The horror on our faces was displayed out in the open for everyone else to see. I choked on the empty air around me, as I just witnessed the deaths of more than a thousand people in an instant. To say that the scene was terrifying was understating it, what we witnessed was despair itself. A scene of sheer dictatorial governance.

“Now then, we got rid of the deadweights. I sincerely thank you for not betraying my trust.” He bowed, mocking our terror with each word that he spoke. “There are more than thousands of you left, which is a fantastic number to continue our little Trial.”

Turning around, he glanced over the scoreboard. “I said it before, but you remembered that you’re not the first ones here, right?”

None of us blared any response to his question. Our heads and minds lingered on the preceding events; oh, you know, the absolute devastation of half of our population?

Looking at us, he noted our solemn expression, but none of it seemed to matter to him. “Come on, it’s just a few thousand of you. That number is nothing compared to how many of your kind died per year in the Sanctum.”

“Besides,” The observer continued, easing into his idle stance. “I said it before, didn’t I? You need to do everything you can to be stronger. Do you think it’s only going to be easier for you out there?” He scoffed.

“In fact, you should be relieved that I killed those who aren’t risking their lives to be more useful.” Turning around once more, he resumed his speech. “Trust me, those will just end up weighing you down in the future.”

Nonsense.

Raising his right arm, he spread his fingers far apart. “Now, a special reward for the first one who can answer me.”

A special reward? Our eyes regained some of their luster from the prospect of a reward, despite the grim, almost apocalyptic circumstances.

“My question is… What race is the strongest? Relax, I won’t punish you if you’re wrong.”

I couldn’t believe it… What kind of answer were we supposed to give? He mentioned race; so the possible answers involved stuff like Elves and Dwarves, or anything fantasy, or fiction related. Yet, those races were products of our imagination, so it may be too soon to assume that elves existed in the Sanctum.

“Elves?” A random guy answered out of nowhere.

The observer chuckled, “Not even close. I suppose it’s a pointless question to ask…” Clearing his throat, he continued, “The answer is… The Aesirs. They are, by far, the closest beings to reaching the apex of perfection. And yet, they are so, overwhelmingly rare. What a shame.”

None of us understood what he meant, yet, we listened to his rambles anyway.

“Conversely… You, on the other hand…” His glare through his mask was felt through and through, “How do I put this…”

“You are, by far, the least impactful and the least useful race out there.” He said, now with a tone of seriousness and hints of pity from each word his masked mouth spouted out. Pity? “Don’t let the scoreboard elude you to a sense of superiority, in my eyes, you’re all equal. You’re all a nobody. So work your damned hardest.”

He pointed towards the sky, “Because out there; if you’re not strong enough, you’d end up becoming the slave of those who are leaps beyond you. That, or you’d die in a matter of days. So yes, hate me if you want, but like it or not, I have to be hard on you.”

A quick look at those around me confirmed my thoughts. They were all upset, some from what he just said, and a few others were almost in tears, which I guessed was from the friends that they’d lost from the snap. I don’t blame them. A few outside spectators would say that making close friendships in the span of a few hours was a fairy tale, but it wasn’t the case when one was in a constant fight for life and death. The sense of camaraderie formed from the shared experience made it far easier to make friends, on the contrary.

After all, even when we disliked each other’s guts, we could understand what everyone was going through.

The Observer noted the change in the mood between our lines, then proceeded to clap his hands to draw our attention. “Now! Let’s move on to the next topic… Missions!”

As if that was anything we’d love to do at this moment… But none of us had any choice, right?

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Today’s missions are different than yesterday. My goal for the first set of missions is to distinguish those who I wanted to keep and those who I wanted to-“ He waved his arm side to side in front of his neck, “-snap away.”

His mask glinted under the bright light as he swaggered closer. None of us shared his excitement, but again, he never gave a shit about it.

“Well, anyway, today’s missions are all party based. Maximum of four for each mission, and, of course, if you’re feeling fancy…” he turned his head to the left, focusing his sight on a not-so-random person in the crowd. Who is he looking at? “You can also do those alone. If you do so, note that the rewards you get will not be shared amongst your party members.”

“You decide on how you share the mission reward once you completed it. That busy work bores me, you know.” He feigned a yawn, then continued, “That’s it for today. Do your best, and we’ll talk again when we meet tomorrow. If you survive.”

The Observer disappeared, leaving a bunch of bewildered people with their mouths hung open. Like the first day, his presence always left us dumbfounded and filled our hearts with nothing but despair and confusion.

And yet… Life goes on.

My eyes searched the crowd for Phillip, whose massive presence made it simple to find. He was idling a few lines away from me, and when our gazes met, he flashed a bright smile as if he’d found a long-lost friend. I smiled in return, weaving through the dozens or so people to reach him.

