After the kids and the school disappeared,
19th March 2030
The world outside had moved on, but for the parents of the missing students, time had stopped.
The school was gone. Not destroyed. Not in ruins. Just... gone.
Where the building once stood, there was nothing but an enormous, gaping hole—a perfect, black void that seemed to absorb all light. No rubble. No wreckage. Just an absence.
Police sirens wailed. Officers stood at the edge, shining flashlights into the emptiness, finding nothing. Experts were called in—scientists, engineers, even religious figures—but no one had an explanation.
Inside a dimly lit police station, a group of desperate parents sat in silence, their faces etched with exhaustion and fear. Some sobbed quietly. Others clutched photos of their children, their hands trembling.
A woman in a beige coat—Noa Williams' mother—gripped a cup of untouched coffee. She hadn't slept in days. Her eyes were hollow, fixed on the police officer speaking in front of them.
"We're doing everything we can," the officer said, his voice forced and official. "We have no leads yet, but we're expanding the search. If you have any new information—"
"A whole damn building disappeared," snapped Lucian Carter's father, slamming his fist on the table. "How the hell do you 'expand the search' on nothing?"
The officer hesitated. He had no answer.
Across the room, Ren Nakamura's father sat stiffly, his hands folded, his face cold. He hadn't spoken since he arrived.
Teachers were being questioned separately.
Even the ones who hadn't been inside the school at the time were shaken. They had seen it happen. One moment, the school was there, normal as ever. The next—
Gone.
One teacher, Mr. Calloway, Zayne's father, sat in stunned silence. He had been grading papers in the staff room when the entire world flickered like a broken television. The air hummed. A deep, unnatural pressure crushed his skull—
Then it was over. The school was gone.
Some of the teachers thought it was a gas explosion, but there was no smoke, no fire. Some whispered about government experiments, while others muttered about curses and higher powers.
Meanwhile, at the ruins, construction had already begun.
The school principal had wasted no time. He had hired contractors to build a new school over the missing one.
"The faster we move on, the better."
The workers, however, were uneasy.
There was something wrong with the ground beneath the construction site. Their tools glitched. Their machinery refused to function. Some swore they heard muffled screams coming from deep below.
None of them spoke about it. They just worked.
But as the first beams of the new building were placed, a deep rumbling echoed through the air—
As if something far below was shifting.
Waiting.
Somewhere Else...
The 14 remaining students stood frozen in terror.
The 5 High Beings had appeared.
Their forms twisted and pulsed, ever-shifting masses of flesh, metal, and machinery fused together in grotesque harmony. Their voices were both ancient and artificial, speaking in a chorus of distorted whispers.
Their forms shifted constantly, like glitches in reality. Their flesh was metallic, yet organic. Their eyes—if they even had them—burned with infinite, unreadable knowledge.
They loomed above the students, towering like grotesque, godlike monstrosities that had crawled out of a nightmare.
One of them, taller than the rest, spoke.
"Your existence is insignificant."
"Yet, paradoxically, it is everything."
The students stood frozen.
Some shook in terror. Others clenched their fists, trying to mask their fear.
Lucian Carter was the first to speak.
"What the hell are you talking about?!" He growled, his voice unsteady.
"Where are we?! What do you want from us?!"
The High Being did not move, but its face split open, revealing something far worse than a mouth—a spiraling, infinite abyss within its form.
"You are inside your own world, yet outside of it."
"A place between realities, where only we are in control."
Lucian took a step back. Noa grabbed Aria's arm, her nails digging into her skin.
"The purpose is simple," the being continued.
"You will play. You will suffer. You will endure."
"Because only one of you will survive."
A sharp, suffocating silence followed.
The students' eyes widened. Their bodies tensed.
Then, the first rule was spoken.
"You will be placed in the Trial of Seven Houses."
"Each house will be shared by two of you."
"Each house has seven floors. Each floor has something... waiting for you."
Some students flinched at the word waiting.
"You must climb. You must endure."
"There is no escape. You either reach the top, or you die."
Second rule.
"Whoever fails... disappears."
Ren Nakamura stiffened.
"Disappears?" His voice was cold, almost emotionless.
The being twisted its form, as if it found amusement in his question.
"Yes. But your bodies will be returned to where they belong."
The students exchanged glances. This meant—
They wouldn't actually die?
But they couldn't be sure.
The High Beings had no reason to tell the truth.
