher than the library. An invisible ladder appeared and my best guess is that he haven’t seen it yet. I tried to climb but the fourth rung have words scribbled on it. “Two hands to keep my strength feed.” I never mind and grabbed it with my free hand and the whole ladder suddenly collapsed and again reappeared. I called for the boy who was fixated on the wall and yelled at him. “Those weird patchwork doesn’t mean anything would you care to turn around and check this out?!” he turned and as soon as he divert his focus he now can also see the ladder.

We agreed to give a help with each other in order to reach the top of the tower which we figured out that the ladder needs cooperation from two individual in order for it stay visible. We reached the top of the tower but it still has nothing in it and no matter how I try the wings are still of no use. The boy invited me to his guild to show his gratitude on the cooperation and just as I felt indebted and accepted it.

It was a mistake. I was already trying to get off from the tower when I slipped and my fall activated the wings itself and opened the entrance. I was the first one to open the gate an entered the game proper. As the first player to activate the entrance I was given the privilege and time to familiarize the Duke’s Manor before anybody else. Also, with my achievement I was given the choice to share the location and I never intended to keep that for myself.

Arrows leading to the school tower started to appear on other players map, my guild which I later realized was the four yellow dots at the library received additional points for my achievement. The procedure was rather loud seeing my name flashed on each players’ gadget. Names of those who receive points appeared on the screen, luckily only those who have met me can recognize my name and my appearance not even my four guild members have an idea how I looked like.

I received a message from my watch and immediately opened it. I saw a picture of my brother and one of the previous chains was already unlocked. I was relieved of that the Commentator stay true to his words. I felt energized and motivated to continue and finish this Game of the Duke just to save my brother.