After a dizzying, weightless moment, everyone materialized inside a vast, ornate mansion. The transition left Koby's senses swimming; the sterile white of the trial room was replaced by dark wood paneling, high vaulted ceilings, and the scent of old parchment and dust. He steadied himself, exchanging quick glances with Kai and James. They were all here, all whole—for now.
Around them, the population had swelled. The mansion's grand hall was crowded with far more people than the fifty-five survivors from the White Room. Others had joined them—strangers with the same shell-shocked expressions, some clutching injuries, others just standing frozen. They weren't alone in this nightmare, whatever this was. The air hummed with low, anxious whispers.
Then, the air before them shimmered, and the faceless creature—Nexarion—appeared once more, its jagged smile cutting across its blank visage like a scar.
"It seems you are now worthy of knowing my name," it announced, its voice smooth and cold, resonating in the cavernous space. "I am Nexarion. Use it with respect."
A bitter silence followed. Respect was the last thing any of them felt.
"The second stage for qualifications to be in the scenes will now begin," Nexarion continued, unmoved by their fear. "Keep your strength up and don't die if you want to pass the qualifications round."
With that, it vanished through a closing rift, leaving behind a chilling finality.
Almost immediately, a harsh, blaring alarm echoed through the mansion. Then a detached, synthetic voice filled the air:
"Survival Mode activated."
"Objective: Survive the Forest of Shoggoths."
"Time limit: Two weeks."
"Personal weaponry for all surviving candidates has been unlocked.
"Skill sets have been unlocked."
"Survival mode starts in 5 hours."
The words hung in the air, heavy and game-like. Kai let out a tense breath. "Sounds just like a game."
"Personal weaponry?" Koby muttered, scanning the room. "How do we find that?"
"I'm guessing we should have windows that show us," James said, nodding toward a few individuals who were already summoning weapons from thin air—swords, staves, even glowing orbs appearing from small, shimmering rifts.
James fell silent for a moment, then made a slight, experimental gesture with his hand. A rift, no larger than a dinner plate, spiraled open in front of him. He reached in and pulled out a plain but sturdy-looking longsword.
"How did you do that?" Koby asked, stepping closer.
"Thought about 'inventory,' and a window appeared showing me this," James explained, hefting the blade.
Following his lead, Koby and Kai focused. Koby felt a subtle tug in his mind, and a translucent interface flickered before his eyes—a simple list with icons. He willed the first item forward, and with a flash of light, a pair of balanced, well-made hatchets materialized in his hands. Across from him, Kai summoned an elegant, recurved bow made of a pale, unfamiliar material.
Kai observed the bow, marveling at its intricate design. He noticed there were no physical arrows. Frowning, he drew the string back experimentally. A surge of energy flowed from his arm into the bow, coalescing into a shimmering arrow of pure light. He released it without a target—just toward a blank section of the far wall. The energy arrow shot forth silently and pierced clean through the wooden paneling, leaving a smoldering hole.
"What's that skill called?" Koby asked, impressed despite himself.
"Moon Whisper," Kai said, reading the skill name from his interface. He chuckled as he watched Koby give his hatchets a little practice spin.
All around the hall, others were testing their newfound abilities. Some wielded swords, axes, or spears. Others—like a girl with sparks dancing between her fingers—manifested elemental magic: fire, ice, arcs of electricity. The distribution felt arbitrary, cruel in its randomness.
"I get the cliché sword, eh?" James said, a bit disappointed as he inspected his blade.
"Well, if you got the sword, it must mean you have some mean sword skills, right?" Kai asked.
"Level 2," James stated flatly.
"What's yours?" Kai turned to Koby.
"Dual Bite. Level 4."
"Why do you get the higher level?" Kai said, patting Koby's shoulder with a wry smile.
"I don't know. Just lucky, I guess," Koby laughed, though it felt hollow.
Just then, a familiar voice called out. "Kai! Koby!"
The trio turned to see Britney, Rachael, Jugo, and Raya pushing through the crowd toward them. They were casual friends from campus—faces from a life that already felt years gone. Their expressions were a mix of confusion and raw terror; they clearly had no idea what was happening.
James stepped forward, his demeanor shifting into something calmer, more reassuring. "I'll fill them in," he said quietly to Koby and Kai. "You two scout. We need to know this place."
Koby and Kai nodded, splitting off to explore the mansion. It was a labyrinth of corridors and rooms, opulent but worn. Faded tapestries depicted unfamiliar constellations, and dust motes danced in the slivers of pale light filtering through high, grimy windows.
