SILVER'S POV
A countdown materialized before us.
It took only a second for the realization to sink in, we had exactly five seconds to gather ourselves before the game began.
Five seconds.
Five seconds before our lives were once again placed in the hands of a cruel system that seemed to delight in testing the limits of human desperation.
Thankfully, this was the final game.
At least, it would be if we survived.
So far, we had managed to avoid disaster by solving the puzzles correctly, but survival was far from guaranteed. One mistake. One wrong answer. One moment of hesitation.
That was all it would take to die.
We hadn't completely ruined our chances yet, which meant there was still hope.
But hope alone wouldn't keep us alive.
We needed more than hope.
We needed action.
The thought of having to cooperate with these grotesque puppets to survive made my skin crawl, but we didn't exactly have a choice.
At that moment, I could only pray that this nightmare would end soon.
A sorrowful instrumental melody suddenly echoed through the hall.
The haunting tune sent chills racing down my spine.
Several puppets began singing in Hindi while the dancing puppet swayed rhythmically to the music, its movements unnaturally smooth and almost human.
Almost.
The sight was far more disturbing than entertaining.
Then the first display puppet stepped forward.
The countdown reached zero.
The puppet approached until we could clearly see what it was holding.
A spear.
Not a wooden prop.
Not a toy.
A real spear.
Its metallic surface gleamed beneath the dim light, and its razor-sharp tip looked capable of piercing flesh and bone with horrifying ease.
One direct strike would be enough to kill.
"Alright," Natasha muttered, visibly panicking. "What's this horrible-looking puppet planning to do with that spear?"
For a moment, I'd almost forgotten we weren't alone.
"I understand you're scared," I said quietly, "but we don't know whether these things can hear us or not. The last thing we need is to make this situation worse."
I wasn't interested in adding more problems to the mountain already trying to crush us.
Natasha narrowed her eyes.
"Since when did you become so nice? What happened to all the arguing? We're not exactly friends, are we?"
Oh no.
Not this.
Not now.
"Maybe we're not on good terms," I admitted. "But if we want to leave this place alive, we need to work together."
I fixed her with a serious look.
"And if you make things harder for us, we all die. Whatever grudges we have can wait until we're out of here."
For a moment, she stared at me.
Then she sighed.
"Fine. You win."
"Can both of you focus on why we're here?" Zoah groaned.
His voice was as cold and detached as ever.
I glanced at him.
"You know, smiling wouldn't kill you."
As expected, he ignored me.
Typical Zoah.
Always acting as though he didn't care.
But I knew better.
Deep down, he cared far more than he wanted anyone to believe.
In fact, I was beginning to think he had gone soft.
Maybe spending weeks around humans had changed him.
After all, if he hadn't softened, he wouldn't have taken that arrow for me.
Yes, I was his aide.
But even if I had died, he probably could have obtained the herb without me. Natasha was still there too.
Yet he had risked everything to save me.
Even after remembering the arrow was made of iron.
His wound had healed, but only because he had burned through an enormous amount of power.
The question continued to haunt me.
Was I really worth that much?
When we returned home, Zoah owed me a lot of answers.
The puppet suddenly began shaking the spear violently.
At the same time, the system screen flashed to life.
INPUT ANSWER
A timer appeared.
Thirty seconds.
"Great. I'm completely lost," I groaned.
Natasha looked equally frustrated.
"What exactly is a puppet shaking a spear supposed to mean?"
"Puppet... shaking... a spear..."
I repeated the words slowly.
"Maybe it's 'puppet shakes spear'?" Natasha suggested.
Twenty seconds had already passed.
The war puppets in the distance were eagerly drawing their bows, as though they couldn't wait for us to fail.
Ten seconds remained.
"Try putting the words together," Zoah suddenly said.
"Puppet... shakes... spear..."
My eyes widened.
"Puppet Shakespeare."
Silence.
Then Natasha gasped.
"Wait! Shakespeare? As in William Shakespeare?"
A grin spread across her face.
"The people who designed this game are insane geniuses."
Without wasting another second, she typed:
SHAKESPEARE
Three seconds remained.
The timer hit zero.
CORRECT
A wave of relief washed over us.
We had passed.
One puzzle down.
Four more to survive.
This time, our brains had only needed to work for thirty seconds.
Nobody celebrated.
Nobody smiled.
The game wasn't over.
And until it was, silence was our safest option.
The first puppet stepped back.
The second puppet immediately moved forward.
Without a word, it dropped two wooden blocks onto the floor.
One after the other.
Curious, we moved closer.
