Kayla started to get irritated, she quietly put down the card to check on them, they seemed to have not noticed about this card. People started to scream, yelling, cursing and shouting, it was all over the place, and Kayla winched in annoyance from all the commotion.
“What is this place!!”
“I wanted to go home!!”
“Let me outtt!!!”
Kayla's heart has basically crumbled from the fall, and now being faced with this ridiculous situation, she doesn't even know what to say anymore. She closed her eyes, trying to calm her beating heart down, she tried to wet her drying mouth and open her eyes again, after calming down a lot, she could think much more rationally now, the priority was to find any source of light, and that is when she remembers her phone, she pulled it out and open the flash, some of the people also follow her and open their flash from their phone. Soon the place lights up with light and they finally can barely see the structure of this place, it is like a building that is built inside the mountain, very rough, and looks like had been abandoned for a long time, foliage, mushrooms and mold have grown all around the place, they could feel the humidity and the smell of grass and dirt around them.
Now that she had a source of light, she could finally take a deeper look at the card she was holding, the card indeed had something written on it, a number of 316 on one side and there were tiny little words on the other side.
"Congratulations on entering your first test, you are assigned to become a hero, there are 316 keys scattered around the place, find them and exchange them for your own comrades, they will be waiting for you to rescue them. As usual, we hope that you will respect and help each other, the game won't end until you have all collected the coins. Have a fun time exploring.
Head of Student Affairs, Liam Fort"
Kayla couldn't believe what she just read and wanted to throw it far away out of anger, but she didn't do it and instead handed it to Aaron. After he was done reading it she gave it to Diane and scanned his surroundings, these cards were scattered around the ground, and there were a lot of them, Aaron and Kayla looked at it with knitted brows, they didn't know when this card suddenly appear here, they were sure that there were nothing when they stood inside the marble tiles before. People started to pick the card up from the ground and read it, many negative remarks were being made and some who had found hope in this absurd situation immediately glowed up and started planning to find the key, but no one actually wanted to go and took the first step, they are all still standing inside the circle.
A man suddenly stepped out from the group and walked towards one of the many alleys that surrounded them, everybody watched him walk away in shock, Kayla felt familiar with that figure and just as expected, she knew who that person was, Steven.
‘He is really fearless’
“Where are you going?”, one of the people who stood near him before asked, but Steven didn’t even say anything nor did he turn around to at least let him know that he was listening, he just kept on walking. Seeing that he was undoubtedly being ignored, he didn't feel happy about it. He seemed hesitant at first, but he decided to rush out to chase him and before he could even touch his shoulder, Steven suddenly turned around grabbed his arms, and slammed him to the ground, everyone gasped in shock and Kayla grimaced, it felt like she could feels the hurt from that fall.
“Don’t touch me with those dirty hands”, Steven said flatly and walked away, seeing him so strong and cold, some people became scared but some saw this as an opportunity and began to follow him while keeping their distance. Seeing some people already begun to moved, some also decided to go along, and the conditions are not as tense as before, suddenly everyone seems to have accepted their fate fairly well and decided to moved on,
‘Human adaptability is pretty scary’, Kayla thought, but when she could hear some sniffle and curse from behind her, she somehow felt a little relief, ‘Well.. at least not everyone could accept it yet’
“What the hell is wrong with that person!!!”, he got up and shouted angrily, he looks very pissed and veins were popping out from his head, nobody listen to his outrage and pretended not to see it, so he could only swallow his misery in silence.
Kayla looked at them and they nodded at her, so she silently replied back, even though they still couldn't grasp the situation completely, and there were many questions in their heart that couldn't be answered, they could only follow along because this was the only clue they have, so like it or not they have to give it a try and see what will happen next. Moreover, they need to leave because they need space to discuss things by themself,
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Let’s go, don’t waste our time here. Every alley must lead to a different place, which one should we choose?”, Aaron asked.
“Do we separate, or do we search for it together?”, Kayla asked and Aaron immediately answered, “Better stay together, we don’t know where each alleyway will lead, it will be bad if we get lost”
Kayla nodded in agreement, Jeremy clasped his hands together in excitement, “Alright then, which one should we go?”, there were ten alleyways surrounding them, and they needed to choose from one of them,
“Whose luck is better?”, Kayla suddenly asked and Diane couldn't help but sneer, “Does this thing have anything to do with luck? Let's just find which path is much better”
“We still didn't know what situation was in front of us, how could you know which way is better?”, Kayla defended herself and Diane became silent, her expression looked as if she had said something she shouldn’t have, “That.. that is right! So.. which one should we choose? I have the worst luck”, she quickly changed the conversation, Kayla took a glance at her but didn’t say anything,
Jeremy, “I think I have, let’s choose that one”, he pointed to the one at eleven o’clock very confidently, they didn't have any objection since they didn't know this place's structure, so they all nodded and began their journey.
