Rest

The section we were in was cosy thanks to Ethan's buff on the semicircular house currently in effect.

I felt a sense of peace wash over me, a sense of safety that I hadn't felt in a long time.

I looked over at Dae-su Han, who was watching Chimsy with a soft expression.

His eyes met mine, and he smiled, his face relaxing into a look of contentment.

Jackson Lee's eyes locked onto mine, his gaze intense and curious. "So, about your psychic powers...?" he said, his voice low and serious.

I nodded, already aware of what he was about to say since I had access to his thoughts. "Yup. What about it? " I asked trying to go along.

It wasn't going to be a wise decision for them to find out they had no privacy when it came to me.

I knew all their secrets and sins... Not that these three had any sins worthy of note... they were all innocent people compared to the real shitty things actual shitty people have done.

Jackson's eyes narrowed. "So, what now? You seemed to know about the creature we were running from"

"Exactly! What were we running from earlier?" Dae-su Han asked, his voice filled with curiosity.

"Well you could say that I can see glimpses of the future," I said. It was a lie but they didn't need to know the truth" And the creature we were running from wasn't just like the lava worms or the sky hawks that we fought. It is much more dangerous and lethal. Could kill all of us within a blink of an eye, from the looks of it. Chimsy can attest to that. She saw it tear her two undead minions apart in the blink of an eye."

Jackson's eyes widened.

He hadn't seen the creature but it all made sense to him.

He could try to picture a dangerous creature in his mind but didn't know which features to give it.

"What's the name of the creature?" He asked

I shuddered at the memory of the sky serpent. "Sky serpent. Since we came into the scenarios I discovered that all the creatures belonged to five tiers. The creatures whose names were surrounded by feint Blue belonged to Tier One and were basically the weakest. If you notice the sky hawks and the lava worms belonged to this group. That's why they weren't so out of our league to defeat. The creatures whose names were surrounded by Orange belonged to Tier Two. The creatures whose names were surrounded by red belonged to Tier Three. The creatures whose names were surrounded by black belonged to Tier four. The creatures whose names were surrounded by purple belonged to Tier Five. "

Chimsy who was lying on the bed became confused and with a voice barely audible said "But the sky serpent had white surrounding its name. "

"Exactly," I said, " I thought I had it all figured out until I found out about the sky serpent. It doesn't belong to the five tiers I mentioned and from the looks of it it seems even stronger than the five tiers."

Jackson's face was grim. "So you've seen different creatures that belong to the different tiers."

I nodded. " Yes, I have. And they are all terrifying with different abilities but really that shouldn't be our utmost priority. We should be aiming to avoid as many creatures as we can."

I took a deep breath. Somehow, talking about this was making me out of breath.

Dae-su Han's eyes narrowed. "But then would you say that avoiding these creatures is wise since that's our means of getting to higher levels? And higher levels mean more chance to protect us."

"Well, what you're saying is the exact truth. But across the scenarios I've witnessed so many stronger than you get destroyed in milli moments. People who had levels so high that you would think that they would survive all ten scenarios.... gone just like that."

Jackson's eyes dimmed "Witnessed? What do you mean?"

I nodded. "Yes, that's what I mean. It's just a term for my psychic powers. I could see across the ten scenarios. But I'm limited by certain factors so I can't witness everything"

It may sound like a lie but this was the truth. I could only see what the humans were witnessing.

Dae-su Han's eyes were filled with curiosity. "Ten scenarios? What do you mean? "

" Don't you remember those ten miniature doors that appeared before this whole ordeal started? " I asked Dae-su Han whose face lit up when he connected the dots.

"Yes. The one that Jackson Lee chose for us and made us end up here. " There was a hint of bitterness in his voice; a resentment toward his dearest friend for making such a stupid choice.

." If you can remember from back then, there are ten scenarios in total. Each scenario is represented by a door to a different planet, with different creatures dwelling in them. Each of the scenarios has different ways to escape them but for this infernal planet, the way to escape is to reach the only building in it. "

Dae-su Han then asked. "The only building? What's so special about it? How would that help us escape? "

"Reaching the building will present us with a projection, exactly like that one before. Ten miniature doors would then appear suspended in mid-air, each one open except for the one you've completed which will be shut. In our case, the seventh door would be shut. The contents concealed behind the remaining nine portals would just be as they were before the scenarios started. Hovering above the miniature doors would be the words 'Choose a scenario'."

"Yeah, I can remember. That was exactly how it was." Chimsy said her voice almost a whisper.

She was resting and her soul energy was slowly returning but it didn't account to much.

Her body tissues barely even had any energy in them because it had been so long since she last had any food.

That made her worse off than the rest of us who also haven't had any food for long, since the lava worms.

To sum it up, she had both exhaustion of body and soul while the rest of us just suffered from bodily exhaustion.

Jackson's then asked "Other planets? Then if we get into the other planet then what would happen?"

I nodded. "We'll find the escape out of the planet. I'm not sure what the ultimate goal is. I think all humans are supposed to finish the ten scenarios, but what happens after that, I have no idea."

Everyone fell silent, the weight of my words settling in.

The uncertainty of our situation hung in the air like a dark cloud, threatening to drown us in its ominous presence.

Dae-su Han's eyes dropped, his shoulders slumping in defeat.

Chimsy closed her eyes as if she were surrendering to the slumber that had plagued her.

Jackson's face twisted in frustration, his fists clenched at his sides.

"So, we're just pawns in some twisted game," Jackson spat, his voice laced with anger. "We're forced to fight for survival, without even knowing why or what the end goal is."

I nodded, feeling a pang of sympathy for them. "I'm afraid so. The purpose of the scenarios is unknown, at least to me. "

Dae-su Han then asked "But what's the point of it all? Is it just some sick experiment, designed to test our limits and push us to the brink of sanity?"

They've had this kind of conversation in the past so many times but it had been short and most of the times ended as rhetorical questions, unable to be answered by anyone.

Although it's still quite rhetorical given that none of us knew the purpose of this whole ordeal, you could say that they learnt a lot of things about their situation now more than ever.

I shook my head, feeling a sense of helplessness. "I don't know, Dae-su. I wish I did. But I think we need to focus on the present and on surviving each scenario."

Chimsy's voice was barely audible, her words laced with desperation. "But what if we can't escape? "

"I think we'll have to die trying. " Jackson Lee answered his gaze on the floor and his voice filled with so much resolve.

We fell silent once more, the gloominess of our situation settling in like a shroud.