Jania’s back ached, so she turned to her side. As she did, she felt her cheeks meet the cold, and her fingertips brushed against a smooth, cool texture. The sensation dragged her groggy mind from the haze of sleep. She fluttered her eyes open and saw that the world around her was a vague blur of shapes and shadows, with the hues of pale blue mixing in.

  Then, a memory hit her.

  She sat up sharply and blinked, trying to adjust her vision. Her gaze swept across the shadowy space around her. Where were Richard and Hazel?

  “Ha—” The sound caught in her chest as Jania tried to call their names, strangled by a sudden chill that seemed to ghost over her skin. The hair on the back of her neck and forearms rose, standing in fear. She took in her surroundings, eyes sharp with wariness.

  The first thing she noticed was the four light blue glowing symbols with a small mixture of pink and white, each etched into the marble column. She also saw a transparent square barrier surrounding her. The four columns marked the corners of a square. Their presence somehow amplified the weight of the invisible boundary that separated her from everything else.

  Beyond the barrier was the void, waiting.

  Darkness that felt too thick, too alive. It didn't simply surround her; it watched. A low, shifting noise filled the space. It started with a faint, almost imperceptible pop, and then deepened into a wet sound that reverberated through the cold marble floor.

  Jania, paralyzed and mute, closed her eyes in fear.

  A sickening, stretching sound, like thick fabric being torn too quickly, a harsh ripping, sent chills through her body.

  Crack.

  Snap.

  The harrowing twists of multiple bones out of pce were followed by slick, sinewy drawls. It sounded hard, at the same time, soft or fleshy. Raw meat? Innards? Jania didn’t want to imagine, didn’t want to think, but she couldn’t help but believe that something was grotesquely pying with a living thing.

  It went on and on until—silence.

  Jania held her position with her hands cmmy against the floor and her legs frozen. She dared not move, dared not breathe. Afraid that a sigh or a shift might invite whatever was from the suffocating darkness.

  Dry pops and sharp clicks echoed. A series of staccato clicks came next, quick and unnerving like joints being forced into pce. Wet, slithering noises followed, suggesting a mass shifting against itself, accompanied by cracks and muffled squelches. Parts were being pushed and aligned. The noises built in an erratic rhythm, ending with a final slimy smack that felt sealed and complete.

  A profound silence settled, stretching endlessly.

  …

  A faint vibration, perceptible at first, teased the edges of awareness.

  …

  And then, footsteps. The strike of heels against the hard floor carried an air of poise, click-cck, click-cck, measured in its rhythm, the pace disturbingly calm.

  Jania heard it go farther and farther until it disappeared, but her body remained still. She counted in her mind. Each number was a tether, a desperate attempt to anchor herself in the present.

  One.

  Two.

  Three.

  One. Two. Three. A minute passed, maybe more.

  She opened her eyes, and the unseen load pressing down on her lungs was lifted, leaving her trembling as she hesitantly took a deep breath. Her hands were sticky with sweat, and when she tried to move her fingers, they shook violently. She gnced around, eyeing the edges of the barrier. Nothing.

  But a weak, pale red light flickered to life in front of her. Not bright. More like the faint glow, wavering and soft. It came out of nowhere, suspended in the air, an arm’s length away. At first, it was no more than a faint outline, hazy and indistinct. The light began to take the shape of a rectangle, tapered at the top, forming a soft arch.

  Like a tombstone. A translucent, tombstone-shaped hologram.

  Jania stared at this as text began to appear within it.

  Dear guest,

  Welcome to the Arrival Hall!

  Arrival hall? Jania thought, frowning. Multiple possibilities rushed to her head, and most of them were unscientific, magical even. She believed it would be pusible, especially when she remembered everything that had happened before she arrived here.

  The hologram shimmered again, its pale glow intensifying as more text materialized across its surface.

  You have been invited to our estate’s gathering. We are pleased to have you for an extended stay, where every day is a feast! To properly receive you in our main estate, you shall reside in the Arrival Hall for 77 days. During this time, we kindly expect you to familiarize yourself with its ways and encourage you to ascend to Level 20.