Just as they stood in front of the alleyway, they could feel chills coming from inside, Clara shivered in fright and all of them frowned,
“This building doesn’t seem to be decorated like so, it looks like a natural process, or does the decoration technique now so good?”, Kayla pondered.
Aaron also touched the walls and it felt damp and cold, the mold is thick and many debris and dust were scattered around the whole place, just one touch and you could feel your hand feel dirty from it, Aaron searched his surroundings and found the one he wanted, an unused pipe, he got one for him and one for Jeremy, Kayla also extended her hands wanting for one, Aaron looked at her and wanted to say something, but he decided to swallow it back down and silently give her the one he is holding and take another one for his own.
After having enough preparation from their heart, they step inside the darkness, their gestures alert, they hold their pipes tightly in their hands and keep on pointing them forward without any means to put them down. After walking for around six to seven steps inside, they heard a scream coming from behind them and they all stood frozen, they could barely see that those people who followed Steven in had all run back to the circle. At this moment they also contemplating whether they should go back or not, Clara is so scared that she hugs Kayla's arms tightly, Kayla also grasps her arm back and stays silent.
“What is happening?!”, Clara mumbled frightened, Kayla took a deep breath and asked, “Can I ask one thing?— You guys didn’t hear any news of dead people in Velhoben City right?”
They all felt confused by her question, but they still replied and shook their head, Kayla then nodded in relief, “Then we are alright”
That is when they know what she is implying, so Diane couldn't help but let out a scoff, “What does that have to do with this? Are you implying that because there is no alarming news about this place, we could be safe?”, Diane asked perplexed.
“Because if there are no reports of death, it means that they didn’t have any intention to kill us. What kind of society is it now? For them to kill hundreds of people without any other people noticing or getting suspicious is basically impossible”, Aaron added and Diane could only laugh at his remarks,
“You are still too innocent, do you think buying news is hard for wealthy people?”
Kayla looked at her and doubt started to rise, she had heard that people could indeed buy the news from reporters, Kayla's face turned pale, there were still many things in these words that she didn't know about. Aaron who sees that tries to reassure her, “They could buy one or two, but they won’t be able to buy hundreds of people, don't think too much of it”, Aaron turns to look at Diane angrily, “Do you have to break other people mental right now?! The best thing to do now is try to find the way out of the problem!”
Kayla shook her head lightly, telling them not to argue, Diane just shrugged, she also didn't want to continue arguing because in her heart she knew clearly that these kids were still someone who didn’t understand how the real world worked and how ruthless it is.
They decided to keep on walking forward, they actually didn't expect that there would be such a long way ahead of them, after many twists and turns, they finally saw something, a red light coming from one of the corners, it seemed to be coming from a room, they became tense. Aaron decided to walk first, Kayla second, and then Clara, Diane, and Jeremy to protect them from behind.
Kayla had never really believed in ghosts, but now the situation was making it creepier for her, she couldn’t help but grasp Aaron's shirt, her face full of worry, so she grabbed Aaron's shirt more tightly, she planned to pull him towards her if something launches forward from inside that room, but it seems that Aaron misunderstood her attention, he turns to looks at him to reassure her which makes Kayla blink in confusion.
Aaron who notices her confused expression also knows that he got it wrong, he quickly turns around with his ear red. Aaron first peeks his head inside to take a look and then after he sees that it is safe, he walks forward. When it is turned for Kayla to take a look, she is shocked at the sights in front of her, it is a red forest wrapped by red lights, Kayla jaw almost drops to the floor,
‘Just how did they manage to make this structure? The engineer of this building is so magnificent and the architect is a crazy person’
“Let's see what is inside”, Aaron suggested and Kayla nodded, the people behind also looked quite amazed when they saw it. This forest is quite huge, surrounded by walls, the terrain also feels like real dirt unlike the one from outside which is concrete,
“So.. we just need to find the keys hidden in here?”, Jeremy asked.
No one replied to him because all of them were still trying to assess the situation happening in front of them, this all felt like a dream to them, what the hell does all of this mean?
“Let’s be careful, we don't know what this place is”, Kayla said and they all nodded to her words and began to walk forward, before Kayla got inside, she turned to look at the alleyway they walked passed before and saw a shadow, she has known for some time that someone is following them and it seems that they wanted to get an easy chunk without doing anything. Kayla frowns and silently gets in, she doesn't plan to deal with them now, but since she already knows, she has to stay alert.
TO BE CONTINUED…