Final rule.
"Only one of you will survive."
"One of you is the Answer."
The Answer.
That word lingered in the air like a curse.
Reality shifted again.
The students felt themselves being pulled apart, stretched, distorted—
Then—
They were somewhere else.
The Houses.
The students stood before seven identical houses.
Each was tall, dark, and eerie—at least six to eight floors high, with rotting wooden doors and shattered windows.
There was no sound. No wind. No life. Just an endless, unsettling silence.
Each house had a rusted sign above the entrance, carved with strange symbols.
Lucian stepped forward, his fists clenched.
Noa swallowed hard.
Aria tightened her grip on her sleeves.
A sharp, cold bell rang.
The doors creaked open.
The game had begun.
Darkness swallowed them.
For a split second, they felt weightless.
As if their bodies were unraveling, stretched through an unseen force—
Then—
Thud.
Lucian landed hard on a dusty wooden floor. His head spun. "…What the hell?"
He wasn't alone.
Aria lay beside him, groaning as she pushed herself up. "…What just happened?"
They were no longer with the others.
Scattered Across the Void
Each pair awoke separately.
House 1 – Lucian & Aria
House 2 – Noa & Ren
House 3 – Darian & Elise
House 4 – Jace & Rowan
House 5 – Felix & Camilla
House 6 – Victor & Emilia
House 7 – Cyrus & Irene
Seven identical houses. Seven isolated nightmares.
Each pair stood inside a massive, decayed house, stretching impossibly tall, lost in a void of endless darkness.
There were no doors leading outside. No sign of the other houses.
Just an endless, black abyss beyond the windows.
And silence.
Then, in a voice that echoed through their minds—
"Climb."
"Reach the top, or be forgotten."
"Only one survives."
House 1 – Lucian & Aria
Lucian slowly stood, glancing around. The house felt… wrong.
It was too still.
The walls looked alive, breathing faintly.
A single wooden staircase spiraled up into the shadows.
Aria swallowed hard. "We have to climb."
Lucian clenched his fists. They had no choice.
They took the first step.
Upward.
House 2 – Noa & Ren
Noa pressed against a wall, her breathing shallow. "They separated us…?!"
Ren checked the room—a single candle flickered weakly. The house was massive, stretching up into darkness.
The air felt… heavy.
Something shifted in the shadows above them.
Ren exhaled sharply. "…We move. Now."
Noa hesitated, then nodded.
They stepped onto the staircase.
Upward.
House 3 – Darian & Elise
Darian brushed dust off his sleeves, glaring at the walls. "Tch. This place reeks of bullshit."
Elise shivered. The air was… thick. Wrong. "We should hurry."
The staircase loomed ahead.
They climbed.
Upward.
House 4 – Jace & Rowan
Rowan hesitated at the base of the stairs.
Something about the darkness above felt… alive.
Jace cracked his knuckles. "Only one survives, huh?" He smirked slightly. "Noted."
Rowan shot him a look but didn't respond.
They moved.
Upward.
The Seven Houses stood alone in the void.
No escape. No outside world. Only floors above them.
And something waiting at the top.
House 1 – Lucian & Aria
The wood beneath their feet creaked with every step.
The walls twitched.
Lucian's jaw clenched. He could hear it. A sound beneath the silence. A wet, slithering noise.
Aria hesitated, reaching for his arm. "…Did you hear that?"
Lucian didn't respond. He was staring ahead.
The hallway before them had changed.
The wooden floor was… bleeding.
Dark, thick liquid seeped through the cracks, pooling at their feet. The smell of iron hit them in waves, thick and suffocating.
Something moved in the corner of Aria's eye.
She turned her head—
The walls had eyes.
Hundreds of small, bloodshot human eyes had opened in the rotting wood, staring. Unblinking.
Lucian grabbed her wrist. "Move."
They ran.
House 2 – Noa & Ren
The first floor was endless.
Ren counted his steps, but the numbers stopped making sense. It had been at least ten minutes. Yet the stairs never came.
Noa wiped her hands against her shirt, her fingers trembling. "Are we… looping?"
Before Ren could answer, the ceiling cracked.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Noa looked up.
Her stomach turned.
From the cracks above, flesh was squeezing through—something wet and pulsing, sliding down like a newborn forcing itself into the world.
And then, with a horrible, tearing squelch—
It dropped.
It wasn't human.
