The Only Game In Town [Adventure]

Joy had not been pleased when the former princess Dahlia and her friend Julia had said that they were unable to help him. He had explained why David was such a big threat. He had explained why he needed their help. He had explained that he was useless all on his own.

They had said that they could carry him to the northernmost point of the continent, but after that they would leave him be. They had spoken of grand designs and bringing David down in their own ways. But Joy thought that was a load of bullcrap.

They were scared. Just like they had been scared of Ian when he had been destroying Joy and his friends. He couldn't bring himself to hate them, but it was close.

Even Julia turning into a dragon and flying him to the tip of the continent hadn't been enough to take him out of his funk. The wind blowing through his hair had not cured his sadness and isolation.

But that was okay. Because he was Joy. Mr. Happy Go Lucky and everything would work out if he just kept his chin up and let the currents of the world take him where they wanted.

Joy wandered the coastline, looking for this so-called Land of the Free. He had been wondering what these people would look like. Would they have senseless festivals of drugs? In what sense were they free? Was it their spirits or their bodies?

When he stumbled across the first person he had seen in days, Joy knew he was staring at someone from the Land of the Free. They had an incredible sunburn across their body. The man had a wiry physique, and Joy could tell that he had only recently started to put on any weight. But the most striking feature of this man were the tattooed chains covering his body.

Joy could recognize those chains anywhere. He remembered a young boy who had been in bondage his whole life in the Frozen Continent that had borne those chains. He remembered tutoring that kid up in the game den in the clouds he could access with his gift. But he remembered the pain and struggle he had experienced within the boy's memories.

These were people that were now free. The people of the Frozen Continent had moved to the Hearted Continent and had broken free from the shackles of their land and their leader.

Joy had called out, "hello!" He was so excited that he had found the land of the free. He would soon be free from making his own choices. Soon, someone else could tell him what to do and he could just become the carefree Joy he wanted to be.

The person screeched at the sound of Joy's voice. See, what Joy had failed to consider was that the reason he could see the tattoos on the other person's body was because they were naked. And that they were naked and alone in the middle of the forest. This was not the best environment for easy going introductions.

The last thing Joy saw before being knocked out was the man turning to face Joy with a look of indignation crossing his face.

Joy woke up in a small prison cell. It was ironic that the land of the free had a prison cell. It felt like a contradiction of the facets of freedom that the place should hold so dearly. But Joy wasn't one to quibble about the fact that people would do awful things and that there needed to be a place to store them until a decision about their fate could be made.

The room was simple. It had a bed that Joy was lying on at that moment and there was a bucket in one corner that smelled rancid. One whiff of the air was enough to convince Joy to breathe through his mouth for the rest of his stay there.

The most exciting thing about his cell was the person standing outside of it.

Joy's time on the Frozen Continent had left many impressions on him. It was thrilling and exciting, but it was a valuable look into the lives of the miserable. Joy had never suffered like the people of the Frozen Continent and Joy stood in awe of their strength every day. The person in front of him was one of the most incredible people Joy had the honor of playing a game against.

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Hope had filled out a little since Joy had last seen the boy. His wiry frame was building muscle, and he had even grown a few inches. He was growing out of the awkward puberty years and becoming a striking man.

He was sitting at a table outside of Joy's cell and drinking tea. Joy politely coughed to get their attention and asked, "can I get some of that?"

A grin split across Hope's face and a second cup of tea was poured and handed to him through the bars of his cell.

Joy smelled the blend. It was something aromatic and Joy took a deep sip of it. The flavors played on his tongue, and he smiled in contentment as the warm drink went down his throat.

Joy looked over at his guest. "So, what now?" Joy asked them.

"We weren't quite sure. There's still a lot of resentment from when you fought against us. So, we can't just parade you around our little town. But I also like you a lot, so I don't want to hurt you. So, we're at an impasse." Hope responded with a playful hint in his voice.

"I'm here because I was told by a seer that I should go to the land of the free. I am there, right?"

"I guess you could call us the land of the free."

"Then maybe you can help me?" Joy proceeded to explain David's plan to become a human god and used all his talents and techniques in persuasion to try and make them see that they needed to stop him.

After Joy's begging finally ended Hope looked at him softly. "I can't help you, Joy. Don't you remember? You made it so I wouldn't be able to harm another person ever again. It has been quite inconvenient, but I have carved out a life for myself and my people here."

"But… but you were supposed to help me. You were supposed to take this burden off my shoulders." Joy whined.

"Joy… You are a childish man. And now you are being forced to be an adult. I know that it's painful, but someone must make the hard decisions and do difficult things. It looks like that person is you."

Joy started crying. He just wanted to go back to when this was all fun and games. Before he could remember the taste of blood in his mouth. Before the pain and the misery. Back when he was just a silly guy doing silly things.

"When did it all get so serious?" Joy asked quietly into the ground.

Hope shook his head. "It has always been that serious. You just didn't want to see it."

With this, Hope left Joy in his misery.

Joy wondered if Hope was right. Had it always been so scary? Had he treated life as a game while everyone else had to deal with this pain every day?

Was this why David wanted to overthrow the gods?

Was it cruel to have all the pain in the world and treat it all as if it was all for your pleasure? Had Joy treated those suffering around him with the respect they deserved or had he simply gone about his life uncaring for the harsh realities of the world?

Joy didn't know why, but it felt wrong.

Maybe there were hints of truth and righteousness in David's plan. He wanted to overthrow the gods to prove that life mattered. But why was he ruining people's lives to accomplish it?

No matter how comfortable the world where the people who had already been eaten by David was, the people stopped living in this world. He was depriving them of their life for his own grand ambitions.

Was David no better than the gods, using humans as another tool to further his own agenda?

Was Joy no better than David for using other people to being happiness into his own life?

The only path was forward. Joy didn't know how to solve all the problems of the world; he didn't know how to solve anything really. But he knew that he could not stop trying.

Maybe he was foolish and selfish, but he had been given a task that no one wanted in the entire world. He had been given the task of facing David.

Joy knew that he was no match for the pseudo god that David was becoming, but he felt that there was some trick at play. Joy was not known for beating his opponents with pure strength. No, Joy was conniving and playful. He attacked them with games of whimsy with terrible consequences.

David wouldn't even know what was coming his way.

Joy laughed at himself as he got to his feet. His chest burned with a new path, a new feeling of purpose that had been missing during his time running away. At every opportunity he had run from the responsibility. He had run from killing Ian. He had run from confronting David.

But no more.

Joy was on a warpath and refused to be stopped.

Joy pushed on the door to his cell with the full confidence of someone who expects the world to give into their every need in their new crusade. He fell on his butt and stifled a groan of discomfort from the fall he had taken from bouncing off the cell door.

But that was okay. Purpose was more important than direction.

The next line of the prophecy he had heard blazed in Joy's mind.

"There you will find the path to the truth of death and the truth of the world."

Time to find some truth then.