Ed and Zara look at each other as Roger leaves. Looks like we’re on our own now. “We should probably check out our rooms, I guess? We have plenty of time to explore the other areas later.” Ed reaches out for the door handle, imagining a place to sleep. Pushing open the door, he looks in to see a short entryway that opens up into a fully furnished living and dining room. Taking a step in, he goes to close the door behind him, but before he can do it, Zara sprints into the room, excitedly looking around the place, exploring every little nook and cranny. “Umm, what do you think you’re doing?” Ed chuckles light-heartedly.

“Well duh, I’m seeing what the apartments look like.” she says while searching through the TV unit. “Empty. Guess we’ll have to ask Buddie to get us stuff to fill it with. I wonder if they can get my stuff from Earth delivered to here?” She mumbles to herself, ignoring Ed.

Ed walks into the living room, finding the size of the TV to his liking. “Don’t you think you can do that in your own room instead of searching around my place?”

“Why would it matter, it’ll look the same anyways. I can just go register my place later.” Zara turns and walks over to the dining table. “It’s kinda weird they have a dining table when they don’t even have a kitchen.”

“I guess there’s no need for a kitchen if you can have anything delivered to you instantly. As for the dining table, Roger did say that some people prefer to eat at home than to eat at the cafeteria.” Ed says while continuing to check out his place.

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I’ll have to ask Buddie to add a kitchen to mine, I really enjoy cooking.”

“I don’t think I’ll add one to my place, I’m fine with having the company sort out my food.” Now, I saw two doors here, they are probably normal doors. Let’s see what’s on the other side of them. Ed walks back to the entryway, opening the door on his left. It opens to a nice clean bathroom containing a toilet, bath, shower and sink. Okay, so this one’s the bathroom, that means the other door should be the...

“Hey Ed, come over here!” Ed’s thoughts are interrupted by Zara’s shouting. Running over, Ed turns the corner to see Zara sprawled out on the bed. “Oh, it’s so comfy. I don’t think I can leave.” She says, her face pushed into the pillows, muffling the sound of her voice.

“You’re going to have to move eventually. This is my room after all.” Ed chuckles, looking at her while standing in the doorway.

“Let’s swap rooms.” She says, burying herself in the blankets.

“It’s literally the exact same. There’s no need to switch.”

“But I can’t move, the blanket monster has trapped me here. You’ll just have to go on without me.” She says. The bed now a mess as the blankets have wrapped around her like a cocoon.

“What are you, five? Get up, I want to try out my bed, and I can’t do that with you rolling around on it.”

“I’m serious, I can’t get out. I’m stuck here. Come help me.” Zara says, now sounding panicked, her movements becoming more frantic.

Ed walks over to the side of the bed and grabs onto the blanket. “Really? Let me help you then.” Pulling on the blanket, Ed finds that it’s wrapped tightly around her, unwilling to move at all. What’s going on?

“Help, it’s getting tighter... I can’t breathe.” Zara’s breathing grows heavier as she starts sweating, the fabric constricting around her.

Is the company punishing us? But why? We haven’t done anything. Ed starts tugging harder and harder, trying to unfold the blanket. Suddenly, a pair of arms reach out, pulling him down. Ed stumbles onto the bed, falling face first as the blanket unfurl, piling on top of him. Ed flails under the blanket for a while, struggling to get out. “Zara help me.” Tossing the blanket off, he sits up to see Zara laughing wildly, wiping tears from her eyes.

“Oh god, look at your face. ‘Help me' you really fell for it, that was so funny.” Zara breaks out into a fit of giggles, laughing at Ed. “Did you really think the company would hurt us?”

“This isn’t funny, I thought you were about to die.” Ed shouts at her, but secretly lets out a sigh of relief.

Zara laughs, seeing how serious he was being. “Are you being serious? Why would you think that?”

“I thought we must’ve broken some kind of rule and the company was punishing us.”

“But why would you think I would die, that sounds like a pretty severe punishment, even if we did do something egregious.” She says, now sounding a bit curious.

“Well, it seems like a pretty standard punishment from what I’ve had to deal with. Are you telling me the company hasn’t punished you yet?”

“Umm, no? Why would they punish me, I’ve done everything they’ve asked me to.”

“I’ve been punished by them three times, and I died every time.” Ed sighs, squeezing the bridge of his nose. “I should’ve known we weren’t being punished; Buddie gave me a heads up beforehand each time. I guess I was just too wound up.” Ed turns to apologise to Zara, only to see her eyes inches away from his, staring at him with unbridled curiosity.

“You died? How are you still here then? How did they punish you? What did it feel like to die?” Zara grows excited, launching out a tirade of questions while poking and prodding his body. “You seem perfectly healthy, if you died, how come you don’t have any lasting injuries or signs of death? I’m fairly familiar with what a corpse looks like you know, and you definitely don’t look like one.”

