Upon entering the gate, a spacious hall opened before them – and to their surprise, there were eight other people inside.
"Well, finally they've arrived too…" remarked a young girl standing next to a boy her age, arms crossed.
"Have you been bored already?" asked a woman in her forties standing a few steps away.
"No, I'm doing great, which can't be said about everyone... By the way, can you even breathe in that mask?" the young girl asked a figure silently staring while sitting on a marble chair nearby. The figure briefly lifted their head, then tilted it back down.
At the far right of the hall, four more people sat: two of them close together – a thin boy with glasses and an elderly man of about sixty. They whispered to each other.
"So they would be the last ones… What do you think of them, Pekrin?" asked the older man with a deep voice. "You can feel the chaos and strong aura from them..."
"Hmm… interesting…" replied the boy, as he started writing on a paper.
"If… why do you write down everything anyway, Dimeny? Are you scribbling about me too?!" interrupted a middle-aged bald man with scars on his face, disdainfully.
"At least someone is doing something besides just talking…" said the man in the white sweater, his hair covering his eyes.
"And who asked you, Neznat? You just stand there by yourself…"
"I'm thinking…"
"You think you can win by thinking and note-taking? Tch… What you need here is willpower!"
"Tch… Idiot…"
"What a pleasant place… Not exactly a pleasant atmosphere," Louis remarked quietly.
"Tony… who are these people?" he muttered to himself.
Louis glanced at the strangers watching them. Kodella and Louis stepped back behind him, while Willy stepped forward irritably.
"Who are you guys?"
"Who are we? Who are you? You look like you got lost… How many more pathetic people like you are coming here?" replied the bald man.
"If we're so pathetic, why is it a problem for you if there are more of us? You're contradicting yourself." –Tony said.
"Yeah, contradicting myself? And your mom was a bitch, hows that sooty face?."
"Maybe she was…" Tony smiled. "But do I mean less just because I'm not as pale as you?"
Your wife still chase the sooty tails, right? Besides, inbreeding doesn't do good for genes… You look more like the Habsburg family tree than anything else…"
"The who?? You little…"-The man approaches Tony with furious movements.
"If you try to lay a finger on my comrades, I'll send you to hell before the trial even starts!" Louis shouted angrily, no longer able to control his temper.
The man stepped back and walked away, muttering while turning his back:
"We'll see, you little worm nobodies… Only those like me will have a place here to change the world!! I will prove that I am the superior race! Tazold! You'll see…"
"Would anyone support a guy like that?" Willy asked.
"Completely irrelevant. The trial will judge all of us equally. Finally, a woman like me might get a chance. Even against you men…" the young girl who had spoken first upon their arrival smiled.
At that moment, one boy stepped forward from their group.
"Really? And why do you think there will be equality here? You think everyone deserves that? If we stand for everything, we stand for nothing…"
"Okay! Then try to be wise… And why do you think there are women in the trial?" the girl asked, rolling her eyes.
"The opportunity exists… but in the end, performance and principles matter. Not feelings. I'm James. We came for the trial too."
The girl interrupted the introduction before Louis and the others could reply.
"Why do you think we came in teams?! At the trial, we'll fight against each other, right? But you know what, I'll give you the formality… why not? My name is Linnia, and you'll hear my name even beyond your death."
"What? Who does she think she is? As if her introduction is that important…" Louis muttered.
Then a woman in her forties stepped forward.
"My name is Saiyna," she said in a slightly uneasy but determined voice, then stepped back.
The man with the iron mask remained silent.
Then a figure stepped to the top of the hall's stairs, stopped by the railing, and began speaking:
"As there was light, so there was night. As there was fire, so scorching heat. And as we received love, evil was born with it. Every virtue and every sin of man's child sprang from the fruit of the seed of love. God planted the seed,
"Do they always overcomplicate everything in this world?" Linnia smiled.
Louis rolled his eyes. "How can this woman be so irritating?"
"...and nurtured trust within us not to let sin rot the garden of His creation with the flesh of beasts and the warmth of the sun. This was desecrated… The ideologies that guard the world today have become too corrupted. But here is your chance to change it. The trial will begin in twelve minutes."
"Yeah, sure… God, Amen, now finally start!" Tazold mocked.
"How can they be so disrespectful?… Would these people have been saved or helped by the judges? I doubt it… Surely, there was another way for them to come here," Louis quietly remarked to his teammates.
"There are really two energies ruling this world, Louis," Willy replied.
"So they didn't come here by the judges?"
"I suppose… Every atom has an antibody, right?.. There could have been another way…"
"So who brought them here then?"
"The servants of darkness…"
"Willy, you said you owed revenge to evil…"
"Hmm… yes, I said that… Otherwise how could I earn my desired path…"
"If you had killed yourself, you would have damned your soul, but now you want to prove your path to your rescuers to earn paradise… but tell me, what did they save you from? Did you really want to end your life?"
"Life took too much from me to believe it was an accident. I was searching for tangible proof… and answers."
"And did you find answers?"
"I started a treasure hunt… I… summoned demons into my power, searching for a relic."
"What relic?"
"Supposedly something with which you can control the miracle worker. I wanted to resurrect, to revive my son… But when I tried to use it… A strange figure appeared before me… And said: Fool, this is not the prophets' legacy… Don't do it! Then all my memories blurred, and I woke up in darkness with you…"
"So that's why Melin thought you almost killed yourself… Now I understand… If after the rescue you had returned to earth before the judges, you surely wouldn't have deserved paradise?"
"After unleashing a cursed earthly scepter's power almost on earth? After working with demons?"
"Hmm, I have done worse than that…" Tony interrupted.
"In that case, you'll have to prove yourself too, son… I can't wait out suffering on earth alone and uncertainly."
"You're right, Willy…"
"And what if you had simply committed suicide?" Tony asked.
"I already told you… I didn't know if there was heaven or hell… I didn't believe in those before… When I started researching the supernatural, I wasn't sure which one my son's soul ended up in if evil takes souls… According to Melin, they could only take his physical body… But he also said I couldn't go to heaven even if I ended my life in any way…"
"Hmm, I see…"
"And do you believe her?" Louis asked.
"For a long time, this is the only place that gives me a sure answer… I can only navigate with what I know… And do you remember what else she said?"
"That evil will try to attack us… We must be ruthless, I feel…"
The conversation was interrupted by the ringing of a bell… then the man continued his speech:
The duel of ideologies begins. You have been given the chance to influence and exercise power over earthly life – if you leave as winners, of course… The first day of the trial will start in moments. So I won't prolong time – let me introduce the rules of the first trial:
A huge canvas is spread on the stairs before the guests' eyes, and a projector displays an image on it:
RULES OF THE GAME – THE WEIGHT OF CHOICE
There are 12 players in total, divided into 3 teams. Every player starts with 3 points.
One team member can challenge a player from another team.
Teammates cannot attack each other.
The challenger then chooses from three categories: Emotion, Logic, Body.
Each category has 3 trials plus one neutral option – making a total of 12 possible challenges.
The exact task is determined by a roulette wheel.
The challenged player must complete the assigned trial.
If successful, they earn the challenger's point.
If they fail, the challenger gains the point.
The game ends after 3 players are eliminated.
SAVE
Save can only be used on a teammate.
Each player can use it once.
After activating a save, a rescue wheel draws from 7 options: Finger, Tooth, Skin, Blood, Fire, Head, Bone.
The rescuer performs the assigned task.
To reroll the wheel, 1 point must be sacrificed.
POINT = LIFE. DECISION = RESPONSIBILITY. Only those who can take… and sacrifice… remain.
---
"E...Is this really a trial...? A game...??"