Lockeroom's Pandemonium

Chapter Sixteen: The Iron Dome

“Are you okay?”

With a concerned look, Silver Cassano lend his hand towards the woman whom she had helped earlier.

The saddening situation of the girl made him soft and filled with thoughts of how to help her, to the point that he had forgotten the presence of the two other players, the burning harpies flying in the sky, and the dark clown’s slitted smile.

The woman’s skirt was half-burnt. Her underwear were seen, making her to pull and cover it with her hands traumatically. The tears falling from her eyes were collecting dirt from her dust stained cheeks, down to jaw and her neck. Her tight shirt was in all mess, full of dirt, mud, and somehow . . . blood.

“Hey, stand up. Your cries will do nothing here,” said Silver again.

The woman looked at him. Silver saw how the glisten of her dirty tears fell through her cheeks, how she wiped it with the back of her hands childishly, and how she sniffed the water falling off of her nose.

“Are you going to torture me?” she asked. Her voice was sweet, yet the despair that she had suffered from the near-death experience made her voice low and quivering.

“No, Miss. I promise.” Silver displayed an affectionate smile. His hand were still led open, offering a help for her to stand up.

For a moment, the woman fixed her stare at the ground. She bit her lower lip, trying to calm down the nervousness that she had been feeling. Then, as she look back to Silver, she accepted his hand, and let him drag her so that she could stand.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Why were you hiding there?” Silver asked, pointing to the tree where she had came from.

“M-My partner told me to stay there and wait for him. He had to do something he never told me whatever it is. I was just waiting for him when . . . a burning Harpy fell down.”

Silver was just glad that he managed to help the woman to extinguish the fire. The ember of the fire god seems to listen to him, for as he commanded it to stop, it heard him. Yet, he believed that the fire that started to burn the whole forest, and the flock of Harpies flying in the sky would be too hard fir him to control. It would be a natural disaster—an uncontrollable one.

“Oh, your partner will not be back here, you know?”

From their back, the dark clown appeared. Her smiling figure, where his dark decaying teeth was seen, made them jump out of fear and surprise.

“Wh-What do you mean?” the woman asked as she recollected herself from the surprise.

“Well, he decided to have another partner. They were now near the end part of this forest.”

“Wh-What?” the woman asked. Her face was pale from the news that had come out.

Silver looked at the woman. He then felt a little bit of pity towards her.

She must have been a heavy baggage, that is why she was left by his partner, he thought.

Another set of tears fell down from the woman's eyes. “Am I really heavy to be a partner?”

“Oh, you do, Yohanna.” A straightforward, creepy smile was given by the dark clown towards her.

Then the clown looked to Silver. “He decided to steal your partner and swap with this useless bitch.”

After Yohanna’s flustered expression, Silver followed. His throat dried up, his hands quivered. He immediately ran towards the dark clown, then tightly held its shoulders.

“What did you say?”

Despite the fearing features of the clown, Silver managed to close their distance without feeling any fear. What he felt was shock, nervousness, and anger. The stirring of his feeling made him courageous. He grasped the clown's shoulder tighter.

He had forgotten that he was still equipping his weapon—the burning vine whip. As he held the clown's shoulders, the flame started to creep from its shoulder, to his neck, to his face, until the half of his whole body.

Yet, he continued smiling.

The fire seems not to bother him.

“What did you say, fucker!” His voice started to raise higher. It sounded dangerous. It sounded angry.

“I said, the supposed to be partner of miss Yohanna decided to steal your partner, and make her as his own.” Then the clown laughed.

With the anger that Silver has been feeling, his fist moved on its own, and managed a hard blow towards the burning face of the clown.

Yet, he continued laughing.

Despite lying on the ground because of Silver's uncontrolled punch, the clown continued to laugh.

“Geez, this clown is weird.”

From a corner, the pink-dressed woman started to talk as she look at the figure of the clown. Her face were distorted in a disgusting expression.

The grim man, however, the one beside the pink-dressed woman, were observing the clown with a stoic look, unbothered with whatever happening to it.

Then, the clown slowly stood up.

He brushed the dirt that come onto his cloth, but not the fire that continuously burning him.

What made Silver thinking is that how do the clown looked unbothered with the fire that is burning him? It seems that the fire had leaked and creeped towards him, but it does not burn his flesh. He can even see that the cloth he wore has not been burning. There maybe a fire, but it does not burn him.

“Why were you all concerned with your partners? You will be killing each other in the end,” said the clown. “One has to remain alive, the rest will die.”

With that, Silver gazed away from the smiling clown.

Because he was right.

That amidst the fact that he cares for Alina, in the end—if ever they come to that part—one of them shall decide who will be the winner, who will be the champion, who will be the last one remaining alive.

The whole place were filled with indistinct silence—or silence between the players.

The only thing that can be heard was the screeches-to-death sound of the Harpies, and the swooshing fire enveloping the whole forest.

“And because you were all silent and calmed, it’s time for me to continue what I have been explaining a while ago!” The clown then, brought his self back to being energetic—but with the hint of bloodlust glinting on his dark eyes.

“Oh! The hide and seek!” The pink woman clapped her hands in excitement.

Silver looked at Yohanna, and gave her a worried shrug as he can't answer the questioning look of the woman.

The clown snapped his fingers.

In a sudden second, the whole place became glitchy.

Like a computer suffering from a virus, the tree, the fire, and the Harpies, started to deform, looking as if a corrupted digital display of a computer.

Then, Silver's gut tugged up. He felt his body falling out of the gravity’s control. There were no wind hitting his body, but he knew he was falling down. He felt it.

Sooner, the falling sensation has calmed down.

The darkness covering his eyes started to deform. Light started to invade their senses.

Until he could finally adjust, a new place had welcomed his sight.

The forest was not seen anymore. The burning Harpies were out of their sight. The chaotic burning of the forest has also flicked down into nothingness.

But it was still chaos—in a different manner.

“Where are we?” Silver heard Yohanna's voice. He then realized that it was not just him who was brought here, but four of them—including Yohanna, Aunt Mathilda, and the grim man named Lukas.

“Welcome to the Iron Dome.”

Suddenly, the clown materialized in their front.

It was still his features—still a creepy appearance. Yet the fire that burns his body was now extinguished. He looked fresh, looked energetic, looked thirsty of fresh blood.

“Let me tell you the instruction of this game,” he said.

“This is a special game. It can be triggered when more than one group had picked a fight for the resources that was given by this game.”

“Huh? But have we fought each other?” asked Aunt Mathilda.

“No, but your greediness has made you come here, Aunt Mathilda.”

“But that's insane eh, Clown. We haven't had a fight for the resources.”

“Oh, you do, Mister Lukas,” replied back the clown. “What was the reason why you went to the place near Mister Silver's field of action?”

“To . . . to help!” said Aunt Mathilda.

The clown the laughed again. “Oh, Aunt Mathilda. You were not just a murderer, a stealer, and a brat who always get what she wants. You are a liar too.”

That was painful. But Aunt Mathilda shrugged her shoulders, and said, “okay, fine. I'm sorry I lied. But I’ll take your words a compliment.”

Being a murderer, a compliment? Silver asked himself.

“You went near mister Silver’s place because you wanted the loots from the Harpies.”

“Such a grave accusation, eh, Dark Clown.”

“Oh, it is!” The clown laughed. “Anyway, to be honest, this game was opened not because of your actions, but because I just wanted to activate it.” Then he laughed again.

“Geez, this man is crazy and out of humor,” said Aunt Mathilda. She crossed her arms in her chest, disgusted.

“Ah, the rules.” The clown remembered.

“The main rule is . . . just survive!” he said, laughing.