TalentMaster

One.

I woke up, in a dark room. So dark... I had no idea what was going on, but I knew one thing. One thought constantly dominated my mind.

"Defeat Him."

Who is this Mysterious Him? I had no idea... I didn't know what to do. Then, a thought surfaced, momentarily overpowering the compelling urge to kill Him. "Training..." That one word sent my body and brain into autopilot.

"Okay." I mumbled to myself. "Surroundings? It's dark... Um. I don't seem to be in any pain. All my limbs are connected. Pretty sure my hair looks dashing." I instinctively flinched, as if I usually made jokes like that in inappropriate situations and got beat by someone. Okay, that's good I guess. Nothing wrong with me.

"No visible restraints. Possible that there could be a force field." I said. Force field? Did those even exist? I got up and began running my hands along the walls, checking for any nook or cranny. The smallest weapon. Anything. But, sadly, there was nothing. I put my hand in my right pocket, as if something was supposed to be there. Once again, nothing.

"Okay." I thought. "Another check. No shoes. Is that good or bad? No glasses. Why would I even have glasses? Rubber band. Check. That's good, I guess. Shirt, check. Itchy. Pants, check. Also itchy. What is this?" I pulled on the fabric of the shirt. "Wool? Yuck. And it's orange? I hate that color."

Wait... color? If it was completely black, then there wouldn't be any visible color. Not orange, at least.

I soon realized that there was a small, concentrated stream of light coming from outside. Moonlight. There were bars in my cell, to let in oxygen, I guessed. It was night time. Maybe something would happen in the morning...

I woke up in the same room. But not naturally this time. No. This time I was awoken, by guards. Dressed in suits. Black suits with white dress shirts underneath and black ties, along with black and white fedora hats.

"Black Ties..." Their simple presence brought back memories. And they weren't pleasant. They handcuffed me and led me out of the cell, straight into a large open area. There was a loud roar of a crowd. How had I not noticed that before? Millions of people, all screaming. Some cheering, some crying. I turned around, and my cell wasn't even there. The area where it should've been was clear. Somebody even walked through it. I walked along, not resisting the guards. What was the point? I was weaponless.

As I continued to look around, I noticed that I was being lead up onto a stage. A very large one, with a man dressed in an all black armor suit, with a black diamond crown to top it off.

"Ugh. I'm guessing he's an idiot." I said to myself. That comment earned me the elbow of a guard in my back.

"King Leo," he corrected. "Get it right."

I rolled my eyes, wondering if the guard thought the elbow had actually hurt. It felt like a tickle. The King walked into the center of the stage and quieted the crowd down, speaking loud enough for everyone to hear him.

"This is a warning to all you weaklings out there... Who think you're smart. That you're slick. I know you're out there, living right under my nose. You've been going unnoticed for so long. But now I know you exist. So, for all you so called 'rebels'...this is what awaits you if you continue down the road you're on."

He snapped his fingers and guards instantly appeared, carrying a girl. They probably brought her out of her dimensional cell, like they had did me. They brought me onto the stage as well, positioning me as if they were forcing me to watch. The other guards brought the girl up to the King and dropped her to her knees. He lifted her head for the crowd to see, and my heart dropped.