The Zombie Tournament

Act 2 : A Destiny Persists

(Zuu-zuu-zuu)

An ambience occurred among Zeno Gunnar and the savior guy of Thalsmia’s incident inside the compartment of their ride. The stranger wears a glasses and thick layer of faux-hawk haircut over his choice of style around the top. It glows up in brown, yet could be brought up to dark-blue if there’s no reflection of light to take into. However, for Zeno’s curiosity about the person’s identity, the mysterious figure stays shut at all times. He smiles in jubilation whenever Zeno applied a glance to the man’s appearance, but having no words to follow afterwards.

After no instance of learning on the unknown person’s name for awhile, Zeno decided to start firsthand before the situation goes sour among them. 

“Hello there, sir. If I may ask, what should I call you?” the young knight asked.

“....”

“That’s a ‘no’ sign from you, or am I not speaking clear enough?”

“Please wait for the smokes to pass, okay? I’ll tell you once we’ve arrived to Minopia.” The unknown man replied, applying an index finger to the top of his lips.

(zuu-zuu-zuu)

Zeno Gunnar and his rotten companions were rallying within a steamroller vehicle that disembarked a few minutes after the end of Deino’s rampage. By the tube-shaped tires equipped to the car, muddy swamps ahead of the fabled city’s establishment would be a cake walk to the ride. Its ten meters of height improves the car’s mobility to traverse inside the pile of dirt beneath its pipeline tires, with most of the bottom areas of the car left hollowed as a space for water to fill.

Due to the surface’s density, however, It is quite a slow travel for them to cross the swamp. They have been under the roof of the steamroller’s cabin for half-a-day straight.

(....)

In adverse to vulnerable wooden carriage of Zeno’s past, The steamroller’s box was made out of an unknown metals to humankind. From the guy’s short explanation within their time to pack the two immobilized creatures inside, they had it coated with a mixture of moon’s rock and titanium for an extra to heat-resistance ability of the steel.

(foo-foo-foo)

As soon as they dive further into the depth of the greenish goo, fogs started to occupy the swamp territory. The white vapor abruptly thickened on their advance into the cure of zombification. The faux-hawk man has told him to stay put by crossing finger to the mouth. Zeno himself surely have no idea on the reason, especially due to many issues of a white smoke and what it contains.

(gro-gro-gro-gro)

Minopia, as the agent has stated on their introduction to the event, has its own legends to talk about. There are five cities under the name of such mysterious kingdom. A chosen one should enter, but no other path for them to get out unless they have triumph for their name. For once, a person has actually driven out from the fog, but having no means to talk since his mouth has been removed of its socket in advance. In another occasion, a person could tell of what was happening inside the fog, but having half of its information sorted out by “Minopia” as a term to censor. Therefore, most of kingdom’s townspeople started to call the legend in that way ever since.

The fog’s tail could be seen after a quarter of hour had elapsed. When the white vapors’ disappeared, rows of  gigantic horns are protruding along the lines of a bridge, summoned underneath the steamroller car as soon as they get out from the dampness of the swamps. Red-tinted river flows down below, encircled Minopia’s stronghold entrance before them and hailing its guest up the bridge with a sparkle of its color.

It is a flip of switch to Zeno Gunnar when something odd has revealing itself upon the stream. A human thumb and the rest of its forearm are rising to the surface for telling them that it was splintered out from the body by force. A few meters to the severed arm, heaps of human legs are in course to the end of the river, alongside many unidentified parts of organs that scattered in sequence.

“What was that, man?” Zeno shrieked, feeling his guts under a gravely test to resist. The young knight then pointed at the water when the other man’s noticed.

“What’s what, son? I can’t see something you pointed at.”

Zeno shook his head several times to fend off the disgust, “Fingers, arms, corpses down the river.... what’s that from?”

The man discerned his guest’s query in quite a time. He seemed reluctant to blurt a sentence, as he denies his own opinion within the mind, but then nodded to himself afterwards.

“It’s from the competition I’ve expected you to participate.”The man explained in brief,” Name’s Maxim Dupont, just Maxim as a nickname, and I’ll be your sponsor from now on.”

“Sponsor?”

“Yes, in order for you to be affirmed into the contest, a participant have to enter with a donor beforehand.”

Maxim Dupont, the man shrouded in mystery a day prior, handed down his ticket and business card to Zeno Gunnar with a grin to his wrinkled cheeks. A scribble of names were written on the card Zeno has retrieved from the man. Other than Maxim Dupont as the General Director of “Tonado”, someone’s signature persists on the right side of the card. It prescribes as ‘Taur Minosa’, with entitlement as the sole leader of Minopia.

“In short, I will be your taskmaster in this game. You’ll be under my supervision, and everything has settled for you through this card.”

“Bonjour.”

(poof)

The glasses guy dismissed himself in an instant.

“Just a hologram, huh. How could he toss the nails, then?” Zeno mumbled to himself, looking at numerous piece of dust after Maxim’s departure to the unknown.