“Hey, stop poking me. I’m sorry okay.” Ed tries to shuffle away from Zara, but she continues to check his body.

“Why would you be sorry, you didn’t do anything wrong. You were genuinely worried about my safety.” She flashes him a quick smile, before going back to studying him. “Now quickly tell me what happened, I’m dying to know.” Zara bounces around Ed in excitement. Checking his body for injuries.

She really fits right in with these weirdos. She didn’t even flinch when she found out that the company would probably kill her multiple times. Ed sighs, giving in and telling her everything about how he was punished, and why. From out of nowhere, Zara pulls out a notebook and a pen, constantly jotting down notes as Ed tells his story.

“That’s fascinating. While the physical body is left untouched after the incident, it seems that it leaves severe psychological scars that take longer to heal, resulting in phantom pains. You said that you spent an entire year inside another body, how does that even work? Does it mean that the soul is real, and that’s what was damaged after each death? I have so many things to think about, and so much more I need to learn from the company. This is so exciting!” Zara constantly looks between Ed and her notes, her excitement practically bursting out of her entire body.

This has been a really long day. I need to think of a way to get her out of here before she cuts me open to try and find my soul. “Calm down a little. You are working for the company remember, so you’ll have plenty of time to learn about the secrets of the universe. There’s no need to rush. Take your time and enjoy it all.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

She thinks about it for a little while before closing her notebook. “You’re right. I have plenty of time to find out what the company knows. For now, I should just familiarise myself with the company, before I try and learn anything else.”

“That’s a good attitude to have. We barely know our way around; we should not be focusing on things that have eluded mankind for several millennia.” The room quiets down as the two fall into a comfortable silence. Now no longer tense, Ed finally notices how comfortable the bed is. “No wonder you didn’t want to get up, this bed is amazing.”

“I know right. If I didn’t feel like pranking you, I wouldn’t have moved at all.” She lays back down on the bed, sighing as she does so.

“I wouldn’t get comfortable if I were you. There are still plenty of places for us to explore and now is the best time to do it.” Ed says, getting off the bed.

“But it’s so comfortable.”

“Fine, guess I’ll just have to check out the Kelpie racing room myself.” Before he can step out the door, Zara jumps out of the bed and runs past him.

“Come on, let’s go. We haven’t got all day.” She grabs his hand and pulls him along. Standing in front of the door, she reaches out while imagining kelpies racing against each other.

Stepping through the door, the two are immediately assaulted by a loud burst of cheers. Stepping back slightly, the two spot a counter with a professional looking man standing behind it. Zara immediately walks up to the counter and starts talking to him.

“Hello there, how may I help you two today?” The man says with a pleasant smile.

“We just finished our tour of the company, and the guy mentioned this place, so we wanted to check it out.”

“You were just hired, that’s exciting. Well, here in this stadium we have round the clock kelpie races for you to enjoy. If you’ll look at the screen behind me, you will find the information on upcoming races, including the favourite to win. Luckily for you, the next race is just about to start in a few minutes. Do either of you want to place a bet on who will win.” Ed and Zara look up at the screen before shaking their heads. “That’s fine, just pay here and head inside.”

They look at each other, a bit confused, before Ed turns to the man. “We don’t have anything on us. What do we pay with?”

The man’s smile turns sinister. “With your flesh of course. An arm should do nicely.” Ed steps back, prepared to leave, While Zara looks around the room. The room starts to feel colder as the tension rises.

“Where’s the knife?” Both men look at Zara, confused. “You can’t expect me to just rip my arm off. At least give me a knife to cut it off with.” The tension abruptly disappears at her response. The man behind the counter fails to hold back a laugh.

“I was just joking about that; you will pay with credits of course. Did no one explain the credit system to you?”

Feeling everything go back to normal, Ed laughs it off. I might need a bit of time to get used to their form of humour. “Not really, one guy mentioned it, but he didn’t go into detail, just saying that it would be explained to me when I get the job. Would you mind explaining it to us?”

“Of course, that’s the least I can do. Credits are the currency used in all company-controlled areas. As the company already provides us with everything we need to survive for free, credits are used purely to buy things that we want, but don’t necessarily need. Usually, people spend their credits on entertainment, holidays or housing upgrades, most of which can be done through Buddie, otherwise it’ll be through transactions with other employees such as what is happening right now.

The company will either pay you daily, or per job completed, and the amount varies depending on your position. You will have to ask Buddie how much you are currently getting paid. As you are new employees, you should each have one hundred credits to your name.”

Zara notes all of this down for later, while Ed continues to talk to the man. “How much will the tickets cost?”

