Chapter 0: Prologue to King’s Game

The air was cold in Rayfield city. The blood smelled throughout the air, and it thickened as he walked through the endless maze. He had conflicting yet exciting feelings about all this, and he knew danger was at the end of the maze. 

'Who cares? We are all going to die anyway.' Ethan thought. 

He took a few steps forward, and he could hear men talking in the distance, he quickened his pace and when he was about to get out of the alley - a hand-pulled him right back. 

"Not so fast, boy." a strange man warned. "Look,"

Looking straight to the spotlight, Ethan's jaw dropped as he saw a man being murdered in a far distance. The screams were eloquent, and the smell of blood stench. 

'What the fuck!' A while ago, the excitement he felt was overshadowed entirely by fear, and he knew he walked straight to hell. 

He nervously swallowed his saliva, and the strange man's breathing became nervous. The air mixed with blood and fear overwhelmed them both. A few moments later, they both saw a man in a black suit come in and step into the dead body. 

"Welcome home, Master Salazar." greeted a man and bowed.

"Where's the prey?" Salazar coldly asked. 

"He's here." whispered the strange man. 

And the next thing Ethan knew was a loud shriek from the strange man, and lights pointed in their direction. His mind couldn't react right away, and all the plans of escape he had in mind were gone with a loud bang. 

"This is my end." 

"Help." He whispered through the night as he lost consciousness. 

***

Ennk! Ennk!

Carl woke up in the middle of the night with his alarm shrieking for the third time this week. He must have forgotten to set it again. It had been days that he had been dreaming of the same scene over and over again. Worse was Salazar's face was more apparent than the last time. 

These dreams had been hunting him since his lunch date three days ago, and it kept getting worse each day. Did he know the man in the dream? And what the hell with King's Game? There were too many questions in his head kept running for hours. He knew he needed to find out the mystery behind all this. 

Carl settled his breathing for a while and rubbed his left eye before grabbing his phone and dialing Hiram's number;

[Carl, wet dreams, ha?] Hiram asked

[Idiot. I can't sleep.]

[What the hell?! I'm not your girlfriend, dude.]

[At least I know you are not dating anyone. Just do me a favor. I need to see her again.]

[Okey dokey, I'll schedule a psychiatrist for you tomorrow. Don't be late!]

[Thanks. Also, Hiram, Sol's coming home.]

And there was a sudden silence from the end of the line until the line was cut.