Roger opened the tenth gate slowly, expecting nothing more than another twisted illusion, another room filled with danger. But the moment she stepped inside, her entire body froze, like someone had stolen the breath from her chest. Her eyes widened, her heartbeat stopped for a second. She felt something familiar—painful, warm, and terrifying all at once.
Kim noticed the sudden stillness in her."Roger? What happened?" he asked, stepping in after her.
The moment he crossed the threshold, he froze too, his breath turning cold, his vision spinning before settling into a scene he knew too well—one he wished he could forget forever.
He was back on that bridge.
The old, broken wooden bridge hanging above the roaring river. The place where he had once almost died. The place where his life had almost ended before it ever had a chance to begin. He felt the cold wind whip past him, felt the old fear crawl up his spine. His fingers trembled as he looked down.
He was hanging from the edge, his grip slipping, the wooden plank beneath him shaking dangerously.
And above him—Roger.
But not the Roger standing beside him now.The Roger from the past. The one with younger eyes, filled with panic and determination. Her hands were dirty, scratched from pulling him up before. She was holding his wrist tightly, refusing to let him fall.
Kim felt his heart crack open.He was reliving it—again, and again, and again.Every time he blinked, the moment restarted.Him falling.Roger catching him.The river roaring below.His scream echoing.Her promise that she wouldn't let go.
He didn't understand how it was happening. Why this memory? Why now?
And Roger—standing in the present—was trapped too.
She was no longer in Kim's memory.She was pulled into her own.
Her surroundings changed like the world flipped inside out, and suddenly she was standing on a grassy field, sunlight falling softly on her face. She knew this place like the back of her hand. The small playground near her old house. The broken swing. The wooden slide. The tree they carved tiny stars on with pebbles.
And there—laughing, small, innocent—her younger brother.
His voice echoed, clear and real, as if the years had never passed.
"Come on, sis! You're too slow!" he shouted, running ahead with a wooden toy sword in his hand.
Roger felt her throat tighten.Her hands shook.Her heartbeat grew loud enough to drown the whole world.
She hadn't seen him in years—not like this.Not alive.Not smiling.
She took a step toward him, afraid he would disappear if she blinked. But he didn't. Instead, he laughed again, and the sound hit her harder than any monster, any ghost, any nightmare she had faced so far.
She was living that memory again, trapped in a moment she both loved and feared more than anything.
And she didn't know how to escape it.
Meanwhile, far away from Roger and Kim's memories, the others faced the tenth gate's true trial.
Tony, Jet, Samy, and Tin each stood in different places—places created from their past, their regrets, their fears. The tenth gate wasn't an illusion. It was a test—a test that touched their deepest wounds.
And every test was tied to death.
Not to kill them—but to make them relive the moments that almost broke them.
Tony found himself standing before the burning house from his childhood—the flames rising high, heat burning his skin. He remembered the night he failed to save someone he loved. But instead of running away like he did back then, he stepped forward into the flames, refusing to let fear control him again.
Jet stood inside a dark room filled with mirrors, each one reflecting a version of her she hated. The one who failed. The one who wasn't strong enough. The one who let someone important down. Shadows whispered behind her, feeding her insecurity. But this time, she shattered the mirrors one by one, breaking the lies she had been carrying for years.
Samy found herself standing in front of the senior students who used to bully her, mocking her for not being "beautiful enough." In the past, she cried and hid. But today, she stood tall, her voice steady as she told them she no longer needed their approval. Their words no longer had the power to shape her.
Tin—brave, quiet Tin—stood in the middle of the forest where he once ran from a creature of his nightmares. Back then, he could only run. Now he tightened his fists, turned around, and faced the beast head-on. He wasn't the scared child he used to be.
Each of them faced their fear.Each of them relived their darkest moment.But instead of escaping or avoiding it—they fought it.
They did exactly what the tenth gate wanted them to do.
They faced their past.
Back in Kim's memory, he finally stopped struggling."Roger…" his voice cracked, filled with emotion, "you saved me… you always… saved me…"
The memory repeated, but this time Kim didn't panic.He looked into the younger Roger's eyes—the one holding his hand.He whispered, "I'm not falling this time."
And the scene began to fade.
Roger, in her own memory, finally reached out and touched her brother's shoulder. He turned around, smiling like the world was perfect.
"I missed you…" she whispered, tears running down her face.
Her brother smiled brightly. "Then keep going. Don't stop here."
Her heart shattered.But she nodded.
And somewhere in the darkness beyond the chamber, the maze awakened again…watching…waiting…preparing the next gate.
Kim's fingers slipped again.
The old wooden plank cracked above him.
The river roared below like a monster waiting to swallow him whole.
And the moment reset.
Again.
And again.
Kim reached his hand up, but this time Roger's hand didn't grab him.
She was no longer in his memory.
Her presence was gone.
Panic spread through him.
"Roger…? ROGER!"
But the world around him repeated the same scene, trapping him inside a loop with no exit.
He wasn't escaping.
Not yet.
Not this time.
Roger, meanwhile, stood frozen in her childhood memory.
Her younger brother ran ahead, laughing, calling her name again and again.
But every time she tried to reach him, the path stretched farther away, like the world itself refused to let her touch him.
She ran faster.
Her legs trembled.
Her breath shattered.
But no matter how fast she moved, her brother stayed just out of reach, his voice echoing endlessly around her.
She wasn't allowed to reach him.
Not yet.
The memory tightened its grip on her like a cage made of time.
Tony, Jet, Samy, and Tin were fighting their own battles too—but something changed.
The tenth gate wasn't just letting them relive their past.
It was feeding on their emotions, growing stronger with every fear, every regret, every scar they felt.
And now the test wasn't just about facing past mistakes.
It was trying to trap them inside those memories forever.
Tony felt the fire spread wider, burning hotter than reality.
Jet's mirror room grew darker, the reflections whispering louder.
Samy's bullies turned into shadowy figures with hollow eyes.
Tin's monster grew taller, its growl vibrating like thunder.
The tenth gate was changing the rules.
No longer a test.
A prison.
For the first time since entering it…
All six of them felt something cold move through the air.
It wasn't part of their memories.
It wasn't a feeling from the past.
It was something standing outside the memories, watching them from the cracks between the worlds.
Something that didn't belong in their lives—
but belonged to the tenth gate.
A low whisper echoed through all their minds at once:
"Stay."
The gate wanted them.
It didn't plan on letting them leave.
The memories began to tighten, twist, and overlap—
Kim's river turning darker, Roger's playground losing its sunlight, Tony's fire spreading beyond the house, Jet's mirrors cracking on their own, Samy's shadows crawling closer, Tin's beast multiplying into three.
The tenth gate was waking up fully now.
And every one of them knew:
They weren't escaping.
Not anytime soon.
Not until the gate decided what it wanted from them.
The chapter ends with all of them trapped deeper than before.