The Game, Level One

Level One-

Chapter One-

The laws of our city tell us that we have to be naked in public or we’ll be executed, all the laws must be followed, only the executioners, law enforcers, and The Dictator are allowed to speak outside their houses, and if we say anything, we’ll be tortured. Outside the city, there is nothing, emptiness. Lyrith is the safest place you could ever hope to be, and you will be protected. You must follow every law, and if you follow every law, you’ll be beaten. So we have to follow every law and we can’t follow any of the laws, it doesn’t make any sense at all but we have to do it. That results in everyone being beaten because they’re doing everything the laws tell them to, which means they’re either following the laws, or they aren’t. It’s confusing, but those are the laws. 
This city’s laws were completely bogus and unfair. They basically state that if you follow the laws, you’ll get beaten, and if you don’t you’ll be beaten too. Every citizen has to be naked in public, but has total freedom of clothes in their own homes, but if you don’t own the house, the rules stay the same as outside. I don’t own a house, and neither does my cousin, but we don’t follow the rules anyway. All the law enforcers, called Beaters, and the Dictator have freedom of speech, but if anyone else was caught talking, so much as a whisper, they would be tortured. The Beaters were allowed to come in and out of your homes freely, whenever they liked, and there was no telling when they would pop in and take you out to get beaten because you disobeyed something or other. The laws were mostly impossible to follow because we are all to embarrassed to go outside without some item of clothing, and it was really hard to not speak all the time.
Apparently, this city was a safe-haven and there was nothing outside of it, at all. We were told that the city was the only thing in the world, and that we were surrounded by emptiness. Over half of the population thought this was false, but they didn’t dare say that to the Dictator. I personally think it’s completely crazy, and we can’t be the only people. Somehow, though, I wouldn’t be surprised if I found out that we really were. If we are, I would think the Dictator had something to do with it. Really, I have a feeling that there is more to the Dictator than there seems to be. Something eerie floats about his very aura. 
The laws say that our city, Lyrith, is the absolute safest place that you could ever hope to be, and you would be well protected from the outside. I say, that if there is supposedly nothing on the outside, what is there to be protected from? Not that we really were being protected, though. If you considered being beaten once, or maybe even twice a day “well protected” or “safe,” then come on in and make yourselves at home. If you considered that horribly unfair, unjust, and inexplicably cruel, then join the club. I mean, you get used to it after a long time, but you still want to get rid of it. Although, protesting will just get you hurt more around here. Trust me, I know.
My cousin Kerre and I were sitting in our small room waiting for Lights, the designated amount of time the citizens were allowed to sleep, unless they wanted to get into trouble for being awake. It was the perfect time for us to sneak out, because all the other people would be asleep, and hopefully, the Dictator and the Beaters, too. We had been plotting our escape from the city for the last couple of months, and we were going no matter what. Even though the Dictator wants everyone to believe that there is really nothing outside the city’s limits, we both believed otherwise. We thought that the Dictator was hiding something from his citizens, like he was afraid of us finding something out. I mean, people weren’t even allowed to go to school anymore. Not that I’m really bothered by that, but still, it didn’t make sense.
Everyone in the city used to have to go to school for three years to learn about the world’s history, and what used to be out there. They used to teach us about how there was some big war that destroyed everything, and we were the only surviving things. Apparently, the war was over who got some huge mass weapon that one country refused to give up after they made it. They never told us what the mass weapon was, probably so we wouldn’t make another or something. I think there was a war, but everybody else didn’t die out, so now, Kerre and I wanted to get out of here, if only to see if it’s all true.     

