Challenger

I've heard wind of a so-called impossible game. The most difficult challenge in our star system yet. It was made by this crazy dude who wanted to see something interesting happen in this new world. The reward itself isn't half bad either. A claim on one of the many plots of land in the arena. I'll have to go and check it out soon, if I want to have any chance of winning. A few people took the challenge a few years ago when it opened, no one has heard from them since.

I begin preparing my travel pack with all of the tools and equipment I might need. Mini-tent, portable stove, pots and pans, one of each utensil, some spare clothes, a water bottle and water purifier, and a few gadgets to help with foraging. Once I'm certain I have everything, I take the next shuttle to the location of the challenge, not wasting any time in getting there. Before I even arrive I am greeted with the sight of a supermassive dome. I knew it was going to be a large building, but I wasn't expecting something kilometres tall and countries wide. It was only half-passed noon, but the sun already looked like it was setting behind this monstrous construction. Even the grand building that was the entrance, a mansion in most cases, was dwarfed in comparison.

A young man who looked to be in his twenties welcomed me inside the building when I arrived. Inside, there was a fairly large group of rugged looking people waiting in what seemed to be the lounge of the building. As I took a seat on one of the many recliners in the room, the young man began to speak.

"Thank you all for waiting, we will be letting you all in shortly. We just need to wait for the current cycle to finish." I wondered briefly about what a "cycle" could be, but was stopped shortly after my thought even occurred when the young man who welcomed me approached.

"You are required to fill out and sign off on all of these forms before you enter," The man smiled as he passed be a small stack of papers, "It shouldn't take long, but please be certain you understand what you are going to be getting yourself into." I began looking over the papers as he walked away into another room, quickly disappearing from sight. Almost immediately I began to realize exactly how dangerous this could actually be. I was practically signing off my life, if I happened to die in this "game", they wouldn't be held responsible. Any injuries sustained are all my responsibility and no other contender nor the hosts are required to aid in any way. Backing out of the game would require a small fee to be paid after safely exiting the building for future upgrades to equipment and maintenance. The page after that, went on about the many possible causes of death: Death by falling, death by disease/sickness, death by poison, mauling, starvation, drowning, suffocation, decapitation, blood loss, the list kept going for about a page and a half, before asking for a signature.

"You're lookin' a bit pale o'er there." The voice of a woman chuckled, "You good?"

​ I turned to see the a well built woman lounging in a recliner like the one I was in, her hair tied back in a long ponytail. She didn't have any bags with her, which seemed strange to me, but how she planned to survive this wasn't any of my concern. From what I could see, most everyone else had packed a similar amount of equipment as myself. But when I looked back to see her, she was already gone.

"Hope's th' name." She said reaching her hand out over the back of the chair, directly in front of my face, almost appearing out of thin air, "How 'bout you?"

"Ubin," I say shaking her hand, trying to hide the shock I felt, "Ubin Chine." She shook my hand with a firm grip, releasing and giving me a slight nod of approval. She has clearly prepared for this, physically at the very least.

"Don't be too unnerved by th' forms, they're meant to scare off th' weaklin's. Trimmin' the fat if you will." Hope told, "They won't let you die in there, it would look way too bad on 'em." I breathe a gentle sigh of relief as I slowly look over the rest of the forms, which seem to be getting more and more dark as I turn each page. Hope reading over my shoulder in boredom. I quickly finish off the forms and Hope shows me to a small opening in one of the walls where I drop in my forms.

"Now, you just have to wait like th' rest o' us. Not too much to do 'round 'ere but sit an' wait." Hope wandered off back to her recliner and I did the same. It didn't take long for the boredom to set in. Everything seemed to be moving much slower now that I wasn't doing anything. It seemed like everything was just locked in place, no one made a sound or moved even an inch. As though we had all been turned to stone. It felt like hours before the young man entered the room once more.

