Thirty seconds left.Now or never.
The countdown pulsed above them, each tick echoing through the chamber like the beat of a dying heart. Everyone was on edge, wide eyes, trembling hands, prayers whispered into the static air. Linus stood, his cheek still burning from earlier. His hands quivered, betraying the calm he tried to fake. The silence between seconds was unbearable.
Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Zero.
Then silence. A silence so loud it drowned out thought itself. You could hear every uneven breath, every heartbeat rattling in frightened chests.
A seam split open along the metallic wall — smooth, seamless, as though the structure had been waiting to inhale them. The lights flickered once, twice, and the voice returned, detached and eerily calm.
"Resting period is over. Proceed to the trial area."
No one moved. For a moment, fear held them by the throat. But then someone stepped forward slowly, cautiously, and the rest followed like condemned souls in a line to the gallows.
Maya went first, composed but tense. Linus trailed after her. As he crossed the threshold, his stomach plummeted.
The room beyond was enormous, cylindrical, metallic, and impossibly tall. A single narrow platform ringed the chamber's interior, suspended over a gaping void that swallowed all light. Looking down was like staring into an abyss that stared back.
Gasps rippled through the group. The air smelled of rust and machinery. High above, the walls were alive, shifting, twitching with mechanisms. Metal bars jutted out at strange angles. Grips, pipes, loose ladders, and ropes dangled from pulleys, some spinning slowly, others retracting into darkness as if teasing them. Every few meters, circular ledges jutted from the wal, thin, treacherous islands clinging to the vertical expanse. Near each ledge, a timer blinked, counting down in cold red digits.
The structure resembled the inside of a colossal silo, a tomb for the desperate. Linus felt the scale of it press down on him. Who built this? Why?
Then came the voice again, echoing from everywhere and nowhere.
"Reach the top… to complete the trial."
A mechanical groan followed, deep and ancient, as if the entire chamber had just awakened. Somewhere above, gears shifted. The timers began to tick.
Linus's heart sank. The first trial had tested endurance.This one was going to test their will to live.
Someone broke down crying."Wh–why are you doing this? Why?!" the voice cracked."This is cruel!" another shouted, their voice echoing up the endless shaft.
They weren't wrong. No sane person could have built this. Even in movies, the cruelty never felt this real. The height alone made their knees weak, the endless dark below swallowing every sound that fell.
On the circular platform, chaos bloomed. Some screamed, some prayed, and others just stood frozen, staring at the walls like they could will them to disappear. But the ticking timers didn't care. Time was moving. And soon, they would have no choice but to climb.
"Whoever or whatever made this place is one sick person," Maya muttered, rolling her wrists, testing her grip. Then, without hesitation, she leapt forward and caught a hanging bar. Metal creaked under her weight, but she held firm, pulling herself upward with sharp, clean movements.
"That's if it's even a person," Linus said under his breath.
His heart hammered as he looked up, a dizzying maze of pipes, bars, and grips spiraling into the dark above. Some were bent or spinning, others slick with oil. There was no clear path. Just chaos stacked on chaos.
He hated heights.A lot of them did.
But this was life or death, and fear had to wait its turn.
Linus inhaled sharply, feeling the cold air burn his lungs. His palms were slick, his legs heavy. He scanned the wall again, noticing how some bars were deliberately misaligned, impossible to grip properly. Whoever designed this had the mind of a sadist, or a god playing with insects.
"What's even at the top…" he whispered. Maybe nothing. Maybe a trick. Maybe he was just overthinking again.
He tightened his jaw, bent his knees, and jumped, his hands catching cold metal.
The trial had begun.
The climb was brutal.When they were still on the ground, it looked doable. Manageable, even. But now? Not so much.
Someone's hand slipped on one of the angled bars, a sharp cry tore through the air as they fell, body twisting helplessly before vanishing into the dark below. The scream cut off mid-breath.
Those still on the platform froze. The ones too scared to climb, mostly the middle-aged, the exhausted, the unfit, just stared at the hole where the person had been. The silence that followed was worse than the scream. It was the sound of realization: that could've been them.
Some still climbed, trembling but determined. Others gave up before even trying, sinking to their knees on the metal floor, whispering apologies to no one.
Linus wasn't an athlete. He'd barely exercised a day in his life. But he climbed anyway, because fear had a way of giving strength to the weak. The bars were freezing, biting into his hands. Every movement burned his muscles, his breath ragged and short.
He reached a section where the next reachable bar was too far. There were two smaller grips near it, barely big enough for a hand. He hesitated. His palms were slick with sweat, his grip weak. If he missed, that was it.
Then he saw it, a rope.It hung loosely, attached to a pulley high above one of the ring platforms. It looked solid, but his gut twisted. What if it was a trick? What if it snapped the moment he grabbed it?
He didn't have another option.
"Come on," he muttered to himself, counting under his breath. "One… two… three!"
He leapt.
His fingers closed around the rope, and the pulley rattled, swaying violently before settling. He slid a few inches down, the friction searing his palms raw. The pain hit like fire, but he didn't let go.
He looked up.Some people had already made it to the first ring platform. Among them was Maya.
She was climbing fast, fluid, almost mechanical in her focus. Her body moved with purpose, like she'd done this before.
"This girl…" Linus hissed between his teeth, half in awe, half bitter envy. "Is she even human?"
For a brief moment, he laughed under his breath, a dry, hopeless laugh. "Maybe I should've done those stupid workout videos after all…"
Then the rope jerked suddenly, and the laughter died in his throat.