Then another. And another.
Their stone limbs cracked, flaking as they moved—slow at first, unnatural, stiff. The sound was like bones breaking underwater.
Then the voice returned. Not the cold, clinical one. Not the condescending feminine one. This voice was worse. Because it didn't sound like it cared if I lived or died.
"First Trial Initiated."
The entire corridor lit up. Not with light—but motion.
Statue after statue came to life. From within each helmet, a pale, ghostlike light began to glow. One by one, the knights began to move—until the entire corridor stirred like a wave breaking free.
Arms shifted. Heads turned. Feet lifted off the marble floor, slow and heavy.
They weren't statues anymore. They were knights. Hundreds of them. Black, faceless, soulless. Each one turned toward me. And then they started walking.
[TRIAL OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE – 60 SECONDS]
A glowing timer appeared in the air above me.
[00:60]
I stepped back, breath shallow. My body turned cold. I was afraid. My heart started beating fast. Really fast.
Then the first knight moved—and swung.
I ducked—steel kissed my ear.
A scream tore out of me as pain exploded down the side of my head. Blood sprayed across my cheek and shoulder. Something hot trickled along my neck. My ear was gone.
The pain was blinding, setting fire to my nerves. I clutched the side of my head, half-blind, stumbling away. But they kept coming.
[00:54]
Another knight raised its sword like a guillotine. I rolled away. My ribs slammed the floor, something cracked inside. A halberd smashed down beside me.
I crawled, forcing myself up, one leg dragging behind me. My balance was gone. My vision spun. My breath burned. My heart was pumping so fast, I almost felt it break through.
[00:48]
I turned left to escape—only to find a knight already waiting, blade raised. The weapon tore through the air—and grazed my neck.
Not deep. But it felt like someone had pressed fire against my throat.
Blood ran down my collar. I clutched at the wound, stumbling, every breath shallow and shaky. There was too much heat in my skull. My ears rang. Air refused to come. My lungs felt locked, useless.
[00:42]
I wanted to stop. To collapse. To cry. Beg. Anything.
But something refused. Some small part of me—too stubborn, too angry to give in.
[00:38]
Now they were all awake. Hundreds of them. I was surrounded.
I dove between two knights, slammed against the floor. A sword sliced across my back. Another blow slammed into my shoulder.
[00:26]
A knight grabbed my ankle. Cold, unyielding metal.
I kicked and fought. It raised its sword—I pulled. Too slow.
Steel came down—and my arm went with it.
Gone.
I did not understand what was happening at the moment. It felt unreal.
Then the pain came. Such excruciating pain was impossible to bear.
I screamed so loud that I felt my vocal cords start tearing.
But I got up. Somehow, I got up.
[00:18]
Blood poured from the stump. My legs shook. But I moved.
[00:12]
A blade missed me by an inch. I slipped. Fell. Caught myself with one hand. Crawled.
Everything hurt. My spine. My lungs. My jaw. My missing arm. My throat.
But I didn't stop.
[00:06]
They were closing in. The amount of horror I felt at that moment was indescribable.
From all sides. My vision was red. My thoughts were gone.
I dragged myself forward, choking on blood and spit. I didn't pray. I didn't cry.
[00:03]
I was still moving. Still breathing. Still alive.
[00:00]
Everything stopped.
The knights froze mid-swing. And one by one, they shattered into black ash.
I almost fainted, maybe from relief, maybe from pain.
At that moment, the voice came back. The worst one.
"First trial beaten."
Then everything burned. Pain unlike anything I'd ever known shot through me. My body arched as light poured into every wound—searing, ripping, stitching.
Then nothing.
The next moment, I was standing in the ancient hall again.
I was breathing, but it didn't feel real. No blood. No pain. My limbs were back. My body whole. Everything was whole.
What had just happened?
The ringing in my ears hadn't stopped.
"Restoration complete."
Never mind what I said earlier, this voice was my favourite.
Breathing felt amazing. I was truly fully reconstructed.
I had not felt this alive for a long time. Maybe I could actually beat this trial.
"You're not dead. Congratulations. It was delicious to watch you struggle."
The feminine voice again. Smooth. Mocking. Too amused to be human.
It echoed from everywhere and nowhere. I turned in place, looking for a speaker, a form—anything. Nothing.
"You lasted longer than I expected, little moth."
"Most scream when the first blade lands. You waited until the third."
"What is this place?" I asked, unsure if this was hell—or something worse.
A pause.
"A Trial."
"A gift."
"A filter."
The statues appeared again, fully repaired. Standing just like how they were when I first arrived. Seeing them made me flinch.
"You are an interesting little thing."
"I do not feel defiance from you, mostly confusion and terror."
"Intriguing, truly."
Suddenly, the marble beneath me lit up.
Lines of white light surged from the floor like veins, racing outward in symmetrical arcs until they reached the walls. Then the walls cracked—no, peeled—like ancient stone folding away to reveal something behind it.
Another corridor. Darker than the last. Taller. Its walls were engraved with unfamiliar glyphs, like rotating runes, etched in some metal that shimmered like starlight.
At the end of the corridor stood a massive gate. Circular. Smooth. Covered in rings of moving script.
It pulsed with something ancient.
[Second Trial: INQUIRY]
I blinked.
What?
"Oh. You thought they'd all be about running and bleeding?"
"No, no, little thing."
The corridor pulsed with a faint hum. My heart beat slower now—but it wasn't calm. It was pressure. Mounting pressure. Like the Trial wasn't just going to test me—but unmake me if I wasn't ready.
I stepped forward. The floor didn't move. But I did.
Each step felt heavier than the last. Not in weight—but in meaning.
The corridor felt like it was watching me. Judging me.
"Do try to entertain us, little one. We don't get to play very often."