Yvessirae Pov
The sun was beginning to dip, casting long, bloody streaks of orange across the campus stone. I stood in the middle of the quad, my heart pounding against my ribs like a trapped bird. I looked at Maia and Dvora. I had spent the last hour begging them to help me, to form a team, to actually fight back instead of just waiting to be reset.
"We have to try," I said, my voice cracking. "If we work together, we can cover more ground. One of us distracts the Seeker, and the other two find the items. We can end this!"
Maia looked away, her eyes fixed on a group of happy freshmen who had no idea what was coming. Dvora just sighed, a sound full of exhaustion.
"Sorry, Rae, but no," Dvora said flatly. "Just like we told you—we've already tried to find the items. We spent months trying. Every single time, it ends with us being cornered and killed. Do you have any idea what it feels like to have your lungs stop working? To feel that cold blade? We don't want to feel like we're being murdered all the time. Hiding is easier. Hiding means we might actually get some sleep."
"So you're just going to stay here forever?" I asked, my temper rising. "You're going to let this school eat you alive until you turn into one of those... those Recruits?"
"At least as a Recruit, you don't feel the pain anymore," Maia whispered, her voice so small I almost missed it.
I stepped back, disgusted. "Fine. Stay in your holes. But I will find all the items. I'll find every single one and prove to both of y'all that we can get out of here. I'm not dying in this cage."
Neither of them looked happy. In fact, they looked scared for me. Maia opened her mouth to say something, but she was cut off.
BONG.
The 8:00 PM bell didn't ring; it groaned. It was a heavy, metallic sound that seemed to pull the light right out of the sky. The instant the sound hit, the prestigious university vanished. The world turned into a pit of ink.
"Run, Rae!" Maia yelled, but she wasn't running toward me.
Before I could even reach out, Maia and Dvora vanished into the darkness. They fled so fast, moving with a practiced, desperate speed, that I couldn't even hear their footsteps after five seconds. They had left me behind.
I was alone.
The silence of the school was terrifying. I could hear my own blood rushing in my ears. Clack. Drag. The sound started far away, near the dorms. The Floor Guard was starting his sweep.
I didn't head for the dorms. I turned toward the Science Wing. My sneakers squeaked on the linoleum, a sound that felt as loud as a gunshot in the dead quiet. I kept my hand on the wall, feeling my way through the dark. Every locker I passed felt like a person standing still, waiting for me to move.
I reached the heavy double doors of the Chemistry Lab. They were cold to the touch. I pushed them open, and the smell hit me immediately: vinegar, bleach, and something metallic, like dried blood.
The lab was huge. Long rows of black-topped tables were covered in glass beakers and Bunsen burners that glinted faintly in the moonlight filtering through the high, barred windows.
"The Cracked Lens," I whispered to the empty room. "Maia said it was here."
I began to pull open drawers. Clack. Empty. Clack. Just old goggles. I was moving as fast as I could, my eyes darting to the door every few seconds. I felt like a real gamer, checking every corner, keeping my footsteps light, making sure I had an exit strategy.
Then, the temperature in the room dropped.
I could see my breath misting in the air. The bubbling of a nearby beaker started—even though there was no fire beneath it. The liquid inside was a glowing, sickly green.
"Looking for something, Yvessirae?"
The voice didn't come from behind me. It came from the speakers in the ceiling, distorted and rasping.
"I know you're here," I shouted, my voice trembling. "Show yourself!"
A shadow detached itself from the back of the room. This wasn't the tall, spindly Floor Guard. This was the Chemist. He wore a long, tattered lab coat that seemed to be made of shadows, and a gas mask was fused to his face. The glass eyes of the mask glowed with a faint, green light.
He didn't have a blade. Instead, he held a glass vial filled with a black smoke that swirled violently.
"The others... they always give up so quickly," the Chemist said, his voice echoing through the gas mask. "But you have fire in you. It's a shame to waste it on a reset."
He smashed the vial on the floor.
The black smoke didn't rise; it flooded the floor like water. I scrambled onto one of the lab tables, pulling my legs up as the smoke began to eat away at the metal legs of the furniture.
"Where is the Lens?" I demanded, clutching a heavy glass flask like a weapon.
"It's right in front of you," he hissed. "But you're looking with your eyes. You should be looking with your fear."
I looked at the center table. Sitting in a velvet-lined box was a small, circular piece of glass. It was jagged, with a huge crack running through the middle. The Cracked Lens.
I lunged for it, jumping from table to table as the black smoke rose higher, swirling around my waist like a cold tide. I grabbed the box, but the moment my fingers touched the glass, the Chemist was there. He didn't grab me. He just leaned in close, the green glow of his mask blinding me.
"Do you know why they won't help you, Rae?" he whispered. "Because they've already found the items before. And they realized that even when you win... the school just changes the game."
I didn't listen. I shoved him back with all my strength and bolted for the door. But the smoke had turned the floor into a slippery, oily mess.
I tripped.
I fell hard, the Cracked Lens flying out of my hand and skidding across the floor. I tried to reach for it, but the black smoke was filling my lungs, making my vision swim. I saw the Chemist standing over me, his shadow stretching across the ceiling until it looked like a giant crow.
"Sleep now, Yvessirae," he said. "Tomorrow is just another yesterday."
The last thing I saw was the green glow of his eyes before my world turned into a cold, suffocating black.
7:05 AM.
I woke up with a jolt, sitting straight up in bed. My lungs burned, and for a second, I could still taste the bitter, chemical smoke of the lab. I gasped, clutching my chest, feeling my heart settle back into a normal rhythm.
I was back. Another reset.
I got dressed in a daze and headed straight for the fountain. Maia and Dvora were there, looking just as tired as they had yesterday. When they saw me, they didn't even look surprised.
"I made it to the lab," I said, my voice hoarse.
Maia paused, her coffee cup halfway to her mouth. "You actually went?"
"I found the Lens. I had it in my hand," I said, leaning over them. "But the Chemist... he told me something. He said you two have found the items before. He said you know that winning doesn't matter."
The silence that followed was long and heavy. Dvora looked away, her jaw tight. Maia sighed and put her cup down on the stone.
"He's a liar, Rae. He's a Seeker. He says whatever he needs to to break your spirit," Maia said. But she wouldn't look me in the eye.
"Is it true?" I pressed. "Have you found them?"
"We found three," Dvora admitted, her voice cracking. "We found the Whistle, the Speech, and the Lens in one night. We thought we were winning. We thought the sun was going to come up. But then the Seeker... he didn't just catch us. He changed."
"What do you mean?"
"The items didn't break the loop," Maia said, a tear finally rolling down her cheek. "They just unlocked Level Two. And Level Two... Rae, we didn't even survive ten minutes."
I stood there, flabbergasted. The game was deeper than I thought. It wasn't just five items. It was an entire mountain I had to climb.
"I don't care," I said, my voice steadying. "Level two, level ten, level a hundred. I'm finding that Lens again tonight. And this time, I'm not dropping it."
End of chapter 5