After blacking out, I woke up inside my Safe Circle of all places. I was lying on my bed, and I screamed when I realized there was a monster hovering over me, peering down at me with with fathomless voids in a twisted, elongated skull that sported a pair of curved, obsidian horns.

“Ah! What the fuck!” I rolled off the bed and fell onto the floor, immediately jumping up to confront the ten foot monster in the safe space.

“Kade, relax,” the monster said. “It’s just your old pal, Grik’noth.”

I stared for a second longer, my breath caught in my throat, before I finally recognized him. “Jesus fucking Christ,” I said, relaxing only slightly. “What the hell, Grik? Are you trying to give me a heart attack? I was out of it there!” I looked around. “Come to think of it, how did I even get here? The last I thing I remember was—” My body flinched as a vision of Herbie Floss’ manically grinning face appeared unbidden in my mind. “Fucking Floss.”

“Yes, fucking Floss,” Grik said. “It seems he is in your head now, Kade.”

“Yeah, no shit. I gotta go. That bastard has Annalise and Snuggles, and he’s torturing them.”

“Wait,” Grik said, blocking my exit. “You can’t go, Kade.”

I stared at him. “What? Get out of my way, Grik.” I went to move around him, but he used one of his grotesque arms to stop me. “Seriously? What the fuck, Grik?”

“I bought you in here for a reason, Kade. That’s why I’m in my true form. As an octopus, I couldn’t carry you.”

“Carry me? From where?”

“Out there. You had blacked out and you were about to get munched on by a giant centipede. It’s lucky I showed up when I did.”

My head was spinning, and I closed my eyes for a second, remembering everything that happened earlier—the mall, the burning Mallrats, Floss taking over my mind, Annalise’s screams. “Thanks for the save, Grik, but I don’t have time to hang around here. I have to find Floss before he kills my friends.”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible, Kade.”

“Why the fuck not, Grik? What’s going on here?”

“It seems you have been invited on to Infernum Tonight as a guest.”

“Infernum Tonight? What the hell is that?”

“It’s a talk show, hosted by a demon called Azazel Flameborne,” Grik said, the excitement evident in his voice. “This is a big opportunity for you, Kade. Players who get invited on the show normally get a lot of attention afterward, gaining billions of watchers, and even sponsors. This could make you a big name, Kade.”

I had to admit, the idea of becoming a bigger player in the Trials of the Damned was exciting. If I’m honest, I used to love all the attention I got when I was a fighter back on Earth. It helped me raise my game, knowing I had a following who cheered my every move and wanted me to win.

Grik was right, appearing on a talk show would be a massive opportunity that might even end up helping me complete the Trials. And the more power and influence I had, the more chance I would have of destroying the whole setup from the inside.

But not if it meant leaving my friends to die.

“That sounds great, Grik,” I said after a moment. “But I’m not leaving Annalise and Snuggles to die at the hands of Herbie fucking Floss. I’m gonna find that twisted son of a bitch and then I’m gonna kill the bastard.” I took a step closer to him. “Now, if you’d please move out of my way, I’d really like to get going now.”

Grik didn’t move, and in fact increased the size of his monstrous form until he almost seemed to fill the whole space, forcing me to step back. “Kade, Kade. I don’t think you understand. You don’t have a choice here. If you refuse the invitation to appear on the show, Azazel will take great offense, and then he will use his considerable clout to have you severely punished. Probably even killed. Then your chance at salvation will be gone forever.”

“Salvation?” I shook my head. “Who the fuck are you kidding, Grik? There’s no chance at salvation here. We both know that even if I make it through the Trials, the Overseers will find some other way to punish me, and that’s if I don’t end up becoming another cog in their infernal machine, like you, Grik. We’re all fucked here, and the only chance I have of—” I stopped before I blurted out all the stuff about the rebellion.

“Of what, Kade?”

“Nothing, Grik.”

Grik stared at me with his empty sockets. “Hmm, nothing indeed.”

There was a few seconds of awkward silence. “Listen, Grik, just let me save my friends, will you? I don’t care what happens to me.”

“Clearly,” Grik said, annoyed now as he loomed over me like some monstrous specter. “You’re doing so well, Kade, and yet you’re throwing away your opportunity for greatness by going after your friends instead of making your way to the next Trial. If you use those sneakers of yours, you can still speed run and make it there in time. And you don’t even have to worry about your TV appearance taking up any time because you’ll be taken out of time anyway.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

I frowned. “What?”

“Time runs differently here in Infernum. You’ll be teleported to another world for your TV appearance, a world where time runs much slower. When you get teleported back to here, it will seem like time has hardly moved forward at all.”

“So it won’t make a difference then.”

“Exactly. When you get back here, you do whatever you want. You can try to save your friends, or you can run to the next Trial location. Though I hope you chose the later option, for your own sake.”

“I’ll still chose the former.”

“Of course you will. You humans, I’ll never understand you.” He paused to sigh, his form shrinking slightly. “So are you ready to come with me to the show?”

“You better not be fucking with me, Grik. If I get back here and Floss has… you know, done something to my friends, I’ll kill everybody, starting with you.”

“I would never fuck with you, Kade,” Grik said. “And respectfully, I could crush your puny human body in seconds flat if I wanted to, so please don’t threaten me.”

“Fair enough.”

“It will take me a few minutes to arrange our teleportation to the other world. Why don’t you make yourself look presentable in the mean time.”

“Are you kidding?”

