“I would advice you to stop shouting,” the Emperor calmly stated, casting a glance at the other customers who suddenly were watching the scene, “we may be unremarkable, but we are still noticeable.”
Travis felt really guilty. “Sorry. I’m just…worried. I don’t have any experience fighting.”
“You will have plenty of time to get prepared. The challenge is set for three weeks from today.”
“What? Why? What do they want?”
“That too they have asked to be withheld.”
Travis scoffed again. “This is ridiculous. What happens if I say no?”
“You will be lost for twenty minutes.”
“Lost?”
The Emperor reached under the table and withdrew a small vase, capped with a porcelain lid, and placed it on the table. “According to the arbitration handed to me, I have authority and sound judgment to provide an adequate penalty for failure to participate in the game. If you refuse to accept the challenge, or fails to appear to a challenge you have accepted, your being will be transferred into this vase for the time I have stated. As you are very new, and the conditions of the challenge are stacked rather heavily against you, this is an extremely light penalty.”
“What’s it like there?”
“There is nothing in the vase,” the Emperor said, opening the lid and tipping it forward to show Travis a black maw within. “You will be unable to experience anything while in the vase. It is a disappointing and terrifying experience.”
“That’s…kinda cruel.”
The Emperor put the vase back underneath the table. “I do not set the rules, only enforce them.”
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