Valkyrie's Lament

“Who?” Silver felt uncomfortable being scrutinized by a giant rabbit the size of a human. It’s Frankenstein like face had blotches of black, white, and blue. What made Silver feel uncomfortable was the pressure from the rabbit itself. She got a gut feeling that this rabbit was sadistic as well. What this rabbit have planned for them, she didn’t know.

“I am Ronfonso.” The rabbit bowed. His ears flopped forward, making him look like a gentleman even with the horrible patch up face and body. “I will be your host for the final part of the game..”

“Please go ahead.” Silver wanted to know what it would be.

“It also seems that the others have found the ancient tablets, though the game is just getting started.” Ronfonso chuckled low and gruff. “Well than the game is really simple. Tag me to complete the game. Before I forget, I’ll be sending every single undead monster in this city after you. You have less than twenty-four hours to get out of here.”

“I feel like you’re holding something back. You’re not telling me everything, are you?” Silver didn’t completely believe what Ronfonso had to say. She knew they were a catch even if she didn’t have to say it.

“Khuhuhu. You’re very perceptive, but it’s okay. You’ll enjoy it when the surprise come your way.” Ronfonso hops around and stops in front of Silver. Slowly opening his creepy eyes, striking gold stared back at her with a mischievous gleam. He flicked his hand around, video-like images appeared, showing where each of the participant in the game were located.

Jasper, Sam, and Brianna were together running through the hallway away from the skeletons that were chasing them. The skeletons had armor protecting their bodies with reinforced metal. Their blades were wickedly sharp, some had horns that made them look like demons, while the others had an asymmetrical body that made them sway while running.

“So he’s still alive.” Silver let out a sigh of relief. She did not realized how worried she was –  it kind of surprised her. Even still she had faith that Jasper will be alright.

Then she noticed that Jamie and Amy were outside. Amy was laid out fully in the back seat of the van, while Jamie was fixing it. Black smears of oil decorated his clothes, and his oily hand smears the sweat off his face, leaving behind smudges.

“We have six contestant ready to play. My wish is that you guys stay alive near to the end. By then, I hope you all die, before you cross through the gate.” Ronfonso lips curled up into a lopsided grin. “Now then, I best inform them of the game or we can’t get this started.”

Ronfonso clapped his hand and cleared his throat. “Welcome participants!” His voice echoed throughout the whole city. Everyone looked around trying to figure out where the voices were coming from. A holographic image of Ronfonso’s stitch-up face dances high up in the sky.

“The final part of the game will be underway. Escape from this city to complete this game..” Ronfonso chuckled and straightened his clothes.

Silver was curious why Ronfonso hadn’t given the task to tag him to the others, then it hit her. She was the only one given this extra task, making her brow furrow. Her mind quickly begun to race.

The holographic image disappeared in a blink of an eye while Ronfonso let out an exaggerated glee of happiness. He hopped around on his foot, ready to tackle the game with enthusiasm.

“Ronfonso.” Silver called up to him who was bouncing around.

“Yes?” Ronfonso stopped and turned his head over his shoulder, wondering what Silver wanted to say. He hopped over and stood in front of her with his arm crossed.

“You are quite a talented rabbit. I would like to shake with my opponent before you go towards the exit. It would be an honor to play a game with you.” Silver gave Ronfonso a genuine smile.

Ronfonso gave Silver an arrogant smile and shook his head up and down. “For a human you know how to compliment. I as well look forward towards our little bout.” He raised his hand and grasped for hers.

Silver snapped forward and grasped his hand firmly. “Truly, a great way to start and end the game.”

“Yes.” Ronfonso smiled delighted that she complimented him.

“Winner! Silver!” A loud announcement like voice erupted out throughout the whole city, making Ronfonso freeze up. Confetti burst around her, congratulating her of her win.

“W-w-what?” Ronfonso was completely stunned and confused.

“Thank you for the wonderful game Ronfonso. It was worth every minute of it.” Silver pats his hands and lets go.

“I-I don’t understand?” Ronfonso glanced down at his hands, dumbstruck that he easily fell to Silver’s tricks. “Y-y-you…!” No words could form from his mouth, but instead he stared with complete disbelief.

Silver leaned over with a sly smile.

“I-”

“So, my part of the game is over. Unless your kind goes back on your words?”

“I certainly do not!” Ronfonso stomped his feet and puffed up his chest. His ears straightened up. “Here is your reward.” he said with a growl.

With a flick of his wrist, large blood orange crystals appeared out his hands and shot towards Silver’s wrist. Silver could tell that these were high-grade crystals. Ronfonso stared at Silver interested. His ears twitched every second. They made eye contact, making him unconsciously hmph.

“So, thanks for the game.” Silver turned around and walked towards the only door in the room.

“Wait!” Ronfonso called out.

