Spes walked out of the kitchen — his pace slow, deliberate, unchanging — and stepped into the hallway.
Nathan looked up as their eyes met.
He knew.
It was his turn.
He shifted in his seat, the silence between them uncomfortable.
"Where is Harper?" Nathan asked, cautious, trying not to sound demanding.
Spes didn't blink.
"Her offer is done. She is outside."
"Now it's your turn. And with this, we will conclude the test."
There was something about the way Spes said it — so matter-of-fact, so rehearsed — that left Nathan unsatisfied.
His gut twisted, but he didn't press.
He knew the rules.
Being rude to the entities, even showing doubt — it could backfire.
Badly.
He wasn't a kid.
He kept shaking his leg. Restless. Nervous.
His fingertips tapped against his thigh like he was trying to beat a rhythm out of the anxiety.
Then, finally, he jolted up from his seat.
"Alright."
A pause.
He looked Spes in the eye.
"Let's begin."
They moved to the kitchen now.
Nathan stepped in cautiously, scanning the room — the wooden cabinets, the faint smell of dust, the dim light pouring in through the cracked window.
Spes walked ahead, taking his usual position.
Back turned.
Facing the outside.
The same eerie silence followed. Nathan could feel it — something unnatural about it all
.It wasn't just quiet.
It was scripted.
He looked around.
The room felt like it had been reset. Like the kitchen had seen this scene play out already… three times.
Then Spes finally turned.
His face held no emotion. No hesitation.
"I give you an offer."
"I'll let you escape from this Phase, and return to the one you came from. This will complete Phase Twenty for you."
"However..."
"The others will be left behind."
"They'll face the Hunt without our help. No guidance. No protection. No hope."
"There is no catch."
"If you accept the offer, you'll leave cleanly. No guilt, no debt, no lingering connections to this place. You'll be free."
Same words.
Same rhythm.
Same test.
But Nathan didn't know that yet.
Not fully.
Not until he thought through it.
"What do you mean?" Nathan asked, narrowing his eyes at Spes.
There was a strange knot forming in his stomach — a kind of unease he couldn't quite explain.
He'd been expecting something else.
Something… different.
From what he understood, the offers were supposed to be unique — personalized, based on the individual.
His confusion deepened. He raised a hand slightly.
"Wait, wait, wait—"
"Can you be more clear? Like... I get to escape this Phase?"
Spes didn't hesitate.
"Yes."
"There is no catch. Once you agree, I will open a portal which will lead you to the exit of this Phase. From there, you can return to the Phase you came from."
"Phase Twenty will be cleared for you."
His words were cold.
Direct.
Just like before.
But for Nathan, that was enough.
The fog in his mind started to lift. The anxiety that had wrapped itself around his chest — loosened, even if just a little.
This wasn't a puzzle.
This wasn't a trick.
At least, that's what he wanted to believe.
He stood there, processing it.
No more tests.
No more fear
.Just… walk away.
"So I won't have to go through any more of this?" he asked again, voice quieter now. "Nothing else?"
Spes gave the same mechanical nod.
"Nothing else. You will be free."
And in that moment, for Nathan…That started to sound like the best thing in the world.
"Damn," Nathan muttered under his breath.
His mind wandered. Alice. Ivy. Harper.He could picture each of them, their faces strained with exhaustion, their eyes carrying the same fear he'd been feeling for so long.
And then the thought hit him like a stone.
"But they'll die, right?"
He looked at Spes for confirmation — almost hoping for a denial.
But none came.
Spes just nodded. Coldly. Like it was irrelevant.
Like it didn't matter.
And disturbingly, it didn't shake Nathan the way it should have.
Because in his mind — they had their own offers.
Different ones. That's what Spes said.
They'd make their choices.
He'd make his.
He didn't know the truth.
That every single one of them had received the same exact offer.
None of them knew it. Not Ivy. Not Harper.
And now Nathan stood here, thinking he might be the chosen one. The lucky one. The special case.
That this was his shot to survive.
A quiet, selfish whisper stirred in the back of his mind.Maybe this was fate.Maybe this was his reward for enduring everything up until now.
"I kind of want to accept the offer..." he said aloud, the words floating in the thick air.
His voice trembled, unsure of itself.
He scratched the back of his neck, avoiding Spes's dead gaze.
