A few minutes after reading through the document, I got a notification saying my group had been decided.
Fifteen names filled the screen. No additional information. No roles. Just a list, arranged vertically, each name identical in weight and format. Mine sat somewhere in the middle. I didn't recognize one.
Around me, the atmosphere shifted almost immediately. Some people leaned closer to their phones, rereading the same screen over and over. Others looked up, scanning the crowds for the people in their group.
Quiet conversations broke out. A few people stood up, already moving toward one another with purpose. I stayed seated.
This was the first time the exam felt real.
Until now, everything had been abstract. Rules. Numbers. Hypotheticals. But this exam was clear. That didn't make me feel better—it made me feel worse.
I memorized the list, then locked my phone.
Across the courtyard, a suited observer raised his hand.
"Group One, follow me."
Several people stood immediately. After a moment, I did too.
I wondered if they forgot we needed our tents, but I quickly banished the thought. This institution isn't the kind that would make foolish mistakes. They probably already collected them.
While I was walking, I noticed that a member of my group happened to be the girl who had talked to me earlier. I decided it might be a good idea to talk to her. I still didn't have a single ally.
"What's up?" I called out to her.
"Huh?" she responded, visibly caught off guard. "Nothing, why?"
"Figured I would need allies for this." I called back.
"Funny. I didn't really see you as the type."
She glanced at me for a moment longer, like she was deciding whether to say more.
"Maybe," I said.
The answer seemed to disappoint her.
"Good luck, then," she said, turning her attention forward.
I nodded and fell back into the line.
A minute later, I saw another guy come up to her. He had blond hair and blue eyes, and if I had to guess he was around 6 ft tall.
"Lena" he said, falling into step beside her. "Looks like were together again."
She looked relieved.
So that was her name. I hadn't even bothered to ask her name, and I didn't give her mine.
"Yeah, I'm glad Felix. I saw your name on the list."
They started talking like they had known each other. They talked with familiarity and momentum. Was he that easy to talk to, or was I just impossible to talk with?
Either way, the moment quickly passed.
Looking around, I noticed that they were taking us somewhere past the courtyard. It was similar, in the sense that there was a large stone ground, but there were also 15 wooden large blocks in a circle. Each block war around 10 ft in length and 5 ft in width. The perfect amount for a tent. Within the large circle, there was a smaller circle with stands, like the ones you would see used by a valedictorian when they give their speech. It looked to be there so our phones wouldn't be visible.
The observer leading us stopped walking, glancing briefly at the device in his hand.
"Your roles have now been assigned," he said. "You will receive a notification on your phone momentarily. That information is private. You will access it inside your tent. Each tent has your name on it." He continued.
"Roles may not be visibly shown unless your role explicitly allows it," "Any attempt to verify or falsify role information outside the rules of the game will result in immediate failure."
He looked around the circle once.
"This is Game One. It will proceed until a win condition is met or the maximum number of days has elapsed."
Another observer added, "Night phase has begun. You have five minutes. Discussion is restricted for Town, but unrestricted for Evil.
The first observer nodded.
"When the Night Phase begins, instructions will be delivered digitally. All actions must be submitted before the timer expires."
He stepped back.
"That is all."
A second later, my phone vibrated.
"You are a town member. Your role is The Revealer. Once per game, publicly force one player's alignment to be revealed. This includes the traitor. Reveals will not be effected by Deceptors.
"Interesting" I mumbled as I headed into my tent.
There wasn't much for me to do during the night, given the fact that I didn't have an ability.
Because of that, I waited for day to begin.
Three minutes after I got into my tent, an alarm went.
"You must exit your tents immediately" an observer said.
I gladly complied.
"The Day Phase has now begun" a second observer added. "You have 5 minutes."
Looking around, I noticed that one person didn't exit their tent.
"Why isn't Charles leaving his tent?" Felix asked quizzically.
"I think he got eliminated." Lena, standing next to him, whispered.
"Oh." Felix responded rather solemnly.
