* * * * * * *

  "FUCK!"

  Radcliff nearly jumped out of his armor as a snake slithered beneath his boot and disappeared into a crack in the stone floor.

  "Gods above," he muttered, clutching his chest. "I nearly had a heart attack."

  Ren blinked.

  "You're a knight."

  "Yes."

  "In full armor."

  "Correct."

  "And you're afraid of a rope with anger issues?"

  Ren blinked.

  A knight afraid of snakes… yet here I am, trusting him with my back.

  Radcliff glared at him.

  "So, you know snakes are demons sent to test mankind. These are serious matters."

  Selenia couldn't help but laugh, "Our brave protector."

  Sighing, Gale rubbed his temple.

  "Can we please continue walking before I lose the will to live?"

  But before anyone could respond further, Darwin had reached his breaking point.

  "Enough, please!" Darwin snorted in frustration.

  Morale won't save you from whatever is hiding in these ruins, and neither will jokes."

  The laughter faded quickly.

  Silence settled over the ruins like a suffocating shroud. Ren felt it immediately.

  The joking had been a fragile shield. Easy to dismiss the party's fear, but utterly worthless.

  Death, he knew, would come far easier.

  …

  He let the silence sink in, eyes scanning the ruins around him.

  The halls stretched endlessly around them, twisting deeper into the mountain. Broken pillars lined the corridors, and dust coated the ancient stone.

  They had been walking for hours. And they had found nothing.

  But something still bothered him.

  The ruins were far too large.

  This didn't feel like a random forgotten tomb.

  It felt like a labyrinth.

  "Darwin," Ren said, "you got anything on this place yet?"

  The old man scratched his beard.

  "Not a damn clue. I've studied ruins for forty years, and I've never seen architecture like this."

  He tapped the wall with his cane.

  "These tunnels run in every direction. Some rooms connect at impossible angles. Whoever built this place either had no idea what they were doing…"

  He paused.

  "…or they knew exactly what they were doing."

  "To confuse intruders?" Radcliff asked curiously.

  Darwin stroked his beard.

  "Possibly, but it's unlikely we'll know for sure."

  Or to trap us, Ren thought as a chill ran down his spine.

  Heavy silence followed.

  Selenia finally sighed.

  "Let's stop for a moment."

  Everyone gladly dropped their packs.

  "We've been walking all morning," she said.

  Ren leaned against the wall.

  For a brief moment, the tension eased.

  But his instinct screamed.

  Wrong. Something here was very wrong.

  Then he heard it.

  A faint scratching sound, like claws dragging across stone.

  At first, it was just one. Then another. Then dozens.

  Ren shot to his feet.

  "Pack up," he said.

  Radcliff frowned.

  "We just sat down."

  "Pack. Up."

  The tone in Ren's voice made everyone pause.

  "What's wrong?" Selenia asked.

  Ren stared into the darkness behind them.

  "I don't know yet. But we need to go now."

  The scratching grew louder. Gale's hand moved to his sword.

  Then the sound became clear. Footsteps. Hundreds of them.

  The shadows at the end of the corridor began to move.

  Too many.

  Ren's stomach tightened.

  Bodies staggered into sight.

  Dozens of twisted corpses stumbled forward, their limbs jerking violently as thin black threads pulled them like puppets.

  "What the hell are those?" Radcliff whispered.

  Darwin's eyes widened.

  "Corpse puppets."

  The threads above them stretched through the darkness like a spider's web.

  And then the horde spotted them.

  "RUN!" Selenia shouted.

  The party grabbed their packs and sprinted down the corridor.

  Ren ran, his boots pounding on the stone floor, forcing his legs faster.

  The sound behind them made his skin crawl.

  He had no intention of becoming zombie chow. He'd seen enough movies to know exactly what happened to the slow ones.

  Behind them, the puppets slammed into the walls as they ran, dragged violently by their strings.

  The sound of snapping bones echoed through the ruins.

  "Why are there so many?!" Radcliff yelled.

  "No idea, but don't worry about the small stuff, you idiot!" Darwin shouted back.

  Gale glanced behind them; the puppets were gaining.

  "Faster!"

  More puppets rounded the hall in front of them.

  Fearing for their lives, the group turned a corner.

  The labyrinth twisted endlessly around them, and suddenly the ground shook.

  A deep cracking sound echoed through the corridor. Ren's heart sank.

  "Move!" he shouted.

  The ceiling collapsed behind them.

  Stone exploded across the hall as the tunnel caved in, burying the path they had come from beneath tons of rubble.

  The same way they came in.

  Dust filled the air.

  Radcliff stared at the destruction.

  "…Well."

  Darwin sighed.

  "I believe our exit has been blocked."