It was skinned, its muscle tissue exposed, twitching as it crawled toward them with broken fingers. Its head was twisted completely backward, its jaw hanging open unnaturally wide.
Noa's breath caught.
The thing spoke.
"…How many steps?"
Ren grabbed Noa by the back of her shirt and shoved her forward. "RUN."
House 3 – Darian & Elise
Darian touched the walls. "…This isn't wood."
Elise didn't answer.
She was staring at the pictures lining the hallway.
The first was a painting of the two of them, standing right where they were.
The second painting showed them a few steps ahead.
The third…
Darian was dead.
A dark figure loomed over Elise in the fourth.
The fifth was blank.
She felt it before she heard it.
Something was breathing behind her.
She turned her head—
The painting had changed.
The blank canvas was now showing her turning her head to look.
And the figure was closer.
Behind her.
Darian yanked her forward, breaking her trance. "MOVE."
They ran.
Behind them, a wet dragging noise followed.
House 4 – Jace & Rowan
Jace tapped the walls. Hollow.
Rowan exhaled. "We should keep moving."
But then, the lights flickered.
Jace's shadow didn't move with him.
Rowan's breath hitched. "Your shadow—"
Jace turned his head.
His shadow was staring back.
Its head was split open, grinning with jagged, black teeth.
Then—
It stepped out of the floor.
Rowan shoved Jace aside as the shadow lunged.
Its arms stretched unnaturally long, fingers sharp like knives. It ripped itself from the floor, contorting into a tall, skeletal figure with Jace's face—but its mouth was too wide.
And it was laughing.
A shrill, distorted mockery of Jace's own voice.
Jace didn't hesitate.
He punched it.
His fist went through its face.
And then—his arm started sinking.
The shadow dragged him in.
Rowan grabbed him, yanking him back as the shadow's face stretched into something inhuman.
"The first floor is watching." It whispered. "The second floor is waiting."
Then it sank into the ground.
The lights flickered.
Jace's shadow was normal again.
But Rowan saw the grin before it faded.
Jace wiped his mouth, exhaling sharply. "…Okay. That's new."
Rowan didn't answer.
The second floor was waiting.
And they had no choice but to go up.
Upward.
Across the seven houses, the first floor had awakened.
And above them—
Something was breathing.
Waiting.
Hungry.
House 1 – Lucian & Aria
They reached the staircase.
Lucian paused. Something felt off.
The stairs stretched upwards into pure blackness—an unnatural, consuming void. The air around it buzzed as if something was whispering just outside the range of human hearing.
Aria hesitated. "…Do you see that?"
Lucian's hand twitched. "Yeah."
The staircase was breathing.
Each step expanded and contracted—a slow, sickening inhale and exhale.
Lucian placed a foot on the first step. It felt like flesh.
He clenched his jaw and moved forward. One step. Two.
Then—on the third step—
A sharp crack.
Lucian barely had time to react before the entire staircase twisted beneath him.
A mouth opened beneath his feet.
Rows of teeth burst from the steps, gnashing, grinding, hungry.
Aria yanked him back just as the stairs snapped shut, splintering into jagged fragments.
Lucian hit the ground, breathing hard. "Oh, great. It fucking bites."
The whispers grew louder.
Above them, something moved.
Something crawled down the walls, headfirst.
Lucian's breath caught.
It was human-shaped—but wrong.
Its limbs jerked with unnatural movements, joints bending the opposite way as it dragged itself toward them. Its face was stitched shut, but its throat moved—
It was laughing.
And then, as if it had heard his thoughts, the stitches on its lips snapped.
Its mouth split open—
Lucian grabbed Aria's wrist and ran.
House 2 – Noa & Ren
The stairs spiraled endlessly.
Ren gritted his teeth, gripping the railing. It was wet.
Noa wiped sweat from her brow. "How far up do we have to go?"
Ren didn't answer. He was staring at the shadows.
They weren't normal.
His own shadow was lagging behind.
Noa noticed. "…Ren?"
The shadow turned its head.
Ren froze.
"Go." He pushed Noa forward. "Go, NOW."
The shadow moved first.
It lunged.
Ren dodged, shoving Noa ahead as the darkness clawed at his feet. It grew teeth, stretching toward him, trying to pull him in.
Noa reached for him, gripping his hand. "MOVE, REN."
The shadows screamed.
They shot upward—rushing past them, devouring the stairs above.
