"Close the door now!" the blonde officer shouted, voice cracking as it echoed down the hall.
"Slam it shut! Lock it tight before it's too late!".
Hands shook as another officer shoved the metal doors. "Seal it! Seal it! The awakening is starting—don't let anyone out!"
"This is Hall D!" the blonde officer roared. "Four weeks' worth of awakeners are inside! Close every access point—NOW!"
Orders and warnings collided, voices overlapping, until the doors finally boomed shut. Silence fell—tense, suffocating—just before the lights dimmed, plunging Hall D into trembling half-dark.
The lights dimmed at once, plunging Hall D into a trembling half-dark, and a voice rose from everywhere and nowhere at the same time, slow, vast, pressing against their minds, "Art thou ready for thy beginning?."
The air tightened, breaths turned shallow, and the voice returned heavier, crueler, shaking the bones of the hall itself, "Or dost thou choose thy end?."
The hall erupted. Teens pressed against each other, voices raw with fear. "Where is it coming from?!" someone screamed.
"Is this some kind of prank? Why did they close the fu**ing door?!" another shouted. No one dared laugh; the air was too thick with panic.
Doors rattled under trembling hands, lights flickered, and shadows danced across faces twisted with panic. A boy tripped and fell, crawling back up with wide eyes, whispering, "It's… it's everywhere."
Some tried to shout to the voice, demanding answers. "Answer us! Tell us what this is!" Their words vanished into the oppressive dark. Silence swallowed their cries.
The academy students sat apart, still and composed. Eyes closed, lips moving in quiet prayer. They felt the pressure around them, but it did not touch them. Their breaths were slow, controlled.
One by one, the voice touched them. A gentle weight in their minds, a presence warm yet unyielding. "Thou shall pass," it said, echoing softly in their ears.
Around them, the hall shivered, but the chaos continued. Panic had not left the others, but for those who prayed, fear became a shadow, distant and hollow.
The academy students began to shift, their forms trembling at first, then splitting into shards of light and shadow. Black and white fragments spun around them, spinning, twisting, and then vanishing entirely. One by one they disappeared from Hall D, leaving only emptiness in their wake. The voice reverberated gently, yet firmly:
"Thou shall pass."
It whispered to each of them individually, echoing in the void of the hall.
The remaining teens, pressed together in fear, stared at the empty space where the academy students had been.
Starless sank to his knees, mind racing. What did they pray for? His thoughts spun, looping, unraveling, grasping for understanding that would not come.
Time stretched. One boy could not wait. He stood, shaking, and tried to move toward the door. The hall seemed to tighten around him. Then the voice came, low and cold:
"Though thy shall sit down and thy pass your Test."
The boy laughed nervously, thinking it's a prank. But the voice's tone hardened, steel in every syllable:
"Though thy shall sit down and thy pass your Test."
"No," the boy muttered, defiance trembling on his lips. The floor beneath him shuddered violently. Black cracks appeared, spreading like a spiderweb.
With a deafening crack, the tiles split, the ground opening beneath his feet. He screamed, flailing, as he was swallowed into darkness.
The sound of his fall echoed endlessly, a raw, piercing scream that seared into every teen's mind.
Eyes widened in frozen horror. Every pair of pupils reflected terror, yet no one dared move or speak. The hall was silent except for the distant, fading echoes of the boy's scream. Fear hung in the air like a living thing, binding them all.
The teens stared silently at the cracks where the boy had vanished. Nothing moved. Nothing breathed. The hall felt heavier with every second.
Starless sank to the ground, closing his eyes. He drew in a deep breath, held it, then let it out slowly, trying to calm the storm inside him.
His mind raced, but he forced himself to think. Thou shall choose.
He placed his hands together in prayer, closing his eyes. Mystical power. Divine power. I choose… beginning.
He waited. The air trembled. Slowly, he opened one eye. The voice returned, soft but certain:
"Thou shall pass."
Starless felt himself unravel, his body splitting into fragments of black and white light. From the distance, he saw Thyssara. He whispered only one word: Alpha. Then everything swallowed him. Darkness. Nothing.
Thyssara's eyes stayed fixed on the space where Starless had vanished. Only a word lingered in the air, glowing faintly, trembling: Alpha.
Alpha… she whispered to herself, the word repeating, echoing in her mind... Isn't Alpha… like Omega? Should I… should I choose Omega?
The hall grew colder, shadows stretching unnaturally. A deep, omnipresent voice rolled through the darkness, low and unforgiving:
"Thou shall not pass."
Suddenly, the blonde teen nearest her screamed. The floor beneath him erupted like living stone, jagged cracks forming instantly. He stumbled, tried to run, but the ground itself seized him.
His limbs were ripped apart, shredded as the floor yawned like a beast, dragging him screaming into a black abyss. His screams shattered the hall, echoing endlessly, raw and primal, each note vibrating through the bones of every teen.
Thyssara's stomach turned. Eyes wide, she watched the lifeless void where he had been, blood and shadows clawing at the edges. Every remaining teen froze, trembling.
The scream lingered, a horrific imprint in their minds. Silence fell—but it was worse than noise. It pressed against them like a weight, a living fear, burning and suffocating.
No one dared move. No one dared breathe. The hall was alive with terror, and the voice… the voice had not even begun.
Thyssara staggered back, her legs trembling so violently she almost collapsed. Her chest heaved, breaths shallow and ragged. Panic clawed at her chest, squeezing harder with every heartbeat.
Tears welled in her eyes, blurring her vision, but the fear was too raw, too immediate, to even cry properly. Her hands shook as she pressed them to her face, trying to block out the horrors around her.
Her body betrayed her. The terror, the adrenaline, the sheer impossibility of what she'd just seen… it was too much. A warm, humiliating heat spread, and she realized with horror that she had peed herself.
Her face flushed, cheeks burning, but she couldn't move. Couldn't scream. Couldn't even blink.
She was frozen, trembling, a mess of fear and shame, trapped in the oppressive, merciless silence of Hall D.
The hall was a nightmare. The sight of the blonde teen, torn apart and swallowed by the darkness, left a stain of horror on everyone's minds.
Some teens doubled over, vomiting violently, the sound echoing off the walls. Others clutched their stomachs, pale and trembling, their faces drained of color as bile ran from their mouths.
A few couldn't stand it at all. Their knees buckled, and they crumpled to the floor, unconscious before their bodies hit the cold tiles.
The screams, retching, and thuds of falling bodies merged into a symphony of terror, a raw, cinematic chaos that swallowed the hall whole. Hearts pounded, breaths caught in throats, and the air felt thick enough to choke.
Every eye was wide with disbelief. Every mind was frozen. Everyone knew: Hall D had claimed its second victim, and it would not stop.
The remaining teens huddled together, trembling. One by one, they placed their hands together, murmuring prayers under shaky breaths. Some whispered ancient words, others begged silently, hoping for mercy.
The hall responded. For a few, the fragments of black and white light returned, lifting them into the air before they vanished completely. They passed. Others were not so lucky. The floor split beneath them, shadows consuming them with brutal finality, their screams swallowed by the darkness.
Thyssara pressed her hands together, eyes squeezed shut. Desperation cracked her voice. "Please… I just wanna survive… make it out… see the beginning of the new drama series… I'm just a kid…"
The hall went still. The shadows paused. Then the voice, calm and certain, echoed directly in her mind:
"Thou shall pass."
A wave of relief swept over her. Her body shimmered, breaking into black and white fragments like the others who had passed. She disappeared into the void, heart hammering, tears streaming, safe—for now.