I walked back to the lobby with a strange skip in my step.

Nathaniel was so friendly and easy to talk to.

Why couldn’t he be my teammate, instead of…

“Hey shitface, you’re three minutes late,” sneered Wes.

At midday, Wes and I made our way into the main tournament room where we sat among hundreds of other competitors.

Most of the competitors were teenagers, like Wes and myself, though I saw plenty of young adults and a few older players too. 

I looked around for Nathaniel but couldn't see him.

Wes sat next to me, his knee jigging nervously. He looked a lot less sure of himself now that he was surrounded by hundreds of other D.I.E. players. 

That gave me more satisfaction than I cared to say.

The sound of an amplified voice rang out over the chatter of the competitors.

“Hello my dear competitors, spectators and general D.I.E. enthusiasts! Welcome to the inaugural D.I.E. Championships held in your lovely town!”

Everyone started cheering.

“Who the fuck is that?” said Wes, pointing to the man speaking on stage.

I was too hyped to care about Wes’ flippant comment.

The speaker onstage was Kaiser Grayman, one of the top professional D.I.E. players in the world in both Single and Double battle formats. I’d stayed up until 5am for three days in a row following the livestreams of his matches. That man was a beast on the D.I.E. battle field with an uncanny ability to predict his opponent’s moves.

Kaiser continued to speak.

“I will explain how this tournament will work! Firstly, you will notice on your lanyards that you have a number. This number will help decide who you battle against in the first round.

Everyone will participate in ten rounds regardless of whether you win or lose. In every round, you will have 50 minutes to allocate between three matches so use your time wisely! If you win two matches, you win the round. If I see anyone timer stalling…”

He did a rude gesture to the audience and everyone laughed.

“Three points will be allocated to wins, one for draws and zero for losses. The highest eight teams in Singles and Doubles will move onto the Elimination Rounds where we decide our Runner Ups and Winners! The finals will be livestreamed with insightful commentary provided by myself and the best Doubles partner of all time… Rea Jung!”

The crowd screamed as they noticed another pro D.I.E. player, Rea, waving from the VIP seats in the audience.

Kaiser smiled lazily at the audience, waving for silence.

“I know many of you are itching to play,” he said. “Remember, this is just a game. Please show good sportsmanship to your fellow competitors, stick to the rules and above all else… have fun.”

And so the tournament began.