You killed me.

The spoken words jolted his heart, reignited his nerves, and revived him from the deep slumber.

He was greeted by a glare as he opened his eyes. He tried to squint, blocking out the light with his limp hands, until the last he could do was move his ass away. When he did, he realized he wasn't in his room, but an unfamiliar white space.

Everything was white. The ceiling, the wall, the blanket, and the floor were all painted in white. Too white apparently. The air was cold too. He thought something was wrong with his head, or perhaps, his eyes? Or maybe he was still dreaming about living in the middle of snow.

He blinked a couple times, pinched his own cheeks and nothing was changed. White still there.

Heck, where am I? He wondered.

He turned around, lowered his feet and noticed a girl sitting on the floor in silence–he wasn’t alone as he presumed before. Her dress matched the ambience of the room, but a red stain spread in the center ruined the theme of her outfit.

That misleading impression brought his curiosity to work. Brewing his brain to operate carelessly. Based on a glimpse, he drew a simple, rushed conclusion.

The girl was covered in blood. Murdered.

He stretched his vocal cords, letting out a deafening scream in a second. All the air was pushed out of his lungs, driven by the fear that violated his chest. Which forced his consciousness to leave, to escape the horror.

Yet, he couldn’t. His brain didn’t allow him.

Gasping, he quickly drove his back against the wall and set his sight on the door. There were no windows, no large vents, it made sense to him that the door was the only way in and out.

He looked around, searching for something to use as a self-defense tool. Nothing. There was nothing to use, and even in fear, he realized that pillows and clothes wouldn’t win against knives and guns.

How would he survive and not die? He had no weapon but his fist. Unfortunately, he wasn’t a good fighter.

Any slight movement could instantly distract him. Yet, he was rooted to the same spot and couldn't move an inch from there.

He was breathing fast like a horse on a racetrack. Sweat dripped down his cheeks. With all his might, he tried to calm himself down while venting the fear out.

Time passed and no one came to the room. No masked guy or villain with psycho appearance entered.

He breathed slowly while keeping his eyes open. He squatted on the bed just now, with both hands ready to fight. He couldn't rest, not a single second without the horrible anxiety creeping into his entire cell. He needed certainty. Whether he would face a murderer, a death sentence or far worse struggle.

The long stretches of silence brought not only anxiety, but also a desire for life. Which created a sense of positivity in the gloom. When things didn't go as they should, an unexpected element came into play. A sentence from a book he read long ago popped out.

He believed that suddenly.

Enlightened by those thoughts, a glimmer of hope sprouted inside his small brain.

What if the real villain had been caught and there was a squad that would save him?

That small question managed to suppress the trembling all over his body. It even etched a smile on his desperate face.

However, as time went on, his newly acquired hope was also eroded.

What if the villain really intended to lock him up for a long time? To starve him to death?

What if he was saved for the last course?

What if–

He shook his head violently. Those ugly possibilities came uninvited.

No. I still have a chance! He drilled that idea into his head. Like a doctrine that should be believed wholeheartedly.

However, nothing happened, just like the last time.

Then, an hour had passed. Not knowing whether it was day or night, he finally decided to give up. Gave up on doing nothing. He got out of the bed, and looked at the corpse and door. If he wanted to check the door, he had to cross the corpse.

Shit, he muttered. It was probably the first time he would walk across a corpse. But what could he do?

He bit his lip and took the initiative, whether he liked it or not. He walked on tiptoe towards the dead girl while suppressing unwanted sounds. Slowly and carefully.

From above, apart from the dress she was wearing, he could see the girl's long hair that fell over her face. As his gaze dropped down, He noticed she had small shoulders and was slightly covered by her black hair. Her arms which drooped limply next to her wore a bracelet with a rabbit's face engraved on it.

His eyes kept traveling down to her feet, which were shoeless. It was rare for a girl to be barefoot outside, did that mean the killer had removed her shoes? If that was the case, then for what?

He couldn’t guess the culprit's thoughts.

He squatted down and slowly lifted her thick bang. To find out what happened, he needed to know the victim's identity. Looking at her face would be one of the easiest ways to identify her. If somehow he knew about her, he would find something relevant to why he was kidnapped in the first place.

