“Sam! Are you okay?” Alice yelled, limping heavily over to him.
“Am I okay?! Look at you!” Sam countered.
He hurriedly wrapped her arm over his shoulder, stepping in close to support her weight.
“I’m fine,” she wheezed, leaning into him.
“Just give me a few days to rest, and I’ll be as good as new.”
Sam chuckled softly at her stubbornness.
Together, they turned to stare at the frozen stone giants that had nearly killed them just moments prior.
“Good thing those rats showed up…” Alice muttered, shaking her head.
“Otherwise, I’d definitely be dead.”
“Yeah. I’m just glad herding them into the room actually worked.”
Alice froze, staring at him with wide, astonished eyes.
“Wait… that was you? You brought those rats over here?”
“Yeah. Remember that nest that freaked you out earlier?”
“I wasn’t freaked out!” Alice exclaimed, her face flushing.
“Haha, if you say so,” Sam smiled.
“But yeah, while you were distracting the golems, I ran back down the corridor, flushed the rats out of their nest, and chased them right into this room.”
“But how did you know the golems would attack them?”
“Honestly? I didn’t,” Sam admitted.
“I just gambled on what Nexis said. He specified that they would attack any living thing that crossed the border. Since the contestants in this place are from all kinds of different worlds and species, I figured the golems wouldn’t be able to distinguish between rats and us players.”
Alice was completely stunned by his resourcefulness.
While she had been fighting the golems, Sam had been fighting the game itself.
“Anyway, I’m just glad it worked out,” he added, flashing a grin.
“Thanks,” Alice said softly, her voice dropping its usual tough exterior.
“Thanks for saving my life.”
“Hey, you’ve saved mine way more times already. I still owe you a few more.”
A genuine laugh escaped her lips—but it was instantly cut short.
“Over already? Well, congratulations to the lucky winner!”
Nexis’s theatrical voice boomed directly inside their skulls, vibrating with sickening glee.
“Since a contestant has pressed the button on the final floor, the first game is officially concluded! I will now transport you all to your private rooms so you can rest up for a little bit. See ya!”
The world began to spin violently, as if they had been strapped onto a chaotic rollercoaster.
Alice instantly faded from Sam’s vision, vanishing into thin air.
Panic surged through his chest.
He called out her name over and over, but his own voice was swallowed by the void.
When the spinning finally stopped, Sam found himself dropped somewhere entirely new.
He blinked in disbelief.
It resembled a standard, cozy hotel room from back home.
There was a neatly made bed, a small bathroom, and… a television?
Frowning, he stepped over and snatched a remote resting on the nightstand, pointing it at the screen.
He pressed the power button, but the monitor only flared to life with buzzing white noise and static.
He flipped through several channels, but it was all the same.
Just endless, empty static.
“What’s even the point of having this thing here?” he muttered, eyeing the dark screen for another moment before reluctantly setting the remote back on the nightstand.
He turned his head, his gaze landing on a lonesome grey door on the opposite wall.
He hesitated, debating whether or not he should touch it.
After a few seconds, he reluctantly decided that if Nexis wanted him dead, there would’ve been easier ways to do it.
Stepping across the room, he grabbed the handle and cautiously pulled it open.
To his surprise, the door didn’t lead to another trap, but rather an expansive, open corridor lined with dozens of other doors, each with its own entirely different patterns and colours.
As he stepped out into the hallway, he realized he wasn’t alone.
Several figures were already standing outside their respective rooms.
Some of them he recognised, while others were entirely new.
It was the other surviving contestants.
“Sam!”
He spun around.
A wave of relief washed over him as he saw Alice hurrying toward him.
“Did you miss me?” Alice asked, a wide grin brimming across her face.
“Of course! What would I do if I didn’t have my personal fire witch to protect me anymore?”
Alice’s grin instantly melted into a pout.
“Please don’t call me a witch. It makes me sound evil and wicked.”
Sam chuckled softly.
Even though he knew how capable she was, a quiet anxiety had been gnawing at him ever since they were separated.
