Boldly Captain Li Shan took her first step on the ethereal board of the Game of Life and Death. The sky-blue square she stood on lit up with a sealing azure blaze while the stupefied pirate captain looked around her to try to determine what this meant for her in this reality-bending, magical board game.
"Okay, this appears to be a mana well. Will you be placing a tower tile on this location?" Bogemu wondered. Somehow, despite never having explained this part of the game to Li Shan, he looked as if she was meant to know what that meant and all the mechanical implications of such an action to the game.
"A tower tile?" Li Shan asked after a deep sigh, realizing that she would truly need to ask this.
"Since this square is overflowing with mana, it is wise to build a mana tower tile to extract it. That way you can use that mana as a resource to complete challenges on different tiles in the future," Bogemu explained while bowing as he was humoring the request of some dainty and fair palace maiden rather than conversing with his opponent whom he was locked in a very literal Game of Life and Death with.
"Very well, I shall build this mana tower in that case," Li Shan nodded with a resolute look painted on her face.
A haunting, high-pitched laughter rang all across the immeasurable world of infinite in all dimensions void. The cackle thoroughly stunned the pirate captain who had previously thought herself signed up to weather this game like she'd weather a rough South Ocean typhoon. However, this inconceivably loud shockwave of sound seemed to seep through every orifice and every tiniest space between each minuscule cell comprising her body, and even between each separate ounce of her ephemeral essence. It took a few seconds for Li Shan to recover from this white-out with a panting gasp. When next she returned to reality–a crossed-out white skull floated over her head in a blaze that was pink on the bosom but blood-red on the outside.
"Uh-oh, it appears you've earned yourself a Penalty Mark," Bogemu noted nonchalantly while picking his nose and flicking a bundle of eggplant-colored nose hair away.
"Wait, what!?" Li Shan flipped out. "What do you mean!? How did I break a rule already?"
"You tried to build a mana tower tile with no resources, duh…" Bogemu gestured with a shake of his head and a wide spread of his arms as if it was meant to be something obvious. "In order to build a mana tower tile, one must either possess 44 tons of building material on them, or 200 mana necessary to manifest a mana tower tile magically."
"How was I supposed to know that!? You haven't explained that to me!" Li Shan snarled at her opponent, peeved almost to where she considered drawing her sword and swinging at him, ignoring the blatant disregard for the rules that this would entail.
"I hadn't explained this to you YET," Bogemu pointed out with bottomless sass to his movements. "It's not my fault you're so obsessed with bossing reality itself around without knowing the full ramifications of what it is you're about to do."
"Why you…" Li Shan gripped the leathery hilt of her sword and gnashed her teeth to where she swore she heard them churn and threaten to crack. "If we make it out of here, I'm blasting a hole in your innards and hanging you by your intestines."
"I'm sure that it would provide you with ample entertainment. Whereas if I were to win and see your soul claimed by the game, it would barely benefit me at all. While you're a real go-getter, frankly, your soul just isn't worth very much here. Definitely not as much as the essence of the metaphysical concept of death, the end of all things, itself," Bogemu sighed with visible depression in his body language. "Honestly, this is such a poor deal for me. I have everything to lose and nothing of much value to gain."
"I see," Li Shan closed her eyes and steadied her breathing, straightening her back and slipping her hand to rest on top of the pommel of her sheathed sword as opposed to nervously gripping its hilt. "Despite being an incredibly powerful person, toying with forces of nature, metaphysical concepts, laws of physics, and things that most people never get to interact with, only obey, you're not much different from a pirate. In some ways, I admire the freedom you have and the control over your life."
"Control?" Bogemu scratched his head lightly before beginning to pick up the pace of his incessant rubbing and clawing to where he would have scalped himself raw if he was able to sustain physical damage inside of this game, other than what the game itself punishes the player with. "How exactly do you think I am in any semblance of control? Any time anyone, for whatever reason, wants me physical harm, this ridiculous game kicks off and I must play it and gamble everything that I am against someone who wished me ill. Where exactly is the control in that?"