  Jania read the text again and again. Each time made her feel worse. She didn’t like the implications of the statement. Levels? Extended stay. 77 days? That was too long! She was going to miss her parents’ return. They would assume she was kidnapped like the others. But not spirited away? Or was she summoned or transported to another pce like the ones in the books?

  What made her panic the most was one big thing. What if she never saw her family again? Her breathing stilled for a moment, panic curling tight inside her ribs.

  Breathe the ground, Nia. Breathe the ground. Jania thought as she tried to pull her focus on the words of the message instead.

  Feast. Innocent enough on the surface, but their undertones gnawed at her.

  Jania's fingers instinctively curled. What kind of feast? Her thoughts of the previous encounter entered her mind, and her pulse quickened.

  The text changed again.

  You are currently in a designated Sanctum! You can make noise, sleep, and eat without any disruptions. This zone will remain active for the next 77 minutes. Feel free to rex, leave the zone, explore, or engage in any activity of your choosing before the official reception begins.

  When you do wake up tomorrow, you will be entrusted with assignments tailored to help you familiarize yourself with the Arrival Hall and steadily ascend to the next level. These tasks are designed to ensure your progress and preparedness for the grand estate.

  Please, enjoy the remainder of your time here.

  Jania didn’t even have time to process her feelings when the hologram shifted again.

  Jania Amis

  Arrival Hall 101 | Guest 7765

  DAY 0 - DAY ??

  Age: 20

  Pnet: Verd

  All of a sudden, a small blob of specter popped out from the hologram screen. Jania remained still while she assessed the situation. She saw how the blob opened its pair of round eyes, floating to the side of the hologram, and held up a sign that read:

  Countdown: 00:01:16:59

  Please make use of your time in the Sanctum.

  Jania stared at the little ghost and, recalling the information given, she quietly said, “Hel..lo?” She immediately scanned her surroundings as she looked for any signs of danger. She stood motionless, straining for any hint of movement. And for a few more moments, clear.

  It seemed that the hologram’s information was true. However, she did want to have another test. She was only too scared to do it. Instead, she looked back again at the ghost, who was staring at her. She reached out, her hand trembling, when she noticed a weird tattoo on her wrist.

  Three faint lines of symbols, almost like an intricate script. She paused, her heart skipping a beat as she inspected them. The symbols were unlike anything she’d ever seen before. They looked like a beautiful cursive of another foreign nguage. She traced the lines with her eyes, but there was no way for her to understand them.

  What... are these? Jania thought.

  Although she tried touching it, it remained unaffected, just a pattern, embedded into her skin. She wiped it with her thumb and shook her wrist, trying to see if it would dislodge the symbols or make them vanish, but they stayed exactly where they were, undisturbed.

  Jania gave the ghost a helpless gnce and tried asking, “Can you tell me what this is?”

  The ghost, silent as ever, had its eyes blinking open and closed in a slow and unsettling manner. It didn’t acknowledge her question.

  Okay. That’s fine. Jania wasn’t frustrated, but finding a strange mark on her skin made her shiver. Someone, or something, had been close enough to leave them. Close enough to touch her. It was unsettling.

  Taking a steadying breath, she forced her unease to the back of her mind. Whatever this was, there was nothing she could do. For now, she had other matters that could be directly checked.

  Jania set her eyes on the ghost again.

  In curiosity, she continued with her initial pn. She extended her hand again. The moment her fingers made contact with the air, they passed right through the hologram, through the ghost itself.

  It was within Jania’s expectations. She withdrew her hand. What now?

  She had to check this area first, so she pushed herself upright, her legs uncooperative beneath her. Both from sitting too long and from experiencing fear. Her bag shifted with a sharp clink, the shuffle cutting through the heavy silence. The noise, so out of pce, made her freeze mid-motion. She frantically scanned the area.

  Nothing came.

  Jania’s eyes gnced back at the countdown reminder, and she clenched her hands into fists.

