When the bell rang, its sound was heavy, powerful, and ghostly. As if that was the sound of Death being carried by the wind.

We were already waiting at the center plaza, an empty wood stage in front of us with golden ropes separating the people from whatever would happen on the stage.

If it was an actual play, I would kill myself.

Hildr grabbed my hand with trembling fingers. I held them tight, giving her the warmest smile I could, as she stared at me with frozen, scared eyes.

“Hey, I told you guys to trust me. If you stay close to me, I will protect you—I need my two informants, after all.”

This was enough to melt a bit of the fear in her eyes, yet not enough to make her smile back. Hal was by his sister’s side, his gaze focused on the stage.

The young boy looked at the empty space with an ominous gaze, as if he knew whatever would happen there, it would not be good—it would not be kind.

For a child to have that look in their eyes… It made me think these children not only knew about those kinds of situations, but they had lived through them.

They had lived and survived amid despair, death, and chaos. And this thought made me shiver.

The plaza was like a place removed from a Renaissance fair, with the wood stores surrounding it, the stone floor, and a medieval fantasy vibe. This made me question where exactly were we. Was this an extension of Earth? A different planet? A whole new dimension?

What, exactly?

There was a loud bang, purple smoke coming out of the center of the stage. Murmurs and whisperings began as the anticipation and anxiety of the crowd increased, the mist taking its time to dissipate and reveal what had just appeared on the stage, their shape within the smoke getting clearer as the seconds stretched.

「Huh... Can you all hear me? Are you comfortable where you are standing?」

There were so many things strange and wrong with that voice. It didn’t sound natural in any way, yet at the same time, I could not identify any robotic or “fake” sounds. All I knew was it did not belong to a human.

「I am the responsible one for this area, I-I’m the Squire. Nice to meet you all.」

Finally, the being stepped out of the smoke... 

And I had no idea what that was.

It was a small creature wearing a pale red armor, its face completely covered by shadows with only two bright white eyes glowing from within the helmet it wore.

It had very short legs and arms, almost in a cartoonish way, as if it was a minion from a video game. Even from the back, I could see it well, yet the same could probably not be said for the twins.

And by the way Hildr grasped my hand, I didn’t think they wanted to see it.

「To all the new Selves that are present here, right now, we will co-commence the Benefactor selection.」 

There was uncertainty and lack of confidence in its voice, the glowing eyes showing a kind of sad frown on its shadowed, round face.

And as I presumed, it did not take long for that lack of assertiveness to bring forth “courage” among my peers.

“Stop blabbering about that and tell us where the hell are we!”

“How can we go back? You bastards almost killed me!”

“Yeah, we want to return to our world, you sick psychopaths!”

The squire started to fidget on the stage, his hands clasped tight together as he listened to the many raising voices that went from nasty curses and complaints to genuine and desperate questions about what was happening—questions I had myself.

「If-if you let me explain, I will get to that part...let me speak, please.」

However the voices only got louder, and for a few seconds, I swore the little squire would burst into tears and run out of the stage.

Yet that was not what happened. The red armor got darker, turning into the color of blood, a tiny sword materializing on the squire’s hand. The creature got a bit taller, its armor carrying an aura more menacing, more dangerous.

Sharp teeth suddenly appeared on its face, forming its mouth, twisting in a sickening and vile way as it pointed the sword towards the crowd, an indigo smoke coming out from between its teeth.

「I HAVE NOT FINISHED TALKING, YOU FUCKING MAGGOTS!」

The newly transformed squire pointed the sword toward one of the loudest groups, around twenty men and women clustered together.

None of us had any time to react properly as a black beam shot out of the sword, striking the tallest man among them.

For some reason, it was as if I saw the scene in slow motion. During the first couple of seconds, nothing happened, yet that man must have known the moment he was hit.

I couldn’t see his expression, since all of them had their backs to me, yet there was something about the way he stood there, frozen, with his shoulders slumped as if he had already given up. That man knew—

He was already dead.

“Hal, cover her eyes.” I had the time to whisper before it happened.

I did not have time to see if the boy complied, much less to ask someone to cover my own eyes.

Flames exploded from his body, spreading to the people surrounding him with not only speed but hunger, as if those flames had a conscience of their own and their purpose was to burn and consume flesh and bones.

It was almost as if they had mouths and claws, grabbing and swallowing others while making them participate in their wicked dance.

People immediately tried to run, tried to get as far away from those black and red flames. A good number of them succeeded.

Yet it did not take long for those flames to touch and burn even more than twenty people, a bloodless and black scorch mark being left as the only proof there was once someone in those spots.

「SHUT THE FUCK UP!」

It took a few seconds for the screams to turn into weeps and murmurs.

I finally glanced down, Hal’s hand covering his sister’s eyes as the tears ran down her face, her lips trembling alongside her hands and body while the boy stared at the flames with a distant, harsh gaze.

When he looked at me, I did not see a child.

I saw a wounded soldier.

「All of you shitty “Selves”, thinking you are some hot shit only because I was talking nice.」

The squire held the sword above its shoulder, its glowing eyes glaring at the crowd with pure hatred. 

「Now you are all behaving like good boys, isn’t that a treat?! Perhaps I should do it again.」

My muscles tensed up, my legs getting ready to run and jump if I had to.

All around me, people cowered and whimpered, making the squire smile with malice, revealing all its sharp, pointy white teeth, a dark red tongue passing along them as if it wanted to eat us.

