The Way Caraval Used To Be

Legend for a short time

It was already the 30th edition of Caraval when Aric got to play Legend.
He peeked through the black curtains. The players were excited, and they were very noisy. He was sweating. He was not excited. He was scared.

He grabbed the nearest glass of water and started drinking. It was hard to drink through the mask that was covering his face, so the crew put a straw. One more minute, and the curtain would be drawn.

*Bang* The glass hit the floor. He didn't realize how slippery the leather gloves were. The players giggled.

He freneticaly moved his arms around to get the attention of the others and get them to wait until he cleaned up. They didn't notice. He tried moving around. He moved like he was on ice. His legs slipped. He fell so hard he felt he would have cracked his skull. Obviously, he didn't wear the ridiculously big hat. The curtains were drawn. Everyone saw him fall.

When Jovan noticed that, she turned a dark shade of red. She closed the curtains as everyone laughed loudly.
Julian ran up to him.

"Are you ok?" He helped him get up.

"Yes, thank you. My back hurts terribly, but overall, I'm fine."

He wasn't. He was trying as hard as he could not to cry.

"Alright, Aric. You are going to go back on stage and show these little bastards who you are. Remember. You are Legend. You are handsome. You are strong. You're not afraid."

They've practiced this more than the actual script. Julian was supposed to do this, and Aric to calm him down, but unfortunately, Julian broke his leg three days before the opening of the game.

"Go, Aric."

When the curtains drew again, everyone stopped laughing. They were still smiling but trying to be as focused as they could.

"You've laughed enough. Now, let's get to the serious part. I welcome you to my game, Caraval. You will soon get the sheets of clues. You have five days to search for the missing person. If you don't find it on time, then there's no way to get it back. I think you have heard this before, but I'm just trying to make sure that you are well informed and we won't have any problems.

Welcome, welcome to Caraval! The grandest show on land or by sea. Inside you'll experience more wonders than most people see in a lifetime. You can sip magic from a cup and buy dreams in a bottle. But before you fully enter into our world, you must remember it's all a game. What happens beyond this gate may frighten or excite you, but don't let any of it trick you. We will try to convince you it's real, but all of it is a performance. A world built of make-believe. So, while we want you to get swept away, be careful of being swept too far away. Dreams that come true can be beautiful, but they can also turn into nightmares when people won't wake up."

They heard the exact same thing when they entered. Legend liked everyone to hear it twice.

The sound of his altered, deep voice scared the players. For some of them, it was familiar. They came last year, too, but they couldn't know it was not him playing then.

The curtains were closed. The crowd went silent. The lights were shut. Let the game begin!