Please select your player
A rough and deep voice announces as a red box glowing in neon hovers on our pictures. It moves swiftly and aggressively like a predator lurking on its prey. It moves through rows, choosing the best one to play the battle-- choosing the best one to represent themselves.
It stops.
Kravus!
The voice is back to confirm the chosen player. Kravus, the bachelor type of guy who has a buff interior. He is always chosen probably because of his moves and not to mention his attractive physique-- sexy kind of grey hair that stretches to the sky, chest and abdomen chiseled to perfection and extracted of all the excess body fats, rosy lips that never knew the meaning of dryness, and a pair of eyes blue eyes as calm as the waveless ocean. He is that kind of guy that makes everyone weak-- that makes me weak, the guy of kind I'll go to hell with.
And as Kravus enters the arena, I take a last glance at him and his body that redefines perfection. I keep my eye on him a second too long before taking back my stare and walking to the gray area-- where the players outside won't see us.
No one from the outside knows of our lives inside; no one knows of our lives per se. To them, we're just living pixels that attend to every button they hit. One for the kick, one for the punch, one for the jump, and so on. To them, we're just slave of the buttons-- like we're hungry and craving for their commands, starving and never satiated. But there's more to that story than anyone in this world cared to read; there's more to us, there's more to Arcadia . . . there's more to this world.
Arcadia is part of an eight region world of Illustra. This region is actually a paradox of its own-- it's a neighbor of the Illumina Ocean yet the place stay barren. Tumbleweeds, cactuses, and leafless branches. Those are the resident foliage of this region-- no more, no less. Despite Arcadia's barren state, the life here was never dull-- it's everything but dull and boring. Creatures and beings from all over the world flies or crawls (or whatever they need to do) to get here. Whenever they seek entertainment and enjoyment, Arcadia is here to supply it to them. Piles after piles, and queues after queues of dwarves and fairies and demons and vagabonds are to be seen here. All carrying their respective currencies or objects for barter in exchange for temporary pleasure. Our patrons seem to love the concept of someone getting beaten up or getting mauled (I don't know if their minds are aware that we don't really get hurt, that it's the graphics that play tricks on them).
But after all their coins and golds and amulets are used up, they leave the place feeling relieved of their personal troubles. That's the magic of Arcadia-- the reliever of stress for Illustra. But after that, the population of Arcadia diminishes. After those lines and queues that can reach up to a hundred or more, the population is mince to just one . . . one.
Overseer. That's his name. And he sure does live up to his name . . . he oversees the region and the four arenas that are the region's main and only attraction. The Overseer is an invisible creature, no one has ever seen how he really looks like for only his hands are exposed from his cloak. His face too, actually, but it's covered by a white wooden mask with two holes, painted red, that are positioned by his eyes. He's one hell creepy guy so I do my best to avoid him.
That's not all though . . . as I said, there's more to Arcadia, there's more to this world.
"Hey, Malena! What's with the long face? Didn't get chosen again, huh?" Klaus asks. A monk that dons the usual monk outfit. I don't even know why he likes to meddle with people, aren't monks supposed to be one with peace?
I just walk past through him and ignore him like I used to do.
My feet stop in front of a giant chart of names and pictures that never goes out of illumination. This chart lists down all the names and garnered points of all the players that are most chosen and are best in their own ways. Kravus ranks number one, for the longest time ever known (which is never a surprise to anyone), below him is that hybrid of a minotaur and human, Leek, and the fire-glowing demon named Rasin rounds up to complete the top three. It's a fixed position for them three to be honest.
