“They said they had green, but they really had blue,” Toji exclaimed. “Damn it. Why did they have to be so greedy? We all could have all gotten out of here in one go, and now it's all messed up.

We’d barely made it back into our section before words shot out of his mouth like a minigun. Toji had been quiet so far, but when he was angry, he became talkative.

“It wasn't just them. They were lying to us, but someone was lying to them. Otherwise they wouldn't have gotten the answer wrong,” Ama pointed out.

“She's right,” I said. “Blue and orange. Those are the only two colors we know are right.”

I leaned against the orange tiles and sighed. An entire group of people had been slaughtered because someone wanted better rewards.

Even worse, they'd been willing to do the same. They'd lied about their own color.

“The liar and the person who inputted the colors were probably different people,” Ama said. “Otherwise they would have waited for someone else to put in their wrong color.”

“It doesn't matter. We’ll never know now,” I replied. “How many of us are left?”

“Fifteen,” Toji replied immediately. “Do you think we can go through their water doors?”

I glanced at the exit, the thin sheen of water wriggling delicately in the air, and shook my head.

“So far this trial has stonewalled us at every corner,” Ama pursed her lips. “There’s every chance that we’ll die if we try.”

“Are you allergic to being positive?” Toji snapped.

“You go and throw yourself at it then,” Ama huffed. “I'll tell your dead body that I was right.”

They devolved into angry stares, and I coughed. When they turned to me, I held out my palm and revealed a tiny orb the size of a marble.

It was the essence stone that Minion Z had given us. He'd never taken it back, or the gun, and I'd wondered why. Now, I had an idea.

“The Tower doesn't do things half heartedly,” I tried to mimic Minion Z’s voice. Ama gave me a blank stare, but Toji almost cracked a smile. “This trial is a puzzle. Maybe the color of the walls aren't the only pieces. Let’s give Toji’s idea a go.”

Before either of them could respond, I exited the water door with orb in hand—

—Only to come face to face with Victoria.

She was holding her shield out, pacing cautiously toward our doorway. A thin streak of panic sweat coursed down her forehead and dripped from her chin, and she let out a strangled yelp as I emerged.

Both of us stopped at the same time, and she jumped back, her cheeks blushing crimson.

“What are you doing?” I asked. A quick check confirmed that she was alone.

Victoria raised her shield toward the door. “I'm checking if we can move through the other doorways. I was going to use my shield to do it.”

“By yourself?” I asked.

“If I don't try it then who will?” Victoria replied. “Everyone else is frightened.”

“You're taking on the burden,” I said. “That's noble.”

“That’s exactly what I wanted to do,” Ama said from behind me. Then she let out a sharp hiss as Toji stepped on her foot.

“We also have a better idea,” I said.

I gestured for Victoria to follow us, and she fell in line with me. For every step I took, she took one that was equal, and I realized we were the same height. Which meant she was far above average for a woman.

When she saw me take out the essence stone, her eyes widened. She quickly drew out her own from her pocket, and then two more.

“A couple of the others decided to pool theirs with me,” she said in response to our stares. “Not everyone did.”

“Then let’s test every door,” I said. “First, yours.”

We stopped in front of the southern section where Victoria’s group was. I couldn't see them through the door, or the color of their wall, but I could

“Crimson, right?” I asked.

Victoria blinked in surprise, then nodded. “Right.”

“Just thought I’d check,” I said.

Without waiting for her reply, I threw the essence orb into the door. The stone sailed through the air and then paused as it touched the surface of the water. It wiggled, and shivered, and then it let out a little cry as it was promptly drawn into the current.

Ama and Toji swore in unison as the essence stone was sucked up into the doorway, disappearing with a shriek.

I held my hand out and Victoria wordlessly handed me another essence stone. After a slight pause, I turned around and threw the stone at our own door.

It fell right through without issue. There was nothing stopping it.

“Okay,” I held out my hand and Victoria handed me another stone. “That's weird.”

“Let me go,” Victoria said.

She threw one of her stones at the door and we watched as it was sucked up by the current.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

The last stone gave us the same result. I doubted Norwood’s group even noticed us throwing it.

“So, we definitely can't go through their doors,” I said. “But we can go through our own.”

“I need to go tell my team,” Victoria said. “Let me know if you have any ideas.”

I nodded, but my eyes never left the walls of water. They were calm on the surface, but within their depths their waters churned and roiled.

Then, I heard a sound in the distance. Nobody else caught it, they were all too intent on examining the walls. But when I glanced at the source a lightbulb went off in my head, and I smiled.

Victoria disappeared behind her group’s door, but I held my hand out and stopped Toji and Ama from leaving.

“Wait,” I said.

They paused, looking at me curiously. But I didn't move.

Instead, I waited.

One minute. Two minutes. Soon, I lost track of time.

Eventually, I heard something clattering as it fell onto the ground. The sound had come from the eastern section, and as I walked toward it I saw that the bodies had disappeared. Maybe they'd all been ‘repurposed’ as the Guide had put it.

I bent down and picked up the sole objects in the room, the two essence stones that had been thrown into the water.

