A glance outside the windows showed an open lawn, with too much fog to make out anything more beyond that.
The other two boys had left the room to go get ready for the day.
Alone again at last, I cornered my bunkmate.
'Was it successful?' I asked.
The guy looked at me quizzically.
'Digging for information,' I clarified.
I'd realized what he'd been trying to do earlier.
A small smile appeared on his face. 'Damn. You just might actually survive, newbie,' he said.
'Don't be too sure,' I shrugged. 'Probably nearly died last night already.'
'Nearly di-' The boy straightened up. 'What happened?'
'You first,' I said. 'What's happening?'
The guy smiled again, then shook his head. 'Y'know what? Fair. I did say I'd explain things last night.'
I waited a second as he seemed to gather his thoughts.
'Do you have… a dream?' he asked at last. 'Well, dream, wish, whatever. But there is something you desperately want, isn't there? Something you believed you'd be willing to give everything up for?'
My breath caught in my throat.
As I'd suspected…
'What is this, then?' I asked. 'A survival scenario? Make it through and have your wish granted?'
'Depends on what your wish is,' he said plainly. 'Survival scenarios. Plural. More for the more absurd your wish is, of course. Your system will tell you more about that if you make it through the testing phase.'
I thought back to the black text that had appeared on my phone screen.
'Testing phase…' I muttered.
'Mm-hmm. I guess it has to make sure you have what it takes before giving you a final offer. But…' He stroked his chin thoughtfully. 'Shit. Testing phase instances are usually insane. If you're not the only newbie, this one's gonna be crazy.'
I blinked. 'Shouldn't it be the other way around?'
He huffed. 'Think of this as your qualification test. You have to make the cutoff. Of course they'd drop you in a difficult instance.'
'Ok. Then what happens if I fail the test?'
'You die.'
'Makes sense.'
'Mm. You're taking this well. I'm guessing you see this as an opportunity? A chance to get what you want?' he asked.
'Since you're here, you're the same way, aren't you?' I shrugged.
He laughed. 'Given how shit the world is, I'd be willing to bet every group of ten people has at least one who desperately wants something. Who's lost something. Who hopes to change some cruel fate. But even among those fortunate enough to get such an opportunity, not everyone is strong enough to truly risk it all.'
Fixing me with his gaze, he continued, 'You haven't seen how cruel these worlds can be.'
I squarely met his gaze, then redirected the conversation. 'These worlds… So, what, we're just in a different world right now? An alternate universe? A simulation? And those other two guys are a part of it? Was that why you said we can't let them know we're outsiders?'
'Whoa, dude!' He held up his hands. 'Too many questions. Your system will tell you more later. Just know that if someone who belongs to this world finds out the truth, they might go crazy, attack, and even kill you. I've seen it happen. The safest way's to just keep your head down and figure out the rules for survival.'
'Rules, huh?' I frowned. 'You'd said –'
'Nuh-uh. You first. What do you mean you probably nearly died last night?' The guy asked. 'This is an exchange of information.'
I sighed. 'Sure, yeah.'
I pointed up towards the ceiling.
In the faint morning light, the marks on it weren't really visible. Not unless one was looking for them.
I then told him all about what I'd seen last night.
'It responds to sound, and probably movement. I think it was attracted to our bedside because I'd been shivering in my sleep.' I mused.
'But it's not very sharp,' my bunkmate nodded, pursing his lips. 'It didn't realize you'd cracked your eyes open.'
He didn't seem at all disturbed or startled upon learning that some gigantic monstrosity had been lurking around what was also his bed.
'More importantly,' he continued. 'It cannot attack if it thinks you are still asleep. So, there's a survival rule, I guess.'
'Which brings us back to…'
'Rules, yes. In these kinds of instances, there are usually certain rules that mustn't be broken. If you do break them, you get killed. It's as simple as that. And as for why I mentioned it earlier; it looks like this instance is set up quite straightforward. We're students at a remote, inescapable boarding school. It's been afflicted by some terrible curse, and people are dying all over it in all kinds of ways.'
'Oh? And?' I leaned in curiously.
'And, it's only the first morning. That's all I know for now.'
The guy jumped to his feet. 'I'm Aron,' he said.
I stood up too.
'Neil,' I introduced myself.
Aron flashed me another smile. 'Well, Neil, we should start getting ready for the day.'
He then walked away, up to the narrow closet on our side of the room. He threw it open and started rummaging around in it.
'Hang on,' I said. 'How'd you already know the way to get through the night was to sleep through it?'
'Nights are usually the most dangerous. If you know nothing about the instance yet, your safest bet's to just sleep and hope for the best, lest you accidentally break a rule,' came his muffled voice.
'Damn… Thanks for the tip.'
No wonder he'd said I was lucky to have met him first. Aron seemed like a pretty decent, helpful dude.
'Mm-hmm.' Aron finally drew back, holding a uniform with a navy-blue blazer. There was also a towel draped over his shoulder. 'I'll give you another tip, Niel,' he said, voice lowered now.
'You should start becoming more aware of your surroundings.'
The door to the room was pushed open, and our two other roommates walked in, dressed in the same uniform I'd seen in Aron's hands.
From the looks of it, they were too afraid to do anything alone. Even if their morning fight had spiraled into something worse, I had no doubt I'd still see them walking around like conjoined twins.
The crazy guy had gone back to ignoring us. The other one simply said, 'Don't go into the last stall. Johnny was –' his voice caught in his throat, and he didn't complete what he was saying. His tone had gone back to sounding dull and defeated.
I quickly gathered what I assumed was 'my' stuff, and followed Aron to the showers.
There were only four rooms on this level; sixteen guys.
When we reached the communal bathrooms at the far end, there were three other teenagers already discussing something quietly in front of the last stall.
There was a strange, gamey smell coming from it.
I wrinkled my nose.
The three guys paused their conversation when they spotted us.
There was silence as the five of us just stared at one another.
As I observed them, I noticed that all three of them had the same, understated piercing in their right ears.
Just as I was trying to figure out what that meant, Aron walked up to them and held up his left hand. I hadn't noticed earlier, but there was a thin, silver band on his middle finger.
Oh…
That makes sense.
There was probably some sort of system in place for how 'outsiders' identified each other in these kinds of instances.
Signs or markings that maybe even helped to distinguish between different teams or factions.
Thinking about it now, who knew how long these kinds of instances had existed for? I already knew I wasn't the first to have been pulled into one.
There's probably a whole hidden network of such people back in the real world!
To discuss cooperation, share instance experiences, and maybe even explain exactly what these worlds were, how all of this was happening, or even who was running the show.
I'd have to tap into that…
…
I'd still been mutely following after Aron as he approached the group of three. My train of thought wavered, then disappeared, the moment I got close enough to see what was going on within the last shower stall.
There was another teenager inside it.
Well, no.
There was what was left of the guy.
Besides the legs and part of the torso still clad in tatters of the navy-blue uniform, almost all of the flesh and muscle on the rest of the body had been… eaten… by something.