Koby entered a side room that might have once been a study. The building's structure was old but sturdy. His eyes were drawn to scraps of new wood littering the floor—fresh planks, cleanly cut. He knelt, picked one up, and sniffed it. It smelled of pine and sap, unmistakably new. The quality was good, hard and dense. Someone had been repairing this place recently. But why?
He was about to leave when the doorway darkened.
Clifford stood there, flanked by a group of boys—some classmates Koby recognized, others strangers. They had already formed an alliance. That was fast.
"Careful, guys," Clifford sneered, his voice dripping with mock caution. "It's the murderer."
Koby took a deep, silent breath, assessing the situation. Clifford held a grudge for Gregory's death, and now he had numbers. Koby didn't like his odds if this turned violent.
Yet, in the midst of this opposition, a strange, cold smile touched his lips. He finally couldn't give a damn anymore. Society's rules were lost. This was a survival-of-the-fittest world, raw and simple. Not everyone understood it yet, but Koby did. He'd felt caged by the old world's expectations; in a twisted way, he'd been waiting for this his whole life.
He traced his fingers, ready to summon his axes. "Can you let me pass?"
"Maybe I should," Clifford taunted, stepping closer. "But I don't feel like it."
Feeling the threat solidify, Koby called his weapons to hand. But Clifford was faster. With a quick gesture, he channeled a surge of earthy energy. The floor beneath Koby's feet liquefied, turning into churning quicksand that sucked at his boots, trapping him in place.
Shit. I'm gonna die, Koby thought, struggling uselessly as the ground pulled him down to his knees.
One of Clifford's lackeys stepped forward, a crude metal pipe in hand, aiming for Koby's head.
A searing beam of light cut across the room.
It struck the boy's hand, tearing through flesh and bone with a sickening sizzle. For a second, the boy stared in disbelief at his mangled, half-severed hand. Then the pain hit, and his scream shattered the tense silence.
All eyes shot to the doorway opposite.
Kai stood there, bow raised, a dangerous smirk on his face. "Don't tell me you're gonna die before we even get started, Koby?"
"Shut up," Koby laughed, relief and adrenaline surging through him.
"Kill them!" Clifford shouted, enraged. He threw up his hands, and a wall of packed earth erupted from the floor, providing cover from Kai's beams.
In the brief distraction, Koby focused his aura into his legs, pushing against the sucking sand with a burst of strength. He tore himself free, rolling to the side as the boy with the injured hand lunged clumsily. Koby's hatchet flashed upward, catching him under the chin. He didn't wait to watch him fall; using the body as a gruesome shield, he shoved it into the group, scattering them.
He swept the legs out from another boy and hacked downward, severing one leg at the thigh. A cry of agony filled the room. Another came from behind; Koby spun, landing a roundhouse kick to the face that sent the attacker staggering, then buried a hatchet in his shoulder.
In the chaos, someone tried to flank Koby with a knife aimed at his neck. Another beam from Kai blew the attacker's head apart before the strike could land.
Koby risked a glance at Kai. His friend was pale, one hand braced against the wall, vomiting from the gore but still firing, still covering him. Koby's own fear rose—cold and nauseating—but he shoved it down. He couldn't let Kai see it. He had to be the strong one, the anchor for him and James.
With a loud, raw battle cry that tore from his throat, Koby launched himself back at the group.
Kai was holding his own, firing precise shots, always moving. Clifford, however, was proving dangerous. He'd been an experienced gamer in the real world, and it showed. He created waist-high earthen walls for quick cover, lobbing boulders in the direction of Kai's arrows, trying to predict his movements.
Suddenly, Kai flipped through the air, landing neatly with his back against Koby's. The fight paused for a split second, both sides panting.
"I don't have defenses," Kai muttered between gritted teeth. "Clifford keeps targeting me."
"I'll cover the boulders then," Koby said, grinning fiercely. Blood dripped from a cut on his temple, painting a streak down his cheek.
The first of Clifford's remaining allies charged. Kai fired, and as Clifford hurled a boulder the size of a melon toward Kai, Koby pivoted, swinging both hatchets in a cross-strike. The stone shattered into dust. In the same motion, Koby hurled one hatchet spinning toward Clifford, who blocked it with a hastily raised earthen wall. Kai immediately shot an energy arrow into the wall, exploding it into a cloud of dust and debris.
As the dust cleared, Clifford was already shaping another boulder—but he froze.
Koby was mid-air, having used the smokescreen to close the distance, his remaining hatchet raised high, mere centimeters from Clifford's face.
"Dual Bite," Koby muttered. The hatchets in both his hands glowed with an intense, bright blue light.
But before the blow could land, a high-pitched, concussive sound wave erupted through the room. It was physical, a wall of force that threw Koby and Clifford apart and sent everyone else staggering, clutching their ears in pain.
