The silence was startling—louder than the original quiet from their meditative routine. Rachel felt it first, like a shiver working up the hair on her skin, causing a sharp gasp that roused the others. She opened her eyes to the momentary darkness. It came and went so quickly that she was doubtful she'd ever seen it. One moment, they were near the calm beach, meditating as they listened to the wind. And the next they were in… she frowned, trying to piece what she could see together.

"Paul?" Rachel called as she stood up. She heard the others join her, perhaps too stunned to speak. She stared at the sky. The blue of it was vivid, almost as if splashed with extra color. The warmth of the sun on her skin felt real, too. She was not dreaming. Yet, the spread of trees below and in front of her couldn't be real. She heard the crash of water and sauntered forward, walking unstably to the edge of the cliff they had suddenly appeared on. The wind blew against her face, cold and salty. Hands grabbed at her, pulling her back sharply.

"Rachel!" Paul called as she spun, his eyes filled with as much confusion as she felt. She let the fist she'd readied fall back down, and a sudden wave of exhaustion rocked her. Behind him, their friends had myriad of emotions on their faces. And Rachel finally saw something the others had not. Not just Evelyn, but Charles, Nathan, and Diana. There were more.

"What is going on?" Rachel asked as she pulled away from Paul, her voice trembling. They all turned, and behind them, waves slapped the base of the cliff. Their vibration raced through the stones, filling Rachel with withering dread. Together, they watched as more people filled the plateau. They poured out of glowing doorways as if spat out by a cosmic orifice.

"Is this the end of the world?" Diana asked, her eyes wide with dread.

Paul placed a hand on Rachel's shoulder. It would have been a comforting gesture if she couldn't feel his fear through the touch. He was such a gentle soul. She leaned into him, watching the others freak out.

"I don't think it is that," Nathan replied. "There was that commotion before we all disappeared from… there."

"There," Charles mused as if he couldn't bring himself to think what they were all thinking.

"…aliens!" Someone yelled in the crowd in front of them. There were wails and crying as the horror of what was happening settled on them. The group of friends gathered together, away from the chaos brewing. Rachel could guess what was about to happen. The fear of it seized her, and she pulled Paul back. There was nowhere to go, though. Behind them was the lip of the cliff and a dreadful drop that would most certainly lead to death.

"We are going to die!" Diana whispered, and Rachel glared at her. The woman stared back, lost in despair.

The severity of the situation stripped her of her earlier reticence.

"We are not dead yet," Rachel said, and as if on cue, a spark of violence lit up in the crowd as people tried to push their way from the danger of falling down the sides of the cliff. A rush to survive started the first stampede. Paul squeezed Rachel's arm until she pulled it from his grip.

A couple pulled their teenage son from the struggling throng to join them. They stood apart, watching the others tear at themselves. Some had escaped the chaos and fled into the lush forest below.

"Is that wise?" Evelyn asked. "They don't know what is out there. There might be wild animals."

"Lyn, no one knows what's out here," Charles said, his round face folded in a frown that pushed his thick lens up his nose. His hair was cut short, favoring his face, but the rest of him showed none of the expected sexiness of French men.

"We should think of a way to get out of her—"

"Wait," Rachel called, raising a finger for the other to stop talking. She couldn't explain why, but she had an overwhelming feeling that something or someone was coming.

"What?" Diana whispered through the ongoing brawl raging a few feet away. Rachel leaned her head left as if listening for something. She felt it in her soul, a pull she couldn't trace its origin. It dragged taut until her skin itched and seemed on the verge of exploding.

An eerie silence filled the landscape. Even the sound of the wind disappeared, replaced by an awful, bloated silence. Then, the blue sky slowly darkened. Rachel expected the ground to shake, but nothing happened.

Once the clouds were dark and the forest and stones were covered in darkness, a flash of blue-white flickered above them. The sparks shone as threads of interconnected flares. The sky rumbled, and another peel of light made the clouds glimmer. A jagged streak stretched like lightning, reaching down with profound power. In the wake of the brief flash, Rachel heard a fresh wave of wailing. Those who had escaped into the forests ran back out as if chased by ghosts.

It took a few minutes for the plateau to fill up again. Many sat down and wept, facing the grim reality of their hopelessness. Whatever was doing this could kill them all if it wanted.

"It hasn't," Rachel whispered, gaining a weird look from Paul. He seemed worried for her and about the light above them all.

It flared once more, and suddenly, its shape changed as it took another form that Rachel could understand: words. She realized she could read what was up there and hear others murmuring the words.

Topography configured to fit tutorial requirement— 100% completed!

One hundred life forms randomly gathered and transported!

Tutorial Zone—Titan's Grave has been restored and upgraded for habitation and training!

Training grounds are outfitted and ready for use!