  Another screech echoed behind them.

  "For fucks sake they don't stop."

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  Ren couldn't help but curse. The trial was no joke, and he was facing it head-on.

  Selenia drew her sword.

  "Then we have to go deeper."

  * * * * * * *

  The group ran again, desperately trying to outrun the monsters chasing them. But the corridor narrowed ahead.

  The monsters' sounds grew closer, and as they did, the ruins began to shake.

  Gale slowed for a moment, trying to make sense of the situation. But in doing so, the floor beneath him collapsed.

  And he fell through the broken stone.

  "GALE!"

  Without thinking, Ren dove after him.

  In his mind, he knew it was stupid; the man had been nothing but a hindrance to him. But despite that, Ren didn't want to let him die.

  He didn't want any of them to die. Trial or not, he had a bond with these people.

  The first since he lost his family.

  Gale slammed against the side of the pit, barely grabbing a broken ledge.

  Below him, the ruins cut into another section, dropping hundreds of feet. If he fell, he would die.

  His grip began to slip.

  "Don't you dare let go!" Ren shouted.

  Gale looked up in shock as Ren slid down the slope and grabbed his arm.

  "Why are you-."

  "Shut up and climb! You're really fucking heavy!"

  Gale pulled himself upward while Ren braced his feet against the wall. Using all of his might, he launched Gale upwards.

  Together they scrambled back onto solid ground.

  The horde burst around the corner behind them.

  Radcliff swung his blade, cleaving two of the puppets in half. Yet that did not stop the horrid monsters.

  "We can't keep running, we'll just exhaust ourselves, these are not just monsters, they are puppets, they will not tire," Darwin screamed out.

  "What are we to do if we stop, we die!"

  But then the corridor widened.

  And suddenly the tunnel opened into a massive cavern.

  Everyone stopped.

  Above them, a crack in the ceiling allowed sunlight to pour into the chamber.

  And inside the cavern… was a forest.

  Green grass spread across the ground. Trees grew around small ponds. Moss covered the stone walls.

  An entire ecosystem existed beneath the mountain. Ren blinked in disbelief.

  A forest… underground.

  Either he'd lost his mind… or the world was stranger than he thought.

  "Don't just sit there, we're taking our stand."

  Selenia's voice boomed through the group as they awaited their death.

  But as they waited for the hordes to strike, the dolls suddenly stopped. The light that shone through the crack cut the strings of anyone who came close.

  "Of course! There are corpse puppets, how could I be so dumb?" Darwin exclaimed, "Their natural weakness is light", he said, breaking his composure.

  But not all the creatures entered the terrarium. Most stood outside watching

  "Why are they just staring at us? You said they can't come in, right?"

  Ren's eyes followed the beam of sunlight cutting across the grass.

  Slowly. Almost imperceptibly.

  But it was moving.

  His stomach tightened as he realized where the light came from.

  "It won't be day forever," he said quietly.

  Radcliff frowned. "What?"

  "The light." Ren pointed to the ground. "It's coming from the sun. Once night falls…"

  Darwin's expression darkened immediately.

  "Oh."

  The party instinctively turned to the tunnel behind them.

  Outside the forest, the corpse puppets twitched in the shadows, dozens of lifeless heads slowly turning toward the clearing.

  Watching. Waiting.

  Thin black threads trembled above them like a web in the dark.

  Ren scanned the terrarium again. Grass. Trees. Water. An entire forest, buried deep beneath a mountain.

  It made no sense.

  Which meant it wasn't natural.

  "There has to be something here," Ren said, voice firm. "This is the first real change we've found in these ruins. It can't be a coincidence."

  He's right, Selenia spoke, "Spread out—if you see anything, anything at all, call it out."

  Radcliff scratched the back of his helmet. "And if we don't?"

  "Then we die when the sun sets."

  No one argued.

  The group fanned out. Ren checked the pond edges, Gale searched the rock walls, Selenia inspected the trees, and Darwin examined every piece of stone he could find.

  Hours passed. The sunlight shifted slowly across the clearing. Shadows stretched long. And still, they found nothing.

  Radcliff finally kicked a rock across the grass.

  "Fuck it all! There's nothing here!"

  "Stop it," Selenia cut through the clearing like a blade. "Getting frustrated won't help us, Rad."

  Ren exhaled slowly.

  "But he's right," he admitted. "We've been searching for hours. There has to be a lead."

  This place wasn't random. Nothing inside the ruins was random. Trials existed to test those who entered.

  "What makes this room different?" Ren muttered.

  Then Gale's voice echoed from across the clearing.

  "Hey! There's something carved here!"

  The group quickly gathered around him. Gale brushed away the moss and dirt of a stone wall encasing the clearing, revealing ancient carvings etched deep into the stone.

