We waited at our usual spot for everyone to arrive. Joe was there first because he was extremely excited to eat beef again. Ruby (Macaroni) was second because well there’s no need to explain. Anthony, Zack, Suzy and I went together and we were left waiting for the three new additions to our team.
Soon, someone who looked exactly like Reaven came up to us. He had the same unkempt black hair but he wore spectacles in real life.
“Heyya guys I’m called Kenny.” He introduced himself.
Rogue appeared next and his dressing style was exactly like his character. Cool, cold, hard with a leather jacket, chains hanging from his belt and pockets. It gave off a very “Biker” feeling.
“Sup guys. And girls. My name is Henry.”
And last but definitely not least, Wanda came. And in a miniskirt nonetheless. All of us immediately pulled onto the collar of Anthony’s shirt because we knew if we didn’t he would be sprinting over to her at top speed and pretend to fall down near her to get a good glimpse from a downward angle.
She was wearing a simple top but with that miniskirt, even a simple top looked sexy. She was also quite similar to her avatar in RoyalRoad with the exception of her hair and eye colour. I doubt she even needed to change it since she already looked so good.
“Hello! I’m Jane!” She greeted us lively.
“HELLO I’M TARZAN!” Anthony shouted back enthusiastically while Jane was obviously amused and entertained.
“Come on now you can’t possibly blame me for finding her beautifu-“ I couldn’t even finish my whisper to Horse because she kicked me so hard in the ass I think I would have problems sitting down later.
All of us talked briefly and comfortably since we already got acquainted to each other in RoyalRoad before this. After about 10 minutes of talking, we decided to go fill our stomachs as Joe’s desire could not be put on hold any longer.
-30 Minutes into the meal-
“PASS ME MORE BEEEEEEEEEEEF!” Shouted Soup at the top of his lungs.
All of us were eating at our favourite Korean BBQ restaurant and it was utter chaos. You know how you feel bad because you’re basically killing like 3-4 cows in one meal but then again you don’t feel bad at all because it just tastes so good? Yea this is always it.
Currently, the record for today stands at 14 trays of beef (Each tray has about maybe 150-200g of beef?) eaten by Soup. Henry aka Rogue was at 10, Kenny was at 8 and these were the top 3. I was not a big eater so I was full after about 6 trays. Suzy ate 6 trays as well. (My wallet is gonna have a bigggg hole next time.)
All of us were finishing up our meals when suddenly, a cute little girl came up to our table and stared straight at Anthony.
“Yes you cute little thing?” Anthony asked.
“Are you the retard on Royalroad?” She asked with so much innocence one could only find adorable. However, we were all too busy laughing our asses off at the novelty of that simple yet efficient question.
“Shut up guys. Yes I am! And I’m proud of it. You play RR as well? Do you want to be like me next time?” He asked.
“Yes I play! It’s so much fun. But no why would I ever want to be like you.” She replied and all of us laughed while telling her she had undoubtedly made one of the best decisions and statements of her life.
“I do however like seeing your videos on TV sometimes. It’s so refreshing to see that even retards can have a place in RR! Can I have your signature?” She asked while holding up a book and pen. All of us by this time had already tried to shut our ears because any more pain in the stomach would make all the beef come back out of our digestive systems.
A 7 year old telling you that it’s nice to see that even RR has a place for retards… WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA
Anthony however of course took no insult and graciously signed the book for her, captioning it off with “I’m glad to give little children excitement.”
All of us laughed even louder because we were sure Anthony didn’t even have a clue how much paedophilic innuendo was in that simple 7 word sentence.
After that intense 1 minute 8 packs shortcut workout : Which is non-stop laughter (I assure you this is a real thing it hurts like hell), we split the bill and everyone got ready to go home.
After one whole night of fun, we found out that Henry and Kenny were actually good friends and they got headhunted by Loki together. They were the same age as us and similarly, this was their holidays before high school officially starts.
Jane was also our age but she went to an all girl’s junior high. As such this was one of her few times hanging out with guys so she was not really sure about guys in general. We told her that she would have to learn slowly after getting into high school but just stay away from anyone who acts like Anthony. I suspected that Anthony was going to get ready to troll yet another girl into liking him.
