Abraham woke to a sound that did not belong in the quiet of his morning.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
It was a soft, mechanical, ticking, slicing cleanly through his sleep. His eyes opened slowly, unfocused at first, staring at the ceiling above his bed. For a moment he thought it might be his alarm or the old clock in the hallway.
Then he noticed the light.
A faint bluish glow floated in the air above him.
His breath stopped.
A translucent panel hovered just beneath the ceiling, perfectly still, perfectly silent except for the ticking that came from somewhere inside it.
[Mission Deployment Countdown]
Time Remaining: 04:38:12
Abraham sat up so quickly the bedsheets tangled around his legs.
"What…?"
The timer continued its steady descent.
04:38:11
04:38:10
His heart began to pound. Only four hours.
Last time the system had given him almost a half day, many hours to prepare, to process what had happened. Now the time had been cut down to almost nothing, or maybe it had started while he was fast asleep.
This was dangerous, what if he suddenly is deployed while he is still fast asleep. He would be dead in a matter of seconds.
"Why?" he whispered.
He swung his legs off the bed and stood, waving the timer away. It disappeared. The wooden floor felt cold under his feet.
Abraham ran a hand through his hair, trying to force his thoughts into order.
Did I trigger something?
Maybe it was because he had survived faster than expected. Maybe because of the way the last mission ended. Maybe because of his stats.
Or maybe....
His stomach tightened.
Maybe it was random.
He grabbed his phone from the bedside table and checked the time.
6:22 a.m.
He was late for his training already.
For a moment he looked outside the small window of his room.
Everything looked normal.
Outside the window, the city was waking up like it always did. Cars moved along the street. A neighbor walked a dog past the building entrance. Somewhere nearby a vendor shouted about fresh bread.
Life went on, but above Abraham's head the timer kept ticking.
04:36:54.
Unintentionally, in his mind the clock kept ticking.
His pulse quickened.
Four hours wasn't enough time to figure things out alone. He needed answers. And there was only one person he could ask.
Abraham barely tasted the toast his mother put on the table.
"You're up early today," she said, watching him with mild curiosity.
"Yeah," he replied quickly.
"Gym session," he added, standing before she could ask anything else. "The trainer said mornings are better."
His mother smiled faintly.
"That's good. Keep it up."
He nodded, grabbing his jacket.
"See you later."
"You should eat something." His mother voice followed him but he was already on the run.
By the time he stepped outside, the cool morning air hit his face and sharpened his focus. He needed to run as fast as he could.
His thoughts raced ahead of him.
Prepare equipment.
But what equipment? Will I be able to take anything?
Last mission had been a forest.
Before that, a warehouse. The environments were completely different.
Buy something.
What? Weapons? Tools? Supplies?
He had no idea what he would face.
Train.
Four hours wasn't enough time to change his body.
He needed strategy and information. Which meant he needed Richard.
Inspire Fitness Studio looked half asleep when Abraham arrived. The lights inside were still dim. The metal shutters on the windows reflected the pale morning sun.
Abraham pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The familiar smell of disinfectant and metal greeted him. Richard stood near the front desk flipping through a clipboard while the receptionist wiped down the counter. The man looked up as Abraham hurried toward him.
"You're late," Richard said calmly.
Abraham didn't answer, instead gave a nervous smile and said, "I've got a timer."
"Huhh?" The boy/receptionist looked up above.
"Nothing," Richard gave him a hand wave, shoving Abraham towards the inside of the gym.
"I told you to be careful." Richard said in his usual harsh tone.
"Sorry," Abraham smiled sheepishly.
Instead he pointed upward.
"How long?" he asked.
"Started at four hours and thirty-eight minutes, or maybe longer." Abraham said. "I was asleep."
Richard studied Abraham's face for a few seconds.
Then he said something that made Abraham's stomach drop.
"Mine's not active."
"What?" Abraham blinked.
Richard raised his arm slightly and turned his wrist.
Nothing appeared.
Abraham stared. "You're serious?"
"Completely." Richard nodded.
"But that means…" Abraham's voice faltered.
"You're going alone." Richard finished the thought for him.
The words landed heavily between them. For a moment Abraham didn't know what to say.
