Ezra froze and stared at the crackling fire that consumed the bush. Every snap and hiss from the flames gripped his focus as if they whispered of his demise and reprimanded his foolishness. His mysterious competitor was gone—whatever plan he had concocted burned to ash. The fire danced in Ezra’s eyes to mock him.

“Time-scale,” he breathed through gritted teeth as he approached the bush. “Time-scale.”

He knew it wouldn’t work, yet those words were all he felt compelled to say. Raising his boot, he stomped on the scorched bush until the fire died. Among the dry pale mess, he searched for any sign of color—anything to hold onto to give him one last ray of hope. Smoke swirled through the air, and its stench clung to Ezra’s clothes.

“Thirty seconds have passed. All skills are unfrozen.”

Ezra glared up at the faceless announcer. How could they do this to me? How could they do this period? He kicked at the sooty remains, and his mind raced for an answer. They shackled my skill, but how? The words of the administrator on the first layer came back to him. The system owes you nothing, but you owe everything to the system, and there are people who know how to utilize it much better than you do.

“He’s right,” Ezra muttered. “But that doesn’t mean I need to heed his advice.” So what? I wished to leave Deepburrow, and it happened. I wished to save Emma, and I willed it to happen. This test is no different.

The sounds of battle were quieter than before. Those thirty seconds must have been a death sentence for many. This could be to my advantage, Ezra thought as he viewed the information screen. Their score was up to fifty. Someone is still scoring, so Jason must be alive.

“Hey,” Milo called out as he and Erik ran towards Ezra. “Everything good here? That look on your face tells me it's not.”

Ezra stepped out of the pile of ash. “Everything is gone. Those are our tickets.” He pointed to the charred bush.

Milo crouched and rubbed a pinch of soot between his fingers. “Did someone burn them?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“What?” Milo looked up, a confused frown frozen on his face, and dropped the dusty gray matter back into the pile. “The timer was exactly thirty seconds. You tried to do something with Time Scale, didn’t you?”

Ezra nodded and explained the situation. After the explanation, Milo shot up from the ground, and Erik held his rifle tightly as he nervously glanced between the two. “So what do you suggest we do?” Milo said.

“Gather more tickets. What else?”

“There’s not many left down here. As we were looking for climbers, I could barely spot a single one. I think people have picked the bottom clean and taken their chances with the machines. Did you see any?” Milo asked Erik.

“One or two, but they were all yellow.” Erik trembled as he looked at the top of the arena.

“All the big shots of the test are going to be up there. Are you sure you want to take the risk?”

With Milo’s silence and cold stare, Ezra knew it was a serious question—one that Milo wanted him to fully consider. It wasn’t often, but ever since Owen’s death, something had changed in Milo. He was no longer the kid who would blindly rush into things. “We have one teammate up there. If he’s survived this long, I think we have a chance.”

“If you think there’s still a way to win, I’m with you.” A grin cracked Milo’s serious demeanor. “You hear that, Erik. It's time to show everyone else what real sky-seekers are made of.”

“Yeah.” Erik tried to sound enthusiastic, but it only came out as a whimper. “How do you suppose we get up there?”

Ezra scanned the spot Jason had climbed. A waterfall splashed across the pale stone, but few branches made for what looked like a difficult climb. Unless. Ezra squinted at gray divots in the rock darker than the rest. Jason had left a path for them to follow. Handholds formed by his heated palms lead the way to the shimmering dome.

“Looks like your hot-heated teammate already forged a path for us,” Ezra said and slung the backpack over his shoulders.

They followed him to the daunting cliff, and Ezra put his hand in the indent. The stone was molded into sloppy handholds, and minerals oozed like melted candle wax, but the spray from the waterfall had cooled the protrusions in place. Gripping the first hold, Ezra pushed himself off the ground as he reached for another. The weight of the backpack pulled him from the wall, but his earnest grasp kept him steady.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Vapor tickled Ezra’s knuckles and his biceps tightened as he climbed further. Some of the pressure left his arms as he forced his foot into one of the divots. Only Jason’s palms made these holes, Ezra reminded himself. Despite the extra support, his foothold still felt precarious. He squinted at the bright light that blocked the view of the top, and his legs trembled at the thought of going higher.

“Come on, slow-poke!” Milo’s voice barely penetrated the sound of rushing water. “Thirteen minutes left!”