“Yes?” Silver turned around a bit tense. She hope that he wouldn’t go back on his words, but she needed to make sure. “You’re not going back on you words right?”

“Absolutely not. Once my part of the game ends, it ends.” Ronfonso snorted in disdain at her words. “You are the first human who had ever won this part of the game in less than a minute. Truly you are magnificent…though I wonder why you smell a bit strange.”

“What are you talking about? This whole place smell like death and decay. For sure, I would smell quite a bit like the environment.”

“No, I’m saying you smell sick.”

“I have taken the water to cure the poison already.”

“You did?” Ronfonso’s head tilted in surprise. His ear flopped to the left. “I know my nose does not lie. It would be a shame if someone like you dies. Then again, if you do die I would be glad.”

“I am not going to die.” Silver hand gripped into a fist. She wasn’t going to end her life here and now, and all she could do was move forward in the hopes of finding a cure for this unknown sickness.

She could feel the slight fatigue of her body, but this whole time she had thought it was just her being tired or that the red crystals weren’t completely revitalizing her.

“If you think so, but if I were you. You should quickly fix that problem very soon. Kuhuhuhuh.”

“Well then thank you for your information. I’ll be going now.”

“Wait!” Surprised that Silver would just walk out without even asking a question about her body’s predicament, he couldn’t help but frown. “Aren’t you going to ask me what you got?”

“No. You’ll just dangle the bait in front of me just to get back at me. Even if you don’t tell me I’ll find a way.” Even though Silver sounded confident, she actually wasn’t. It was all a bluff to see if she could trick him again. “I’m no fool.”

“You’re such a interesting human.” Ronfonso was hopping up and down. “Leaving without even checking what it is.”

“Well if you do know just spit it out, but I get the feeling that you don’t know anything about it. There is no point in hitting around the bushes. If you don’t want to say anything then I’m leaving.”

“Fine. I don’t know anything about it.” Ronfonso crosses his arms with annoyance. He shrugged his shoulders and tapped the ground annoyingly with his foot. He was bitter that Silver was leaving so soon.

“Well then thank you for the information. Goodbye.” Silver walked out on Ronfonso, leaving him in complete disbelief at Silver’s words. She didn’t stop once to look behind him. At the same time she felt annoyed that there was no clue on how she got infected in the first person. Was it a normal virus or sickness? Such thoughts crossed her head, but no answer was revealed.

With a long-winded sigh, she pushed forward and eventually made her way towards the lobby. Throughout the whole time she was walking, she noticed the walls changing and shifting into different pathways, but even still she made it out safely without any trouble.

“Bah, you walk too slow.” A familiar voice caught her attention.

Silver was unease at Ronfonso sudden appearance before her in his a butler like suit. “What are you doing here?” She asked carefully.

“Simple really. I’m coming with you.”

Silver dumbfoundedly stated, looking at him as if she heard him wrong.

“What’s with that face? I can leave whenever I want, you know.”

“You kidding right? You’re the game master for this area.”

“So? I forked over my rights a second ago.” Ronfonso gave her a hint of a mischievous grin.

She felt like he had something else up his sleeve but she didn’t know what. “And you’re going to go out like that?” She threw up her hand in front of her. The thought of a game master coming out of the Gate was seriously unheard of. Even the thought of having one come out was scary in its own way.

“I look quite dazzling, thank you very much.” Ronfonso stated with a hmph and gave her an unhappy face.

“You’re a game master! Don’t you understand what that means?”

“I’m not a game master anymore. I’m now a player.” Ronfonso changed into a more human-like appearance. His face turned more handsome than a normal person and even the patched up look on his face gave him a striking image. “Better? Though I believe I look more handsome in my previous form.”

Silver groaned. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing from Ronfonso’s mouth. She believed that he didn’t completely get what she was saying.“You’re a GAME MASTER. A cheat of an existence!”

“Actually, I’m the lowest of my kind. So, for I who am aiming to become stronger, I felt that I should take part in this game as well.” Ronfonso nodded his head in agreement with his words.

Either way, Silver couldn’t say anything else. If she argued with him over this simple point it would only give her a headache. It was best to just play along and closely watch what Ronfonso would do. Overall, she felt like she had lost to Ronfonso’s pace. Though, she did think having a Game Master in their group could be quite beneficial.

“I’ll just stick around for awhile. Watching what decisions you will make.” Ronfonso chuckled with glee. His smile gave her an uncomfortable feeling that told her to watch out for what he might do. “Truly this would be exciting, don’t you think?”

“No.” Silver flat out spoke. She wasn’t pleased at all that Ronfonso would be tagging along. She never heard that the Game Master of the game would take part in the game just to improve themselves.

“Aww, don’t be like that. We’ll be best friends.”

“Best friend is a matter of opinion.”