“Yes. The rougher your appearance, the more the viewers will like you. To them, it means you’ve been in the trenches, fighting for their entertainment. They’ll appreciate it, especially all the blood on your face.”

Grik turned around then and mumbled something. A second later, some sort of screen came down from the ceiling with crimson text streaming vertically down it. He then started tapping the screen with his claws as he presumably arranged our transportation off world.

In the meantime, I grabbed myself a coke from the food hatch and sat on the couch sucking the icy liquid through a straw while I pulled up my HUD and started checking on my stats to pass the time. It seemed I had gone up to level 7 after all my recent grinding, especially at that mall where I killed fuck knows how many of those plastic skinned 80s rejects. Thanks to that, my base stats had increased as well:

Strength: 12

Intelligence: 7

Constitution: 8

Dexterity: 8

Charisma: 6

Because of the level ups, I had a bunch of free points to use, but I couldn’t use them until I completed the First Circle apparently.

“Which isn’t going to happen now,” I mumbled. “So fuck that.”

With the HUD still up, I slouched back on the couch and sucked on my straw, despair settling over me like a shroud. If was being honest, the thought of forfeiting the Trials was a kick to the balls. As fucked up as this whole thing was, I still found myself invested in it. I was growing used to the madness, and I wanted to carry on, if only to stick it to the bastard Overseers, whoever they really were.

Shit, I thought. Maybe I’m being foolish trying to hold on to my humanity in this place.

As I sat there, sipping my coke and staring blankly at my HUD, a creeping doubt began to gnaw at the edges of my mind. Was I really doing the right thing here? Sure, Annalise and Snuggles were my friends—or at least, the closest thing I had to friends in this fucked-up place. But in the grand scheme of things, what did that really mean?

I thought about the rebel broadcast, the tantalizing hint of a way to fight back against the Overseers. If I played my cards right, if I became a big name in the Trials, couldn’t I potentially help far more people? Hell, maybe I could even find a way to bring this whole system crashing down.

But to do that, I’d need to survive. I’d need to win. And winning meant leaving Annalise and Snuggles behind.

The thought made me sick to my stomach, but a small, cold voice in the back of my head whispered that it was the logical choice. What were two lives compared to the countless souls trapped in Infernum? What were my personal feelings worth against the chance to overthrow the Overseers?

I ran a hand through my tangled hair, frustrated and conflicted. “Fuck,” I muttered. “What’s the right move here?”

On one hand, saving my friends was the human thing to do. It was what separated me from the monsters running this show. But on the other hand, wasn’t thinking bigger, playing the long game, also a very human trait? Wasn’t sacrifice for a greater good something heroes did all the time?

I closed my eyes, seeing Annalise’s face contorted in pain, hearing Snuggles’ anguished cries. Then I imagined the faces of countless other contestants, all suffering, all trapped in this hellish game. Which was the greater evil—abandoning two friends or potentially condemning everyone else to an eternity of torment?

“Christ,” I whispered, opening my eyes and staring at the ceiling. “What the fuck am I supposed to do?”

I sat there, paralyzed by indecision, as Grik continued his preparations. The right path had never seemed so unclear, and I’d never felt more lost.

“Right,” Grik suddenly said. “We’re all set here. Are you ready, Kade?”

Taking a last sip of my coke, I placed the cup on the floor and stood up, wishing I’d smoked a cigarette first.

“Level with me, Grik,” I said, suddenly nervous as shit about this TV appearance. “What can I expect on this TV show? Will there be any surprises in store?”

Grik turned to face me, his imposing form looming overhead. His empty eye sockets seemed to bore into me as he considered my question.

“Expect the unexpected, Kade,” he said, his voice a low rumble. “Azazel Flameborne is known for his... unconventional approach. The show is as much a test as it is entertainment.”

I frowned, not liking the sound of that. “A test? What kind of test?”

Grik waved a clawed hand dismissively. “Nothing to worry about. Just be yourself. The audience loves authenticity.” He paused, then added, “Though perhaps dial back on the threats of violence. Azazel doesn’t take kindly to guests who try to upstage him.”

“Great,” I muttered. “Any other helpful advice?”

“Stay on your toes,” Grik said. “Azazel likes to keep his guests off-balance. He might ask you about your past, your experiences in the Trials, or pose hypothetical scenarios. Just remember, everything you say and do will be broadcast across the galaxy.”

I felt a knot forming in my stomach. “No pressure, then.”

Grik’s mouth twisted into what might have been a smile. “You’ll do fine, Kade. Just don’t let your guard down, and whatever you do, don’t mention the rebellion.”

“You know about that?” I said in surprise. “How much do you know?”

“Of course I know, and how much I know doesn’t matter.”

More than you’re letting on, then.

“Right,” I nodded, filing that piece of information away for later. “Anything else I should know?”

Grik hesitated for a moment, as if debating whether to tell me something. Finally, he shook his head. “You’ll see soon enough. Are you ready?”

I took a deep breath, trying to steady my nerves. Part of me still wanted to say to hell with it all and go after Annalise and Snuggles. But another part, a growing part, was curious about this opportunity. Maybe, just maybe, I could use this to my advantage somehow.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I said.

Grik nodded and raised a clawed hand. “Then let’s not keep our audience waiting.”

With a gesture, the air around us began to shimmer and distort. The last thing I saw before the world dissolved was Grik’s unsettling grin, leaving me to wonder just what I was getting myself into.