"But I'm—I'm not quite sure."
His heart was thudding.
Not out of fear.
But out of the weight of temptation.
This was survival.
And for the first time in a long time… it seemed possible.
Outside the window, just beneath the wooden ledge, Alice, Ivy, and Harper crouched low, pressed to the cottage wall, ears straining to catch every word.
Harper's jaw clenched as Nathan's next words hung in the air. She couldn't help the mutter that slipped out just loud enough for Ivy and Alice to catch:
"What a fucking asshole."
"Who does he think he is…"
"I swear I'll kill him if he tries to escape this phase."
Alice shot her a sharp look and pressed a hand over Harper's mouth. Quietly, she hissed:
"Shh—he might hear us."
Ivy swallowed hard, heart hammering in her chest. The weight of Nathan's hesitation pressed down on them all.
"Let's hope for the best…" she whispered, though her voice trembled.
Alice offered a small, determined nod. "This isn't looking great so far… but keep trusting him, okay?" She tried to glue the three of them together with that fragile optimism.
They watched Nathan through the glass as he fidgeted in the kitchen, the same scene repeating for the fourth time. Spes stood silent, unmoving, waiting for his answer.
Nathan's shoulders squared. He took a deep breath, and the group held theirs in turn.
Inside the cottage, the air was thick — as if even time itself was holding its breath.
Spes stood still as ever, his voice calm and composed.
"Just to warn you," he said, eyes fixed on Nathan,
"You only have fifteen minutes left before the Hunt begins."
"We've completed the preparations for the tools and equipment you'll need if you choose to decline the offer."
"But be wise…"
"One keeps you safe — one hundred percent."
"The other gives you a fifty-fifty chance… You may survive with everyone — or you may not."
"If you choose the first, the three people die."
"If you choose the second, you may survive with them. Or you may die with them."
"The decision… is yours."
And with that, Spes fell silent.
Nathan stood there — frozen — the words circling his mind like vultures. The pressure was unbearable. His heartbeat sounded louder than any voice.
"One hundred percent safety…" He blinked. "Only an idiot wouldn't choose that."His jaw clenched as anger boiled beneath the surface.
"Fifty-fifty isn't worth the risk. Not when everything I've worked for is on the line."
His fingers curled into fists.
"That damn Alice… why did she eat the apple…?"
"Why did she screw it all up?"
"Why am I the one who has to make this decision now?"
"I didn't ask for this."
His mind spiraled faster and faster — guilt clashing against cold logic. And as his lips began to part, the decision was moments away from being spoken…
Nathan's fist slammed into the wall beside him with a sharp thud, the wooden panel shaking under the impact. Splinters dug into his knuckles, but he didn't care. He didn't even feel it.
He was trying to ground himself — trying to feel something, anything — to make this choice make sense.
Breathing heavy, eyes wide and wild, he turned to Spes.
"What do you think I should do?"
His voice cracked, desperate, strained — like he was pleading for clarity in a fog that only thickened.
Spes didn't even blink.
"I cannot answer that."
"You have thirteen minutes now."
The coldness of his words hit Nathan like a slap.
Thirteen minutes.
Thirteen minutes to decide whether his friends lived or died. Thirteen minutes to weigh morality against survival. Thirteen minutes to live with himself — or hate what he might become.
And he was panicking.
His knees trembled. The air felt thinner. His thoughts collided and shattered, rebuilding themselves in uglier ways each time.
"I can't do this…"
"I have to do this…"
"It's survival…"
"But what kind of person am I if I choose that?"
"But what good am I if I'm dead?"
He backed into the counter, hand running down his face, breathing sharp and broken.
This wasn't a decision anymore.
It was a mirror.
And Nathan was afraid to see what was staring back.
"Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit."
Nathan kept repeating, louder each time — like if he said it enough, the pressure would break and let him breathe.
"That bitch Alice... she ruined everything by not following the rule!"
His voice cracked — angry, pitiful, desperate. His hands clawed at his scalp, nails digging so deep into the skin it burned. He just wanted to feel something that made sense. Something to blame.
The voice behind him remained the same.
"Twelve minutes."
"Yes, yes, YES — I GOT IT!""STOP REPEATING IT!"
Nathan snapped, turning to Spes with wild, bloodshot eyes — but Spes didn't flinch. He just stood there, timeless and unmoved.
