Kyle was excited. The 20th season of Trials was about to start. He and his brother watched everything AE made. They were gathered up with other kids in the theater-like building. Snacks of many kinds were spread out on the knee-high tables in the big room meant for such an occasion. Kids grabbed and tossed candies laughing the entire time. This was a huge event and the kids loved the sweets and savory snacks.

Kyle though paid only mind to the giant screen. A counter was ticking down minute by minute. Second by second. When the counter got down to a mere 20 seconds left the children started to notice and ushers of silence spread out. Soon all were enrapt as Kyle was. When it got close to starting he and many others put on their glasses. Choices of who to watch appeared. Those who didn’t own such glasses watched the screen itself as 10 different people appeared taking up equal space on the giant screen.

What they saw were people in a blank room sitting at a table with random objects on them. The people looked like teens ranging from 16-20. The objects were different in amounts. One Kyle saw had 10 choices to choose from. An information packet told him that they needed to choose one. Each teen had only a number for a name and wore plain black and gray jumpsuits.

For this season they chose to start off with Capture the Flag. They had only used this trial a couple of times before but never as a starter. Kyle was excited. A vote appeared in front of him via his glasses.

As a viewer, you can choose events to occur during the trials. This affects the trial takers in different ways. Please choose.

Choose an event:

Horde

Downpour

Supply Drop

At the end of the Rainbow

Kyle chose supply drops. He felt like helping those in the shows he watched. At least in the beginning have them get their start before the chaos happened.

After choosing he then chose someone to watch more closely. The screen went from 20 rooms to one single room. The teen had 5 items in front of him. Kyle thought it would be interesting to see what he chose. The beginning choice was always the most important choice a trial taker could make.

“Please choose.” A monotone somehow genderless voice coming from a loudspeaker in the top right corner said. The room was pure white except for the table of stainless steel in front of me. I didn’t remember why I was here. Or where I was. Or anything except a few seconds of consciousness. I only knew I was male. Not even a name came to mind.

I wore a skin-tight jumpsuit with no pockets and a single zipper on the back. It was black with gray sleeves. Nothing else adorned it.

On the table was a selection of items and each time I looked at one a message appeared in front of me. I flinched back, and as I did so the words moved with me. I swiped at it but it was as if it was in front of me but not actually there. Like an illusion. There was a metal rod, a sword, 2 vials with pills in them, and a blue tacky scarf.

Size Changing Rod:

This rod can grow up to the length of 15 feet. This rod grows and shrinks at fast speeds. The rod is light and durable. The rod can bend but is hard to break.

Heavy Blade:

This sword is exceptionally heavy and nearly indestructible. If bound the blade feels normal to bonded, but still has the power of its usual weight. The sword isn’t very sharp.

Pill of Psychic power:

Gives light psychic abilities to those who consume it. Can grow in strength over time and use...

Hot And Cold Scarf:

Protects against up to severe heat and cold.

Pill of Random Resist:

Upon consumption randomly chooses a damage source to resist.

I was confused and shot off questions rapidly. “Hello, is anyone there? Where am I? Why do I need to choose? What am I even choosing for?”

In response was the same message. “Please choose.”

“Can someone please tell me what is going on?” Another question floated to my mind. Who even am I? Nothing at all was coming to me. I knew for some reason what a sword was. And what the pill of random resist was talking about. Resist meant half damage from that source. But nothing about me. Or other people or locations. Why did I know some things but not even my own name?

“Please choose. You have 1 minute left or a random item will be chosen for you.” The voice said as a counter appeared right in front of me.

1 minute to do something I don’t know how to do. I panicked a bit and reread as fast as I could. For some reason I knew each item and what they did and I knew that I wouldn’t like the sword it wasn’t even sharp. Who makes a non-sharp sword? And the resistance was too random. Could be like resist pinching damage. I felt like I didn’t like chance but I didn’t know why. Psychic abilities only meant mind-to-mind communication and manipulation. Something I also felt like wasn’t something I’d like or perhaps be good at. That left the staff and the scarf. The scarf sounded nice being able to bear harsh weather sounded good. But how would I defend myself? I concluded that if there were weapons I would need one. Unless they were tricks. Maybe peaceful things were the way to go? Or was this all a trick and I didn’t get to keep what I chose? Or was it some test of willpower and character?

