Chapter 1
The cursor blinked at me like it was mocking me. I hissed as I slammed the laptop shut.
"Fuck this," I muttered into the poorly lit room, as I looked around. My apartment looked like a crime scene—mattress on the floor, takeout towers, no lights except the blue glow from my monitor. Outside my window was a huge contrast, today was Friday so most people were outside laughing, partying, and doing everything I wasn't doing.
My phone buzzed, jolting me from sulking.
The text read; Amy: You alive? Haven't heard from you since Tuesday.
I groaned. "I'm alive enough."
I typed back: Yeah, just busy.
Those three dots kept blinking for a while before the next text appeared.
Amy: I know you are busy eating ramen and ignoring my calls?
"Jesus, can you sense sarcasm across cities?"i sighed then typed: The ramen here is very good.
Amy: So you won't mind dinner at my place on sunday. Don't you dare even argue.
"I'm not coming," I whispered, sending: Can't. I'm working yunno.
Amy: Liar. If you ghost me, I'm kicking your door down.
I tossed the phone aside. "Maybe I deserve getting kicked."
Just then—
Bang. Bang. Bang.
I froze. "Who the hell...?"
I checked the peephole. The hallway was empty except for flickering lights and Mrs. Donald's grocery cart squeaking somewhere in the distance.
As I was about to turn back, something caught my attention. A black box sat neatly on my doormat.
"What the..."I turned the lock and opened the door slowly. The box had no label or courier sticker. Just my name in silver ink: Alex Noir. I grabbed the box, shut the door, and dropped it on the counter.
"Okay, as if this isn't creepy enough." I muttered as my pad thai container tipped over. "At least the trash matches my life."
I pulled a knife and sliced the box to reveal a VR headset.
Now this wasn't just any VR headset—this thing looked like it belonged in a billionaire tech villain's lair. I ran my fingers through the sleek black leather. It was slightly warm. Weird. A note slid out.
"For old times' sake.
You know you want to try it."
—T
I stopped breathing.
"T?" I whispered. "No way."
My heartbeat punched my ribs. I read it again.
"T… Thomas?"
A sharp, bitter sound escaped my throat. "You're dead, man."
Thomas died two years gone in a car crash and his body was never found. His memorial was stupid as those tech bros tried to bid him farewell. I didn't even go.
"So who's fucking with me?" I snapped, turning the headset over. "Dave? Rob? Amy? This is expensive for a prank. Even for tech assholes."
I searched for a brand but there was none, it just hummed in my hands.
"What the...?" I tossed it away
A small blue glow lit the inside.
ENDLESS TRIAL v1.0
Welcome, Player
My stomach dropped.
"No. No, no, no. This is impossible."
Endless Trial was the game Thomas and I built and the game Quantum Shift killed. It was the game I buried. The game Thomas's widow begged me to erase.
I whispered, "How are you running?"
My hands moved on their own as I lifted the headset. It was warmer, almost… alive.
I hesitated.
"This is stupid. Alex, don't..."
Too late, I put it on.
I heard nothing at first except for my pounding heartbeat, then text burst across my vision
Do you wish to begin?
Warning: Once started, the trial can only be ended by completion.
Death is permanent.
Choose wisely.
"Don't do it." A voice behind me suddenly said
I flinched. "What's going on?!" "This isn't Halloween"
My hands trembled over the YES button.
"Alex," I whispered to myself, "you are the dumbest smart person alive."
I hit YES.
Almost immediately, light exploded and my nerves lit up like firecrackers. I screamed except no sound came out. My body folded inward, stretched outward, shattered, reformed until darkness snapped away.
I stood in a white void with no walls nor ceiling. Just endless whiteness.
Text floated in the air like a neon warning sign:
TUTORIAL LEVEL: SURVIVE
Time Limit: 10 minutes
Respawn Tokens: 0
Something sharp and loud cracked behind me.
I spun around. White space split open like glass as black veins spread across the endless space.
"Oh hell no..."
A voice echoed, low and distorted "Alex Noir, You started the trial?"
I shouted into the void, "Thomas? If this is you, you better answer me right now!"
Silence.
Then—
A figure stepped out of the crack and what I saw next almost gave me a heart attack.
