House 1 – Lucian & Aria
Lucian was drowning in hands.
They wrapped around his throat, his arms, his legs— pulling him downward.
The lullaby continued.
Soft. Gentle. Twisting inside his skull.
Aria was gone.
The flesh beneath him throbbed.
And then—
It opened.
Not like before.
This time, it was deliberate.
The stitches peeled apart, thread by thread—revealing something underneath.
Lucian couldn't breathe.
It was a mirror.
But not just any mirror.
He saw himself.
His body.
Torn open. Hollowed out. Hung up like a skinned animal.
His own eyes stared back at him.
But—
He was smiling.
Then, his reflection spoke.
"Come inside."
The hands dragged him under.
House 2 – Noa & Ren
Noa ran.
Her exposed bone-leg clicked against the floor, raw nerves screaming.
The thing wearing her skin followed, its movements broken, jerking—like a puppet with strings too tight.
She dove into a dark hallway, panting.
The air was thick.
No.
Not just thick.
It was breathing.
A heartbeat pulsed around her.
Then—
A voice.
Hers.
"Why are you running?"
Noa froze.
The darkness parted.
And there—
Hanging from the ceiling, like a crucifix of flesh—
Was her own body.
Skinned. Still alive.
It lifted its faceless head.
"Come back inside."
Something grabbed her from behind.
And pulled.
House 3 – Darian & Elise
Elise was trapped.
The corridor had no end.
Behind her—Darian's void-mouth stretched wider.
Ahead—the walls trembled.
Then—they opened.
Not like doors.
Like jaws.
Teeth lined the walls.
The floor.
The ceiling.
The entire house was alive.
And it was hungry.
Darian laughed.
Elise screamed.
And the house swallowed her whole.
House 4 – Jace & Rowan
Jace was inside the thing.
No.
Not inside.
He was the thing.
Hundreds of his own hands crawled over his skin, reshaping him, twisting his body.
Rowan watched, frozen.
Jace's face melted.
He became something else.
Something endless.
Then—
The hands reached for Rowan.
And dragged him inside, too.
House 5 – Lily & Carson
Carson was everywhere.
His faces filled the blood.
Lily clawed at her throat, gasping.
The black liquid crawled up her legs, over her chest—
And then—
The faces turned.
Hundreds of Carson's eyes locked onto her.
Then—
They screamed.
The blood erupted.
And Lily was gone.
House 1 – Lucian & Aria
Lucian woke up inside himself.
Not a metaphor.
He was inside his own body.
The flesh around him throbbed like a living, breathing cavern.
He moved, and the walls twitched.
A heartbeat boomed from somewhere deep.
He tried to scream—
But his throat was stitched shut.
Then, he heard it.
A violin.
Screeching.
Notes that weren't meant for human ears.
Lucian clawed at his own skin, ripping himself open, trying to escape—
And the moment his fingertips tore through the muscle—
Something grabbed him from the other side.
Something with his own hands.
And pulled.
House 2 – Noa & Ren
Noa was dangling.
Her arms were tied in violin strings, stretching her skin so tightly that she could see the pale muscle underneath.
Ren stood in front of her.
His eyes were gone.
In their place, open wounds dripped black ink.
He held a bow.
A violinist's bow.
And he raised it.
He placed it against her exposed ribs—
And played.
The sound that came out wasn't music.
It was screaming.
Noa's own screaming.
Her bones vibrated, cracking.
Ren's hands moved faster, tearing sound from her body.
He was crying.
But he didn't stop.
Because something was making him play.
And if he stopped—
He would take her place.
Noa's screams became music.
And the house sang.
House 3 – Darian & Elise
Elise opened her mouth to scream—
And a bowstring was pulled through her throat.
Her own vocal cords had been turned into an instrument.
The hands of the house plucked at her tendons, creating a melody of pure agony.
Darian was on the floor, coughing up blood.
No.
Not blood.
Teeth.
His body was spitting them out, one by one, onto the cold floor.
And then—
The house began to eat them.
The teeth rolled up the walls like insects, burrowing into the flesh of the house.
Darian tried to run—
But his feet were already fusing with the floor.
He was becoming part of it.
Becoming part of the song.
House 4 – Jace & Rowan
Rowan covered his ears.
It didn't help.
The walls were screaming.
Not voices.
Violins.
The floorboards were splitting apart, revealing veins underneath, pulsing with music.
Jace stood in the center of the room, his body stretched like a marionette.
Strings pierced through his limbs, holding him upright.
His mouth opened wide—too wide.
And from his throat, a cello's deep wail erupted.
His ribs were the strings.
Something was playing him.
Rowan collapsed, clutching his head.
But the music climbed inside his skull.
He could feel it, ripping him apart note by note.
He wasn't just hearing it.
He was becoming it.
House 5 – Lily & Carson
Carson staggered into the next room.
Everything was black and red.
The walls bled music, dripping notes that sank into his skin.
Then—
A figure.
A conductor.
Dressed in rotting flesh, its face covered in a mask made of screaming mouths.
It turned toward him—
And raised its baton.
The music stopped.
Everything was silent.
Then—
The conductor pointed at Lily.
And the orchestra began again.
But this time, it wasn't music.
It was her screams.
Carson watched as her skin was peeled like sheet music, each strip played like a violin.
And the conductor smiled.
Because the song wasn't over yet.
Above them—
The High Beings listened.
The fifth floor was nearly finished.
Their music was perfect.
But it still needed a final note.
One last sacrifice.
The floor began to shift again.
The survivors were chosen.
And the next trial would begin.
House 1 – Lucian & Aria
Lucian collapsed onto cold wood.
His skin was slick with blood—his own or something else, he didn't know.