(krieek)

A few moment later, the massive gate opened up for Zeno Gunnar and his cohort to enter. Minopia’s sentinels have waiting behind the pair of the metallic doorway for conducting examination towards the new contestant of the city. There are two stone sculptures of creatures for room decorations on each side of the lobby’s wall. The two of them separate another branch of waypoint for the second panel of examination to begin. One of them carried a gatling gun and rocket launcher, who were attached in intricate manner to the statue’s lower arms, as means of weapon for the person to exploit. To the right, the person depicted has rather diverse design to its mold, with six arms and a horse-bottom for the lower parts of the body.

As to Zeno’s sight over gatekeepers of the city, the sentinels’ head protection gear is a distinct copy to his late father’s first project of Numonian General’s helmet. There are bars of iron ahead of their eyes that were sitting parallel to the bottom, with complete shut-off from the nose to the chin. 

Its user could exchange the plate before their eyes with transparent ones in a click of a button, since it was mostly retractable to begin with. 

‘Temperature scan complete’

A ray of light was skimming into the roller’s container on the rear-side. As it finished the process, one of the sentinel flies up to the passenger’s cabin for fixing their personal information afterwards.

“Zeno Gunnar, son of Deino and a brother for Sanna Gunnar. Please, show me your card.” The sentinel said, asking for further reference of an approval to such obscure city. 

Zeno has Maxim Dupont’s business within the palm, but fell static to the actual needs of the guardsman before him.

“Is this enough? Maxim Dupont has given me his business card.” He said, showing the mark of his supervisor to the game. In response to the brand that Zeno has handed out, The sentinel blinks a few times to the business card and flips it up to be certain of its legitimate status.

"...."

After peeking at it for some time, The sentinel handed back the card to its rightful owner, “If you’re Maxim’s property, that means VIP room is for you. The steamroller will move by itself to the entrance for someone in such grade to the left-side road.” The sentinel stated before diving down to the ground for the steamroller to move along.

---

“Welcome, young collectors, to the Zombie’s den of Minopia!”

The speaker announced the greetings repeatedly ahead of the registration office. Deino and Sanna’s container has departed early to be unloaded in an independent storage of Minopia’s southern domain, leaving Zeno Gunnar to administer himself into the game. There are no human interaction in this chapter, only lines of queue with partitions in-between contestants to prevent them for making acquaintances among each other from the start. 

After waiting for his turn, Zeno finally get his chance to carry on. An automated machine before him bleeps numerous times to the button that a person should press for requesting assistance in the first time of their arrival. 

(click)

“Good evening, my dear collector. Please show your master’s identity to proceed.”

(click!click!)

(zoom!)

The panel displayed lists of data regarding the competition he was about to enter. It starts with a description to explain the game’s rule in brief and ended with a bar of information for prizes after winning the game.

“I should learn of the game first.”

(click)

‘Welcome to Minopia, a paradise for zombie collectors! In this contest, you shall acquire gold medals for pursuing into the stages of development of the game. A week after today’s registration, you will have to survive within the city’s hazardous nature against other competitors of the area.

It will be our only information to share for today, so earn your place to know more!’

(zuuu)

“Okay, being secretive is regular for a game like this. How about rules?”

(click)

‘For the game’s rules, you can craft as many combinations of limbs to your zombies. In a free-roaming day, you will be granted twenty-four hours to snatch as many parts you need from our home-made zombie’s breed. You can also have your opponent’s zombie if you wish, yet there’s only one chance per day to have a direct fight against them.

As of the game itself, rules will be declared before the game started. Good luck!’

(zuuu)

“Homemade? What sort of madness is this?” Zeno muttered, scratching his forehead in confusion of the information he has for the time being, “And blacksmith, how’s this working out for me, I wonder.”

(click)

‘A blacksmith sells weapons and gears for customization of your zombies. You have limitless possibilities of combination, as long as your zombie’s integrity of the former self stays the same. If you ask for suggestion, please do not change your zombie’s head, because there will be penalty if you do so.

The blacksmiths are available in the five cities. Use your maps to find out where they are located.’

(zuuu)

“Five cities, huh? And they’re not giving out the role we’re having. What a coincidence.” Zeno rattled. He can’t contain of how limited the information has to its contestants, but still wanted to learn more of the issue.

(click)

“For money and deposit, you will gain a thousand dollar in every triumph against your opponent in a fight. If it’s survival, that means a thousand for every opponent you beat down.”

(zuuu)

(click)

“There are two sort of prizes for the game. First, you shall have a cure for your family that has been infected.

Second, you have two billions for winning the entire competition.

Choose what best suited you. All of them is available to purchase!”

(zuuu)

“A money for prizes? Maxim’s might be tricked me into playing this.”

Zeno had realized something fishy, but can’t discover a better way to solve it. He wanted the cure so much for saving both of his family’s dead state. The objectives are too simple to be rejected, as it sounds shady from the beginning, but their own ambition to rescue their past has overwhelmed them to stay within the competition’s rule and conduct.