  Darwin leaned closer. "A mural…"

  The first carving showed a circle in the sky. Beneath it, a shaft of light poured down into the forest.

  The next image showed the circle moving across the sky, its light shifting over trees, ponds, and stone.

  They followed the mural further along the wall. The carvings continued: the sun lowered toward the horizon, its light thinning over the forest.

  Then the final image appeared—a crescent moon hung high, pale light touching the far side of the cavern wall, directly opposite where they stood.

  Darwin's eyes widened. "Well now…"

  Radcliff crossed his arms. "So the sun sets. Big revelation."

  Ren didn't answer. He was staring at the final carving. The moonlight wasn't just illuminating the forest—it was touching the stone wall. And the stone wall in the carving was… opening.

  Slowly, he turned toward the far end of the terrarium. Toward the place the mural had shown. His heart began to beat faster.

  "The light isn't random," he murmured.

  The trees were placed too perfectly. The walls angled too precisely.

  The ruins weren't natural.

  Ren realized a revelation.

  Selenia looked at him. "What do you mean?"

  Ren pointed toward the crack in the ceiling. "The ruins are guiding the light. Every tree, every wall, it's guiding the sun. The sun shows us the forest, but the moon?"

  Darwin exhaled slowly. "A celestial mechanism… of course! How could I be so blind?"

  Darwin began hobbling toward the far wall of the terrarium.

  Radcliff groaned. "We've already checked that area three times."

  He knelt beside the moss-covered stone. "No. Not like this." He gestured to the faint beam of sunlight stretching across the ground. It crawled slowly toward the wall—exactly as the mural showed.

  "In ancient times, a moonlight key was widespread; it would make sense if that were the key to these ruins. Only through shining in the darkness will the entrance be found..."

  The puppets outside twitched in anticipation, unable to enter the light, still watching, but as the light faded, inching closer.

  Selenia tightened her grip on her sword. "Once the moon rises… the ruins will open the way."

  "You'd better pray you are right."

  As the sun faded, a raspy hollow moaned through the cavern. Shadows shifted unnaturally across the grass, and the party froze.

  From the tunnel entrance, dozens of corpse puppets began trickling forward. Their hollow eyes glinted in the dying light, their limbs jerking in an unnatural rhythm. Thin black threads shimmered like steel wires in the gloom, guiding their motion, each step a deliberate, silent threat.

  "They're coming," Selenia hissed, her voice tight but commanding. "Gale, Ren, stand by me! Rad, cover our flank! Darwin, stay close, don't let them near you, and watch the wall!"

  The puppets moved as if the forest itself conspired against them, weaving between trees and over ponds, their heads swiveling unnaturally, following every subtle movement. The air was thick with the scent of decay and wet earth, every snapped twig and distant drip of water echoing like a warning drum.

  The first puppets reached the clearing's edge. Selenia stepped forward, swinging her sword in wide arcs. Steel rang against brittle bones as her scarlet hair shone in the darkness. A puppet collapsed in a heap, but two more slipped past her guard.

  Gale roared, slashing, sending a flurry of black-threaded corpses sprawling. Yet from the shadows, more appeared—emerging silently from cracks in the cavern walls, creeping like spiders toward their prey.

  Radcliff's sword cut through one creature, but another latched onto his shoulder. He stumbled, teeth gritted. "Ah—!"

  Ren dove in, thrusting the beast off of him.

  "Shit, my arm," Radcliff said, looking at its mangled mess.

  "Don't stop, we need you!"

  Every swing sent splinters of bone and sinew flying. But for every puppet that fell, another seemed to replace it.

  The forest around them, once strangely serene, now felt alive with malice. Trees creaked as if reaching for them, shadows twisted unnaturally in the fading light, and the murmur of countless unseen puppets whispered through the leaves.

  As each corpse he killed, his chest burned, adrenaline screaming, blood spatters coating his arms. The voice echoes through his head.

  {Congratulations, Champion! You have defeated – Corpse Puppet!}

  The system's voice was distant, hollow, irrelevant. All that mattered was the undead threat pressing in on them.

  Ren cut another corpse down.

  And another.

  His arms were already starting to ache.

  How many of these damn things are there?

  Each step the puppets took was like a countdown to death. Limbs twisted, eyes hollow and unblinking, black threads guiding their every move. There was no pause, no mercy, no end.

  The more they killed, the more creatures filled their place. Radcliff was down to one arm, and Selenia was tiring. The cavern felt impossibly vast, yet the puppets closed in, inch by inch, relentless and merciless.

  Selenia's blade cut another, but she felt the terror in her bones—a kind of fear that doesn't let go. Muttered to herself, teeth clenched. "Just… hold out until the moon rises."

