SURVIVAL 12: CHANGE OF SETTING

It appears that he’s holding something. He closed the unfolded object and stood up as if surprised.

"What are you doing here?" I questioned him out of confusion.

"What about you?" he flustered.

"I can't sleep. Ah! About the game." This is a good opportunity to review and analyze the game we’ve had.

"Okay, what about it?"

"How did you guys win when the gold team has a higher chance of winning?”

"Simple,” he answered confidently.

"How?”

"The extraordinary sports also have extraordinary scoring. The number of points scored is not based on how many times the ball has been shot, but on which part of the human body will be affected more delicately. I purposely let our team lose from rounds 1 to 4, where human organs that are supposed to be affected are not that lethal. In round 5, I aimed to shoot the ball for the last 15 seconds, where the heart is the targeted organ and it is one of the most delicate parts of the human body. The gold team's two members were affected in their brains and heart. The scoring aimed for what team could handle the physical pain and what team could decode the secret technique behind the game.”

I silenced myself for a couple of seconds to absorb what he said.

"Does that mean?” I asked.

"In volleyball, you experienced mental and emotional pain. It is to challenge you to see if you can keep the game while remaining unfocused. There are traps that surround and prevent you crossing the line. A challenge, if you can save your members from falling into those traps, or you'll just keep playing the game for the sake of others. The scoring is, if which team could handle the mental and emotional pain that your past is tormenting you. That explains why you lose.”

It all matches what he said. Maybe the game can be concluded as a tie if Tenth didn't give up. We all have nightmares from our past, and the game measures our resiliency.

"When you lose consciousness, you must be... dead.”

My eyes widened. "W-Why?”

"You are the last victim, and your mental and emotional pain is the deadliest. Your memories are the most painful you have ever experienced. Author said you could’ve died but you resisted.”

***

I woke up late because of what happened last night. I went downstairs, got a drink, and went back to my bedroom. I plunged myself into my soft bed. If my estimation is correct, it's our 14th day and the 13th night in the castle.

"Well, our class president is quite busy with the upcoming events."
"All right, let's get good at drawing."
"Miss ***, have you decided on participating in the art contest?"
"***, let's go out"
"Get ready yourself for a vacation in the province!”

My quiet life was disturbed by an incident...

We had a ceremony then, and I enjoyed talking to different people. Someone pulled me and we ran to the school garden. I knew him because he is known at school. He was holding a necklace. The surroundings light up. When I woke up...

I opened my eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling. I lifted the sleeve of my school uniform. The black color fades the edge and turns gold. There is more gold than ever before.

*tok**tok**tok*

"Second, get out of there. Author is here!”

That’s Aeith’s voice. I immediately opened the door, and she pulled me.

"Greetings to all of you! You have stayed in this castle for a long period. I hope you enjoyed your cozy living here. Okay, going further to my point. Wealth Level: Stage 3 will begin any moment.”

"What? We're going to play again?" Sixzen asked with furrowed brows.

"Your happy days and nights living here are about to end. Be ready for the next stage.”

And Author is gone. That was a short visit. It's a good thing to finally get out from this castle trap, but a new challenge is about to come across us.

***

It is now morning, and I just woke up. As I was walking down the stairs, I felt something on my head and face. There was an unknown gray substance that itched my skin. I looked up to where it came from and saw the castle slowly sinking as if it were melting. We were startled by the sudden fall of small and large chunks of materials on which the castle was made.

"What are we going to do? We can be trapped in here!” Forzen panicked.

"Let's go there!" Sevenzen guided us to a safer space.

“Everyone, duck, cover, and hold!” Third commanded us.

Everyone is panicking, but we try to calm ourselves down. They protected their heads from ash, concrete, and metal falling.

"Ah!” I screamed.

"What just happened here?" Thirtwen wondered.

"How the heck?” Fifzen muttered.

I opened my eyes to check myself out. No scratches or wounds. The iron bars continued to fall from the collapsed roof and ceiling of the castle.

Large metals and concrete chunks are falling. They are melting like ice but turn into ashes. It appears that there is some barrier that protects us to deviate from the direction of the falling debris. When the metal debris fell before it set foot on the ground, it automatically turned to ashes, rendering it non-fatal.

After a few minutes of collapsing, everything calmed down. No one was hurt. The former river that became a castle is now just land and ashes. We must find a new place to live.

"Check this out," we all turned to the one who had just spoken, it was Ninth.

We approached him and he pointed to something on his left foot. There is an engraved circle on the ground.

"There's more here," Fifth pointed.

"Here also. Quite a lot." Twentieth added.

We counted how many circles we saw, 18 in all.

"Um, maybe, we have to step on the circles, because there are 18 of it and we're also 18." Fourth recommended. It may be strange, but we shoot a shot.

We agreed to try what Fourth suggested. We positioned ourselves in carved circles randomly scattered on the ground. We slowly stepped on it and placed ourselves in the middle.

"Nothing's happening," Fifzen noted

"This is foolish. It is not working," Ninth complained.

"How can I-”

What Fifth wanted to say didn’t go through because we all screamed over what happened next. About ten seconds later, when we stepped on the circles, the ground automatically opened, and we all fell to the ground.