The inscription had three faces, and its height was almost twice that of a normal human; I realized I had to start reading it without wasting any time.
"You did not appreciate the opportunity offered to you; now you will suffer your punishment in the lands of Hell!"
There was only a single sentence written on the side I started reading; it was clear and precise, we had reached our eternal home as sinners. I was nailed to the spot; I remembered seeing the consequences of all my actions once again, but nothing was clear in my mind. I felt like screaming, "I'm not a bad person!"
'Don't let yourself go.' This was my motto; whatever happens, I had to cope and sustain my existence by getting used to the new situation. I started moving with small steps to glance at the one on my left among the remaining two sides.
It would take me about five minutes to cover the ten-step distance; since everyone who could stand up was here, I could barely arrive amidst the pushing and shoving.
"The Creator forgives his servants and definitely rewards those who do good!"
Wait a minute! After what I read a moment ago, this facade, which also had a single sentence written on it, gave the news that would allow hope to sprout inside me. Wasn't this a quite random order? I wonder if I had chosen the two consecutive facades with the help of my luck?
It was very simple to learn this; it was enough to tap lightly on the shoulder of the burly man standing next to me and ask.
"Pehlivan, what does it say here?"
It was written Pehlivan above the head of this person who was past middle age and had lost all the hair on his head, which was a bit small compared to his body.
"You did not appreciate the opportunity offered to you; now you will suffer your punishment in the lands of Hell!"
I could barely catch the words coming out of his lips as a whisper before they mixed into the air; the man who answered my question had said what was written on the part I looked at first.
He didn't say another word after that; judging by the color his face took and the dullness of his movements, he was experiencing the shock I experienced a moment ago. Interestingly, why did he read the sentence that should have been on the other side while I saw a different text?
There could be only one explanation for this: no matter where you looked at this inscription from, you had to proceed in a predetermined order.
I had no intention of disrupting the order made inevitably; I walked towards the remaining place with calm and slow steps.
It was futile to hurry; I was moving forward by examining my surroundings with empty eyes through the people. Those moments when I was unaware of the surprise waiting for me would perhaps be the most carefree moments of my time here.
"The First Floor of Hell!"
Three huge words were shining madly even in the daylight with the help of bright red letters at the very top; they left an impression on me as if they would swallow me if I spaced out for a moment. When I shifted my eyes a little lower and got rid of the pressure formed on me, I would see that a list of ten items was waiting for me.
"The concept of time within the First Floor of Hell will be the same as the world where you died!"
"From the moment you step into this protection zone, you must kill Fallen equal to your level every day!"
"In case of failure, you will be sentenced to eight hours of Hell Torment!"
"All answers are within the Fallen outside the protection zones; go and face your mistakes!"
There seemed to be almost no fully explained point; these were the laws of the area we were in, and it was stated very clearly what would happen to us only if we didn't keep up. I could understand from the changing facial expressions of those reading the same things with me; it wasn't clear when we came here, and we would be able to access all other information when we killed the first mob.
Even though I wasn't a hardcore MMORPG player, I had a grasp of the basics; if this was the starting village, there should be plenty of weak creatures nearby. All I had to do was go outside the shield surrounding the entire area and attack the first one I set my eyes on, but as soon as a thought hit me halfway, I threw this idea into the trash.
Usually, the first village would be built in areas where there were neither rival players nor aggressive creatures; if that were the case, what was the need for this shield? Moreover, the place we were in was not a virtual platform where a company tried to entertain people for the sake of making money, but the First Floor of Hell where we were sent to be punished for the screw-ups we made.
Even though I didn't know my remaining time to avoid getting caught in the daily penalty, I shouldn't hurry; I could stop, even for a short time, and let others make the first attempt. I sped up again, came right up to the shield, and sat on the ground calmly; my intention was to watch the movements of others by pretending I hadn't fully taken control of my body yet.
No one had gone out from the area I was in yet, and there was no activity outside the ice-blue barrier; if I didn't know where I was, I might have wanted to grab a book and coffee and enjoy the silence.
Just then, the shape of the dust cloud raised by the crowd coming at full throttle, reminiscent of the skirts of a Flamenco dancer swaying flirtatiously, gave me the news that things would get messy here before long.
The people didn't stop; they rushed out of the shield in fear and panic. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this situation; these people, who were in "my whole family is relaxed" mode against the threat of eternal Hell not long ago—just a day ago—were now going towards an unknown like amok runners the moment they heard about the daily eight hours of torment.
When almost half of their total number went out, some shadows began to appear from nothingness in places that were previously a desolate void. A moment later, the silhouettes taking shape were all over the plain starting from where the shield began.
They had appeared at distances not too far from each other; their total numbers were several times more than the people currently outside the shield. I didn't need to wait anymore; as soon as I jumped from my place, I went right up to the ice-blue light curtain and started to examine closely what was happening.
My first impression would not take reference from my eyes, one of my five sensory organs, but on the contrary, from my nose, which didn't smell very well. A dense smell of alcohol was coming, torn from the bosom of anise gardens; the warm breeze was licking my face like the slap landing slowly on my cheek as a warning when I made a small mistake with my teacher.
I could only come to my senses after shaking my head like this; whatever happened, I had to stare and watch, because eight hours of Hell Torture was at the end of the business.
I directed my gaze carefully at these creatures, which were the variable that joined us last; my expectation was horned, tailed, misshapen beings with bloody weapons in their hands. The inscription referred to this place as the First Floor of Hell; wouldn't it be great optimism to expect less after reading this?
While all my thoughts had drawn the possible shapes of the mobs I would see in a moment in my brain, the weirdest and most tragicomic thing possible happened.
I don't need to explain this at length; it would be enough if I just told you the names written above the creatures.
"Tipsy lvl 1"
"Drunkard lvl 1"
"Boozer lvl 1"
At first, I had understood the smell of alcohol coming to my nose as a reminder to me of the last sin I committed that caused me to fall here, but right now the truth of the matter was clearly in front of my eyes.
A group of people with red noses, disheveled clothes, trying to walk swaying left and right, had filled the entire area with various drinks in their hands. Regardless of whether they were men or women, there were lots of models outside the ice-blue shield; they were presenting themselves in a manner befitting the titles appearing above their heads.
"Young friend, wouldn't you like to join us? We have a piece of bread and a bottle of wine that we would take pleasure in sharing with everyone!"
While continuing my observations, I was startled by a voice coming from my right side, from a place not too far away; three people were sitting on the ground calling out to someone from the group that had just run outside the shield. This person, who turned his head towards the direction the voice came from with confused looks, really looked quite green; obviously, he was only fifteen or sixteen years old before he died.
Although my words seem like belittling, my main worry was for the mobs sitting on the ground with quite long stubble; it was highly probable that this new generation brat had online gaming experience.
Before long, I would understand how correct this thought of mine was; the overgrown adolescent went on the attack by shouting towards the mobs with Tipsy lvl 1 written above their heads. We obviously shared the same ideas; this was the first village, and the purpose of the creatures around could only be to serve as victims for us to get stronger.
In these moments, there was no sign of panic in the Tipsy mobs; even though their levels were low, they were looking calmly from between their slightly closed eyelids at the human running towards them.