Carl's grip on the file tightened. The words were right there, printed in clear, bold letters, yet they felt distant—almost unreal.
Name: Carl Seisher
Status: Death: Unknown
Awaiting Processing
Death: Unknown.
His stomach twisted at those words. What did that even mean? He was dead, wasn't he? That much should have been obvious—he had no memory of how he got here, the place itself felt unnatural, and every person in the room carried the same lost, uncertain expression. But the file in his hands refused to confirm it.
He slowly lifted his head, eyes scanning the endless white space around them. It was too quiet. Too still. The only sounds were the occasional whispers of confused people and the shuffling of restless movements.
Carl wasn't sure how much time had passed. Minutes? Hours? Time felt strange here.
Then, out of the silence—
"…Something's off."
The words came from Ardyn. His voice was calm, but there was a sharpness to it. A weight.
Carl turned to look at him. The blonde stood a little apart from the group, his yellow eyes locked onto something across the room. He wasn't just looking—he was analyzing.
Ryan scoffed. "You just now noticed?"
Ardyn didn't respond. His eyes tracked something unseen, his expression unreadable. Carl followed his gaze, but all he saw were the same confused people scattered throughout the room. Some were standing still, others pacing, but—
A man near the far side of the room vanished.
No sound. No warning. He was just… gone.
Carl's breath caught.
His mind scrambled for an explanation, but there was nothing. No logical reason. One second, the man had been there, arms crossed, shifting uncomfortably. The next—emptiness.
Carl's heartbeat thudded in his ears. He turned quickly, eyes scanning the faces of the group. Myla had gone rigid, her brown eyes wide with alarm. Sein, standing beside her, had barely reacted, only blinking as if trying to process what he had just seen. Elise's arms were crossed, but her blue eyes had sharpened, calculating.
Carl opened his mouth, but before he could say anything—
Another person disappeared.
Carl exhaled sharply. His fingers twitched against the file.
This wasn't random.
This wasn't a mistake.
The room was emptying.
The others had noticed it too. Myla took a step closer to Carl, her voice quiet. "Did you see that?"
Ryan rolled his shoulders. "Kinda hard to miss."
Carl swallowed, forcing himself to breathe steadily. His eyes flickered back to the spot where the last person had vanished. Nothing marked where they had been—no trace, no disturbance. It was as if they had never existed.
Elise shifted slightly, tilting her head. "It's happening in intervals," she murmured.
Carl frowned. "Intervals?"
Ardyn, who had been silent until now, finally spoke. "She's right. Watch."
They did.
Carl's skin prickled as the seconds stretched. His heartbeat counted the time. One second. Two. Three. Four.
A woman near the center of the room disappeared.
Carl felt a chill crawl down his spine.
It was too precise. The vanishings weren't random. They were following a pattern.
Ardyn exhaled slowly. "It's a system."
Sein clicked his tongue. "A system for what?"
No one had an answer.
Carl's grip tightened around his file. The words Awaiting Processing burned in his mind.
Was this what that meant? Processing?
His heartbeat picked up. What happened to the people who vanished? Where did they go?
More importantly—
When would it be their turn?
Ryan narrowed his eyes. "We need to figure this out. Fast."
Carl nodded. Whatever was happening, they weren't going to wait around to find out.
They needed to act.
Carl's fingers curled around the edges of the file. His thoughts raced, his mind trying to make sense of what was happening, but the more he focused on it, the more unsettling it became. The disappearances weren't stopping. They weren't slowing down.
And worst of all—no one else seemed to notice.
Not the ones still standing in confusion, not the ones pacing back and forth, muttering to themselves. They all looked lost, aimless. As if they weren't even aware of the people vanishing around them.
Carl swallowed. "Why isn't anyone reacting?"
The group remained silent.
Myla shifted closer, her brown eyes scanning the room. She looked as uneasy as he felt. "Maybe they… can't see it?"
Sein scoffed. "What, are they blind?"
"Not blind," Elise said, her blue eyes still sharp, calculating. "Just unaware."
Carl frowned. "Unaware?"