We all split our ways and went home. I was ecstatic about our group dynamics as even though we were slowly becoming bigger and bigger, it seemed like the fun doesn’t split between the group but multiplies.
Kenny was a funny guy in his own right with his jovial and happy go lucky attitude. Henry was a more serious dude which was quite a rare thing in this group but priceless when he could not differentiate when we were joking and when we were serious. Jane was serious eye candy but her looks does not speak of her personality at all. She was not concerned about her image at all she even ate 5 trays of beef and when she laughed she throws her head backwards to laugh like a maniac so it was a very refreshing personality despite her looks.
I needed to send Suzy home first but because she lived rather near me it wasn’t a problem.
“Jinx, do you think Anthony is going to hit on Jane?” She asked.
“I can bet my entire fortune on this answer. Yes.” I replied.
“What about you??”
I looked at her. OH MY GOD. Her face was full of genuine concern and worry. I still remembered the day I first met her where she was haughty, rude, totally underestimating me and totally full of herself and now she was about as insecure as a thirteen year old having her first crush.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” I couldn’t contain myself.
“HEY WHAT DOES THAT MEAN YOU JERK!” She said as she punched me repeatedly on my shoulder.
“Owowow okay stop you violent woman. I just remembered the time when I first met you. You’ve changed a lot since then you know. But I bet you’ll still come across as rude and haughty to other people for your first impression heh. However, I like the change. I’m not the sort of person to go running after the prettiest things I see don’t you know me enough by now? Even though I keep telling you Jane is pretty it’s because I like to tell the truth. So also know that this is the truth when I say this, for some weird reason, I find you prettier than her so don’t worry. Please continue being insecure though it’s adorable!”
And she turned her violence one notch higher but this time she was clearly in a better mood. I was in good spirits too. Everything seemed to be going on super well now and it was like nothing could possibly go wrong.
-The next day-
“AND THIS IS THE FIRST TRIAL! A GENERAL KNOWLEDGE QUIZ!!!” Ash announced.
Yup. Something could go wrong alright. Something very, very wrong.
-30 minutes before this scene-
I logged back in since it has been one full day since I died in RR and everyone could be seen logging in around the same time I did. We all went to meet up at the meeting room in the castle to begin our first ever full team meeting.
The room was back to its normal grandeur with the hello kitty furniture all gone. It was a round table in the centre and 10 chairs surrounding it, with each and every one of our names engraved onto the backrests of every single chair. Mine was : JORMUNGUNDR at the top in block letters and in the centre, Jinx. Everyone had their god names on top and RR names in the centre and it just felt nice to look at.
The moment Anthony came in he saw the chairs and he immediately rearranged the chairs such that Jane was seated beside him.
My god he’s really trying hard for this one isn’t he?
Soon, everyone arrived to the meeting and Loki was the last to enter the room.
“Ahhh my fellow Norse gods. How nice to see you again after that spectacular explosion in The Ascension.”
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
All of us could be seen getting ready to throw some spells with serious firepower at Loki.
“Moving on from that topic.. I received word from the quest that every faction has already decided on their leader and the first event would happen the moment all the leaders came online. You can see the status of the leaders in the quest tab and you can see who they are, whether they are online or not.”
We all opened our quest tabs.
Apocalypse
Christianity : Jesus [Online]
Islamic : Allah [Online]
Buddhism : Buddha [Online]
Hinduism : Krishna [Online]
Greek : Zeus [Online]
Egyptian : Osiris [Online]
Norse : Breadtalk [Online]
Satanic : Satan [Online]
“Wait Loki you said when everyone is online but everyone is online now so-“ My sentence got caught halfway through as suddenly, a portal appeared in the side of the room.
A white haired male, with short hair, dressed in a magnificent cloak of white and gold stepped out from the portal. He was wielding a staff which was tipped with an orb which exuded holy mana of magnificent purity. I could tell from my mana identification.
“Good Afternoon Norse gods. My name is Ash. I’m the overseer of the Apocalypse quest and it is time for you to head to the first trial. Please proceed through this portal.” He said in a lofty voice.
All of us looked at each other and got to our feet. Finally the time had come for the start of an all new adventure. One which was bound to be infinitely more challenging and epic than the previous. Everything was going well for us so I was brimming with confidence. We all stepped through the portal.
