Balthazar

Another unfamiliar ceiling, should he start getting used to waking up like this? The floor is cold, and the rough feel of the stones hurts his bare skin. The shirt he is wearing is completely ripped, making the touch of the gray stones even colder. Slowly he pulls himself up, the first thing he notices are the other people surrounding him, they’re yelling, confused, angry, scared. There’s no need for him to even try to understand their words, it would only give him even more of a headache.

At least he wasn’t kidnapped by that man, he notices, relieved. ‘’Where are my things?’’ He asks himself with a low whisper, talking to himself was a habit he developed after so many days alone. For the past months he's been holding himself back, although habits are hard to kill, there is no need for him to stop himself here, what would be the point?

He doesn't even know where he is. So he starts to look around, trying to make sense of the situation, while his head starts to throb, pain filling his senses, did he fall with his head first? Were they all teleported to this place? 

A stage surrounded by a transparent dome, a floor made of cold gray stones, outside of the dome there are chairs taken by immaterial smudges of color, probably an audience. Besides the desperate people, there are also seven pillars on the stage we are standing in, each glows in different colors, they even have writings on them, words he cannot understand.

But at this point, understanding something would be an actual surprise.

There’s no purpose to become desperate, cry, or make a fuss like the others, in reality he’s actually relieved that he does not recognize a single face in this crowd. So he turns his attention to the audience, as they’re almost filling the chairs up.

‘’I wonder what purpose does this have?’’ he whispers again, sitting down on the floor he had just gotten up from. ‘’My things are all gone’’, a sigh leaves his mouth. Sinking his head onto his legs he starts to think. Think about his life in the past three months, about his past life he cannot recall most of and this current situation, it all feels unreal, intangible, as if one day he’ll wake up from this never ending nightmare and realize it was all a joke from the gods.

Funny how for a person that before lived from vainness, he hasn't looked himself in a mirror in days, his hands have become rugged, small scars from cuts and burns, before his hands were delicate and smooth, his hair silky and his face? Flawless. Even his lean muscles had a purpose, not too much and not too little, just enough to look fit and perfect.

Almost all of my allowance was spent on beauty products, jewels and clothes, even if I barely left my room, when I did I had to always look my best.

Because what did he have besides his perfect appearance?

Now there isn’t much to do, he is extremely scrawny due to the malnutrition he was in three months ago, his hair is dry, his hands are scarred and his face? He hasn't checked, but the annoying beard that keeps growing no matter how much he shaves and the beauty marks that appear more and more every time he checks are infuriating.

Even so, he feels as if he should care more about the decline of his beauty, yet he does not.

Because what even would be the point?

This body wasn’t his to begin with, and he was too busy trying to survive to care about whether he was moisturising or not.

And here, no one is expecting him to be flawless anyway.

A loud ringing noise fills the room, eyes turning to the audience where all the chairs have become taken, another shrieveling noise and everyone’s eyes now turn to the center of the stage where a figure floats.

Whether it is a man or a woman, he cannot tell properly. With a low stature, a hair that reaches its chin, playful gaze and delicate features, the figure resembles a human, yet has an inhuman feel to it. Perhaps it is the way it looks at them as if it's looking at toys to play with, or the fact that all of it, from its skin, to its hair, eyes and clothes, is completely red.

Red like apples, like the color of rubies and the color of the coat of arms of the Empire he previously belonged to.

And then, it speaks, a voice so shrilling that it makes his hair stand on end. ‘’Hello, brave players!’’ The smile that creeps into that thing’s face is disturbing. ‘’Welcome to the Theater. This will be the first step you take towards saving your world’’. Its words are… weird. No. Wait, how come he understands everything it says? Everyone is silent, his gaze goes to an elder that is standing near him, their eyes are red and their mouths are moving, close shut, as if they’re attempting to speak but are unable to make a sound or even open their mouths. ‘’You were summoned here for the privilege of climbing the Tower of Life, a place where one can grow stronger. With the goal of saving your world from imminent doom you must work hard!’’ The figure laughs, the sound makes him shiver. Tears, despair, people seem to be breaking slowly as the figure keeps speaking. ‘’The Tower of Life has 100 floors with challenges that’ll build you as a hero. As you climb, you must complete 10 floors before being sent back to your home, having a cool down of 9 months before you return to the Tower for the next 10 floors!’’ Again, it laughs, as if it's having the time of its life, the crowd makes a noise as well, but it all sounds like background noise, indistinguishable.

