I can feel the wood under me splitting, threatening to throw me into the abyss alongside the two women. I try to shift my body, in order to lessen the pressure, but my efforts are futile. In a panic, I shout to the two men behind me.

“You’ll have to pull us up faster!!”

“W-we’re trying!!” The marked man says with a grunt.

‘Damn it, damnit! It won’t hold until they pull us up. What do I do?!’

A strange idea pops into my head.

‘I could always… simply let go. Without them, the other two will easily be able to pull me up. Plus, it’s not like I know these people… and I tried, I really did try to help. I did my best. Who can blame me if I don’t want to die for them!?’

The more I think about it, the more plausible the option sounds, the more tempted I am to release my grip on the pale woman’s ankle. As I ponder the possibility, the part of the bridge which is holding me approaches its breaking point at a rapid pace. I have maybe a few more seconds at best before everything falls apart. The two men won’t be able to drag me back onto the stable part of the bridge in time and I assuredly don’t have the strength to lift these two above the hanging bridge either.

So then, what do I do, drop them? The thought definitely seems appealing, but who am I kidding? I could never drop them. Images of my mother’s last moments flash before my eyes. When I left her to die at the hands of that filthy criminal. I could never make that mistake again, even if it spelled my end. With as much strength as I can, I pull on the two women with all my might, in a last ditch effort to save us all, but no miracle ensues.

The wood which had been supporting me until now breaks, and it does not do so alone. Perhaps because of the strain we’ve put it under, the entire bridge falls apart, throwing us into a free fall into the abyss. My heart drops and I can’t help but let out a cry of distress.

“AHHHH!!”

The others do the same. Nothing will save us now, I think as darkness starts to envelop me and my body plunges into the lightless expanse of this chasm.

Unexpectedly, my fall does not last that long. In the next instant, I’m standing on a grassy plain, surrounded by the same people who had been with me on that bridge just moments before. The cool breeze of the night caresses my skin and the abyss as well as the suspended bridge are nowhere to be seen. The moment deeply ingrained in my head , I fall on my bottom, still screaming.

‘Right!! The academy, the trial, the challenge, Maestro Lauren, I remember now!!’

“Congratulations, you’ve all taken the first step!”

“W-what the hell was that?” Sophia asks, panting heavily

The Maestro smirks and points to her instrument. “I’ll explain properly now that you’ve experienced the first scenario, and I will also make sure that our dear spectators understand what is happening!”

The Maestro looks in the direction of an invisible camera. “What you’ve just witnessed is the result of my ability, illusory realm. When I bow my violin, I can create spaces where reality and fiction are intertwined, indistinguishable from each other. While to you, it may seem like our dear participants are standing still, to them, they are experiencing dangerous scenarios that put their mental fortitude to the test!”

Camille rubs the grass beneath her with her hands, in an attempt to ascertain whether this is reality or another of her illusions. I’m tempted to do the same, but I hold myself back.

The Maestro grins. “Now, I’m sure you’re all thinking that it would be boring for you if you couldn’t really see what was happening to them, but fear not, we’ve thought of that! In the next scenarios, you too will be able to hear my song, and you shall equally be immersed into the illusory realm, albeit still as a spectator! That way, you will be able to witness their trials first hand and you will remain entertained!”

“You’re telling me she can throw us all into this ‘illusory realm’ and even mess with our memories?! she‘s on an entirely different level!” Ray says, shocked.

The Maestro corrects him. “Wrong my dear! I do not manipulate them at all! The mind is such a complex apparatus that we, as a society, have yet to fully understand it. My [melody] simply allows me to place a veil over it that your eager mind willingly believes. This can force it into… a state of confusion which, for those less capable like yourselves, leads to a temporary effect on your short-term memory and your chronoception.”

“Less capable you say… You might as well refer to us as weaklings…” Ugo grumbles.

“No no, weaklings? That word is so crude, I think infants suit you better. You are meant to learn and grow after all! In the same way you do not blame a newborn for lacking the ability to walk, I cannot blame you for your lack of strength, all I can do is push you in the right direction! ” The Maestro replies.

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Ugo raises his eyebrow in confusion, unsure if he fully grasps her meaning, but fortunately he isn’t brave, or stupid enough, to further question the Maestro, at least not after what she just did to us.

The Maestro places the bow back onto the strings attached to her forearm. “Well, now that that’s all been said. How many of you are willing to take the second step? Let me warn you… it will only become harder from now on.”

My teammates seem to hesitate for a moment, but I do not.

I take a step forward. “Is that really all you got?”

In my image, Sophia takes a step forward as well. “We’ll take anything you throw at us and more, Requiem!”

Ugo follows after us. “Hmph, this is nothing.”

Now it’s Ray’s turn. “It’ll take more than that to make me back down.”

And finally Camille. “W-well, if everyone is doing it… I can do it too…!!”

“Haha! Great! Great! I would expect nothing less!”

A sense of suspense rises as the Maestro returns to her playing stance. The tension in the air is almost palpable as we prepare ourselves for the first movement of her violin bow. Finally, the playing resumes.

Darkness envelops me and I find myself in the streets of Melodica. One thing stands out however, and that is the fact that flames rage in front of me.

“Alden! Alden! Get a hold of yourself! The little girl! She hasn’t made it out yet, you five need to get back in there!”

I look to my left and to my right, there I see four others dressed in fire fighting gear.

