‘Hmm, I wonder if he’s single?’

I remember idly lying on the couch in my apartment complex, browsing the internet. When I came across a random video that had just gone viral. The video showed a live feed of a tall and incredibly handsome man in shining armor, stepping out of what looked to be a portal in the sky. He was casually floating midair, as he stared down at all the gawking spectators below him.

He murmured something that I sadly couldn’t hear, due to the poor quality of the video camera that was being used to record the scene at the time.

‘Aww that sucks’ I had thought. ‘He’s so good-looking, I was curious to find out what he sounded like’

While I was busy having these silly thoughts, Mr. Handsome (that’s what I had decided to call him then) pulled out a dark purple orb from his hands.

While imperiously looking down at all the onlookers, and by extension me. He opened his mouth and thundered out a single word.

DRAW

Despite not being there myself, I could somehow hear his voice ringing in my head, and before I could think any further I blacked out.

….............

“Hey, wake up, HEY!”

“Mmph,” I could hear somebody calling out to me. The person was irritatingly shaking my shoulder, in an annoying attempt to wake me up.

“Mmm, one more minute,” I tiredly mumbled. It took a couple seconds for me to remember that l lived alone in a single flat.

Once I did, my eyes immediately snapped open. What greeted my vision was a man bent over, smiling down at me. He had shoulder long, frizzy auburn hair, and strikingly golden eyes. Even though he was a bit average in the looks department, he had a surprisingly toned physique, with well-defined abs. As my eyes gradually traced down his body, I soon realized that he was not wearing pants, and had his junk dangling in front of my....

“AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!” I shrieked, hurriedly standing up.

I looked directly at him, surprised and disgusted, at the fact that he was completely naked.

“Who are you, and why the fuck are you naked?” I demanded. He just raised an eyebrow and looked at me with a bemused smile.

“Nice me to you too!” He replied a bit too casually. “The names Jonah, and I was just being a helping hand, trying to wake you up.” He lamely answered, as if that explained why his balls were dangling in front of my face earlier.

“As to why I'm naked, I can't answer that.” he continued on, with a sly look on his face. “Actually, I was hoping you might know.”

‘What is he talking about? Why would I...’

Looking down at myself, it seemed that while I was caught up in my earlier outburst, I somehow missed the fact that I too was completely naked.

“OH MY GOD!” I shouted even louder. “What is going on? Where are my clothes?”

“Hahahahah! I can’t believe you just now noticed” he mocked, as he tried to step closer to me. “Ya now, you're pretty slow.”

“Stay away from me!” Feeling my cheeks burning, I immediately tried to cover up, and protect what little modesty I could.

I looked indignantly at him. “What have you done to me?” I asked warily, while trying to slowly distance myself from him. He noticed my actions, and just proceeded to laugh even harder at me.

“Haha! Aw man, this has been the best reaction I’ve gotten all day,” he boisterously guffawed. I could already tell that I was seriously going to dislike this person. “Sorry to burst your bubble lady, but I wasn’t planning on doing anything of what you're probably imagining.”

“Also, I wasn’t the one who brought you here.” He said, surprising me.

“Really you should be more observant of your surroundings, look around you.” He added, waving his arm around to draw my attention to the huge brown stone hall surrounding us, as well as the disorderly mob of naked people awkwardly standing around.

‘What's going on? Did I blackout, and stumble my way inside some sort of freak orgy?’

I was seriously confused and distressed. Just when I was about to ask Jonah more questions, he had already turned around, and began walking away.

“Hey, where are you going?” I quickly asked.

“To go find more people to wake up.” he hollered back, not even stopping to turn and look at me. “Thanks for the laughs! Yours was the best reaction, so far.”

Saying that, he quickly sauntered off to find who knows next. Looking at his departing back, I couldn’t help but think one thing.

‘Fucking Weirdo.’

So, with no other choice, I tried asking the people around me. In hopes that some else could help answer my questions.

