The plan was set with the old man.

We were going to wait until the final day of the month to make our move.

The assumption was that if a sacrifice was to be made, it would happen at the very last moment, right before the crossing of the moon.

The late afternoon seemed like the best time to act.

The villagers had a custom of gathering in the center of the village to receive their Turcos.

Once all of it was handed out, if there were any leftover debt points, they'd come here to make me the sacrifice.

The old man reassured me that the village chief would distribute too few Turcos for them to execute me. Having seen many prisoners over the years, he was confident that none of them lasted more than a month.

"Why didn't you ask the previous prisoners to help you?" I asked as I paced my cell, my eyes glued to the time displayed on my screen. The tension was mounting by the hour.

"I would have," he replied, "but the hole is quite new. It is so thick that it took me several years to dig through it. It was just a few months ago when I finally broke through. Since then, I've seen a number of prisoners in your cell , but none of them seemed trustworthy enough for me to propose the plan."

"Trustworthy? What was at risk for you?" I questioned.

"Believe it or not, many slaves remain loyal to their masters, even when they're on the brink of death. If any of them had ratted me out to the guards, they would've closed up the hole or moved me to another cell," he clarified.

"I suppose many people would think that betraying you gives them a better chance of survival than trying to blow everything up. Makes sense," I responded, a trace of mockery in my voice.

He didn't respond.

With only a few hours to go, I was getting restless.

“If it was up to me, we would've already started.” I thought.

It was a relief that the situation's key was in the hands of the patient old man, not me.

"Old man, talk to me about something, anything," I asked. I needed to distract myself.

"Hmm..." He pondered. "Do you ever reminisce about your life on Earth?" he inquired.

The question took me by surprise. "No, I've only been here a short while, and I haven't really had the opportunity to think about that," I responded.

"I think about it all the time. I question the deeds I've done that led me here. I also ponder about where I'll end up when I die. Is there something beyond all of this?" he mused.

"I think there's nothing. Like your identity just fades away or something," I proposed.

"That's... your belief?" he asked, sounding worried.

"I'm not certain, but that's what seems to be happening here. Everything is designed to make us lose our identity. I think death is the final act of this experience. Either we lose our identity in death, or we regain our earthly existence by leaving this place," I explained.

I wasn't sure where these ideas were coming from, but they seemed plausible.

However, they seemed to have an impact on my neighbor; he fell silent.

I started worrying that he might back out at the last minute.

"No, I shouldn't worry about that. It's good if he decides to live... It's just that I don't want to disappear," I thought.

"I don't know, but if my death allows you to escape and ruins the chief's plans... then I wouldn't have died in vain," he stated.

I was about to respond when he interrupted.

"It's time," he announced, and I heard him position his finger in the hole.

"Already? Isn't it too early?" I asked.

"I don't want to be late for my own death," he responded.

I didn't quite get his reasoning, but I wasn't against ending this all sooner.

I picked up a rusty metal rod I had obtained from the bars and pushed it through the hole.

I moved it back and forth, aiming to pierce the old man's skin.

"Is it done?" I inquired.

"Uh... No... Oh, yes, now it is! Ahh..." he exclaimed.

He pulled his finger out. "Yes, I'm bleeding," he confirmed.

"Is that enough?" I asked him.

"More than enough."

Then I heard the rattling of chains. He was already preparing to hang himself.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

It all seemed to be happening too quickly.

"Wait, shouldn't we say goodbye or something?" I asked, feeling anxious.

This old man was ready to leave without any farewell.

"Yes, of course," he conceded, sounding embarrassed.

I heard him put down the chains.

"I'm not good at this, but... I hope you make it out alive and... and maybe even return to life, ahaha!" he uttered, his laughter filled with anxiety. I could detect emotion in his voice.

"Thank you. I hope you find peace in death," I responded with a more serious tone.

I felt saddened by his impending death, but the stress didn't allow me to fully absorb the situation. This man was about to die, and I couldn't come up with anything better to say.

"Thank you, young man," he expressed.

"Thank you, Sif." It was the first time I addressed him by his name. I think it pleased him.

I might have been mistaken, but I thought I heard him cry.

"My name is Sid, not ‘Sif’." He said out of the blue.

I felt embarrassed. It was the worst timing possible to make such a mistake.