“Though, I believe that we should go now.” Ronfonso walked beside her, holding his head held high. For someone who was the Game Master, Silver felt a powerful aura coming from him.

“Why?” Silver carefully asked, wondering what he had to say.

“Because, I have no control of the monsters of course anymore. Did you already forget I’m no longer a game master?”

“Ah….” Silver cursed in her mind at Ronfonso’s sudden change of wanting to become a player. “Not a single one?”

“Exactly, where have your quick mind gone too or was that all a show?” Ronfonso frowned.

“It has gone nowhere. Tell me when you say everyone how much would that be?” Silver needed to know. She feared that it would hit over a thousand.

“Five hundred thousand and ninety-five in total.”

Silver was shocked. She didn’t expect so many undead in the city – it was half a million and that was a lot. The thought of being surrounded by them made her shudder in fear. If they were not extremely careful, she would die. No, everyone would die.

“Though there is one thing I forgot to tell you.”

“That is?”

“There is a Skeletal Dragon sleeping underneath the city.”

“W-what!” Silver shouted so loud that her voice echoed throughout the whole lobby.

“No worries. No worries. You just need to get out of here in a couple of hours.” Ronfonso giddily laughed.

“This is no laughing matter!” Silver started to run towards the exit. Ronfonso bounded forward with enthusiasm behind her.

“Don’t be miss Grumpy! It’s great news! You have a couple of hours to bulldoze your way through the city – that is if you survive. I’ll be sad if you die now. I won’t have an interesting specimen to scrutinize in my boredom~”

Silver opened the door and ran down the stairs. She found Jamie bent over fixing a van diligently. “Jamie!” She called out towards him with her hands waving above her head.

Jamie pulled out from under the cover. “Silver? Your back?”

“Yea, how long until your done?” Silver asked impatiently, she stopped next to him.

“I think about thirty minutes or so….I hope.”

“Cut it down in half! We need to get out of here now.”

“Why, what’s the rush?”

“Young man, in the next hour all of the city’s undead will be awoken and this whole place will be crawling with them.”

“Who?” Jamie stared at him confused and turned towards Silver asking for an explanation.

“Later, right now that’s not important. If we don’t leave this area we’ll get swamped by half a million of undead plus one dragon!”

“What!” Jamie’s went up an octave in complete shock. Just like how Silver was temporarily dazed, Jamie was as well. “You’re joking right?”

“No.”

“Damn it.” Jamie’s left hand were shaking to the point where he had to hold it steady. “I’ll get on it right away, but I need you to find some gas.” He hurriedly went back to work, this time rushing to get it done.

“Okay.”

“Silver?” A familiar child voice was heard from behind her. “Silver!”

Silver turned around and all of a sudden Jasper threw himself into Silver’s arm. His hands wrapped around her stomach, and his head rubbed against her in happiness.

“I knew you’d be okay.” Jasper said happily.  He hummed in glee.

“Jasper your grip is a bit to tight.” Silver patted his head. She could feel her stomach tightening up, making it a bit difficult to breathe. She was a big surprised, for someone his size his strength had grown considerably.

“Sorry.” Jasper let go blushing red. “I got too excited.” He glanced down twiddling his fingers.

“It’s okay.”

Jasper eyes sparkled. “We heard the announcement and all the monsters just collapsed.”

“Mhmm, but right now that’s not the problem.”

“Why what’s wrong?” Jasper tilted his head.

“The question is who the heck is this guy.” Brianna’s clear voice cut through both their conversation, catching their attention. “I don’t remember someone like this person coming in the mini-game when we passed through the gate. I’m positive it was just us.”

“Well little miss, I am a res-” Ronfonso was abruptly stopped by Silver’s hand.

“What he meant to say is that he snuck in while we weren’t paying attention.”

“Really?” Brianna came over examining Ronfonso up and down with curiosity. She stopped to take a good look at his face and frowned. “What happened to your face?”

“There is nothing wrong with my face. If you have a problem with me just state it out now.” Ronfonso stated with an annoyed tone of voice. He crossed his arms and scowled.

“Surgery.” Silver cut in before Ronfonso said anything anymore. She was getting tired of covering for Ronfonso and his inability to adapt to the situation.

“Ah, that makes sense. I like it.” Brianna gave a cheerful tone of voice. “It look so sick with that handsome face of yours. I’m literally surrounded by hot guys left and right. I could start a harem here!”

“Please do not include me in such a delusional fantasy.” Sam dryly stated. He wasn’t interested in the conversation, but when Brianna brought up such topic he cut her down in seconds.

“What are you talking about? You are for sure included, just for the hell of it. Do you know how many girl fans you would have? Hundreds!” She threw up her hands in excitement. “Plus..” Her eyes ravenously checked out Ronfonso’s body that seemed to have well defined muscles.

