Jasht smiled as he gazed at the once-liquid-filled hole.

The purple and green floor cracked apart, liquefying back into a thick blue substance. The liquid waved back and forth, crashing against each other. Everyone was silent despite the vast reservoir.

"There can never be a match without a victor," Jasht said, holding his notebook high. "The redemption event occurs when all participants are eliminated in a match."

"Where does it say that?" A participant yelled, causing an uproar of turmoil in the room. She seemed a tad older than her group, which meant she was their captain.

"In the rule book for the culling game."

"No, it doesn't." The female participant approached Jasht as she gripped her fists. "I've read the rules, and there wasn't any mention of that!"

Jasht yawned, placing his hand over his mouth. He narrowed his eyes, looking down at the girl as he became stern. "Since it is in my version, we will proceed with it. However, if you have any concerns, you could always bring them up with the board in a public meeting. Or you could argue right now and be disqualified."

She opened her mouth but shut it, remaining in eye contact with Jasht. Gripping her fist, the once brave female lowered her head and trudged back in defeat. And just like that, the room's atmosphere returned to an onslaught of silence and distress.

"The only way to re-enter the tournament is to participate in the redemption event," Jasht said, opening his notebook and reading from it. "A participant must succeed in the redemption event, and only then will they be awarded re-entry to the tournament."

I wasn't sure if I should have retaliated or remained quiet, but something was telling me to endure. If I was going to make a scene, now wasn't the time. My ego held no value. Still, the results dictated my fate. I couldn't stay complacent, but I couldn't risk it all over a feud.

"The rules are straightforward." Jasht looked around, growing a smirk. He pointed to the hole of liquid and read off his notebook. "Participants are to choose two of their members. Those members have fifteen minutes to grab one of the ten lifelines from the reservoir, and for anyone wondering, lifelines are a cube of some sort..."

Almost like a bad joke was told, everyone glared at Jasht with skepticism. Even I couldn't help but feel as if we were being pranked... No, we had to have been.

Jasht continued pointing at the reservoir and nodded. "You have five minutes to finalize your groups. Once all groups are formed, I will count down from five, and all active participants will enter the reservoir to find a lifeline. If you are unable to find a lifeline, elimination follows. So, without further ado, you may plan!"

Like a bunch of ants, the participants buzzed around in a racket. Because of the chaos, I couldn't help but be distracted. Everything relied on a damn redemption event... I stood there, silent, as my team discussed with one another.

I stared at the ceiling, breathing shallow yet rapid breaths. My sanity wasn't prepared for another detrimental round.

"Wryn," someone said, causing me to jerk my head forward. Allura was staring at me as she shook her head. "Try to pay attention!"

"Allura and Wryn, you two will be ideal for this event. We do not know about the rounds components, but..." Melia said, pausing and placing her hand on Allura's and my shoulder. She nodded her head and smiled. "I wish I could confidently say it's all going to be fine, but I'm not sure. But I know if you stick together and work as a team, you two have a good chance."

"How are we going to hold our breath in that?" I asked, staring at the massive reservoir of colored liquid.

Taking a moment to study the reservoir, Allura said, "I think my air magic might help, but all of this is too random to predict."

"Is that water?" Ash asked, examining the vibrant liquid. The liquid sparkled with a dashing blue tone, and even as the liquid violently clashed against itself, it never splashed out of the crater.

Before anyone could answer Ash, a voice interrupted the chaos.

"If I may have your attention, the redemption event is soon to commence. But before it does, I must assign the participants." Jasht held a microphone and summoned sand rabbits with his other hand. He created rabbits, two per group.

Two rabbits approached, sitting down in front of us. The rabbits lifted their heads, staring at us. Jasht held the microphone to his mouth and said, "Simply touch the rabbit, and you can participate."

Allura and I touched our own rabbit, causing the rabbit to shatter apart. The sand passed through my hand, and the sand wrapped around my hand, quickly tightening. After a few seconds, the sand loosened, flowing through the air and disappearing into nothingness.

"Soon, every active participant's armband will turn pitch black. You see, that's a key idea because the only way to turn it back to normal is to obtain a lifeline," Jasht said, walking to the reservoir's edge. "All active participants line up at the edge of the hole."

Allura and I stood next to each other at the hole's edge. Everyone else got into position, ready for Jasht to count down. All inactive participants walked backward, away from the reservoir.

"The countdown will begin," Jasht said, narrowing his eyes and looking at the reservoir. "5, 4, 3, 2, 1... GO!"

Allura grabbed my hand, jumping forward into the liquid. She pulled me into the liquid as she placed her hand on my face, creating an air bubble over my mouth. It allowed me to breathe.

The interior of the liquid was crystal red, but that neat shock was soon forgotten.

A tide of liquid propelled Allura and me to the side. We slammed into the side of the hole, passing through it and plunging into a cavern. The cave was lit with torches and had some sort of veil-covered object in the middle.