Seeing her standing here, completely fine, was a massive weight off his chest.
“Anyway! Come this way, you need to see this!” Alice said, her eyes lighting up with excitement.
She grabbed his arm, completely ignoring his protests as she dragged him down the crowded corridor.
“Look up there!” Alice said, pointing toward the ceiling.
Suspended in the air was a massive, futuristic holographic board, casting a soft blue glow over the crowd.
It displayed a neatly organized list of names, each paired with rankings and numeric scores.
It was a leaderboard.
Sam’s eyes raced across the names before stopping at the very top.
He blinked.
At the top of the leaderboard stood Sam Miller with 120 points.
Just beneath him, sitting at number two, was Alice Ashcroft with 100 points.
“Wow… I guess being the one to actually press the button makes a huge difference when it comes to scoring,” Sam murmured, staring at his name in disbelief.
“Well done, pal! You earned it!” Alice cheered.
She clapped him on the spine with a violent, heavy-handed slap that nearly knocked the wind right out of him.
Sam rubbed his sore back, shooting her a mildly annoyed glare, though a small smile tugged at his lips.
“Yes, yes. Well done to all of you!”
Nexis’s sharp voice echoed directly inside everyone’s skulls right before the air fractured.
With a faint pop, the game master materialised out of thin air, hovering casually above the crowd.
He drifted lazily toward the holographic leaderboard, his glowing eyes scanning the rankings.
A hum of amusement vibrated in his throat.
“Well, well. This is surprising. I certainly didn’t expect Andromeda’s world to be doing so well.”
Andromeda?
Sam thought, frowning.
Who is that?
“Anyway! The second game will take quite some time to prepare, so relax and get acquainted with each other!” Nexis announced with a theatrical flourish before vanishing back into the ether.
The corridor erupted into conversation.
A fraction of a second later—
Flash.
Nexis was back.
“Oh! Silly me, I forgot!” he laughed, wagging a finger at the crowd.
“If any of you are thinking of killing each other while you wait, don’t bother. I’ve made it so any harmful actions are rendered completely meaningless within these walls. Oh, and you can only physically enter another player’s room if they invite you in. Ciao!”
And just like that, he was gone once again.
In the background, Sam could loosely pick up on the surrounding contestants’ hushed conversations.
He caught snippets of the crowd murmuring his name over and over, and a cold sweat broke out across his neck.
The paranoia was suffocating.
Luckily, he realized, glancing back up at the board, the interface doesn’t show what I look like.
Otherwise, I’d be completely screwed.
Suddenly, a gentle hand tapped his shoulder.
He looked over to see Alice watching him, clearly sensing his growing unease.
“How about we go somewhere a little quieter?” she offered softly.
Sam exhaled a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
“That would be great. Thanks.”
He followed close behind as she threaded her way through the crowd, guiding him toward a specific door further down the hall.
This one was painted a vivid crimson with intricate flame designs plastered all over the frame.
“Ta-da!” Alice beamed, gesturing to the entrance with a proud smirk.
“This is my room!”
Sam stared at the blazing aesthetic, deadpan.
“I can tell.”
He glanced back down the corridor, silently wondering why her door looked so much nicer than his.
The least they could have done was give him a splash of colour.
“Well, come on in!” she said, swinging the door wide open.
Sam hesitated at the threshold, suddenly shifting on his feet.
“Uh, is this really appropriate? A guy and a girl alone together in a private room?”
“Why?” Alice leaned in a fraction closer, a mischievous smirk dancing on her lips.
“Am I making you nervous, Sammy?”
Sam swallowed hard.
He didn’t want to admit it, but having an attractive, superhuman fire mage invading his personal space was absolutely making him nervous.
“Haha, there’s no need to worry about stuff like that!” Alice laughed, stepping backward into her room and waving him forward.
“Just get in here!”
Sam took a deep breath, raised his hands, and lightly slapped both of his cheeks to snap himself out of it.
Steeling his nerves, he stepped through the doorway.