The Only Game In Town [Adventure]

Joy had been let out of his cell days ago. The people of the land of the free were very accommodating to a man who had fought them a few mere months ago. They had fed him and forced him to bathe, claiming that his stink was unique and horrifying. All the rude comments aside, Joy had not felt this good in a while.

But a certain prophecy was bouncing around in Joy's skull. He knew that he had to find a hidden truth - a truth about the world and truth about death. He was a little excited but was not sure how to accomplish this goal. The previous step in the prophecy had been easy; all he had to do was keep going north until he reached the land of the free. Unfortunately, the interpretation of this next step was not so cut and dry.

So, he had done what none of the heroes in the stories did. He asked the people around him for help interpreting that line of the prophecy.

Most people in the village looked at him like he was crazy. His words sounded so self-important and full of angst, but they were the correct words, nonetheless.

No one had any clue what he had said until he spoke to a woman named Tera. Joy had not particularly remembered Tera from his time on the Frozen Continent, but she had a very useful ability. She had been the person who had transported all the people of the tribes to this new continent.

She had the ability to teleport between certain stones that she carved. Tera had found the Hearted Continent though a little bit of luck and a lot of stones thrown into the ocean. She had apparently found all four continents of the world via her stone throwing strategy.

Once Joy had learned that she had found all the continents, the words of the prophecy seemed to flicker in his mind.

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

Death seemed to be something he was searching for the truth of, and where better to find out more about Death than in the middle of the continent that had been destroyed by them.

Joy had packed a bag and asked Tera to take him to the Dead Continent. She had looked torn between telling him to find the loose screw he was obviously missing in his thinking department and just doing it for him since it was easier. She went with the easier option.

Joy had heard stories about the Dead Continent his whole life. He felt like storytellers would come into his town with their gifts that made stories come alive in front of children and tell terrifying stories about the place that had suffered the wrath of Death.

It was one part warning and one part fear mongering. The story, as Joy remembered it, went like this.

"Death was not a twin god as some would say. Some claim that Life and Death are two sides of the same coin. But they are wrong. Death is older and meaner than Life. Life came with the birth of humanity and this world that the gods cherish, Death was before that. They stare with unflinching eyes at everything that exists and wait for it to die.

But during the Age of Legends, Life asked why Death did not participate in the great game of humanity like all the other gods did. Life was a powerful god and knew Death to be just as strong if not stronger. So, they wondered why Death felt no need to include themselves in this game.

Death simply responded, everyone worships me in the end. I play no silly games with you because I have already won them.

Life did not like this answer. If Death had won the game, why were they all still playing? So, that meant that Death could only be an arrogant boastful god, hiding their inability to play with the other gods behind a façade of boastfulness.

Death laughed Life who had begun telling all the other gods about this exchange.

I will give a gift to one human. And you shall see that what I am saying is true. Death made a declaration to Life, and Life scoffed as they couldn't imagine that Death would really do anything that impressive.

One woman gained the favor of Death and wrought destruction unlike any other disaster in that age. She rose to the lofty station of ruler of her continent. From there she used the whispers of Death contained within her control to keep her empire in check. Her power was unmatched because with a mere flick of her wrist, Death would come for any of her enemies.

She sat on a throne of corpses and ruled with an iron fist. Already, Life was willing to concede that maybe Death had a little bite to go along with their bark, but Death told them that this show wasn't over yet.

The gods watched as old age started to take the supreme ruler. She called edict after edict to her people, bringing forth the strongest healers within her territory and yet none of them could cure her of old age.

The woman grew infirm and foolish, but her power was still stronger than ever. Her advisors who failed to cure her of the disease known as aging were turned to dust beneath her gaze.

They failed and died in droves.

But still Death said that this show was not finished.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Finally, the ruler realized that she was going to die. There could be no avoiding it. She could not kill that which ailed her as she had killed all of her other problems in her life.

She was a bitter old woman. And she did not find peace in Death, instead she went into their embrace kicking and screaming. In one final act of rage against the world, she released the full power of her gift into the world.

The crops in the ground stopped growing. The oxen keeled over and died. The people grew weaker and weaker as her miasma spread throughout the continent she had ruled and destroyed anything that even thought about living.

Death finally told the other gods that the show was over and that this was why they would not play this silly little game with them. Because in the end, all the little humans would be Death's anyway. They cannot help but give themselves up to me."

Joy had heard the story many different times in his life and felt many different emotions each time he heard it. As a child it was a terror. As a teenager it was about the slow march towards death that all people are on. And as an adult he felt sympathy for the ruler's weakness. She had been given so much and was unable to cope as it was taken from her.

As Joy retold the story in his head he felt a yearning for adventure. On that continent there would be answers to questions. He wasn't sure what the questions were just yet, but soon he would have the answers.

