Emlyn stared silently at the trio as they discussed with one another. He was confused at why Marvis kept glancing at him until he noticed his red ears and connected the dots. Could this guy have developed a crush on him just now?
“Hm, that was a weird direction to head considering the fact that everyone was fighting for their life.
“Ahem! Attention everyone!” a loud voice suddenly exclaimed, and looking up, everyone was surprised to recognize who the owner of the voice was!
It was the boy that had saved the flesh blurb girl in the assembly! Of course, many would recognize him! It was even more surprising he survived this stage, especially since the voice had made him a ‘special’ participant.
Satisfied that everyone's attention was on him, he continued, “After having been reduced to 10% of our original size, I think we already know how dire this situation is, guys.”
Observing the audience for any signs of reaction only to receive mostly lifeless reactions, he sighed internally; this trail had completely demoralized everyone; most students had even given up surviving, but there was still hope! It's too early to give up now!
“I know most of us have given up hope in surviving, and this message is for those people. We still have hope to survive!” the boy said enthusiastically, continuing without waiting for a response, “In this trial, one of the main reasons we died was due to lack of teamwork. Most people here can testify that some had either betrayed or tried to betray them; not only that, they didn’t work together, had no trust in each other, and tried to work alone. This is one of the reasons for our failures!”
He paused, his eyes scouring through the students before him only to notice a slightly raised hand.
“Yes, please speak.”
“It wasn't betrayal. It wasn't a lack of teamwork. It wasn't anything, it was a complete lack of ability to defend life. Under these monsters, we're nothing but bugs, a rat placed in a rat race with obstacles to survive and poisoned chess as a reward. Damned if you do, Damned if you don't. Adam, I understand your willingness to help. However, we're not stupid enough not to understand the situation before us. The voice lied; none of us will survive this,” a beautiful red-haired girl with blue eyes said calmly with a listless look on her face.
There was a silence that permeated through the surroundings after her words; it was a silent agreement, deep down they all knew none of them was going to survive this.
“An absence of evidence is not evidence of absence; that many died at just the second trial does not prove that there is no hope for survival. Who can tell if the rat is resistant to rotten cheese? If it will find a path to survival? If a savior will appear to save the rat? How would the rat know if it doesn't continue to the very end? If you give up now, how do you know if survival is possible?
“If you give up and die now and others survive, will you not regret it? Junior Crystal, I understand your pain; however, giving up is not a good decision. Besides, it's not like there is an option to give up! If there is no option to give up then shouldn't we keep trying our best?!”
There was silence for a while until a crisp clap rang through the room, and turning around, everyone was surprised to see Danielle clapping.
“You're right dude! We can't give up as long as we're alive!”
“Yeah… yes! We should keep trying!” Marvis exclaimed before joining in on the clapping.
Marvin joined in, and soon, the cheers and claps of the trio infected everyone, and they began cheering. Emlyn was smart enough to camouflage his presence in the crowd, which worked perfectly due to the jubilation; he couldn't cheer along with them, for only he truly knew how despicable the sorcerers were.
Crystal grimaced bitterly; if only she could be that cheerful… however she knew clearly that she couldn't lie to herself to hope.
But hope was a beautiful thing and it was better than despair, thus she couldn't destroy it for others.
“After a while, Adam managed to calm down the crowd to continue.
“There are a few rules I’d like us to keep during the next trial. It's not guaranteed to improve the situation, but it is better than having no rules,” he paused, seeing everyone listening with rapt attention. He continued, “They are….”
***
“Firstly, introduce yourself to others; secondly, help a brother if you can but prioritize your survival, and lastly, do not betray one another. And after all that team building, the next trial just happened to be a solo one. Aren't the sorcerers just trolling us at this stage?” Dina complained to Zero.
After wasting all that time introducing themselves to one another only for them to be separated. Adam must be ashamed wherever he was, aye.
Speaking of trolling, Emlyn wondered if the sorcerers were specifically trolling him. The trial had begun for a while now, and nothing had happened.
The location of the trial this time was a bit bizarre. He was still in the nurse's office. Only everyone else had disappeared, and everywhere was unusually silent, making him feel a bit unnerved.
Even more unnerving was that he couldn't move; he was rooted in the position he was in before the trials began. Awkwardly sitting on the bed like a lifeless mannequin.
“What the fuck is this even? Aren't the trials usually preloaded? Have the sorcerers become so inefficient I also have to wait for them to load it up, or has it already begun?” Dina chartered nervously.
Truthfully, being paralyzed in a bed with no company and an unnatural silence such as the one surrounding her was scary.
But what was even scary was the next revelation she found. Zero wasn't with her!
“Zero? Zero?! Zero!! Holy shit did they get me?! Oh my God??! Zero?! Zero!” Dina called out in a panic, there was nothing more terrifying than this!
After all, if there was no Zero did this mean she was alone and lost in some world?? And not any kind of world but a horror world filled with dangers all around?!
“Wahh!! I promise I'll never disturb you again, Zero! You won't know I even exist; please come back, QAQ!”
After screaming internally for an unknown period of time, Dina finally calmed down. Surely the bureau wouldn't let her be, right? Yeah, this was probably the sorcerers fucking with her mind once more.
She took a deep breath and, firstly, decided to try escaping the paralysis she was in, only to try and fail miserably. No matter how she willed her body to move it stayed the same without any change till she eventually gave up.
Just as she was about to doze off to an imaginary world where all things were happy and great, the sound of footsteps was heard.
“AHHHHH!!!!! AHHH!!!! OH MY GOD!!! AHHH!! QAQ” Dina was screaming so loud in her mind she nearly combusted in fear.
Do you think sleep paralysis was terrifying? Try being paralyzed, wide awake in an empty room with an unknown creature approaching you! Now that was a whole different level of fear.
“Wuwuwu, I give up, please. I'd rather fail this world! Am so scared QAQ.”
Just then, the footsteps stopped before the nurse's office, causing Dina's heart to hang on her throat, and when the door opened, in that split moment, she experienced what it meant to have your spirit leave your body for a moment.
It was terrifying.
“Oh, my my, your state looks quite familiar, haha.”
Dina noticed that as soon as those words were spoken, her paralysis wore off. Deciding to be brave, she warily turned to look at the person beside her and felt her thoughts instantly silenced.
Suddenly all fear left her body and was immediately replaced with rage and malice. She leaped up like a leopard in an attempt to grasp the person's neck, only for her to slam hard into something, causing her to grimace in pain.
Suppressing the incessant ringing on her head that came from her impulsive action, her vision cleared up to see that her environment had changed.
Standing in an endless dark space, she found herself surrounded by mirrors, each reflecting the image of herself.
She was no longer Emlyn but had reverted to her original body and was dressed in a hospital gown with bloodied bandages wrapped around her hands that were profusely bleeding.
Beneath her eyes were panda-like dark circles that made it seem like she hadn't slept for days. Her hair was a mess of locks, tousled up like a madwoman’s, and her eyes held a deadness to them comparable to that of a corpse.
Staring at the five mirrors surrounding her and reflecting the image of her bloodied figure in a white dress, she couldn't help but admit that even a ghost would mistake her for a sister.
She frowned causing all the five reflections to frown back at her. She remembered this look, this was during her days of misery.