-Prologue-

Dontel ran through the isolated jungle that is the back alleyways. Adrenaline pumped throughout his body as his legs moved as fast as they could. He wasn't jogging like his usual morning excisices. He was escaping; from the horror he witnessed; from the monstrosity that is the unknown which he cannot understand. However, the only thing on his mind then was only one thing - run away.

The end of the allyway soon appeared in front of Dontel. A two metres tall steel wire fence was the only thing blocking him and the path to the busy streets of the city. Pedestrians, too faraway to perceive his presence only walked on as bystanders. Dontel couldn't blame them. They don't know the secrets of Lexis, the old city of the wordsmith.

Leaping onto the fence, Dontel climbed. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off, but struggling with his failing body, he compensated with his will.

"Whoa!" Dontel unintentionally cried out as he fell over to the other side of the fence. He scraped his knees, but his eyes focused back at the dark alley behind him. Only silence followed.

Comfirming the absence of a chaser, Dontel sighed. He was out of whatever situation he was in.

Using the fence as a support, he slowly got back up and walked towards the street. He looked at the clothes of the passerbys and then looked at himself - a dirted cyan jacket with ashened pants that was light grey yesterday; it seemed no better than a thug's dressing washed in ash and mud. Yet despite the looks, he was content. To him, all that matter was that he's escaped death.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The next moment, however, turned everything back to grim.

"Rejection," the meantion of the word shocked Dontel. He heard it once before, from a woman he saw a few moments ago.

"Don't look so shocked," the voice came from the right of Dontel, where it was once a building of brick and mortar, now a large, half-abandonded construction field of debris; as well as the figure of three people.

Two men and a woman, the same people Dontel was trying to escape from. The woman figured beautifully like an angel. She was dressed in black matching her hair and dark crimson eyes. The men wore clothes each to their own; one in a common grey suit, faced no different from a normal salaryman; the other in a rough-looking vest and ripped shorts, the definition of a street gangster.

Dontel scanned the three, unable to look away in case they do something, or say something.

"Hoho, what do we have here? Scared?" the woman teased. Dontel was frozen on the spot. She was right. Dontel locked eyes with her as she continued, "you should be scared, because you interrupted our little showdown."

The other two men only looked on as Dontel confronted the woman, annoyance within their gaze.

"C'mon! I'ven' got time for this," the gangster rushed, "any lon'er an' my head be off by my boss."

"I've also got a meeting tomorrow morning. Preferrably, I'd like some sleep before that," the salaryman added-on.

"Fine," the woman answered half-heartedly, "I only wanted to enjoy toying with him for a little longer." She walked towards Dontel and once again spoke the word, "rejection."

The world blurred before Dontel. His vision quickly deteriated but he instinctively knew, he's the one disappearing from the world, not the world from him. Glimps of the trio still lingered in his mind along with the question: "why?"

"Why did we met?"

"Why did they kill me?"

"Why do I have to die?"

So many questions danced by his thoughts, as the melody of silence broken by his fall marked the end of the night and the start of a new day.

Midnight passed as a miricle happened.

Dontel heard a single word as the rise of a new participant of the game was felt by every personale in the city.

"Inclusion"

-Prologue end-