"Hello everyone. Thank you all for taking this challenge. My name is Cal and I will be the one sending you into the first sector where you will begin. But first," Cal gestured to a new opening that appeared in one of the walls, "Everything that isn't you or the clothes you are wearing must go in here. No one is permitted to bring any outside supplies with them." I was stunned. We got nothing? No tools, no equipment, nothing. Just the clothes on our backs. A lot of the others seemed to be grumbling about this as well. But nonetheless, we all lined up to drop our gear into the hole.

"Thank you all for your cooperation." Cal nodded ushering us all to a large metal door in the room he came from, "Now that you are all here, please prepare to enter once the door opens. Should you wish to leave, knock twice on this door and shout your name. The Current record is held by Randy, who has travelled quickly and currently resides in the fourth biome. Best of luck to you all, and as a personal tip, don't trust the path." And the large metal door screeched open.

We all rushed through the now open door and into a large grassy clearing. The sun was somehow shining through the dome, illuminating a dark forest that surrounded us. Three paths lined the entrance to the forest, each leading in a seemingly random direction deeper into the forest. Many of the challengers who entered began gathering into small groups, doing their best to make up for their lost gear, in numbers. Some of those groups began heading into the forest right away, ignoring Cal's advice and following the path, others stayed back and watched for a bit before doing the same. A few people went off on their own, overly confident, in my opinion, in their own abilities, but straying from the path and forging their own. I stayed back, watching the others make their way into the forest, unsure if I should find a group to join, or brave this new environment on my own. Only a moment later, Hope was tapping me on the shoulder, once again seeming to appear out of nowhere.

"Hey Ubin! Would you care to join my group? Were looking to add one more person." Hope points out a small group of three people, "That's them over there."

"Sure." I say without skipping a beat. Now I don't have to worry about choosing. We go over to the rest of the group and skip all the pleasantries, beginning to plan about the path we will be taking as soon as I arrive.

"The paths look to be the best options, even if it takes longer, we won't get lost." Suggested Kova, a tall blond guy who seems to have quite a bit of survival experience.

"Sounds good, any objections?" Hope looked around waiting for anyone to say something, "Great, let's go."

The path was long and twisted, and seemed to get unnaturally dark the further in we went. It was quiet out here, there were no sounds from birds, or even the rustling of the trees in the breeze that didn't seem to exist. After a couple of hours of walking, the path brought us to a cave entrance, only visible by the light it seemed to be producing. Giving an almost omnipresent feel to the source of it.

"The path doesn't continue past this cave." Joselyn stated, one of the two female members of the group, "Should we go down, or stay in the forest?" A discussion arose, that didn't last long before Hope piped up.

"I'll go check it out. I won't be gone long, maybe an hour or two. If I don't return, just continue without me. Don't come looking for me, I don't want us all getting lost in this forest. Besides, I'm curious about where that light is coming from."

Well, suffice to say, we waited more than just the two hours she asked us to. It must have been approaching the fourth hour when everything just went silent. Our breathing no longer made a sound and trying to talk seemed futile. It was quite a surprise to say the least. The feeling of being completely silent, knowing that my scream won't be heard, no matter how loud I cried. And then, we heard them. The strange sound that made no noise, the piercing scream of total silence. It's like in a video game, when the music just stops, you know something is going to happen, you just don't know what. Before we even had the chance to think about what it might have been, Hope emerged from the cave, her voice slicing through the silence with the utmost care. There was caution in her voice, as strange as it is that it could be heard. In her arms, were several glowing rocks, which she threw to each of us while running past, into the thick of the dark forest.

"RUN!" Hope screamed, but her cry fell on deaf ears, all of us simply transfixed on the sound coming from the cave. We couldn't help but gather around the entrance, the noise of the forest approaching closer and closer. Hope continued to scream at us to no avail, eventually running out of sight. No matter how hard I tried to follow, the urge to stay and see what would happen took precedence, and seemed to almost glue me to my spot in front of the cave. It would only be another few moments before the noise would overtake our position, but the light beckoned. And then, everything stopped.