Spurred by his teammate's provocations, Ezra continued his ascent one handhold at a time. Milo and then Erik climbed not far behind. A rush of wind brushed Ezra’s hair, and he hugged the wall for dear life. The breeze did not go on, and Ezra wondered if it was just his imagination. Long gone were the thoughts of winning the test; all of that was buried beneath the tempest of nerves that was raging within him. He never considered himself to be scared of heights, but as he was finding out now, hanging from a cliff put everything in a different perspective.

Another explosion rang from the top and shot its terrifying quakes through the mountain. Almost. Almost. I will it, I wish it, and it will happen. Ezra’s personal mantra steadied his quivering fingers, and he reached for the final ledge.

Heaving himself over the precipice, he felt relieved to find solid ground. The top of the arena looked largely the same as the bottom, but the presence of light was much more prominent. A stream of water twisted around a rusted metal box with a rounded slot protruding from the top of it.

Milo and then Erik, who breathed an unsteady sigh of relief, made it to the top. Walking past, Ezra Milo observed the box with a curious gaze.

“Is this the ticket machine they’ve been talking about?” Milo asked as he brushed the top with his nimble fingers. “It has the number five on it.”

"Erik, I need you to shoot it,” Ezra said.

“A… At this close of a range,” Erik nervously fiddled with the straps of his gun. “It’s a sniper rifle. I’m not sure that's a good idea, plus it's not our property. The administrator never said we could destroy them.”

“They never said we couldn’t.” Ezra motioned for Milo to move aside as Erik reluctantly pulled the rifle from his back.

Kneeling in the dirt, Erik took aim and clicked his finger on the trigger. Bang. A bullet hit the decaying metal and ricocheted into a nearby rock. The whole group ducked as the deadly round sparked against a few more stones and disappeared.

“I had a feeling that wouldn’t work,” Milo said as he cautiously raised his head. “There’s no strategic advantage to the machines if we can destroy them. All we can do is go ticket hunting.”

If only the Thorin-sphere worked. Maybe I could absorb the machine. “I agree,” Ezra said. “Let's stick together until we find Jason.”

A pillar of rock shattered as a beam of light cut through the air. Ezra covered his neck and heard footsteps approaching somewhere in front of them. “They must have heard the bullet. Everyone take cover!”

A young man with shaggy black hair and a girl in a crimson cloak stepped into the clearing. “I know I heard something here. They can’t be far.”

“Your ears must be playing tricks on ya again,” the boy retorted as he vigilantly observed the area around the machine.

Ezra steadied his breath as he put his back to the rock he and Milo hid behind. A few paces away, Erik crouched behind another stone barely bigger than him. One of them shot the beam of light, so that has to be one of their skills, but the other I have no idea. Maybe I can bait them.

“I’m going to get one of them to hit the rock with their skill,” Ezra whispered. “You and Erik do your thing and try to hit the other.”

Milo silently nodded and picked up a loose pebble from the ground.

As soon as Ezra poked his head over the lip of the rock, Milo tossed the pebble over to Erik. “Hey,” Ezra taunted. “Uh… I…” What do I even say when taunting someone?

Before Ezra could come up with an answer, the girl in the crimson cloak struck their hiding spot with a beam of molten light. The rock burst into a dozen pieces, and she prepared to strike again.

“Time-scale.” Ezra ducked as the rock reformed, and Erik threw the pebble back to Milo.

This time Milo was the one to raise his head. He stuck out his tongue and gave them a goofy grin as he flung the pebble towards the boy. The taunting was more effective than last time as white lightning splintered the stone again. In a blur, the sound of Erik’s gun rang in Ezra’s ears.

The boy cursed as the bullet whizzed past and Ezra activated his skill again. Erik frowned and tapped his right cheek as he mouthed the words, "No kill." Ezra peeked around the side of the rock and saw the black-haired boy cradling his cheek as blood filled the gaps in his fingers.

After a brief second of peace, their hiding rock cracked again.

“Time-scale.” I can keep this up all day.

Ezra braced for another blow as Milo and Erik exchanged another pebble, yet nothing came.

“Do I need to taunt them again? Thinking about giving them one of these,” Milo smiled as he stuck up his middle finger.

“You need to throw the stone anyway. Just be careful. I don’t know why they stopped. We need to get this over with quickly.” Ezra accessed the info screen. “We only have nine minutes and thirty seconds left.”

Milo playfully floated the stone in his hand as he took a deep breath. “I understand.” He glanced at Erik, who gave a nod of affirmation back.

Milo sprung up and froze a second longer than Ezra expected. “What’s the pro…” The remaining words were strangled as hands wrapped around his throat. Where? What? He clawed at the hands and desperately searched for their source. As his fingers searched the back of his neck, he felt two pale wrists emerging from solid stone.