Game of Life

Chapter 3

The second monster had been a massive eagle, with a wingspan ranging well over fifteen feet. Its feathers replaced with spines. Add on mutated talons with eight razor sharp points and a beak like a swordfish and we were ready to give up right then and there. Thankfully, Eric and my old friend Darren had quickly come up with a plan.

As the bird flew over our heads, creating whirlwinds and letting out shrill caws that had us clutching our ears, Darren and Eric started issuing commands. Their idea was a good one, once the beast flew low, attempting to pluck us up with its talons, the earth users bound together and created a cavern around it, and us.

They sealed us inside, cutting off the air flow and the light users gave us a hand. With its wind abilities useless the bird resorted to lashing out with its beak and talons. The earth users wrapped its ankles and throat in chains made of rock. Finally immobile they, along with the water users, forged a pool of stone and dunked the beast inside.

Next up the lightning users let out shock waves of energy. The creature screamed in agony and I pitied it for a second, until I remembered that it was trying to kill us all. The sound users stepped up when it got too loud and silenced the bird, throwing its sound waves back at it so we couldn't hear them any more.

"Well that was boring." Severin made his ten minutely appearance. He picked up one of the birds bones from the pool and waved it around. The land reset and we stumbled back a few steps, surprised, anything was possible in this realm apparently. "Look what you did to my pet." His mousey voice when tinged with anger was almost funny. Listening to him talk you could practically forget he was a demon, he sounded like an angry chipmunk. I held back a snicker, as amusing as he was I was still terrified of what he would do next.

"Well," he finally continued, his trusty timer appearing at his side. "You still have almost an hour. You can't honestly expect me to wait that long to continue my game."

We glanced warily at each other, this didn't sound good. I cleared my throat, swallowing my fear and stepping forward.

He smiled at my approach. "Yes, my dear Calla?"

I struggled not to flinch when he moved, stopping so he was well within touching distance. I could feel, as well as smell, his hot rancid breath on my face. When I took a step back he followed, a sick grin on his face until I gave up my attempt to maintain my personal space.

I could hear my peers whispering that I was crazy and I believed them. Who wouldn't be crazy, after being subjected to this?

"Wouldn't this game be more.." I struggled to find the words, "Enjoyable, for you, if we had a chance to..regain our strength? I mean it's certainly fun to watch hundred of people die, of course, but wouldn't you prefer to...drag it out? If we all die in the beginning there will be less fun at the end."

He was thoughtful for a moment, his grin never wavering. "Yes," he murmured, I flinched when his forked tongue almost touched my nose. "Excellent! I knew there was a reason you were my favorite." He brushed his hand across my face, not quite a caress and I bit my lip, trying not to scream.

"Perfect," he purred, finally stepping back to address the crowd. I took the chance to take a deep breath, focusing on remaining calm.

"Well my friends, I hope you don't mind the term, we've just had so much fun together I feel like we can all be friends! What do you think? Don't get too excited now!" he squealed with joy. I honestly couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

"Calla has informed me of how much more fun we could have after a night of rest! So get ready, we're going to start again as soon as the sun rises!" With that he poofed, disappearing again.