From the cave, the first sound in what felt like hours. A monstrous figure began to emerge from the cave. The cracking of its bones as it stretched its large and cold muscles, filling the area with almost a melodic beat, the scraping of its claws across the rough rock provided the harmony. As the creature slowly lumbered out of the cave, carefully scanning its surroundings with its six black void like eyes. It settled on Kova, the shortest member of our group.

"Who are you?" It asked with a voice so soft and smooth it may as well have been silk, "And why have you come to my home?"

"I'm Kova," He blurted out without missing a beat, "And we didn't realize this was your home."

"Hmm," The creature moved its intimidating gaze to Joselyn, "What are you?"

"We're people," Joselyn answered, "Humans." The creature looked Joselyn carefully up and down before nodding and resting its gaze onto me. It didn't say anything, it didn't move, breathe or make any sound. Just watched. Its empty eyes piercing into me like a knife. I try to push words out, but nothing came out. I wanted to scream but I couldn't, not even if I wanted to. I wanted to run but I couldn't, its menacing form holding me in place. I was helpless in the presence of this creature. But soon, it turned away from us, motionlessly and wordlessly beckoning us to follow. We moved in almost perfect sync, until we reached the edge of a clearing. It stopped where the tree-line suddenly stops, remaining just inside the forest and waited, looking at us. Without hesitation we all passed over the tree-line and into the clearing. And just like that, our minds were clear, no longer under whatever spell it had placed on us. Looking back into the forest the creature had already gone, and the sun, replaced by the moon which had just risen into the sky.

"What just happened?" Joselyn asked, dazed. No one could reply, we were all too stunned by what happened to even think at all. We sat in our own silence for a moment, the sounds of the forest filling our ears once more. Hope is gone, and we are lost.

Further into the clearing we can see some wooden structures with a handful of other people making their way around the grounds. Several of them notice us and wave hello, as we begin to make our approach. The smell of warm food wafting over to us from one of the large structures. Two of the people wandering the grounds welcome us, filling us in on some of the details about our current situation.

"You're in the first clearing of the Forest of Shadows." The taller man tells, "So congratulations, you made it through the easy part of this biome."

"There are three more clearings like this one." The other says, "All we can offer you here is a hot meal and a place to rest up before you continue. So hurry up, dinner will get cold."

They led us to the large wooden building with the pleasant smell coming from it and sat us down at a large table, one of many that were placed evenly throughout the building. Around the table was a variety of people, both familiar and new. To my immediate right was a tall man who looked to be in his mid-thirties. He leaned over to me and said,

"My name is Tyran, what's yours?"

"Ubin." I say, before I can get another word out he continues.

"From what I hear, your group has been the most ill prepared since they started this game." Tyran tells me, "Though I can't really talk, since I was the most ill..." His voice was cut off by the sound of a loud bell ringing. "Oh, sounds like dinner is ready."

A large wooden bowl is placed in front of me as someone walked around with a large pot and a ladle, pouring the contents into our bowls, the smell now clear and familiar to me, mushroom stew. Everyone began eating, digging in to what must have been their first meal in a while. At least, everyone except Tyran, who was simply staring at his bowl, as though willing it to enter his stomach without his having to do anything. By the time most everyone had finished eating, Tyran was still there, staring at his now cold soup.

"Aren't you going to eat?" I asked, making my way back from putting my bowl in a large tub of soapy water, "We shouldn't waste food."

"Guess I'm just not all that hungry." Tyran told me, "You can eat it if you want."

I looked at the cold mushroom stew in front of Tyran and sighed, "Alright, but you should really eat something, you don't want to go hungry out here." Tyran nodded and began heading towards what I could only assume to be the lodgings. Once I finished with Tyran's soup I began making my way towards where I assumed the lodgings were, since most everyone else had gone there.

I awoke in a bed a while later with a handful of people waiting by the bedside. As I began to come to, one of them handed me a glass of water and began asking me some questions while the person next to them put up a hand, gesturing for them to be quiet.

"How do you feel?" The man who I assumed to be the leader asked. His eyes were soft and his voice felt comforting as he spoke, bringing me a strange sense of ease.

