I reckoned we were each given a useless hint like I was.
[Your role is C?]
The round had given us a single letter, with a single question mark that did not even give a hint of how many letters it was.
As we were on stage, my role must be some sort of performer. What kind of performer started with C? Comedian? Yeah, that must be it. In ancient times, comedies weren't only funny— they were the opposite of tragedy. So I don't have to be funny to do this, right?
In Latin, there were almost ten thousand words that started with C. I knew that since I used to study linguistics.
It was like this round was meant for us to fail and die.
At the very least, to my relief, it wasn't a combat type.
My heart was still racing from the adrenaline of my anger towards Lucas. I inhaled then exhaled to calm myself.
That was one thing he had right. My chest heaved. I had the worst temper, of which I had thought had been fixed as I grew older.
As the red curtains unravelled, I managed to take sight of the audience.
Some of them were headless, the audience. And yet, they clapped as if unknowing to the fact. A few of them had heads but were unlike humans; tentacles and pus squirting from every hole.
They all seemed to act like humans, for, though they don't have mouths, I could hear them chattering. As if their vocal cords were deep inside the body, only releasing vibrations of the Latin language, it made me wonder where the sound was leaving.
And in the middle, a fat tentacled entity.
From behind me, I heard steps that could only belong to a certain blond teen.
"Behemoths," said Lucas, whose cheek was swollen. "Those beings."
I know, I wanted to say. More than anyone, I know.
But I restrained myself from speaking any further. It felt like I would have lost our childish squabble. It was petty of me, to be honest.
I looked up. The balconies above had humans wearing masks. Was that their role?
In one of the upper seats on the balcony, there was a red-haired and red-eyed knight, wearing a masquerade mask, looking down at me.
Our gazes met.
I turned away.
[Come on!] One of the behemoths yelled. [Start the damn show!]
The lights dropped to one human that wore a tuxedo.
"Huh?" he blurted out.
[The gamemaster is watching.]
The gamemaster must have been the tentacled being that shot pus from every pore of his face.
Even if he wasn't, I wouldn't know.
The story of the protagonist I had written didn't start from here.
[Dance!] came the voice of one of the headless beings.
His hand raised as though a puppeteer was controlling him as the man in a tuxedo began to move erratically.
The dance was messy, a marionette of flesh, but the non-human audience cooed.
This time, both of his hands were raised into a V, then together, his legs moving the contrary way like doing jumping jacks.
Tuxedo-man wowed at himself, unbeknownst to him what was happening. He seemed to not be able to control himself.
The audience, seemingly bored, yawned.
Then the tuxedo man's neck burst, the head tossed and landed on one of the headless devilmen.
As if awakened, a fresh neck grew and connected to the tuxedo man's head. It clapped.
Then the gamemaster's eerie voice resounded:
[Next!]
[The gamemaster is watching.]
The light that once fell on the tuxedo man switched to a woman that I recognized was one of the ladies fawning over Lucas.
Her name, I never got.
But that isn't important. She wore a blue and white checkered dress over a white puffy-sleeved blouse, akin to D*rothy.
Like clockwork, the background set slid to change. What was once a simple red-curtained background turned into a forest with a path made of yellow bricks.
As before, her body began to move like a marionettist was controlling her.
The rest of us were simply watching, the lack of light made us almost invisible to the audience.
The song changed into a more whimsical tune.
"We're off to see the Wizard—" the woman began to walk along the yellow brick road "—the wonderful Wizard of—"
In her hands were a bottle of pills.
She swallowed it in one gulp.
Her body appeared next to the tuxedo man, pale and lifeless but still brimming with animation.
[Next!]
The light fell on Kim, who happened to be one of my comrades for this round.
[The gamemaster is watching.]
"Oh, Kim," uttered Jim, who could almost cry.
He and Kim seemed to know each other, for he showed signs of concern.
Kim's clothes dissolved into nothing. Then, in a marching stance, his clothes turned into high-waisted pants, a marching band coat, and a feathered hat.
He was set and ready, but the gamemaster or marionettist ceased.
So did the background set that began to slide but halted when nothing happened.
Frozen in place, Kim was as beads of sweat trickled down his forehead.
There was no moving or marching as one would expect from the clothing he now wore.
Earlier, I had a request to be done by Kim and Jim.
Covering my mouth (for you could never be too careful. I had dismissed the thought that there weren't anyone who had read my novel or even remembered it and I was proven wrong by Lucas Fleming), I said in a voice low enough that it can only be heard by us:
"No matter what, do not believe in whatever you wear."
They both looked at each other.
Kim didn't retort anything back, but instead said: "So, that Lucas kid was right, then."
While Jim said, "You do know something."
I didn't say anything and only nodded.
They gave an affirmative nod back.
I must be honest, though.
My plan was not to save the others nor was it to save Kim and Jim.
Far from it.
It was as simple as watching an invention turn into an innovation.
They would make good companions or comrades, but they'd make even better subjects.
That's what the first few rounds were for, after all.
Believe me when I say I would have chosen someone like Lucas to use for this.
It just so happened that they were right next to me.
Most rounds in my novel were not shown directly, but one thing is the truth:
Every living human must experience the rounds.
Especially those who stand on the planet's earth.
This first round was not included in the novel I had written.
And the first chapter starred Benedict Leyendecker.
In other words, the story started on the moon.
What little knowledge I could muster from my vague memories cannot help here.
However, I knew something about the first few rounds.
That is…
It was to rule out the gullible.