“I thought I’d lost you.” He said when I tapped his shoulder. “We have to tackle those missions together, right? What do you think?”

The notion of having Phillip on a mission with me brought me a wave of relief, and I’d love to join him, I do, but I was afraid that he’d feel that I’d been clinging on to him and relying on his help too much. At the end of the day, as much as I hated to admit it, we weren’t comparable in terms of strength. Not even close.

A look on his face told me that he knew what I was contemplating. He flashed a smile, “I appreciate your concerns, my friend, but trust me, I’ll be a great asset in yo- no, our team.”

Huh? Shouldn’t I be the one saying that? “Isn’t that the opposite? I’m much, much weaker than you are, Phillip.” I said with disbelief peppered throughout my sentence. “If anything, shouldn’t I be the one saying that?”

He shook his head, “All I’m good at is beating things up. In terms of everything else…” I watched his eyes staring into an empty part of his vision, then realized that he was looking at his status screen, “Besides, I want to surround myself with people that I can trust. Fighting alone-”

There was a glint of unknown tension apparent from his blank stare. Perhaps it had something to do with his past? “-isn’t… ideal.”

None of us expected the replies that we each gave. The momentary silence gave enough opening for someone else to chip in, and that came in the form of another woman who was apparently waiting for her chance to barge into our conversation.

“Can I join you?” Another feminine voice rang, prompting us to turn around. The voice belonged to a petite, tanned woman with a decent, yet strong look in her eyes. Her short dark hair was tied on the back of her hair, and her eyes reflected brown under the intense light from above.

She smiled when we greeted her. “The name’s Maria, Maria Hill.”

Tousling her hair aside, she studied our faces while thinking of what to say next, “Uh… Well, I’d love to join up with you two, if you don’t mind?”

This came out of nowhere for the two of us. At first, I expected that I’d be forced to tackle today’s mission on my own, but now, I was looking at the possibility of entering today’s mission as a three-person party.

As I glanced at her, I noted how strong her stance and glare were. There was weight behind her stare; as if she would do anything to make sure this deal worked out for the three of us.

Then, I turned my head to Phillip. He didn’t seem to dislike Maria — unlike how he reacted toward Sidwell — but he didn’t seem to be enthusiastic about it either.

Maria picked up on our hesitancy, then summoned a set of bow and arrows. “I’ll deal with stuff from behind, and I’m not shabby in fighting at close distances too. No doubt I’ll be an asset to your team.”

Phillip and I shared a look. None of us were against her joining us, but I’d prefer if we had a chance to discuss it with each other before we made the decision. To be frank, I wasn’t sure if I could be an asset to Phillip in the first place, and Maria might be a better fit for him as a teammate. After all, my spells affected a decent area, and the residue of the spells wouldn’t be pleasant for those who were caught in it.

My fighting style also posed another issue. A tank plus a mage wasn’t a typical combination, and I’d have trouble finding a spot to fill my niche in most parties.

I pulled the hem of my suit, then tilted my head sideways, asking Phillip to come with me. “Can we talk about it for a second?”

She nodded with glee and stood still while we turned and stepped away from her.

Once I was sure she was far enough, I half-whispered to Phillip, who was eyeing her the entire time. “What do you think?”

Phillip paused, curling his lips, thinking.

“I don’t know. I’d prefer it if it was just the two of us since we don’t have to share the spoils too much that way…”

Ah, That’s right… The rewards matter too.

“I didn’t know you were thinking about that…” I said, surprised that he thought about the rewards distribution too. “Then, do you want to tackle the missions alone? You get the most out of it that way.”

The look he displayed shook me. He was shocked, genuinely, as if he’d already considered us to be a team before today even began. “Well, I’d prefer it if we do it together...”

It was clear that he was hurt.

His reaction caught me way off guard. Up to a point where I struggled to speak words correctly, “Wait, wait… I didn’t mean it that way.”

He looked at me with a concerned set of eyes, then smirked, “I know, I’m just… making things clear between us.”

Pausing, I took what he said with a warm heart. “You’re right. Then, what about Maria?”

Glancing behind us, Maria waited with her hands on her hips. She flashed an awkward smile, not knowing what our decision was, and our faces weren’t clear about it too.

The others had already banded together and found their own parties by the time we returned to her. She was nervous at first, but after a smile from us, her posture relaxed, gleeful.

“Let’s do this,” I said, accepting her as our temporary team member. Phillip and I decided to only allow one other member this time, since rewards mattered, and Phillip was confident we could take the mission without a full, four-man squad.

Then, Sidwell approached us as we walked to the Obelisk.

Phillip scoffed. Again.