​ "Fine," I replied still a little groggy, "Why? What happened?"

"You were attacked while you were walking to the lodge. It was a creature called a Silencer." He looked at me trying to gauge how I was feeling at the moment, "I know, cheesy name right? I can't believe we decided to call them that either. You shouldn't have to worry about that one though, we scared it off nice and good, so it won't be coming back for a while."

"Oh, that's good." I said smiling thankfully, "But I need to keep moving on. Can't stay in one place for too long. I might get comfortable."

"Yeah, about that..." His gaze hardened into a more serious look, "You won't be going anywhere until we clear some stuff up first." The people in the room began to pull out makeshift wooden and stone weapons.

"You see," He said turning to join the group and pulling out his own weapon, "Spending over a year here, tends to teach you some stuff, and something we all know very well is that those Silencers don't tend to attack people for no reason. Either they thought you to be a threat, which I think is rather unlikely considering you are still alive, they had a grudge on you, which I also think is rather unlikely since you just got here, what, about a day ago? Or the only other reason they attack us, to reproduce."

Before I could get a word out the one who was quieted down began to speak once more. "So we's need to make sure that you isn't one of them before we's can let ya go. Cause if we's don't, ya might go off an' kill some peeps, and if's ya do that we would hafta kill ya, and that's no good, cause ya seemed kinda nice an' all at dinner which would makes it even worse if you's were one a them cause we's don't like to kill, cause we's think it's wrong even if's you might be some monster who might's kill us."

​

"Lucas slow down, you might give the poor guy a heart attack. He needs to get this one step at a time. First off, that's Lucas, he's been here the longest of all of us. He knows this place the best. I'm Toby, the one over to my right is is Vanessa, next to her is Sylvia, then Brian, then for some screwed up reason we call the next one Piglet." Toby explained as the hulking man who was just called Piglet waved to me. I was more confused than I had ever been before, I had no idea why they were surrounding me and even less of an idea what they were talking about.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked more confused than scared.

"Look," Toby said, "I will make this as simple as possible so you'll understand it. Give me your arm, if we see red you're fine, if not..."

"If we don't see red then what?" I asked nervously, holding my arm. He didn't say another word, only reached out his hand and waited patiently. He took out a knife and slowly moves it over my hand before Sylvia slapped over the head and gestured to my inner arm. Toby rolled his eyes before moving the knife and making a small cut in the place where Sylvia pointed. Almost immediately a small droplet of red blood formed and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"So that means I'm fine then right?" I ask, "Thank goodness, I was so worried there for a second." As I continue to thank them all for not killing me, I notice that Toby's eyes haven't moved from the red droplet.

"Do you feel that?" Toby asked me. I assumed he was talking about the cut he gave me and it already feels fine, and the pain is gone.

"Not really, the cut isn't that bad." I reply, looking down to see a clear substance that has been dripping down my arm thanks to Toby squeezing it out. I was too busy talking to notice everyone taking out and reading their weapons.

"Alright, you still seem sane, so I'm going to give you a choice." Toby readied his knife, holding it to my throat, "First, you leave here and don't come back, it's only fair since you haven't done anything yet. Second, we kill you right here, right now. Take your pick."

I didn't know what to do. I could leave and try my luck alone or I could die. Frankly, if I am something entirely different now. I have no idea what I want to happen to me.

"I'll go." I said, "I don't know what's going to happen to me, but I may as well stay alive and find out." I carefully stood up, trying not to startle anyone and began slowly making my way to the door. As I crossed through to the outside, I could feel a gentle poke on my back.

"Allow me to escort you to the entrance of the forest." Toby said, holding his knife to my back, "Don't want anything to happen before you go." I nod and slowly make my way to the far end of the clearing, opposite to where I came in. The "moon" just slowly creeping up over the edge of the forest.

"As we reached the wall of trees that was the entrance to the forest, I stopped for the briefest of moments before nodding to Toby, and walking onward into the dark Forest of Shadows.

End