Chapter Two-

We had just finished lashing together a bunch of wires we’d pulled out of the wall with springs from the bed, and tied it to the doorstop, with the other end hanging out of the window. We grabbed our bags. Kerre climbed down first, and I inched my way down after her. Once we were on the ground, we walked around to the front of our building. We lived on the poorer side of town, where the houses were dumpier, and the people had less money. The security lights on our building had broken a long, long time ago, so we didn’t have to worry about getting caught by those. But there were many other ways the Dictator had of catching people he thought weren’t following the rules.
After making sure all the Beaters for this district were well out of range, we pulled out one of the smoke bombs we’d fashioned specifically for this occasion, and tossed it down the alleyway beside us. It made a series of contented beeping noises after the feet had found sustainable purchase on the ground, and the smoke started pouring out. It was thick, and green, spreading fast, and it was a sure-fire way to make all the Beaters in the vicinity come here, and stay out of our escape route. 
Kerre and I dodged and weaved through the tightly packed houses, where people were streaming out to get a closer look at what was causing all the commotion. It didn’t take us long to reach the city limits, and we were hardly sweating.
When we reached the city limits, we encountered a long line of robot droids who were apparently guarding the outskirts of the town. I looked behind them, trying to see what was out there, and I only saw a wall, which extended out in every direction, encasing the entire city in a black, metal… dome. Kerre gasped, and the droids near us turned and faced us, their angry red eyes glaring. We had little time to stand and gape at the dome, because they charged, alerting the others to a potential danger, or in this case, us. All of the droids were streaming at us, so we turned and ran back through the city, taking random turns and not knowing where we were in the slightest.
I tripped when we ran around a corner, and knocked both of us off course, and right into a group of Beaters, who grabbed us, preventing us from running away. When the army of charging droids rounded the corner, the Head Beater put up his hand, and they stopped immediately.
“You kids are in huge trouble.” He said to us, wrenching our backpacks away from us. 
He signaled, and the group of Beaters turned in formation, dragging us into the building behind where we were. They brought us into a little room, and told us they were going to get the Dictator, and not to try to escape. Then they left, and locked the door behind them. We could hear them trudging heavily down the hallway, although I’m sure they left someone guarding the door.
“We’re only on the second floor, Cal.” Kerre whispered, having opened the window and looked out. “We could make the jump, maybe.” I nodded, and made my way over to the window.
I looked out, shrugged, and scrambled up onto the windowsill, where, after a few deep breathes, I closed my eyes and jumped. I landed a few seconds later, on a convenient bale of hay. Kerre landed with a thud next to me shortly after I hit. We glanced around, and the area being deserted, dashed around to the back of the building, right into the army of droids. The made feeble beeping noises, then booted up into their chase-mode. Kerre and I turned around and ran as fast as we could in the other direction.
Our route had taken us to another part of wall that was clear of droid sentinels. There was a tunnel leading out through the wall directly in front of us, which we gratefully took as a means of escape. When we reached the end of the tunnel, we emerged into another dome. The dome was covering a power plant that seemed way to big to produce the measly amount of power the people got. The droids were catching up to us, so we ducked into a sewer whose cover happened to not be there. It was dark, it was wet, and it stank of rot and excretion, but we hid inside the maze of pipes anyway.
Unfortunately, the droids weren’t as stupid as we had expected them to be, and they’d followed us down the sewers. They were big, and had a hard time fitting through the pipes. Their last resort being to crawl, gave Kerre and I a few seconds head start. We entered a tunnel where the water reached our waists and flowed faster. The water rose up to our chests, and the sheer force of it pushed us along the grimy twists and turns of the pipe. Slam!
