"En–" the lady in the cat costume stopped short. She was on the verge of screaming enough, but a sudden blare stopped her from finishing her sentence.
Each player looked up towards the sky, turning red, the vast whiteness slowly being replaced by the crimson taint.
"Um," Astherielle crossed towards Jaspreth and Zera. Beatrix mimicked her, joining the rest of them as well. The four friends stick together as the blaring reaches a new volume. Each player had to cover their ears, afraid that the annoying sound would break their eardrums.
"This is why we should abide by the rules!" the cat lady finally shouted, her eyes blazing with fury towards Zera. Zera didn't care.
They were all there because of the reward, but for her and her friends, they didn't even know why they were there.
"You know what I'm afraid of?" Beatrix whispered, straining to let her voice only be available for her small circle. "These people will be too greedy, too desperate that they would be willing to do anything just to get to the end."
Zera shared the same sentiment with her. It was the same line of thought that had run through her head earlier on but refused to let everyone hear—especially Nayowmi.
"But you know what would be funny?" Jaspreth mimicked Beatrix gratefully; the blaring hindered the rest of the players not to hear their whispered conversation. "If it has been decided that our group will be the one to make it to the last stage, just imagine their disappointment."
'That's not funny." Zera expressed. "Everyone would hate us when they realized they had been used as pawns for this game. Because if you think about it, what if Jaspreth said some truth? Why did the person behind this game put up an enticing reward, calling all of these other players to enter the game?"
The blaring of their surroundings continued. The four friends had turned to silently musing what they had been talking about.
In the midst of it, a wide translucent screen flashed before them, catching everyone's attention.
[Warning: Players, you are advised to go on with the game. If not, conse-sequences w-would foll-low]
The system's mechanical voice echoed, distorting on the last part as the screen began to glitch. With it, a sudden gust of wind blew around them, causing the snow residues to scatter.
The players stood, watching as the snow on the ground had all gathered, rising to form a wall around them.
Astherielle inched a little closer to her friends, her eyes wandering around. The other players had huddled together, too, except for Nayowmi, who bravely watched her surroundings, refusing to meet anyone's stare.
"What's happening?" Astherielle whispered. Zera grabbed the hand closest to her, squeezing it gently to assure Astherielle that they'd be fine. She was trusting in the fact that whoever got them there, surely, they had a better plan than getting rid of them almost immediately.
"I don't know, but don't worry. We're not going down with--aahhhh!"
Zera and the rest of her friends ended up screaming, a black hole suddenly appearing beneath their feet, plummeting them towards immense darkness.
Their screams were the only assurance each of them knew that they weren't falling into an abyss alone. They were still together.
"HOLY–! I LOVE YOU GUYS!" Jaspreth shouted at the top of his lung, his heart pounding inside his chest. The inevitable situation they were suddenly in manifested fear inside of him.
Was this the end?
Were they going to die?
But it wasn't only him who had suddenly felt scared of the unknown as they continued to plummet into whatever it was they were falling into.
The constant pull of gravity had Jaspreth clutching his chest. It was getting a little difficult to breathe.
"Don't you dare, Jay!" Zera shouted in response. "As we have all agreed from the start, no one is allowed to die! No one!"
–
"Babe," Jaspreth could feel someone tickling him on the side and poking his nose. He dreamily smiled as he imagined Sharmaine, her voice echoing in his hearing.
Slowly opening his eyes, he gazed upwards and found her beautiful smiling face hovering above him.
Her long straight hair fell around her face, lightly brushing against his cheek, tickling him too. It made Jaspreth want to pull her to him and kiss her passionately.
He smiled back lazily, reaching out to touch her soft cheek. But just as he was about to, Sharmaien's beautiful smiling face suddenly turned into a frown, her eyes narrowing at him.
"Get up!" She shouted, sounding indifferent. Jaspreth blinked, his hand being swatted away, and slowly Beatrix's face was the one hovering above him.
"What the hell?!" Jaspreth exclaimed, his eyes adjusting to the surroundings they were in. There was white light all over, almost bringing him back to the stage with the big bear. However, instead of snow, the light came from the ceiling.
Gradually getting to his feet, Jaspreth found Zera and Astehrielle looking at him with a smirk on their face.
"Babe," Astherielle cooed, while Zera cracked up laughing which was then followed by Beatrix. Jaspreth put a hand over his face, shaking his head.
"I hate you three. You are all devils."
"Okay, enough," Zera called out, sighing afterward. "The good news is: we are still alive, and I just tried if the system still functioned here. It worked. But the map was off."
Jaspreth let his eyes wander around for a bit. Unlike the previous stages where they had been thrown in the middle of open space, with different colored skies, right now, they were encased in a cube.
The fluorescent lights surrounded the edges of the cube. Jasporeth was tempted to touch the crystal-like walls. The surface looked smooth and fragile, reflecting a white fog outside, concealing them of the view of whatever was out there.
It also prohibited them from learning where they may be really at as of the moment.
He was afraid to make any contact with anything, triggering something he might regret.
Turning towards Zera, Jaspreth traced his fingers over his invisible beard as if he was in deep thought.
"What's the bad news?"
"The bad news is: I think we're stuck here for a while."