Eternal Malediction (RE)

Chapter 116: Safer in Numbers

The next room was quieter, but it wasn’t empty.

Roy pushed open the stone door slowly, the old hinges groaning as dim torchlight spilt across the chamber beyond. Compared to the previous room, this one felt smaller. More enclosed. Less like a forgotten temple and more like a place people had actually stopped in.

Which made sense because there were people inside.

A group huddled together near the far wall immediately tensed at the sound of the door opening; Roy’s eyes swept across them instinctively.

Five people. No... Six.

One of them sat against the wall clutching his arm tightly. Blood stained the torn sleeve of his shirt, dripping slowly between his fingers despite the pressure he was applying. Judging by the depth of the cut, it was recent.

Wooden slashes. Same as the corpses from before.

A younger man knelt beside him, tearing strips from a piece of cloth before wrapping it tightly around the wound to slow the bleeding.

The injured man grimaced but stayed quiet as if used to the pain.

Roy noticed it immediately.

The way he sat, the way his breathing stayed controlled despite the injury. Experienced. Not military, necessarily, but experienced enough not to panic.

The others looked less composed.

A middle-aged man stood protectively near the back, eyes wary and shoulders tense; he was one of the people Roy saved. Beside him was a young woman who looked exhausted more than afraid, though her grip around the short blade in her hand tightened slightly when Roy entered.

And near the wall, from what it looked like, a young couple.

The woman clung tightly to the man beside her; fingers curled into the fabric of his jacket while he kept an arm around her shoulders. Both looked terrified.

Reasonably so.

Every pair of eyes in the room locked onto Roy, and the tension was immediate. Not hostile but cautious. Roy lifted one hand slightly away from his side.

Non-threatening. The injured man was the first to speak, but his voice slightly stuttered. "...You... You alone?"

His voice was rough but steady despite the pain.

Roy nodded once. "Yeah."

A brief pause. "Just me."

The room stayed quiet for another second before the group relaxed slightly but not fully. Just enough that the younger man tying the bandage finally exhaled through his nose.

"Good."

Roy raised an eyebrow slightly. "That’s a weird thing to say."

The young man shrugged without looking up. "Would’ve been worse if something followed you."

Fair point.

Roy glanced briefly toward the door behind him before stepping fully into the room. The middle-aged man near the back finally spoke up.

"Are you injured?"

"No."

"Attacked?"

"Yeah."

That immediately sharpened their attention, and the young woman frowned slightly. "You fought one already?"

"One?"

Roy tilted his head slightly. "The wooden things?"

A few uneasy looks passed through the group. So, they’ve seen that thing too, and the injured man let out a quiet breath. "Tree room?"

Roy looked at him in a confused tone. "...There are multiple?"

The silence that followed answered the question well enough. Interesting. The young man finished tying the cloth tightly around the injury before sitting back slightly.

"We lost four people getting here."

The room became noticeably heavier after that sentence.

Damn.

No one spoke immediately. Roy’s eyes moved across them again. Seeing exhaustion, fear, and stress. But underneath all of that was confusion, confusion as to why they are here.

No one understood what this place actually was.

Roy leaned lightly against the nearby wall on his shoulder. "So why stop here?"

The couple exchanged glances, so the middle-aged man answered instead. "Because moving forward keeps getting worse."

Yeah, that makes sense.

He gestured vaguely toward the stone doors deeper in the chamber. "Every room after another door has one of those things in it."

"The wooden monsters," the young woman muttered quietly.

The injured man scoffed faintly. "Monsters, my ass. Feels more like this place is testing people."

Roy’s eyes narrowed slightly at that wording.

Testing. Ah, that’s why they are called the Trial Chambers. Roy thought so mockingly in his head.

The younger man looked toward Roy again. "How’d you kill yours?"

"Hit it hard enough."

The room stared at him. Roy blinked once. "...What?"

The young woman rubbed her forehead tiredly. "That’s not helpful."

"Well, it worked."

The injured man actually laughed quietly at that even though it was short, dry, and painful. However, it helped. "Fair enough."

Roy pushed himself off the wall slightly. "So, you’re all just waiting here?"

"For now," the middle-aged man replied. "Safer together."

Roy considered that for a moment and statistically, they weren’t wrong.

These things were dangerous to people, especially in confined spaces. Numbers improved their survival odds considerably.

Though large groups also slowed movement. Roy glanced toward the deeper door again.

Still... It’s better than dying alone.

He looked back toward them. "Mind if I join your group?"

The question caused another brief silence, and the couple looked toward the others immediately. The young woman studied Roy carefully, clearly trying to judge whether he was trustworthy or not.

The younger man spoke first. "You handled one of those things alone?"

"Yeah," Roy answered simply.

"And you’re not injured?"

"Nope."

"...Then honestly we’d be stupid to say no."

The middle-aged man nodded slowly.

"Agreed."

The injured man shifted slightly against the wall before speaking. "Long as you’re not crazy."

Roy thought about that for approximately one second. "...Depends on who you ask."

That earned another small laugh from the injured man. The tension in the room eased slightly after that, but only slightly. The younger man finally stood, brushing dust from his baggy trousers "Guess introductions make sense then." As he pointed toward himself first.

"My name is Daniel."

Then toward the injured man who was wearing a uniform which looked very similar to an officer that was guarding the tournament from any malicious activity occurring. "That’s Marcus."

Marcus lifted his uninjured hand slightly in acknowledgement.

"The guy pretending he’s calm over there is Victor," Daniel continued. He had the same uniform as Marcus, but it looked different in a way, like he was his superior, gesturing toward the middle-aged man near the back.

Victor sighed. "I am calm."

"No, you’re not."

The young brown woman spoke next; she was wearing jeans and quite a tight shirt, showing off more than she might have intended. "Sophia."

Then the couple spoke for themselves.

"I’m Ethan," the man said carefully. "And I’m Lily," the woman beside him added softly.

Roy nodded once and pointed at himself. "Roy."

Marcus glanced toward him. "So"

A pause. "What do you think this place is?"

Roy looked around the room slowly.

The ancient stone, the Prana-dense walls, and the monsters behind doors. A structure called the Trial Chambers.

His eyes narrowed slightly. "...A filter."

The room went quiet.

Victor frowned and spoke out. "What’s that supposed to mean?"

Roy folded his arms loosely. "The beams picked specific people."

No one interrupted him. "The rooms escalate gradually the more doors you go through, from what you told me. The creatures are dangerous, but not unbeatable."

His gaze shifted toward the deeper doors again. "And this place clearly wants us moving forward."

Sophia’s expression tightened slightly. "You’re saying someone built this intentionally?"

"I’m saying nothing about this feels random."

Marcus stared at the floor for a few moments before muttering quietly. "Trials."

Roy nodded once. "Probably."

Lily looked uncomfortable. "Trials for what?"

No one answered immediately because no one knew. No one had answers, and the torches crackled softly against the silence.

Then... Somewhere deeper beyond the next set of doors. A distant scream echoed faintly through the stone halls, and the entire room froze.

And suddenly... The idea of staying still felt much less safe.