"Welcome to the first ever Secret Trail!!!!
Trial name: Last one standing.
Kill the other to move on to the next trial. Your skills are locked. You won't be able to talk about this trial.
Completion:7,000,000 All skills will level up to 10 levels Failure: Skill Reduction"
The world swirled around me before the words appeared. I smiled ready for the next trial. When I opened my eyes I saw the blue text. I stared at them for a moment before muttering, "What?".
The tower threw me into one trial with the other person. However, unlike all the previous trials, this one kept changing. It changed because we kept taking advantage of it. If the murder mystery trial was in the first three trials, the assigned murderer would raise their hand and weapon. We would note it down and get the points for completing the trial. Of course, after everyone had time to relax. We would take a shower, eat something, and take a nap before entering the answer. The tower didn't like that. We did this and began changing the rules of this trail. This is the only trial that faced changes.
I looked down to see that I was in some sort of I'm in a blue polo and khaki shorts. I had the name 'Mr. Mulberry' written on my hand. It is the same as what the trail is supposed to be. The challenge and the number of people here were different. I looked around to see the same thing that was described in the mystery trial. I stood in the grand hall. From where I stood you could see the double rosewood spiral staircase, with a black and gold rug, that led up somewhere. The hall had two doors to the right and three to the left. Under the staircase in the middle, there is an arch leading somewhere else. I took a second to look around at the hallway before me. It would have been a beautiful home if it weren't for the body laying in the hall face down. It looked like someone had bashed their head in, based on the large dent taking out the top left part of her head. I couldn't look at the body, feeling my eyes well up at seeing them.
I kept looking around until I found the other person with me. She's a short girl with straight black hair pulled up into a bun. She also dressed up, she wearing a suit without a jacket. Her face scrunched up in thought. "Hey," I called out. "What do you think is happening?" I asked, taking a step toward her.
She looked at me and smiled. "It looks like the victim is gonna be a real person from now on," she turned to me. "And it looks like you get to be the first to try it out," she said. She picked up the danger that had been laying on the floor.
"Wait, we should try to find a way out of here together," I begged, taking a few steps back.
"I already have my way out, and I get a boost to my skills too," she said, taking a few more steps toward me. I turned and ran into the room to the left. She followed me. It is the office that is connected to the library next to it. There's only an arch that separated the two rooms. I got behind the table before turning towards her. "My name's Noa, What's yours?" I asked, trying to get her to talk. If I became more than experience points, I might talk her down from this.
"Lacy, nice to meet you." She moved left, and I moved to keep her on the other side of the table. "Now please stay still and let me kill you" she demanded, lunging towards me over the table. I moved back, letting her fall flat on the table, scattering the papers that were on the table.
I ran behind another chair. "Lacy, we should find another way out of this trial. Do you want to kill a human?" I asked. She stood up and ran towards me. I dodged and ran back behind the desk. The chair I was using as a barrier flipped when she hit it with her hip.
She laughed at me. "A human? Please, I know that you're not a real person. This trial has never killed a real person. You're just a tower person that thinks they're real." She lunged at me again, trying to catch me.
"I AM REAL!" I yelled, moving just out of the way. Her blade scratching my side as I moved. I heard her huff a laugh before turning back to me.
I ran to the library side of the room, flinging the chairs as I ran. I closed the door behind me and ran into the kitchen. Before hiding in the open pantry. I heard the door to the library open and her running towards my spot. A hand over my mouth and breathing through my nose. I didn't want to alert her to me being here. I saw her run by my hiding spot and melted further into the shadows. Until I couldn't see her. I held my breath until she ran out of the room. Moving to see where she went. I saw her open the door to the dining room. I moved up back to the pantry and moved further into it. Crouched down and waited. There is no way that she wouldn't find me, eventually. I needed to come up with a way to stop her without killing her.
Some time passed before I heard her return to the kitchen. I couldn't tell if it was only a moment that she was gone or an hour. "Where, oh where, did you go? I want to talk to you," she sang. There's no way that I'm moving. "I know you're here. There's nowhere to run that I won't find you," she sang while flinging open a door. It slam as it opened. I jumped as and covered my mouth. She heard me as she stopped singing. I had to get out of there as quickly as I can. Stood and grabbed one can next to me. I ran out of the pantry and flung it at her before running. I ran and meant to run out and up the stairs. Instead, I ran forward instead of turning right into the hall. I flung open the door that I came to. I found the solarium.
'Glass,' I thought before running towards it. I could get out of here if I smashed that glass. Getting to the edge of the plants before tripping over the edge of the raised beds. I fell into the plants and heard a laugh come from behind me. I turned to see Lacy walking toward me. She was closer than I had thought that she would be.
"I promise that this will be all over soon." She said, not slowing down. I turned and got up to fling myself at the glass. Only to bounce off and back to the dirt. Lacy laughed harder as I failed to get away from her. I looked over to see her gripping her stomach, laughing. She's not bothered by the thought of killing me. I had hoped that she still fighting with herself about this while doing what she thought she had to.
"Why?" I asked, looking at her laugh before shifting to sit up.
She stopped laughing. "I told you, you're not real," she said, taking a step toward me.
My ankle hurt from tripping over the raised beds. My whole body hurts from trying to break the glass. I crawled backward until my back hit the glass. There is nowhere to go. I'm too hurt to get away right now. If I had a few minutes, I could run awhile more. Too bad I didn't have time left. I'm going to die here. I closed my eyes. They burned. I'm going to die to a person who didn't have to think twice about killing me. If I knew that I'm gonna die this easily, I would have stayed with Mindy. She would have eventually cured me.
Thunk
I opened my eyes. I had to blink a few times to clear my vision. As I did so, I kept hearing the thinking repeating. I saw a vine holding the candlestick and whacking Lacy over and over. I saw the blood spurt and stained the green and silver. "Stop," I said, eyes following the vine to its source. I crawled over to the plant and touched it. "Stop, stop, please. I'm okay. I'm safe" I tried getting closer to the plant. "Please, you saved me," I begged. I could still hear the sickening thunk. My eyes burned again as the sound continued. I kept asking and begging that the plant stop, but I had no control over it.
"Congratulations, you have completed the secret trial. You have gained 10 levels of every skill!!"
My jaw hung open as the blue letters floated infront of me. That was a lie, right? My eyes slowly traced over to Lacy. She lay limp in a lake of blood. The light no longer flickering showed the room. There were splatter marks on the ceiling and walls. Lacy's head, neck and shoulders were flat. While I could see her heart falling out of one of the crevices that was her shoulder.
I couldn't breathe. Lacy lay there watching me while she's pummeled to death. Blinking her eyes were gone and just her body remained. My arms shook and I couldn't breathe. I heard her foot steps walking down the hall again. I grabbed my ears to stop the sound, but it still came. The squishing thunk of the vine beating her into the ground.
I begged again for it to stop. For the plants to listen to me. They ignored my calls. Every time Lacy lay still it only lasted for a moment before the body was gone. Her steps down the hall towards the door. Again I beg, and again I can't stop the plants. It scared me how they acted without me being about to do anything about it.
When the blue light dispersed and the light filliped off. Alone in the dark waiting for her to show up again. My knees were wet. My hands trembled, and my heart pounded on my ear drums. It's over. I failed.