The counter was down to 10 seconds as I clutched hold of the metal rod hoping I chose correctly. Instantly my sight went black.

I woke up feeling wet and cold. Rain pitter-pattered on me. I still clutched the rod in my hand. I noticed that I was still in the black jumpsuit. It was so thin that I felt as if I was wearing nothing at all. I got up and looked around wearily. It was daytime with small amounts of light peeking through but overcast. I wish I had brought the scarf instead.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

A message appeared similar to the countdown. The same voice from before also spoke into my mind.

Mission start: Capture the Flag

Capture the other team's flag and bring it to the exit to win.

Winners gain rewards.

A team has been chosen for you. You are blue team.

My jumpsuit changed colors instantly. Instead of black and gray, it was dark blue and light blue.

Objective start: Team Meeting

You have been scattered to the winds. Find your team at your flag and regroup.

You have a sense of where your flag is for the next 24 hours.

Random event start: Downpour. Rain will wash it all away in due time.

A light pull guided me in a direction. However, I could see in the opposite way a small building was in sight. I decided to check out the building if only to get out of the rain for a bit. My bare feet slushed around in the mud as the rain got more ferocious.

The building was made of wood and looked old. Not about to collapse old but places were clearly rotting away. As I got to the building I found that the door was locked. I tried hitting it with my rod but I didn’t have enough strength to break the lock. A small window was broken and I clambered inside. Cutting my palm when I slipped due to the water. It hurt but felt muted somewhat. I felt like it should have been worse but just wasn't. Not to say it didn’t hurt at all. And it definitely bled.

Looking around I couldn’t see much. It was dark, barely any light seeping in from the window. I regretted just barging in. What if there was a monster or another person hiding within waiting for someone like me to kill? I brandished my rod wishing I knew how to make it grow longer. With that simple thought, it did grow. It grew at a fast speed slamming into the other wall and punching a hole into the old wood. Surprised I dropped it the end I was holding clattering to the floorboards. I panicked again needing that, I retrieved it and had it shrink to a more manageable length. It was easy, just a thought. I played around having it grow and shrink repeatedly.

The new hole did help a small amount with the light and with my eyes adjusting I found it more bearable to look around. I didn’t find anything living inside. I did find a small side satchel with what looked like small coins of a silverish metal. I immediately knew what they were. It was currency. I didn’t however know what it was currency for. No words popped up. None even appeared after looking at my staff. I left the coins inside. Also inside was a packaged bar of unknown origin. I was instantaneously starving though and took a bite. It. Was. Awful. It tasted like biting into dried mud. I felt better afterward but didn’t want to eat another if possible. There was one more bar in the satchel.

Inside was also a lighter. It was in the shape of a knife handle except for no pointy end. Flipping the top revealed the small flame and visibility was much easier. I looked around more and didn’t find much use. A single pair of old torn boots was all I found. It was better than nothing and I put them on. At first, they were too big and they shrunk to fit better as I put them on. “Neat,” I said out loud. Was everything capable of that? Did I choose the wrong item? I couldn’t think like that.

With everything in their found. I started to get ready to leave. I felt something in my boot and took them off to get it out. Inside was a small key. “Who bets this is for the door?” I annoyedly asked the air. Happily, no response was given. I would have freaked out if it had happened. Lastly was an old stuffed rabbit with an arm and ear missing. I took that too. For reasons that I don’t need to explain to you.

Fine, I was feeling lonely.

