The Stymphallan Birds

Chapter 1

Chapter 1
~300 years ago~

"The Stymphallan Birds my ass! Tch, those bastards totally set this game up just to watch us suffer. Who will do that! Birds, ha more like trash to me," a man ranted angrily, he looks worst than a beggar. Torn shirt and pants, shoeless, hair that haven't been washed properly for years. He clutched his fist where all his assests lies as he glared intensely at the well groomed man high up above him. "Hey! Get the fuck down here and face us!" Shouted the crowds angrily. Pebbles, rotten eggs, other inedible and awful stuff were aimed at the man who snorted irritatingly. He raised up his hand, and four armed men came appearing behind the well groomed man, each pointing a weird contraception towards the crowds below them.

"Anymore movement or sound, I will burst your head off,"That man threatened. That settled the crowd real fast, he took out an envelope, fingers deftly opening it to reveal a parchment. Clearing his throat, he read out, "My dear civilians, life must be hard for you all. I certainly understand your bad living conditions in this dark and humid place. I know clearly, that all of you wish to get a better living, have a family and a place called home. And, your gods have not forsaken you. We have decided to provide you all a chance to overturn your entire unfortunate life. A golden chance for you to enjoy luxury and happiness for the rest of your life with your family. Please hear me out. We have prepared a game called 'The Stymphallan Birds' for you. This game is simple, as soon as you fulfill the criteria to win this game, I can assure you will get your paradise ticket,"

Upon hearing the news, the crowds gasped in shock. It's a dream for them to enter the realm of the nobles. They are able to change their entire life, from some miserable maggots to a carefree butterfly. They waited anticipatedly for the speaker to continue.

"The rules of this game are easy. As all of you have known, each and everyone of you, regardless if you're a newborn or an elderly, have a small machinery in your nape which is named as 'tag'. And all you have to do, to win this game, is to retrieve that machinery from other-"

"That just means that we'll kill them! Don't be ridiculous! How could we do that! You sickening bastards!"

"It is just as I thought, it is stupid to expect lowlives to follow simple instructions." Two loud shot was heard before the sound of bodies hit the ground. Many were astonished, some started crying out of fear, screaming. "Shut your filthy mouth you lowlifes, didn't I say earlier? One more sound from you all, I will send all of you to hell." The well groomed man growled once again, gritting his teeth angrily.

He then took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and continued with the message, "To win this game, is to kill one another and remove the tag from your victim. Once you obtained 1619 tags, you will earn yourself a ticket to this wonderful paradise behind this wall. Just bring your tags to the main gate, and you can enter. Easy isn't it? Well that's all, wish you good luck!" As soon as he read the last word, he folded the paper and place it in the envelope in one smooth motion before passing it to his guard without even turning back. He added, "So like I had mentioned earlier, this is the only chance for you to obtain happiness. You can do whatever you want in order to obtain the tags, however, you can't kill anyone in the central. The central will be supervised strictly in any case any of you decides to disobey the rule. As for the consequences, won't just be death, but a slow and painful one. Ahh, I almost forgot. By the way, it won't be just you all. There will also be eliminators who will end you the moment they see you, you are not allowed to kill them too,"He then turned away.

"Oh ya, I forgot to mention, you are also not allowed to kill pregnant women. We will know if you do, the gadget is capable of informing us many things. The consequence is that your kill count would automatically be set to zero. When the women give birth, the child would be expected to be sent to Ritche, there will be professionals taking care of them so that you will not have to be burdened when playing the game. You are also allowed to take care of them yourself, but be warned that you and your child would most probably be dead sooner or later.