‘That’s… the guys from the academy? What’s going on? I thought I wasn’t supposed to remember… remember… what am I talking about?’

A woman with short blond hair and hazel eyes firmly grips my shoulders and shakes me. “Alden!!! Are you listening to me!?”

“Uh, y-yeah, yes I am… what’s happening?”

“What’s happening!? Did you hit your head or something!? The building behind you is burning, you, the rescue squad, need to get in there and save who you can!”

‘Rescue squad…us?’

I look behind me, to where the lady is pointing, there I see a building I recognize immediately. “That’s… that’s where I live…!! Aurora! Asher!!” I say, in a state of panic

“My home!!!” Sophia cries out before dashing into the building, quickly followed by Ray, Camille, and Ugo who all seem to have the same realization.

Without wasting a moment, I follow closely behind them. Together, we traverse the building, walking through rubble, squeezing through tight hallways, all in order to find any survivors. Sometimes, we have to duck in order to avoid the toxic fumes generated by the burning furniture, and sometimes we even have to crawl. The last thing we would want at this point would be to die from carbon dioxide poisoning.

Evident by the entirety of my body dripping with sweat, the heat enveloping this building has slipped through the openings within my protective gear. Nonetheless, I keep walking, following behind my companions. As I advance, I examine my surroundings. A few hallways have been blocked off by fallen debris, while some rooms have been entirely submerged in immolating flames, making them inaccessible. I find myself panting more heavily the deeper we travel into the building.

“I think I see someone, but they’re stuck in the rubble!” Ray shouts a few steps ahead of us.

Hastily, I make my way to his location. When I arrive, I notice a girl, crushed under rubble, but seemingly still breathing. Afraid of the worst outcome, I rush to her aid, as do the other four.

“Help me free her legs!” Sophia says before rapidly being aided by Ugo.

When they’ve managed to lift the support beam crushing her lower body, Camille, Ray and I, make sure to move the girl without causing any extra damage to her body. Hastily, we check her vitals, but also her identity. Camille pushes the hair blocking her face away to get a good look at it. My heart rate increases as her face becomes more visible. Some part deep within me expects the worst scenario.

What meets us, however, isn’t anywhere close to what I expect. What I see doesn’t seem human. Her face, or what should be her face, has been replaced by pure darkness. I carefully examine her while figure, but the rest of her body seems normal. The only thing missing is her face.

Camille reels back in shock, almost dropping her. “W-what the hell?!”

Sophia also seems stupefied. “What the… what happened to her face, is it burned…?”

“No… I’ve seen burnt before, this is something else…” Ray replies, equally perplexed.

The faceless woman then turns her head, making it the first movement since we found her. When she has turned enough to be face to face with us, a strange mouth manifests itself on her. Freaked out, the five of us take a step back and drop the woman on the burning floor. However, this doesn’t stop her from painstakingly muttering a few words.

“B…B….”

Ugo, affected by the eerie scene, lashes out and grips her shoulders. “Out with it! What is happening here!?”

“H-hey, don’t hurt her…!!” Camille says, trying to pull Ugo back.

The woman is unbothered by it all, however. It seems like the words aren’t coming out at first, but the more she tries, the more sense she begins to make.

“Bu… Bu”

Slowly, her mouth then morphs into an eerie grin, until it reaches from one ear to the other and she shouts. “...Bu…Burn!!!”

Then, in an instant, her whole body becomes the flames themselves and they envelop all of us. I don’t even have the time to think before every part of my body has been touched by the fire.

“AHHHHH.”

The room becomes drowned with pained cries which would make anyone unlucky enough to hear them shudder. Although I’d like to stop, think, and find a solution, the pain is simply too much. I fall to the ground, screaming until my vocal chords break.

‘I-I’m burning!!’

If I were to describe it, burning is unlike any other pain. It’s unique in the way it harms you. In fact, I remember hearing that it is considered to be the most painful death in existence. As the flames use your very flesh and bones as fuel, you first feel a cold, icy sensation enveloping you, which is then followed by the feeling of a thousand needles prickingling away at your skin incessantly.

‘It hurts, it hurts so much…!!’

That is until you finally feel it, the immolating heat covering you, relentless in its assault. As it intensifies, your skin begins to bubble up, char and crack, causing a terrible smell of burnt flesh. This pain lasts until the fire travels deep, so deep that even your nerves succumb to it, and at that point, you might think that you’ve had the worst of it, but you’d be wrong.

‘I-I can’t breathe…!!’

The flames need oxygen to keep burning, and oxygen they take away. Lacking the necessary gasses, your breaths become shorter and shorter, until you find yourself unable to take the next one. Under indescribable pain, you start to slowly suffocate, your lungs refusing to accept the smoke-filled, burning air. Then, separated from its energy source for too long, your mind begins to slip away, making place only for the agony of the moment. Your only option is now to either wait for your consciousness to fade or for death to take you. I wonder which one it is that will come for me first.

‘Please… Make it stop…Let me die!!’

Yet, it persists, my consciousness clings to me like to fire to my skin. When an eternity seems to have passed, right before my spirit breaks, I once again find myself on the grassy plains of DaiKar’s event. I come to, but not completely. I remember that this is all a trial, but my body does not forget the experience. I still feel the fire overtaking me and I drop to the ground, holding tears from rolling down my cheeks.

Requiem interrupts her performance. “The second step, fire, is now over.”