Sitting against a cold stone wall lies a frail-looking young boy with short grayish-black hair. He was wearing ragged blue clothes with a number on the front of his shirt that said "3." His pants were slightly torn at the bottom, revealing his ankles. The boy was also not wearing any shoes.
The frail boy slowly opens his eyes and starts to stand up. After rubbing his eyes, the boy begins to feel an aching pain in his head.
Once the pain begins to ease, the boy looks around.
He sees several other people who are just waking up. They are lying against the same wall he was lying against. Looking up, the boy wanted to see how high the circular walls rose, but he could not see past a certain point, as the wall seemed to go on forever. At the top, wherever the top was, a light shone through to the bottom, illuminating a circular platform in the middle of the circular stone ring.
Suddenly, the boy begins to hear the noises of people who are now just starting to wake up around him.
Lying to his left was a girl with long, silky blonde hair and a pale body. She was also wearing ragged clothes. To the right was a boy with short brown hair, wearing tattered clothes, who looked to have a strong build.
The girl yawns, then she looks around. Her eyes widen, and she turns to the boy.
"Where are we?"
The boy thinks for a second, trying to come up with an answer, but ultimately, he doesn't.
"I don't know."
Then, without warning, the boy feels a sharp pain in his head again. Holding his head with his right hand, the boy begins to get a couple of memories.
He suddenly begins to remember his name.
Athan Sotirios.
He only gets one more memory, which is his age, seventeen.
Athan gets a tap on his shoulder, startling him. Opening his eyes, he sees the girl with a curious look on her face.
"Did you also get your name and age?"
Athan hesitantly nods his head.
The girl smiles, then she slowly walks around the boy.
"My name is Amelia, and I'm seventeen. What's your name?"
Athan, with a puzzled look on his face, replies:
"Athan Sotirios, and I'm also seventeen."
Amelia then goes to the next boy over and introduces herself. Athan listens to the chatter of the others as they also begin to introduce themselves. Instead of introducing himself to others, Athan decides not to.
After some time, a voice echoes through Athan's head…
[You have been…chosen to die.]
Athan questions the voice in his head, and he carefully looks around to see if anyone else heard the voice in their head.
In seconds, people broke out into worry.
"Anyone else hearing these voices!" A voice shouts.
"What do you mean… I have been chosen to die!" Another person shouts.
Amelia and the strong-looking dude, whom Athan has decided to call the Brute, walk up to him.
Amelia interlaces her fingers.
"You heard the voice as well, right?"
Athan stands there awkwardly for a second.
"Yes, I heard the voice."
The three of them just stand there watching the other people panic, while hoping maybe they will hear another voice.
Amelia starts walking around again, introducing herself to others and hoping to get answers about where they are or what's happening. That just leaves Athan and the Brute alone.
While Amelia is introducing herself, the Brute looks over to Athan and sighs.
"Do you want to team up?"
Athan wonders if the Brute actually means that, especially considering that the Brute wasn't even looking at him when he offered.
The Brute guy rubs his head.
"Look, personally, I don't really want to team up with you, but it seems Amelia has taken a liking to you. So that's why I'm asking if you want to team up."
Athan remains silent for a second, leaving himself to his thoughts.
'It might be good to team up. Especially since we don't know anything about this place or what might happen to us.'
Athan replies to the Brute:
"Sure, I'll team up with you guys."
The Brute puts his hand on Athan's shoulder and smiles, then he leaves and goes to where Amelia is. Athan, now alone again, sits against the wall.
'How come I can't remember anything else other than my name and age? Is it just me that's like that?'
Then, without notice, Athan's thoughts get interrupted by the strange voice again.
[Trial: Kill the King.]
[Difficulty: Unknown]
'What the? A trial?' Athan thinks.
The voice continues.
[Please make your way to the platform in front of you. Once on the platform, I will then explain the rules.]
For a moment, everyone talks among themselves, then they accordingly walk onto the platform.
On the platform, Athan stands there by himself, watching everyone else slowly form groups, just as he did with Amelia and the Brute.
After some time, Amelia and the Brute walk back over to where Athan is.
The Brute throws a look of disappointment at Athan.