Ardyn nodded. "Think about it. They're all confused. They don't seem to have much of a grasp on anything, like they barely even understand where they are." His yellow eyes flickered back toward where the last person had disappeared. "If they don't realize they're vanishing, they probably don't realize others are either."
A quiet unease settled over them.
Carl hadn't considered that. He glanced around the room again, this time watching the expressions of the people who remained. Some were whispering to themselves, some fidgeting, some sitting completely still—but none of them looked scared. None of them even seemed aware that something was
wrong.
It made Carl's stomach turn.
He felt Myla's hand graze his sleeve, a light, hesitant touch. "Then that means we're different," she said.
Carl nodded slowly.
They were different.
They could see it.
And if they could see it, that meant they could do something about it.
Carl exhaled, shifting his weight slightly. "We need to test something."
Ryan gave him a sharp look. "Test what?"
Carl hesitated, organizing his thoughts. The vanishings were happening in a pattern. That much was clear. But why?
What triggered them?
He glanced at Ardyn, who was already watching the room with the same calculating expression. Carl knew he was thinking the same thing.
"…It's the spots," Ardyn murmured.
Carl blinked. "The spots?"
Ardyn nodded toward the empty spaces where people had vanished. "They aren't random. Every time someone disappears, it's in one of a handful of locations."
Carl followed his gaze, his breath catching slightly when he realized he was right. The vanishings weren't scattered. They were all happening in specific places.
Elise hummed. "If that's true, then…"
Without finishing her sentence, she took a slow, deliberate step toward one of the now-empty spots.
Carl tensed. "Wait—"
But before he could stop her, Elise stepped forward.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then, the air shimmered.
It wasn't much. Just a faint, nearly imperceptible ripple in the space around her. But Carl saw it. They all did.
Elise stopped. She turned to look at them, her face calm, but her blue eyes sharp. "Did you see that?"
Carl nodded, his pulse quickening. "Yeah."
Ardyn's expression darkened slightly. "It reacts."
Sein crossed his arms. "So? What does that mean?"
Ryan exhaled. "It means if we stay in one of these spots for too long, we'll be next."
A silence fell over them.
Carl felt his chest tighten. The system was processing them. It was waiting for them to step in—waiting for them to take their turn.
It wasn't just a pattern.
It was a trap.
Myla took a small step back. "Then… what happens if we don't move?"
Carl hesitated. He didn't know. None of them knew.
But they weren't going to wait around to find out.
"We need to act," Ardyn said firmly. His yellow eyes gleamed under the artificial light. "If this is a system, then there's a flaw. We just need to find it."
Ryan smirked slightly, rolling his shoulders. "Now that sounds interesting."
Carl's fingers clenched around the file as a strange tension settled over the group. The reality of their situation had finally sunk in. They weren't just waiting for answers. They weren't in line for some grand explanation.
They were trapped inside a system that was slowly pulling them apart.
The realization made Carl's chest tighten. Every moment they stood here, they risked stepping into one of those vanishing points, risked being processed like the others.
And yet, nobody in this room seemed to notice.
Carl's gaze drifted to the scattered people around them—murmuring, pacing, staring at the walls. Some had completely stopped moving, as if they had given up. As if they had accepted that this strange waiting room was all there was.
Ryan clicked his tongue. "We can't just stand here forever."
"No," Ardyn agreed, his golden eyes still locked on the empty spaces. "We need a plan."
Carl took a deep breath, forcing himself to think. What do we know so far?
- The vanishings happen in a pattern.
- They always occur in the same spots.
- Stepping into one of those spots causes a reaction—like the air itself shifts.
- The people here don't seem to notice what's happening.
That last point was what bothered Carl the most. Why weren't they aware? Why did they just stand there, waiting? Were they meant to?
And if that was the case— why weren't Carl and his group affected?
Carl exhaled slowly. "If we want to figure out a way out of here, we need to test something else."
Myla glanced at him. "Test what?"
Carl shifted his weight, his mind working quickly. "If stepping into those spots triggers something, then what happens if we interrupt the pattern? What if we stop it before someone disappears?"
Sein raised an eyebrow. "How do we do that? It's not like we can just shove someone out of the way."