He had just torn himself free from his own body, only to wake up on a new floor.
The air was thick.
Rot.
He could taste it.
Aria was on the ground, gagging.
Her fingernails snapped as she clawed at her throat, trying to vomit out whatever was inside her.
Lucian staggered to his feet, and that's when he noticed—
The walls were moving.
No. Not walls.
Flesh.
Towering, decayed bodies.
Some were missing eyes.
Some were missing everything.
They weren't standing.
They were piled on top of each other, stretching from the floor to the ceiling.
And they were breathing.
Aria screamed.
Because one of them turned its head.
And its mouth opened wider than any human should be able to.
Lucian grabbed her hand—
And the bodies began to fall.
House 2 – Noa & Ren
Ren was running.
Noa wasn't.
Because Noa's legs weren't there anymore.
She was dragging herself forward, leaving a thick smear of blood behind.
Ren was sobbing, screaming her name—
But the thing behind them was faster.
It had no limbs.
Just a writhing, pulsating torso.
Its mouth was where its stomach should be, opening and closing like a gaping wound.
The stench of rot poured out of it.
Noa looked up.
A door.
If she could just—
The thing lunged.
And bit down.
Ren heard the crunch.
The wet, snapping sound of bone and tendons ripping apart.
Noa was gone.
Just like that.
And the thing laughed.
A guttural, hollow laugh.
Ren didn't move.
He couldn't.
Because he had just realized something.
The door—
It wasn't a way out.
It was a mouth.
And it was already opening.
House 3 – Darian & Elise
Elise was staring at Darian.
No.
Not Darian.
Not anymore.
Because Darian had changed.
His skin was peeling, layer by layer.
Revealing something underneath.
Not muscle.
Not bone.
Something else.
Something that shouldn't exist.
A network of writhing veins and tendrils, stitched together with tiny, chattering teeth.
His fingers bent backward.
His eyes liquefied.
And he laughed.
Not in pain.
In joy.
Because the rot had reached his brain.
And now—
He belonged to it.
Elise turned to run—
But the rot was already inside her.
She fell to her knees.
And she laughed too.
House 4 – Jace & Rowan
Rowan was crawling.
His arms were shaking.
Something was wrong with his bones.
They were soft.
Melting.
Jace was behind him, dragging himself forward.
Neither of them could stand.
Because the floor was dissolving them.
Each step, each movement—
They sank deeper.
Their legs were fusing with the house.
Rowan looked back—
And Jace was gone.
Just a wet, pulsing stain on the floor.
And the stain was moving toward him.
Rowan screamed.
But his voice melted too.
And then—
There was only silence.
House 5 – Lily & Carson
Carson was holding Lily's hand.
She was cold.
She had stopped breathing.
He didn't know when.
All he knew was that he was alone now.
Surrounded by figures in the dark.
They were watching him.
Not moving.
Not breathing.
Just watching.
Then—
One of them stepped forward.
And Carson finally saw its face.
It was him.
A rotted, broken version of himself.
Its jaw hung loose, the flesh split down the middle.
It smiled.
And it whispered.
"Your turn."
Above them—
The High Beings watched.
The Sixth Floor had chosen its survivors.
The rest—
Were gone.
And now—
Only one floor remained.
The Final Trial.
The Last House.
And the Last Survivor.
House 1 – Lucian
Lucian staggered forward.
His clothes were soaked in blood—some of it his, most of it not.
Aria was gone.
She had been swallowed.
Not by a monster.
Not by the house.
By herself.
Her own lungs had twisted inside out, her skin had peeled backward, and in the end—
She had become something else.
Lucian had run.
Now—
He was here.
The final floor.
The ceiling above him stretched endlessly.
The walls were lined with doors.
Hundreds of them.
No handles.
No locks.
No way out.
And in the center—
A mirror.
Lucian's reflection stared back at him.
But it wasn't him.
It spoke first.
"You're the last one."
Lucian froze.
The last?
There were others.
Noa. Ren. Darian. Elise. Jace. Rowan. Lily. Carson.
They were all here.
Right?
He turned.
Nothing.
Just the empty, breathing walls.
The mirror spoke again.
"They didn't make it."
Lucian's chest tightened.
No.
No, that wasn't—
He turned back to the mirror.
His reflection was smiling.
"Only one can survive."
And then—
It reached out.
Its fingers slipped through the glass like liquid.
Lucian stumbled back.
But the hand grabbed him.
It was cold.
No—
Empty.
Like touching the absence of something, rather than something itself.
Lucian screamed.
The mirror rippled.
And then—
It swallowed him.
The Void Between Worlds
Lucian was floating.
Or falling.
Or both.
Around him—
Nothing.
Just endless black.
And then—
A voice.
"You were always meant to be here."
It wasn't human.
It was them.
The High Beings.
Lucian couldn't move.
He wasn't sure if he even had a body anymore.
"You are the last. The only one left."
He tried to scream.
He tried to fight.
But there was no air.
No sound.
Only the truth.
He was alone.
He was the one.
The winner.
A crack in reality opened.
A body fell out.
Noa.
Ren.
Darian.
Elise.
Jace.
Rowan.
Lily.
Carson.
All of them.
Alive.
Breathing.
But different.
They had been changed.
They didn't remember.
Didn't remember the house.
Didn't remember dying.
They were just here.
They all fell inside a rectangular void-like room where the other 35 lost students were with them too.
Which meant the ones who lost the game didnt actually die.
Including them, the number of students in the room were 48.
The two missing were….
Elio and Lucian.
Above It All
The High Beings watched.
The game was done.
The winner was chosen.
And now—
They would see if the cycle would break.
Or begin again.