Nathan was unraveling. The seams of everything he believed — everything he tried to be — were splitting one by one.
Ever since the beginning of this phase, it's been hell.
The moment Alice bit the apple, it all started falling apart.
Hope faded. The rules broke. The fear took over.
He was tired.
He was scared. He was miserable.
"I just… I wanted to be okay."
He whispered now, voice shaking.
"I just wanted one phase… ONE… where we could breathe."
But now?
Now it was all coming down to him
.And he had no idea who he even was anymore.
"Eleven minutes."
Spes's voice rang out like a judge's gavel — final, cold, unmoved.
Nathan stood there — back hunched, hands trembling, jaw clenched so tight it felt like his teeth would shatter. He couldn't breathe. His chest rose and fell like he was drowning.
He looked at the floor.'
Then the counter.
Then Spes.
Then nothing.
"I–" His voice cracked. "I don't know."
He gripped his hair again, almost like trying to rip the indecision out of his head.
"Why should I care about them?"
"Harper? That girl's been mocking everything since the start. Always pretending she doesn't care, but I know she's scared — we all are — she just hides it better."
He bit down hard on his tongue. Blood. Metallic. Real.
"Ivy? She barely even talks to me. She's brave, yeah, she's quiet — but we're not close. Not like that. She wouldn't choose me over anyone. Why should I?"
And then, quieter…"And Alice..."A bitter laugh escaped his throat. "She fucked all of us over."
"She ate the damn apple like a fucking idiot and now this is what we get for it. A goddamn death game."
Outside, Harper clenched her jaw.
Ivy looked down, stomach twisting.
Alice said nothing, her face frozen — eyes unreadable.
Inside, Nathan kept spiraling.
"Maybe… maybe I'm just done being the guy who sacrifices everything for people who don't even like him.""Maybe I'm not some hero. Maybe I never was."
He turned to Spes, his voice venomous and exhausted.
"You said I'll live if I take the offer, right?"
"Then maybe I should take it. Maybe I should walk through that portal, forget this stupid phase, forget all of them."
"Maybe I deserve to."
A long silence.
Then a whisper… barely audible.
"But I won't."
He stood still for a second, his shoulders sagging as though the weight of his own cowardice had just been acknowledged — and dropped.
"Because even if I hate what they've done… even if I feel like none of them would choose me back..."
"I don't want to be the one that ran away."
He finally looked up at Spes.
"I'm not a good person."
"But I'm not a fucking traitor either."
He inhaled sharply.
"I decline your offer."
Outside the cottage wall, the silence was heavier than ever.
Harper's fists loosened
Ivy blinked slowly.
And Alice finally let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding.
Inside, Nathan stood still — hollowed out, stripped, but steady.
For once, the voices in his head were quiet.
As Spes pointed silently toward the window, Nathan furrowed his brows, still shaken, still lost in the remnants of his spiraling thoughts.
"That's it?" he muttered, his voice dry, hoarse from the pressure. "That was the whole test?"
Spes didn't answer.
Nathan stared at him, frustrated by the coldness, the lack of closure.
"I don't get it," he whispered under his breath, pacing slowly toward the window. "What was the point of all that? You push us to the edge, make us question everything, then act like it was all nothing?"
He turned back.
"Was this supposed to make me stronger? Make me grateful or something?"
Spes remained unmoved, eyes like dead glass, reflecting none of Nathan's confusion back at him.
"You're not gonna say anything, huh?" Nathan scoffed. "Figures."
There was no reply. Just a faint ticking of the clock somewhere beyond the kitchen, and the whisper of wind against the wooden cottage walls.
With clenched fists and a head full of fractured thoughts, Nathan stepped toward the window.
He paused on the ledge, one foot halfway out.
He glanced behind one last time — at Spes, at the kitchen, at everything.
"None of this makes sense," he said quietly to himself.
"But I hope... I didn't just fuck everything up."
And then he climbed out.
The wind hit harder now. Reality setting in.
Below him, Alice, Ivy, and Harper waited. Their eyes wary. Their bodies tense.
No one smiled.
No one moved.
Nathan's feet hit the ground. The wood creaked.
And silence — thick and uncomfortable — stretched between them all.
He looked up at them, then down at the earth.
"I'm here," he said.
But even he wasn't sure what that meant anymore.