I stared blankly as I was reading my profile.
I don't know where I am, nor how I got here.
But somehow, I was alive.
My head stung, and my body ached as if I had been crushed to nothingness.
Looking around, a group of people gasped and lamented.
"How am I alive!? I-I..." Asked a buisnessman, grabbing his head and falling to his knees.
As a man came to comfort him, the businessman lunged at him, placing his hands onto his throat and squeezing.
"It must have been that dumb bitch! She must have cursed me to hell!" Shouted the man in a crazed state.
Coming from nowhere, another guy kicked him off.
"Get a hold of yourself you fucking psycho! We all don't know what's going on!" Shouted the man.
Managing to snap out of his craze, the buisnessman apologized and sat down, grabbing his head.
"Guys! Did everyone else here see a little screen displaying... our deaths?"
Everyone went silent. The man stared at us with fierce eyes that reminded me of a lion.
"Y-Yea. I saw it." Mumbled a random guy in the crowd.
"I know this is confusing for us, but we can't go trying to kill each other the first chance we get!" Said lion-eyes, glaring at the businessman.
Standing on my feet, I walked away from the crowd.
The place we were in was impossible. Its white walls that scaled far and wide seemed endless.
There was also no sun, yet a bright glaring light shined down apon us.
It wasn't totally empty though.
Far away seemed to be some type of forest of sorts and a house just to the south of us while ruins of a city were west.
Taking an even closer look, at my feet seemed to be words etched into the ground.
Crouching down and clearing the dust off, my eyes widened.
NO ESCAPE! HELP! GOD! TRIAL!?
"What does this even mean?" I asked myself, as another window appeared at my face.
_____________________________
~~Purgatoriums Trial~~
Escape alive.
(0)
Reward: Innate Awakening.
Penalty: Death.
_____________________________
"What does it mean escape!? To where? From what?" Shouted a random man in the crowd from behind.
About to head back since I was quite a distance away, in the corner of my eye was a giant figure.
It seemed to be far, but it was growing in size, and rapidly.
Hearing a hum within my head, my body felt heavy as if I was carrying something that was crushing me.
My eyes flickered as my body swayed.
Almost in a trance by the figure, a hand suddenly grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back as something large and heavy came crashing down, sending both of us flying. Picking me up, lion-eyes placed my arm over his shoulder and began to run towards the others who had taken off.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Where do we go!?" Yelled frightened lion-eyes, who ran with all his might.
"There's a house to the south of us," I mumbled to him before pushing myself off of him.
This is what I wanted since the very beginning I thought to myself, as I stared down the giant foot that raised over me, about to come crashing down.
Once again pulling me, the man screamed at me as he continued to drag me.
"Are you trying to die!?"
My face stared blankly at the back of his head.
Not even knowing me, he still risked his life to save me.
The sound of our footsteps picked up, as screams shot behind us.
The giant beast we were running from had stopped in its tracks, as boils from its mushed skin boiled, shooting out small monsters.
Wielding bone-like weaponry, they reminded me of imps from my favorite rpg Holon.
They grabbed anyone they could get their hands on, as their weapons pierced deep within the bodies.
Feeling nauseous from either the gore or from running I turn away from the graphic sight and pick up the pace.
Making it to the house and slamming the door closed, we barricading it and gathered ourselves.
Somehow, the small house we had ran into became extremly large, almost like a warehouse.
"J-Jesus fucking crist! What the hell is happening!?" Cried a man who fell to his knees.
"Those people... they died." Muttered a frail man.
Some time had passed before everyone had managed to get ahold of themselves, meanwhile, I stood near the door listening for anything that came close to it.
Switching out with the frail man after he had finished sobbing, I explored the warehouse.
It was indeed quite spacious and even held food and water inside.
On a small table were also swords that had rusted for what seems like a long time.
Picking one up, a loud clank echoed in the room as its weight was unbearable for me. Giving a small apology to the people, I return to the door and listen in on the ongoing conversation.
