Adil and Garu froze, their breath catching in their throats. Adil cut his eyes toward Garu, his pulse drumming a frantic rhythm in his ears.
In one swift, synchronized motion, they whipped around.
Slouched against the damp concrete wall was a man. His body was a map of brutal, jagged lacerations, dark blood soaking through a torn tactical vest lined with empty weapon holsters. He looked less like a student and more like a rugged, battle-hardened hunter.
"Who the hell... are you two?" the man rasped, his voice a low, gravelly whisper that barely carried across the room. He paused, coughing weakly, before his eyes narrowed. "But more importantly... how the hell did you two get here?"
Both Adil and Garu let out a massive, trembling sigh of relief. They clutched their chests, their hearts hammering so violently against their ribs it felt like a synchronized heart attack.
Then, reality snapped back.
Wait. He spoke.
The relief vanished instantly. Both boys whipped their heads around in absolute alertness, shoulders tense, waiting for the shadowy ghost figures to burst through the walls and tear them to shreds.
The wounded man stared at their sudden panic, his brow furrowing. "What the hell are you two doing?"
"Keep your voice down!" Adil hissed, eyes still darting across the ceiling. "The ghosts—they'll attack because you spoke!"
The man remained silent for a moment, watching them shift in terror. Then, he let out a dry, raspy breath that might have been a laugh.
"Idiots," the hunter muttered, leaning his head back against the concrete. "That rule only applies in the corridors. Not here."
Adil and Garu looked at each other, completely dumbfounded.
"Great."
Adil grumbled, sliding down the wall to sit heavily on the cold floor. He rubbed his face, letting out a ragged breath. "You could've told us that before you gave me a synchronized heart attack."
Garu didn't sit. He kept his stance tense, his eyes narrowing as he studied the wounded man. "You're a native, aren't you? You're from this place."
Adil paused, cutting his eyes toward his childhood friend. Oh, right. I still need to figure out if Garu got a normal, working system... unlike the absolute screen-glitch nightmare I got.
Hearing Garu's question, the bleeding hunter remained dead still. The only sign of life was the ragged rise and fall of his chest. Finally, he tilted his head, his glowing purple eyes locking onto them through the gloom.
"You two... you're not from there, are you?" the hunter rasped, gesturing faintly to the space outside the room. "The other side."
Adil frowned.
The hunter had answered a question with another question. Which meant he either didn't trust them... or didn't want to answer.
He let out a dry chuckle, throwing his hands up anyway. "Wow. Brilliant deduction. Was it the pristine college uniforms or the absolute look of pure terror that gave it away?"
The hunter stared at Adil for a long, silent minute before speaking. "So I was right. And to answer your question... yes. I am from here."
"You say that like people dropping in from another dimension is a normal Tuesday for you," Adil noted, leaning his head back against the wall.
"Have other outsiders come here before us?" Garu asked, his voice sharp and analytical.
The hunter let out a heavy, painful sigh, his hand pressing harder against his bleeding side. "Yeah. You're right on that, too. Though, surprisingly, you two are the first ones I've seen stay alive this long without a single weapon."
The silence stretched too long, the hunter's last words echoing heavily in the minds of Adil and Garu.
"Wait," Adil said, his throat tightening. "Are you trying to say everyone else who came before us... died?"
"No," the hunter rasped, his knuckles whitening as he suddenly gripped the handle of a rugged, glowing dagger at his waist. "What I am trying to say is how the hell did you two make it this far without a weapon? This is Goulizban territory."
Garu's eyes locked onto the weapon. "You mean that giant shadow tiger outside?"
The hunter unsheathed the blade with a faint, metallic hiss, though his hands shook from exhaustion. "Look at me. I'm a ranked tracker, and I got torn to shreds trying to hunt that beast. If it catches your scent, you're nothing but a snack."
A cold sweat crawled down Adil's neck. If a ranked tracker looked like this after fighting the Goulizban... what chance did two students have?
Before Adil could even say it out loud, the hunter continued, coughing weakly. "I will give you a weapon and my gear, but in return, you have to take me out of here too."
Garu stepped forward, his eyes narrowing at the bleeding man. "You want us to fight that thing?"
Thank you. Someone finally asked the important question, Adil thought.
"No," the hunter muttered, leaning his head back against the concrete wall as his energy drained. "I'm just giving it to you... in case."
While the hunter closed his eyes to fight off the pain, Adil leaned closer to Garu, keeping his voice down to a barely audible murmur.
"Hey, Garu," Adil whispered, shifting his eyes toward the dark ceiling. "Back when we got pulled in... did you meet that cloak man too? And did you get a normal system interface, or did yours throw an error?"
Garu blinked, turning his head to look at Adil with deep, furrowed brows. "What do you mean by an error?"
Adil blinked, staring at his friend. "Wait. You never got an error?"
Garu frowned, still trying to process Adil's bizarre words. But before he could open his mouth to ask anything else—
THACK.
A heavy, violent vibration rattled through the metal door, throwing a cloud of dust from the concrete ceiling.
The hunter's purple eyes snapped open, his entire body going rigid with fear. "Hurry," he hissed, forcing himself upright against the wall as blood seeped through his fingers. "We need to move. Now."