Atlas struggled, clawing at the hand that held him, pouring all his strength into breaking free. But it was like trying to move the very earth itself—unyielding, unbreakable. The thought of escape slipped away, crushed by the force pulling him downward.
In an instant, he was dragged into the depths.
This time, he didn't stay conscious.
***
A blonde girl gripped the edge of a stone slab, her fingers raw, pruned, and scratched. Bracing herself, she used her arm to pull her limp body over the edge.
A warm, yellow glow radiated from her core.
Gradually, her fingers smoothed out, the cuts healed, and the exhaustion faded, replaced by glistening skin. She looked back toward the ocean, her gaze thoughtful, as if searching for something.
***
Hundreds of meters away, another girl stomped her feet in frustration, angry at losing her two targets.
All around her, people fought desperately for survival, scrabbling over the smallest chance to see another day.
***
Deep beneath the ocean, past unspeakable horrors and beyond the very ocean floor, lay a strange, dense jungle. In the middle of it, a tall, slender man lay still.
His clothes were soaked, clinging to him as if he'd been dragged through water. His brown hair lay wet and flat across his face.
The jungle was silent. No birds, no animals, just a thick, suffocating quiet.
The silence broke as he coughed, raggedly, hacking until he could finally breathe again. The first thing he did was slick his hair back from his face.
***
Atlas's green eyes scanned his surroundings, alert and wary. He wasn't dead; instead, he was in the heart of a dense, overgrown jungle.
Towering trees stretched upward, vanishing into a sky that… shouldn't have been there.
Above him was water, a shifting, murky ocean hovering overhead. He couldn't see anything moving in it, but a cold feeling warned him not to look too long, as if something might look back.
Pulling his gaze away, he took in the jungle floor around him, thick with plants, leaves, and twisted branches, turning everything into a maze of obstacles.
The flood of green and brown felt overwhelming, like he'd been thrown into another world. Again.
Then, something unusual caught his eye, a shape breaking through the jungle's wall of green. Nestled between two towering trees stood a stone structure, ancient and silent.
The structure looked as if the jungle had devoured it, with vines and roots snaking through every crack.
Atlas paused, trying to make sense of his situation. Some hand had dragged him down, his lungs had filled with water, and now he was here, alone, away from Iris and the chaos above.
His Aether reserves were still low, but they were recovering, meaning he'd been out for hours.
The sheer luck or unluck of it all was hard to grasp. He should have died when that hand grabbed him, yet somehow, he'd survived.
His thoughts wandered to recent events. The Sentinel-ranked rabbit trapped by a flower, his survival against the Strawman, the walls shifting at just the right moment. Surviving the Multisquid and getting dragged here were only more pieces of a pattern that was becoming too obvious to ignore.
A creeping suspicion grew, was there something controlling him? Though he couldn't prove it, there were too many "coincidences" stacking up.
He felt like an audience member watching a magician pull off a trick oblivious to the reality of the situation. The curtain of truth he wanted to cast aside was pulled to tight.
He forced the thought aside, mentally noting it for the future.
Atlas's mind still spun from the insanity of it all, but he turned his mixed emotions into resolve.
Exploring the area was his best choice.
The stone structure was alluring him with its simple wooden door at its front, looking as if it was carved from one of the nearby trees, on it was something he recognized.
The symbol of the eye from the maze.
The sight didn't surprise him. He doubted it meant much, likely just a mark someone else had made to show they, too, had seen the symbol in the maze.
As if sensing Atlas's thoughts about itself, the ancient-looking door swung open.
Atlas's first instinct was to ready himself, preparing to tactically retreat if anything dangerous emerged. But curiosity outweighed caution.
He waited to see what would come out.
Instead of a monster or mythic creature, the first thing to appear was a wooden cane, its surface rough and natural, looking as if it had been cut straight from the jungle.
A cough followed, then a leg. Finally, a man fully stepped out.
Atlas blinked. The man looked oddly… normal.
Dressed like a mix of a scientist and a formal official, he had dark eye bags, stood about average height, and carried a skinny frame not unlike Atlas's own. His curly brown hair was parted down the middle, and a leg brace clung to one leg, supporting the cane he leaned on.
Seeing another human filled Atlas with a mix of caution and curiosity. If someone was controlling him, wouldn't they want him to meet this person?
Leaving now would be safer, but this stranger's presence could mean food or shelter that Atlas could forcefully take, things Atlas desperately needed. The jungle meanwhile, held unknown dangers, and shelter in some hollowed-out tree wouldn't be much protection.
The man noticed Atlas, his eyes widening slightly before he tilted his head back and grinned, showing a set of white teeth.
"For the gods have blessed me with talent and youthfulness, and I have shown them feats beyond comprehension!"
he declared, shouting toward the watery sky, then looking back at Atlas with a laugh.
"You have the misfortune of this trial," he said, "But through hardship, you might come out as one who stands above all else."
Atlas squinted, sizing him up. This man seemed… unhinged. If things came to it, he was ready to fight.
Just as Atlas prepared himself for the worst, the man doubled over, coughing, blood spotting his hand as he covered his mouth. He straightened, waved to Atlas, and beckoned him forward.
"Come, come, we have much to discuss," he said, retreating into the dark doorway.
Atlas, still wary, knew that curiosity had already won. The man was simply too much of an unknown entity for his mind to resist. Curiosity was out to get him and now he was the cat.
This whole event might be preplanned, but it was also his best option. Checking himself over one last time, he stepped forward and followed the man into the unknown.