"You said missions happen regularly," he said finally. "Why wouldn't you be assigned one?"
Richard shrugged slightly.
"I guess that's how the system works."
"That doesn't explain anything."
"No," Richard agreed calmly. "It doesn't."
They walked deeper into the gym where the weight racks stood in quiet rows. The morning crowd hadn't arrived yet. Only the hum of the lights filled the room.
Abraham ran a hand through his hair.
"So what, it just… picks people randomly?"
"Not randomly," Richard said.
"Then how?"
Richard leaned against one of the racks, thinking. "When I cleared my second mission," he said slowly, "I asked the same question."
"And?"
"One of the participants told me something interesting."
Abraham waited.
Richard's eyes drifted briefly toward the empty gym. "He said there might be a mission happening somewhere on Earth right now… and we'd never know."
A chill crept down Abraham's spine.
"You're saying the system runs multiple missions at the same time?"
Richard nodded. "Participants are scattered."
"How many per mission?"
"Depends." Richard folded his arms.
"I've heard of missions with fifty participants. Others had ten. Some only three or four."
Abraham stared at the floor.
"That's insane."
Richard didn't disagree.
"And the people inside those missions…" Abraham continued slowly, "they're not the same every time?"
Richard shook his head. "I've cleared five missions."
Abraham looked up.
"I never saw the same participant twice, not yet at least."
The words sank in.
Which meant something important. Alliances were temporary.
Abraham exhaled slowly.
"So even if we both survive long enough…"
"We might never meet again in a mission," Richard finished.
Silence settled between them.
The timer ticked down quietly above Abraham's head.
03:59:31.
"Less than four hours now." Abraham reminded.
Richard pushed himself off the rack.
"Show me your breathing."
Abraham blinked.
"What?"
"If you're going into a mission today," Richard said, already walking toward the training area, "we use the time we have."
Abraham followed automatically.
"You can't prepare for the unknown," Richard continued. "So you prepare the things you already control."
He pointed toward the open floor.
"Your breathing. Your awareness. Your reactions."
Abraham nodded slowly. His pulse steadied. The fear hadn't disappeared. But it had direction now. Above him, the timer continued its silent countdown.
Richard watched Abraham for a moment longer before nodding toward the open training floor.
"Good," he said quietly. "You're starting to understand."
Abraham wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. His breathing was steadier now after several minutes of controlled exercises. But the timer above his head kept reminding him that time was running out.
[03:35:09]
Richard leaned against a squat rack, his arms folded. "The system doesn't operate the way you and I would expect," he said. "Most newcomers think everyone enters missions together. Like a tournament."
Abraham shook his head. "That would make more sense."
Richard gave a faint humorless smile.
"It rarely does."
He gestured vaguely, as if pointing toward the entire world beyond the gym walls.
"Missions aren't synchronized. Participants are scattered."
Abraham frowned. "Scattered how?"
Richard thought for a moment before answering. "Sometimes a mission will pull fifty participants at once. Big environments. Large objectives." He lifted a finger. "Sometimes ten."
Another finger. "Sometimes three or four."
Abraham felt a chill run down his back.
"Three?"
"Or four."
"That's barely a team."
Richard shrugged.
"It's not meant to be fair."
He paused before continuing.
"In my third mission there were only three of us and a big beast. But we were all strong enough to fight."
Abraham slowly exhaled.
The system was unpredictable.
Always throwing them into unknown trials.
Somewhere, right now, someone might be fighting monsters or solving deadly puzzles.
And the rest of the world would never know.
Richard pushed himself off the rack and walked toward a small open area near the mirrors.
"So the question you should be asking isn't who will be with you." He turned and faced Abraham. "It's how you're going to survive alone."
Abraham stepped onto the training floor.
The timer hovered in the air beside him.
[03:11:33]
He rubbed his palms together nervously.
"How do I prepare," he asked, "if I don't know what the mission will be?"
Richard didn't hesitate.
"You prepare for what you're already good at."
Abraham blinked.
"That's it?"
"That's it."
Richard began pacing slowly around him again, the way he had done during their first training session.
"You're not strong yet," he said bluntly.