Ren grabbed Noa and jumped just as the steps beneath them vanished.
They hit the next floor hard.
Ren coughed, rolling onto his side. His shadow was normal again.
Noa clenched her fists. "…I don't think we're supposed to make it past these floors."
Ren exhaled, staring at the dark hole where the stairs had once been.
"…Yeah."
House 3 – Darian & Elise
Elise climbed first.
The air was thick. Heavy. She could hear whispers in her ears—her own voice, over and over, mocking her.
"…Why do you even bother?"
"…You're going to die here."
"…He won't save you."
Darian was behind her. He heard nothing.
Then—on the fourth step—
Elise sank.
Hands burst from the stairs, clawing at her ankles.
Darian reacted instantly. He grabbed her arm and pulled hard.
But the hands wouldn't let go.
They dug into Elise's flesh, leaving deep purple bruises.
She screamed.
Darian yanked harder. The arms snapped.
Elise was free.
But when they looked back—
The hands had formed a body.
And it was smiling.
"We will see you again on the next floor."
House 4 – Jace & Rowan
Jace was limping. The stairs had cut into his foot.
Rowan looked ahead. "…We're here."
The second floor.
The air was thick. Oppressive.
The walls twitched.
Jace clenched his jaw. "I hate this."
The lights flickered.
Then—
The walls opened their eyes.
Hundreds of human faces—**distorted, writhing, stitched together—**began to whisper.
Rowan grabbed Jace's arm. "We need to move."
Jace couldn't.
The faces were familiar.
His own.
They laughed.
Then, in unison—
They all screamed.
House 1 – Lucian & Aria
The second floor was breathing.
The walls pulsed—a grotesque rhythm, like the insides of a living beast.
Lucian wiped the sweat from his brow, but the air was humid, sticky— it clung to his skin like a second layer of flesh.
Aria froze. "Lucian…"
Lucian turned—
The walls peeled open.
It wasn't paint. It was skin.
Rows of eyes, mismatched, unnatural, rolled inside their sockets, blinking at them with slow, disgusting wet sounds. Mouths formed in between—lips cracked, gums black, teeth shattered and uneven.
And then—
They spoke.
"You shouldn't be here."
Lucian's stomach dropped.
The mouths stretched open—too wide—too wrong—
And then, from deep inside the walls, something pushed forward.
A body. Half-formed. Dripping in flesh and exposed bone.
Lucian's fingers twitched. "Run."
Aria was already moving.
But the floor collapsed beneath them.
Lucian barely had time to grab her before they fell—
Straight into a pit of writhing, screaming faces.
House 2 – Noa & Ren
The floor was not a floor.
It was a pit of bones.
Noa's boots crunched down. A deep, sickening snap echoed up the halls.
Ren exhaled, slow. "I don't like this."
Then the bones twitched.
Ren froze.
Noa looked down. Her foot was sinking.
The bones were pulling her in.
She kicked—hard— but the remains clamped onto her ankle, dragging her down.
Ren grabbed her arm, pulling with all his strength.
But the bones were alive.
A skull turned its head up.
It was grinning.
"Let her go," Ren snarled.
The bones laughed.
Then—they answered.
"Trade."
Ren's chest tightened. He already knew what it meant.
Noa gets out. He goes in.
He hesitated.
The bones did not.
They yanked her under.
She was gone.
Ren's lungs seized. "NOA—"
Then—darkness.
The floor was empty.
Ren was alone.
And the only thing left was the skull—staring up at him, still grinning.
House 3 – Darian & Elise
Elise's skin burned.
Darian was dragging her.
Behind them— the walls rippled, split, birthed things that shouldn't exist.
Creatures. Bone-thin. Hollow sockets where their eyes should be.
And in their hands—
Rusty, jagged blades.
Elise gasped. "Darian—"
He didn't answer.
He turned—and threw her forward.
Elise hit the floor just as the creatures lunged.
The first blade sliced into Darian's back.
He choked.
Blood splattered the floor.
Elise screamed.
Darian collapsed. The creatures descended on him.
Their knives didn't stab.
They peeled.
Skin first.
Then muscle.
Darian's screams broke apart as his throat tore open from the force of it.
Elise ran.
But as she reached the next room—
A voice whispered behind her.
Soft. Wet.
"We can put him back together."
She froze.
Then slowly turned.
Darian was standing.
His body was stitched back together.