“I take back everything about girls not being perverts. You are the complete epitome of an old pervert.” Sam snorted as he watched his sister.

“Psh, you’re just jealous.”

“No.” Sam let out a long sigh.

“Boooooo. You’re no fun. I bet you like guys then!” Brianna goaded him.

“I am not interested in anyone, period. End of discussion.”

“Lies!” Brianna called out in complete disbelief. “I know you Sam. You keep a pile of porn magazine underneath your bed and even have a special folder for it in your laptop!”

“How the…forget it. I don’t want to know.”

“Kuhuhuh. I like your servants.” Ronfonso spoke with a cheerful attitude.

“Servants?” said Sam. “We’re acquaintances. Not servants. What era do you think this is?”

“Modern, though that does not mean there aren’t any.” Ronfonso brushed his question off as if it was some stupid question.

“Guys. Guys. Guys. This is not the time to chit chat. We need to spread out and find some gas. We don’t have time.” Silver tried to bring the topic back to the main issue at hand. “We have half a million undead ready to swarm us and a skeletal dragon to awaken in a couple of hours.” She stressed the words to get it across.

“Wait what?” Jasper called out in shock.

Brianna gave her a funny look, while Sam jaws slightly dropped.

“Did you say a Skeletal Dragon?” Jasper words were a bit slow, drawing out the word dragon.

“Yes, she did.” Ronfonso spoke out with glee.

The other three look at Ronfonso as if he was mental. Silver shot him a deadly glance to shut up with her eyes and Ronfonso shrugged.

“You’re kidding me right?” Jasper asked. “I mean a dragon here?”

“The Game Master, said that we have to escape to finish this game. Though the large number of monsters was a bit unexpected…”

“Shit!” Sam swore so loud that everyone jumped in surprise. “Half a million monsters plus one fabulous dragon! Why don’t we just throw in a god in there too and say that he’s part of the game.”

“That wouldn’t-”

Silver growled at Ronfonso to shut him up.

Ronfonso sighed and folded his arms.

“We don’t have time to dawdle. Split up to find some gas.”

“Okay.” Both Brianna and Jasper stated with a nod.

“What ever.” Sam turned around and kicked the rock on the floor. A loud thang sound was heard, hitting against metal.

They all begin to split up to look for the gas.

“You.” Silver pointed towards Ronfonso and motioned him towards her with her finger.

Ronfonso lips curled into a smile, giving her a knowing expression.

“I must say. You get quite scary when you are angry.” Ronfonso jokingly stated.

“I don’t have time for your crap. Keep it simple. Either help us out right now or stay silent.”

“Boring. I’m going to go sit over there and make myself comfortable.” Ronfonso motioned with his head towards the car hood that was not to far away from them. He turned around and walk away from her with his head held up high.

“What’s up with him?” Jasper came up beside her. “He a bit strange. Way to happy about the danger to come.”

“You don’t know the half of it.”

“Is there some kind of problem?”

“I’ll tell you when we get out of here safely. Right now we need to find for some gas pronto.” Silver was walking towards the nearest car.

“Fine, but you really need to explain yourself about him. He does not feel normal.”

“I know, I will.” Silver rummaged through the car and found a rubber tube and a bucket. She picked them up and started to siphon the little bit of leftover gas in the car. For the next thirty minutes, everyone was busy searching for gas.

It didn’t take long until the tank was filled. Everyone was on edge except Ronfonso who was leisurely lying down on the hood of the car sleeping.

“Are you finished?” Silver walked up, a bit nervous, wanting to get out of here as soon as possible.

“Yea.” Jamie walked over and got in the van. He started the ignition. It took a couple of tries before the van turned on. “We’re good to go.”

“Good.” Silver opened up the front passenger side and got in.

Everyone who heard the sound of the engine started to make there way towards the van. They entered into the van quickly as possible. Sam, Ronfonso, Jasper sat in the middle, while Brianna sat in the back watching over Amy who was laying down.

“We’re all in?” Jamie called out while fixing the mirror.

“Good to go.” Jasper pulled the door closed.

Jamie stepped on the gas and drove forward. He didn’t drive slowly through the street unless he had too. They were a couple of time when the street were packed with abandoned cars, and they had to make a couple of detours.

Eventually they made it through half way across the city without much trouble. They were all just leisurely minding their own business until Jamie slammed on the breaks, lurching everyone forward.

“What the hell Jamie?!” Brianna called out in anger. She rubbed her neck in pain.

Jamie started to reverse the car, and swerved it around in a hurry. “No time to be yelling at me. Everyone hold on tight!”

With a screech, the van rushed forward smashing into the a group of skeletons that were blocking their way. The sound of bone hitting against metal and window could be heard loudly as Jamie speed forward, the car shaking up and down.

Jamie cursed loudly when he glanced at the mirror. “You gotta to be kidding me!”