After some minutes passed by, of me questioning random strangers. I had to conclude that no one knew what the hell was going on. They all answered with similar stories of them blacking out, after hearing that handsome man's voice and suddenly waking up here.

Sadly, I also noticed during my questioning, that a lot of the guys here were taking very liberal glances at my rack. “Haaaaa” I sighed. While I couldn’t exactly blame them given the situation, and the fact that I was the one who approached them. It still made me feel uncomfortable. ‘Surprisingly, the only guy I've met today that hadn't tried to sneak a peek was that weirdo Jonah from before.’

“Excellent, you are all awake.”

As I was having these thoughts, a deep and ethereal voice suddenly washed over the crowded hall, drawing everyone's attention.

“My name is XXXXXX, but you all can refer to me as Lord Zalgo.”

….............

“Hehe! And I do hope for your sake that you do reach that point.”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

I just sat there on the cold stone floor, knees buried to my chest, with my eyes wide open in disbelief. I could hear some fearful murmuring in the background, but I was too shell shocked to pay close attention. If what that Lord Zalgo had said was true, the earth was destroyed, and with it everybody I ever cared about.

“M-Mom, dad, big bro.” I shakily muttered under my breath.

‘Are they really all dead?’ I just couldn’t wrap my mind around it. I didn’t want to believe it, but......

“Excuse me darling, are you alright,” came a soft voice.

While I was busy panicking. An old woman came up to me. She looked to be in her late 40’s and had a kindly maternal face that reminded me very much of my mother.

She smiled at me and asked. “We are all gathering together to have a meeting over there.” she pointed at a small group of people nearby. “Would you like to join us, and by the way my name is Martha. What’s your sweetie?”

“I-I’m Alex” I answered, stumbling on my words.

“Good! Well Alex, I’m sure you might be feeling extremely confused and anxious right now. Heavens knows I am.” She said, trying to comfort me. “That is why I would really like it, if you would joined us. After All, don’t you think it best for us to stick together, and help each other, in times like these.”

I decided to take her up on her offer, thinking I had nothing to lose. So, I followed her back to a group of people standing around in a circle, talking amongst themselves.

“Do you think he was serious about his threat?” A plump woman spoke up.

“He just killed a man, what do you think?” Came a mocking reply, from a lanky old man.

“Hey, don’t be a dick. She’s just nervous.” Said another old man with a gruff voice. “Besides that's not the main issue right now.”

“We need to focus on the trial at hand cause I doubt it's gonna be as easy, as simply opening a door.” He stated loudly, trying to garner everyone's attention. “What do you think we need to do, so that none of us die here?”

At that question, the whole group went silent. No one spoke up because nobody had anything useful to say. We were all dumped in this mysterious place, without a word of consent, and then without explanation; forced to complete some arbitrary test.

“Well, he did mention something called a wave pattern, anybody got any clue what that means.” He asked, and again he was answered with a deafening silence. “Haaa, well even though this seems like an individual test, maybe we can still help each other out...”

….............

At the end, we all agreed that if any of us found the trick to this test, that person would inform as many other people as possible. It wasn’t a groundbreaking plan, but it was all we had, given the circumstances. After which, we all decided to take the test at the same time.

That had been about an hour ago, and most of us had quickly come to a crushing realization.

This test was rigged

I could tell it was designed to signal out certain individuals.

The moment I stepped through that passageway. I had felt an alien sensation, gnawing at the back of my head. Like an irritant itch that I couldn’t scratch, and it had been like that for many others in my group.

What is worse, when I tried to ask the few people that looked like they might know how to complete this test. Well...aside from the annoyed looks that they all gave me, when I tried to get their attention. They all spouted vague and incomprehensible rubbish.

‘Feel the patterns.’

‘Embrace the waves.’

‘Look with your mind's eye?!?’ What does any of that even mean?

‘Since, when the hell did everyone turn into hippies?

Time was running out, and I was beginning to panic. None of these doors would open for me.