The words carved into them made me frown.
TODAY
YESTERDAY
But something was wrong.
Today had been placed before Yesterday.
"This doesn't make any sense," Natasha said. "Why would Today come before Yesterday?"
"That's a good question," I said. "Considering the fact that the future can never come before the past."
Natasha folded her arms and looked toward the puppets.
"Alright then, puppets. Care to explain this one to us?"
"No point wasting your energy," I replied. "They can't hear us."
She shot me a look.
"You were the one who said they might be able to hear us."
"Well, I did, but..."
My words died in my throat.
One of the puppets suddenly raised an arm and pointed directly at the system screen.
A silence fell over us.
"...Well," I said awkwardly, "I guess they can hear us."
We immediately turned our attention to the glowing screen.
A new question had appeared.
WHERE DOES TODAY COME BEFORE YESTERDAY?
The countdown timer materialized beneath it.
"Nowhere," I answered without hesitation.
Natasha snorted.
"Looks like I'm not the brainless one after all."
"What do you mean?" I protested. "I'm actually right."
"Yeah, sure. But if the answer were really 'nowhere,' they wouldn't have bothered asking the question."
I hated how reasonable that sounded.
"Fine. Do you have a better idea?"
A sly smile spread across her face.
"I might."
Despite the ticking timer, she paused dramatically.
"You could be right," she finally said. "There is no place where today comes before yesterday."
I nodded confidently.
"Exactly."
"For once, you're making sense."
A grin tugged at my lips.
"Glad you've finally decided to join my side."
"Don't get too excited," Natasha said, rolling her eyes. "I'm not finished."
"Then stop dragging it out and finish already."
She pointed at the words displayed on the floor.
"There may be no place where today comes before yesterday, but there is one place where the letter T comes before Y."
For a second, I stared at her blankly.
Then understanding crashed into me.
"The dictionary."
A triumphant smile appeared on her face.
"Exactly."
She immediately typed the answer into the system.
The timer hit its final second.
Then the screen flashed.
CORRECT
A breath I didn't realize I was holding escaped my lungs.
We had made it.
Again.
"Barely," I muttered.
"Still counts," Natasha replied smugly.
"Impressive."
The compliment came from Zoah.
Coming from him, that was practically a standing ovation.
The second puppet slowly retreated, moving backward into its original position. At the same time, the third puppet emerged from the line and stepped forward.
My stomach tightened.
Two puzzles down.
Three remained.
And judging by our luck so far, they weren't going to get any easier.
I stared at the approaching puppet, my mind already racing.
What does this one have in store for us?
The third puppet turned toward us and made a strange gesture before lowering itself onto all fours.
It remained there, motionless.
Its back was arched and clearly visible, yet despite its position, it made no attempt to move forward.
It couldn't crawl.
Or perhaps it wasn't trying to.
"Why can't it crawl?" Natasha asked, frowning.
"I honestly don't know," I admitted.
Zoah narrowed his eyes as he studied the puppet.
"What if it isn't trying to crawl at all?"
Natasha and I turned to him.
"Then what is it trying to do?" I asked.
"Walk."
I blinked.
"Walk? On all fours?"
"But it can't," Natasha finished.
The puppet remained frozen in place, its back protruding awkwardly toward us.
A few precious seconds slipped away.
"Why would something expect to walk on all fours?" I wondered aloud.
"Maybe it's an animal?" Natasha suggested, though she sounded unconvinced.
I shook my head.
"If it were an animal, walking wouldn't be the problem."
Zoah's gaze never left the puppet.
"Look carefully."
We did.
"Its back is deliberately pushed outward," he continued. "It's trying to draw our attention to it."
A realization slowly began forming.
"If it's trying to walk on all fours, then it has four legs and a back..." I murmured.
"But it still can't walk," Natasha added.
The answer hovered just beyond reach.
Then suddenly, Natasha's eyes widened.
"Wait."
She snapped her fingers.
"Something with four legs and a back..."
My own eyes widened as understanding struck.
"A chair."
Without hesitation, Natasha typed the answer into the system.
For a heartbeat, the hall fell silent.
Then the screen flashed.
CORRECT
A collective sigh of relief escaped us.
The third puppet slowly retreated into the shadows while the fourth puppet stepped forward to take its place.
None of us celebrated.
None of us even smiled.
Three puzzles were behind us.
Two remained.
Just two more obstacles stood between us and Herb C.
But those final two puzzles could still destroy everything.
The difference between success and failure no longer depended on luck.
It depended entirely on our intelligence.
And in this game, one mistake was all it took to die.