“One credit per person per race. Just acknowledge the transaction out loud, and hold your finger on here, then you’ll be all good to head on through and grab a seat.” The man holds up a fingerprint scanner. They both look at each other before paying for their tickets to one race. The two of them head through the tunnel, following the loud cheers.

The two find themselves looking out at a massive stadium capable of seating well over a few hundred thousand people. The seats are filled with all kinds of creatures, excitedly looking down at the stadium ground below.

“Quickly, let’s find a seat.” Zara says, rushing Ed down the stairs. The two of them find that the seats are ordered into rows based on their size, with the larger creatures sitting further back. They find a pair of empty chairs suitable for them to sit on. Come on, it could start any minute now.”

Taking their seats, they look out in wonder at the view in front of them. I’m glad the seats are organised like this, so that no one’s blocking our view. The sports ground below reminds Ed of a standard racetrack, a large empty space in the middle, surrounded by the track itself. However, the track itself is quite different from something he would find in a stadium on Earth. Long stretches of land smoothly transition into ethereal rivers that branch out creating a mixed track between land and water, only to converge back together to form one giant pool of water. The land and water seemingly fighting for dominance around the entire stretch of the racetrack. Looking at it from above, Ed and Zara realise that the track itself depicts the image of several horses chasing each other, the rivers akin to the flowing manes and tails of the horse.

“Beautiful.” They both whisper in awe, stunned by how much effort must have gone into making this.

“Dear members of the audience, can I please have your attention? The next race is about to begin, so please remain seated and enjoy the race.” A voice echoes throughout the entire stadium, loud enough for everyone to hear. The entire stadium goes quiet in anticipation for the race to start. The ground opens up, a starting gate rises into view, containing ten hauntingly majestic horses. Their manes are matted to their skin, water dripping onto the ground beneath them, as if they were just submerged under water. Ed and Zara lean forward, trying to get a better look at the kelpies.

A loud bang is sounded, as the gates drop to the ground. The kelpies sprint out of the starting gate, blitzing down the track, their speed eclipsing any animal Ed has ever seen. Woah. They make it to the first water way, pressing their hooves into the water at nearly the exact same time. One kelpie, with a coat as dark as the nightly abyss, bursts forward, breaking away from the other racers as it fully submerges itself in the water.

“Fásach has taken the lead. Let’s see if anyone else can catch up.”

The others burst forward, slightly closing the distance between them. The scene grows chaotic as the kelpies push against each other, fighting as the space in the water decreases. They bite and kick at each other, blood starting to cloud the water as the cheering from the crowd grows louder. One kelpie delivers a brutal headbutt to the stomach of another, sending it flying out of the water. It hits the ground with a sickening thud. It tries to get up but fails. Watching as the rest of them get further away, it slowly drags itself back to the starting gate, where it disappears into the water below.

Fásach continues to maintain its lead, staying ahead of the chaos. Making it to the halfway point, the rivers converge as the land disappears completely. The kelpies stop fighting, instead putting all of their energy into closing the distance. Under their effort, the gap slowly decreases, the racers becoming more spread out as some of them fall behind due to their injuries.

As they approach the finish line, one of the kelpies catches up to Fásach. The two become neck and neck, as the race reaches its conclusion.

Zara joins in with the cheering, her face going red as her voice drowns out the surrounding crowds' cheers. “You can do it Fásach.”

With the finish line in sight, Fásach and the other kelpie glare at each other, pushing each other to the limit. Getting angry, Fásach bares its teeth, sinking them into the neck of the other kelpie, just long enough for it to fall to the ground. Fásach sprints forward, blitzing past the finish line and winning the race.

“And the winner is Fásach. Everyone give a round of applause for his excellent performance.” The crowd cheers as the remaining kelpies make it past the finish line, diving back into the water below. As it starts to die down, some of the crowd leave to collect their winnings, while the rest stay to watch the next race.

Zara turns to Ed, her face still red from all the yelling. “That was amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it. The blood, the intensity, the violence. It was amazing. Do you think they’ll let me ride one.”

“Probably not. If they’re anything like they are in the myths and folk tales, which from what I've seen, they clearly are, then I don’t think you’ll be able to get near one without dying.” Ed says, trying to calm her down before she gets herself killed.

“They’re not the Each-uisge. There are stories of people taming kelpies.” She says, slowly calming down from her excitement, but still eager to try.

“How about this. We’ve had a long day, and you still haven’t gone to your place yet. We should call it a day; we can always come back here another time. Besides, aren’t you excited to get back to making trap rooms again?”

“Yeah, you’re right. I can also spend the rest of today trying to figure out more about what you told me earlier. I have so much to think about. Let’s go.”

The two make their way up the stairs, waving goodbye to the man at the counter.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Zara says goodbye as she disappears through the door.

I need to rest. Ed enters his apartment, falling asleep as soon as he gets into bed.