"Huh?"
[Checkpointer20: You're getting a promotion!?]
[TheConquerer356: The hearts of men are swayed through action!]
[GreatGadfly30: I must concede, just this once.]
Frost had glossed over Richmond's earlier statement. He'd taken the place of the guard outside of the door. So that meant… The guards in this place were all ex slaves? The guard outside of the door was the old Sixty-three. It was no wonder someone had called him a traitor that morning. Speaking out against it would probably land execution, though.
"I'm offering you a job," Richmond doubled down. "You can't leave, obviously, but you'll spend the next five years beating the slaves rather than being one. So what do you say?"
Frost considered the offer. Was it really any different from being a slave? Only this time he'd be signing his rights away willingly. Perhaps Richmond knew that Frost was sold illegally and was doing this to avoid legal implications on himself. Frost was here against his will… Would he sign himself into slavery for real this time? It was a joke of a suggestion, and yet one that the pudgy man was extremely confident of.
Even if the chatters thought this was a great opportunity, taking this offer was against everything Frost stood for. This man was a bastard that deserved to die, and elevating Frost to be higher than the rest of the slaves wouldn't change his opinion. He didn't care for anyone in this place but himself, yet he cared for the man before him even less. Besides, he was given a much more important opportunity at that moment. He took it.
Frost picked up the gun and shot Richmond in the head. At least that's what he thought was going to happen. There was a sound as the cylinder cycled with an almost deafening click. Empty. He should've known that, though. It was a test. Even so, he'd already committed to killing the tiny man in front of him, so he had to follow through now whether it was with the gun or something else.
Something else? Time stretched into infinity around him. Richmond had his hands to his lips and was letting out a screeching whistle. Behind Frost the door was opening wide, and the two guards waiting outside were rushing in to grab him. Frost was moving, throwing his chair back into the guards to delay them for only a second. A second would be enough.
He grabbed the diamond and swung while awkwardly throwing himself over the desk. Richmond's mouth flapped and something in his head cracked. A tooth went flying. He stumbled and fell into the bookshelf which wobbled but unfortunately didn't fall over. He grabbed his face with a hand covered in blood, looked at the diamond and then Frost, then started yelling. It was unintelligible at first.
"You'll regret that boy! You'll regret it, I tell you! Take him to solitary!"
[Translation service active]
Frost spat on the ground. The guards looped their arms around his own and dragged him away. He noticed as he was dragged that the door didn't even have a locking mechanism at all. Every little thing in that room was designed to make attackers get overconfident. The new chair. The "locked" door. The unloaded gun on the table. He was being tested and he failed.
It was better this way.
Solitary wasn't fun, but then it wasn't supposed to be. Frost found himself alone with his thoughts in a dark room of complete sensory deprivation. The deprivation was of some sort of magical nature for sure, and he was able to feel nothing but his wrists and neck that were locked in pillory. This is the worst, he thought, but he'd only been there for a few hours so far.
If you'd asked him prior whether he'd have been able to deal with sensory deprivation, he'd have probably claimed that he'd welcome it. Frost's head was often pretty busy scheming or over analyzing his surroundings, so to be in complete deprivation was probably nice… Right? By the time the first day had gone by, he wasn't feeling so good about it.
[Checkpointer20: You deserve this.]
"I do. I admit it." Frost hung his head. The pillory forced him to bend over at such a strange angle that he wasn't sure he'd ever stand up straight again. To make matters worse, he'd gotten so bored that he started speaking to the psychos in the corner of his vision.
[Checkpointer20: Talking to us now that you're at your wit's end?]
[GreatGadfly30: I refuse to help.]
"I don't know what your whole deal is, but it seems to me like you lose your favourite entertainment if they leave me to starve here, right?" Frost wiggled around as if the pillory would suddenly let him free. "Come on now. Impart upon me some of your oh so great advice."
[Checkpointer20: You haven't fully awakened yet, so there isn't anything we can do.]
"Awakened?"
[TheConquerer356: Sometimes, those who traverse the void will awaken to it.]
