The silence was unnatural. Not the comforting hush of quiet woods or the soft wind of a cave—but a silence so total, it felt *alive*. It pressed against their ears like hands. Around them, the maze seemed to shift, stone walls breathing in and out slowly.
"Starr, Zee, Tari, Maxwell, Anderson, and a few others stumbled forward, blinking against the flickering torchlight.
And then… gasps.
There, under a blood- red glow, stood faces they had seen since the excavation site.
Classmates. Their expressions varied hollow-eyed, weary, wild. And behind them
"Mr. Festus" Maxwell's voice cracked.
The group turned. Their supervisor, pale and ragged, stood barefoot on the cold stone. His glasses were gone. His white shirt stained, torn.
"Is this… real?" whispered Starr.
Mr Festus lifted his eyes. "You shouldn't have come."
Before they could question him, the torches dimmed and that same voice, cold and ancient, returned.
*"Welcome to the first phase."*
The stone beneath them shifted. A circular platform rose, like a sacrificial altar. Upon it stood seven strange objects, each glowing faintly: a mask, a feather, a rusted key, a dagger, a bell, a mirror, and a scroll.
"Each of you will choose," the voice said. "What you choose will determine what you face."
"You must not speak your choice. You must not share your task. Betrayal will be punished. Failure… will be feasted upon."
One by one, they were drawn forward, like pulled by invisible strings.
Zee stepped forward when it was her turn. The *mirror* glinted as if whispering her name. Her hand trembled.
She glanced sideways at her friend *Rina*, who stood too close. Suspicion itched in Zee's spine. Her instincts screamed.
She picked the mirror.
The second her fingers touched the surface, it vanished.
She was left holding nothing.
The platform sank. The floor cracked open. Seven paths split from the center each glowing faintly.
One for each object. One for each person.
And then it started.
The whispering.
But it wasn't in their ears—it was in their minds
Zee's breath caught. Her path—dark, narrow, wet reeked of decay. She didn't want to walk in. She didn't want to see what waited.
She stepped back.
There she saw her friend then in school, they stopped talking due to some misunderstandings then. Zee quickly ran to her. "Rina I'm sorry for everything I did in school then, wanna be partners and walk alive freely.
Rina eyed her suspiciously before giving a small nod "sure, grudges aside safety first"
The maze itself was alive, twisting and turning in shadows. The ground beneath them pulsed, and thick fog coiled like a living beast, ready to swallow anyone who faltered. As they stepped deeper, Rina saw the horror begin.
A scream tore through the silence — sharp and sudden. She turned just in time to see a hand severed cleanly from a body, tumbling to the ground. Another scream followed a man's head, sliced from his neck, rolled like a grotesque ball, stopping inches from her feet.
The fog seemed to hunger, swirling and writhing like a vengeful spirit, tearing flesh and bone from the unlucky ones.
"Keep moving! Don't stop!" someone shouted, but the panic was palpable.
Through the mist, starr's eyes caught a figure — a man she recognized instantly. Tristan.