We were thrust into a rusty iron grate, and we hear it creak and groan angrily as we crash into it. I felt around with my feet, and I found that the grate had been rusted away near the bottom, because the water was filthier and thicker near the bottom, where all the dirt and… other things had settled. It might possibly be enough for us to squeeze through to the other side. I point to the water and make a motion with my hand because the rushing water was so loud, telling her we needed to go under it. Kerre understood, and dove down. I waited until I felt Kerre’s foot slide past my ankle; she was through.
I sucked in a deep breath and dove down below the surface of the murky water, turning over so I could slide under the grate on my back. My head fit easily through the gap, and I concentrated on getting the rest of my body through in the least amount of time, because I could see the droid’s underbellies turning the corner of the tunnel we were in.  I pulled myself through with only a few resulting scratches, and fell into the void below. Kerre screamed from somewhere beneath me, and we continued falling in the darkness.
I landed with a thud, with the gallons of dirty water pouring down from above. I would surely have a large bruise on my back from the landing. Kerre was standing near me with a disgusted look on her face. When I looked down, I figured out why. The ground was covered in swarms of rats, and I noticed sharp white bones sticking out from underneath them. The bones were human, and the rats were feasting on them.
“Let’s get out of here, before we end up like them.” Kerre said.
I nodded, and we made our way around the piles of gorging rats, and into another tunnel that branched off the chamber that we were in right now. There was a faint light coming from the sloped end of the tunnel, and we ran up toward it eagerly. We were greatly disappointed when we got there. It wasn’t an exit. We had gotten ourselves lost and ended up inside of the power plant. It was a room filled with pumping machines and artificial lights.
“Darn it. We’re trapped if we stay here,” I said. “Let’s go back to the room with the rats and see if there are any other tunnels.”
“Wait, I think there’s a door over there, but there’s a padlock on it.”
Kerre went over to the door, and began picking the huge lock with some of the leftover wire we’d pulled out of the wall back at our room; it was lucky that we’d even brought it. Picking locks was Kerre’s specialty, and it took her almost no time at all. Soon the padlock crashed to the floor. We paused, listening for the droids. If they’d heard that, they would be coming through the tunnel at any second. There was a rustling and a loud, raspy voice yelled in our general direction.
“Oi! What do you think you’re doing here?”
Kerre and I brought out our knives, hoping the person wasn’t able to fight us off if we were brought to the conclusion of killing him or her. But it was only an older man who had come out from behind one of the pumps. He had on workers garb, and seemed to have been working at a control panel that was hiding behind the machines. Kerre had backed away from the door, and was tugging me away from the old man, back towards the tunnel.
“No, no, you don’t have to go back; the droids are probably in the cave by now. That door leads out and I won’t tell the Dictator, but only if you take me with you.” The old man whispered.
Kerre shook her head and pretended to slit her throat with her finger.
“How do we now we can trust you?” I asked. If he didn’t answer, we’d kill him, go back and fight off the droids, and find another way out.
“I’m and old man, what can I do to two healthy youngsters such as yourselves?”
“Fine,” Kerre said. “You go first. It’s open.”
Kerre was smart, and she knew how to fight if things got out of hand with this old man. We knew what we were doing. Living in this city toughened you up; we were ready for anything. The old man hobbled over and through the door, and we followed, knives still drawn. The door closed behind us just as the first of the droids burst out of the tunnel. Their numbers had diminished, and most were severely beaten up, and some were buzzing angrily. Fortunately, they didn’t see us. The door we had gone through opened into an almost vertical wooden shaft, and we were climbing at the older man’s slow, shuffling pace. It seemed like hours, but we eventually we reached the top and the old man pushed open a door, and we all climbed out.