We ended up in a huge gigantic room. The sort of room even I have never seen before. The room itself was pure white. There was nothing to even taint the purity of this room. Everything inside this room was white. The eight sections which were clearly allocated for us to sit in. The chairs in the sections. The names of our factions hanging high above the chairs. The tables located inside for our personal use. Everything but one thing was white. The enormous glowing sphere in the middle which exuded different colours every second.
The sphere radiated power. That much was certain but it was unknown what it could do. We looked around. Several of the factions have already went to their assigned positions to get ready. If the layout of this room had to be described, it would fit this analogy the best. Imagine a pure white compass, with the eight different directions (N,S,E,W,NE,NW,SE,SW) as the sections for the factions and the glowing sphere right in the centre of it.
Christianity was already seated neatly and their leader was unmistakable. Long, white gown with a red sash draped over his shoulder, a brown beard with long brown hair. It was exactly like Jesus normally depicted in bibles and churches nowadays.
Buddhism was clearly present as well with all the followers adorning a common orange robe and bead necklaces. Buddha was also immediately noticeable as his bead necklace was the largest one and he radiated an aura even I could not sense what it was properly. It was not magical but also not an aura of fighting spirit or resolve. I just couldn’t identify it.
We went to our assigned places which was rather huge since we only had 10 main members and they allocated enough space to seat a hundred people.
Faction after faction appeared through the glowing sphere and I realised that must’ve where we came out from as well. After all the factions were present, Ash stood on a white podium located directly above the sphere and addressed all of us.
“Good Afternoon everyone. There is no need for many words I assume. Let me go through some ground rules before we start. This is the beginning of The Apocalypse, where one true god gets sovereignty of RR. The creators decided that this would help the game progress as a whole and this quest is extremely public. It is everywhere on the forums as well as the main website of RR. You can be sure that it will be followed closely by everyone on RR and this would be a good chance for you to boost your already huge number of followers.” He began.
“Basic rules of the Apocalypse:
1) This is a point based competition. The faction with the highest score at the end of the trials will win.
2) There will be no fixed number of trials. The only time we will tell you is when we reach the final trial.
3) Should the leader of the faction unable to continue at any point of time, a substitute leader will have to be put in place. This will be decided by voting amongst the other people in the faction.
4) No one is to hurt anyone from other factions in this room.
5) This room will be the place for every single trial. The glowing sphere in the middle is a dimensional object which will change to the venue we will be having the trial. This room is modified to expand and contract to accommodate the venue designated for the trial.
6) The seats will be filled by your main committee first. After the trial starts, if there is any leftover seats, any one of your followers will be able to find a portal in town to take them here and they will be able to sit amongst you in the faction they belong. This is for publicity.”
So far everything is clear, simple and easy to understand. It’s just the point allocation I’m worried about. Will all trials hold the same number of points or will they be different. Will everyone be getting points all the time or is it possible none of the factions get any points at all should the trial be too hard?...
“Any questions?” Ash asked.
I raised mine to his awareness.
“Excellent question. The number of points differ based on the trial. Before every trial starts I will brief the judging criteria and the points awarded per trial. Yes everyone can get many points or everyone may get zero.” Ash answered.
I glanced around the room. Everyone seemed to be confident and the rules were easy to understand so everyone was already gearing up into battle mode. I too wanted to check out the level of prowess of each and every faction so I was raring up to go as well. I could feel high quality mana exude from many different individuals within the room. There was no doubt everyone here was here to win this.
“Alright since everyone has no further questions. LET US BEGIN THE FIRST EVER APOCALYPSE!” Ash announced.
Suddenly, people begun streaming in behind us and we knew the portals were open. Our followers quickly rushed to grab front row seats and everyone was busy looking for the Norse god they liked the most.
“LOKIII!” Some fans screamed.
Some of them cheered for me, some of them Loki, but it seems like every single time, the one who received the most cheers would be the one and only.
“BREADTALK BREADTALK BREADTALK BREADTALK!” The chant continued.
Ahhh there’s even a fan aspect to this competition. Well thought out indeed.
We were pumped up. Pumped up indeed. Until…
“AND THIS IS THE FIRST TRIAL! A GENERAL KNOWLEDGE QUIZ!!!” Ash announced.
Yup. Something could go wrong alright. Something very, very wrong.
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