The moment he saw it, his body immediately jumped out and crashed into the side of the bed. Followed by a sudden hysterical scream which wanted to rip out his throat. But, not a single sound escaped. He blocked it with his hands completely.

He turned his head away and tried to obliterate what he had seen. The image of her face just now challenged his sanity. He tried to calm himself down. Shutting his eyes and chanting 'it’s okay' over and over again. No matter how much he breathed in and out, the horror still lingered in the back of his mind.

The girl should have a face. A sweet, beautiful face should be engraved on it. Yet, he found nothing similar to any girl he had ever known, no lips, no nose, no eyeballs, not even a trace of muscle existed.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Her face was ripped off, left nothing but a dried bone face. There were scars of ripped skin and muscle all over the edges of her face. He couldn't imagine how painful that would be. Being killed in such a senseless way.

Before he could understand how it happened or what motive the killer had, a pungent odor invaded his nostrils and made his stomach queasy. The smell grew stronger that even his hands couldn't block it anymore.

He needed to get out. He had no way out but through the door to escape the hellish smell.

At the wrong time, a question sprouted inside his brain. If he stayed here and later suffered the same fate as the girl, why didn't he try to get out? Even if he would face the same ending, at least he tried. At least, he did something to save his own ass.

But–

Fuck! The smell became unbearable, a thousand times more foul than any snake carcass he had ever smelled. It squeezed his chest and stirred his stomach.

He had no time to waste on assumption.

He bolted into the exit. He kept turning the doorknob even though it didn't work. He rammed the door over and over again. Shortly after a cracked sound was heard, a sparkling light attacked and blinded him for a second. Yet, it didn’t stop his feet from moving, limping and finally stumbling.

He pulled himself up, however, his urge to vomit overcame him.

The contents of his stomach came out and slowly formed a puddle on the floor. The more he looked at it, the more disgusted he became. His urge to vomit just grew.

After he built two puddles of guts on the floor, his stomach felt better … for now. His nose was also able to breathe in much fresher air. He finally managed to prop himself up, and suddenly, a piece of iron entered his field of vision uninvited.

“Hi! Welcome!” It greeted him with a polite tone. Yet, it sounded like an artificial voice produced by cheap software. His ears followed the source of the sound and he found a 50 cm tall robot in front of him.

Relief grew inside, but he couldn’t show any smile on his face right now. Without giving a shit to whatever the robot's intention was, he immediately pointed his finger to the room behind his back.

“Inside the room!” he gasped. “I found a dead girl!”

“A dead girl?” A question mark appeared on its monitor along with a squeaky sound. “What are you talking about?”

He squeezed its small monitor, ”You should check over the room. There is a dead girl inside and her face was ripped off. Call the police now!”

The small robot froze for a moment. Its face, which was like a Full HD monitor, showed many programming codes while generating a buzzing sound. Not long after, its expression came back.

“Did you mean a player who loses against you? You shouldn't worry about her.” It laughed and spun its head. “Anyway, I have a more important matter. A question, to be precise. What is your name?”

…Huh?

“My name? Why should it be more important than what happened there?” He took a step back slowly. Massaging his head a few times and letting wrinkles adorned his forehead.

“What is your name?” it asked again while ignoring his question.

“Huh?”

“What is your name?”

“Shut up!”

Despite being shouted at so harshly, the little robot kept repeating the same question.

He covered his ears, then delved into his thoughts. So far as he could remember, he was sitting in the classroom while enjoying the summer breeze. He was waiting for his friend and fell asleep instead. But now, he woke up in a strange place with a small robot kept asking his name.

“Rei,” he answered, and the robot finally stopped asking.

“Okay. Let me complete your registration data.”

Registration? For what? I never had a damn thing to register with. I should go back and meet with the others in …

…Where?

His eyes widened.

Where was my home? he wondered.

I knew there were many cities in my country but …in what city did I live?

He squeezed his head hard and made a vein bulge out on his skin. The more he forced his brain to stimulate, the more puzzled he got. He knew he had a family, a mother and a sister. Also, a few male and female friends, but somehow he couldn't remember their names or even their faces!

