[00] Hotel

[Kaden]

Even though he knew it was coming, Kaden couldn’t help but wince as he dropped his head onto the counter in front of him. The resounding thud would have normally been rather sickening to the courier, but he was plenty sick as it was. He really should have seen it coming. After all, why the hell would something good just randomly happen to him. He had been giving the universe far too much credit.

Unbeknownst to Kaden, loud thuds seemed to be signals for the bartender. The man grabbed the empty glass that the courier had almost knocked over, refilled it, and set it down next to the boy’s head. Kaden mumbled a thanks, but the bartender gave no sign of having heard it. Pulling his head back up, Kaden grabbed the glass and took a sip. As he did, he couldn’t help but glare at the piece of paper spread out in front of him.

The paper was actually a map that one of the guards had given the courier in exchange for showing them his invitation and identification chip. Initially, he had been confused when the guard sniggered at his invitation, but didn’t think too much of it. It wasn’t until he was past them and staring at the elaborate vestibule that he heard it.

“Welcome to Dante’s Abyss! Until the tournament begins…”

Everything after that was white noise to the courier. His mind struggled to process what the recording had just said. There was no way. No possible way. This was supposed to be a place to relax. A place to enjoy himself. A place to not have his life threatened at every god damned turn. Kaden stood in place, not moving an inch until the recording replayed itself. He had to be sure he hadn’t misheard it.

“There’s been a mistake,” the courier said as he made his way back to the guards. “I’m not here for some tournament.”

“You are now,” replied the biggest guard. He was probably the one in charge.

“Fuck that! I’m not getting dragged into another bullshit competition. I’m leaving.”

“Can’t let you do that,” the same guard replied.

“Funny, I don’t remember asking for your permission.”

As Kaden leaned back into a fake fighting stance, he felt energy beginning to flow through his body. He felt fairly confident that he could take out a couple guards and make it to the teleporters before anything really bad went down. Unfortunately, that was when the courier became distinctly aware of the soft hummm coming from the ki rifles in each guard’s hands.

With a long sigh, Kaden stood up straight and dropped his hands to his side. The hum of the ki rifles died down and all the guards seemed to ease up a bit. Shaking his head, Kaden turned to leave. Before actually getting too far away from the guard, though, he turned back.

“Which way to the bar?” the courier asked.

With a morbid grin, the guard pointed Kaden in the right direction. That, of course, brought Kaden to dropping his head onto the bar with a loud thud. As he looked at the glass in his hand, the one the bartender had refilled, he shook his head and sighed for the fifteenth time in as many minutes. He wanted to just forget where he was, but it was only his third.