Nick had already made a rough estimate based on the number of doors that he had seen so far and the total population of team Earth. He had arrived at an unsettling conclusion. Contrary to what Jim was saying, Nick strongly suspected that there weren’t enough doors for everyone.

If he was right, Jim must be assigning some of the far doors to multiple teams, intending to sacrifice the weak to foster the strong. By the time they realized that something was wrong, it would be far too late. Everyone else would have already entered, leaving the unlucky remainder to face the wrath of the global events unaided.

In this case, a hunch wasn’t going to cut it. Nick needed compelling evidence before confronting the man face-to-face. Additionally, he wanted to take a few hours to see if there was a better solution to the problem. Hopefully, one would become evident once he was able to see the big picture. Either way, the next step was to survey the tower and record his findings, then meet back up with his team to discuss what they wanted to do about it.

With those weighty matters on his mind, Nick set off to take a closer look at the tower. He would examine the doorways ringing its base, then evaluate the plan Jim had proposed before coming up with his own and assigning each team a new door.

The first thing that he noticed was that the tower was at least half a mile around. The entrances were tightly packed near the side where people were camped out, thinning out the further that he walked from that spot. He supposed that it made sense. If team Earth had to enter with little warning, this arrangement would see as many teams inside the tower as quickly as possible.

Nick soon realized that the doorways were as varied as the statues adorning the stonework above his head. Some were wide enough to drive a car through, while others were so narrow that he would have a hard time squeezing his pack past the threshold. Most sat flush with the ground, but some were dozens of feet up in the air and would require a difficult climb to reach.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Here and there, sentries were posted. Women and men he assumed belonged to Jim’s faction. Nick wasn’t sure if they were there to watch for approaching danger, or to stop people from going in early and without their assigned team. Probably both, he decided, waving at one of the guards who was watching him with suspicion.

By the time that Nick had circled around the far end of the tower and started walking back toward camp, he realized that there was a problem. It was just as he had feared. There aren’t enough doors for everyone. Jim must have assigned some of the far entrances to multiple teams after all.

But the longer he looked, the more certain Nick became that he was missing something. This feels like a puzzle rather than a deathtrap. There must be another solution that I’m not seeing.

He couldn’t prove it yet, but he hoped that once he took a closer look, something would present itself. If I’m right, a lot of good people are going to die for no reason unless we do something to stop it.

Forty minutes later, he had nearly completed his count. Even with a full team entering each doorway, it wasn’t going to be enough for everyone camped around the tower’s base. While it wasn’t a huge shortage, it meant that hundreds of people were going to get stranded out here when everyone else went inside, triggering a cascade of global events that they wouldn’t survive.

Nick came to a stop in front of the final door, marking its location on his journal. Now that he had the proof he’d sought, he wanted to take one more lap around the tower before he ran out of time. With any luck, he would spot a few entrances that no one had noticed yet.

He let out a long sigh as he made his way back around, muttering to himself.

“I knew that there weren’t enough doors. Jim has been lying to everyone.” Nick’s voice rang harsh against the silence that surrounded him. His adrenaline began to flow as he realized that the air was filled with a subtle sense of menace. That he hadn’t seen anyone else for a good ten minutes.

Something about the scene didn’t sit right with him. The way that the birds and bugs had stopped chirping. The electric tension that had risen to ride the breeze. That was when he felt it.

Without warning, a sensation of danger blossomed in his mind. Not feedback from size up, since he hadn’t activated the skill, but an impression of an intense desire to harm. Or perhaps killing intent was the better word.

Acting on instinct, he drew his dagger and spun on his heels, raising his blade just in time to meet the sword that was streaking for his neck.