His legs became abruptly weak as a chilly, freezing sensation crept down his spine. The conspiracy theories immediately filled his head and made his entire being tremble. It stirred up his head with nasty speculations and nightmares.

“You have no need to worry, Rei.” The flat sound reached his ears and caught his attention. “Your family or friends still exist in this world.”

He almost stopped breathing. “W-what … are you saying?”

“While registering your data, I was scanning your entire body to make sure you are ready to take the trial. Then, I understand that you are worried about something. My circuit explained to me that the absence of your close relative is the major cause in your behavior.”

Suddenly, a spark of rage took over him. Without waiting for anyone's consent, he rushed it.

“Then! Where are they?” Rei held the little robot with both hands and shook it over and over. “Where are they? Did you kidnap them? And what happened to my head? Did you do something to me? Answer me!”

He clenched his fist, raised it high and ready to punch. “Answer me!”

“Whatever you do to me, It does not change anything. My circuit told me, the only way to recover your memories or answer any question you have in your neuron network, is to win the trial.”

Trial? What the hell was this guy talking about? Did I do something wrong?

The girl with a ripped face flashed into his mind.

“I-I don't kill her! I swear!”

“Who said you killed her?” It replied without missing a beat. “It’s a trial but not for a crime, Rei.”

That statement immediately sent his mind into turmoil. He wanted to shout “THEN FOR WHAT!” but he was able to hold his emotion.

He stepped back and tried to regain his composure. Somehow, it didn't work. Well, how could it be possible for him to be calm? After waking up in a strange place, seeing a dead girl, then now a trial? Everything that happened just made no sense to him at all.

After taking his time to organize his messy thoughts, his head became a bit clear and the tremble faded away for a moment.

Then, Rei asked another question.

“So, what kind of trial is it?”

“It is a trial to decide your fate: climbing your way to the top or being jailed in the empty space.”

Another nonsense statement. Why did this robot think that I could understand what it just said? A fate? What the hell? Did I really do something wrong and it wasn't about killing the girl?

He sighed and turned his head around to observe where he actually was. The wall, the floor, even the ceiling was painted in white. Similar to his previous room. Also, there were a lot of robot spare parts hanging like clothespins. White scarves scattered everywhere. He felt like he was trapped inside a pentagon laboratory as lab mice for a reason he didn’t know.

Rei let out another long-suffering sigh. He really had no lead beside this robot. Sitting still wouldn't get him anywhere either. Doubt still lingered inside, but he should make a choice.

He returned his gaze to the iron dwarf, walking to it.

“Can you keep your freaking word?” Rei asked, to strengthen his determination.

“Of course. That is what my circuit told me.”

Yet, its answer still didn’t convince him, but he shouldn’t be over-cautious about it. If there were a murderer or shady organization that wanted to dispose of him in the beginning, they already did it without letting him ask anything.

He could assume that he was ‘safe’ until this point.

However, he still didn't understand one thing. The killer. Who killed her? This little robot? Hard to believe, yet he found no one beside himself in this huge space. He scanned his surroundings once more to just let out another long breath. No clue at all.

“Okay,” he said, his eyes back to the speaking little iron-box. “Lead me where the trial is.”

A buzzing sound came out from its boxed head. “Before y–we go there, you should choose your starter deck.”

Deck?

“For what? Are we gonna play a card game while waiting for the judge to give me a sentence?”

“Half right, half wrong. You are gonna play the game. And no, we have no judges to give you a sentence. It is in your hand. Your own fate. Whether you're gonna seal your own future in the prison of time, or move forward.”

A death game with cards? Was it gonna be a shadow game and the loser would be sent into the shadow realm forever?

“Stop joking around. You or the one behind this robot, you really have no sense of humor.”

“I am not joking around, you silly boy. Also, no one controls me. I am my own property. A robot to help the new duelist before they choose their path.”

Maybe because it was a machine so he couldn’t know if it was lying or not. However, it had no reason to lie to him in the first place. That was what he believed, at least for now.

I hope what awaited me in the trial could give me a solid answer for everything.