Joy had packed his bag with mostly food and water. He wasn't sure if Death had truly made it so that nothing could grow on the continent anymore, but he wasn't willing to take any chances while on his pilgrimage.

Tera brought him to a private space, and they hashed out an agreement for her to take him to the Dead Continent. He would tell her about anything that he found while he was there, and she would arrive at her waypoint at the same time every day for the next 30 days. If he did not return within that time frame, she would assume he had died and that she did not need to come back to the continent any longer.

These terms seemed more than fair to Joy. If anything, he felt that he was getting the better part out of this deal. He had been worried that he would be abandoned there and forced to find his way back without the handy-dandy teleporter. But this was an amazing deal for him.

Once the deal was hashed out, Tera quickly teleported her and Joy to another land and then dropped him off there, saying that the place gave her the "heebie-jeebies" and that she didn't want to spend even an extra moment there.

The continent was very grey and still. The sky was still showing a scorching summer day, but everything else felt wrong. There was not even a hint of grass anywhere near the beach that Tera had teleported him to.

The air smelled simultaneously fresh and old. Like a sweet cool breeze wafting into a long abandoned home. There were no fish swirling around in the waves that Joy could see. There were no bugs buzzing in the air. There was no birdsong.

It was eerie but not unwelcome.

Joy sat down on the rocky beach and unpacked a small meal of jerky, cheese, and bread. He had packed fresh bread as a luxury and knew that it would go bad soon. So, he ate a warm loaf of bread while sitting on the beach of the Dead Continent.

The musty atmosphere brought back memories to Joy. The warm bread did little to settle his stomach as he thought back to when blood had covered his arms up to his elbows.

Death has a sobering effect on those that live. Joy felt such pain and shame at the fact that Ian would never get to live to see another sunrise. That he would never get to become a better man. Joy had robbed his man of his life.

But hypocritically, he was grateful that he had taken it away. He thought of the friends he had failed to save from the horrible man. The eyes of Theo, the wakefulness of Lillian. He had lost them, and someone had to pay for it.

He was full of contradictions. He wanted to say that all life was sacred and yet he relished in the blood of Ian.

Joy mused on these thoughts for the afternoon. He had realized that maybe coming to the Dead Continent without any sort of plan may have been a bad idea. He was tired and annoyed at the lack of anything in his sight.

"It's a boring place, isn't it?" Joy heard a familiar voice from behind him. He jumped back in surprise to hear another person in this abandoned place. The voice was unexpected, Joy had thought he was only person here.

He brought his fists up in an aggressive stance, ready to attack.

Standing behind Joy, with absolutely no clue as to how they had gotten to this continent, stood Sam, David's personal seer.

"You here to fight me?" Joy waved his fists, trying to intimidate Sam.

Instead of being intimidated, Sam giggled at Joy's odd little stance. "No, I am here to help you. You need a guide, right? You will find no one better." Sam did a little bow, and Joy slowly lowered his fists.

Joy looked at the plain looking person. Sam was boring in contrast to Joy's garishness. Where Joy wore bright colors and made himself stand out in the crowd, Sam was someone who was quiet and overlooked in a large group.

They were defined by a boring shade of brown. Their skin, hair, clothes, and eyes all were the same boring shade of brown. Joy had not spared too many thoughts for Sam during his time working with David, but now he studied this person who had said they would give him precisely what he needed at that moment.

He didn't buy it.

"Do you want to…" Joy sputtered and stopped his sentence as Sam shoved their finger into Joy's mouth.

"We will be having none of that. No bad manners allowed here, Joy." Sam washed their finger off in the surf and smiled up at Joy.

"I give you my offer with no ill intentions. I only have your best intentions as well as my best intentions at heart. It's a win-win situation." Joy was skeptical and started to raise his fists again, hoping to end the threat he saw in front of him.

In a blink, Sam brought their wooden flute up to their lips. Joy didn't remember seeing the flute in their hands, but now a low note played, and Joy's hair stood on end. Scratch that, Joy's hair started slithering as it turned into a bunch of snakes.

With a flick of the flute the snakes slithered off Joy and curled around Sam's feet.

"You would never stand a chance against me, Joy. So, stop with this defensive attitude and believe me. This isn't like you. Where is your trust in the love the world gives to you? Where are your witty quips?"

"I don't know. Maybe this situation doesn't call for puns and quips?" Joy sat down on the rocky beach and looked out over the surf, accepting his defeat.

"Well, that will not do." Sam smacked Joy over the head with their wooden flute. "You and I are going to get up to some adventures while we are here on this continent. And they will be fun!"

With that declaration, Sam started walking off into the distance as Joy sat there and watched them.

"Are you coming, or what?" Sam called over their shoulder as they marched off into the great unknown. Joy looked down and back up again. He guessed he was coming along.

A small smile broke across Joy's face as he raced to catch up with the enigmatic seer. Maybe this could be fun.