Veneziano was scared, so he did as he was told. He picked up the dice and threw it lightly. The dice landed on the table and rolled a bit before stopping near the edge of the table.
4.
"Choose a piece."
"Y-You mean my friends?"
"Yes, choose one of them."
"U-Um… Japan."
Suddenly, two floating pieces flew onto the game board, beside Germany and Japan. It looked like a little disk, except, it had a certain thickness, and looked more like a circular cusion. The Game Master commanded the two of them to stand on one each, and they both hesitated, but eventually got onto the little floating disk. Japan was the first to move, and his floating disk brought him to a tile with the number '4' on it.
"Hmm, nothing there. Lucky." Hearing that, Veneziano heaved a sigh of relief, when suddenly, he heard the sound of the dice clicking onto the table. He looked and the dice rolled '7'.
One of the Game Master's pieces advanced, hitting Japan on his shoulder lightly as it passed by. It landed on another empty tile. Veneziano was starting to wonder what will happen if they landed on a tile with a pattern? There were some snakes and ladders sprawled over the board, that was not uncommon. However, there were a few tiles with a little triangles on it, and Veneziano wondered what landed on those would do.
"Roll again, then you can choose which piece you would like to use."
Veneziano eyed the board as he picked up the dice. Japan was on tile number 4, tile number 9 has a triangle on it. Tile number 6 has a ladder that goes up to number 14, an empty tile. He studied the board a little more, and realised that if he were to roll a 9 and moved Japan, he would be on tile 13, where there was another triangle, and if he moved Germany, he would land on tile 9, where the triangle is. He was unsure of what the triangle would do. Is it good? Or is it bad? Does it help him or will it harm his friends? He looked up to the beam of light again.
"Mr Game Master, Sir. What does the triangle in the tile means?"
"I like to call it my little surprise tile. Whatever the surprise is, will be up to you to find out." His voice was eerie, and Venaziano was starting to think that maybe landing on the triangle would not be a very good idea. He rolled the dice and let it drop. It fell out of his hands and landed on the table, rolling to a stop with the numbers '4' and '2'. Six steps. Means Germany to ladder tile 6 or Japan to empty tile 10.
"I choose Germany." The floating disk that Germany was standing on moved towards tile number 6. Suddenly, the game board started to shake violently. Germany and Japan held onto the floating disk tightly, crouching down to ensure they do not fall off. The tile with the number 14 rose out of the board, and was levitating about 10 metres above the board. A ladder started to come out of tile number 6 and it stretched up to tile 14.
"Your friend there had to climb it." He chuckled slightly to himself. "Oh, and this is just the beginning. I hope you are having fun so far, Veneziano."
Veneziano looked back down onto the board. "Germany! You okay?"
"Ja, I'm fine. It's just a ladder anyway."
"Please be careful, Mr Germany. It does not look very stable." Japan's voice was soft and meek, yet you could hear how worried he was for his friend. Germany nodded, and started to climb the feeble looking ladder. As he was climbing, the sound of dice rolling was heard, and the next thing Veneziano saw was the Game Master's piece changing colour. The one on tile 7 remained black, whereas the other one turned white.
"Majestic, isn't it? And now you can tell them apart too." The white piece moved up to tile 9. There was a triangle on it. The white piece placed itself above the triangle, and suddenly, the triangle lit up, the light from the triangle hitting onto the white game piece. Veneziano and Japan watched the white game piece intently. Even Germany halted his climb to observe the white piece. A horn appeared on the horse's head, and it is now a unicorn.
Veneziano awed, and thought, 'Wow! Stepping on the triangle meant something good, doesn't it! Does this mean stepping on the triangle will upgrade Japan and Germany too?'
He wondered how that would happen. Would they be wearing cool military gear? Or maybe have some weapons with them. He studied the board again.
Germany is only halfway up the ladder, so Veneziano cannot use him. He can only move Japan. The nearest triangle is also at number 9, but the newly upgraded unicorn was still there. Veneziano wondered whether it would be a good idea to put Japan with the unicorn. He closed his eyes, and shook the dice in his hands, before throwing it onto the table. He rolled a '9'.
'Darn! Japan won't be with the unicorn!' He looked back down on Japan as his disk brought him to tile number 13. A triangle. 'Oh! At least I can see what will happen to Japan!'
The disk hovered above the triangle as it lit up. Black aura started to form into shapes around Japan. The shadows started to form into human beings. As their body started to form more, it was getting obvious what they were. Five human body were formed and they were dressed like… A motor cycle gang? 'Wow, Japan has a mafia now!'
Oh, how wrong Veneziano was. Black aura started to float around Japan's ankles, and as soon as the human figures were formed, the black aura at his ankles formed into cuffs, locking him down onto his floating disk. A sandclock appeared on Veneziano's table as well. It turned itself over, and almost immediately after, one of the gang members cracked his knuckles and shouted fiercly in Japanese. All five gang members closed in onto Japan, and started to attack him, beating him up mercilessly. Veneziano was shocked, the sight was absolutely horrifying.
"No, no, no! That's terrible! Stop! Stop it, stop it please!" Screaming up to the beam of light was not getting Veneziano anyway. Germany had barely reached the top of the 14th tile, and had attempted to jump off to help Japan. That failed, however, as his floating disk stuck to the bottom of his feet and cuffed his ankles onto itself.
"Damn this game!" He shouted. "Italy, do something!"
"I-I can't! I don't know what to do! Germany, help!" A roar of laughter was heard, followed by the eerie voice of the Game Master.
"Oh, dear Veneziano. Have you not realised? This game is extreme, yes. By stepping on a triangle, I get good surprises like upgrades, but that does not apply to you, my little friend. You see, this game was built and design to give me a huge advantage. It is more fun that way, is it not?" He burst into his evil laughter, which sent chills down Veneziano's spine.
"Then I don't want this! I don't want to play anymore!" The desperation was evident in his voice as he pleaded the Game Master.
"Stop playing? Well, there is a way. You have to beat me, by reaching the 100th tile first. But then again, nobody has ever beaten me before. So just play, and have fun while you can, Veneziano!"
"No! I don't want to! I want my friends!"
"You cant stop in the middle of the game, Veneziano. Otherwise, the game board will just fall into the dark abyss below, and you'll never see your friends again. So the best way to help your friends, my dear Veneziano, is to play and hope that they land and empty tiles!"
Veneziano looked at his friends. The 14th tile was still ten metres up with Germany at the top, looking down helplessly at Japan, as he continues to be beaten up by the gang. Veneziano ran his hands helplessly through his hair, as he looked at the dice.
There was nothing else he can do, but play and hope for the best.
To be continued…
A/N: Hello! So here's an update! And I do apologize, because I wanted to fit in more information about the game into this chapter, and I felt like I kind of rushed it a bit… I hope you all can understand the story so far, and thank you so much for reading! c: