The moment they crossed the threshold of the gate, the world twisted.
Chris felt the familiar pull in his gut, a nauseating sensation like falling without moving. Light fractured, space folded inward, and reality bent in ways his mind could not properly process. For a brief instant, everything felt stretched thin, as if the world itself were being torn apart. Then it snapped violently back into place.
They were no longer in District Five.
A vast desert spread endlessly in all directions, an ocean of pale sand rolling beneath a merciless sky. The sun hung high above them, bloated and white, radiating heat so intense it felt as though it pressed directly against their skin. Waves of heat distorted the air, warping the horizon until it trembled and bent unnaturally. The sand beneath their boots was fine and dry, slipping through seams in their gear, clinging to fabric, skin, and sweat-soaked hair. There was no wind. No birds. No distant sound to mark the passage of time.
Only silence.
And heat.
The desert felt ancient and untouched, as though it had existed long before gates, hunters, or even the System itself. It carried a presence that made Chris uneasy, like something old was watching them without ever revealing its shape.
"At four… are you kidding me?" Juno exclaimed, raising a hand to shield her eyes from the glare. Sweat had already begun to bead at her temples, sliding slowly down her face. "With this kind of sun? I hate desert gates. The energy drain alone is enough to kill you."
She rolled her shoulders, irritation sharp in her voice.
"Why are you talking like that, Luna?" Malik shot back, tightening the strap of his ranged weapon. "This isn't the first desert dungeon you've been in."
Lina turned sharply, her eyes narrowing. "Mind your business," she snapped, her tone harsher than usual.
"Enough," Tom cut in, his voice steady and commanding. "Save your breath. Focus on why we're here."
The argument died instantly.
Tom reached into his jacket and pulled out a folded data slate. With a flick of his thumb, a faint projection shimmered to life above it, forming a rough map of the gate's interior. Lines marked cleared paths, collapsed zones, and several highlighted areas labeled as residual sectors.
"I got the layout from command," Tom said. "The main threats were taken out by a higher-tier team. What's left are fragments, dropped cores, and materials they didn't bother hauling back. We follow the marked routes, scavenge what we can, and leave."
"Yes, sir," Rafe replied without hesitation.
Juno and Malik exchanged one last glare before turning away from each other.
They began moving.
The desert showed no mercy. Each step grew heavier as the heat leeched their stamina away. Sweat soaked through their clothes, evaporating almost as quickly as it appeared, leaving behind salt stained fabric and burning skin. Their shadows stretched long across the sand, warped and distorted beneath the relentless sunlight.
Hours passed.
As they moved deeper, signs of earlier battles emerged. Cracked bones lay half buried beneath dunes. Scorched patches of sand marked where fire based abilities had burned too fiercely. Jagged chitin fragments littered the ground, brittle remnants of fallen monsters. Chris spotted a shattered mana core once, its glow dulled and fractured beyond recovery. Broken weapons lay scattered as well, snapped blades, bent spear shafts, dented armor plates discarded when they became more burden than value.
Despite the exhaustion etched into their faces, their expressions revealed the truth.
This gate had been worth it.
Even minor finds added up. A claw still humming faintly with mana residue. Crystallized sand infused with elemental energy sealed inside a vial. Rafe unearthed a glowing fang from beneath a collapsed dune, grinning through the sweat pouring down his face.
By the time they reached the mountain, the sun had begun its slow descent.
The mountain rose abruptly from the desert floor, massive and oppressive. Its stone was black, jagged, and uneven, absorbing light rather than reflecting it. A heavy shadow spilled outward from its base, swallowing the sunlight and plunging the ground beneath into cool darkness.
They stopped without a word.
Tom studied the terrain for a moment, then nodded. "We rest here. One hour."
Everyone gathered beneath the shadow, grateful for the sudden relief. Packs were dropped. Water was rationed carefully, every swallow measured and precious.
Chris sat slightly apart from the others, his back pressed against a slanted rock face. He had been quiet since entering the gate, his gaze drifting constantly toward the open desert. His muscles remained tight, as if his body were bracing for something his mind refused to name.
Juno noticed.
She walked over and casually draped an arm across his shoulders. "You've been awfully quiet," she said with a grin. "What's wrong? Don't tell me you're scared of a gate that's already been cleared."
Before Chris could respond, Malik snapped, "Stop that. Why do you always tease him?"
Juno shrugged. "I'm just checking on the kid."
Chris hesitated, then exhaled slowly. "I don't know," he admitted. "I've felt uneasy since we stepped inside."
Lina let out a short laugh, her eyes sharp and unreadable. "Uneasy? What is this, your first nightmare? Relax. You're starting to sound like a coward."
"I'm not," Chris replied quickly. "I just… I hope nothing goes wrong."
Tom glanced at him. "Even if something does happen, we'll handle it," he said calmly. "That's why we're a team."
The words should have helped.
They didn't.
"Alright," Tom said after a pause. "One hour. Then we move."
The desert answered with silence.
Then the ground trembled.
At first it was subtle, a faint vibration that could have been mistaken for heat distortion. Then it intensified. Sand rippled outward in shallow waves. Pebbles rattled and jumped.
Before anyone could react, something appeared.
It did not emerge.
It was simply there.
Darkness pooled at the center of their group, swallowing light itself. A being stood among them, silent and unmoving, its presence wrong in a way that made Chris's skin crawl.
"Defensive formation!" Tom shouted, already moving.
He never finished.
The being glanced at him.
Just that.
Tom was hurled backward as if struck by an invisible force. His body slammed into the rock wall with a sickening crack. Blood sprayed across the stone.
The entity stood tall, its form shrouded by a veil of shadow. Six vast wings unfurled behind it, layered like blades of darkness. It did not touch the ground, yet it did not float. It existed slightly apart from reality, as though the world itself rejected its presence.
Its eyes could not be seen.
The air froze.
No pressure emanated from it, yet none of them could move. Muscles locked. Breathing grew shallow. Fear seeped deep into bone and marrow.
The entity turned its head toward where Tom lay.
With a single word, soft yet echoing like thunder, it called him back.
"Come."
Tom's broken body dragged itself across the sand, blood trailing behind him, pulled by a force he could not resist. He collapsed at the entity's feet, barely conscious, his body ruined.
Time felt suspended.
Then the entity's gaze shifted.
It settled on Chris.
"Ant," it said, its voice layered and ancient. "If you wish to save your companion, you will play a game with me."
Chris's legs trembled. His companions could not even scream.
"A simple game," the entity continued. "One of choice and truth. With each failure, one of them will suffer."
Chris looked at Tom's shattered body. At the terror frozen on Juno's face. At Malik's shaking hands.
But he had no choice.
"I'll play," Chris said, forcing the words out.
The entity did not raise its voice.
It did not gesture grandly.
It merely extended one finger.
The desert shifted.
The ground beneath Chris's knees hardened, melting from sand into a single slab of black stone that spread outward in a perfect circle. Heat vanished. Cold followed. A biting, marrow-deep cold that sank into his bones and refused to leave.
In the center of the stone platform stood an object.
A pillar.
It was no taller than a man's chest, carved from dull gray metal, scarred by countless handprints pressed into its surface. At its top was a shallow indentation shaped unmistakably like a human palm.
Beside it lay a chain.
Thick. Heavy. Each link wider than Chris's wrist. The chain ran from the base of the pillar and disappeared into the stone beneath the platform, as though it were anchored to the world itself.
Chris swallowed.
The entity hovered nearby, wings folded, its presence suffocating even without pressure.
"The rules are simple," it said. "No tricks. No lies. No deception."
It glanced at the pillar.
"Lift it."
Chris stared.
That was it.
No riddles. No conditions. No sacrifice of others.
Just… lift it.
"How heavy is it?" Chris asked, his voice hoarse.
The entity tilted its head slightly.
Are you ready to save them or are you willing for them to perish
Chris's hands clenched.
He was F-rank.
Barely.
"Once it leaves the ground," the entity continued calmly, "your companion lives."
The stone beneath Chris's feet trembled faintly.
Tom groaned somewhere behind him, the sound wet, broken, barely human.
"And if I fail?" Chris asked, though he already knew.