"You cannot deny that the power you wield merely playing the game and getting to gamble over it is impressive. I'd have gouged my own eyes out to get to gamble for my freedom when my settlement was raided by pirates and they kidnapped me to be raised for a few more years until I was fit to serve as a slave," Li Shan stood her ground, despite Bogemu's response putting some stalwart pushback against her. "Besides, I thought you were the architect of this spell, at least to some extent."
"Just like you, I was a brat who had little to no clue about what he was doing when I drafted this nonsense. Being unable to be wished harm upon, to be able to defeat any opponent, no matter the difference in strength and skill in spell-casting sounded amazing to a nosy brat. Feeding the game the loser's essence, their body, their soul, their very relevance in exchange for the game continuing to evolve, to attain new squares, new rules, additional punishments, and new powers sounded incredible at the time too. All games feel like the most amazing games ever until you play them," Bogemu grabbed his forehead, slightly ripping the band-aids that held his cleaved head together. The two stuck sides of his skull split apart a bit, holding by narrow strings of gooey blood and strips of flesh and brain matter. Feeling the ripping discomfort, Bogemu pressed his head back together with his hands pushing from both sides of his skull. That did the trick.
With his hand bent in front of him, Bogemu called forth the infernal dice and had them roll and rustle in the shadowy blaze until they settled on their determined sides and white flames with the numbers of "31" lit up. With his hands moved to his sides, like some sort of messianic figure, Bogemu hovered off the ground and levitated exactly 31 squares in the opposite direction to Captain Li Shan. The magician bypassed his pirate opponent and made more than a few loops and turns before settling down on a space.
"A Pandemic Game," Bogemu sighed. Before Li Shan could ask her opponent for clarification, a burgundy-colored mist began rising from the playing board, prompting Li Shan to cover her face and struggle to see the walls of the square she stood on. She needed no more information to know that stepping out of the square would have meant another Penalty Mark for her. Just as she thought she had become accustomed to this strange challenge, a round and spiky shape, the size of a human head with the consistency of dried blood, hurled past Li Shan, narrowly missing her head and splitting her headdress.
As her hair burst free from its restraints, the heart of the hardened pirate captain shuddered as she wondered what might have lurked in the depths of this mist. Just as panic began feeling inevitable and Li Shan felt like tipping over the edge of sanity, the mist lowered closer to the ground level and began hovering down there while slightly obscuring the squares, but not enough to make moving across the board impossible.
"This is a nasty game," Bogemu admitted. "Unlike some other games, this one has more to do with sheer luck of the roll. These horrific virus cells have spread themselves and shuffled amongst random squares on the board. If you step on one of them, alongside suffering the consequences of the square you step on, you'll have to deal with the effects of the virus too."
"Just how many squares have been infected? I'd like to know my odds here," Li Shan insisted with a sweaty forehead. With paranoia setting in, just breathing felt infectious and every unruly event felt like a sign from her body that she was already infected with this horrific virus, with cells so gargantuan and pulsating with malady that they were easily visible to the naked eye.
"An infinite number of squares," Bogemu answered with a careless shrug.
"An… An infinite number, what the heck!?" Li Shan barked out while shaking her fist out in front of her. "How am I supposed to roll for movement now, knowing that I'll definitely get infected!?"
"Oh, don't worry, the odds of triggering the virus aren't 100%," Bogemu shook his hands out in front of him as a pacifying gesture. "It's merely that the number of games, challenges and Wild Card events in this game is infinite, therefore any percentage of odds to trigger a certain unfavorable event is also infinite because any percentage of infinity is infinity. However, that doesn't mean that you'll always trigger the event because not every square has a trigger for the virus in it."
"What does this virus do?" Li Shan wondered, hesitant to make her move and feeling willing to push her luck as much as possible before she either had to roll or receive a Penalty Mark.
"That's the funny part–we'll determine it right now. All players must give one condition that the virus inflicts and that will come to determine its effects," Bogemu replied.