"That was just like the…" The words vanished before Diana could finish, and something expanded before them. Rachel jumped back, stepping on Paul. He caught and steadied her before turning curious to what had appeared before them. He wasn't looking in the same direction as her, so Rachel figured they all had theirs.

"What can you see?" Rachel asked as she stared at the black rectangle in front of her. In the middle was a blinking cursor. The rectangle was the size of a twenty-five-inch screen. It moved in whatever direction she moved her head, but it was transparent enough to see through.

"It is moving," Diana said. Rachel thought she was talking about the window until she saw the cursor moving and letters forming. They were large enough for her to see clearly but written in stylized cursive in the middle of the screen.

The Architect Welcomes You!

That vanished, too, to be replaced by the blinking cursor. Rachel wondered what or who the Architect was while watching the cursor begin to move again.

"This is beginning to look like Matrix nonsense," Paul whispered. Rachael took a glance at him and smiled. He was holding her again. She hadn't even noticed his fingers slip into hers. Sometimes, she felt overwhelmed by how much he expressed. But in stressful moments, he automatically became her lifeline. And she saw his usual focused glare as if this was one of the many engineering problems he had to brainstorm through.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

Scanning possible Prime Core host... completed.

Threading integration path for seamless Prime Core synchronization.

Multiple pathways identified... compatibility count: 74%.

Warning: Pain receptors cannot be disabled. Maximum pain levels are anticipated during synchronization.

Initiating Foundation Thread using the most favorable pathway…

Someone cried in the crowd, pulling Rachel's attention from her screen. Then, she heard Paul growl beside her. She didn't hear the end of her lover's cry before her world was sheeted in red and anguish. The scream tore out her throat like an angry, wild thing, tearing at the wall as she pushed out every sound she could muster. She felt her bones snap, and something dragged at her flesh with hot pinchers. Her eyes burned with red fire, and her blood bubbled in her veins like lava.

She cried but heard none of it—only the agony of her body twisting, breaking, being unmade and remade. It was unstoppable. She pleaded for it to stop, and once the words were out of her mouth, they were forgotten in the void of even more suffering. If she could end it by dying, she would have. But all she saw, heard, and felt was the darkness accompanying the unending torment.

When it receded, she felt no better. The memory of what she'd suffered plagued her for a few more minutes. An echo of it manifested as a throb just behind her eyes. Her chest heaved up and down rapidly. Her body jerked, and she sobbed; this time, it wasn't as loud, but it was hard. She folded into herself on the hard ground.

"Rachel," Paul whispered, his hands finding her roughly. She anchored herself to his voice, willing the pain to stop entirely. A cold breeze washed over them, soothing the remaining aches and burns. She heard Diana weeping as Paul pulled her to himself. She knew she had to open her eyes, but it was difficult. She didn't want to find out if all of what she had just experienced had been real. She wanted it… No, she needed it to be a dream.

"You have to get away from the edge," Paul whispered. Rachel opened her eyes slowly to find the drop a few inches from her feet. Paul's arms were wrapped around her chest, holding her back.

Her bones still ached, but the pain had dulled considerably. She shifted back, and Paul did the same. Many were groaning and crying. They both stood up to find they were not the first to recover. Evelyn was sniffling into Charles's chest, her blonde hair roughed up and as filthy as her cotton grey top. Diana was a mess, and somehow, Nathan squirreled himself away, trembling against a short, raised stone.

The screen appeared in front of Rachel, the cursor blinking ominously. She stared at it like it was the devil—with her body leaning away from it as though that would save her from whatever was to come.

Prime Core integration is completed.

The consumption template was altered and configured for observation only.

Using basic physical and mental capabilities to assign stat… failed.

Initial stat and ability allocation delayed… Complete pre-tutorial trial for stats allocation.

Begin Foundation Thread awakening… cleared.

Awakening completed.

The system error log was compiled for observations, and three errors were encountered.

Send: Yes/No?

System error log sent.

"That was brutal," Paul said as he approached Nathan, who seemed to have recuperated a bit. Charles searched for his glasses while Evelyn tried to pacify Diana. The integration had taken a toll, but Rachel wondered what would come next. The dark rectangle was gone, and so had the light in the sky and the darkness. The sky was bright again, spilling light all over the landscape.

"Does that mean someone is watching us?" Charles asked, fitting his glasses back on. It bent one way, so he tried to fix it again. "There was a lot about observation at the end. Doesn't that mean someone sent us here? If we find them, perhaps we can stop this thing?" He added a bit of French, which Rachel didn't bother remembering.

"Maybe," Rachel said, her mind churning with the possibility of what would come next. Her hair was messy, and she had a few scratches from rolling around. None of that mattered because the rectangle appeared again, and her heart thumped hard as the cursor began to move again.

