This caused a murmur amongst a few of the newer players who had emerged from various holes in the wall during Van's conversation.
The attendant continued. "We do not wish to have cowards in this team, so the door to exit is over there. You may choose to walk away from this, to walk away from living life as a king, to be paid to play this game and live a life beyond your wildest dreams. If you fear committing to the murder of a fellow player, remember that they also will have agreed to this pronouncement. The rules are simple: you will all be dropped in the Woods of Terror and Haunted Dreams, armed with nothing but your wits. Weapons are scattered about the woods, but you will be low on health due to hunger and thirst. The last five players remaining in the game, the last surviving people, will go on to live a good life. The rest of you will be dead."
"Holy crap, this is some kind of a joke!" shouted a woman wearing golden armor.
"No, ma'am, it is not a joke," the man replied. "Draco is not interested in cowards. Should you wish to remain living, please, the door to exit this tournament is right there. Let no player believe he is forced to play this game. You may leave now, but if you do, you will be nothing more than a coward."
"Yeah, I'm not a coward," the woman replied as she stormed towards the door. "I'm just sane. See you jerks later – have fun dying over virtual internet points." She promptly vanished upon touching the door. A few other players made their way to the door, and Van counted afterward that there were only 27 players left in the room.
Van glanced over at Peterson. "Are you really staying here?" he whispered. "You're really going to risk your life for this?"
"You don't know me and I don't know you," Peterson said, "but I have lost everything else in my life. This is the only thing I have going for me, so yeah, I'm gonna go for it. I'm gonna go big or die. Nothing else matters."
Van didn't like the sound of desperation in the man's voice, but before he could open his mouth, Peterson leaned over to him. "And before you start to wonder if my desperation makes me untrustworthy, you've got to ask, how desperate or deranged are the rest of these people here? I mean, I don't see you marching for the door. I just don't want anyone to die unnecessarily. So, we gotta be fair as hell towards each other, because it would suck to die from an arrow to the back of the head while bending down to get some water."
Peterson's plan suddenly made a whole lot more sense to Van. He nodded. "As long as you guys stay away from us," Van warned, "nothing changes."
"I figured you'd stick around," Peterson said. "But I'd make the wizard leave. He'll be the first to go."
Those words rang true to Van's ear. Van turned to face Fredlin, who was busy fighting with Sahara over the last piece of bacon.
"Fredlin, you should get out of here," Van said.
"Come again?" Fredlin asked as he let go of the bacon long enough for Sahara to snatch it and pop it into her mouth.
"Guys, we all knew it would take this turn at some point," Van said. "No one here signed up for this without knowing what the risk would be, right? But, Fredlin, your class isn't optimized for this kind of fighting."
"No one else has a spellcaster," Fredlin replied. "I'm gonna be the most valuable part of this team. I have spells that locate water. We'll be doing awesome in there!"
That did sound credible to Van, but the fleshy, spongy nature of wizards meant that it would take barely any damage at all to kill him.
"Sorry, man, but you came this far, and you really made a difference in this. But it would be idiotic for you to risk your life at this juncture."
Fredlin scowled. "Then consider me an idiot. I got word the other day that Savorn, my best friend, died from the attack in San Fran. Draco killed her in that explosion and I swore I'd get revenge." His face grew red now, and tears began to well up in his eyes. "I had so many things that I wanted to say to her, but I didn't get a chance to say any of them. I'm not leaving this place, Van. If you think I'd be better off sitting on the sidelines, hoping that you guys survive, then you're wrong. I want to be in the action."
"Let him stay," Kylian said. "He's got some useful spells that can really help us out here. That invisibility is priceless in this kind of tournament. I'm assuming you want to minimize the amount of people that we fight, right? Staying hidden and out of the way is a great way to do that."
"Good point," Sahara said, "although I'd side with Van here. Wizards are great, but I've played one forever and I can tell you that they do not live long in combat."
"It's not a vote," Fredlin said as he folded his arms. "There is nothing you can say to make me leave."
"Even if it were a direct order?" Van asked.
Fredlin shook his head. "I’m not in the military anymore, Van. I don't have to worry about direct orders. I've been a faithful part of this team for long enough for you to trust that I know what I'm doing. I have been willing to be there for your every single step of the way. Now? Now I need you to be there for me."
Van shrugged. "If you feel that strongly about it, fine, you can stay, but just know that you're probably not going to come back."
"Oh, I'm coming back," Fredlin said. "I've seen war before. Whether you come back or not is a choice. If you ever say to yourself, 'I'm not coming back', then you're gonna fulfill that prophecy; otherwise, you have a good chance." His eyes narrowed, a darkness having fallen across his face.
Sang put a hand on his shoulder. "Alright, well, we're counting on you then, so don't screw it up for us."
This elicited laughter from the rest of the group and drained the tension.. Van nervously glanced over at the rest of the people present. No one else was laughing
CHAPTER NINE
Van felt the wind whip past him as he dropped towards the earth. When the man had said they would be dropped into the woods, he hadn't expected the prediction to have been literal. Sang, Kylian, Sahara, and Fredlin were all falling alongside of him, a purple bubble of safe-landing magic engulfing them.
The woods were dense, composed mainly of pine trees and oak trees. It was an odd combination to see, but Van tried to memorize as much of the landscape as he could as he fell to the ground. They all landed together at the same time then, their feet gingerly touching the ground as the spell softened their descent.
"Alright, we need to fan out and get some weapons!" Van said. He looked around and found a large rock on the ground.
"Here's a stick that we can whittle down," Kylian said as he picked up a stick. "Turn it into a spear of some sort?"
"I think we'd be better off scavenging," Sang said.
"We can do both," Sahara said as she grabbed a rock and began to clack it against another stone.
"What are you doing?" Van asked as he grabbed a rock from her. "Don't make too much noise. We have no idea who's out there right now."
"Oh, I was trying to sharpen one stone against another one. Then we can use vines to tie them up to make spears," Sahara said.
"That's not a bad idea," Van said, "but I don't think there are any vines around here."
"Moss is available," Fredlin said as he grabbed some moss and stuffed it into his pockets. "Come on, we need to start looking for some water. Water sources are where other players are going to be. If we find the water, we're guaranteed to find where others will be making camp. Then we can sneak in during the middle of the night to kill them."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Van hissed, "we aren't killing anyone."
"The hell we aren't," Fredlin replied. "We're in a deathmatch, Van. If we don't kill them, they will kill us."
Van shook his head, "No, that's too close to murder for me. We'll only fight when we're attacked."