Day One: Early Morning

[Zangya]

“Ladies and Gentlemen,” said a voice that was distinctly the homosexual tone of the lovely host, “It's Karl Jak here! I hate to interrupt, but we are above the island. The game will begin in 20 seconds! Your location will be marked on your map! Good luck!”

Her landing this year was a bit more graceful than last, because this time, she was expecting it. 12:00 midnight on the dot, everyone disappeared from the Barracks and were immediately thrust onto the surface of the planet Dante; Zangya appeared first, and found herself skipping down from the air, landing lightly on what would have proven to be a rough landing otherwise. The girl’s feet touched the coarse dirt as gently as possible, and Zangya carefully regained her balance. She looked about, and then reached into the side pocket of her satchel—she was in the badlands, she assumed. Ah, well. Knowing how fast this game moved, she wouldn’t be here for long. After all, people were already moving. The carnage was set to begin any moment now.

The Ader-jin was calm, though. Excited, but calm. She was more confident this year than the last, and didn’t really expect to die so early. No one could find her this early, after all; she was a good half of a square mile away from any other fighters right now, so encounters were the least of her worries. No. Now, she had to focus on her game plan. She sat down on an irregularly tall boulder, and pulled the satchel off of her shoulder and plopped it into her lap. The jade-skinned former bounty hunter reached in and fiddled around with the contents of the bag.

There it was. The weapon. She pulled it out, and just looked at it. It was absolutely amazing, much better, much more epic and large-scale than her previous weapon, a pathetic ki pistol. The girl smirked and stuffed it back into her bag, feeling even more confident having seen that thing. It had perked her up considerably back in the barracks, and now that she was actually in the competition, it was making her ecstatic. Stay calm, Zangya, stay calm, she tamed herself, and then proceeded to stuff the map back into her bag. She kicked her feet playfully, looking around for a way to go.

She didn’t care—her ecstasy had robbed her of reason for the time being, and so she felt like being spontaneous, so she jumped quickly from her rock, and started off in one direction, letting her feet carry her happily through the badlands. She wouldn’t even let herself know where she was going, so she just felt one thing—wherever her feet felt compelled to take her, she would let them take her there.

ZZAP!

The green-skinned warrior tripped at the shock that pulsed up and down her neck. “Don’t move yet,” she could hear coming through a tiny speaker in the collar. “Can everyone hear me?” Karl Jak said flamboyantly from the megaphones that littered this isolated isle on Dante, “Welcome to your new home for the next seven days! Here is all you need to know: Find each other. Kill each other. If a winner is not found in seven days...nobody wins! So let's not let that happen, kay? Good luck, kiddies!”

Zangya stood, recovering from the slight—but surprising—shock she had felt from the collar. She reached up to the device and massaged it. She supposed it was their beloved host’s way of keeping them in line. On a short leash, as they said. The man was nitpicky about his competition, that was for sure. It took a minute before Zangya had the nerve to move again, and when she did, she did it cautiously. That shock, the electrical wave that had slipped precariously down her neck, was killing her. Already she had felt pain. Already her sense of euphoria was slipping. She was on the move again, but one comment had lingered in her mind ever since Karl Jak had uttered it.

Find each other, kill each other.

Dante’s Abyss 2008 had begun.