  The party's survival depended on that thin sliver of light, and on them alone. Behind the forest, the puppets paused only briefly, and then they moved a tide of death again, crawling across the cavern floor, hungry for them all.

  But all was not lost. The moon shone over the clearing.

  "It's here!"

  But as it did, they were overwhelmed. A beast lunged from behind the foliage, leaping past Ren's barricade of bodies.

  Turing around, he screamed, "DARWIN!"

  But before he could react, the creature had sunk its claws, crunching down on Darwin's leg.

  Ren saw it and swung, killing the beast, but not before it tore the leg clean off.

  "AH- FUCK, my leg god it burns help me!"

  Ren stuttered," I-I'm sorry I didn't see it get past me-"

  Radcliff ran over, trying his best to keep Darwin sane despite the pain. And responded to the worry.

  "Ren. It's okay, focus. We need you right now."

  Sensing the situation turning for the worse, Gale yelled out. "Step back!"

  He paused for a moment, muttering something under his breath. Then he swung his sword forward. Flames erupted along the steel, bright as the sun itself, as he slashed out in a desperate arc, igniting a field of death and flames in its wake.

  Ren stared in shock.

  Fire roared down Gale's blade like the sun had been forged into steel.

  Is this what real talent can do?

  But he had no time to pity himself; others relied on him. It was as Radcliff had said.

  Gale fell to his knees. The attack only gave a moment of peace, as more puppets rushed through the flames.

  But the moment was all they needed.

  The moon had reached the wall. And with its light, the stone behind them began to shake, as an entrance opened. As if it were always there.

  "Come on! Hurry, it's open!" Radcliff dragged Darwin inside.

  Ren quickly helped Gale pick himself up, pulling him into the darkened entrance.

  Seeing the beast rush toward the entrance, Selenia let out a series of attacks on the stone, shattering the walls and collapsing the corridor behind them.

  Loud, scratched, and banged against the wall as the monsters poured in, trying to reach them. But they did not break through.

  They managed to escape. But not without tragedy.

  Thrown back into reality, Ren rushed down the stairs with Gale over his shoulder.

  As they reached the bottom, the room opened up into a giant library. Yet he could not focus on the scene before him.

  His gaze was drawn to Darwin. The old man was in awful shape. He had his leg torn off, and through his mangled flesh, blood poured.

  By now, Selenia was tearing through her pack looking for the herbs they had scavenged earlier.

  "Ren hold him down!"

  Ren ran over and held the old man.

  "I need to close the wound. Do you have any more essence left?"

  Panting, Gale responded, "Enough to heat the blade."

  The old man screamed in dread as Ren held him down.

  Tossing the herbs to the other knight, Seleina began working quickly, "Rad mix the Brittenoff and Pestium."

  Nodding his head, he hurried to create the paste.

  With that, Selenia looked down, "Darwin, hey, can you hear me?"

  "Selenia… the pain, I can't. I'm sorry this old fool is just slowing you down."

  "We would have died here without your knowledge. It's not your fault; we let the beast slip through. I'm sorry, Darwin. Hold my hand now."

  Hearing this, Ren's heart stung.

  She looked back, "Gale. We're ready."

  The man poured out flames that encased his sword. But with the creation of fire, he fell back, in exhaustion, gasping for air. "Ren- you take the sword, I have to focus on keeping the flame lit."

  Picking it up, Ren held the flaming blade; the power surging from it was unlike anything he'd seen, but he did not stop to observe it.

  Ren pressed the blade against Darwin's leg.

  Searing heat sizzled against flesh. The old man cried out in agony, thrashing, but he had no strength left as he passed out from the pain.

  But the wound had been closed.

  Radcliff handed Selenia the medical paste as she tore off a strip of her clothing and wrapped it around Darwin's leg.

  Selenia held the old man in her grasp as she whispered, "It's done."

  Gale lay back against the stone, exhausted, "Thank god."

  But Ren couldn't stop the fear that gnawed on him.

  Darwin was severely injured, Radcliff's arm was badly beaten, and Gale had almost passed out from overusing his power.

  He stared at Darwin's leg, or what remained of it. Blood soaked through the bandages, dripping onto the stone floor.

  He felt his chest tighten.

  If he had gotten to him sooner, the old man would have been fine.

  Just hours ago, he had been joking about herbs and calling them fools. Now he lay unconscious, barely alive due to his mistakes.

  Ren clenched his fists.

  This was his Trial. He was supposed to show his strength to help these people.

  Yet because of him, they were already paying the price for his weakness.

  Ren tightened his grip on the sword.

  He had to get stronger.

  * * * * * * *