Basically, they’re sending all these people to their deaths, and if this is something of larger scale, then perhaps there are more theatres like this. More and more people are being sent to die. It’s obvious by the glint in its eye and the excitement of the crowd. This is just a game of the strongest to watch the insignificant weaklings struggling to survive inside their trap filled maze.

High society is nothing but a nest of snakes, everyone trying to be more venous than the other, their bites sinking into others’ skin, begging to kill them in order to climb on top of their corpses and ascend as the strongest. It’s not a place for those with weak mindsets.

A sudden quote from his childhood tutor fills his mind. There's no need to say he does not know her face or name, that's the norm at the moment, but her voice was quite annoying and she spoke down to him often, as if a 10 year-old like him was the bane of her existence. Humanity will always be the same no matter the world, what happened to him before he awakened here is proof of that. Save the world? This isn't even his home. And he doubts even those who are attached to this place would truly sacrifice themselves for the good of the whole world.

“In ten years time, the world you know will suffer mass extinction, however the gods felt for you in their hearts and decided to give you a chance to survive: the Tower of Life!” Its words are said with a suspicious grin, they're probably actually anticipating watching humans crawl and suffer in an attempt to save themselves. The crowd makes a sound of excitement, the colors vibrating. “The Tower was created mirroring what you humans call video-games”, his words don't mean much to him, he doesn't have much experience with the advanced technology of this world, he did try playing a few games on the ‘cellphone’ - as he learned it's called -, however with little time to even breath, there wasn't much he was able to play. Therefore he has almost no reference to what it means by that.

A few people raise their hands, attempting to speak, but they're ignored by the red figure. There's a variety of humans here, from elders to small children, some even disabled, further proving his assumption that this place is just a huge slaughterhouse.

“You can even choose your classes! Six pillars and infinite possibilities! What will the gods bless you with? To choose the class, simply touch the pillar as I explain, pay attention or not, it's your choice to choose your demise instead of salvation”, its cold red eyes are directed to those who are still restless, trying to speak or crying profusely. “The first pillar: white. Priests. Serve your god and gain part of their power!” It doesn't explain any more than that.

Some people hesitantly move there, probably scared of what it said before. He is not interested in serving gods, although back at the Palace they constantly had to pray or serve our gods, they never answered his prayers. Even if he had proof they exist and even saw them in passing once, there's no point in having faith in someone that abandons you when you're weak.

A girl attempts to take their hand off the pillar, probably regretting her choice, but she's unable to, her skin glued to the dark stone pillar. The red figure laughs watching the girl desperately trying to take off her hand.

“Moving on,” it says, ignoring the despair of the people. “Class of fighters and the red pillar! Those who wish to use brute force to move forward can choose this class”. 

The fighter class also does not appeal to him, not only was he terrible with the sword - or any weapon for that matter - back as a Prince, but with his body this frail, there's no way he can fight hand on hand with anything that is coming his way.

Most men and a few adult women take the class, however most of the people there are elders and children, so they stay put. He can tell by their faces that the children are scared yet seem to understand the situation better than the older ones.

Well, if they have more free time they must probably have played a lot of games.

Although they still have their age, body and intelligence to account for in survival. Knowledge of only the premise won't be helpful.

If that were the case, then he would be the best mage back home.

That wasn't the case.

“Oh my oh my, it's fun to see the faces of the future of your planet! The next one is the lamest! Summoners class, the green pillar, those who are cowards and wish to hide behind their summons may find their way in this class.” The distaste in their tone is clear, a lot of the children and some of the few teens there choose this class, no adults move this time. Probably due to the comment made by the figure.

Being a Summoner can be helpful if you're not confident with your own abilities. Of course that would be his case, if he wasn't expecting something else.

His heart beats so fast with anticipation, he covers his mouth so that his smile can't be seen.