“Do you like it?” Iliya asked the kitten in his lap, a little nervous. Despite the warnings from the portraits on the walls, Iliya had assumed the worst she could do was maybe a kitten bite, or a swat with her claws. Even if he continued assuming that being able to unhinge her jaw and eat inedible materials was the only thing Peaches could do to harm him, she could still easily rip off his hand if she tried.

Instead, Peaches butted her head into Iliya’s hand. He gave into the temptation and gave the little monster some pets. She smacked her lips a few times, happy. “I like it! There were some fruity notes, but there was also something smooth, and salty? And the crunchy, metallic outside really gave it some depth.”

“That was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich,” Iliya elected to ignore the tin foil. “The salty spread was peanut butter.”

“Peanut butter,” the kitten echoed. “I like it. Thanks for the food,” she chirped.

Immediately, Iliya’s phone began vibrating. Peaches arched her back, surprised, and jumped off Iliya’s lap. “It’s okay, just my phone,” Iliya reassured her in a distracted manner as he pulled his phone from his pocket. His screen no longer reflected his conditions for winning, or the amount of time it had left.

We are receiving conflicting reports about Red’s completion of Feed the Kitten. Please resolve the issue with your Moderator. Thank you for playing World Game Room!

The words flashed on the screen, as if in warning. Peaches hobbled back over to Iliya and looked at the screen. “Looks like you have to go meet with the big cat.” Peaches stuck her head in Iliya’s abandoned lunch bag and sniffed his remaining fruit and juice. Rejecting them, she scrunched up her nose.

“Is this a bad thing?” Iliya asked.

“How would I know? I’m just a kitten!” Finished, she turned her back on Iliya and returned to her sun spot, tail held high as she lithely moved. “But I do know you should go fast. If it’s bad, you’ll want time to fix it if it’s not an infraction bad enough for punishment.”

Punishment. That word again. “What happens if you’re punished?”

Finding the perfect warm spot to return to her nap, Peaches tucked her legs under her body, forming a loaf. She closed her eyes again. “Depends. You probably won’t like it though. See the pictures on the wall? Those are challengers who were sent to punishment.”

Iliya examined one of the portraits in the room he was in. The most vivid depicted a large, balding man. His eyes bulged and his mouth was open wide and was stuffed full with what looked like dark fur. If you looked closely, there were even some lumps piercing through his throat, presumably from the fur forcing itself down his throat. There was so much, a few strands even poked through from his nose. Iliya could practically hear the grotesque choking noises, just from looking at his portrait. When put together with the starving man’s portrait, the woman who had her eyes clawed out, and all the other portraits that made up this hall, Iliya resolved that he would not be punished. Especially not on his tutorial level. But if the punishments were this bad on the introductory challenges, what would they be like once he passed to the next level? It felt like there was a hand deep in Iliya’s belly, pulling him down. He forced himself to look away from the grotesque images, and focus on the task at hand. Returning his phone to his pocket, despite the fierce vibrations against his stomach worsening his nausea, Iliya went back to the kitchen to talk with the Moderator.