Date: January 2, 2021
Location: Dallas, Texas – Rooftop near Elm Street, then abandoned subway tunnel
Time: 6:00 AM – 11:00 AM
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The chill of early morning wind brushed past Blaze's black hair as he stood atop a rooftop near Elm Street, downtown Dallas. His blue eyes, sharp and calculating, stared down at the city's restless veins — roads filled with blinking lights and lives shackled by mediocrity. A soft hum from the tablet in his coat pocket brought him back to the present.
"No inconsistencies," he muttered, skimming the surveillance footage he'd pulled from a hacked traffic camera. "Except... that moment."
He paused the video at a three-second interval. A teenage boy, brown hoodie, glasses, average height, nervously glanced around before slipping an envelope into a mailbox. Blaze zoomed in, ran the face through his own database.
Name: Kade Levitt
Age: 17
IQ: 183
Behavioral Flags: Fearful under stress, self-doubt tendencies, high logical accuracy, low emotional resilience.
Blaze smiled. "Perfect."
---
8:00 AM – Blaze's Apartment, Deep Ellum District
His fingers moved like poetry over the keyboard. Within ten minutes, Blaze had fabricated an identity: Professor Nolan Graves, Head of Cognitive Extremity Studies at the fictitious Arcas Institute.
The email sent to Kade was simple:
> "To the mind behind the riddle of 6th and Willow, you've been seen.
If you want truth, meet at the Old Elm Subway Station. Alone. 10:00 AM."
Beneath it, a riddle:
"The answer to life hides in death. Four doors, one light. Choose wrong, and lose sight."
Blaze printed dozens of cryptic diagrams, installed traps, and rigged pressure sensors inside the derelict subway. He placed four heavy steel doors side by side, only one opening to a safe hallway. The others led to narrow, sharp-edged dead ends with spikes designed to trigger after 45 seconds.
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10:00 AM – Old Elm Subway Station
Kade arrived.
His eyes darted across the dust-coated floor as he stepped deeper into the station. Old posters fluttered like ghosts.
Blaze watched him from above the station's central hub, hidden behind a cracked signboard.
"He hesitated twice at the stairs. Right leg moves first when nervous. Eyes keep returning to the riddle. He's doubting himself already," Blaze whispered.
He activated the intercom.
"Welcome, Kade. You're five minutes early. I like that."
Kade froze. "Who are you?"
"You know who I am. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here."
A pause. Blaze could hear Kade's shallow breathing.
"Why me?"
"Because you're a mind pretending not to be brilliant. But brilliance is a light that always leaks through the cracks."
Blaze stepped into view, hands clasped behind his back. His gentleman-style coat fluttered like a cape.
"Sit," he said, pointing to a chair beside the four metal doors.
Kade obeyed.
---
10:15 AM – The Puzzle of Death
"Five questions. Five mechanisms. Answer correctly and walk free. Fail, and the price is pain."
Kade looked up. "You're insane."
"No. I'm surgical. Question one."
He pressed a button. A small screen lit up.
Question 1: "You enter a room with two doors. One leads to life, the other to death. Two guards, one always lies, one tells the truth. You may ask one question. What do you ask?"
Kade answered correctly: "What would the other guard say if I asked which door leads to life?"
"Good."
Click. A mechanism loosened the tension on a metal wire near the chair.
Question 2: A mathematical paradox involving infinite loops. Kade solved it with visible difficulty.
Question 3: "There are three pills. One kills. Two save. You may test one pill, but not swallow it. How do you find the safe ones?"
Kade faltered.
"Tick tock," Blaze whispered.
Kade guessed. Wrong.
Suddenly a sharp click. The wire above his head descended.
"Wrong answers are cumulative."
---
10:40 AM – Final Question: Psychological Break
"Your mother and sister are both tied to a bomb. Only one can be saved. You must speak their name. The other dies."
"I... I don't have family."
"Imagine, then. Imagine you had something to lose. Now choose."
Kade refused.
"Then your indecision kills both."
The final wire snapped halfway.
Blaze approached.
"You failed three out of five. I could let you die. But I'm generous. Each wrong answer, one finger. Self-amputation. Or death."
He placed a knife on the table.
"Choose."
Kade sobbed, fingers trembling. "You... you're not human."
"You're right. I'm something purer."
Kade chose pain.
---
11:00 AM – Exit
Blaze watched Kade stumble out, hand bleeding, eyes vacant.
He looked at the camera and smiled.
"Now, let the world see what genius costs."
He uploaded the footage anonymously, tagged under: #PuzzleOfPain.
His next game had begun.