There was an eerie sound of water splashing as people moved around, one that kept you on your feet for hours on end. It echoed through the halls, making anyone it ca across shiver. ’What if I was the first.’ that was the question everyone thought of, not only because it would an their elimination but because it would hurt their pride.
Walking through the hallways, it was only a matter of ti until you t another team. What matters is what you do when this does happen. The worst thing you can do is cower at the thought of a fight, hoping to talk your way out, only to fail. A battle is bound to happen, as winning is essentially almost winning.
The system said we could steal so of the light from others by holding their lanterns, but never that we have to give it back after. With this in mind, stealing a captain’s lantern ant total elimination for their team, but that wasn’t all. If taking from the sa lantern twice wasn’t possible, then we could use it for negotiation. A bargaining chip, a tool of leverage.
The best part? People always look up to those who hold what they need—or what was once theirs. This ant I could use my skills, and if I was lucky, I could even kill one of these cockroaches crawling through the dirty water.
But that was a very hypothetical scenario. Sothing that only happens in a story, as it makes things too easy, and the real world... is much harder than so fairytale.
Though it was too early for to think of all this, the ga had just started and we needed to not fall behind in the early ga, as it was the one that mattered most.
If I had to guess, because of my passive I was chosen as the leader of my team. This made things even better. There is a small chance of being eliminated. Only four teams and there were definitely more than that, so just surviving wouldn’t help . In a way, I have to make my group dominate the ga, making the others fear us, and being untouched.
With my skills, this could beco reality. If I play my cards right, I won’t just survive I’ll make them fear . Fear us. Only then, would people consider walking behind .
But that was sothing that needed to be done when the ti ca, and now wasn’t the right mont.
So as the leader of the white team, as you can see by the bandana on my head, I navigated my teams through the hallways. Taking use of what firefly ca our way, we tried avoiding the eerie sound for now. Though, I was hoping to encounter one deep down, only to test one of my theories.
When I first looked at the skill I copied, I deduced that it drains life force, as that is considered the light of humans. But I didn’t know if it was able to drain real light from an object that created it. So ever since I got it, I wanted to test it on sothing that produced it, like a lantern.
It was risky but worth it.
The air thickened at every turn, so hoarded the air from others, as it was quickly becoming a nuisance to breathe in these conditions. It wasn’t like it was clean in any way, and neither did my nose appreciate it, I almost wanted to throw up because of how bad it slled. I’m sure this place was connected to fish in any sort of way, that was the only way to explain the intoxicating scent of fish.
It had been so ti since the ga began, and the water had made my feet numb with its cold temperature, and it wasn’t the only thing cold here. It felt like I was inside a freezer, this was the second ga now I was fighting to keep myself warm.
My eyes had also gotten bored of seeing the sa thing, and it didn’t make it better that soone had forgotten to change the light as they had started to flicker. It made things even more creepy, as at any ti, a team can appear in the darkness created by the light, but I doubt that would happen.
But even in these tough circumstances, I still kept my calm. If a leader would break so soon, they were never ant to reign in the first place. If you can be a walking example for your people, then how can you call yourself one?
It would be a disgrace to those who gave their lives if soone weak stood among them.
Though, I can’t say I also don’t feel any sha, as even I, don’t consider myself worthy of being a leader at the mont. Not because of anything I’ve done as a human, but because of what I let happen at the last of my last life.
It makes my blood boil at the thought I let my subordinates fall only to protect . Never have I felt such self-hatred as I felt whenever I thought of this. I wanted to cut myself into pieces and reassemble into a better version of myself I could never beco on my own.
But if things were that easy, then everyone would be perfect. It makes wonder, if everyone was perfect, then would being perfect even have a aning anymore? Wouldn’t it just beco the new normal? Also, would sothing that is now considered normal, be considered a flaw in a perfect world? And in a world where humans are flawless, would everything else be defective?
What I know is that the world would be more judging, maybe to try breaking this endless chain, and finding anything weird in soone as an imperfect characteristic.
A flawless world sounds like sothing you would dream of, but in reality, it is more flawed than the world we live in. The only reason it seems that way is because humanity is a perfectionist species.
But even if every human ca together to create this world, it would still be of no help. It is impossible. It is a sad fact but in no way is it possible for everyone to beco flawless. Soone like that doesn’t exist in the first place. So do we even understand what perfection truly is? I guess we’ll never know, as nothing in this cruel world will ever be without flaws, that is just sothing we have to accept.
Ti had passed, and not one team had been eliminated. But with so many teams what was the chance of none of them eting? Low, almost impossible. What was really the case was that people were evading fighting, sothing that would co to bite them later.
It was clear that the reserve of fireflies wasn’t going to last forever, so they basically went extinct, aning the only way to keep your lantern burning bright was to steal it from others. Putting both of these together, you create a scenario of chaos.
People without any other way to keep their light going, will be desperate, causing them to act recklessly and irrationally. Also thinking about the fact that this is a death ga, the stakes can only get higher.
We can’t see other’s lights, so we can’t compare how bright ours is to theirs. aning that if we get to the point where the fire burning inside the lanterns stops, we don’t know who will be the first, that solely depends on who has found the most fireflies. So survival isn’t guaranteed.
I can only imagine the tension running through the hallways, as the light dims. When your life slowly ends, and around you sit only strangers.
That is why, whenever you et another team, it is better to steal their light. It is sad I haven’t had the luck to find one yet, if I did, I would have already stolen their lanterns.
"Um sir, sorry to bother you... but we have a little problem." The voice of my follower woke up from the eternal slumber I was in. But what really struck was the reason he had woken up. ’A little problem?’
I turned to face them, only to see a bunch of figures lingering in the dark. Was this the little problem, no it could, since this wasn’t a problem at all, but a gift. I smirked, as I signaled with my hand for my team to say back, and I slowly removed my glove.
As the glove ca off, the abyss was seen underneath. My arm until the level of the elbow was painted into a black color that lacked light. As black as the abyss, it was almost hidden by the darkness of the halls. But to those who were watching from outside, it could be clearly seen.
’Does this remind you of sothing, Eclipse?’ I laughed, as I ran toward the dark figures hidden in the sea of darkness that enveloped every gap left untouched by the light.
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