PAWN - Part II

In the perspective of Red


Chapter Two


I was lifted, into the air, by a red monster I couldn't see. One moment I was off the ground and the next--I was back on the ground, but further away from the rest. So far, so far that they seemed half their size.

I felt isolated. Alone. Unsafe. I tried running towards them, only to collide—quite painfully—into a wall that didn't seem to be there. But it was. I reached out, and touched it. The cold, strong, impenetrable wall. Suddenly, a shadow was cast next to me. I turned and looked up.The thing that lifted me came back, now I realise that, it's a hand, seemingly 10 times larger than me, clothed in soft red velvet, which i mistook for the blood-stained fur of a beast. Wedged between it's fingers, was an in-proportionally small, pink envelope. For me?

I retrieved it, my fingers trembling as i opened it and removed from it, a card. Before I could even read it, their voices blasted into my ear.
"RED READ IT OUT LOUD!""ARE YOU OKAY?""CAN YOU HEAR US?"

"IDOITS! STOP SHOUTING! I can hear you just fine. Don't shout into my ears." My ears still ringing from the havoc they have wreaked upon my delicate ears.

For their benefit, I read the card out loud. And it was a strange, cryptic message too.
"Alarm,
A bright warning,
Urgency,
Like a fire burning.

Darkness blooms,
Around candle flames.
Are you ready, red?
For the fire game?"

Fire game? The name of the game had unsettled me enough. As soon as I finished reading the card, I heard a faint ticking sound. It was rhythmic, and it clicked, clicked, clicked, almost inaudibly. I surveyed my surroundings for the first time. That's when I noticed it. A brown box. But more importantly, a timer. "04:50"."04:49"."04:48". I was supposed to do something. A timer was ominous enough. But what?
"What do I do?"
"is there anything else you have with you?" yellow asked.
But I had nothing. Except—except the envelope! I checked it again, findings small rectangular box, filled with strange liquid. There was a switch and I flipped it. Suddenly, like a magical burst of hope, fire appeared. The Fire Game!

But what was I to do with it? Trying my luck, I started with the box."04:23".
Running towards it, it appeared to be a box with strange carvings, like hieroglyphics of some sort. Pictures that didn't make sense. And the timer that ticked away,"04:21". I flipped the switch. Fire.

I placed it near the box, I wanted to burn it. Maybe it would end things. Then it happened so quickly. The flame merely licked the corner, when it emitted a piercing light, and a strange force blew me, such that I flew backwards, and knocked into the invisible walls that marked my boundary. It felt as though I as flying, then slammed into a corner.

Obviously, burning the box wasn't the smartest thing to do.

I winced, my head throbbing. I put my hand to my head, in a futile effort to stop my head from spinning.

"Hurry! Hurry!" My friends urged me.

As I put down my hand, my palm landed on something smooth, and slightly oily. I looked at down at my palm.

A candle!

Now this was something I could burn. Scrambling to my feet, I flicked my lighter. The flame of hope reignited once more, and I lighted my candle, bracing myself for the possibility of another blast. The scarlet red candle lit up, it's bright flame, a contrast to its surroundings, making it as though it was the only flame in a dark night.

"Darkness blooms,
Around candle flames"

Was that what it meant? I looked back at the box. "03:14""03:13"

Frantically, I rushed to find another candle. Then I noticed, on every corner of the boundary, there was a similar red candle! Lighting them up, one by one, a strange orange glow began to emit from the box in the center, like a glowing furnace.

The last candle."02:01". With a final flick of the lighter, the last of the candles had been lit."01:59" The timer stopped, the box glowed brighter and brighter, as though it had an orange monster in it struggling to escape."Click!" The box flipped open, and the light died down. It looked like an ordinary box once more.

"What's happening?What's happening?" Blue asked repeatedly.

I peered into the box warily.

"it's...it's a paper doll?"
Sitting contentedly in the box, was a paper doll dressed in a red pinafore. Her porcelain white face blushing with a girly pink. It seemed harmless, the safest thing I'd probably come across in whatever mess my friends and I have been pulled into. Though it's purpose still remained a mystery? A token or key perhaps? Whatever game this is, it was no ordinary game.


"Keep the doll. It may be useful." Green said thoughtfully.

I slipped into the pocket of my jeans."what now?"

As though it was to answer my question, the dice rolled once more.