Carl hesitated. Sein had a point. But there had to be something they could do.
Before he could say anything, Elise spoke. "There's another thing we haven't tested yet."
Carl turned to her. "What is it?"
Elise's blue eyes were calm, but her voice was careful. "The files."
For a moment, nobody said anything.
Then Carl glanced down at the papers in his hands.
The files.
It had been the first thing that clued him in that something was wrong. He had picked them up from the floor by accident, but if he hadn't, he wouldn't have known anything about himself—or the others.
Carl slowly lifted his gaze to the rest of the group. "You think these files have something to do with this?"
Elise nodded. "It's possible. After all, yours didn't say 'Deceased.' It said 'Death: Unknown.'"
Carl frowned. He hadn't forgotten about that detail, but hearing Elise bring it up again made it feel heavier. Why was his status listed like that? And what about the others?
Carl's gaze flickered toward the rest of the group. "Did you guys check yours?"
There was a brief silence.
Then, one by one, the others glanced at the files they had picked up.
Ryan was the first to respond. "Mine says the same thing."
Sein grunted. "Yeah. 'Death: Unknown.'"
Myla looked down at hers. "Same here."
Elise hummed. "That confirms it, then."
Carl swallowed. So none of them were confirmed as 'deceased.'
That wasn't a coincidence.
He exhaled slowly, his mind spinning. "Then maybe…"
Ardyn's voice cut through the quiet. "The system doesn't recognize us."
Carl's breath hitched slightly.
The words made sense.
They were different from the others. They could see what was happening. They could process it.
Because unlike the others—
They weren't supposed to be here.
A strange, electric energy ran through Carl's limbs as he exchanged glances with the rest of the group. The weight of their situation suddenly shifted.
They weren't just trying to escape some afterlife process.
They were in the wrong place entirely.
Carl's pulse quickened. "Then if the system doesn't recognize us, that means we have a chance to break out of it.
Ryan grinned slightly. "Now we're talking."
Ardyn nodded. "We just need to figure out how."
Carl glanced at the empty spots again, watching carefully as the disappearances continued in perfect rhythm.
A system.
A pattern.
Something they could exploit.
And then—
He saw it.
Carl's breath caught as he noticed something new.
For the first time since they had arrived… someone who had disappeared came back.
It was only for a split second. A flicker of movement. A glitch.
But it was enough.
Carl turned sharply to the others. His voice was steady, but there was an undeniable edge to it.
"There's a flaw in the system."
Elise's eyes narrowed. "What kind of flaw?"
Carl's grip on his file tightened. "A glitch."
He could feel it now.
They weren't just going to escape.
They were going to break out.
Carl tightened his grip on the file. His heartbeat was steady now, no longer racing with confusion—just focus. They had a lead. A way forward.
And if this system had a flaw…
They were going to break it.
Carl's heart raced as he stood frozen in place. His thoughts were moving faster than his body could keep up, adrenaline spiking in his chest. A flaw in the system. A glitch. He had seen it. He had felt it.
The air had wavered. The pattern of disappearances had been interrupted. For just a moment, someone who had vanished reappeared, stepping back into the room like a shadow returning to the light.
It wasn't just a mistake.
Carl could feel it now, deep in his gut: the system wasn't perfect. There was a tear. A break in its design.
And that meant they had a chance to escape.
He turned to the others, his voice low but urgent. "Did you see that? It… it wasn't just a fluke. Something's wrong with the system. We can exploit it."
Sein stared at him, frowning. "What do you mean by 'exploit it'? How do we even begin?"
Carl swallowed, glancing back at the space where the glitch had occurred. It had been a fraction of a second—a flicker of movement, like someone jumping between frames in a broken film reel. But Carl had felt it.
"The disappearances…" Carl said slowly, his mind starting to put the pieces together. "It's not just random. The pattern is controlled. But if the system isn't perfect, it can be tricked."
Myla stepped closer, her brown eyes wide with curiosity. "How do you mean? Are we supposed to trigger that glitch somehow?"
Carl nodded. "Exactly. If we can find the exact spots where the glitch happens, we can force the system to make a mistake again. We need to trigger it—before it does the opposite to us."
