Pendulum 3

"AAAH!"

The sound of screaming startled her. Sharmaine landed on the ground with a loud thud. She was surprised that she heard no bones breaking with her fall.

It was only then that she realized the person screaming earlier was no other than her.

Slowly forcing herself to get up, the first thing she noted was the change of her clothing when she dusted her behind.

Instead of seeing the jeans and plain shirt she had on, she found a black plaid skirt and sexy halter top covering her body. A knee-length boot was on her feet, and her hair was pulled back by a tight band.

Letting her gaze wander around, she saw an enormous tower looming behind her. She could sense the energy of sorts in her surroundings, almost calling out to her. The sensation pricked on her skin.

"Uh, hello?" Sharmaine tried to call out. But there was no response. It was oddly quiet, considering she was in a place she couldn't seem to recognize.

Did she make it inside Zion? Was this some sort of test she needed to fulfill before being fully permitted entrance?

"But, why did it seem so weird?" Sharmaine murmured.

Taking her first step forward, away from the tower, Sharmaine heard a loud boom, a green smoke coloring the sky from a distance.

"That didn't seem like a good sign."

–

"Fine!" Astherielle blew out a sigh. "I'll go first."

Positioning herself from where Zera had seen the red button, Astherielle held her gun, aiming for their ticket to saving Nayowmi and completing their five-man team to proceed to the next stage.

She took a deep breath, closing her other eye to lock her on her target, aiming the tip of the gun towards the red button.

She needed to time it precisely. On every 5th strike, she would be able to see it clearly and take a chance.

Sweat broke out from her forehead.

Astherielle knew what would happen if she and Jaspreth failed.

Zera and Nayowmi were directly engaged with the zombies below while Beatrix aided them from above.

It was up to her and Jaspreth to make the shot or else. She wanted to leave it there, not needing to see the mental image of the effect of their failure.

Releasing the breath she was holding, Astherielle began to count the swings. When she was close to reaching five, her fingers closed in on the trigger.

"Five," Astherielle watched her bullet sail through the ceiling, her hands clenching on the gun she was holding as she held her breath once again.

"50 seconds!" Beatrix called out.

Gritting her teeth, Astherielle closed her eyes. It was improbable that the bullet would pass through.

"Yes!" Jaspreth bellowed. He was looking at the pendulum coming to a stop. The two balls above them slowly halted their swinging.

Astherielle opened her eyes and breathed out a sigh of relief. But at that moment, the ground began to shake.

The platform where Nayowmi and Zera were standing on, battling the zombies, had started to ascend.

That was the good news.

The bad news was the prison cells and chains that held the zombies were suddenly starting to unlock.

"Oh, hell no," Jaspretth immediately sprang to action. He fired at the zombies closest to advancing on Zera and Nayowmi.

Astherielle followed suit. The three of them covered the ground where the two couldn't. They were both firing and fighting off anyone who would come close while the platform they were standing on slowly made its way upwards.

"Can't this platform go any faster?!" Zera exclaimed, angrily slashing towards the zombies who tried to lunge at her.

"Blame the zombies!" Nayowmi replied, mimicking Zera's stance and battle cry. The two of them were simultaneously switching places to help each other out and confuse the monsters.

Glancing at the timer, Zera was relieved to find that it had stopped its countdown at 45 seconds.

If Astherielle's bullet had missed she and Nayowmi would have been thrown in a pit of hungry zombies, fighting their way for survival. They would be clinging on to the hope that they kill all of them unless the game would forcefully spiral them someplace else.

They would be on to separate paths, though. Nayowmi would probably have had the same fate as Zera and her friends before, trapped inside the crystal box called asylum.

On the one hand, Zera would proceed to the next level with just her friends. They would be a four-man crew until a certain level.

The four friends wouldn't have minded that one bit. But losing Nayowmi was kind of a big deal.

She was part of the crew now. Whether Nayowmi liked it or not.

"Stupid zombies," Zera muttered.

She and Jaspreth were only joking about it in the previous stage. If she had known it would come true, she would have avoided the topic at all costs.

"For what it's worth, I didn't know you guys were not aware of the reward."

Zera snorted. It was becoming clear to her that there must be some foul play behind the game. At least for her and her friends.

They had been dragged into it without any knowledge of what they were really getting themselves into.

If she was to be honest with herself, Zera wanted to play rebellious the entire game. But seeing what her previous action had led to, she could not pull the same trick for the second time.

So instead, she was determined to get to the bottom of this and play the game. She needed to have a word with whoever may be responsible for dragging Zera and her friends inside it.

Though, she was more curious as to how that was even possible.

'Was it the work of some divine being?'

Zera could only speculate. She gradually pulled herself away from the thoughts that bothered her.

"I think it's a little late for that. But don't worry, Nayowmi. We weren't blaming that on you. Whoever got us here, that was someone whom we would need to find."