His eyes weren't his.
And when he opened his mouth—
It was someone else's voice.
House 4 – Jace & Rowan
The second floor was a hallway.
But the walls were moving.
Jace exhaled sharply. "This place is worse than hell."
Rowan nodded. "Let's go."
Then—a wet, sticky noise.
Jace turned.
His own body was standing behind him.
But it wasn't him.
The copy smiled.
Its arms ripped open at the seams, splitting down to the bone as its fingers extended into needles.
Jace's breath hitched. "What the fu—"
The copy moved.
Faster than it should. Faster than anything human.
The needles shot forward.
Jace barely dodged. The wall behind him screeched as the needles impaled through it like spears.
Rowan pulled out his knife. "Don't."
The copy tilted its head.
Then, in Jace's own voice—
"You don't need two of you."
It lunged.
And Jace realized—
It wasn't trying to kill him.
It was trying to replace him.
They fell.
The faces reached for them—skin stretching, jaws snapping, hands clawing at their clothes, their hair, their flesh.
House 1
Lucian kicked violently, grabbing Aria by the wrist.
They slammed into something solid.
Not the floor. Not wood.
Flesh.
Lucian looked down—and his stomach dropped.
They were standing on a human torso.
A giant one.
The skin was stitched together with crude, black wire, barely holding in the writhing, moving mass beneath it.
And then—
It breathed.
A deep, sucking inhale.
The stitches strained.
Lucian's blood went cold. "Run."
They moved.
Aria's boots slammed into the fleshy, uneven surface as she sprinted toward what looked like a doorway—but the skin beneath them shuddered.
Then—it split.
Aria fell.
Lucian reached for her—but something else grabbed her first.
A hand.
No.
Hands.
Hundreds of them. Small. Child-like. Twisting out of the flesh below.
They dug their nails into Aria's skin and began pulling her downward.
She screamed.
Lucian grabbed her—yanking, pulling— but the hands were stronger.
Then—
From deep within the open cavity beneath them, something else moved.
Lucian's breath hitched.
It was a head.
But not human.
Its mouth stretched ear to ear. Its eyes rolled—empty, white, bleeding.
It opened its mouth—
And sang.
A lullaby.
Soft. Sweet.
Lucian's grip weakened.
His vision blurred.
Aria's screams faded.
The flesh opened wider.
And the hands pulled her under.
Gone.
Lucian stood there, swaying—unable to move.
The lullaby grew softer.
And then—
The hands returned.
Reaching for him.
House 2 – Noa & Ren
Noa woke up in the dark.
Her head pounded. Her throat was dry. Her body felt… wrong.
She reached for her leg—and froze.
It wasn't her leg.
It was bone.
Her hands shook violently as she ran them down her calf—her skin ended at the knee.
Below it—exposed, polished bone.
Her breath came sharp, broken, uneven.
Then—
A sound.
A wet scraping.
She turned too fast.
A shadow moved in the corner of the room.
No.
Not a shadow.
A figure.
Tall. Thin. Twisting unnaturally.
It stepped forward.
Noa's lungs seized.
It was wearing her skin.
Her skin.
It draped over its skeletal body like a loose, ill-fitting coat, sagging in places where it didn't belong.
The thing reached up, grabbing at its face—Noa's face— pulling the flesh tighter, adjusting it.
Then—it smiled.
Noa screamed.
And the thing lunged.
House 3 – Darian & Elise
Elise was trapped.
The walls had melted shut behind her, sealing her inside a narrow, twisting corridor.
Darian—or whatever he had become—stood at the other end.
His stitched body swayed.
Elise took a step back.
Darian took a step forward.
His jaw cracked.
Then—
He spoke.
"Elise, please."
His voice was wrong.
Layered.
Like there were dozens of voices underneath, speaking at once.
She shook her head violently. "No. No, you're not him."
Darian's stitched smile widened.
"But I can be."
The seams on his face burst open.
Inside, there was nothing.
Just a gaping, endless black void.
Then—
The void moved.
Hands reached out.
Hundreds. Crawling, writhing, stretching toward her.
Elise ran.
The hands followed.
Dragging themselves across the walls, peeling skin and meat away as they pulled the darkness forward.
She screamed.
But her voice was swallowed by the dark.
And Darian laughed.
House 4 – Jace & Rowan
The thing wearing Jace's face moved first.