My head hit the floor, but I got up, holding it in slight pain.

Allura pointed to the broken cave where we had entered from. The fluid was prevented from passing through the cave. Allura stared at the hole and said, "The liquid isn't passing through!"

'Is it disobeying the law of physics?' I thought, shaking my head. Magic has a mind of its own, so I wouldn't have been surprised.

Allura neared the hole and gazed at the liquid. She sprung her head into the liquid.

I raised my arm and yelled. "Don't-"

She jolted her head out and smiled. "We can breathe in it."

"No way," I whispered, walking towards the liquid, but Allura cleared her throat as she neared the middle of the cave, where the covered object was.

"We're wasting time," she said as she grabbed the black veil and pulled it off. She uncovered a brown wooden table with a glowing glass sphere on it.

"What is that?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at the glass sphere.

"No clue," Allura said, touching the sphere. The once glowing sphere broke into hundreds of pieces, no longer lit. Allura jumped back. She was more confused than scared.

I tilted my head, looking at Allura and then at the broken pieces. "Did you just break it?"

"I didn't even add any force." She opened her mouth and shook her head. "Whatever, we're wasting time. We need to move! We only have so much time before the others take all the lifelines."

I nodded as we tried exiting through the cave's hole, but the liquid turned hard as we tried passing it.

Allura held her hand in the air, facing it at the solidified liquid. "I'll break through it."

Tip-toeing backward, I stood a few feet away from her.

Allura took a big breath, letting it all out from her nose. Keeping her hand steady, she remained focused as she released her magic. "BREAK!"

...

......

............

........................

................................................

................................................................................................

I stood there dumbfounded, staring at Allura.

Her magic never materialized, but she persisted, trying again.

"BREAK!"

"BREAK!"

"BREAK!"

"BREAK!"

After a few attempts, she stopped and stared at me in awkward silence. She opened her mouth but closed it and looked around, examining the area. "My magic is being suppressed."

"Mine seems to work," I said as lightning arced around my hand.

She pointed her finger, causing a miniature tornado to form on her finger. "The amount of magic can only exceed a certain threshold. We can't even produce strong enough magic to break out."

"Huh," I muttered.

Allura shook her head. "Powerful magic can't be used, so we're stuck."

We both stood silently, but my attention was quickly drawn to the wooden table. "This is like an escape room."

"Escape room?" Allura asked as she neared me.

I shook my head and sighed. "I think the room is designed like a puzzle. We need to find clues to break free."

"How come?" Allura asked, maintaining eye contact with me.

I shrugged, walking to the table. "If we can't break out of the area, then maybe we can find a way out."

Allura nodded, looking around, but she stopped and looked at me. "What are we trying to find?"

"That's the troublesome part," I said, touching the table. "We don't know."

I pinched one glass shard with my fingers, pulling it, but the shard wouldn't budge. I clenched my teeth and closed my eyes, pulling with all my might, but I still couldn't move it.

"Stop messing around," Allura said, nearing and trying to pick up a glass shard, but like me, she was unable.

Leaning forward, I narrowed my eyes as I gazed at the shards. I turned my head, looking for the black veil that had once covered the table. The veil was near the table, so I picked it up and examined its features.

"Whatever you're thinking, hurry it up," she said, looking at her armband. "Our armbands don't even tell us how much time is left."

"I know." I clenched the veil, focusing on the fabric.

Allura tried moving the table as I focused on the fabric, but the table didn't budge. She advanced towards the cave's walls, examining them.

'An event of unpredictability...' I remained focused, thinking about solutions. 'Unpredictability... Unpredictability... Unpredictability...'

"What if we need to find a key?" Allura asked, grazing her hand against the cave's wall.

I jolted my eyes open, gazing at Allura's face. "A key! Where have I heard about that before?"

"What?" Allura stopped walking as she turned her head to me.

"What did Jasht say about the redemption event?" I asked, wide-eyed as I gaped at the veil and table.

"Uh," Allura blinked, staring at the floor and then at me. "We have one chance, or we'll be eliminated."

"No, no, no," I said, shaking my head and rubbing my chin. "He put a lot of importance on lifelines, but why are lifelines so significant?"

"If we don't get one, we're eliminated," she answered, narrowing her eyes at me. "Isn't that obvious?"

"When we get a lifeline, what's going to happen?" I asked.

Allura opened her mouth but didn't talk until she gathered her thoughts. Her eyes widened in amazement, a light of hope igniting. "Pitch black... That's the key!"

"Jasht literally told us the answer before the event began!" I laughed, throwing the black veil over the table. "The key is to cause the area to become pitch black!"

...

"Wryn," Allura said, growing a smile.

"Yeah," I whispered, twitching my eye at the table, then looking at her.

She remained smiling as she twitched her eye. "Why is nothing happening?"

