The Devil's Hand

The game and the flower

The King sat on a throne of skulls, a gleeful, almost pleasant look on his face. Bloody spikes and bones created a crown of death. He stared right into my eyes as he smiled. Hatred filled my mind, my eyes glaring. The King smirked, a playful look in his eyes as he opened his mouth to speak.
“Welcome, welcome, ladies and gentlemen, girls and boy. Welcome. Welcome to the Devil’s hand,” he announced, holding up a microphone like a news reporter. “Today, we have four lucky volunteers!” He waved at us, “Why don't you give them a big applause for surviving so far? These volunteers have shown great potential! How about we test their ability?” His red eyes shone like diamonds in the light of hell.
Beside me I felt Crow step forward. I grabbed onto his arm and shook my head. He yanked his arm away, but stayed still.
“How shall we test their ability?” the King asks. “Why, we play a game!”
I stiffened, fearing would happen next. Behind me I felt Rogue grab my arm in fear. I glanced back at her and Shadow. I gave Rogue a nod, telling her to trust me and what the King is doing. Shadow quickly sent me a questioning look. I ignored it and turned back to face the King. He glanced at the determined look on my face and on the others. He smirked and threw the microphone away into the darkness that surrounded him. I met his red eyes with a steady gaze. He laughed.
“Well, now, enough with the formalities! We all know each other right?”
His gaze never moved from mine. I knew that the others had heard of the King yet they never laid eyes on him until now.
“Well, I have watched you with passion,” he said with another smirk. “Remember, this is all for fun. All of this is entertainment! Don’t you think its funny?” He laughed an evil laugh that brought shivers to my spine.
“It’s so Hilarious! Who knew? Who knew that joy could come from another’s suffering?” He closed his eyes for a second to let all of the excitement pass. When he opened his eyes again, you could tell he was done with the jokes.
“Rules. There always has to be rules. What is a game without rules? Nevermind, I shall look that up later” He glared at me and I shivered with the fear that only came when talking to him.
“You want the rules? Here are the rules:
Rule #1: No killing yourself, either version.
Rule #2: If either version of yourself is killed, both will die
Rule #3: If you fail to eat, sleep, drink or kill each day a horrible death will occur.
Rule #4: Whatever you do, show misery, hatred and anger.
Rule #5: All of the other rules will only be explained if someone breaks them.”
He grinned. “Oh, yes, that horrible death I was talking about? Let’s just say you Explode!” He giggled. Although, it wasn't a giggle you would hear from a child, it was the giggle of a maniac. And he was the King of all maniacs.
        I took a deep breath and stepped forward, a smirk on my face and said, “Well then, let the Devils Hand begin!”
Suddenly the room was swallowed by a pitch black force. The last thing I heard was,
        “I thought I would be the only one to say that.”
        Then the world collapsed into darkness.

* * *

As the black receded I was left standing in the crumbling building. The demons were no longer there. No one was. I was separated from the rest. I glanced around the room. No, this wasn't the same room. There was no blood on the brick walls, no bodies on the ground. There was no door. I was trapped in a empty room.
I turned around and yelled as loud as I could, “Why are you doing this? What’s the point?!” As if I’d get a response. Besides it wasn't like I didn’t already knew. This was just a game. Just a test. I groaned and sat down on the ground and rested my head against the wall. Closing my eyes I thought about how I could escape. With no exit in sight and no sign of life, I could die as soon as the air in this room ran out. But I knew he would never let me just die. At the moment all that troubled me was how he had mentioned another self. Another self? Could he mean Crow?
I sat there and pondered for a bit, admiring the thought that went into creating all of this. I was still in a daze when a cheerful voice interrupted my thought.
“Hello down there!” I shot my head up, towards the direction of the voice and saw a young girl clinging on to the wall. She had long brown hair that fell down off her shoulders. She wore a yellow T-shirt that looked way too big on her, and shorts that were covered in mud. Her rich blue eyes shone in the light that filled the room. I stared up at her in amazement. My eyes wide with wonder.
Suddenly I knew why I was here. As the realization set in, I was filled with rage. Still lying against the wall, I grabbed all the daggers on my belt and threw them at the wall. They surrounded the girl, who froze in place. Eyes wide in horror, she stared at the daggers around her and the pure hatred in my eyes.
We both stayed frozen, looking into each others eyes, one filled with amazement and horror, the other filled with pure rage, until she finally got the nerve to ask who I was.
“Klō,” I replied, not breaking the gaze. Although she seemed to be looking for a bit more of an explanation, she didn’t ask for more. Instead she hopped down off the wall and walked over to me. I flinched as she held out her hand and said,
“Hello Klō, my name is Chloe Flight.”