BXBX NOVEL Chapter 691
Before anyone could make a comment, the ground started to rumble and the area in front of them split open to reveal the head of Thyme as they slowly rose out of the ground on a small stage. Thyme was positioned off to the side with an odd hairdo, hunched over a cane and shaking like an old man. Thyme’s skin was paler than normal, looking dry and brittle edging more towards grey then the standard green. On top of Thyme’s head was a thin smattering of hair that had been combed over to, poorly, pretend they had more hair and weren’t mostly bald. A strange look for a shapeshifting dryad that could grow hair on a whim.
When Thyme started to speak it was with raspy wheezing force, like that of someone on their last breath desperately trying to convey a final message and the shaking helped reinforce the notion Thyme could fall over at any point. “Hello hello. Welcome everyone to this wonderous occasion. The end of the round is upon as and yet there are still those of you who are fakes. I appreciate the effort it took to get here, where all shall be revealed one way or another.
“One by one, you will proceed up to the stand. The person called will be able to, if they so wish, say a little more in their defence if they believe it is necessary, before everyone will be called to vote. All votes, for once, will count. The vote will be for Fake, or Real, yet in this instance even the fakes will be able to vote. Yes that’s right, in the previous rounds, should a fake vote, it would count for nothing.
“Each of you has 2 points worth of votes at the moment. If you come to the stage and are voted to be ‘Real’ your vote count will double to 4 and the truth of your nature will be revealed. If you are voted as Fake, once again the truth will be revealed, but your votes will then be worth nothing, real or not. If any of the voters choose to abstain... they will in truth be casting their vote for ‘Real’ as the individual was clearly convincing enough for you to hesitate calling them false.” Thyme let out a light cough, “For those of you that are real...
“It should be your hope to gather enough votes to get that ‘reality’ confirmed. Your final score will be based on the number of correctly identified individuals, real or not. For Fakes, they want to force as many people as possible to be mislabelled and be falsely selected as ‘real’. Oh, and on the subjects of voting. The person called to the stand cannot vote for or against themselves. They will be declared based on the whims of their peers,
“For the sake of the competitors, I can only hope you have enough ‘real’ people left to secure the vote, as it can spiral quite quickly. For the fakes, you now have knowledge of who is real or not, may you use that knowledge as best you can to sneak in a win if necessary. Oh, and no violence in this final round. We can be civilised and I expect you all to act like it,” once Thyme finished firmly laying out the rules they descended into a coughing fit leaving the room in something akin to silence.
.....
Kat bit her lips, glancing around at everyone. She was confident Green and Kress were the real deal, though slightly less about Kress. She had no idea for Nixilei, as she hadn’t been able to spot the bloodied dagger on the fake, or the clean one of the real. The dwarves... well Kat once again had no idea. Three seemed trustworthy, pointing out two other fakes... assuming those two were actually fakes. That had never been confirmed.
The coughing from Thyme suddenly stopped, and transitioned into a softer clearing of the throat that gathered the stray bits of attention to everyone. “Now, seeing as you have had some time to think, I will begin the selection. The selection is completely random, and I will not have any replacements is that clear?”
Everyone nodded and Thyme summoned a giant Tophat at the back of the stage. They then managed to pull a full sized step ladder out of their pocket before placing it down and shakily climbing the stairs to reach into the hat. Thyme pulled themselves out with great difficulty alongside a large piece of paper. Unfolding it, showed in large capital letters, KAT.
The restraints on her chair dropped off and Kat hopped up onto the stage ignoring the small staircase off to the side. Kat moved to the centre of the stage and shrugged, “You all saw me in the first round. I don’t burn like my fake and my blood is black. We were able to prove I was real pretty easily.”
Thyme nodded and called for the votes. Little buttons popped up under left and right hands, saying ‘real’ and ‘fake’ respectively. Kat held in her breath, hoping they had enough people to mark her as ‘real’. When every hand pressed down on the ‘real’ button she let it out. A green spotlight shone down on Kat. “You have all guessed correctly, you’ve got one real girl marked out. Congratulations.”
Kat hopped back off the stairs and Thyme pulled another name from the hat. Well, instead of a name it was just a big 3. Dwarf Three waddled off to the side taking the neglected staircase and approaching the front. “I’m the Dwarf that pointed out the fake One and Two. I think the truth is clear,”
Kat felt the buttons rise up below her hands. *I mean, true he did do that and fought the fake five... supposedly. Is there any reason to believe it though? Then again... is there any reason to doubt.* Kat pulled her hand back and refrained from voting. She knew it would be considered 4 votes for ‘Real’ but Kat felt it was also somewhat symbolic. Green and the dwarves all pushed ‘Real’ but Nixilei noticed Kat’s refusal to vote and did the same.
“I see... two abstaining and the rest vote Real... so in truth another full sweep for ‘Real’...” said Thyme slowly, “but I must sadly inform those of you who are real. That you are WRONG.” A red light flashed overhead and the dwarves’ eyes all went wide. Dwarf Three grinned and saluted the group before shuffling off down to his seat.
“With a fake in the midst... it seems you all might want to be sneaky with your votes...” as Thyme said that a black box started to surround the clamped down hands of the competitors. “Perhaps this will make things more interesting?”
Kat swallowed. *Shit. 3 was a fake? Now they have 4 votes as well. Shit. How many others are fake? Clearly they just went with it for the first round.* Thyme dived back into the hat, this time they pulled out a 2. Dwarf Two awkwardly walked up to the stage wringing their hands. “Now, I know how this looks, but Three was telling the truth despite being a fake. I swear I’m real as well,”
*I don’t know what to believe. Is it likely Three was telling the truth? Hmm... I think... I think it might have been. Fake Green said they didn’t know and Thyme said that knowledge was granted to them for this final round. Perhaps... yes. I think they must be real.*
Kat made her choice known as did everyone else. Thyme waited a few moments before saying, “Hmm... interesting interesting. Six votes for real... and the rest for fake. I wonder who voted for what? Those six... I am sorry but you were correct. This dwarf is the real one... but alas...” a red spotlight shone down, “the vote was that they are fake. Thank you Two but... your vote is now worth nothing.
*SHIT. Dammit. Only two more votes on my side. I wonder who else voted real?* Kat opened her mouth to say as much but black cloth came and filled it. “I’m afraid, voters do not have a chance to speak dear Kat,” said Thyme shakily as they reached back into the hat for the next number.
*Curse Thyme. Do we have another fake? Three managed to essentially sneak 2 past us. Both himself and making us think one was real while the other was fake. Wait. The fact that a Nixilei was voted out means that at least one Dwarf is real otherwise the votes would never have counted. I think. Everyone from my team voted for Kress... right? No. Nixilei could have voted for the other her. Shit...*