"Very well, I wish that the virus would inflict a drastic boost of immunity upon the afflicted which would immediately kill the virus!" Li Shan declared, feeling like she had outsmarted the game. This way, no matter what strange conditions Bogemu would think up, the virus would immediately kill itself automatically by boosting the recipient's immune system.
Again with the banshee howling. The shriek made Li Shan collapse to one knee and grab her head to try to prevent it from splitting apart. It was as if every time that chilling voice howled, echoing through every corner of the immeasurable void, transcending space-times and dimensions themselves, Li Shan's consciousness withdrew deeper inside to avoid being in the present and being unraveled by the sheer volume of this horrifying sound. This time, Li Shan knew that she'd see that vexing sight of a crossed-out skull blazing over her head before she even recovered. Sure enough…
"What? How did I earn a Penalty Mark? Don't tell me, you were supposed to call first…" Li Shan cursed while staring at a pair of Penalty Marks blazing over her head.
"No way! The game wouldn't be that petty," Bogemu waved it off. "You tried to trick the game by avoiding punishment, though. Sometimes the game doesn't appreciate that very much. When playing the Game of Life and Death, you must be ready to put your life and well-being on the line. You should have just chosen a soft ailment as opposed to trying to avoid suffering any consequences."
"Damn it…" Li Shan's hands began trembling when she realized she was just one mistake away from becoming irrelevant. A fate that Bogemu claimed to be far worse than death, with Death itself being a potential witness to testify about the truthfulness of that statement.
"Okay, I guess I better choose something light, no reason to go for something drastic. I suppose I'll have the virus cause excessive bleeding from every orifice and boiling blood," Bogemu said, bringing up his index finger like he just had a bright idea.
"What the…!" Li Shan exclaimed in outrage. "You said that the trick was picking something minor! Boiling blood and bursting with excessive bleeding doesn't sound very light!"
"Oh…" Bogemu pinched his lower lip as if he just considered what he had done just now, after calling the condition. "Well, I suppose it's not. Then again, I don't want to half-ass it and for the game to accuse me of half-assing it. I guess you could say that Bogemu is playing like a good boy."
"Unbelievable…" Li Shan gnashed her teeth and shivered, seeing the oblivious magician looming like some kind of supernatural entity. His shape twisted, becoming tethered in the rotting black void of the realm in which the Game of Life and Death took place. She just couldn't figure any of it out. Neither the game nor the player she was playing it against. Did the rest of his victims suffer the same existential dread and looming feeling of helplessness? What an infuriating way to meet one's end after struggling and overcoming odds one's entire life.
"I'd roll if I were you," Bogemu said. "Who knows when the game will have enough hesitating and award you with your final Penalty Mark?"
"Tsk," Li Shan's right eye twitched while she struggled to swallow it all down and stand tall. If this was to be her last roll determining her end, Li Shan would meet it the same way she met other insurmountable odds in her life. Proud and looking trouble right in the eye, making it confront the fact that dealing with this stubborn, short brat was more trouble than it was worth. "Come on then, I order the dice to roll!"
The demonic hexagons rattled, and shook, their numerous walls shattered and reassembled countless times. Even if there was no such thing as true randomness, Li Shan felt that the closest one could get to such a thing was here. Strangely enough, this was the second "11" that either of them rolled in this session. With a nervous step, Li Shan advanced exactly 11 squares forward, moving further from her opponent. The lingering burgundy mist that reminded of the ever-present threat of the virus only made Bogemu to begin to fade out as Li Shan moved further.
When Li Shan stopped on the 11th square, it burst with walls of scarlet flame while spraying the burgundy mist. Cursing and coughing, Li Shan covered up, feeling the mist brushing against her skin as it formed a round and smoky face above her, shaped vaguely like the face of an obese, wart, and boil-infested man screaming for his life as he choked to death. Blinding pain made Li Shan stiffen up as the gigantic virus cells began sieging her body under the cover of the burgundy mist and the protection of the scarlet flame wall.
