Peter awoke in a long hallway. It stretched as far as his eye could see, and the end of it was shrouded by shadows. The walls were pure white; the air smelled crisp and clean; the floor beneath his feet was smooth, perfect.

It unnerved him.

He couldn’t seem to move, either, so he was stuck there, staring at the hallway, waiting for something to launch at him from the darkness.

But it never came. Instead, he heard a voice. Neither male nor female.

It said, “Congratulations, Peter Green! You have been chosen, along with 19 other contestants below and near your age, to participate in Lord Hans’ contest.”

Peter tried to move his jaw to ask a question, but found that he couldn’t. He was left wondering what the voice meant by “contest”.

It continued, the end of the hallway becoming brighter which each word, “You will be going through the levels the Lord himself designed. In total, there are ten, and at the end, the last person standing will be crowned winner and brought back to your original world.

“You may want to partner with some of the other contestants, but it is not forced. You may travel alone if you wish to. Throughout every level, there will be food and supplies to aid you and others during the competition. There are no rules except one—“

Peter started to scream in his mind, body still useless, as the light blinded him and overwhelmed his senses which a fiery glare.

“Stay alive.”

——

_(Okay, this has been on my mine for over a year now, but it’s so damn dark—you’ll see if I ever get the guts to write it. Like, it’s worse than _Judges of Man_. Mostly because it has to deal with kids and their mental health during this whole thing. _💀

_If you think this is a cool idea, tell me! Imma have to brainstorm another 19 characters from the Earth world for this thing to work out. Everyone is 18-5 —yes, there are 5 year olds. You’ll figure out why the Lord does this later, if I do this thing._

_As always, thanks for reading and have a great day—or night, I’ve forgotten to always say that.)_