When the ringing subsided, Rory stood in the doorway, hands in his pockets, looking utterly unbothered.
"Do I really need to stop every fight between you two?" he asked, his gaze sweeping over the sprawled, groaning forms.
"I get that you hate each other," he continued, his voice calm but carrying, "but we have less than two minutes before Survival Mode starts. Be practical about this."
With that, he turned and walked away, leaving behind a stunned, painful silence.
After a few seconds of collecting themselves, Kai and Koby headed out of the room to rejoin their group. James took one look at them—bloodied, bruised, but alive—and smirked.
"Already getting in trouble, eh, Koby?" he said, moving forward to check Koby's injuries.
"He'll live," Kai said, leaning against the wall, his bow still in hand.
Before anything more could be said, a deafening gong reverberated through the mansion. A notification window burned before every survivor's eyes:
Survival Mode: START
Forest of Shoggoths
From outside the thick walls of the mansion came shrieks—high, ululating, and utterly inhuman. The sounds stopped abruptly, leaving a silence more terrifying than the noise.
Then, with a splintering crash, the mansion's front doors exploded inward.
A Shoggoth filled the doorway. It was a grotesque, pulsating mass of mottled flesh and writhing tentacles, with a single, lidless eye rolling in its center. One tentacle, tipped with a sharp, bony spike, shot out faster than anyone could react. It pierced clean through the chest of a girl standing near the front, lifting her off her feet. Everyone watched, horror-struck, as the light faded from her wide eyes. The creature retracted its tentacle, letting her body slump to the floor.
More shrieks echoed as other Shoggoths stormed into the mansion. Panic turned into a chaotic, desperate battle for survival.
Amid the chaos, another window popped up:
Shoggoth Stampede
4 hours remaining
A countdown began glowing in the corner of Koby's vision. The Shoggoths were already tearing through the crowd, tentacles lashing, bodies falling.
"This way!" Kai yelled, spotting an open door down a side hall. He dashed inside, signaling frantically.
Koby, James, and the others—Rachael, Jugo, Raya, and Britney—piled in after him. Koby slammed the door shut and immediately started barricading it with a heavy dresser and a splintered table.
A frantic pounding came from the other side, followed by Britney's tearful voice. "Open the door, please! Please!"
Koby signaled to Kai, who rushed to barricade the room's single window with a bookshelf.
"Koby, let her in!" Rachael pleaded, her face pale.
"If that door opens, we won't have time to re-barricade it," Koby said, his voice hard. "We'll all die."
"She's our friend!" Rachael shouted, hitting him on the shoulder.
"Do I look like I care?!" Koby shouted back, shoving the dresser harder against the door.
"It's one life over six others. And she's probably dead by now."
"Please, Koby," Raya begged from where she crouched, tears streaming down her face. "Let her in."
"I will not risk it."
In that instant, James strode over. Without a word, he drove his fist hard into Koby's solar plexus. The air blasted from Koby's lungs, and he crumpled, gasping, as James held him down. With his other hand, James yanked the barricade aside, unlocked the door, and pulled a sobbing Britney inside. He had the door locked and barricaded again almost as quickly.
Everyone but Koby heaved a shaky sigh of relief. From beyond the door, they heard bangings, tearing sounds, and fading screams.
Coughing violently, Koby pushed himself up, glaring at James with raw anger. The looks from Rachael and Jugo were clear: they saw Koby as a villain, a monster. James was the hero.
"Why'd you do that?" Koby groaned, clutching his stomach.
"You wanted to let Britney die!" Rachael shrieked at him.
"Shut up!! You're giving me a headache," Koby snarled, his head pounding.
Suddenly, a wet, piercing sound cut through the tension.
A slick, gray tentacle, tipped in bone, erupted from inside the room. It speared clean through Jugo's chest from behind. He looked down, confused, as blood bloomed across his shirt. Then his eyes went blank, and he collapsed.
Everyone froze, their gazes shifting in horror to Britney.
A single tear traced a clean line through the dirt on her cheek. Then her body began to change. Her skin bubbled and darkened, fangs sprouted from her elongating jaw, and her eyes turned a solid, glossy black. The thing that was once Britney let out a low, guttural gurgle.
It flung Jugo's lifeless body aside and whipped a tentacle toward Raya.
Kai moved without thinking, heaving a small table into the tentacle's path, deflecting it. He fired an energy arrow, but the monster was agile, skittering across the wall with unnatural speed.
Koby pulled out his axes, the blue glow of Dual Bite already igniting along the blades. He locked eyes with James, his voice a low, accusing growl.
"If anyone else dies in this room… it's on you."
James tightened his grip on his sword, his face a mask of grim determination as he faced the transformed horror in their midst.