As I was desperately trying to pry, what I could only assume was the twentieth door I’ve come across. I heard a familiar voice, coming from behind me.

“Hey, need some help?”

I turned around and found Jonah staring at me. He was casually sitting down, with his back leaning against the wall, and he had an amused grin on his face. Which immediately made me want to turn away and ignore him.

“Yah, what's it to you?” But sadly, I couldn’t. He hinted that he could help me, and I was desperate for help.

As if, reading my mind, his grin grew even wider.

“Well, I already found where my room is, so I decided rather than go on to the next trial. Why don’t I hang around, see how everybody was faring.” He said in an all too smug tone.

“Get to the point!” I barked. This guy was seriously annoying. We're all struggling for our lives out here, and he’s nonchalantly observing us.

“Alright alright sheeesh! I was getting bored because I couldn’t figure out what it was that separated people like me from the rest? I was about to head inside, when low and behold you came along. Lookin all desperate and down on your luck.” Jonah elaborated. “So, I figured why not lend a helping hand.”

“And.......” I hummed. ‘Where was he going with this?’

“Why not come over and bunk in my room,” he said without even a hint of shame in his voice.

I had to forcibly stop myself from slapping both him and me in the face.

What was I thinking, wasting my time listening to this creep? Like he could ever help me. “Did you seriously think that you were the first person to come up with that idea? We all thought of the same thing in my group, and guess what? We concluded it was a stupid idea.” I ranted

“For very obvious reasons too, our kidnapper wants us to locate our own living quarters, not share it with others.”

“So, no thank you, I’ll pass.” I ended, quickly turning to walk away.

“Alright, but nothing set in stone. He never explicitly said we couldn’t share a room with other people. Besides, what do you have left to lose, the times limits almost up.” He stated in a matter-of-fact way, and like a devil toying with my heart. He lazily got up from the floor, and stepped into his room, leaving the door wide open.

I bit my lips. ‘Dammit all.’

His words stung, but there was some truth to it. Time was running out...

“Fuck it!” I marched inside.

The moment I stepped into the room, I saw him standing by the wall, waiting for me. “I knew you’d cave.” He teased me with a know-it-all look on his face.

“Whatever, just close the door already.” I retorted

“What! No way, why would I do that? He said. “I want to see what happens to all those unlucky saps out there who couldn’t find their rooms.”

‘Is this guy serious, what is wrong with him?’ That is not something a sane person would do.

“Hey, why did you decide to help me, anyways?” I asked, staring him dead in the eye.

“Hmm easy, you had the funniest reaction out of everybody I tried to wake up, and I thought it would be a waste if someone as amusing as you died here. Plus, their also-”

SLAM

Before he could finish his sentence, the door slammed shut behind him, startling us both. “W-What was that?” I frightfully asked.

“I don’t know, but it's ruining my mood.”

TIME IS UP

A loud and strangely feminine voice sounded out, as Jonah tried to push the door back open. “Augh, what the hell, hey help me here would y-”

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

IT HURT IT HURT

I painfully thought, as I laid there on the floor. My whole body was suddenly burning up. The pain was so intense I could barely move.

FUCK IT HURTS

I wanted to call out, to scream for the pain to stop. But my voice was too hoarse. It was like the inside of my throat was being seared with molten lava. I tried desperately to look at Jonah, to plead to him, using only my eyes to convey my suffering. He returned my agonized stare with a quizzical one of his own.

“Interesting you're glowing red like the fat guy from earlier, but instead it looks like it is taking longer to kill you.” he commented while observing me. “Hmm, guess I was wrong.”

‘Oh God! Please someone help me...’ I torturously thought. ‘Please I don’t want to die, mommy, daddy.... help.’ But no help came. God would not answer me, and neither would my parents.

My vision turned crimson, and I could no longer see. My last thoughts before death were of my family. I imagined us all at a picnic, back when I was a kid. We were all happy and laughing together.

I couldnt help but smile a little at this image, even as my body fully burned to a crisp.

'Hopefully, I will get to see them again.'