The lights in the observation chamber flickered once, dimming just enough to set the room on edge.
Elea Mourad stood at the center of the half-moon table, her pale green eyes locked on to the glowing interface where the team's feed had just vanished.
All around her, Gold Rank Paladin stood from their seats, voices sharp, questions overlapping in a rising tide of alarm.
"Where are they?"
"Was that a Game Ego?"
"What just happened?"
Many different voices at the same time, even the non-powered council behind them began to add their voices too.
Elea didn't flinch. Her tone was even, but there was tension in the way her jaw locked. "I don't know," she said plainly. "But Vincent Coulby was still just using his Ego like anyone else would."
There were no restrictions on a person's Ego within the trials, even ones that transported you to a completely different territory. But they did have to be informed.
When they applied they were meant to state whether they would use it or not since many chose not to and instead use other means to fight. This was so that they would have their own ways to monitor them and make sure no foul play was going on.
That was clearly stated for good reason. Now, as standard protocol asked of them, they were to treat this as an attack. Elea's fingers tapped the edge of the interface once, a sharp sound in the noise. "We should contact headquarters now. Tell them to send in some specialists. We need to start identifying the conditions of the space. And whatever conditions it may have and then find a way to enter."
"Absolutely not." A loud bark came from the far side of the room.
Elea turned. A broad-shouldered man with copper skin and two scars, once long one across his forehead and a smaller one where a unibrow would grow, stepped forward, his badge glinting with three Gold stars.
"If we call HQ now…" he stuttered, "I think that if we panic, this could get out of hand and then the public finds out, and public trust tanks, and then we risk the chance of this just being a liability." He said. "I'll use my network instead, off-the-record teams. Discreet. They'll get to the perimeter, scan the situation, and update us before we act."
A murmur of reluctant agreement passed through a few of the other Gold Ranks. Elea's lips parted, ready to argue.
But then she stopped.
She looked back at the screen, at the flickering void where a candidate had vanished. Her fists unclenched.
"Fine," she said quietly. "Use your people. But don't let it escalate any more than it has."
She was still the head of this operation this year. This would already reflect poorly on her.
The man gave a curt nod.
Elea exhaled and turned to the others. "Get the remaining candidates out. Secure them. We don't know if this is an isolated incident."
***
"Tch, Goddamnit," Corbin growled, ducking another blast of steam as a whoosh sound echoed past him. He spun just in time to see the familiar shimmer of black paint vanish into thin air.
"This is like playing Whack-A-Mole at a fair," he snarled, sweat dropped down his jaw, his shirt half-clung to his body from the heat. "Laszio!" That was the boy's name. He had a short frame and a dark appearance. Corbin wanted to grab him by his neck and watch his face change as he squeezed it. "I'm gonna snap your neck!"
A soft, almost apologetic voice echoed faintly from somewhere high above the rafters. "Uhm… then maybe I'll make sure you don't get your hands on me."
Corbin snapped his head up. "You cheeky little shi…"
SLAP!
Something struck him hard across the face, sharp and fast, and by the time he turned, Laszio had already disappeared back through a yawning black hole stitched onto the wooden wall behind him. Corbin stood there, blinking, a bright red handprint stinging on his cheek. It hurt… it hurt bad. For such a little and quick slap he wasn't expecting that.
He exhaled sharply through his nose. "That's it."
The sauna room around him was wide, lined with steaming wooden boxes, glass-paneled heat chambers, and slabs of stone slick with condensation. The floor was partially tiled, but mostly polished cedar, now darkened with moisture. Steam billowed up constantly, curling around Corbin's boots, cloaking every corner.
The heat was hellish, the way it felt like it just gripped to his skin. It made his skin burn and vision haze, but Corbin had no intention of slowing down.
He punched the wall nearest to him out of pure frustration. The wood cracked and splintered under the force, chunks of it flying off like bark off a log.
He paced. His steps were heavy, methodical. But his mind wasn't calm, he was trying to think, something he hated doing during a fight. He fought with his fists. All the extra stuff was for people who did not have the strength he did.
Still, his eyes moved fast, tracking. Calculating.
How am I supposed to catch a teleporter?
Another flicker, he turned just in time to see a black circle forming on the ceiling above the hot rock slab in the center. His muscles tensed, but before he could react-
THWOOP!
Lazsio emerged from the hole and soared low through the air again like some kind of haunted ragdoll. Corbin's eyes flicked up, catching the glint of movement, and something in him clicked.