"We can't stay here. Once that "Thing" begins moving again, we're all screwed." Stated the Lion-eyed man.
"If we go out back out there, those creatures will rip us to shreds. Plus, if I'm not wrong, there was food and water here. Right kid!" Said the businessman from before, directing everyone's attention at me.
"Yeah." I replied.
"Exactly. Why should we risk our lives when we have everything right here." Said the businessman with a condescending tone.
I mean he wasn't wrong. We had everything to last a long time inside here. Should we really risk our lives again for nothing?
"Another reason I want to leave is because of this."
The Lion-eyed man summoned the screen that I saw from before.
_____________________________
~~Purgatoriums Trial~~
Escape alive.
(0)
Reward: Innate Awakening.
Penalty: Death.
_____________________________
"This hasn't disappeared yet, meaning we haven't escaped yet."
"What, are you scared over a few words? This is clearly an elaborate experiment by the government" said the businessman.
"..."
The Lion-eyed man froze, staring at the ground.
"I mean come on, who here actually believes that this is real!?"
The man walked around, continuing his speech as the Lion-eyed man stopped him.
"This can't be fake."
"Huh? And why's that?"
"Because I died before this. I'm sure of it."
The silence was deafening as both the businessman and lion-eyes stared at each other, not one saying a single word.
Giving a scoff, the businessman sat back down.
"Now before we go risking our lives again, let's get to know each other and rest for a bit." Said the Lion-eyed man.
"My names Joahan Avaraice, but yall can call me Avaraice." Said Avaraice, as another man stood introducing himself.
After a while, it came the businessman's turn.
"What? Do you all expect me to play along in this little game?" Asked the man.
After a brief silence, the man took a sigh and looked up at Avaraice before standing.
"Fine, I'll indulge yall. My name Is Harrik Lee. I worked for a Black Corporation for 23 years. Is that enough?" Asked Harrik, with Avaraice giving a nod.
After going through everyone besides those who wouldn't respond, it came my turn.
I leaned off the door and rose as everyones eyes looked at me.
It was strange.
Normally, I would have ignored everyone here or at least drowed the sounds with my thoughts.
My thinking was interrupted by Avaraice grabbing my attention.
"Oh, sorry. My name is Lucatt. I'm a, or was a high school student."
I hope it was brief enough to seem like everyone elses.
Out of around 30 Survivors in the beginning, only 16 excluding me made it inside.
Noises that sounded like children's laughter grew louder outside as if those things that escaped the beast's skin were searching for us.
Harrik described a guy beside's him who was pounced on and tortured before finally perishing.
Everyone went quiet, including me as my mind raced in my head thinking of the grotesc image.
We had spent enough time inside. Avaraice stood ontop a crate nearby, grabbing everyones attention.
"Listen! We're running out of time. We need to leave now! Once those doors open, we do not split up and find an exit together." Spoke Avaraice.
"That sounds like a good way to get picked off." Said Harrik.
"I'm not trying to argue with you, but that plan sounds stupid. I propose we split up in groups of 4. Make it harder for that thing to pick everyone off. One team is sure to find an exit."
Avaraice stood silent.
"Sorry, but Harriks is right. We shall split up in groups of four. We can't risk everyone dying." Spoke Avaraice
"There were swords on that table over there." I pointed out.
Swarming the table, everyone proceeded to grab a rusted blade as a means of self-defense.
Although I'm not sure about everyone in the room, a few people here seemed comfortable with a blade.
A moment passed as everyone began forming their group.
"Hey Lucatt! Wanna join?" Asked Avaraice, who had paired up with a monk and an old man named Vik.
"You sure? I don't really know how to fight." I asked.
Grabbing me enthusiastically, the noise that filled the room began to die out as more people joined their group.
This was truly unfortunate.
With 17 people, one person was going to be left alone.
Although I wanted this to be me and die off in this world, I guess it beats dying painfully as of now.
Finally, everyone had joined their groups.
Looking around, my eyes widened as a little girl no older than 8 sat in the corner she had been in this entire time.
She was the 17th person.