“Come on.”

A moment later I was staring at a blue screen.

Inventory:

Essence stone (F-Rank): x100

Enchanted essence stone (F-Rank): x3

Star-forged metal (C-Rank): x3 ingots

Scrap metal (common): x1. Destroyed.

I’d picked up the remaining essence stone that had landed in our section. The other two had been given to me by Minion Z and Victoria, for throwing at Norwood’s door. Of course, I hadn't thrown the enchanted stones. That would have been a monumental waste.

Instead, I'd replaced each orb with one of the ordinary essence stones from my inventory. The process was simple, and perplexing. Each stone disappeared into my inventory the moment I wanted them to, and they'd been replaced by the ordinary essence stones just as quickly.

That was technology far beyond anything Earth was capable of. It bordered on magic.

The scrap metal remains belonged to Rodney’s gun. I'd pocketed the crushed item, but the clip and barrel were empty.

“You've been staring at the walls for an awfully long time,” Ama’s voice disrupted my thoughts. “We're not going to lose you too, are we?”

Toji shuffled beside me, an uncomfortable expression on his face. His hands were clenched, and I could see him tensing as he prepared to stop me from jumping into the water current.

I raised my hand to stop him and chuckled. “There’s another way to win this trial. The clues have been here all along.”

“What? How?” Ama asked.

“There's not a lot of room to move here,” I waved my hammer at the room. “In fact, it's really bare.”

Ama looked at me like I was crazy, but Toji’s expression shifted, and he stroked his chin as his eyes turned pensive.

“That means we can only use a few things,” Toji said. He turned around and stared at the same wall. “If this is a puzzle, then the walls are just another piece.”

“Exactly,” I nodded.

“I don't get it,” Ama said, the frustration clear in her voice. “I'm good at working people, not designing a room.”

“Well, I'm good at putting things together,” I replied. “Look, what happens here if one of the other walls had collapsed. Not the eastern one.”

“I don't know,” Ama shrugged. Then, seeing our expression, she realized that the answer actually mattered. “Fine. Someone else would have died. Is that it?”

“No,” I shook my head. “All the remaining walls would remain connected. That’s why both of the essence stones fell out of the eastern section’s wall when we threw them from opposite directions.”

When looking at them in the center area I'd see that

The walls of water weren't separate, they were simply cutting us off from each other by forming blockades. Technically, the walls were one continuous stream of water.

So far, only the east wall had collapsed, which meant that our walls had a direct connection to the walls of both the south and north areas.

But if the south wall had collapsed, the same thing would occur. The north and east walls would be a connected segment to our west wall. And if the north had collapsed, then the south and east walls would link up with our own.

Ama paused as she finally realized what we already had. “You're telling me that the room was arranged this way on purpose? That's not possible.” Her tone was venomous. “Minion Z made this place. Or someone did. And they would have had to have known one group would betray the others, and then they'd have to know only one team would die.”

“They’ve predicted everything else,” I said.

“But not how we'd act!” Ama’s voice rose into a shout.

“Why not?” Toji asked. “Just because they are different, doesn't mean they aren't just as intelligent. Or more so.”

“Because knowing about ourselves is our thing. Humanities thing,” Ama said. “If we lose that, then what hope is there that I get to live?”

“That's where I come in,” I said. I took a step toward the wall, and Ama tensed. “‘Pay attention to the Rule’. That's what Minion Z said. He didn't say not to break it.”

Ama’s face turned pale. “Don’t tell me you're thinking what I think you are.”

“Five minutes,” I replied. “That's the penalty.”

“And how can we know it takes less than five minutes for the current inside to move from one end of the walls to the other?” Ama snapped.

“I can time it,” Toji said excitedly. “My screen has a timer. We just need to throw another essence stone inside.”

He waved his console at me and I smiled. His item was handier than it appeared. I wonder what other functions it had that we could use in the right situations.

Well, it didn't matter.

Five minutes later an essence stone clattered onto the floor of the eastern section and we had our answer.

“Toji,” I said.

“Yeah?” He asked.

“Good job.”

Toji beamed as we made our way back to our section. We didn't encounter anyone else on the way, which was good, because I didn't know how they'd react to the information. Or the fact that we had it.

“We don't know if you’ll even be able to survive the currents.” Ama sat back against the wall. She looked tired. Defeated. If I died, she'd be left alone with only Toji for company. “But if you want to die, then go die.”

I took a step forward, and my nose was practically touching the wall of water. One tiny push forward and I'd be dragged into its current just like the man who'd gone before me.

“Unlike the man before me, I don't plan on drowning,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm.

My heartbeat was racing, and I could feel my palms growing sweaty. All I had to do was plunge into the depths that had already killed four people. The solution seemed so simple in my mind.

So why did taking the final step feel so hard?

“Hey, Toji?”

Toji straightened up, “yeah?”

“I'm going to whack you over the head with that thing if it doesn't work,” I threatened. “So push me in.”

[You have broken the Rule. Penalty invoked!]

I was drowning in the air.

Then, I was underwater.