"Ah… No. " I then thought. He wasn’t crying, he was laughing.

Then I heard the chains again.

"It will all happen very quickly. Get to the back of your cell, away from the wall," he directed.

I complied.

I heard the chains grow louder.

I grasped a stone jutting out from the wall and crouched down.

"It... Is... Done..." were his last words.

Then the noise of chains, as if he was fighting against his fate. Tears welled up in my eyes as I imagined the agonizing pain of that death.

Then the noise started to fade.

Until all I could hear was the rhythmic clinking of two chains touching.

Then, on my open screen, I saw my debt bar fill up.

"YOU HAVE KILLED PLAYER PL39NJHS1! EXCESSIVE POINT TOTAL! YOU GAIN 20 DEBT POINTS!"

It was over.

He was gone.

I had no time to experience the peace of death as a violent explosion from the neighboring cell shook everything.

The wall separating our cells burst, and debris flew towards me.

Some stones hit my head, and I felt blood trickling down. But there, a few Yards away, I saw daylight. There was a massive breach in the wall.

I tried to stand up to escape when the ceiling caved in on me.

Something painful struck my head, and everything went black.

...

"..."

"He has..."

"They're all dead..."

Voices were all I could hear.

I couldn't see anything.

I was in pain and couldn't move.

Where was I?

What had happened?

Everything had exploded, and then... nothing.

No, it was coming back to me.

The plan had failed.

"Everything had collapsed on me, and so... "

"I must be buried under the ruins of the prison. "

"The voices I heard must belong to the villagers. "

"I don't want to stay here; I'm afraid of dying."

"But I don't want them to find me."

"My screen, where is it?" I thought.

I couldn't see it, and I didn't have the strength to call for it.

The distant voices were getting further away.

Had they given up?

I waited.

And I waited some more.

Then, just above me, I started to hear something.

Someone was still searching.

A voice.

"... Not going crazy! Not losing my mind! No way," the voice said.

This person kept repeating himself.

He was moving stones closer and closer to me.

"Not enough points for me. Quickly... Not much time left."

The voice was worrying.

Fear began to rise within me.

I tried to move my feet to free myself.

I didn't know what this person wanted, but it couldn't be anything good.

"Are you still alive? Answer!!! I need your points!!!" the man shouted.

His voice was high-pitched and disturbing.

There was no doubt; if he was looking for me, it was to kill me.

I started to struggle under the rubble as I heard stones moving near me.

But I was completely stuck.

My legs were hurting me, they were stuck under something heavy.

And my arms were pressing against my chest, preventing me from breathing normally.

Then, a stone was removed above my head, and I saw the starry sky.

Then a head appeared.

It was a frail man.

He smiled widely when he saw me.

I recognized him.

It was the farmer I had once spoken to, during my lunch break.

I wanted to talk to him, to tell him we could find a solution, whatever the problem.

But my voice wouldn't come out.

And it would have been useless.

I understood this when I saw his eyes.

They were glassy, empty.

He was not looking at a human being but at a reserve of debt points.

I had seen this look before; he was no longer himself.

"I'm saved!" he said.

He frantically continued to remove all the stones blocking the path so he could reach me.

I tried again to pull out my feet, even if I knew it was impossible, I didn't want to get killed without doing anything.

He cleared enough stone to reach his hands.

He grabbed a chain that was near me and put it against my neck.

I felt the cold metal cut into my skin, choking off my air supply.

His eyes were wild, bloodshot, and completely devoid of humanity.

"Die, die, die!" he said.

I couldn't breathe, and he was pressing so hard I felt like he was going to cut off my head.

A taste of blood began to spread in my mouth.

I was dying, and I couldn't even struggle.

I felt tears flowing.

Was it because my death was pathetic?

Or was I crying because Sid had died in vain?

Or maybe a subconscious sadness related to a forgotten memory of my life on Earth.

As my vision blurred, I realized this was the end.

I was going to die, not as a human, but as a mere commodity.

And then, everything went black.

There was no more pain.

I was no more.

.

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"YOU ARE DEAD! +500XP!"

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.

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"SECRET CONDITION MET! SECRET CLASS UNLOCKED!"

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"YOU WILL NOW RESURRECT! THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE! GOOD LUCK!"