Chapter Three-

We all flopped onto the ground. Kerre was laughing so hard she’d started to cry, and the old man was lying still and staring up at the sky. The sky for us had always been dark, black, because of the dome. The dome. It was hard to believe that we’d always lived in a dome, with it always being the same temperature, and it always being silent. No animals either, only metal, wood, and people.
I turned around and looked at our home, and I was surprised at what I saw. No black dome, no metal, and no nothing. All I saw was a hill, covered in grass, and standing next to another, smaller hill (the one we’d just exited) that concealed the power plant.
“So no one even knew we existed.” I said, and Kerre turned around.
“Cal, do you think we’re the only humans? You know, besides our parents?” Kerre asked having stopped laughing.
“It’s impossible to know. We could be Kerre.” I said. “Anyway, we’d better get away from here, they might send the droids out.”
We went over to help the old man up. We both held out a hand, which he grabbed, and pulled himself up to his feet. He looked about and saluted the hill we’d just escaped from.
“Well kids, it’s time for me to go my own way. I hope you brought plenty of food for yourselves, because you’re going to need it.” He said. “With the way the gods are feeling today, I’d guess they have something in mind for you.”
Before we could ask him what in the world he meant, he ran off. I heard him mumble something about ‘not wanting to be a part of this game’ before he disappeared.
“That guy was a loon. Let’s go into the woods. We can hide in the trees if we need to.” Kerre said.
Of course we knew what trees and sand and all the other stuff we’d never really seen before was. We’d read about all those things before school was outlawed, although that didn’t stop us from reading the books. Kerre and I weren’t the type to obey people over twenty.
We wrung out our dripping clothes and made our way into the woods. It was almost morning, and the sun (not artificial lights, finally) was just beginning to rise. The trees were so densely packed; the sunlight didn’t affect us much down here on the ground. There was a strange rustling that seemed to follow us the more we kept walking ahead and it bothered me. Kerre eventually noticed it and suggested we stop here for a while. As soon as I sat down I pulled my knife out of my pocket, where I’d stored it after the old guy ditched us, and began to fashion a spear out of a convenient branch I found lying on the ground. Soon I’d finished it, and now had a nice spear with a clean cut point at the top. Just in case.
The rustling began again, coming closer every time I heard it. When it became too much to bear, I consulted Kerre.
“Doesn’t that bother you?” I asked.
“I tried to ignore it for a while, but there is definitely something wrong here.” She answered.
Kerre was looking at something behind me, and I turned around to see what she was staring at. A pair of eyes was hovering in the underbrush, watching us. The eyes began to move toward us, followed by the rest of a body. It was human, and it was a girl. She was young, younger than us, definitely not over seventeen. The girl’s skin was an olive tone; she had green eyes, short-cut red hair, and was a built fighter.
“Who are you?” she asked.
The girl was being cautious, asking us questions. She wouldn’t be much of a threat if we didn’t try to fight. We were not going to fight this girl unless she attacked first, or it was clear that she was our enemy, which she right now wasn’t.
“Friends. That just raises the question, who are you?” Kerre said.
“Friend. I saw you come out of the hill. What’s in the hill?” she asked.
“Nowhere worth going to, we were escaping. Why didn’t you just show yourself back at the hill? It would have been a lot easier than sneaking around.” I answered.
“I wasn’t sure what to do. I was escaping too.” she looked behind her and scowled at the trees. “We are not safe here, but I know a place that is safe. You may come if you want.”
Kerre nodded and we began to pick up our stuff when an arrow whizzed out of the trees behind the girl and hit her in the shoulder. Blood oozed out of the wound, the flow partly stemmed by the shaft of the arrow. She lunged forward and shouted at us to follow her. We ran through the trees. It was hard to keep the girl in our sight but we did because we had to. She was fast, but we were fast too.
