Five others were dragged with us.

Two of the newcomers stirred, a woman and a man. The fifth person was Rodney’s corpse.

“What the?” The woman exclaimed. “Hey, where'd Victoria go?”

“Where-where am I?” The man asked. He gripped his head and winced, and when he opened his eyes they were clouded over.

“The water,” Toji whispered.

I whirled around at his words, “damn it.”

The hands had vanished, and in their place was a massive wall of water that had cut us off from the surroundings. It was thick enough that I couldn't see past it, but it didn't look uncrossable.

Through one section I could see the shadow of the destroyed fountain, and Minion Z’s floating form.

“It looks like we can get out that way,” I said, pointing it out for Toji’s benefit. The liquid was thinner there, and the shift in water formed a door-like pattern.

“What about the other sides?” Toji asked. “The others got dragged there.”

Before I could explore further, Minion Z’s voice blared over us.

“Four walls. Four colors. List them all correctly, and you all win. For each group that fails, the remaining groups shall have their rewards doubled.” Minion Z clapped his hands together. “You may all talk freely without threats. Those who threaten others face the penalties. You may also cross these walls without harm, but only your own.”

[You have entered the west section of the trial.]

[A selectable reward will be presented upon completion of this trial.]

“I have taught you all you need to know. Good luck,” Minion Z said.

With that, he was gone. His voice, and his blurry form beyond the water.

“Ben, look,” Toji tugged at my sleeve. “The wall changed.”

I looked behind me and frowned. All of the tiles had turned bright orange. When I looked to the other sides of the room, I saw that the walls had blurred and twisted behind the barriers of water, becoming unviewable despite being in plain sight.

“That's what the guide meant by four colors,” I said. “Okay, we know ours is orange. That just leaves three more. How do we tell the guide when we have them?”

[All answers must be given verbally inside the designated section. This option will not be available where other groups congregate.]

A blue box appeared as soon as I spoke. Then another quickly replaced it.

[Input your answer? Y/N.]

That seemed simple enough. We just had to ask the other groups what their color was.

Now, I needed a way to contact them.

“Who are you guys?” A surly voice asked from behind me. “I didn't see you in Victoria’s group.”

“I'm Ben,” I said, turning toward the woman. “And this is Toji.”

“My name’s Ama,” the woman replied. “I was a lawyer before all this began.”

I raised an eyebrow at that, and spotted a fleck of emotion in her gaze, but I couldn't tell what it was. She wore a ragged white shirt that looked like it had once been expensive, and a long-sleeved navy blue suit with a tear along its side over her left rib cage.

We all looked at the man, but he was gazing at the walls of water.

“No, no, no,” the man shivered. “No, I have to get back to him.”

His body tensed, and he pounced toward the wall of water. Instead of heading toward the thinner section leading to the fountain, he went to the north side of the room.

“Don't!” I shouted.

My warning came too late.

The man dove straight into the thickest section of the water wall, and he let out a strangled yelp as his arm was caught in the liquid. Then it moved, and shifted, and I realized that it was being dragged by a current underneath the water’s surface.

In seconds, the current had pulled the man in, and I caught a glimpse of his fingers clawing at his throat as he drowned, then he disappeared into the depths of the wall.

Then, he was gone from sight.

“He-he killed himself?” Toji let out a strangled gasp.

I cursed, and Ama followed suit beside me.

Rodney’s corpse was lying on the ground next to us, and now we'd lost one of the other team members we'd been given. No. We'd lost another human, and it was clear that our species was quickly becoming endangered.

“That was horrifying,” Ama stared at the wall. “But we need to figure things out.”

Her quick recovery gave me whiplash, but I realized she was right. Squeezing Toji’s shoulder reassuringly, I stepped toward the wall and examined it carefully.

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“Minion Z said we could walk to the fountain,” I pointed at the thin section that looked like a door. “I think this is how we do it.”

“Great,” Ama walked up to the door and pushed me gently to the side. “So, this is what we’re going to do—”

“—Who made you the boss?” Toji asked.

Ama turned to him and placed her hips at her side. “My skill is ranked as rare. So, I have the highest rarity skill,” she declared proudly. “Which means I'm in charge.”

There was a pause as Toji and I looked at each other.

“My skill is better,” I said.

“Prove it,” she replied.

“No.” I shook my head. “It doesn't matter unless our skills help us with this trial. Does yours?”

Toji shook his head, and Ama reluctantly copied his action.

“Then we should cooperate,” I said. “That's clearly the point of this whole thing.”

“No, you heard the minion. Our rewards multiply if the others get the wrong color. We should lie and say we have another color,” Ama said. “I've already got a rare skill, and if I get a rare item as well, then that's even better. Not just for me, for all of us. The more rewards we get, the better our chances get.”