I remained silent, placing my hand behind my head. Closing my eyes, I grinned. "Any new ideas?"

Allura hurled a gust of wind, flinging me onto the table. My body was forced through the table as I crashed into it. The table broke into multiple pieces, and I ended up in the middle of the mess.

Allura's eyes bulged as she neared me. She grabbed my hand and helped me up. I assumed she was ready to apologize, but she pushed me out of the way and stayed silent, looking at the mess.

I stood there, blinking out of confusion. Raising my finger, I clicked my tongue. "Your apologies are accepted."

She didn't respond to my joke and stood mute.

Grabbing her shoulder, I looked her in the eyes. "Hello?!"

Allura rubbed her eyes, clenching her teeth. "I have a terrible feeling about that magic..."

"What magic," I furrowed my brows, gazing up at her, then down at the mess.

She grabbed me, pulling me back, away from the mess. The broken materials moved under the black veil. The objects ferociously rattled against one another.

I tried to approach the bizarre magic, but Allura held my hand as she shook her head. "Don't interfere."

"We need to hurry," I said, breaking free from her grip. I unveiled the items, and under the cover was a music box. Tilting my head, I focused on the brown music box.

"Now what?" Allura said, still standing away.

"We play it," I said, shrugging and sitting on the floor as I held the music box. I grabbed the windup key and slowly rotated the handle.

"SKSSSSSS," the box created a screeching noise, but I continued to rotate the handle. "Congratulations."

A tremor shook the cave, forcing small rocks and dust to fall from the ceiling. None were big enough to hurt anyone, but it couldn't have been a positive sign.

I ignored the debris and rotated the handle even faster. "... You are now awarded... With the..."

"Damn it," I gritted my teeth, turning the handle faster.

"... chance to gain a lifeline..."

I continued to rotate the handle, but nothing happened.

Allura and I remained silent as a drop of debris echoed in our ears.

My face grew in anger as I stood up and threw the box at the wall. The box broke against the wall, pieces flying in the air, but it remade itself, like magnets connecting.

Allura grabbed the remade box and gripped the handle, spinning it, but the handle kept rotating, and Allura couldn't keep up, so she was forced to let go. The handle spun with no help. The box produced static, but it soon turned into a voice. "Both participants need to touch the cube of truth in order to progress."

I stared at the music box as I walked towards it.

"Both participants need to touch the cube of truth in order to progress."

I twitched my eye, marching to the box.

"Both participants need to touch the cube of truth in order to progress."

"Yeah, yeah," I sighed, placing my finger on the cube.

A screeching sound came from the music box as it broke apart. The parts rose in the air. It rearranged itself into handcuffs and latched onto Allura and me. My left hand was cuffed, while Allura's right hand was cuffed.

Silence resumed for a few seconds until Allura pulled me towards the cave's hole. She sighed as she stopped walking. "I think we exit the cave now..."

"Yeah," I said, nodding.

We exited the cave and stepped into the red liquid. The liquid was no longer vicious, but it was calm. The liquid exhibited no signs of harsh ebbs or flows, but it was still and peaceful.

And just like Allura said, I could breathe in the liquid.

I turned my head around, noticing the cave's hole had vanished. The gap was filled with rock.

My curiosity didn't last long. Allura swam forward, pulling me with her.

"Hey, watch it," I said, pressing my lips together. My hand was tightly bound to the handcuffs, restricting my movement.

"We can talk under here?" Allura tilted her head and furrowed her brows as she stared at me.

"I guess we can," I said, scratching my head as I tried to stay afloat.

Allura glanced around as she leaned her head forward. "Did Jasht give us any more hints?"

"I don't think we need any," I said, eyeing the bottom of the hole. At the bottom were two medium-sized cubes with the words LIFELINE. They glowed a bright red, even visible through the red water.

Allura bolted downward, propelling me with her. She accelerated through the liquid using air bursts.

The liquid pushed back my hair as I plunged downwards. My mouth remained open as I descended. The liquid entered my mouth, but it never caused me to suffocate.

We reached the end, and Allura got ready to grab the lifeline, but a wave pushed us to the right. Allura raised her hand, releasing a burst of air to counter the wave. She yelled as she used her magic, swimming toward the lifeline.

The liquid caused another tremendous force, pushing us all the way back to the side of the hole. We slammed into the wall, dazed from the hit. The wave forced us against the wall, continuing to push us, not allowing us to move.

Allura closed her eyes as she remained pinned to the wall. She forced her hand forward and banged it on the wall. "I used too much mana..."

I widened my eyes and tried using a linkage, but I couldn't see any ambient spheres. Instead, I saw something far more frightening.

Four other participants swam down, unaffected by the tide. Each team reached for one lifeline, almost like they were purposely ignoring one another.

"No... Not like this," Allura yelled, wide-eyed. "NOT LIKE THIS!"