"What do you think that was, man?" Alex whispered, a sweat bead dropping from his head.
I, myself, was a little startled by the sudden intrusion, but still I was curious.
"Do you want to check it out?"
This was an obvious question considering the situation. Addressing this issue was a certain future, so I was already way ahead of him. But as I was about to make my way over to the door in question, I heard a voice behind me.
"Let's wait if someone comes out." The woman with black hair suggested.
This was a better idea than mine. So, for the few moments we would wait for a response, I imagined it would be best to introduce ourselves, especially for the two newcomers. With this in mind, I decided to ask the first question.
"What are your guys' names?"
I waited for a second for someone to answer my question, and I was not disappointed.
"Alicia," the black haired woman said.
Following her lead, the timid woman slowly raised her hand.
"Amanda."
Hearing their responses, I decided to do Alex a favor.
"Well, you already know my name, and that bundle of fun over there would be Alex."
Turning to me, Alex pouted slightly. I imagined the reason for this change in mood, which was pretty obvious considering the peculiar crowd I found myself a part of. Suddenly, a moment later, his face lit up.
"Oh! My bad, I also forgot to ask my friend Jason about his age," Alex said while slowly pressing his hands together.
I hadn't immediately thought about the topic of age, but that was one of the logical next steps when getting to know someone. Deciding it would be best to remain polite for the time being, I returned the sentiment to the rest of the group.
"As you have probably noticed, I seem to be the youngest here, as for my exact age, I am seventeen. What about you three?"
Their age ranges were fairly clear, but it wouldn't hurt to find an exact number.
"I am thirty-two. I imagine you ladies are a little younger." Alex Laughed.
The air suddenly got very heavy. The two of them remained silent for a moment before Alicia, with an annoyed expression, finally spoke up.
"It is rude to ask a woman for her age, but I will tell you anyway, I am twenty-eight," Alicia responded.
Seemingly feeling pressured, Amanda took a second before she could come up with her answer.
"I am 21." Amanda once again sheepishly raised her hand
A moment later, we heard another loud sound from the same direction. I imagined that two more people were fighting or even something more sinister, like a monster attack, so we had to be prepared just in case.
"You guys ready to check it out? It's been a moment." Alicia said, breaking the short moment of silence.
This was the most reasonable next step, as we did not have much else to talk about, so I decided to agree.
"Well, not if anybody has a better idea."
The three of them collectively shook their heads in response. Being my cautious self, I decided that it would be best to let someone else go first in case anything went wrong, so I graciously gave Alex that assignment.
A moment later, we all moved towards the door in question with a semblance of a defensive formation to be safe. As we got closer to the door Alex's expression grew dim losing his excited attitude from earlier, Alex slowly twisted the knob and waited.
The wooden door opened with a satisfying click. If we had known what we found, we would have opened the door a lot quicker, though it was nothing that the four of us wouldn't be able to handle, admittedly with a little difficulty.
What we found inside was two middle-aged men scuffling, both slightly bloodied. The men looked to be in their thirties with civilian work clothes, so everyone here had a higher status than I, which, to be fair, was not surprising.
"What the hell are you guys doing?!" Alex yelled.
The two men froze in place, startled by the sudden intrusion. They then looked at each other, followed by us. Alicia clicked her tongue at the scene, while Amanda had a worried look on her face.
"Wait, why are there even more people? The government never said anything about this," one of the two asked, completely dumbfounded.
Ignoring his shocked outburst, I calmly answered his question.
"Well, it is what it is, I imagine all of us are here for the same reason, right?"
Everyone then looked at each other, then, with a nod, turned their gaze towards me. We also needed to check the other rooms for more people, in case there were any more, so I started making a plan.
"We should look for others, to see if anyone knows what the hell is going on," I declared
"Good idea," Alex said with a smile.
A moment later, the six of us decided to split up into groups of three and make our way to the other doors connected to the same miniature courtyard we found ourselves in. The groups we decided to create were Alex and I, and Alicia, with Amanda, with the other two men tagging along with my group.
Moving toward the first unopened door, Alex and I stayed quiet to see if we could hear any new sounds coming from it. It was silent, the only sound we heard was that of the slight breeze entering our ears. Amount later Alex once again twisted the knob to a new door.
Inside the new room was only darkness, lit up only by the natural light from the outside. However, like the other rooms, we discovered it was also windowless with another door past it.
Once we were in this new room, unlike the outside, we heard a slight knock on the door further inside.
Acting quickly, Alex opened the door. What we found on the inside was a nervous-looking boy who was seemingly hesitant to open the wooden door. The boy looked to be about my age, if not a couple of years older, with vibrant red hair and expensive-looking clothes.
Judging by the boy's appearance, he seemed to be a descendant, if not an elite one. It seemed like the status window had sent people of all different backgrounds to this place, and that I was the poorest one of the lot.
Breaking the short moment of silence, Alex asked the first question that was on all of our minds.
"Do you know where you are, kid?"
This was a great question for many reasons, the simplest being to see if he was taking apart in the prologue like the rest of us.
What he responded with, however, was nothing short of a massive shock to both Alex and me.
"I-I just woke up here. Do you know where I am? Am I still in the Alsak Empire?"
Quickly getting over my shock, I realized that this kid was not from the real world; he must have been a native to the simulation.
A moment later, Alex started hitting him with more questions.
"Are you from Earth, kid?"
E-Earth? Do you know how far away that place is from the Alsak Empire?"
The kid's response only confirmed my suspicion. As he did not even know what Earth was.
"Let's start with this, what is your name?" Alex asked
"My name is Elijah Alsak."
This kid must have been quite important to have his last name be that of the Empire he came from.
"What language are you speaking right now?" I finally spoke up.
"What are you talking about? We are speaking basic Alkonian."
"Never mind."
I imagined that the simulation had a handy auto-translating system that made things a whole lot easier.
"We are unfamiliar with the Alsak Empire. Can you tell us about it?"