Thomas thought that normally, he was a pretty brave guy. But this new ‘System’ changed his view on quite a lot of things, including this. When the message came to select between Solo and Team trials, he didn’t even hesitate. There was no way he was going to select Solo.


    Then, the next screen appeared, asking him to select a difficulty, with his team of fou-


    “Wait. Four. Not five?!” Thomas thought. “Where’s Jack?!”


    As he thought this, Jack suddenly yelled, “TEAM!” Jack’s voice echoed louder than the crystal’s glow. Thomas frowned, but before he could step forward, Jack’s voice faltered. There was a sharp intake of breath, and then... silence. Jack was gone


    “What the hell just happened to him!” Maria shouted. “Why’d he disappear!”


    “Just think it through,” Jake said, “The guy probably just ditched us.”


    “Think it through?!” Maria snapped, throwing her hands in the air. “The guy yelled ‘TEAM!’ and vanished into thin air! What the hell is there to think about?”


    “Maybe he screwed up,” Jake suggested, folding his arms. “Pressed the wrong option or something. You saw how panicked he was.”


    “Jake, that doesn’t make sense,” Leah said softly, though her eyes were wide with fear. “The System shouldn’t let someone just... disappear like that. Someone, or something, must have done something wrong.”


    “And that someone is Jack.” Jack stubbornly refused to listen. “He made a mistake, and now we are down a guy,” Jake said coldly, folding his arms. “Let’s just forget about him and focus on our survival.”


    Maria’s jaw tightened, her hands curling into fists. “You’re a real piece of work, you know that?” she snapped before biting her lip, clearly trying to rein herself in. Leah glanced away, her expression unreadable, but Thomas caught the faint tremor in her hands.


    Thomas clenched his jaw, staring at the glowing screen. This wasn’t just a glitch—he could feel it. The System wasn’t malfunctioning, but it also wasn’t playing by the rules they thought they understood. And now Jack was gone, leaving Thomas to figure out how to keep the rest of them together.


    “This isn’t what I signed up for,” he thought, though he didn’t dare say it out loud. A leader didn’t get to voice doubts. A leader had to act—calmly, confidently—even when they had no idea what the hell was going on.


    Whatever happened, Jack’s strong,” Thomas said, looking at each of them in turn. “He’s probably fine. Right now, we have to stay focused and figure out what the System wants from us. We can’t afford to fall apart.”


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Maria looked unconvinced, but she nodded reluctantly. Jake muttered something under his breath and turned back to the screen. Leah glanced at the crystal, her eyes lingering on the swirling symbols, and Thomas couldn’t help but follow her gaze.


    “They’re changing,” she murmured, her voice so soft it barely carried over the argument.


    Thomas glanced at her. “What?”


    Leah took a hesitant step closer to the crystal, her head tilted slightly as if listening to something only she could hear. “The symbols. They’ve been shifting since... since Jack disappeared,” she said, her voice trembling. “It’s like they’re... responding.”


    Jake scoffed. “Responding? It’s a bunch of lights on a rock, Leah.”


    But Thomas followed her gaze, a shiver creeping up his spine as he noticed it too—the symbols weren’t static. They moved in an almost deliberate rhythm, aligning and rearranging themselves in loops and patterns that felt anything but random.


    Leah pressed her lips together, hesitating. “I don’t think it’s the System’s observing us,” she said carefully, glancing between the crystal and Thomas.


    Maria stopped mid-sentence, her eyes narrowing. “You mean there’s some like god or something? That’s insane.”


    “Maybe,” Leah admitted, hugging herself tighter. “But maybe not. Didn’t you feel it, when Jack vanished? That pressure, like something was watching us?”


    Thomas wanted to reassure her, to brush it off as imagination, but the unease crawling along his skin wouldn’t let him. He’d felt it too—the weight of something vast and unseen pressing against them. But saying it out loud would make it real, and real was dangerous.


    “Whatever it is,” Thomas said, forcing authority into his tone, “it doesn’t change the fact that we have to move forward. Jack’s gone for now, but we’re still here, and we’ve got a mission to complete.”


    Leah didn’t argue, but she didn’t look convinced either. Her eyes lingered on the symbols a moment longer before she stepped back, falling silent.


    “Well, now that that’s sorted, why don’t we select a difficulty.” Jake said. “I think we should do ‘Normal’ difficulty, because if we really focus, I think we have a good setup, and Maria could kind of fill in for Jack.”


    Internally, Thomas was terrified. “What! There is no way we can do this.” He thought to himself.


    But outwardly, as the leader, he had to put on a brave and confident face. “OK, Jake, but you’ll probably have to do most of the damage, as Maria doesn’t have as much damage.” Thomas forced himself to nod as if he believed it, but his stomach churned. He didn’t know if Jake could deliver, or if Maria could make up for Jack’s absence. Hell, he didn’t even know if he could handle this. But leaders didn’t have the luxury of showing doubt—not now, not ever.


    “I can live with that.” Jake replied.


    “Sure, That’ll be fine.” Maria agreed.”


    Leah just quietly said, “Okay.”


    As they stepped forward to confirm, Leah’s quiet “Okay” lingered in the air, her voice so low it was almost lost under the crystal’s hum. She didn’t step forward with the others but remained rooted in place, her gaze flickering back to the symbols. For a moment, Thomas thought she might say something else, but instead, she clenched her fists and followed, her expression clouded.


    Confirm Mission Difficulty:


    Normal


    Y/N


    Thomas stared at the confirmation screen, his finger hovering over the button. His throat felt dry, and his heart pounded so loudly he could hardly hear his own thoughts. This was a mistake. He knew it was a mistake.


    But his team was watching him, waiting for his lead. And as much as his instincts screamed at him to stop, to rethink this, he pushed the button anyway.


    “Yes.” Thomas, as confidently as he could, said.


    Transferring to Team Mission: Normal . . .