Abraham grimaced but didn't argue.
"Your stamina is below average. Your reaction time is improving but still inconsistent."
Richard stopped in front of him.
"But there's one thing you have."
"What?"
Richard's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Adaptability."
"What does that even mean?" Abraham frowned.
"It means you adjust," Richard said. "Most people freeze when things go wrong." He pointed at Abraham. "You didn't."
Abraham remembered the warehouse.
The screaming. The hunters.
"I only hid," he said quietly.
"You observed," Richard corrected.
The distinction mattered.
Richard walked over to a small equipment shelf and grabbed a tennis ball.
"Catch." He dropped it without warning.
Abraham lunged forward and barely caught it before it bounced a second time.
"Again."
The ball fell. This time Abraham reacted faster. They repeated the drill several times until Abraham's breathing began to quicken again.
Richard nodded slightly.
"Better."
He then gestured toward the back of the gym.
"Follow me."
They moved to a quieter corner where stacked mats and training cones were stored.
"Silent movement," Richard said.
He demonstrated quickly, rolling his foot down from heel to toe with almost no sound.
Abraham tried to copy him. The first attempt produced a soft squeak from the rubber flooring.
Richard shook his head.
"Too heavy."
Abraham tried again. This time slower.
Quieter. "Good," Richard said.
They spent several minutes repeating the motion. Then Richard dimmed the overhead lights slightly and pointed around the room.
"Environmental awareness," he said.
"What am I looking for?"
"Everything." Richard walked behind him and spoke calmly. "Exits."
Abraham glanced toward the front door and the emergency door near the lockers.
"Objects that could be weapons."
Dumbbells.
Metal bars.
A broken wooden handle leaning near the cleaning supplies.
"Obstacles."
Weight benches.
Exercise bikes.
The pillars holding up the ceiling.
Abraham's eyes moved quickly now, scanning, cataloging.
Richard nodded approvingly.
"You survive by reading situations faster than others."
The words stuck with Abraham. Reading the situation and not overpowering it.
The timer flickered again.
[02:45:05]
Richard looked up at him briefly.
"Last piece of advice," he said.
Abraham listened carefully.
"Don't rush to fight."
Abraham frowned.
"What if I have to?"
"Then fight," Richard said simply. He stepped closer. "But most participants die because they think they're the hero."
The bluntness of the statement sent a small knot of tension through Abraham's stomach.
"You're not there to win glory," Richard continued.
"You're there to survive."
____
Nearly three hours later Abraham stood near the locker room, wiping sweat from his face.
The gym had grown busier during the morning. Music thumped through the speakers. People lifted weights, laughed, and chatted about weekend plans.
None of them knew what was coming, for him.
[00:01:22]
Richard stood nearby, arms folded.
"You'll be fine," he said quietly.
Abraham gave a weak smile.
"That's not very reassuring."
Richard shrugged.
"It's the truth."
The timer ticked down.
[00:00:15]
Abraham's heart began to race again, he clenched hid fists in order to stop them from trembling.
[00:00:10]
Richard watched him carefully.
"Remember what we practiced."
[00:00:05]
Abraham nodded.
[00:00:03]
The air suddenly changed.
[00:00:02]
A strange pressure filled the room.
[00:00:01]
Then nothing, only white light. The world shattered like glass. The gym vanished, Richard was gone and sound disappeared.
For a moment Abraham felt weightless. Then his feet touched wood. The light faded.
He blinked and found himself standing in a dim hallway. The air smelled stale and dusty. Old wooden floorboards creaked faintly beneath his shoes.
The walls were covered in faded wallpaper that peeled at the edges. It was a house. A strange, empty house.
Abraham slowly turned his head. Six other people stood in the hallway with him. All of them looked just as confused, but no one spoke or moved.
Then Abraham noticed someone familiar. A girl wearing a dark hoodie stood near the far wall.
The same one from the forest mission.
Her eyes met his. Recognition flashed across her face.
Just for a second.
Then a translucent panel appeared in the air before them.
[Orientation Phase 3]
Location: Unknown Residence
Mission Details Loading…]
The lights in the hallway flickered.
Above them, somewhere on the second floor, a door slowly creaked open.