Jace dove out of the way just as the needle-thin fingers slammed into the floor, splintering the wood into shards.
Rowan charged.
The thing turned too fast—too smooth— and split its mouth open.
Not wide.
All the way.
From ear to ear, down the throat, past where its stomach should be—
Inside, it was all teeth.
Rowan staggered. "What the fuck—"
The thing lunged.
Jace grabbed Rowan's arm— yanking him back just in time as the jaws snapped closed on empty air.
The thing grinned.
Then—it split.
Jace's blood ran cold.
Its entire body peeled open, from head to toe, like a butterfly tearing out of a cocoon.
Inside—
It was full of hands.
Hundreds. Thousands.
All of them Jace's hands.
They reached forward.
And they pulled Jace inside.
House 5 – Lily & Carson
Lily was covered in blood.
But it wasn't hers.
It wasn't Carson's.
It was the house's.
The walls were bleeding.
Thick. Black. Choking.
It dripped from the ceiling, pooling at their feet.
Carson gagged. "Lily—"
The blood moved.
It slithered, stretched, shaped itself.
Arms. Legs. A head.
Then—it turned its face toward them.
It was Carson's face.
But wrong.
The skin was melting.
The eyes were screaming.
And then—it reached for them.
Carson froze.
Lily grabbed his wrist. "MOVE—"
The thing screamed.
And the entire house shook.
The walls split open, black blood pouring out in rivers, drowning the floor, swallowing their feet—
Lily gasped.
Then—
Carson's hand was gone.
She turned—
He was gone.
And in the blood—dozens of Carson's faces surfaced.
Screaming.
The Third Floor had claimed its victims.
And above them—
The High Beings watched.
Their mouths stretched open.
Smiling.
House 1 – Lucian & Aria
Lucian was drowning in hands.
They wrapped around his throat, his arms, his legs— pulling him downward.
The lullaby continued.
Soft. Gentle. Twisting inside his skull.
Aria was gone.
The flesh beneath him throbbed.
And then—
It opened.
Not like before.
This time, it was deliberate.
The stitches peeled apart, thread by thread—revealing something underneath.
Lucian couldn't breathe.
It was a mirror.
But not just any mirror.
He saw himself.
His body.
Torn open. Hollowed out. Hung up like a skinned animal.
His own eyes stared back at him.
But—
He was smiling.
Then, his reflection spoke.
"Come inside."
The hands dragged him under.
House 2 – Noa & Ren
Noa ran.
Her exposed bone-leg clicked against the floor, raw nerves screaming.
The thing wearing her skin followed, its movements broken, jerking—like a puppet with strings too tight.
She dove into a dark hallway, panting.
The air was thick.
No.
Not just thick.
It was breathing.
A heartbeat pulsed around her.
Then—
A voice.
Hers.
"Why are you running?"
Noa froze.
The darkness parted.
And there—
Hanging from the ceiling, like a crucifix of flesh—
Was her own body.
Skinned. Still alive.
It lifted its faceless head.
"Come back inside."
Something grabbed her from behind.
And pulled.
House 3 – Darian & Elise
Elise was trapped.
The corridor had no end.
Behind her—Darian's void-mouth stretched wider.
Ahead—the walls trembled.
Then—they opened.
Not like doors.
Like jaws.
Teeth lined the walls.
The floor.
The ceiling.
The entire house was alive.
And it was hungry.
Darian laughed.
Elise screamed.
And the house swallowed her whole.
House 4 – Jace & Rowan
Jace was inside the thing.
No.
Not inside.
He was the thing.
Hundreds of his own hands crawled over his skin, reshaping him, twisting his body.
Rowan watched, frozen.
Jace's face melted.
He became something else.
Something endless.
Then—
The hands reached for Rowan.
And dragged him inside, too.
House 5 – Lily & Carson
Carson was everywhere.
His faces filled the blood.
Lily clawed at her throat, gasping.
The black liquid crawled up her legs, over her chest—
And then—
The faces turned.
Hundreds of Carson's eyes locked onto her.
Then—
They screamed.
The blood erupted.
And Lily was gone.
House 1 – Lucian & Aria
Lucian woke up inside himself.
Not a metaphor.
He was inside his own body.
The flesh around him throbbed like a living, breathing cavern.
He moved, and the walls twitched.
A heartbeat boomed from somewhere deep.
He tried to scream—
But his throat was stitched shut.
