MIND GAMES: Guild Tryouts

Chapter 10

"There aren't any passes left!"

"How? I was so fast!"

"What do you mean there isn't any left?"

"The train was slower than running?"

"*DAMN IT*!"

—Jay heard other race-contenders complain at the sore sight laid in front of them. His heart was still racing from running through the train station as fast as he could, and he could hear Dillan struggle to keep a steady breath as well behind him.

"We're too late!?" Dillan says, slamming the floor with his fist, which causes his bat to jiggle in place on his back

"How?" Jay yells out as he thinks it.

There wasn't any way that one-hundred different players got here and got a pass already, right? It seemed impossible to Jay and Dillan, especially since many players took the metro with them because it seemed like the most optimal strategy. It also seemed that Axel and Ivy—along with their new buddy—either have already been here or haven't shown up yet. They were nowhere in sight.

Jay checks his text messages, hoping to see any new info from Axel.

<No New Messages in Inbox!>

Jay frustratingly closes his menu and glances back to Dillan, who was still sulking on the floor on one knee. It almost looked like he had given up and was getting more and more stares from the mass of players around them, which caused him to feel worse. Jay walks closer to Dillan and drops down on a knee as well to meet his height.

"What's the plan?" Jay asks.

Without letting a second go by, Dillan immediately responds.

"This was supposed to happen," Dillan says in a muffled voice,

"They want us to hunt, just like a Slayer would."

"What?" Jay says, "What do you mean?"

"It's too much of a coincidence that everyone here thought they made it first, but no one has a pass, right?" Dillan smirks, "This was always the outcome—"

"—There weren't any passes here at all?!" Jay finishes Dillan's sentence.

Jay looks towards the stand once more, seeing more and more players show up at it, just as confused as the next. Dillan made a solid point, which caused Jay to fall into a spiral of overthinking. If the players were made to believe they were in a race, making the objective a surprise in and of itself, doubling on the wonders would surely make a majority...

"This is so dumb! Screw this stupid race!" A player says.

"Yeah! What a waste of time!" Another contender agrees.

Jay and Dillan hear some of the players in the group start to curse the Slayer's Pack's methods, and some even ~quit the challenge~ right on the spot.

'So they want to thin the horde? It worked, but others are going to pick up on this.' Jay thinks.

As he suspected, a couple of players stuck around, scanning their surroundings, almost like they were looking for the passes around the vicinity.

Jay and Dillan both walk over to the cart, but before they could inspect any further, a voice amongst the gathering players called out in Jay's direction.

"Hey, Jay!! You beat us to it!!" The voice says.

Jay whips his head around to spot Axel running up to him, waving his hand in the air. Jay waves back with a smile.

"Too slow, I guess!" Jay jokes.

Behind Axel, Jay spots Ivy and another player running next to her. She must be that friend Axel mentioned in their texts.