After five long seconds, I realized I was still alive.
No pain. No blood. Not even the sting of a scratch.
Something was terribly wrong.
Slowly, I opened my eyes, and froze.
Zoah stood before me, unmoving. An arrow had pierced straight through his chest.
My breath caught.
No… that was impossible.
He had dodged it.
That arrow was meant for me.
Unless...
"It's iron," Natasha whispered, her voice heavy with dread.
Before I could process her words, another wave of arrows tore through the air from every direction.
Natasha stumbled backward, visibly shaken as she searched frantically for somewhere to hide.
But I didn't move.
Nothing mattered anymore.
Zoah was dying because of me.
Numbly, I lowered myself beside him, ready to let the next arrow strike me instead.
Then it happened.
A low groan escaped Zoah's lips.
At least, I thought it was a groan.
But no
It was a roar.
Deep. Violent. Inhuman.
The sound reverberated through the chamber like the fury of an ancient beast awakening from centuries of rage. It wasn't the cry of a wounded man. It was something far more terrifying.
Something monstrous.
My pulse faltered as his body began to change.
His frame expanded violently, bones cracking, muscles twisting, shadows swallowing him whole. Dark scales erupted across his skin like living armor, spreading rapidly until a massive dragon towered before us.
A dreadful, magnificent creature born from nightmares.
I could only stare in stunned awe.
Never in my life had I seen anything so terrifying… or so breathtaking.
With trembling hands, I reached for my camera. I always carried it with me everywhere I went, and somehow, in the middle of death itself, instinct took over. I snapped picture after picture of the monstrous form before me.
If I was going to die, then at least I would leave behind proof that gods and monsters truly existed.
Then the dragon moved.
The arrows flying toward us suddenly halted midair as though seized by an invisible force. One by one, they gathered together, suspended like puppets on unseen strings.
And in the next second.
They disintegrated into dust.
Silence fell.
We were safe.
For now.
I stared at the dragon again, unease creeping beneath my skin.
There was something familiar about him.
Something hauntingly familiar.
My eyes widened.
The dragon.
The one I had saved months ago.
No way.
The massive creature slowly transformed back into human form, scales disappearing beneath flesh as Zoah collapsed to one knee.
Every trace of fear vanished from me instantly.
"Zoah!" I rushed to his side, panic tightening my chest. "Are you okay?"
"I will be," he replied lightly, though his face had gone pale.
I grabbed his large hand between mine.
"Zoah… you saved me. Again."
He shook his head faintly. "I told you no one was going to die. Not while I'm here."
Guilt crashed over me like a wave.
"This is my fault," I whispered. "I shouldn't have delayed Natasha while she was typing the answer. I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize," he said quietly. "You were trying to be careful."
I blinked at him in shock.
Did Zoah just defend me?
Natasha approached cautiously, her expression filled with guilt
.
"I'm sorry," she murmured. "You shouldn't have taken the arrow for her."
I scoffed immediately.
"Isn't this the same woman who was trembling in fear and whimpering like a child a few minutes ago?"
Her eyes snapped toward me like sharpened blades.
If looks could kill, I would already be buried six feet underground.
But glaring was all Natasha ever seemed capable of doing.
That, and talking too much.
She opened her mouth to fire back, but before she could speak, a loud rumble echoed through the chamber.
A door suddenly emerged from the wall.
At the same time, a glowing countdown appeared above it.
Thirty seconds.
That was all we had.
I immediately stood, but Natasha grabbed my arm and yanked me back.
"What are you doing?" she demanded.
I scoffed. "What does it look like?"
"You're seriously going through that door?" Disbelief was written all over her face.
"We have no idea what's waiting on the other side."
"Then I guess we'll find out."
I tried to move again, but she tightened her grip.
"You've lost your mind," she snapped. "A mysterious door appears out of nowhere, and your first instinct is to walk into it?"
"Let go of me."
I shoved her hand away and strode toward the entrance.
The moment I crossed through, realization hit me like lightning.
The system.
I left it behind.
Panic surged through me, and I turned to run back, only to be shoved roughly aside.
"What exactly do you think you're doing?"
I looked up to find Zoah standing there.
His wound had completely healed.
Not a single trace of weakness remained on his face.
So they had followed me after all.
"Having second thoughts already?" Natasha mocked.
I rolled my eyes.
"I'm not like you," I shot back. "I came back for the system we left behind."
"You mean this?" Natasha lifted the device in her hand.
Relief flooded through me instantly.
Only then did I finally take in our surroundings.
The room was empty.
Again.
Just like the last one.
Except this chamber was smaller, colder somehow. No windows. No visible exit.
Nothing but suffocating silence pressing against the walls.
Natasha let out a shaky breath.
"I thought that was supposed to be our escape."
"Who said anything about escaping?" I replied.
Her face paled.
"This is life and death," she murmured weakly. "And I choose life."
"No one forced you into this," I said coldly. "You volunteered to help."
Natasha opened her mouth as if to argue, but whatever comeback she had died before it could leave her lips.
I smirked.
"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?"
She rolled her eyes dramatically.
"I think I've had enough of both of you," Zoah said with obvious irritation.
Natasha immediately turned to him, her expression softening into something painfully fake.
"Zoah, darling, this is all her fault," she whined. "She's being unnecessarily harsh on me."
I nearly choked.
Darling?
Since when had Zoah become anyone's darling?
"Drop the act," I snapped.
"Even your precious Zoah can see right through you."
Before Natasha could retaliate, the system suddenly flickered to life again.
All three of us turned toward it instantly.
"To leave this room, you must answer four riddles," Natasha read aloud.
Her face immediately fell.
"Oh no," she groaned. "Not this again."
A new question appeared beneath the glowing text.
What is the longest word in the dictionary?
I almost laughed in relief.
Finally.
Something easy.
Thank God for medical school.
"Move," I said confidently, stepping past Natasha before typing rapidly into the system.
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.
Natasha stared at the screen, squinting at the endless letters.
"What in the world is that?"
"A lung disease every medical student knows," I replied proudly.
For a brief second, silence lingered.
Then the screen flashed red.
Wrong answer.
Natasha burst into laughter while I stared at the system in disbelief.
"You seriously used a medical term?" she mocked between laughs. "This is a riddle game, not one of your anatomy classes."
I folded my arms, irritated.
"When exactly did I ask for your opinion, dearie?"
The word slipped out before I could stop it.
I blinked.
Zoah looked at me, and to my absolute shock, a quiet chuckle escaped him.
I froze.
Oh my God.
I actually made him laugh.
Natasha's smile vanished instantly.
"Whatever," she muttered bitterly. "The answer is obviously smiles."
She stepped toward the system to type it in, but I grabbed her wrist before she could touch the screen.
Her eyes widened.
"You're not about to get us killed a second time."
"The countdown is under ten seconds!" she snapped desperately. "You have to let me type it!"
"We only have two attempts," I shot back. "I already wasted one. We can't afford another mistake."
Her expression twisted with frustration.
Then, without warning,
She bit me.
"Ow—!"
Before I could react, Natasha shoved past me and slammed the word smiles into the system.
My stomach dropped.
No.
We were dead.
Even a blind person could tell that smiles couldn't possibly be the right answer.