The excruciated pirate captain coughed and grumbled as more and more sticky pin virus cells slammed against her body with tremendous and sharp spikes impaling her. Instead of merely letting her hang in the horrendous torture of impalement, the virus cells began deflating as they squeezed their vile contents, pumping inside Li Shan's body to the point of light bloating. Li Shan's vision blurred out, turning completely white as the virus cells moved entirely inside her body and left her abused body to fall flat on the ground.
That was when the scarlet flames restraining Li Shan to receive the punishment intended for her snuffed away, leaving the wailing pirate woman to writhe on the ground in pain as her blood began elevating in temperature. Not a handful of seconds later, the creepy ambiance of feminine wailing was slashed apart by a shrill scream as Li Shan jumped on her feet and screamed her lungs out in pain. Her skin turned pale yet began bubbling from the inside before, finding no other viable means of escape, it burst outward from her eyes, nose, mouth, and every other orifice that it could find.
It was only when the haunting bloodletting began that Li Shan found a modicum of relief in the agonizing torment of her own blood boiling inside of her body. Shaking and dragged through all the layers of hell slammed through the gates of each layer of hell in succession, the pirate captain stood up and faced her opponent with a spiteful look.
"Whoa…" Bogemu muttered. "I'm surprised you're still alive. I'm not sure I would've had a fun time having triggered the virus. In any case, given that you have 2 Penalty Marks already, I feel obliged to tell you that just because you triggered the curse of the virus, it doesn't excuse you from playing the game you stepped on."
"What… Is the game…" Li Shan muttered the question without the inner strength to voice it as a question and leave her words dangling like one. Her eyes blankly stared at a random point in the black void as her whole body lightly shook and shivered. Somehow, despite her blood having boiled, she looked and acted like the veteran buccaneer was cold to the bone. Blood spouted from her mouth with bubbly gore as she spoke.
"Nothing much, it's Monster Fight Game. The game will produce a couple of monsters to fight. If we win–we can move on if we lose–we get a Penalty Mark for failing to complete the challenge of vanquishing the monster," Bogemu explained as the black void between them bubbled like a tar broth while a pair of figures emerged from the bottomless depths.
One of them–a bipedal and bulky monster covered head to toe with black needles-like quills. His head had a round and solid protrusion in the front with a bony, crown-like formation and a triplet of gigantic horns sticking out straight up and in each direction. The monster had golden armbands and rings stuck all over its horns and beaming red eyes staring from bony black protrusions. When its skin could have been made out from under the layer of thin iron needles, it looked like solid obsidian. The monster clenched an iron bar in its right arm that shot a shower of molten metal into the air, sprinkling with sparks like a shower.
Meanwhile, the monster closer to the plagued pirate was just a pulsating, fleshy tumor, stuck to the square it was born in with narrow tendons and strands of flesh.
"Aww, that's not very fair," Bogemu pouted. "My monster looks like an absolute unit and your monster looks like it's half-dead already. I wonder if it got hit by that virus too?"
Completely oblivious to her opponent's ironic complaints, Li Shan reached down to draw her dao sword and get to swinging, if only she could get her afflicted body to keep her sword lifted and keep it straight. Meanwhile, on the other side, Bogemu lifted his hands into the air.
"I surrender," he exclaimed. "You're a really scary monster, so I don't really have a way of fighting you inside this game. I'll take the Penalty Mark since I guess I can afford it."
Rumbling and roaring, the terrifying colossus covered in quills aimed its stream of molten metal at itself and launched a heat wave of sludge that covered it whole and melted it to ash that the bubbly tar broth absorbed back inside itself. Meanwhile, having no such luxury to skip this boss fight, Li Shan drew her sword and stumbled as it looked like the sword was dragging its wielder around as opposed to the other way around.
"Come on, you can do it!" Bogemu playfully teased his opponent, pumping his fist with a goofy smile. Li Shan was two liters of blood short of being able to tell if he was teasing her mean-spiritedly or if he was actually just that thick of skull. It wouldn't have mattered either way–she's got a pulsating blood tumor to slay if she's to keep that third and final Penalty Mark away.
It wasn't the best start to the Game of Life and Death for Captain Li Shan.