THE SCARLESS ALLIANCE

Chapter III

Alas, the blazing light shone through my eyes as it fades to reveal a sort of arena, a calm, empty and a small pentagon shaped biome. I could see a few of the holographic details, such as cut grass and patches of different types of flowers scattered across the battlefield to have a touch of color. Despite the emptiness, it still doesn't compete with the dazzling sky that my eyes are caught for. With the same view, I saw my four friends standing still with their arsenals at their side corners all set to rip each other apart. Then came the worst part, the fight between life and death. I could hear the subdued cheers from the crowd which was really distracting. But as I ignored the thought of the crowd, I immediately saw a sharp silhouette of a person holding a machete about to slice me open. I dodged it in time, bringing myself back to see the virtual sun to illuminate the shadow of Hyde.

It seemed like everyone was desperate to win, as I peered through his shoulder, a trio cat-fight broke out. That determination of everyone reminded me to fight for what I desire, while my darkest inquiries of  ‘did our friendship matter?’ hid underneath of my pride and joy. The hope for assurance had finally blinded me. Hyde flung his machete, as it barely missed me by my head. He then leapt, attempting to tackle me down. I couldn’t react to his ultra fast movements, this led me to take the punch causing me to plummet towards the solid ground. I felt great pain, they must be really affluent to be able to invent this kind of simulation that feels exactly like reality would. Hyde rushed to get his fallen machete, while I tried to ease the pain of getting myself up. I reached for my sword pulling it up to my defensive stance as he began to swing his machete upwards. Our blades clattered to one another as our arm strength was trying to prevail. I managed to deflect his overpowering machete and as he lost his balance and focus, I took the chance to slash his torso wide open. His sickening blood spilt out from his guts continuously. After realising it, he looked at me dead in the eye.

“Good--Good---Luc---Luck..” He whispered his last breath before collapsing on the ground with his eyes completely blanked out.

“SHING”

His real terrifying scream shocked everyone in the room, they weren’t messing around. Hyde’s gone now. I don’t know what to feel, staring at my dead friend’s body virtually while witnessing his real death by ears. I was completely petrified, my emotions had just stopped working at this point. After shortly secretly mourning over his death I turned to look back at my three remaining friends still brawling one another. I could see the mix of their carnages flooding the ground with cuts and bruises all around their bodies. The most realistic game I’ve ever played will be one of my worst torments to experience, and it’s all running upon my right eyes now. I began to limp towards them. My exhaustion was dragging me down, I decided to avoid intercepting. Still holding on to my bloody sword I gathered my last strength to join their hell of an opposition. I lifted up my sword at my attack stance. I then waited for them to end their intense brawl but they never seemed to stop. I grew impatient, impulsively intervened with my sword aiming straight and managed to silence them with a single death between my sword. Janet, with her neck sliced open by me, fell to the ground in a puddle of her own blood dropping his blood covered axe with a loud groan in agony.

“SHING”

Her real deafening, shrieking voice sounded in my head as she was getting slaughtered by the executioner. Janet’s dead. All of our virtual selves glared jaw-opened at each other at his quick-paced sudden death. Both my remaining friends,  Zena and George seem traumatised by my unintentional actions. They shuffled their feet back away from me with their weapons ready, fearing my visible capabilities of killing.

All of us stood in a triangular shape, not far from one another. The gory sensation laced around our minds as we are about to experience the same trio brawl out again. They have an unfair disadvantage despite their serious injuries from their previous fight. I noticed they looked at each other suspiciously, then they turned to me again. The next thing I knew I was in danger, both were rushing in a flash towards me. My mind was tinkering at the last moment, I soon realised the reason for us to become like animals is because of our desperation. Our entire bond of friendship shattered because of these trials, our cravings for winning made us forget everything else mattered.

Before I could react I could feel myself being stabbed and hit every millisecond. My emotions shattered before I could react, even if the pain was unbearable, as my darkest thoughts overtook me. Preventing myself from doing something but nothing at all. I closed my eyes as my body gradually became weaker and weaker, near to being paralysed. My blood being drained out of me quickly as  I could feel myself falling into the abyss endlessly. I could hear faint footsteps coming towards me as I knew I was about to die like this. This is my fate after all..

“SHING”

“SHING”

I heard both Janet and George’s real horrifying screams in my head. Did I die? I began to notch my known injured limbs seeing nothing but darkness to prove myself that I'm well alive. Surprisingly I could move them freely without feeling any pain. I could feel the warmth of my heart as it’s beating like a normal person’s one and my consciousness began to come back. My eyes then lit up revealing a vitrual ‘congratualtions’ sign and confetti raining down at me stuck in the same bloodlust scenary.

“Congratulations, you have completed your final trial, which means you are part of us now,” Osmosis declared, alongside with the rest of the members.

The crowd exploded with a mix of deafening reactions, vague with continuous applauding and endless cheer. As much as I wanted to smile and be proud of myself, peering over the gory dead bodies of my friends that I’ve known for ages, had knifed me all in the chest. All my pride, happiness and the lost memories just streamed down from me. I was blinded by the flashes of countless cameras and the bright lights which flicked. I closed my teary eyes, and searched for an answer in the darkness to fix my broken self.

“I'd rather die than to have to live without them."

I said it without hesitation, I struck the sword that I was holding, straight in my chest. Everyone gasped and choked in horror, as my virtual self plummeted onto the ground. The thick blood flowed out as I was gapping at the sight of virtual reality being glitched away and everything was in a commotion of black and white. I could feel the blade slicing my back wide open as I could feel the last drop of blood being drained from me. The last remorseful pain that I’ve felt was the best feeling when my mind is glued to getting an opportunity to meet my friends again. My journey full of memories flickered at the last moment where everything tremendously faded deep into oblivion..