The world snapped back into place.

  Fog peeled away. Torches flickered to life.

  The starting room materialized around them for the… they’d stopped counting.

  But this time, for once, all three of them stood up with something resembling confidence.

  Harlada stretched her arms. “Okay. New cycle. New chance.”

  Leo nodded firmly. “Yes. This is the run we actually go for Progression.”

  Bert pumped a fist. “We’re leveled. We’re rested. I have skills now! Proper rogue skills! We can totally do this!”

  Harlada clapped him on the shoulder. “Exactly. No more fear. No more hesitation.”

  Leo straightened his back, took a deep breath, and said with new determination:

  “We can win this.”

  For three glorious seconds, the optimism held.

  Then Leo’s expression collapsed.

  He stared past them, toward the window.

  His shoulders slumped.

  “Guys…” his voice cracked a little. “Come here.”

  Harlada groaned. “Leo, no. Don’t do that voice. That’s your ‘everything is ruined’ voice.”

  “It is ruined,” Leo whispered.

  ***

  Bert frowned. “What? What’s—”

  He stepped beside Leo, looked outside… and froze.

  Harlada stomped over, irritated. “If you two are being dramatic again, I swea—”

  She saw it.

  She froze too.

  All three pressed closer to the window, staring at the lineup of opponents surrounding the Stair of Progression.

  To the far left, in the chamber where the Children once stood, now lurked:

  The Rat People.

  Three hunched, twitching figures with wiry fur, long thin teeth, clawed fingers, and tails coiling behind them.

  Their ears flicked sharply.

  Their eyes glowed a predatory red.

  One of them gnawed on the window frame.

  Bert let out a strangled squeak.

  “WHY do they look like me if I fell into toxic waste?!”

  Leo nodded. “The resemblance is… uncomfortable.”

  Harlada added, “It’s your posture.”

  Bert looked mortally offended.

  Next chamber over stood three Gnomes.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Bright pointy hats.

  Enormous beards.

  Eyes far too clever for their size.

  They looked like Bert had been shrunk, repainted, and given a criminal record.

  One gnome was sharpening a spoon.

  A SPOON.

  Bert flailed. “WHY does EVERY short group look like me?!”

  Harlada patted his shoulder. “It’s a Maze-wide problem.”

  To the right of the gnomes, replacing the dual-wielders’ chamber, stood the Wizards.

  Three tiny figures in violently red hats.

  Robes mismatched.

  Expressions vacant with cosmic curiosity.

  One stared at the ceiling.

  One stared at the floor.

  One waved happily at a torch.

  Leo whispered, “They look… blazed.”

  Bert squinted. “Their hats are aggressively red.”

  Next over stood the Bearded Survivor.

  A single Bearded Leo curled in the corner of his chamber, clutching his massive beard and staring into nothingness.

  He looked like a poet whose muse died.

  Twice.

  Harlada murmured, “He looks devastated…”

  Leo swallowed. “If his beard could cry, it would.”

  And finally, in their own starting chamber — the fifth — they saw only themselves.

  Their own reflections.

  Their own ready stance.

  Their own fear.

  Harlada didn’t look at them.

  She was still staring at the Rat People who had replaced the children.

  Her voice cracked.

  Barely audible.

  “…Where are the children?”

  ***

  The Maze pulsed.

  Bright.

  Cold.

  Impersonal.

  Maze Run #477986 commencing in 5 minutes.

  A hum rolled through the stone floor, like a giant beast clearing its throat.

  Leo, Harlada, and Bert stood frozen at the window, still staring at the Rat People where the children had been.

  None of them spoke at first.

  Then Bert cleared his throat. “Maybe… maybe the kids progressed.”

  His voice sounded too light. Too hopeful.

  Like it was wearing hope as a cheap disguise.

  Leo nodded quickly—too quickly. “Yeah. Yes. They were smart. Fast. They… knew shortcuts. They could’ve made it.”

  He said it with a bright, brittle smile he absolutely did not feel.

  Harlada didn’t turn from the window.

  Her jaw clenched.

  Her arms stiffened.

  “They… they were helpful,” she whispered. “They had tools. Knowledge. They were capable.”

  Her voice wavered.

  Leo swallowed. “Right. They’re fine. They’re probably already on Level Two. Laughing. Playing hide and seek with someone else.”

  Bert nodded so hard his hat nearly fell off. “Yes. EXACTLY. They’re fine. They must be. That’s… that’s definitely what happened.”

  The silence that followed was thick.

  Painful.

  None of them believed a word of it.

  Leo placed a hand on the window, avoiding the Rat People’s eyes. “They… probably succeeded.”

  Harlada closed her eyes.

  Breathed shakily through her nose.

  Forced a whisper:

  “I want that to be true.”

  Bert looked away, blinking too fast. “Me too.”

  Time scrolled by in silence

  Another Maze pulse rolled through the chamber.

  T-minus 4 minutes.

  They stood together, each of them wearing hope like armor that didn’t fit, desperately trying to pretend it wasn’t already cracked.

  And the Maze, cold and silent, did not confirm or deny anything.