"Charles has been eliminated." The observer announced. "His role was the Interceptor, meaning he had the ability to direct attacks upon himself."
"Well, on a brighter note, does anyone have any information?" a tall red-haired guy asked. "My role doesn't allow me to operate during the night. Also, my name is Nathan."
"Sure" a girl replied. She had blond hair and blue eyes, like Felix. "My names Alice. I'm the Comparator. I can check two players and confirm if they are allies or enemies." She paused. " I learned that Sven and Dylan are teammates."
"Who Sven and Dyllan?" Felix asked. "I'm Felix by the way, for anyone who doesn't know.
"I'm Sven" A black haired boy with glasses replied.
"Likewise, I'm Dylan. "I figure we should spend this day introducing ourselves and any information we have." The boy who said that look remarkably like Sven, except his hair was brown. "My role is the Reporter. I can send the true role of one random player to someone, but I don't get to know it myself. I gave my information to Violet, but they haven't exactly told me what they learnt".
"What do you know Violet?" Felix asked kindly. He was clearly leading the group and keeping the tempo, which made me less suspicious of him.
"Uhh" Violet stuttered. "I learnt that Dylan is evil!" She exclaimed boldly. "That's what it told me!"
Everyone looked around in shock.
"Seriously?" Felix yelled. "And if your evil, that means Dylan is also evil!
I say we skip the introductions and vote them out fast."
"I'm in agreement" Lena nodded. "If what Violet says is true, then that means that we can eliminate two people early."
"Wait." Someone said. It was Dylan. This doesn't add up. I'm the Reporter. I already explained that, and Violet confirmed my delivery. This ensures that I can't be evil."
"Well either you or Violet are lying—or both of you." Felix said.
I was honestly shocked. Felix hadn't even considered the possibility of there being a Magician. The Magician had the ability to make the alignment of a player be temporarily perceived as swapped. This included the Reporter.
It made me wonder if he was the Magician, or if he just forgot. Before I could explain that, however; someone else beat me to it.
"You're forgetting the possibility of a Magician being in this game. Look, I know it's the first game, but shouldn't you have realized that possibility? It's honestly kind of suspicious." A short blond with freckles explained. He had a tone that aggravated me.
"Wh-what?" Felix stuttered. "Oh yeah. I completely forgot." Felix regained his composure. "I'm really sorry about that. This game is insanely confusing. I honestly don't get how they expect us to figure it out that fast."
Laughter broke out. It seemed quite a few people shared that same sentiment. To be honest though, I was impressed. Everyone here managed to get a proper understanding of the game insanely fast.
I decided that it was time to join the conversation.
"Look, I'm the Revealer. I can reveal one player's alignment. If things get desperate, I can use my ability, but I'd rather not yet." I explained my ability, hoping that we wouldn't waste the entire five minutes, as it had already been over two minutes.
"That's great to hear." Felix replied. "I think you should use your ability on Dylan now so you can confirm him."
"I don't want to do that" I replied. "It would be a waste of my ability. I should use it when we really need to, not when there could be a mirage over the results."
"Dude come on." Felix whined. "It's not like this is useless."
"I don't get why you are so desperate to get me to waste my ability. It seems suspicious in my opinion. I think we should vote you out." I countered.
"Whoa "Lena interrupted. "It's way too soon to do that. He probably just made an honest mistake."
"Fine. I'll just use my ability." I started to get heated. I grabbed my phone that was propped up on the desk, clicking on the button that said, "Use ability". Once I did, I was shown a list of every player with a circle beside it. I scrolled for Felix's name and clicked.
"A player has used an ability" An Observer explained. "They have chosen to reveal Felix's role.
Felix has evil alignment."
I was about to keep talking, but my throat tightened. I couldn't keep talking.
"Seriously?" Dylan exclaimed. "I guess talking a lot doesn't make you town, huh."
Felix stared at me coldly. I averted my gaze, staring at my shoes.
Lena, Sven, and every other player stood in shock.