Then, he heard it.
A violin.
Screeching.
Notes that weren't meant for human ears.
Lucian clawed at his own skin, ripping himself open, trying to escape—
And the moment his fingertips tore through the muscle—
Something grabbed him from the other side.
Something with his own hands.
And pulled.
House 2 – Noa & Ren
Noa was dangling.
Her arms were tied in violin strings, stretching her skin so tightly that she could see the pale muscle underneath.
Ren stood in front of her.
His eyes were gone.
In their place, open wounds dripped black ink.
He held a bow.
A violinist's bow.
And he raised it.
He placed it against her exposed ribs—
And played.
The sound that came out wasn't music.
It was screaming.
Noa's own screaming.
Her bones vibrated, cracking.
Ren's hands moved faster, tearing sound from her body.
He was crying.
But he didn't stop.
Because something was making him play.
And if he stopped—
He would take her place.
Noa's screams became music.
And the house sang.
House 3 – Darian & Elise
Elise opened her mouth to scream—
And a bowstring was pulled through her throat.
Her own vocal cords had been turned into an instrument.
The hands of the house plucked at her tendons, creating a melody of pure agony.
Darian was on the floor, coughing up blood.
No.
Not blood.
Teeth.
His body was spitting them out, one by one, onto the cold floor.
And then—
The house began to eat them.
The teeth rolled up the walls like insects, burrowing into the flesh of the house.
Darian tried to run—
But his feet were already fusing with the floor.
He was becoming part of it.
Becoming part of the song.
House 4 – Jace & Rowan
Rowan covered his ears.
It didn't help.
The walls were screaming.
Not voices.
Violins.
The floorboards were splitting apart, revealing veins underneath, pulsing with music.
Jace stood in the center of the room, his body stretched like a marionette.
Strings pierced through his limbs, holding him upright.
His mouth opened wide—too wide.
And from his throat, a cello's deep wail erupted.
His ribs were the strings.
Something was playing him.
Rowan collapsed, clutching his head.
But the music climbed inside his skull.
He could feel it, ripping him apart note by note.
He wasn't just hearing it.
He was becoming it.
House 5 – Lily & Carson
Carson staggered into the next room.
Everything was black and red.
The walls bled music, dripping notes that sank into his skin.
Then—
A figure.
A conductor.
Dressed in rotting flesh, its face covered in a mask made of screaming mouths.
It turned toward him—
And raised its baton.
The music stopped.
Everything was silent.
Then—
The conductor pointed at Lily.
And the orchestra began again.
But this time, it wasn't music.
It was her screams.
Carson watched as her skin was peeled like sheet music, each strip played like a violin.
And the conductor smiled.
Because the song wasn't over yet.
Above them—
The High Beings listened.
The fifth floor was nearly finished.
Their music was perfect.
But it still needed a final note.
One last sacrifice.
The floor began to shift again.
The survivors were chosen.
And the next trial would begin.
House 1 – Lucian & Aria
Lucian collapsed onto cold wood.
His skin was slick with blood—his own or something else, he didn't know.
He had just torn himself free from his own body, only to wake up on a new floor.
The air was thick.
Rot.
He could taste it.
Aria was on the ground, gagging.
Her fingernails snapped as she clawed at her throat, trying to vomit out whatever was inside her.
Lucian staggered to his feet, and that's when he noticed—
The walls were moving.
No. Not walls.
Flesh.
Towering, decayed bodies.
Some were missing eyes.
Some were missing everything.
They weren't standing.
They were piled on top of each other, stretching from the floor to the ceiling.
And they were breathing.
Aria screamed.
Because one of them turned its head.
And its mouth opened wider than any human should be able to.
Lucian grabbed her hand—
And the bodies began to fall.
House 2 – Noa & Ren
Ren was running.
Noa wasn't.
Because Noa's legs weren't there anymore.
She was dragging herself forward, leaving a thick smear of blood behind.
Ren was sobbing, screaming her name—
But the thing behind them was faster.
It had no limbs.
Just a writhing, pulsating torso.
Its mouth was where its stomach should be, opening and closing like a gaping wound.
The stench of rot poured out of it.
Noa looked up.
A door.
If she could just—
The thing lunged.
And bit down.
Ren heard the crunch.
The wet, snapping sound of bone and tendons ripping apart.
Noa was gone.
Just like that.
And the thing laughed.
A guttural, hollow laugh.
