Exactly, one thousand three-year-old children were seated in an array of perfect rows and columns. Many of them were abducted from their respective families a while back, others were sold, save a particular child with curled brown hair and stern, lifeless eyes.
Every child, without exception, stared at the wall ahead. Every one of them distressingly still. The only thing that moved were their eyes and eyelids.
Alex stared at the perfect replica of a buried memory playing before her eyes. With a bird's eye view, she was forced to see everything objectively, unlike when she had to live out this horror scene.
Her father had just dropped her off, telling her he would be watching her and that he expected success.
Alex refocused on the scene, with no particular emotion in her eyes. What would happen next would be the first death she had ever witnessed—the first of a long ever-growing line.
The ceiling was an untainted white, and so were the walls, as well as the little school desks and chairs for every child. The children were also dressed in pure white, creating an unsettling scene. A bell rang, signalling the start of the first test. A test that they had trained an entire year for.
Then began the jolts.
All the children were subjected to electric shocks which increased in intensity every five minutes. The children did not react, appearing so still one would think they were without life. At the ten-minute mark, a little boy with light blue eyes jolted. He shook, albeit barely, from the increased current running through his body. Realizing the consequence of his mistake, he calmed himself immediately.
But he knew, they all did. Nothing would save him now.
A square of the ceiling parted, and a slim laser shot through the boy's head and emerged from the chair. The boy's body went limp on the table, yet none of the children around him so much as shifted.
°°°
The third stage had gone rather smoothly for Alex, fortunately, they chose to have her face a 'trauma'. It was fortunate. Nothing she had already lived through once could ever phase her.
She received the achievement "Stone Heart", a fitting title for someone whose pointer did not fluctuate even slightly.
Achievements were of the utmost importance, she needed to accumulate an absurd amount to be granted an equally insane request.
She was granted a two-hour break before the fourth stage, one she used to decide on her game plan for the next stage. The fourth stage would most likely be the easiest for Alex, but could very well be the most difficult for others.
According to the information she bought, the fourth stage would be continuous battles until only 80 challengers remain. Everyone would start with a group of ten, a win can only be gained when all the members of the opposing team are dead.
What was interesting though, was the guide also said that if a challenger does not kill anyone throughout the stage, an achievement would be gained.
Alex ultimately decided to pursue this achievement. Only by amassing enough achievements would she get closer to locating her brother.
Marcus was trained, though not as cruelly as she was, he was an outstanding young man with both brain and brawn. It was unlikely he would perform poorly during these stages. She was certain. If her brother was here, then he would his name would have appeared on the ranking board with a high rank. For the last hour of the third stage, Alex scrolled through the ranking board, hoping to catch her brother's name.
After the thousandth name, Alex inwardly concluded that her brother was somehow never a challenger, never her 'fellow' challenger. There were far too many possible theories, but Alex knew theories would not give her back her brother.
Instead, she would take him back by force. To her, his death was not a conceivable possibility.
Alex still had to wait ten minutes before she could enter the fourth stage. Previous attempts had shown her that it was not possible to pass through a stage's entrance before the appropriate time. Any attempt sent her back to the centre of the platform.
This made her think about how she could strengthen her portfolio of achievements. A sudden idea came to mind. In the first stage, she killed every zombie but received no achievement relating to that particular feat. However, that does not change its validity or pertinence as an achievement. Of course, the deity could not account for every achievement out there, but that does not change the fact it is still an achievement.
This theory gave Alex a plan on how to massively boost her achievements and give her solid backing for her future insane request.
°°°
Alex and nine others found themselves in a cave, a sparsely lit and damp cave with jagged rocks jutting out. Each of them appeared synchronously in a perfect circle.
Alex attempted to study the faces around her before her line of sight was forcefully pulled downwards to focus on a stout and familiar, lavender creature.
''Glad to have your attention, this is the fourth stage. You have all come very far, deserving of a reward each, but to decide on the reward you will get you must all complete this stage."
'Now what exactly does that mean.'
''For this stage, each group has exactly ten members. Every group member will get a random weapon. This means that everyone could get a sword or you could all end up with completely different weapons. This is completely random, and unfortunately, you can not exchange weapons. "
'That is extremely unreasonable.' Alex found this arrangement a bit odd, but she set her contemplation aside as the bear was not done speaking.
"For every 10 groups, there is a setting. Your setting is prehistoric times. There will be diverse challenges in each setting. If any of you die or get an injury because of the challenges you will be sent back here, your starting point, healed of any and every injury. Dying to another challenger is true death. Victory can only be declared when all the opposing team's participating members are dead. Every complete victory grants you 1000 spirit shards each. Every setting has an ongoing fight simultaneously, but two fights will not happen at once in the same setting. After your victory, you can decide to rest or choose a team to fight against. ''
The little bear stayed silent for a few seconds before adding a particularly interesting rule.
''If you manage to kill everyone in your setting before the stage ends, you are permitted to attack other settings. Each complete victory against a group from another setting is worth 3000 spirit shards."