Shots began to ring out from behind us. The people or droids aims must have been pretty bad because the bullets kept hitting the trees near us. One of the bullets lodged itself into my ankle, severing muscles. It caused immeasurable pain, but I kept running anyway. Eventually the shots ceased and we reached our destination.
It was a small house made of wood and mud, and there was a man standing in the doorway. He probably heard us coming, with all the noise we made.
“Do you know how they got their hands on guns?” the girl asked the man.
“I’ll tell you once we’re all inside.” He said.
We all walked into his house and sat down in various places. The man got out a bunch of first aid things while the girl pulled the arrow out of her shoulder.
“Who are your new friends?” the man asked.
“I’m Kerre, and that’s my cousin Cal.”
“My name’s Royale, and Kyle is the only person who doesn’t want to kill people who try to escape from their homes.” She said. “Now tell me how the got their hands on guns.”
She seemed really angry, so Kyle answered her right away. Trying not to make her any angrier, I guess.
“They stole them from a man named Charlie Indigo. That’s their cities’ dictator, Royale. No matter how much you think the government will keep things like that away from the public, they won’t, or they just can’t.” he said. “Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to know how you two escaped that city. It’s supposed to be impossible.”
“We just jumped out of our room’s window, and ran through the sewers. This guy let us out. He was working in the power plant. Then he ran off into oblivion.” I answered.
“That’s strange” Kyle muttered. “Let me see your foot, before you bleed to death.”
I lifted my foot up and he started to scrape away at the skin, trying to get the bullet out, probably. He did, and wrapped a bandage around it.
“Doesn’t this hurt you?” he asked, moving over to Royale to help with her puncture wound.  “I’m pretty sure I’d be screaming my head off by now.”
“Not really, I’d guess I’d be used to things like this by now. Our lives haven’t been exactly fair.” I said. “I think Charlie Indigo had it out for me.
Kerre, Royale, and Kyle all looked utterly confused, so I pulled up my shirt and turned around so they could see my mess of a back. It was basically a giant jumble of blood red, raised scars, with the dictator’s signature at the bottom. I had way more scars than anybody else in the city had. Apparently, I was fun to torture.
“It’s signed by Charlie Indigo at the bottom.” Kerre said. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was preoccupied with the whole escaping thing. They did it in the morning after they found the—“
I was interrupted by a loud banging at the door, which made all of us jump about a foot off the ground.
“It’s the guys who were chasing you. Go into the other room, under the rug there’s a trap door, hide under it. Keep quiet.” He whispered.
“Coming!” he shouted to the door.
We all got up and sprinted into the other room. Royale slid the rug out of the way and we all worked together to open up the trap door. Once Royale and Kerre were inside, I shut the door almost all the way, pulled the rug over it, then let the door fall down over us.
It was pitch black in the little room, and we couldn’t hear anything that was going on in the other room. We knew it wasn’t good, because we could hear muffled yells, and gunshots. There was a loud slam, the door I think. We waited a few moments, and then we pushed open the door. It was quiet, too quiet. The three of us walked into the other room to find Kyle lying on the floor, bleeding from wounds in his stomach and his leg.
“No! Kyle!” Royale shouted.
He was going to die, and we all knew it, so we all went and knelt by his side.
“There is a small box on the mantle over the fireplace. After I die, open it, and read what’s inside. I don’t know if it will help… but it’s something you should know.” He said.
“I thought you said you’d be screaming if it was you?” I said, trying to make the best of a horrible situation.
“I guess I lied.” He said, and then died, with Royale sobbing over him.
Chapter Four-

