The Watch – Part 167:

Behind the third door was nothing but darkness. A light flow of air washed over my hair. Almost immediately, a series of lights turned on, two at a time until the entire room was lit up. Now, instead of there being nothing but darkness, there is a very large empty room with a very small door at the other end staring back at me. As much as I would like to simply walk across the room to get to that door, I knew instinctively there was much more to it than that. What’s going to happen, though, I have not a clue.

‘Welcome to my arena,’ his voice boomed over the loud speakers and echoed all around the room. Knowing that this is an arena isn’t a good sign for what’s to come.

‘Here, you will have to simply get the key. What could be harder than that? Well, I’ll tell you,’ he started to explain. I wasn’t sure whether he truly believed that his teasing was working or he was just doing to so annoy me. ‘The catch is this: As soon as I press the button, a random location will appear, and within that random location will be the key. But, as well as the key, a number of obstacles will be in the way. I won’t tell you what they will be just to add to the fun.

I can’t wait to get out of here so I don’t have to listen to him anymore.

‘If you are hit at any point during this battle, you will lose one chance. Remember, you only have two more changes left before it is game over for you, so ‘please’ be careful,’ he said straining the word please so far it became sarcastic.

That doesn’t sound fair. It’s going to be incredibly hard, borderline impossible to not get hit by any of the enemies, especially if I have not a clue as to who or what those enemies will be, but then again, it wouldn’t be him if he made it easy now, would it.

‘Oh, I hope you haven’t forgotten that you cannot use your watch,’ he said. ‘How simple it would be if you were able to give yourself superpowers. How easy would it be if you could just knock the enemies away with a flick of your fingers?’ he chuckled. It was at this point that I really questioned how he couldn’t figure out that I have been communicating with the watch. He is smart, I’ll give him that, otherwise he wouldn’t have thought or created this place, but he is incredibly gullible for he believed both of my excuses. How can someone be so smart yet so gullible at the same time? I would have thought that one would cancel out the other.

‘What would happen if I just busted my way through the door at the other end?’ I asked, wanting to know what I guessed would be the answer he would give.

‘You can try, but you won’t be able to break through. It’s made of a titanium, and a very thick slab of it as well, so you won’t stand a chance against it with your ordinary strength.’ OK, I wasn’t expecting that answer, but that will do. The door behind me slid shut to seal me in. As of now, there is no way out. I’m trapped in here for the time being. The only way to get out of here is to fight my way out, and that’s easier said than done.

I know I can simply talk to Interface from within my own head and give me the necessary powers or abilities to defeat whatever comes at me, but that would mean he would know that I used my watch. There is no way I would be able to talk my way out of that one, no matter how gullible he is.

But, maybe I can increase my skill level in certain areas. As far as he knows, he doesn’t know how skilful I actually am in certain areas. I could be a master swordsman, an expert at karate and judo, or very talented with hand-to-hand combat. He has shown me that he will accept pretty much any excuse that I give him. Maybe, if he questions it, I could say that I learnt the ways of – insert ability here – long before I became the owner of the watch. That might work?

‘From the moment that I press the button to activate the virtual reality system, anything could happen. Literally anything could happen. I constructed an algorithm that’s designed to generate a random terrain complete with random obstacles and enemies, all of which were of my choosing. Any combination of hundreds of all three categories could appear before you, so be prepared for that,’ he teased unhelpfully. He was enjoying himself a bit too much.

‘In three,’ he started the countdown. I would like to call Interface and have him increase my abilities in certain areas, but the problem is that I have absolutely no idea what areas I will need to increase.

‘Two.’ The tension was so thick in the air I could cut it with a blunt knife. My heart was beating a tattoo against my ribcage. Of all the times I didn’t know what to do, this was the most I’ve felt lost. I really have no clue, purely and simply because I don’t know what’s going to happen next.

‘One.’ I heard him slam down the button. This was it. The moment of truth. The first wave.

From out of nowhere, a city appeared. It looked as if it had been abandoned for many years. Cars without their doors, buildings without their windows, and the roads were torn to shreds as weeds forced their way out from underneath. Not a single sound was made the moment the holographic abandoned city had finished building itself. The entire place was quiet. Too quiet.

He said that there are some enemies, hidden about the place. I need to defeat them, I guess, if I want to find the key. And with no powers, this is not going to be fun, at all.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)