Lazio was predictable. He didn't change up his pattern. He was somewhat rigid and stiff and would stutter in movement when Corbin would otherwise expect movement.
"Got you!" Corbin said.
He ran faster. Faster than before. His feet hammered against the floor with renewed rhythm. Boost kicked in. The heat, the pain, the danger, it sharpened him. Honing him. Each bead of sweat, each breath burned in his lungs. Like fuel.
He leapt off the wooden bench, bouncing off a stone pillar with surprising agility. His legs twisted, his body turning mid-air as he launched himself toward the spot he knew Laszio would appear.
And then… there. A shimmer, a shadow folding in air.
"Now!" Corbin roared.
Laszio came flying out of the circle, eyes wide, not expecting Corbin to already be airborne. The boy barely got out a startled gasp before…
WHAM.
Corbin caught him mid-flight. One hand clamped tight around his neck.
"Gotcha, you little rat," Corbin spat, teeth bared. They twisted through the air for a moment, spiralling.
Laszio's eyes bulged, and his voice cracked with alarm. "Y-You're not supposed to catch me in mid-air! That's cheating."
"Cry me a river!" Corbin growled, pulling his fist back. "You me run around in a damn oven for five minutes. So fuck you."
He slammed his fist forward.
But…
Nothing.
The impact was there, but it was hollow. His knuckles connected with Laszio's chest… and it felt like punching a wall made of rubber with metal cushioning it. No give. No pain. Just solid resistance.
Corbin blinked.
"What the hell…?"
Laszio stared down Corbin and looked down at his hand still clutched against his chest. "That… uh. I guess you can tell now. That didn't hurt." His eyes were darting around nervously.
Corbin's brow furrowed. "The hell do you mean? What the fuck just happened?"
SHOOP.
Laszio's hands lit with black paint. A hole opened beneath them mid-fall, swallowing them both.
Corbin didn't even have time to curse before they landed hard in another part of the sauna complex, this one darker until the dim amber lights turned on. The room was hotter, lined with glowing red coals across the floor.
Corbin's face slammed into a steaming rock.
SSSSSHHHH! Came the sizzling sound, followed by a howl of pain.
"ARGH-Fuck!"
He rolled backward, clutching his face, steam rising from his skin. He hissed, snarling in agony. "You bastard!"
He staggered up, half blinded, chest heaving.
But Laszio was gone again.
"Of course he is," Corbin muttered in pain. "Back to goddamn hide and seek."
The heat raged in his head. Sweat poured down his back. His fingers twitched as he slowly pulled himself upright. His skin still sizzled on the left side of his face. He'd be lucky not to scar.
But here was one thing burning hotter than the stone.
His ego. The humiliation. The…
He dropped again. Through another black hole. And this time when he emerged, he was submerged in steaming hot water.
The feeling of hot water entered his nostrils and his mouth as he tried to gag it out. He felt he was being pushed deeper in by a hand with a strong grip on his neck.
I'm killing this guy!
That was the main thought going through his head. He wanted to smash in Laszio's face, his dough-eyed expression of plain innocence was driving him crazy when such a person could be this tricky to deal with. It just wasn't expected, like the myth of elephants being afraid of mice.
Corbin splashed around before he winded his dominant fist back and smashed forward creating a deep and shallow crater in the hot spring like bath that he was submerged in.
The effect was on the grand scale and big enough to shake up the little area they were in, it knocked over the wooden fence separating both baths.
As soon as he raised his head he shook it to get the water out of his hair as much as he could and took a long and deep breath. Next…
He screamed.
Laszio was behind him also timidly shaking off the wet water streaks from his hands as he stumbled up.
Corbin turned around to him with an irate stare as he thought of his next words. His eyes were wide and his teeth were bared.
"I'm not gonna kill you," he started, "but I am going to break every bone in your body and then make you show me the way out of here."
He breathed out and crouched in a perfect stance,
"And then when we're out I'll kill you."
***
The scent hit Rosette before the sight did.
Sweet, floral, with a strange undercurrent of warmth, amber and sting. She stepped through the arched glass doors into what looked like a greenhouse annex and found herself walking beneath a dome of dappled golden light.
It was an apiary. A hotel resort apiary. Rows of tall lavender stalks and pale blue thistles stretched across either side of a manicured stone path, while fat bees hummed between them like living threads in a golden tapestry.
Glass panels overhead filtered in warm sunlight, and boxy wooden hives stood stacked along the far end, honey seeping lazily from a few of their seams.
