The screen didn't disappear this time.
It stayed.
Floating in the air like it belonged there.
LEVEL 2: ACTIVE
RULE: Don't be seen.
Ayaan's chest tightened.
"Don't be seen… by who?"
The lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then—
Darkness.
Not normal darkness.
This felt… alive.
Ayaan pulled out his phone. No signal. No flashlight. Nothing.
"Of course," he muttered. "Game rules."
Then he heard it.
Footsteps.
Slow. Heavy. Not human.
Thak… thak… thak…
Ayaan froze.
His brain kicked into survival mode instantly
.
"Don't be seen… means something is looking."
He crouched behind a broken desk, barely breathing.
The footsteps stopped.
Silence.
Then—
A whisper.
Right behind him.
"...found you…"
Ayaan turned—
Nothing.
But the temperature dropped instantly.
His instincts screamed: MOVE.
He slid across the floor and hid behind another desk just as—
A tall shadow stretched across the wall.
It didn't have a clear shape.
Just… eyes.
Dozens of them.
All blinking.
Searching.
Ayaan covered his mouth. Even breathing felt loud now.
"Okay… okay… think…"
Running = noise
Hiding = temporary
Fighting = impossible
So what's left?
His eyes scanned the room.
Then he noticed something weird—
The shadow didn't move randomly.
It reacted.
Every time something shifted… it looked there.
Ayaan's brain clicked.
"It tracks attention… not just movement."
That's when he did something risky.
He picked up a small piece of chalk from the floor.
And threw it.
Across the room.
Tick.
The shadow snapped toward the sound instantly.
All eyes.
Focused there.
Ayaan didn't wait.
He moved silently in the opposite direction, step by step.
Slow. Controlled. No panic.
The shadow chased the distraction.
"Good… keep going…"
But then—
His foot hit something.
A metal chair.
SCRAAAAAPE.
The sound echoed.
Too loud.
Way too loud.
The shadow froze.
Then slowly…
Every single eye turned toward him.
"…there you are…"
Ayaan's heart slammed.
"No more mistakes."
He didn't run.
He did something smarter.
He knocked over THREE desks in different directions.
CRASH
BANG
THUD
Multiple sounds.
Multiple targets.
The shadow glitched.
Its eyes flickered between directions.
Confused.
That one second of confusion—
That's all he needed.
Ayaan sprinted.
Not randomly.
Straight toward the exit door.
He remembered its position earlier.
Calculated.
Precise.
Behind him—
The shadow screamed.
Not loud.
But sharp.
Like it was angry.
"YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO THINK."
Ayaan smirked while running.
"Yeah? Too bad."
He reached the door.
Locked.
Of course.
A small screen appeared again.
SOLVE TO ESCAPE.
Ayaan almost laughed.
"In the middle of THIS?!"
But then he saw it—
A pattern.
Symbols.
Numbers.
His brain slowed everything down.
Noise faded.
Fear faded.
Only logic remained.
"Game wants panic… so don't panic."
Behind him—
The shadow was recovering.
Fast.
Too fast.
Eyes locking again.
Time was almost up.
Ayaan whispered to himself:
"Focus… or you're dead."
To be continue