Those were his last words, but he died smiling. Kerre went over and picked up the small box. She opened it and pulled out a piece of paper.
“Read it.” I said.
“Dear Kyle, your theories about the world being nothing but a game are true. We have successfully halted Charlie Indigo’s control over the destinies of our people, but it won’t last forever. In nineteen years time, our hold will end, and the world will be his once more. When you meet Royale, Kerre, and Cal, tell them what they need to know to gain their freedom. Our children can do this, but there will be many obstacles they have to concur and items they must obtain. We don’t doubt them.
Love Richard, and Claire.
Love Polypth, and Jezz.” She read.
“They said ‘our children can do this,’ that means that Royale is related to us, and we don’t know who’s parents are who’s.” I pointed out.
“Well, there’s an envelope in here for each of us. I guess we’ll find out.” Kerre said, and handed us our envelopes.
I opened mine and read.

Dear Cal,
Your mother and I wish you the best, but we unfortunately, will not be joining you as you quest to gain control of your destiny. We have agreed with your aunt and uncle that your two cousins shall join with you to defeat Charlie Indigo. You will have to find three objects and will go through hardships to get them. We are certain you will triumph. Find the thing you care about most.
Love,
Your Parents,
Richard and Claire.

The letter was short. It was almost too short. I wished they’d left us some sort of clue, as to what to do after we found the thing we were supposed to find
“It would be weird to think of you as anything but a cousin, Kerre.” I said.
“Same to you. They asked me to find ‘something lost and alone.’ What about you guys?” Kerre said.
“They said ‘the thing you have always been looking for.’ Cal?” Royale answered.
“They told me to ‘find the thing you care about most.’ Those are strange things to find.” I said.
“I think I know what they wanted us to find. Kerre, I’m lost and alone, and you found me first right? The things I’ve always been looking for are friends, and my family, that's you guys. And Cal, what’s the thing you care about most?” she explained.
“That’s easy: Kerre.” I said.
“See? They wanted us to find each other, and now all we have to do is get rid of this Charlie Indigo person.”
“We know exactly where he is; in fact, we used to live with him. Kerre, we’re going to have to go back.” I said. She looked disgusted, but she nodded.
“I have an idea, but it involves you getting into all the trouble, Cal. If you’re up to it, I’ll tell you.” She said.
“Doesn’t make a difference to me.” I answered. I’d gotten into plenty of trouble before this, so it didn’t honestly matter.
“Well, I borrowed these from that old guy that ditched us near the dome, and they seem to turn you invisible. Since there are only two, the plan will be that we will all make our way back to the dome; only Royale and I will be invisible. There will be droids outside the hill, so you will ‘give yourself up’ because I died. Make it as convincing as you can.
“Royale and I will find where Charlie Indigo hides all the time, and we’ll come get you when we find it. Other than that, inside the dome, we won’t be anywhere near you, so don’t try to talk to us.” She expounded.
“I just have two things to say. One, I’ll go along with this, even though I think it’s crazy. And two, you are an excellent pick-pocket.” I said.
She laughed and handed one of the small devices to Royale, who put it around her wrist, and turned invisible immediately. Kerre did the same, and then they switched off the devices so that I could see them. We were soon back in the woods, with Royale leading us back to the dome. When we got there, they turned invisible, and the droids all charged in my direction beeping ‘capture.’
I was herded like an animal into the dome, where a group of Beaters took the place of the droids, and brought me to my room, where Charlie Indigo was waiting.
“Where is Kerre?” he shouted. “What happened?”
I put on my poker face, and answered; “Kerre is dead. Your men shot her, and I came back.” I said.
“ Yes, my men shot her, and you came back because you are a wimp. Now, you are confined to your room until I figure out the most horrible way to punish you, without killing you, so you will be humiliated for the rest of your measly little life.”
He walked out of the room, only to come back in the room minutes later with an evil grin on his face, and a Beater behind him.
“Never mind, I’ve thought of it. I’m going to have this nice Beater whip you up a bit, and then I’m going to sign my name, like I did last time. Ha, ha, ha!”
Charlie Indigo barked at the Beater, who brought a whip out from where he was holding it behind his back. Charlie Indigo pulled out a knife with a curved blade, and brandished it high. 
“Get against that wall and face us directly. Take your shirt off, quickly. I want to cut you up already!” he shouted.
I removed my shirt and stood facing the two men. My mind took me to my happy place, as it always did when this happened. I felt basically no pain, and put my shirt on after Charlie Indigo signed his name. Him and the Beater walked out of the room, and Kerre and Royale materialized in front of me.
“Cal! We found where his room is! And what’s with all the blood?”
“Nothing.” I said, involuntarily rubbing my stomach.
That tipped her off, and she grabbed my shirt, lifting it up to see what they’d done. She had a half disgusted, and half worried look on her face.
“Oi! That’s not important right now, is it?” I said as I slapped her hand away. “We’re on a mission. Let’s go.”

Chapter Five-

Royale led the way out of the room, and down the long, twisted corridor. We stopped at a high, fancy wooden door that had gold knockers, and many other fancy things on it. Kerre opened the door, and the three of us stormed in, brandishing no weapons at all. Charlie Indigo was standing with his back to us and looking at a screen that showed pictures of, wouldn’t you know, us.
“Cal, I’m terribly sorry about that beating back there, but laws are laws, and you decided not to follow them.” He said.
“Well you didn’t seem ‘terribly sorry’ when you were doing it; and your laws are too incoherent for anyone to be able to follow.” I answered.
“Well that’s about to change, because you’ve just beaten the first level of my little game.
“The game has three levels, and I congratulate you on beating the first one. I, Charlie Indigo control the game, because I gained control of the mass weapon during the war, and everyone and everything you see around you. You play the game if you’ve been born with the ability to withstand my control. You Kerre and Cal have that ability, and as you can see, nothing else except the three of us really exists.”
As he said this, there was a large flash and everything else except us vanished and was replaced by white nothingness.
“On the second level, one of you will be trapped here, and the other must fight their way through many obstacles to reach and free the other. If the trapped person is freed, you will then have beaten the second level, and will move on to the third.
“The third level will be extremely hard to beat, and you will both probably die in the process of trying to beat it. But that of course, will only happen if you have the strength to beat the second. Which I highly doubt have.
“Good luck.” He explained.
There was another flash, and the world rearranged itself.