In front of an old house a young man no more than 20 was seen turning the key with an arched back. He seemed to be very stiff in his movement and he couldn't even take a decent step forward.

"Haaaaa.....

As Theo entered his empty house after his tiring workday, he released a deep breath. He looked around at his messy place, his unfolded clothes, and unsurprising was hit with a feeling of laziness and he crashed into his couch face first.

"Haaaaaaaaaa.....

He released another deep breath as his sore body finally found some relief, and for the next half hour he stayed in that position. He was to tired and lazy to even fix himself something to eat so he rummaged his pockets for something until he found the last gum he had and immediately put it in his mouth. The sweet sugary rush made him happy as he chewed away , but taking a look at his place made him sad.

'Haahhh.... what's the meaning of this? It seems that I'm just wasting my life away doing that soul crushing job with those soul crushing people. Sometimes  I just want to..... no no calm down me, I can't afford to get myself down right now. It's hard enough as it is.'

Once again Theo looked around and noticed some leftovers on his microwave, only looking to b reheated, but he was to tired. With the will equal to 1000 people decided to forget about eating and just decided to drag his body to the bed. Like a zombie, groaning and moaning he move across his house and he finally entered his bedroom, before slamming into it face first.

"Mmmmm....yeaaahhhh....." smiled Theo as he curled up on the bed and as he hugged the soft pillow. He was happy, happy once again, but unfortunately for him he would have to find the hard way the price of a good night's sleep.

...........

*Pshhh*

Theo woke up startled as he felt his body drenched from head to toe and was about to cus out when a someone yelled in his direction.

"WAKE UP YOU DIRTY SCUM, IT'S TIME FOR WORK!"

Theo looked at the man that just yelled and possibly caused hearing damage and was stunned. He was a bearded man in his early thirties. The man had curly hair, wore a loose fitting brown tunic and leather sandals that clearly showed his toes. In his right hand he had an empty wooden bucket, while on his hip he carried a whip. The man looked very strange to Theo, but as he heard another groan from the side  and looked to the back he was even more surprised. He seemed to be inside a room carved out of stone and was surrounded by more than ten other man of different ages and skin colors who also seemed to have been sleeping until now.

'Huh, what is....

*Tak*

"Agghhhh.....

As Theo wondered where he was, he was struck by the whip which the previous man held and fell to the ground in pain. He tightly held his right arm as he yelled in pain.

"WHAT THE FUCK! THIS IS NOT FUNNY! Why the hell did you strike me, huh?!" yelled Theo at the man, but the man only smiled cruelly at him.

"You dare speak back to me slave? "

"What....

The man once again prepared to strike Theo and the later raised his hands out of instinct and closed his eyes, but he didn't feel anything even after a couple of seconds. He peeked through his hands to see what had happened only to see the whip suspended in midair, 2 cm from his face. He was surprised as he looked around , seeing everything had frozen in place. It seemed as if the had stopped all around him as the man holding the whip didn't even move an inch, and even the small fly that seemed to be flying through the air had stopped.

"What is this.....

*Ding*

As if reacting to Theo's question he heard a ringing sound and a grey window of information appeared in front of his eyes.

Theo was stunned at the text in front of him and he couldn't help but rub his eyes, but to no avail as the window was still there. Still in disbelief he read the window over and over again , until he couldn't anymore. He didn't know what that meant, or what game was being offered , but he didn't like it, he didn't like it at all. With some hesitation and a lot of willpower he selected 'No' on the page and another page immediately appeared in it's place.

" What...the fuck!" said Theo through his gritted teeth. " I'll be terminated if I don't choose to play the game? Then why did you make me choose ? Is the game that bad that death is considered a better option?"

Theo looked around himself once more and took in the apperance of the people around. They all looked thin except the man with the whip. They were so thin that most of their ribs were slightly showing, but they surprisingly had a good musculature showing . Theo also noticed that the only thing they wore was a dirty loose piece of clothing that covered their whole body from the shoulders until 5 cm from the knees, which was tied to the waist with a rope. Also, besides heavily the man who struck him with a whip, they all wore worn out leather sandals.

" Haha....this is fucked up." said Theo as he got the gist of it. They, including himself were clearly beeing treated badly in comparison to the man, and the word slave was a good description.

'Slave.... wait, didn't the man call me a slave before? Am I really a slave right now?'

The same page appeared in front of him again as if to know his final answer, and he gave his answer. He didn't want to die so he chose Yes this, and as soon as he did that, his life, or this life to be exact passed through his eyes in a flash.

.........

After a minute Theo's eyes once again regained their focus and he finally understood.

' Laison, 17 years old, first and only son of a slave mother and a slave father, property of the Pasius family and recently brought to this place to work in the family's gold mines. That is who I am.....a big piece of shit this is! Fuck! '

*Ding*

*Ding*

"Fuuuuuuucccc.....

*Tack*

Theo was hit once again by the whip as time started again around him and he once again winced in pain.