The sun hadn't yet risen when Zeke stirred.
Zeke's suddenly eye's flew open in the darkness. His heart was punding but he wasn't startled, not panicked. Just... awake. It had become a habit. His body knew what time to wake up before his mind did. Back home, this was when the yelling would start. Faint murmurs escalating into shouting, glass clinking, sometimes faint cries. These pre-dawn hours were never peaceful.
He sighed.
His hand reached into his cloak and pulled out a folded photograph. Faded edges, a small tear on one corner. In it, three small faces smiled back at him. Amy, Sam, and Eli. Zeke stared at it for a long moment, thumbing over their little smiles like they were a map back to something he couldn't name.
"Yesterday I was reckless," he muttered to himself. "Running around without a plan like some lunatic..."
As he was thinking, the forest went quiet, the leaves stopped swaying in the breeze, the sound of snoring stopped. A voice, one they all knew too well cut through the clearing, The man from orientation day, the Headmaster,
"Hmm... there's still a bit too many of you left. Let's make this more fun."
Snap!
A shockwave pulsed outward. The trees trembled. Leaves danced as though caught in the current of some invisible tide. A ripple swept through the undergrowth, bending grass and branches alike. The air itself felt denser, heavier.
Zeke stood in an instant, his body tense. His eyes scanning his surroundings trying to see what happened.
The sleeping students all around the camp stirred and shifted, waking up in confusion, some bolting upright, others fumbling for their gear. Whispers turned into panic as the voice continued, its tone light and unsettling.
"Since there are less than six hundred of you left from the original thousand or two..."
A cold hush blanketed the group.
Gasps. Shocked stares.
"Six hundred...Students?"
"No way. That can't be right, its only been what? 4 days?"
Kaito, still sluggish from sleep, suddenly snapped to attention. His fists clenched, brows furrowed. "You have to be alive," he whispered, his voice barely audible.
The voice went on, as if amused by their disbelief.
"I've decided to make this game a little more fun, I will create a barrier of sorts."
"No, not to protect you. It'll form on the outer edge of the Wildlands. And it will slowly... close in. Pushing everything, and I do mean everything, toward the center. That includes the Hollows. Hahaha. Have fun, kids!"
Zeke let out a scoff, his tone laced with dry humor. "Crazy old man."
A few heads turned his way. A few chuckled, almost involuntarily. The laughter wasn't loud, but it was enough to break the fear's grip.
One student said. "We've got Zeke. He's strong."
Another nodded. "We made it this far, didn't we?"
Zeke noticed the attention turning to him and shifted his stance, almost hiding himself between Rian and Kaito. Truth be told, if the threat of death weren't looming over their heads, he wouldn't be anywhere near this many people.
Rian elbowed him. "You look like a scared cat."
Zeke cleared his throat and straightened his posture. "Alright, alright. Let's pack up. We move out in ten."
Chatter resumed as students scrambled to break down camp. For some, last night was their first proper sleep since arriving in the wildlands.
Zeke's eyes scanned the students in the area. He began counting, lips moving silently.
One... Two... Six... Twelve...
Thirty... Fourty... Fifty.
"Fifty-seven," he murmured. "This can work."
He quickly divided the students into seperate units, students shuffled to their assigned groups and greeted eachother as they were going to be fighitng life and death battles together.
He stepped back, watching them talk. Something about it felt surreal.
"Its like a game," he said under his breath. "Only difference is... real lives are on the line. And they want me to lead. That makes me... responsible for all of them, ughh."
A bead of sweat trailed down his temple.
"You got this."
Rian clapped him on the back. "You were doing great already, and you didn't even know you were the leader. Imagine how awesome you'll be now."
More laughter. A few voices echoed the sentiment.
"Zeke! Just do your thing, we'll back you up."
"Yeah! And save some of those freaks for us. We've got payback to collect."
The laughter faded, replaced by a somber undertone. The pain of loss, of names unspoken, weighed on them.
"You guys are supposed to say things to make this easier, not some depressing crap," Zeke muttered, cracking a half-smile. He turned around looking into the distance in an attempt to look somewhat heroic, he was more confident now. "Alright. Let's move out."
The group started moving. Hours passed by unknowingly. Leaves parted under their steps. The students moved with a surprising unity, picking up stragglers along the way, tired, injured, but alive. Every new face was a small victory.
Seventy... Eighty... Eighty five...
"Zeke, we might have the biggest group out here!" Someone joked. "Should we start calling you 'Your Majesty'?"
Rian started laughing loudly, a little too loud for Zeke's liking, he snorted, yanked down a nearby branch mid-run, and let it go, it snapped back, right into Rian's face.
A collective burst of laughter rippled through the stidents but suddenly Kaito stopped dead in his tracks.
Zeke noticed immediately and slid to a halt, the group of students stopped nearby when they saw this. "What's wrong?" Kaito's head tilted slightly. A flicker of something dark passed through his eyes. "Can you guys smell it too?"
"Blood."
Everyone froze.
Zeke stepped forward and sniffed the air. Metallic, sharp, thick. Not just the faint trace of injury, but alot of it.
Zeke's hands balled into fists. His grip tightened on the hilt of his blade. He looked at the others, no words needed. Their faces were pale. Their eyes, grim.
"Let's check it out," Zeke said, voice low but steady. "If there's even a chance someone's still breathing, we're not leaving them."
No one argued.
Together, they moved toward the smell of death.
They saw signs of tents in the distance, they got closer, weapons drawn, ready for a fight.
Until they saw it, this wasn't a battlefield, there wasn't even a fight.
No... it was a camp.
Silent. Still. Full of bodies. Students, dozens of them. Slumped against trees, sprawled beside tents, some clutching weapons they never got to use.
The group staggered to a halt. A few dropped to their knees pale faced, unable to look. Others stared, too stunned to react.
And that wasn't the worst part.
No… definitely not.
Because the bodies weren't torn or burned. No claw marks. No corruption. No sign of the Hollowed.
Zeke stepped forward. His expression, once focused, darkened like a storm front. Without a word, he let his aura uncoil steady, and suffocating. It spread like pressure in the air, dense and absolute.
Most of the students had never felt it before.
Some gasped. Others instinctively stepped back, eyes wide in awe and fear. But underneath the weight… was something steady. Unshakable. And in that, they found a strange comfort.
Then Zeke spoke words that sent shivers down their spine.
His voice was cold, but every word filled with immense killing intent.
"This wasn't done by Hollows…"
He paused. Looked around at the peaceful camp. At the bodies.
"…This was done by humans."
A moment passed.
"Students."