“Trust is a reward in itself, and far more powerful when we face the unknown,” I rebutted. “Minion Z said it was a shame one of us already died. That means we might face a trial in the future that requires as many people as possible to pass it.”

“You're going to trust that flying freak?” Ama stomped her foot on the ground. “That’s idiotic.”

Her words were reasonable, but she couldn’t hide the greed driving them past her lips.

“You're trusting him to give you a reward when this is all over,” I pointed out.

Ama paused, and her eyes flashed with anger, but she didn't object. Instead, she turned toward the entrance and motioned for us to go through.

I went first, and flinched as I touched the water, but I wasn’t dragged away and drowned. A sigh of relief escaped me and I took a deep breath, holding it as I crossed the wall. The water was three feet thick, and difficult to traverse. I barely managed to keep my feet on the floor from one side to the other.

One by one, we passed through the entrance. And we weren't the only ones.

We arrived from the west side of the room. Victoria came from the south. A group of shell shocked people exited from the east.

Norwood strode in from the north.

The first to speak was a man from the eastern group. I recognised him as part of Victoria's group. He wasn't their side’s representative, but from the shocked expressions on their faces I doubted any of them were in a state of mind to object.

“They're dead,” the man shivered. “Three of them. They ran straight into the water.”

“What?” I asked sharply.

The man’s eyes welled with tears. “They dove in the moment the walls appeared. We didn't have time to stop them.”

A figure cut in front of me before I could reply.

“We have red,” Ama blurted out. “That's our color.”

I stared at her, but she looked forward at the other groups without shame. When she did look back, her eyes glimmered with a clear message, 'don't tell them anything’.

Naturally, I ignored that.

“She's lying,” I interjected. “We have orange.”

Ama turned around, staring at me in shock. “Why would you say that?”

“Because I'm not going to sabotage our chances of survival just to end up with another hammer,” I replied.

“Crimson,” Victoria said. “For the devil mocks me with his color.”

Her group nodded, and I couldn't spot any dissent or shame among their expressions.

“Violet,” Norwood added. None of his followers blinked an eye at his answer.

“And we have green,” the final group representative said.

Orange. Crimson. Violet. Green.

We had the answer to the puzzle. All we needed to do was put it in.

“That was easy,” Toji said.

I nodded.

“Let's go back,” I said. “We need to be in the room to put in the colors.”

We turned around, and Ama followed us, her smoldering boring into my back. I ignored her, though I clasped my hammer at my side.

She had yet to reveal her reward item, but from the way she kept tugging at her suit’s sleeve I guessed she'd hidden it there. Which meant it was too small to be a gun.

The moment we crossed through our threshold, Ama blocked my path.

“Wait,” Ama said. “Don't say the colors yet.”

I paused, but didn't object.

Toji, on the other hand, pushed forward with an annoyed expression on his face. “Why not?”

“Because I don't trust them,” Ama said. “Not Norwood or Victoria, and I definitely don't trust those quivering people from the east section.”

“Weren't you part of her group?” I asked. “I thought you would be fearing God's wrath for lying.”

“I'll tell people that I believe in whatever crap I need to if it gets me out of here alive,” Ama replied. “Victoria’s playing saint but that doesn't mean everyone has to.”

Toji’s throat rumbled with disgust, and I was inclined to agree with him.

But she did have a point.

“Fine,” I said. “We’ll wait.”

Ama’s shoulders loosened with relief, and we waited for another group to select their colors.

Five minutes later we were still waiting.

“They must have had the same idea,” I said.

Ama’s expression was grim. “I told you.”

Eventually, a group caved in.

[The group in the east section have selected: Blue, Violet, Orange, Crimson.]

Blue?

That couldn't be right. That team had said their color was green. The answer struck me a moment later.

They'd lied to gain our colors.

The floor shook violently, and I stumbled, my hammer almost falling out of my hand. Ama shrieked from the side as she lost her balance and fell, but Toji caught her, stopping her head from smashing into the stone floor.

[One group eliminated. The rewards of the remaining participants have doubled.]

The shaking stopped and I ran out the water door, passing through it and freezing as I spotted the cause of the disturbance.

There were only three walls of water now, and the fourth had drawn back, revealing a bright blue wall and the bodies of people we'd been talking to only minutes before.

All of them had been crushed.

Soon, I felt the presence of the others behind me. Everyone could see the bodies, and they could see the blue walls behind the bodies.

“We have to communicate,” I said. “That's all it takes.”

Norwood looked at me, and then at Victoria. “No. That time has passed.”

I was too late. The trust was broken.

It was every group for themselves.