The entity's gaze drifted toward the others. Juno. Lina. Rafe. Malik's blood still stained the stone.
"They will be dismantled," it said. "Slowly."
Silence swallowed the desert.
Chris pushed himself to his feet.
His legs shook violently, muscles screaming in protest before he had even moved. Every instinct in his body told him the truth.
This was not a test of skill.
This was not a test of intelligence.
It was a test designed to be failed.
He stepped toward the pillar.
Up close, he could feel it.
The weight.
It wasn't pressure. It was authority. The object didn't simply rest on the ground. It claimed it, as though gravity itself had been rewritten around that single point.
Chris placed his hands on the metal.
Cold burned his palms.
"Begin," the entity said.
Chris inhaled.
And pulled.
Nothing happened.
Not even a tremor.
His arms strained. Veins bulged along his forearms and neck. His back screamed as he leaned his full weight into it, boots scraping uselessly against the stone.
Still nothing.
The pillar did not acknowledge him.
Chris gritted his teeth and pulled harder.
Pain lanced through his shoulders, sharp and immediate. Something tore inside his chest. His breath hitched, turning ragged.
"Again," the entity said softly. "Use everything."
Chris roared.
He dug his heels into the stone and pulled with everything he had left. His vision blurred at the edges. Blood rushed to his head. His muscles spasmed violently, betraying him one by one.
The chain rattled faintly.
Not from movement.
From mockery.
Chris collapsed to his knees, gasping.
His hands trembled uncontrollably.
"That's it?" Lina cried out, her voice cracking. "That's the game?"
Tom let out a broken laugh that dissolved into coughing blood.
Chris looked at the pillar again.
It hadn't moved.
Not even a fraction.
The entity hovered closer.
"Your time is ticking."
Chris's breath caught.
"By the wounded," it continued. "By those missing limbs. By those with crushed cores."
The words settled like stones in his chest.
"It is light," the entity concluded.
Chris slammed his fists into the stone.
"I'm trying!" he shouted, his voice breaking. "I'm trying !"
"No," the entity interrupted calmly. "You are failing."
Chris staggered back to his feet.
Once more.
Just once more.
He wrapped the chain around his forearms, metal biting into his skin, tearing it open. Blood ran down his wrists, dripping onto the stone below.
He pulled.
His muscles screamed.
Something snapped in his shoulder with a sickening pop.
Chris screamed.
Still the pillar did not move.
The entity raised one hand.
Behind Chris, Juno screamed as invisible force crushed her to her knees. Bones cracked. She clawed at the stone, leaving bloody streaks as she begged.
"Stop!" Chris cried, tears streaming down his face. "Please stop!"
"Then lift it," the entity said.
Chris sobbed openly.
He leaned his forehead against the cold metal of the pillar, blood and sweat smearing across its surface.
This was the truth.
No destiny.
No hidden power.
No sudden awakening.
Just a man who was too weak.
"I can't," he whispered.
The words tasted like ash.
The entity did not respond immediately.
Then
A sound.
A faint metallic creak.
Chris froze.
His eyes widened.
The pillar had shifted.
Barely.
Not even a centimeter.
But it had moved.
The entity stilled.
For the first time, something changed in the air.
Interest.
Chris screamed and pulled again, body convulsing, ignoring the pain, the tearing muscles, the blood pouring from his arms.
The stone beneath the pillar cracked.
A hairline fracture spread outward.
Then
Chris collapsed.
The chain slipped from his grasp.
The pillar slammed back into place with a final, unforgiving thud.
Silence.
The entity looked down at him.
"So close," it said.
Behind him, someone screamed.
And screamed.
And screamed.
Chris lay on the cold stone, unable to move, unable to breathe properly, staring at the pillar that had almost—almost-acknowledged him.
Tears streamed from his eyes.
Not because of the pain.
But because now he knew something far worse.
Even when the game was simple.
Even when the rules were fair.
Even when no trick existed.
He was still not enough.
And as the screaming abruptly stopped behind him, the entity's shadow stretched forward, covering Chris completely.
"You may try once more," it said.
"And this time…"
The stone beneath the pillar began to rise on its own.