You have two choices

Richard took his gaze to the man who had spoken. A very tall man who he was sure was 6 to 7ft. He was also muscular and huge, giving him an intimidating stature that could cause anyone to fall on their knees.

He walked closer, not taking his gaze away from him. They all had their masks on and he couldn't see their faces but he could tell they were four men and four women.

"Sir Philip, we explained......"

The man, who happened to be Philip Makani, the king of shades, rose his hand to stop Rina from speaking any further.

"Don't the king have a mouth to speak?" He questioned, still not taking his gaze away from Richard.

All eyes were on him. Richard felt the world spinning around and he wished the ground would open up and swallow him. He thought he was ready, but he wasn't. He wasn't ready to face the people standing before him.

They were all intimidating and powerful. The aura they carried with them.

"Philip, you shouldn't talk to our new king like this." One of the lords came further and placed his hand on Philip's shoulder. "He is above us and should be treated as one, don't you think?"

Philip grunted and looked away while the other man walked further and bowed his head before Richard. "I apologize for his rudeness. We are all just.....," he looked at him from head to toe. "Surprised. We never expected you to be so young." He added and took his gaze to Rina. "Shouldn't you have given us a head up?"

Rina quickly bowed her head, "I apologize Sir Jack."

He laughed a little and faced Richard again. "My lord, I am Jackson Bull, the king of hearts. We are all the lords of the game."

He turned to introduced the others. "That is Philip Makani, the king of shades. He is always so bossy. I think that was the reason he was given the title, shades."

Richard wanted to laugh but drew his lips into a thin line, stopping himself. He needed to act like a king and he was going to try his best.

"Well, the man behind him," he pointed at a thin, tall young man, who was almost same height with Philip. "He is George King Jr. The king of clubs. He is always nonchalant about everything and you will find that annoying pretty soon."

"Welcome to this world," George said and went back to using his phone as he was when Richard walked in.

"The last man over there is Sebastian Nyugen." He introduced referring to the chubby and short man.

"First time we would have a young king. I hope to see a bright future with you." Sebastian said with a huge grin plastered on his face.

Jack went on, "And for the women, that is....." He was cut off when the lady he was about introducing walked forward.

"I am Sira. Sira McCarthy the queen of hearts. You are a good looking king, I must say." She winked at him and moved back.

"The other is Sophia Black, the queen of Shades."

She said nothing and Jack went on, "The next is Diana Armstrong, the queen of clubs."

"I am at your service my majesty."

"And the last is Juliana Lee, the queen of diamonds."

"Don't just get in my way cause you are given this much authority. I do hope we work in peace and not pieces."

Richard swallowed hard at her threat even though she only said it casually.

"Why don't we start with the first ritual?" Jack said in an aim to lighten up the mood.

A ritual? No one informed Richard about it.

"What is this ritual about?" he asked with his voice filled with curiosity.

Rina laughed in an aim to cover his insensitivity, "Please do not mind our king. He isn't always like this." She said and glared at Richard. "I will go get him ready for the ritual." She led the way out of the room.

"What do you think you are doing Richard? You are so naive and stupid. Do you even know what this work is about? Do you even know what you just did? you couldn't say anything nor defend yourself nor punish Philip, you allowed him get on your toes," she snapped immediately they entered a different room.

"I....I am sorry."

She rolled her eyes and breathed out, "Do not mess things for us. You have to become powerful and do not allow everyone step on your toes. Behave like a king or you wouldn't last here." She added and walked out of the room, banging the door.

Richard let out the breath he held in and leaned back on the wall. What should he do? He couldn't stand so firm and strong in front of those intimidating and powerful people. He felt his racing out almost falling out of his chest.

At some point, he thought he was going to fall. Even when they talked, he couldn't say anything cause he was afraid of what they might do to him. Did he want this all to last? He wasn't sure about it.

He sighed deeply and went out of the room. No matter what the ritual was about, he had to face it.

"Alright, the king is back." Philip stated and faced two men who wasn't in the room earlier. They were both wearing black suits and all looked so serious and fearless.

"Bring them in!" He commanded.

The two men walked out and in no time, they came with a man and a woman, both chained and their eyes covered.

Richard was dumbfounded as they made them knee before him. What was happening? He had a lot of questions running through his mind at the same time.

"This two are betrayers. They don't mean well for this society and want to expose us to people. That is one of the greatest sin of the abyss." Philip started and collected a gun from one of the two men. He walked to Richard and handed it to him. "Now for the ritual, you will have to kill the man."

"What?!"

"No please! Please forgive us! Do not kill my husband." The woman cried out.

"You haven't being officially made the king yet and so, you have no other choice than to do what we command. Unless," he raised another gun to Richard's head. "I end your life here. You have two choices, kill him or you die."