[MasterOfTheFlute: I doubt it will choose you.]
[Checkpointer20: No. It will choose you.]
"Chat… I have no idea what you're talking about."
[GreatGadfly30: Don't call us that. You sound like one of those live streaming losers.]
"Eh? Is that not what this is?"
[Checkpointer20: We're souls of dead dustlings.]
[Checkpointer20: You're using the attribute [Connected]]
"You're only making my head hurt even more…" He let his body go loose and slumped down. I suppose this is the part where I think really hard about my mistakes or something. He didn't want to be alone with his thoughts. He'd been trying not to think about it… The things he left behind. He'd be thrown out of classes. Krista would be worried sick. Was he a missing person back home?
Would he ever go home?
If there was a portal here, then somewhere there was a portal back. He had to believe that. Even so, a lot could've changed in the month he'd been gone.
[GreatGadfly30: Kids these days, huh? So weak minded.]
[Checkpointer20: No matter. He doesn't have long to wait now. If I'm not mistaken…]
"Who the hell are you people anyways? You're the souls of the dead, so you're from here?" Frost decided to ask questions to his heart's desire to kill the time. It was the best idea he had.
[GreatGadfly30: All of us here are from Earth.]
[MasterOfTheFlute: Indeed. I have no interest in following someone from elsewhere.]
[Checkpointer20: We're restricted from telling you our identities, though.]
"Is there a way to go home?" He spoke those words with a hint of despair. Are their usernames significant? There's only one person from Earth I recall being referred to as a 'gadfly'. Master of the flute, though…?
[Checkpointer20: Mhm. Quite easily.]
[Checkpointer20: That's assuming you survive what's about to happen.]
"That is…?"
[Checkpointer20: I can't say anything that provides "tactical advantage."]
"Pfft. You're a real useful lot, huh? How do I get out here!? Oh! Just wait! Wait for what!? Can't tell you that!" Frost writhed around in the pillory and growled. "Useless! Gah! The world is seriously pissing me off!"
[TheConquerer356: Then conquer the world.]
Frost sighed. Somehow, the chat wasn't tone deaf enough to keep talking. They all shut up and made it clear that they wouldn't bother saying anything more until prompted. Frost glanced around at absolutely nothing, then closed his eyes to relax for a moment and fell into a surprisingly peaceful sleep. There wasn't a smidgen of light or sound to disturb him, and his body had been sore for so long that he started to ignore it quite well.
He woke up later at an undetermined time. He felt tired, and almost like someone had hit him over the head with a rock while he slept. Thinking this, he continued fading in and out of consciousness until the precise moment a freezing cold bucket of water was thrown over his head. He yelped, flailed around a little bit, and then looked up squinting at the light from the doorway.
[Checkpointer20: It's been five days.]
Richmond stood there looking annoyed. "I better not hear a word of complaint, boy. You chose this."
"Get me out of this damned thing and I'll welcome being hung by the neck," Frost joked. He was in no position to speak this way, though. He hadn't drank or eaten. Dizziness plagued his whole body and, in fact, there were three illusory Richmonds standing before him now. If he was lucky, this would kill him before the rope did.
"Glad to see some enthusiasm." Richmond looked behind him. "Go on, lads. Get the poor bastard out of there."
Frost happily stretched as the guards released him, only to be put in handcuffs immediately. One of them grabbed him and threw him into the side of the door frame with considerable force. "Gah!" Frost said. "Be gentle. I could've been your boss, you know?"
"You shut your Mira-damned mouth, boy. At least if you know what's good for you," Richmond said.
"I don't," Frost said immediately. One of the guards responded by slapping him across the back of the head hard enough to give him whiplash. He trotted along still, keeping a decent pace. When he lifted his head again, he was greeted with something he hadn't seen since arriving.
Sunlight. Frost's mouth hung open as he stared straight into that gigantic flaming orb. His eyes started to water both from the heat and from his own emotions. Dear God… He hadn't realized how much he missed the sun.
It was a beautiful day to hang.