I bashed out the last of the glass and more safely left. I even took the lock from the door. Never know what might be useful. And also if someone else were to come across the building they would have a much easier time getting in. I tested out the staff. I tried it against a nearby tree, having it come out quickly to slam into it. I lost grip and it sprung from my hands stinging a bit. Gloves would be useful. The tree was barely hurt by it too. I found that I could also have the length come from whatever end I wanted. Mostly I just used it as a fancy walking stick as the ground got more and more wet.

My new boots were filled with water and the water level was getting to my ankles. “I wish I had another rod and I could just walk around on stilts.” I chuckled to myself with the image. 2ish hours went by. Luckily the direction I needed to go seemed to be uphill.

A muffled yelp behind me had me spinning. Staff growing to a more defensive length. I peered around. All I could see was trees and water. The rain made it hard to focus as I needed to wipe it away. That is when I saw it. A ripple of water came from behind a tree a ways back. “Who is there? Reveal yourself.” I thought for a moment before yelling again, ”I won’t hurt you. Do you know what is happening?” I added the last part a bit more pleadingly than I thought I would.

A smaller frame than myself came around the tree and looked to be about 16-18. I couldn’t tell. She had short-cropped hair and large round glasses. She too had the color blue on her outfit. Unlike myself, she didn’t have anything else on her. I assumed it was either hidden somehow or she had taken a consumable item like a pill. That was assuming she too had the opportunity to choose something. “I’m sorry for following you. I just-” She paused seeing the potentially dangerous staff.

I lowered it and had it shrink back to a walking stick. “Sorry about that, I'm just a bit jumpy. Assume you are as well?” I said with an unenthusiastic chuckle. “And it's fine. We both are blue whatever that means so I guess we are on the same team.”

“I guess. What's your name?” She asked awkwardly.

“Uhmm I don’t know. Do you know yours?”

“No.” She said quickly.

“Well then.” I racked my mind for a name. Did I need a name? Guess I would if I was going to find others. I looked around. Tree? Leaf? Water? What names are those? Then it hit me. Well literally, I smacked myself with my staff rod thing. “You can just call me Staff.” Wait no that was stupid too, “Actually Rod..yeah Rod.” It wasn’t the worst name but I liked it. “How long have you been following me ‘cause I might have to call you Stalker, ” I said as reassuringly as I could.

“Rod is a cool name. And I don’t want to be known as a stalker. Also, I have only been following you for the last 5 minutes.” A bit of fire came into her voice until she held it. She too looked around. “What about leaf or tree?”

“No, I already decided that was really dumb. Also, I bet other people are thinking the same thing.” It was weird to think about this exact conversation popping up. If there were teams then I had to assume that there were many other people out there. Couldn’t just be the two of us. “If I may ask, what did you choose? I chose this rod that grows longer. That's where I got my name from.”

“I uhmm. Well, I- It's kinda dumb now that I think of it and I should have chosen something better. I chose this pill that gave me the power to bring small inanimate creatures to life. Like a small statue or something like that. Except I didn’t get given anything of the like. So it is useless.”

I walked closer slowly so we weren’t having to raise our voices to speak. I didn’t know if I should trust this girl fully but she was blue so I felt like I should. “I did find a stuffed rabbit. It is in shambles though.” As I said this I took out the bunny from my satchel and handed it over to her. I’ll miss you bunny friend I only had you for a few hours. “Can this work?”

She accepted it and her hands glowed as she touched it. She looked visibly drained from the action. At first, we both thought it didn’t work. Till the drooped ear sprang up. She dropped the bunny in minor fright and it splashed into the water. It got up slowly and shook itself, water spraying around. It wasn’t noticeable through the torrential downpour. It looked back up at the girl “Sorry sorry.” She cried out as she bent down to pick it back up. The poor thing was already soaked so it didn’t really matter.

“Wait, what if I call you Bunny?”

“I don’t hate it.” She said absentmindedly. She seemed enrapt with the stuffed animal who moved around as if it was truly alive. I thought it was creepy with its missing parts. She obviously thought it cute.

“Anyway we should get moving, we have no idea how long it will take to get to our flag or whatever.” She nodded and we started moving again.