His response didn't answer my question, but now I understood why I panicked earlier, I'd sensed his presence. It was strong, suffocating.
He studied my face, that crooked grin twisting my stomach.
"Well, since you want to know that bad, I'll tell you. I came to be a part of this selection, figured it'd be more fun with you at the center." He grinned again, that annoying grin of his. "But at the moment, I came to make you a deal."
"What deal?" I asked, voice steadying.
"I won't kill anyone. I might even help." His grin widened. "If you promise to give me something."
Everyone knows deals with demons don't end well. I already learned that lesson.
"I'm not making any deals with you. Don't think I've forgotten what you did last time. You made a promise and broke it like it meant nothing. Didn't even flinch at the damage you caused. So why should I trust you now?" I stepped back, voice tightening. "I'm done helping people. No one ever trusts me anyway."
"Come on, think about it. This isn't about who you help, it's about how many survive this selection."
His voice dropped, pressing the weight of his words like a blade to my throat.
"You can keep acting like it's not your problem… but when the bodies pile up, that silence of yours won't protect them."
Am I really concerned with these students? The way I am now, I can't even protect myself. I don't know how to channel my essence—if I even have any to begin with. How can I be anyone's hero when I'm still trying to figure out who I am? I need to get stronger first. Earn trust.
Until then... I'm no one's hope.
I ignored him. None of it felt right. He wasn't the type to ask for anything and yet here he was, offering a deal.
I moved toward the shifted trees. They were tightly packed even with my slim body, I couldn't find a clear path between them. To the far left and right, the trees were even closer. Only the way behind me was open.
Am I really left with just one choice? Make a deal with Drazel to save the students from him? But I should know better than to trust a demon. He spoke like he made the rules of this selection.
The instructors never gave us clear details. Surviving the woods is getting trickier like a puzzle designed to break us.
"One wrong step," he muttered, "and you'll find yourself at the side end." Still trying to sell himself as my escape route. Like I didn't know better.
"I'm making no deals with you, Drazel."
He chuckled and leaned down, eyes glinting like a predator's. "I see you even know my name."
Then he started blabbing.
"70° and 78°, 2.5 kilometers North-northwest, a boy and two girls.
90°, 1.2 kilometers north a boy.
Southeast, 45°, 4 kilometers, an injured girl."
"That's three locations," he said. "The call is yours."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"He rested his chin on his palm, eyes gleaming with something unreadable. "Just angular measurements. Nothing special."
Then like a ghost he vanished into the trees.
—
I tried to gather the pieces, to understand what he meant.
70° and 78° North-northwest. Angles. He gave distances too, but from what point?
I didn't know.
Just as I was piecing it together, the voice rang out again. Cold. Mocking. Coming from no direction.
"Hello, howling cubs. I bet you missed me."
Everyone in the forest froze.
"It's that voice again…" someone muttered.
"The first game of tag was interesting," the voice continued. "But now… let's change the game. Let's play hide and seek."
He paused.
Murmurs stirred through the trees. "What's going on?"
Some of us had started to believe the academy lied. Maybe there were no demons here at all. Maybe this was just a mind game. An elimination through fear and pressure.
So we listened.
"I'll share the rules of the game," the voice went on. "I'll mention your location and describe you aloud. Once I do, you're officially in the game. If I find you, I'll kill you. But if you're strong enough to kill me first, you survive."
Across the forest, students reacted.
Some nodded, assuming "kill" meant elimination from the test.
Others panicked.
Some stood frozen.
Then the voice echoed again:
"Now… let's begin."
—
Inside the academy's surveillance room, a thick tension clung to the air. Instructors stood around the monitor, watching tiny red blips each one a student.
The pressure was sharp.
Mr. Luka broke the silence. "Did anyone else notice something strange?"
Another instructor nodded. "We've been watching it for a while."
Haldris turned abruptly and left the room, boots echoing down the hallway. He stopped at the headmaster's door and knocked.
"Excuse me, sir."