  I can’t stay here forever. With renewed determination, Jania tried to stand again. Her legs trembled beneath her for a few moments while she breathed deeply, trying to get a solid hold of herself. She had no time to waste. There was one priority she needed to do first.

  She needed a pn.

  The hazy moonlight filtered through the broken windows and cracked walls, providing light to the dark halls. The air hung thick with dust. Scattered throughout the corridor were old, weathered tables, their surfaces chipped and covered with yers of grime, left untouched for who knows how long. Candle fixtures clung to the walls, but their wicks were long extinguished, leaving the room in an eerie silence, devoid of warmth.

  Jania stuck to the walls while her phone’s fshlight cut through the darkness. She had turned off all sound settings, ensuring that no sound would arm anything. Her rge shoulder bag, previously prone to making noise with sudden shifts, had been carefully rearranged by packing it tightly, secured with a reinforced magnetic fp and sturdy straps. Every item inside was cinched, snug, and silent against her side.

  She wasn’t simply wandering; she was mapping out the halls, tracing her path through the maze of the Arrival Hall in hopes of finding some hint of an exit. Or another living person. Every so often, she would stop to retrieve her sketchbook, make quick notes, and draw the yout of the space to capture every detail.

  No movement other than the quiet shuffle of her feet and the soft scratch of her pencil on paper.

  She had left the sanctum hours ago when the time ran out. By the time the barrier disappeared, she was greeted by the worn-out interior of a mansion that was bathed in the night’s colors. From then on, she walked through endless corridors and locked doors.

  Jania now found herself in another long, narrow corridor, and she spotted an alcove on the left. It was tucked away in a corner. Its archway had long since lost its ornate detailing. The alcove was deep enough to offer some sembnce of shelter, a pce where she could hide from any wandering eyes, should she need to.

  As Jania settled into the alcove, she felt the coolness of the rough stone against her back. Her heart still thudded in her chest from the tension of the endless wandering, but she took a slow breath to steady herself. She pulled out her sketchbook, the pages already filled with jagged lines marking the paths she’d taken. With her fshlight now aimed at the page, she resumed sketching the next section of the hall.

  A soft voice drifted into her hearing, a whisper that echoed through the halls.

  She tensed. The pencil hung in mid-air, its tip brushing the surface of the paper, and, without a moment's hesitation, she turned the fshlight off.

  “Stay within these halls…” The voice said, low and haunting. The words slithered through the air, cold and thin.

  Jania froze, watching the shadows that might pass by the alcove.

  The voice came again. This time, it was no longer alone.

  “Staay within these haaalls…” It rippled through the hall, with voices overpping each other in a fractured chorus while repeating the same eerie message.

  Whatever they were, Jania couldn’t hear their movements. Not even the distinct sound of shoes. Just their voices.

  As their shadows glided past the alcove, Jania didn’t dare move, her breaths shallow and silent. The whispers continued, the yered voices seeping into the surroundings.

  “Stay within these haaalls…”

  Each repetition cwed at her nerves, growing fainter as the figures moved farther down the corridor. She fttened herself further against the cold wall. Her heart pounded so hard she feared it might echo in the stillness. The air was tense, thick with a palpable chill that crept along the back of her neck.

  One by one, the whispers began to thin out, the voices growing softer until they melted into the silence of the hall. Even then, Jania remained still, waiting, watching, her ears strained.

  Minutes stretched into what felt like hours. Only once she was certain the figures were gone and the unnatural whispers had faded completely did she dare to move.

  Jania exhaled shakily. Her breaths were barely audible in the deafening silence. She allowed herself a moment of respite, her chest rising and falling rapidly, her body shaking.

  She needed to concentrate. Summoning her courage, she gingerly slid the little sketchbook and pencil back into her bag to ensure they wouldn’t shift and betray her position. She had to fight the urge to run. With a quick tap, her phone’s fshlight flickered to life, its narrow beam carving through the gloom. Lips pressed into a thin line, she stepped into the hallway, every muscle taut.

  Turning right, she came to an abrupt halt.