「That’s right, this is how you lot should behave! You have no authority here, remember that. You low maggots.」

There was a sound, like something fizzing out. After a pop, the squire's body returned to its previous color and size as the teeth disappeared into the darkness of its face.

It was back with the scared and anxious gaze, its hands scratching the back of its helmet with a trembling resonating in its voice.

「We-well, seeing you are all comfortable now, I will start explaining how the selection works. An-any questions any of you may have, I can answer them after. You simply have to be polite...」

There was a frozen, rotted smile on my face as one of my eyes twitched.

Hah.

Were those guys fucking with us? Were they having fun shitting on our faces to later calls us dirty?

Questions?

They could bet their sorry asses I had questions, lots of them.

After throwing us into these challenges with no proper explanation and then demanding us to behave like trained animals—

As Park Eunwoo, I felt indebted to whoever or whatever had given me the chance to live this new life. Yet there was no way I would behave like a lapdog.

「The Benefactors are the ones responsible for bringing you all here. Th-they are also the ones organizing this entire event, so don’t forget to pay your respects later.」

An event? They were calling this an event?

There were a few murmurs, the squire squinting its eyes for a brief second before continuing.

「During the pre-trial, some of you may have attracted enough interest from one of our Benefactors to mo-motivate Them to offer you a contract. Before the Trials officially start, you will have a few minutes to choose your Benefactor. If you don’t receive any offers at this moment, do not feel discouraged! Y-you will all have plenty of opportunities to please our Benefactors and make Them interested in you.」

A new window appeared in front of me, the title ‘Benefactor First Selection’ glowing briefly.

[New Self Park Eunwoo, the following Benefactors wish to enter into a contract with you:]

I had to blink a few times, even touch the window to make sure it was working properly. The message clearly said that however—

My list was completely blank.

Was that another joke?

There was nothing on the list! Was it a system failure or somethi—

The window glitched thrice; the letters mixing, reversing, duplicating, until they disappeared altogether. At last, new words appeared at the window, the words in the title corrupted and almost unreadable.

[A Benefactor wishes to offer you a ‘Soul Contract’.]

0 - Fool

[Will you accept?]

I furrowed my brows, not sure of what was being proposed. There was a kind of a ‘+’ icon on top of ‘Soul Contract’ and when I clicked on it, a new smaller window appeared with the descriptions.

[A Soul Contract is a soul-bound pact between a Benefactor and a Self. By accepting this contract, the new Self will be able to: ]

1- Use the Benefactor’s powers and traits as their own.

2- Increase their statuses faster by sharing the Benefactor’s Vis.

[A Self bounded by a Soul Contract is not allowed to: ]

1- Interact with or disrespect other Benefactors through direct means

2- Abandon The Trials

3- Manipulate, plan, set up, or terminate Trials

4- Leave the Island’s domain

5- Disclose this contract to other Selves or Benefactors

6- Accept other Benefactors

7- Break the Rules

[A Self is Obliged to: ]

1- Do their very best to advance on the Trials

2- Grant one favor to the Benefactor Fool

[A Soul Bond cannot be revoked.]

I could feel my head hurting as I read it—it was pretty clear who was the Gap and who was the Eul on that contract*. Should I simply decline? I had no idea if it was good or bad.

「You be-better choose soon. Once time is over, you won’t be able to pick a Benefactor until later Trials.」

I could see the Squire fidgeting, moving from one stage’s side to the other at an anxious pace.

I glanced below me, watching as the twins whispered to each other in inaudible murmurs.

Hal met my eyes once, something dark crossing his eyes as he turned his attention back to his sister.

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes. The power Giorgio used on me back at Jolly Train, as well as the skill I got from Justice… They were good. Too good.

If most people chose a Benefactor, even by possessing one crappy skill, they would already be at an advantage over all the others who had no support or powers apart from the things acquired from increasing their statuses.

However, there was a tremendous difference between a Benefactor called ‘Justice’ and one called ‘Fool’.

「You all have fi-fifteen seconds left.」 

If the squire wanted the crowd to hear it, it should speak louder than that.

I opened my eyes, letting out a sigh as I passed my fingers through my hair.

I closed the description window and pressed one of the buttons in the selection window. A new phrase popped up.

[Once chosen, you cannot go back on your choice.]

[This is a one-time, special offer.]

[Are you, new Self Park Eunwoo, certain of your choice?]

I confirmed with a shaking finger, not sure why I felt so nervous.

[Congratulations! New Self Park Eunwoo has formed a Soul Contract with Benefactor Fool.]

[Starting the ‘Transfer Process’]

I was not sure I knew enough words to describe what I felt at that moment.

Even if I knew all the words from the world, I do not think it would be enough. The pain I felt, not only it was something unbearable, it was as if I was feeling all kinds of pain at the same time.

A pain that was freezing, burning, cutting, slashing, plundering, poisoning, stabbing, shooting, piercing, digging, crawling, melting, drying—everything at once.

And that pain, I cannot know how I knew yet I knew for sure, the place it was coming from was my soul. Something that belonged to every single cell and part of my body and at the same time, it belonged to nothing at all.

Something that was part of my mind and heart, yet something that was nothing alike them. As I felt pain spreading and pulsing within me, a hand began to tug and pull my soul as if to catch its attention.

The hand went deeper, and when it finally had a hold on me—

I saw the entire universe expand and implode within my eyes.

Then everything else turned white, and I saw nothing else.