The door creaked open. The headmaster looked up. "Yes, Haldris?"
"I think you'll want to see this for yourself."
Without another word, the headmaster rose from his chair, expression tightening, and followed him.
—
More instructors had now gathered. The headmaster approached the screen, eyes narrowing.
"Someone explain what's going on."
Haldris pointed. "There are supposed to be two kinds of blips, red for students, green for the demons seeded in the forest. Each red one matches a student's armband ID."
He paused.
"But since the trial began… we haven't seen a single green blip."
Silence fell.
"And worse," Haldris added, "the red blips have dropped dramatically. In just 57 minutes, too many have vanished."
A female instructor leaned in. "While they all moved fast at the start… some haven't moved at all since. They've been stuck in place for a long time."
The headmaster frowned. "No movement… no demons… and students vanishing this fast? Could it be a system error?"
Haldris shook his head. "We've been monitoring closely. The trackers only disappear when the wearer's pulse dies. And one thing's clear, there are no demon signals in the forest. None. It's only students… and they're vanishing."
For a moment, no one spoke. Every instructor's mind turned to the same cold question:
What's happening in those woods?
"Zoom in on number 263," the headmaster ordered with suspicion in his eyes.
Haldris adjusted the screen. "This one here," he pointed. "It hasn't moved for a while. Others shifted and vanished. But this one… it's just still."
Instructors exchanged wary glances.
That stillness wasn't reassuring, it was disturbing.
"This is… fierce," Drosh muttered. "Should we check it out?"
"If there are no demons," the headmaster said, "then how are students disappearing?"
He turned. "Did you change tracker protocols?"
"No, sir. Trackers vanish only when the pulse stops."
The headmaster's voice lowered. "Then the demons didn't just vanish."
Haldris nodded grimly. "It means they were all… killed."
The room grew colder.
The headmaster stepped back, rubbing his chin. "Keep watching. Don't jump to conclusions yet. Either the system's broken… or something in that forest is more complex than we anticipated."
Haldris scanned the frozen blips. "Some haven't moved for over thirty minutes. Could they be unconscious? Or trapped?"
"Or worse," Drosh muttered.
"Until we're sure," the headmaster said, "we watch. Every shift. Every signal. Mark every blip that hasn't moved in over twenty minutes. Log all vanished ones by time and zone. I want patterns not panic."
The room shifted into motion. Focused. Silent.
—
The voice returned, deep and calm, echoing like a predator announcing its next move.
"Are you ready, howling cubs? 'Cause here I come."
Silence.
"70°, North-northwest, 2.5 kilometers. I'm on to you."
Another pause.
"Long black hair. Glasses. White-bluish shirt. Short black skirt. Knee-high boots. No visible weapon. You are… in the game."
A girl in that direction looked around, tense. She couldn't tell which direction the angle was read from.
Then a scream tore through the woods.
No clash. No struggle. Just a scream.
Then silence.
The voice returned, almost amused. "Oh… too bad. She couldn't challenge me. She's out."
Then:
"Let's move to the next player."
"78°, North-northwest, 2.5 kilometers. Golden hair. Black leggings. Black shirt. Moonspike Spear. I'm on to you. You are in the game."
Two girls in that zone stiffened. Their eyes darted. They tightened their grips ready to fight or flee.
But they forgot, this wasn't a battle. It was hide-and-seek.
And those screams didn't sound like struggle. They sounded like… a snatch. Clean. Swift.
That's when the unease sank in. Not just for me, but for everyone.
If this was just a twisted hide-and-seek. Why angles? Why distances?
He wasn't guessing.
He was calculating.
Mapping.
And worse, measuring from a fixed point.
From a specific position.
Mine.
That's what rattled me more than anything else.
Because those were the exact angular coordinates Drazel murmured before disappearing.
The same angles.
The same distances.
Traced precisely from where I stood.
As if I was the center of it all.
Then I remembered what he said earlier.
"Figured it'd be more fun with you at the center."
I thought it was just a taunt.
But now… it felt like a warning.