“So,” the Emperor asked after Travis sat chewing on the question for a few minutes. “Do you accept the challenge?”
“I…I can’t. I’m sorry. I just don’t feel like I can win, especially when I don’t know who I am up against.”
The Emperor nodded. “He was afraid that you would say no. However, it is your decision, and you understand the consequences.”
“Well, not really. So when do I lose my time?”
“Right now, of course,” the Emperor said, and the old man pulled out the vase again and uncapped it. Travis tried to say something to object but soon found himself in an empty black void, his eyes seeing nothing, and his body feeling nothing, only quiet. His sight, attempting to make sense of the nothingness, started hallucinating circles and sticks, and Travis blinked multiple times to find no difference between when his eyes were open.
“Maybe this wasn’t the best idea,” he said out loud, or assumed he did, as no sound pierced his ears. “Fuck. I don’t know if I can handle this for twenty minutes. What the hell? Maybe I should start counting to myself, move time a little faster. Oh man, this is unbearable.”
Time passed, how much Travis was unable to tell, and his mind reeled trying to come up with an appropriate way to pass the time.
“This new club I’m a part of just gets weirder all the time. Punishing people like this for not playing. I wonder if anyone else is in here.”
Travis recoiled in shock when a voice he didn’t recognize as his own answered. “Yes.”
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