Rule and terror

An almost sacred silence enveloped the clearing.
The hologram still floated, suspended in an unearthly white light. Then his voice rang out again, deeper, heavier.A voice that left no room for error.
"You are now bound to ExitCode."
The six boys exchanged tense glances. The atmosphere had changed. Something was wrong.
"Each of you has three lives. But be careful... each time you die, you won't be revived immediately."
A cold shiver ran down Arnaud's spine.
"Your body will reappear an hour later, and you will lose any power cards recorded in your Book."
"An hour?!" Albert murmured, his eyes wide. "An hour here is an eternity..."
The hologram continued:
"Your objective is simple: find the five keys scattered throughout this world." They are the only way to the Exit Gate.
Trafalgar narrowed his eyes.
—You possess two essential tools:
—The Book, a grimoire designed to hold unique cards.
—And the Inventory, a personal dimensional space.
A holographic animation showed a grimoire with pre-drawn slots, some for summons, others for powers, and a single slot at the very beginning: Power Card.
—To summon the Book, say: “Book, appear.”
—For the Inventory, say: “Inventory.” The [close] button will appear.
Trafalgar tried:
—Book, appear.
A floating grimoire instantly appeared before him, emitting a blue glow, slowly opening with a mystical sound. Inside, empty boxes... and at the very top: Power Card.
Maxime murmured:
"It's not an information book... it's a fucking living deck."
"Every time you kill an animal or an entity, its body will disappear...""It will transform into a card."
Silence. The tension rose a notch.
"These cards can be:
"Power cards (fire, lightning, shadow, etc.)
"Summoning cards (creatures, etc.)
"Physical enhancement cards (rarer)."
"But only one Power card can be placed in your Book at a time."
Arnaud asked in a dry voice:
"What if we find two Powers?"
"You choose one. You can remove the one in place at any time, but never keep two."
"If you die, you lose the one that was active."
Shadow gritted his teeth. There were rules... but above all, there were consequences.
—Some enemies, especially those with powers, can drop rare cards...
Then, a strange noise. A crackling sound, like a machine glitching.
—You... are... not... alone...
The hologram became unstable. Visual interference.
—Other entities... live here... Some... will hunt you...
—There's one thing... important... I must...
—I must...
A shrill noise. Then the image exploded in a shower of white sparks.
Silence.
But an abnormal silence. Heavy. As if he were holding his breath.
And then...
Vibrations. Subtle. In the ground.
—You... can you feel that?... stammered Basse.
—Footsteps... but no noise?... breathed Arnaud.
—No... not footsteps... something is coming, said Trafalgar, stiff as a statue.
Over there. Between the trees.
A shadow.
At first, blurry, indistinct.
Then it moved forward. Slowly. Silently.
And when it emerged from the foliage...
The six boys stopped breathing.
A tiger. But not an animal. A humanoid tiger. Two meters, maybe more. Standing on its two hind legs. A lean, muscular, imposing body. Orange fur streaked with black. Every movement of its body evoked power, grace... and murder.
It had an almost noble face, but its eyes... two yellow slits, burning with a cold intelligence.
It didn't roar.
It didn't speak.
But everything inside it screamed one thing: kill.
Albert felt sick. Maxime took a step back.
"It's... it's a tiger... walking... like a man."
“He's looking at us... like a predator looks at its prey…” Shadow blurted out, paler than ever.
The tiger advanced.
A single step.
But that was the signal to panic.
“BACK UP!” yelled Shadow.
Maxime screamed. Basse yelled. Trafalgar tried to open his Book, but nothing was inside.
“It's empty!”
The tiger sniffed the air, slowly… then raised a massive arm.
And pointed at…
Maxime.
The boy felt his stomach churn. His throat tightened. His legs trembled.
A smell of iron and fear hung in the air.
“He pointed at me… He pointed at me, damn it!” he yelled, lunging.
The tiger pounced. Without a sound.
He wasn't running. He was hunting.
The clearing exploded into absolute chaos.
Arnaud stumbled. Basse pulled him. Maxime lost his balance and fell heavily.
Shadow rushed toward him to help him up, but the tiger was already there.
A monster of silence and speed.
And in Maxime's head... a cold voice. Inhuman.
"First hunt. First blood."