And with that, Iliya’s third challenge was completed. The two hours allocated to the challengers had ended with another blow of the bugle horn, and an announcement for all remaining challengers to come to the center of the arena, please! After a few moments, Wicker, Lex, and Rina all came out of the respective rooms they were in. Wicker was shaking out her shoulders, and she looked tired, but satisfied. Lex just looked vaguely confused. And Rina had deep, red rimmed eyes and a hesitant gait as she came to meet everyone else. Iliya was glad to see she was up and moving, even if she did look pale and shaking.

When they were all gathered around the Moderator, it began to applaud. “Congratulations on beating the game!” The clown stomped its foot, and the four doorways lit up. Above the four doors were the names of the challengers, each from the door they came from. Red and Wolf had their names lit up in bright lights above one door, and the rest were all alone. “You may leave at your leisure,” the clown winked at them, “but know the clock is tick-tick-ticking down ‘til your next game! Except for Wicker, of course. She’s ready for the next step of her journey.” The doorways to the original rooms seemed to have disappeared. There would be no way to get Roman’s body now. Iliya wondered if he would see Roman’s obituary in the news and not even know. He would just be counted as another victim of that strange, horrible serial murdering cult. And it’s not like Iliya could go look him up, as Roman was almost definitely an alias, just like Red was. But Rina… Rina probably knew Roman in real life, based on how heartbroken she looked. Or maybe she was just like Iliya- she had found someone she liked, trusted, and then latched on to them. She saw Roman’s flaming lighter sword and thought oh, he can protect me. And Roman did protect her, until he couldn’t.

Iliya forced himself to refocus on the situation at hand. Everyone’s eyes turned to Wicker, who had apparently completed her final challenge. She nodded, resolute. “What do I do?” Most likely, she would become a full player.

“Just go through your door when you’re done here!” The clown reached into one of its pockets and pulled out a gold star sticker. Its arm stretched out until it reached a natural, extended length and then just kept going until it reached Wicker. Wicker stood still, like a statue. The clown stuck the gold star sticker to her forehead with a “boop!”

“Thank you,” Wicker said coldly.

The clown laughed, and honked its clown nose. Iliya was sure if he were in her shoes, he would not have been able to calmly receive the sticker from the clown. He already wanted to destroy the ticket that was burning a hole in his pocket. The clown coming so close, and even touching Wicker? Ugh, just the thought made him nauseous.

That was when they all got the notifications on their phones that the challenge had been completed. Iliya had the option of immediately jumping to his last challenge, but he decided he was going to take a small break. Decompress. Maybe book an emergency session with his university’s health center and one of its mediocre therapists.

When Iliya exited out of the menu asking him to do the last challenge, he noticed he had unlocked a new tab in his personal window. It was a mailbox tab! Iliya remembered how he was promised a gift thanks to Dassi recommending the game to him. Iliya opened the mailbox, and inside there was a letter and two packages. Iliya opened the letter first.

Congratulations on completing your third challenge! If you succeed again on your final challenge, you will be able to register as a full player of the World Game Room. While the games will become more difficult, the prizes will be much more rewarding. Alongside this letter we have sent you a beginner’s package. Enclosed should be some starting gold and a lottery ticket to receive a random item. Clicking on the ticket will cause it to be used immediately. Thank you for playing World Game Room! We’ll see you real soon!

Iliya opened his packages. Inside one was 10,000 gold, as well as the promised lottery ticket. He decided to do it later. The other package held his reward. The reward contained an item called a “skill booster,” another 10,000 gold, and another lottery ticket for an item draw. He wondered how the lottery draw would work. Would it be like a gacha game? Or would it take him to an actual place to draw a lottery ticket? He was interested to find out.

“Did you get some item lotteries too?” Iliya asked Wolf.

“I did.” Wolf answered.

“Want to do the draws once we leave?” Iliya nudged Wolf, playful. “I’ll buy you some coffee, it’s my turn to treat you.”

Wolf gave Iliya a smile. “Sure. Thank you.” Then he blinked, and spoke again. “Peaches was right. I leveled up.”

“Oh!” Iliya exclaimed, interested. “Notice anything different?”

Wolf shrugged. “Unsure. Can test later.”

And then, suddenly: “Hey, where’s Roman?” Lex asked. Just when Iliya thought he couldn’t feel more sick. Great.

Rina hiccuped, and let out a choked sob. She covered her face with her hands.

Iliya pursed his lips together, and caught Lex’s eyes. He meaningfully shook his head. Lex’s mouth fell slack, and he gasped in shock. “What? What do you mean?” He looked over the rest of the challengers, all of whom looked unharmed. Even Rina, who he assumed to be Roman’s partner. “How could someone have…” His face scrunched up, ugly. “I don’t understand? Nothing happened?”

“There should have been a murderous clown that would have appeared to punish challengers who spent their time hiding,” Iliya explained. Wicker let out an “ah,” of understanding. “But we stopped it, Wolf and I.” Iliya patted Wolf on his bicep. The man accepted it graciously.

“I didn’t see any murderous clowns?” Lex said, still confused.

“That’s because these two bozos ruined my puppet!” The clown Moderator pouted. “Red’s summon devoured its head! Ate it live and in one bite, like the world’s strangest delicacy!” The Moderator began to sob again, and let out exaggerated “boo hoos!” Wicker looked very uncomfortable at this outcry of emotion. Lex looked around for a monster capable of ripping off a murderous clown’s head.

Iliya pointed down at Peaches, who was on the floor by his feet. She looked quite bored, and was entertaining herself by trying to smooth down a piece of her soft, orange fur that just wouldn’t lay flat.

“The kitten?” Wicker asked.

“The kitten,” Iliya echoed. “She’s much more dangerous then she looks.”

Peaches puffed up with pride. “I could kill any of you, easy,” she boasted.

“Oh shit!” Lex jumped. “It can talk?” He looked at Peaches like she was a curiosity at the zoo- like he wanted to poke at her, figure out more, but wondered if she would poke back.

“Of course I can talk,” Peaches dismissed Lex, turning her head and making an exaggerated sniffing sound, “I should be surprised you can talk, with how dumb you are!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lex argued back, actually picking a fight with a kitten.

Iliya pinched the bridge of his nose, aggrieved. Wolf noticed, and picked up Peaches with one hand. She looked up at her favorite person with wide eyes. “No fighting,” he told her.

Lex stood there, sputtering as Peaches acquiesced with a happy “okay!” As a reward, Wolf rubbed her ears. You’d think it was Wolf who summoned her and not Iliya. In Peaches eyes, all Iliya was good for was his stash of peanut butter.

“This is ridiculous!” Rina finally broke her silence. “Roman just died and- and you’re here fighting with a kitten?” She rubbed at her eyes. “I’m leaving. I-I don’t want to be here any more.” With slumped shoulders, Rina turned around and went to the door with her name on it. It seemed to open to a normal-looking city street. There was litter on the pavement, a garbage bag in front of the store, and a pigeon that looked like it might curiously poke its head into the game space. That must have been where the car picked her and Roman up. Rina went through the door, and slammed it behind her without another word. Iliya felt bad for her, and he wished he could have helped her, but he just didn’t know how. He could only resolve to figure out a way to get stronger.