Rosette tilted her head. "Strange," she murmured.
She hadn't expected to find a place like this in the Game. But then again, she'd never stayed in a hotel before. Her childhood was spent on estates, penthouses, and her parents' long list of holiday homes and countryside properties. Hotels were only places she had glimpsed at in the backgrounds of sitcoms or dramas that she would watch with her father when she was younger.
She stepped forward, crimson braid swinging behind her like a silk banner, the hem of her coat brushing the stone as her sharp heels clicked softly.
Her mind was working.
Two exits, she reminded herself. Option one, find the caster. Force Vincent Coulby's compliance. Option two, find the door. The right door. In a resort-sized labyrinth of pretty dream-like scenery.
She frowned. Her red eyes glinted. Option one was faster.
She paused at a bend in the path, the humming intensifying. There was a pulse to the air here. The kind of stillness that warned you before the strike of lightning.
Then came a giggle.
Rosette froze.
Further ahead, framed in the glowing golden haze, a small figure stood in the field of lavender, skirt twirling, arms raised like a conductor directing an orchestra.
It was a little girl. Or rather, a girl maybe a year younger than Rosette herself, but petite, dressed in a ruffled black dress patterned with tiny flowers, and a sunhat tilted carelessly atop her curls. Her skin was pale, almost porcelain-like, and her lips were smeared faintly with a tint of red like someone who'd tasted too much cherry candy.
She was… dancing.
Weaving. Dodging bees with an uncanny grace, ducking just before one dove, slipping to the left as another buzzed past her nose. The bees seemed furious, but never landed. Never stung. She was teasing them.
Taunting them.
And laughing the whole time.
Rosette narrowed her eyes.
The girl spun on her heel and stopped mid-twirl, her wide eyes locking instantly on Rosette.
"There you are!" The girl beamed, voice high and delighted. "You finally showed up. I was starting to think you were lost. You are awfully slow."
Rosette said nothing. She didn't give herself away even though she was confused. All she remembered was falling until she appeared on a patch of grass in golden light.
So she studied the girl, the way she moved. The way she grinned like nothing mattered.
"Weren't you a member of the other team?" Rosette asked. She had already remembered who the little girl was. She was quite easy to miss.
"Mmhmm!" the girl said, arms spread like she was welcoming an old friend. "We've been dying to get started. Well… maybe not all of us. But I have. I'm gonna be a Paladin."
Rosette's voice remained calm. "So where are the others on your team?"
The girl clapped her hands, then pointed lazily toward the ceiling. "Probably killing the other two boys by now. You know… the loud one and the quiet one."
Rosette blinked slowly. Her expression didn't change. Her mind did.
Enemy.
She didn't feel anger. Just clarity. Clean and cold. Like slipping into still water.
"I see."
The girl tilted her head. "Oh no, don't pout. I'm not here to fight you." She winked. "I don't want to. Really. You seem kinda fun."
Rosette's hand rose.
From her palm, blood spiraled outward in an elegant helix. It shimmered in the warm light as it hardened into a spear, smooth and razor-tipped. The head of it pulsed softly, shaped like a heart.
The bees scattered.
The girl blinked, wide-eyed. Then her grin widened.
"Oooh… you're fancy! Look at that! Is that your own blood? It smells like it is. That's so beautiful!" She cooed, pressing her hands to her cheeks. "Can I touch it?"
Rosette's voice was sharp, each word a polished edge.
"What is your name?"
The girl did a little curtsy. "Vera. Vera Solokov. Age seventeen. Love sweets and warm weather. And you?"
"Rosette St. Jon," she answered, her spear angled forward. "And I've made my decision."
Vera's eyes gleamed.
"I'm going to break you down, and then make you tell me where the exit is." There was a shift in her tone that felt as though it promised ruthlessness. "I'll find the others. And I'll free us."
The spear in her hand glowed darker, like blood thickening in heat.
"Because that is what a Paladin should do."
Vera took a step back, fanning herself dramatically with both hands. "Oh, I love how you say that. So noble. So serious!" She giggled, high and breathy. "But you know what? It's gonna be tragic once you die with the rest of those boys. I mean… we'll be the ones to tell the tale after all is said and done."
Rosette's gaze didn't waver.
"That will not happen."
Vera skipped backward into the field, arms out like a ballerina, bees swirling around her now, following her like an angry halo. "Come on then, lady paladin! Let's see if you bleed prettier than you look."