"We didn't get any new information."
Amelia, who is loosely following behind the Brute, jumps up from behind him, and suddenly she starts to yell in a squeaky voice.
"Yeah! It's like everyone is in the same boat as us!"
Athan cracks his fingers and sighs.
"What do you guys think this trial is going to be?"
Amelia and the Brute just stare at him, then the Brute brings Athan and Amelia in for a huddle.
"It doesn't matter what the trial is. As long as we stick together, we'll be fine."
Athan listened closely to what the Brute was saying, but struggled to focus as he watched Amelia and the Brute exchange glances. This exchange of glances gave Athan goosebumps.
'Are they plotting something?' Athan thought.
After a short period of time, the voice returned.
[Rule 1:Kill the King]
[Rule 2: There are no more rules]
Athan stands there, eyes wide.
'There are no more rules?'
Athan takes a deep breath in and then exhales.
Then, without notice, the platform begins to go upwards. This sudden movement almost knocks Athan off.
The platform rises continuously, the sun beaming down on everyone. Some people can be seen observing how high they are going by standing near the edge of the platform and looking down. Others are staying away from the edge and more towards the middle of the platform.
Finally, the platform stops, almost knocking everyone off their feet.
Instead of focusing on how high in the air they were, they were now much fixated on something much bigger. The enormous split that ran all around the circular walls. And inside the enormous split were huge caverns.
Sweat began to run down Athan's face slowly.
'What—what the hell is this?'
The Brute frowns at Athan and Amelia.
"It looks like we will have to go inside the caverns, but before we can do that, we will have to make a bit of a jump."
The Brute points to a large gap between the platform and the cavern floor.
"You guys think you can make that jump?"
Amelia shows a fearsome face.
"I think I can."
The Brute smiles, then looks at Athan.
Athan walks up to the ledge to judge the distance between the platform and the cavern's floor. Then he carefully looks down to see how far the drop was if he were to miss the jump.
The Brute and Amelia walk up to Athan. The brute wraps his arm around Athan and smiles.
"It will be easy."
Just after the Brute says those words, Athan watches someone attempt the jump next to him. The person gets a small running start, then he leaps across. And while the person is in mid-air, Athan can tell they won't make the jump.
The person tries to grab onto any part of the circular wall, but fails. Instead, the only thing he can do is scream as he falls to the bottom.
Athan listens to the screams grow quieter, then finally hears the person splatter onto the hard ground.
After a moment of silence, a person among the crowd finally speaks.
The person's voice is threatening.
"Dumb fuck. If he knew he couldn't make the jump, then he should have just waited on the platform."
Then this person himself gets a running start, leaps into the air, and lands on the other side with ease.
The others follow his lead.
On the other hand, Athan lets curiosity get the best of him. He carefully glances over the ledge and tries to get a look at the person who missed the jump. But before getting a close enough look, the Brute stops him.
Then the Brute gets serious.
"Don't worry about him. Just worry about whether or not you can make the jump."
The Brute slowly walks backward a bit, then he gets a running start and leaps across, successfully making it to the other side. Amelia follows the Brute's lead, and she also makes it.
Athan clenched his hands; his legs were shaking. But he still managed to back himself up far enough to get a fast enough running start.
Standing there for a moment, Athan looks over at Amelia and the Brute, who are patiently waiting for him to jump.
Athan frowns, then he begins to run at his fastest speed, and without even really thinking, he jumps across.
Landing hard into the side of the cavern's ledge, Athan hangs on for dear life. He tries to pull himself up, but he is struggling to breathe as his ribs hit the side of the ledge hard.
Then a hand reaches out to Athan. Looking up, he sees that it's the Brute offering some help. Without much hesitation, Athan grabs hold of the Brute's hand and pulls himself up over the ledge.
Finally over the ledge and onto the safety of the cavern's floors, Athan takes a deep breath in and exhales.
The Brute looks at Amelia, then down at Athan.
"You guys ready?"
Amelia hesitantly nods her head. Athan frowns, but he still gets himself up.
Before the three of them go into the caverns, Athan hears another voice in his head.
[Your trial has begun]