THE CRYSTAL HOUSE

¶Round Two¶

Eryk

As soon as Eryk walked into the game room, he knew the second game would be nothing like the first. All the materials from the obstacle course had been cleared to make space for a wide projector along with a smaller one by the side which contained the names of the housemates. In front of the large projector, a leather chair shining with rectangular crystals sat backing them while other wooden chairs sat near the timer towards one wall of the room. More wooden chairs were placed at the area they stood, and one of the guards told them to sit. The only similarities with the state of the room during the previous game were the walls and the ceilings, as well as the floor.

Someone snickered behind him. "All this room is missing are blinding lights from all directions to turn it into a proper game show." Eryk agreed, the setting reminded him of the game show: Who wants to be a Millionaire.

He stared at the small projector and scanned through the names before abruptly stopping, one name in particular caught his attention: Ace Swizzard. The name was familiar to Eryk, but he couldn't remember where he knew it from. He turned to look at the owner of the name glaring at the bright projector like it would vanish if he tried hard enough. No such luck, buddy.

With only the two projectors in front of them and a set of chairs arranged separately, he could only guess it would be about questions and answers of some sort. Eryk didn't like his situation much, he wanted to be sure of what he was up against.

Luckily, Mr. Han stepped into the light from the projector and gestured to them. "I welcome you all to the second game at Crystal House. Today's game is not about strength nor agility, but quick thinking and logic." He drew both hands of his suit forward, and looked at each of them, before turning back to the projector. "You'll each be asked a set of ten different questions, riddles, puzzles to solve within a time limit and as usual the one with the lowest points will be asked to leave."

Mr. Han paused again, and this time everyone started talking to themselves, or to others. It was expected, unlike the game presented before them. Now that Eryk was sure about the game, he couldn't care less because there was no way he would perform so poorly that he would be asked to leave. Besides, his logic and IQ were quite high and frequently being put to use.

Beside him, Florian raised his hand, "In what order are we going? Will it be in the order our names were listed?"

It was only when Mr. Han picked a small glass bowl beside the smaller projector that Eryk realized something had been there, atop a small black table. He thrust the bowl towards the housemates. "There are placards with numbers 1-10 here, pick a number."

Eryk and his fellow housemates went forward and got a number, which obviously represented the order they were going. His number was five, a lucky one for him.

After that, Mr. Han spread his hands. "Let the games begin." Immediately, light from all angles bathed the room, most of it centered on the chair. The Hot Seat.

The first person went forward, and the masked guard led her to the crystal chair. The chair was fully positioned to back them so Eryk couldn't see the facial expressions of the Number one, nor whisper any answers (which was probably what Mr. Han wanted to prevent). The first question appeared on the screen of the large projector, and he heard gasps. Eryk's face crumpled slightly, he couldn't be so sure of his first place anymore.

Mareike

Mareike's beautiful luck had struck yet again, giving her the Number 1 spot. After the amount of wishes and prayers she had done from walking from her seat to the Mr. Han's bowl, Mareike still felt the warmth of the hot seat first, tightly clutching her unlucky number as she faced only the projector. A small microphone was strapped to the chair along with a red buzzer by her right side.