Ardyn's yellow eyes flickered with understanding. "A controlled glitch. Something we can manipulate."
Ryan leaned against the wall, his red hair catching the light as he scowled. "You're saying if we wait long enough and get in the right spot, we can mess with the system? Cause that sounds like a gamble."
Carl didn't hesitate. "It's better than standing around doing nothing and waiting to disappear."
Sein scratched the back of his head. "Alright, alright. So what do we do now? Wait for the next mistake to happen?"
Carl glanced at the floor, his fingers tapping the edge of the file. There had to be a pattern to the glitch. A way to predict when and where it would happen next. He scanned the room again, looking at the empty spaces, trying to feel out the rhythm of the vanishing points.
His thoughts drifted to the strange, silent chaos around them—the people who were still standing there, unaware of the danger, unaware that they were all just a step away from being erased. How could they not see it? How could they just accept it?
But then he realized.
It wasn't their fault. They didn't have the capacity to see the flaw in the system.
And that was the key.
Carl's mind clicked. He turned back to the group, excitement rising in his chest. "I've got it. The glitch happens when there's an imbalance. A moment where the system tries to process too many things at once. That's what causes the error."
Ardyn frowned. "So, we need to create that imbalance on purpose?"
Carl nodded. "Exactly. We need to make the system break down. If we move fast enough, and in the right spots, we can force it to repeat the glitch—again."
Myla's brow furrowed. "And what happens after that?"
Carl's eyes sparkled with determination. "After that… we make our escape."
---
The air seemed to thicken as Carl spoke, a feeling of tension hanging in the room. The others were silent for a moment, taking in the weight of his words. This was it. This was the opportunity they had been waiting for. But it wouldn't be easy.
Sein shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Alright, then. What's the first move?"
Carl exhaled slowly, thinking carefully. "First, we need to pinpoint the exact spots where the glitch happens. We need to observe and wait for the next disappearance, then move into position. Once we see the pattern, we'll have to act quickly."
Ryan pushed off the wall and gave a sharp nod. "I'm all for making a move."
Ardyn stood up straighter, his yellow eyes hardening. "Then let's not waste time. We'll make our own luck."
Carl's heart was pounding in his chest as he turned back toward the shifting spaces around them. He felt the weight of the decision pressing down on him. There was no going back after this. If they failed, they wouldn't just be trapped—they'd be lost.
But there was no other choice.
They couldn't wait for the system to decide their fate. They had to take control.
---
The next few minutes felt like an eternity. They stood together in silence, watching the people around them, waiting for any signs of movement. Carl kept his focus sharp, his eyes darting from person to person, looking for the telltale signs of the glitch. He could feel the seconds ticking away.
And then—
There it was again.
A slight shimmer in the air. Just for a moment, as if reality itself had faltered. The disappearance happened in the same spot as before, but Carl's eyes locked onto it immediately.
"Now!" he shouted.
Without hesitation, he dashed toward the spot where the glitch had appeared, his heart racing. Behind him, he could hear the others following, their footsteps quick but careful, their movements synchronized. They had no time to waste.
As they approached the area, Carl saw it—the ripple—like the world around them had been stretched and pulled out of place. His breath hitched as he stepped into the spot, feeling the air distort around him. For a moment, everything seemed to slow down. The room around him flickered. The ground beneath his feet felt… unstable.
They were in the right place.
Carl's pulse quickened as he looked at the others. "Now, everyone, stay close!"
Sein, Ardyn, Myla, and Ryan moved in beside him. The space around them flickered again, like a glitch repeating itself. Carl held his breath, waiting.
And then—
The world buckled.
It wasn't a violent shift. It was subtle. Almost imperceptible. But Carl felt it. The fabric of reality bent. They had triggered the glitch.
The room around them blurred.
For a moment, Carl thought they were falling—but then, everything snapped back.
And they were no longer standing in the same room.
They had done it. They had broken through.
But as they looked around, their surroundings were different. Darker. Less stable.
And in the distance, Carl could see a new world waiting—one that would be even more dangerous than the one they had just escaped.
It wasn't over.
The real test was just beginning.