Ren didn't move.
He couldn't.
Because he had just realized something.
The door—
It wasn't a way out.
It was a mouth.
And it was already opening.
House 3 – Darian & Elise
Elise was staring at Darian.
No.
Not Darian.
Not anymore.
Because Darian had changed.
His skin was peeling, layer by layer.
Revealing something underneath.
Not muscle.
Not bone.
Something else.
Something that shouldn't exist.
A network of writhing veins and tendrils, stitched together with tiny, chattering teeth.
His fingers bent backward.
His eyes liquefied.
And he laughed.
Not in pain.
In joy.
Because the rot had reached his brain.
And now—
He belonged to it.
Elise turned to run—
But the rot was already inside her.
She fell to her knees.
And she laughed too.
House 4 – Jace & Rowan
Rowan was crawling.
His arms were shaking.
Something was wrong with his bones.
They were soft.
Melting.
Jace was behind him, dragging himself forward.
Neither of them could stand.
Because the floor was dissolving them.
Each step, each movement—
They sank deeper.
Their legs were fusing with the house.
Rowan looked back—
And Jace was gone.
Just a wet, pulsing stain on the floor.
And the stain was moving toward him.
Rowan screamed.
But his voice melted too.
And then—
There was only silence.
House 5 – Lily & Carson
Carson was holding Lily's hand.
She was cold.
She had stopped breathing.
He didn't know when.
All he knew was that he was alone now.
Surrounded by figures in the dark.
They were watching him.
Not moving.
Not breathing.
Just watching.
Then—
One of them stepped forward.
And Carson finally saw its face.
It was him.
A rotted, broken version of himself.
Its jaw hung loose, the flesh split down the middle.
It smiled.
And it whispered.
"Your turn."
Above them—
The High Beings watched.
The Sixth Floor had chosen its survivors.
The rest—
Were gone.
And now—
Only one floor remained.
The Final Trial.
The Last House.
And the Last Survivor.
House 1 – Lucian
Lucian staggered forward.
His clothes were soaked in blood—some of it his, most of it not.
Aria was gone.
She had been swallowed.
Not by a monster.
Not by the house.
By herself.
Her own lungs had twisted inside out, her skin had peeled backward, and in the end—
She had become something else.
Lucian had run.
Now—
He was here.
The final floor.
The ceiling above him stretched endlessly.
The walls were lined with doors.
Hundreds of them.
No handles.
No locks.
No way out.
And in the center—
A mirror.
Lucian's reflection stared back at him.
But it wasn't him.
It spoke first.
"You're the last one."
Lucian froze.
The last?
There were others.
Noa. Ren. Darian. Elise. Jace. Rowan. Lily. Carson.
They were all here.
Right?
He turned.
Nothing.
Just the empty, breathing walls.
The mirror spoke again.
"They didn't make it."
Lucian's chest tightened.
No.
No, that wasn't—
He turned back to the mirror.
His reflection was smiling.
"Only one can survive."
And then—
It reached out.
Its fingers slipped through the glass like liquid.
Lucian stumbled back.
But the hand grabbed him.
It was cold.
No—
Empty.
Like touching the absence of something, rather than something itself.
Lucian screamed.
The mirror rippled.
And then—
It swallowed him.
The Void Between Worlds
Lucian was floating.
Or falling.
Or both.
Around him—
Nothing.
Just endless black.
And then—
A voice.
"You were always meant to be here."
It wasn't human.
It was them.
The High Beings.
Lucian couldn't move.
He wasn't sure if he even had a body anymore.
"You are the last. The only one left."
He tried to scream.
He tried to fight.
But there was no air.
No sound.
Only the truth.
He was alone.
He was the one.
The winner.
A crack in reality opened.
A body fell out.
Noa.
Ren.
Darian.
Elise.
Jace.
Rowan.
Lily.
Carson.
All of them.
Alive.
Breathing.
But different.
They had been changed.
They didn't remember.
Didn't remember the house.
Didn't remember dying.
They were just here.
They all fell inside a rectangular void-like room where the other 35 lost students were with them too.
Which meant the ones who lost the game didnt actually die.
Including them, the number of students in the room were 48.
The two missing were….
Elio and Lucian.
Above It All
The High Beings watched.
The game was done.
The winner was chosen.
And now—
They would see if the cycle would break.
Or begin again.
End of Chapter 4-B.