I decided to take the initiative and chose to nominate Felix for trial. Everyone else followed suit.
"Well, I don't think there's any defending yourself bro. I would just accept it."
"No way!" Felix shouted. A Magician could've made me seem evil! It has to be that!"
"Oh, so now you acknowledge the Magician?" Dylan added sarcastically.
"Please, you guys have to believe me!" I'm the Accuser! Vote me innocent and let me use my ability!" Felix pleaded.
The Accuser, huh. They had the ability to publicly reveal their role and immediately execute a player, overriding the vote. They where a power role, meaning only one could exist at a time.
"Well, I guess it wouldn't really hurt us, right?" I added.
"Yeah you're right" Lena responded. "We should let him use his ability on Violet, since if there was a Magician, it wouldn't make sense for her info on Dylan to be false. She confirmed its legitimacy herself."
With that, this trial received a total of 13 innocent votes.
"Alright, just give me a second." Felix explained. "Okay, I've got it!"
An observer started talking.
"An Invisible Killer has used their ability. They have chosen to eliminate Lena."
"Wh-what?!" Lena screamed. Everyone else looked around in shock.
Lena was brought back to her tent by an observer.
I was in disbelief. How had he managed to think of that??
o"Lenas role was the Crown" the observer continued. "She had the ability to give absolute invincibility to a single player (except for trials and the Invisible Killer). That player would have then lost their ability."
"Are we fucking serious? Why didn't she say that???" Dylan yelled.
"If she did, we would've known she was lying!" Dylan continued venting his frustration. "Dude, why is my team full of complete idiots?! At this rate, I will end up eliminated from the entrance exams!"
Honestly, I didn't blame him, but at the same time it wasn't Lena's fault. It's the first round. It wasn't really surprising that she made a mistake.
"So does this mean that Dylan is evil?" I decided it would be time to add fuel to the fire, by making a foolish comment. I had a feeling that the town wasn't going to win this one, so I figured I would downplay my abilities as much as possible.
"WHAT??" Dylan roared. Hurting my ears in the process. "Are you an idiot??? Why the hell would I be evil?"
"Well because you should have been killed. The reporter is a powerful role, you know that right?" I countered illogically, pissing Dylan off even more than he already was. I'd need to be careful to avoid getting punched.
"Dude, that is so illogical" Dylan said, calming down a bit. "We can worry about this nonsense later. First, lets vote out Felix."
"I guess, but we should vote you next." I replied.
"Whatever" Dylan said dismissively, casting the first vote for Felix to be put on trial. Everyone else did the same.
"To be honest, I don't really have that much to say." My teammates are damn smart, so I doubt y'all will win this one." Felix said somewhat mockingly. His ability to completely sacrifice any previous clout and his likability was honestly scary. I felt my chest tighten. Was this fear? I didn't want to know. I stopped that train of thought. I had to.
The ship had already sailed. A total of 12 votes—every single remaining person—voted Felix guilty.
"Felix's role was the Invisible Killer." The observer explained.
The Invisible Killer. They had the ability to kill a single person during the day.
"Well, that was definitely chaotic" Sven said. "I'm honestly a little worried, but I still think we can win, right guys?"
"They sure know how to change the subject fast." I thought mockingly.
"Maybe" Nathan, the tall red-head added gloomily.
The mood had gotten way worse.
Suddenly, the same loud alarm blared, signally the end of the first day, alongside the beginning of night 2.
I sat in my tent, reflecting quietly on the events that transpired earlier that day.
Before long, I heard the alarm again.
Once I made my way out, I noticed that two people had been eliminated. I didn't really know who they were; they made the decision to not participate in the discussion yesterday.
"Marcus has been eliminated. Their role was the Custodian, meaning they had the ability to protect one player each night." The observer continued. "Evan was also eliminated. Ther role was the Breaker, meaning they had the ability to remove effects from players."
"Well, that sucks." Sven said.