My dead partner was alive and staring right at me. Thomas Wright was before Me!
"Thomas?" My voice cracked. "This isn't funny man."
He tilted his head and stared at me with empty eyes.
"Hello, Alex."
I stepped back. "This is insane. You're dead. I saw the reports. The crash..." I mumbled hitting my face.
He laughed. "Well, reports lie."
"Then where the hell have you been?"
He didn't answer just stepped closer.
"Thomas," I warned, "I swear to God..."
"You shouldn't have started the trial."
"Well too late! You sent me the damn headset!"
His jaw tightened. "I didn't send you anything."
My heart thudded. "What?"
He pointed at me. "You just triggered the system."
"What system?!"
"The one that killed me."
I stared at him. "Stop. Don't mess with me. This is a game..."
"No. It was never a game."
The void shook violently and cracks spread like lightning.
Thomas grabbed my shirt. "Listen to me. You need to wake up."
"But, I am awake!"
"No, you're not." He shook me hard. "You're inside it and you just lost your only exit."
The cracks widened and something behind us growled.
"What is that?" I whispered.
He didn't blink. "Death."
"I thought death was permanent in the trial."
"It is."
My breath hitched. "Okay, okay, then how did you survive?"
"I didn't."
The void shattered behind him. A giant shape crawled through—arms, claws, teeth, darkness.
I screamed, "Thomas, what the fuck is that thing?!"
He shoved me backward. "Run!"
"No! Come with me!"
He yelled, "I can't!"
The creature lunged and Thomas shoved me harder. "Alex GO!" "Save yourself!"
The void flipped and my body hurled sideways like gravity forgot how to function. The white space tore open beneath me. I extended my hand trying to grab Thomas. Our fingers barely touched before he whispered, "I'm sorry."
The floor disappeared and I fell. I tried to scream as air ripped past me but the sound vanished into the void.
After falling for what felt like an eternity, I slammed hard onto cold, cracked pavement.
Lights flickered above me as I struggled to recall where I was.
I pushed myself up, gasping. "Where the hell...?"
Then a voice behind me, calm and cold spoke and it sent shivers down my spine.
"Welcome to Level One."
I whipped around to see a man standing ten feet away, holding a gun pointed at my forehead.
I raised my hands. "Wait—don't—!"
He cocked the hammer.
"You have sixty seconds," he said, "to tell me why Thomas Wright sent you to kill me."
My heart stopped.
"What? No—I don't even know who you are!"
"Fifty-five seconds."
"Thomas is dead!"
The man's eyes narrowed. "Wrong answer." He stepped closer and pressed the gun to my skull.
"Tell me the truth," he whispered, "or you die in the first minute."
My soul nearly left my body.
"Okay, okay!" I blurted. "I don't know why I'm here! Thomas... he... he said he didn't send the package, he said I triggered something..."
The man's expression changed like he knew exactly what "triggered" meant. He lowered the gun.
"who else knows you're inside the system?" he said slowly.
I blinked. "What system? What are you talking about?"
He grabbed my shirt and slammed me into the wall.
I gasped as my skull cracked against brick.
"WHO. ELSE. KNOWS?"
"N—nobody!"
Then he let go and I slid down the wall, coughing.
He whispered, "You're already marked."
My hands shook. "Marked for what?!"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he looked up at the end of the alley, his eyes widening.
"Oh God," he breathed. "They found us."
"Who?!"
He shoved his gun into my hands. "Run and Don't stop. Don't trust anyone. Not even me."
Heavy footsteps echoed at the alley entrance.
I pointed the gun with trembling hands. "What is happening?!"
The man backed away from me, with terrified eyes. "You started the Endless Trial."
"I KNOW!" I shouted. "But what does that mean?"
He whispered:
"It means you'll wish you'd died before it began..."
A shadow stepped into the alley and he stopped talking. It was almost six feet tall, it looked like a human but this thing was far from it. Its eye sockets were replaced with red blinking lights.
As the creature raised its arm, a razor of light extended from its wrist.
The man screamed, "RUN, Alex!"
I tried to move but my legs felt like cement blocks. Everything went black as the creature charged.