New Quest: Trial of the First

Description: The path to greatness is carved by those bold enough to seize it. Your trainers await beyond the wilds, watching for the first to emerge from the gauntlet of obstacles. Prove your worth in speed, strategy, and resilience, and claim the honor of being named The One Above All.

Goal: Reach the sacred training ground before any other challenger. Use every skill at your disposal—run, fight, outwit. The trainers' eyes are upon you, and your actions will shape their judgment.

Reward:

Gold

Experience

New Title: The One Above All

"This looks like some kind of game to any…" Charles stopped and turned to watch the beginning of the second wave of chaos. The people on the plateau flowed in a rush, pushing, scratching, and fighting. This was different, though; people were not just trying to escape; they were trying to win. Whatever the system was, it had sparked something in them—the greed in the well of darkness in every human being. Even Rachel felt the urge to join. She saw the desperation of everyone trying to fight their way through the throng, and she saw her frustration mirrored in the awkward punches and the guttural howl of pain and anger that seeded from the exchanges.

"What do we do?" Diana asked. The six of them were clustered together, backing away from the fights. Many had ignored the violence and simply rushed into the dense forest of trees where the rock ended.

"I can't join this mania," Evelyn muttered, still shaken from the integration.

"That is not the issue," Nathan said, frowning. He was the youngest of the six. His London accent had been a fun thing to tease him about, but that was back when they were in the relative safety of the retreat camp.

"We have to run for it. I don't know the consequences of not participating, but I don't want to know. And if this is like those games Charles just suggested, I would stake my shelf of books on the possibility that having the reward title comes with some perks."

"How do we get past that?" Paul asked, but the crowd was already thinning, and Rachel was moving fast. She pulled Paul with him, and fortunately, he followed without hesitation. She heard him swear as they broke into a jog. Charles called them from behind, but Nathan was already catching up.

A large man turned on them suddenly, perhaps startled by their approach. He swung thick arms at Rachel; she frowned, wondering why she felt he was a tad slow. She went under his arm, and Paul went around him. Nathan rammed his shoulder into the bigger man's gut, groaning as he threw the man off his path. Diana shrieked, and Paul whispered something in disbelief, but Rachel's focus was locked on the forest—the way the darkness split away like a veil banishing every stretch of light.

"Stay together!" She screamed at the others just before she leaped into the cover of a tree and dim light. She'd been wrong. There was some illumination, but it took a while for her eyes to adjust.

"How do we know where to go?" Someone asked, probably Diana.

"Just keep running," Paul called back. Rachel had let go of him to run freely, but she kept close, ensuring he wasn't so far behind. The more she ran, the clearer it became that something had been done to her. To all of them. She pushed herself a bit and marveled at her ability to move fast and feel little fatigue. She wasn't even out of breath. She wanted to ask the others if they could feel what she felt, too, but there was no time to dwell on that. She slowed to a stop before they got to a large tree. Paul almost ran past her, but she jerked him back. The others slowed behind her.

"What?" Nathan asked impatiently. "We have to go."

Silhouettes peeled out of the thicker shadows between the trees. She couldn't explain how she knew they were there, almost as if she'd sensed them—which didn't make sense.

"You have made our jobs harder," the first man grumbled as he entered the light. He looked to be in his sixties, weathered, but he stood straight. His bald head and sweaty face looked out of place on his body. The rest of him was surprisingly fit. "Now, we must chase and beat you to slow you down while the others catch up."

"You have made groups already?" Paul asked, his surprise evident in his voice. The older man grinned as two more materialized beside him.

"That was the first thing we did when the fighting began," the man said. He swung a thick wood stick in his hand, testing the weight with a grunt.

"We don't have time for this," Nathan growled, pushing past the others to stand beside Rachel. She turned to look at him for the first time since they appeared in this nightmarish place. He looked taller and broader, too. There was an intensity to how he glared at the man opposite them. The other two blocking their way were smaller and younger. They had makeshift clubs, but Rachel could smell the hesitation oozing off them like burnt honey.

"You can decide to stay put, you know?" The old man said.

"And you idiots should get out of our way," Nathan responded with a shrug. He moved before anyone could react. He pounced on the old man first, his punches hard but careless. He'd never fought before. Sad, Rachel thought as she attacked one of the others while Paul fought off the third.

She didn't have to be methodical or smooth with her punches, but they were precise. She moved slightly to the left as the swing came down and slammed a quick jab to the man's chin and watched him stagger back in a daze before knocking him out with another.

She turned around to find the old man pleading for Nathan to let him go, but Nathan was already running farther into the forest, and Rachel followed. She felt a wild thing in her chest flutter as a thin smile spread over her face. Perhaps it was the danger lurking, or maybe she had just missed the fear of an incoming swing—she felt exhilarated, and she welcomed the sensation. With a renewed vigor, she sped after Nathan's speeding form.

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