"Yeah, things definitely aren't looking good." Dylan added. "That said, I did get to deliver a bit of information to another player. Jonas, do you want to explain your results?"
"Yeah totally. I got the information. It told me that Emily was evil."
"Seriously?" I replied.
"Yeah. I'm not lying. It's the truth!" Jonas exclaimed.
"Wait!" Alice interrupted. "I got information that told me both Jonas and Emily are evil!"
"It's possible, given there's probably a Magician in this game. They can make an evil player appear town and a town member appear evil" I replied.
"He could also have purposely sold out his teammate" Nathan countered.
"That's smart. I wish I thought of that" I said, agreeing with Nathan's opinion.
"Well, I think we know who to eliminate. Its Emily. She hasn't said a single thing, even when she was accused of being evil." Sven said.
"Huh?" Emily replied in shock. "I'm not evil. I'm the Sealer! I can prevent people from using their abilities! I used it on Sven the first night, and Lukas the second!"
"I seriously doubt that. What is your reasoning for blocking people who have confirmed that they have abilities! Have you no other suspicions?" Sven countered.
"Well…not really. I seriously didn't know." Emily explained. "I didn't want to accidentally block a town member from fulfilling an important role!"
"I don't believe you." Sven said. His voice was visibly more irritated than before. "You choose the easiest role to lie about. There's zero way your good. The Magician used their ability on Jonas to make you seem innocent, but the Reporter got you."
"That's not true!" Emily pleaded. "This is a mistake!"
"I've heard enough." Someone else interrupted. Look, it's clear that your evil... I haven't even been paying the most attention, and even I can see that. Just give it up already."
With that, multiple people cast their votes. I decided to do the same.
"Please!" Emily continued to plead, despite it already being over. "If I'm eliminated, we are definitely going to lose!"
Everyone silently casted their votes. The die had cast. 8 people voted her guilty, the rest abstained.
The observer begun to speak. "Emily's role was the Sealer."
Multiple voices expressed their confusion.
They had already gotten rid of the custodian and crown, meaning they could kill who they wanted. The fact that two people where eliminated also made me realize this. The only way for two kills to happen was like this. The trainer became the murderer, letting them kill one person per night. At the same time, their traitor was a "town" killer. This gave them the ability to kill twice a night.
Tonight, it would be over. Odds are, we won't find an evil today. Only a couple minutes remain, and that will be spent as useless bickering.
"What the hell??" Jonas yelled. "This makes no sense!"
"I get it" An average looking, short dark-haired guy who hadn't talked yet, spoke. "The Magician placed their ability on Dylan. That way, his information would be incorrect. Given that, the Comparator would still be correct, but the Reporter wouldn't!"
"Wait, what makes Jonas's innocent" I countered.
"Good question. Jonas is probably a Sealer. That's what I think. That's why he was so suspicious of Emily—not just because of the information, but because they shared roles—a rare thing." The short dark-haired boy—whose name I assumed was Michael because the only people left on the list were two female names and Michael.
"I can confirm that because I wasn't able to use my ability yesterday!" Michael exclaimed.
"Seriously??" Sven asked. "Why didn't you say that earlier?
"I felt it would complicate things" Michael replied. "I was certain Emily was evil."
"I guess that makes sense. Personally, I'm suspicious of Sven. He hasn't said his role yet.
"That is true", Violet added.
Before we could nominate someone though, the alarm sounded; notifying us it was time for night.
I sat in my tent, awaiting certain defeat.
When the alarm sounded once again, I got outside and saw two people didn't exit: Dylan and Alice.
We had lost.
They had 4 evils alive.
"The game is over." The observer announced. "Felix, Michael, Violet, Nathan, and Jonas have each received one win."
I didn't know who had each role, but if I had to guess, Michael was the traitor.
The observer explained that we would return to our tents and be given our roles. This game, we would have 5 minutes to strategize before night begun, meaning a total of 8 minutes would take place with knowledge of our roles prior to the first day.
I made my way into my tent, receiving a notification in my pocket when I stepped inside.