Tholyr snapped his fingers.
Nothing happened, yet for some reason, everyone inside the carriage blinked at the exact same time.
One moment, they were sitting, wondering what horror the strange man would put them through next, and in the following, they stood atop a gigantic expanse of solid clouds.
The endless white stretched beneath their feet, sharply contrasted by bright blue skies, nothing like the dark grey canopy they'd previously been trapped under.
A fresh, gentle breeze swept through the expanse, carrying with it the faint, fragrant scents of nature.
Uriel blinked again, looking around, disoriented and shaken. He turned toward Enoch, and upon noticing his calm, steady gaze, felt himself settle, if only slightly.
He was about to speak when Enoch suddenly shook his head, silently mouthing a few words.
[Don't talk. Just watch.]
Tholyr, standing at the front, rose smoothly into the skies.
He spread his arms wide.
"Aren't we lonely here?" he pouted. "I think we could do with some additional company, don't you think?"
PAH! PAH!
Uriel's eyes widened.
All around them, across the vast, stretching expanse of clouds, group after group began to appear.
Groups of humans, each led by an uncanny figure just like Tholyr.
From a few thousand, the numbers rose rapidly to the millions, and then… Uriel simply stopped looking.
His heart began to race, the sheer mass of people pressing in from all sides like a suffocating weight on his chest, stealing his breath.
His mouth went dry, his palms slick with sweat, his thoughts spiralling into a chaotic rush of anxiety. Then, as if to jolt himself awake, he sneered.
He closed his eyes, drew in a deep breath, and slowly exhaled.
When he opened them again, he was still shaken, but calmer.
'…what in the…'
He'd only closed his eyes for a few moments, yet in that short span, it felt as though their numbers had multiplied a thousandfold.
There were so many people he could barely distinguish anything, hemmed in on all sides by thick, endless walls of human flesh.
The chatter was deafening, so pervasive that it drowned out his own thoughts, blurring the line between noise and reality.
The crowd was arranged laterally, forming a massive, almost endless line that faced the even larger expanse beyond.
Chaos. It was pure chaos.
And Tholyr loved it. He revelled in it.
Uriel turned to Enoch, silently mouthing his words.
[Please don't tell me this is going to be a free-for-all? Surely not, right?]
[…]
[…Right?]
PAH!
High above, Tholyr and the other guides finally seemed to come to an agreement.
Tholyr stepped forward, his aura exploding outward in tandem with the other Settlement Guides, instantly crushing the chaos below.
The noise vanished.
Deathly silence fell.
"Welcome to our first little game," Tholyr said pleasantly.
"Usually, near the end of the tour, a sort of competition occurs, one where you fight for food, your living quarters, and most importantly, information about your current situation."
"Detailed information," he added pointedly.
His gaze swept across the crowd, and upon seeing the burning determination in many eyes, he felt a quiet thrill.
"But why stop there?" he continued. "Since my cute little colleagues and I are feeling festive, we'll make it even better than usual."
A sense of foreboding rippled through the more perceptive among them.
"The difficulty will be raised. In return, the reward pool will be expanded, with a grand prize of one hundred thousand aether crystals to boot." He smiled. "Crystals you'll direly need in our majestic little shops."
He clapped his hands.
SHA!
In a blink, a colossal wall of azure energy erupted across the crowd, separating them from the rest of the expanse.
Beyond it, thick dark clouds rapidly gathered, swallowing the open space and turning it into an unfathomable abyss.
"It's very simple."
He snapped his fingers.
Above every head, a silver blade manifested, pressing down on their minds, sharp, cold, and lethal.
"This trial will test your affinity to what is known as Aether, the energy you now have access to, and the force that fuels your natural abilities."
"All you need to do is walk forward until you reach the end of the cloud expanse. That's it." His smile widened. "Every step will test your understanding. Who knows? You might even learn something along the way."
"The first ten to reach the end will receive a prize. After that, rewards will be distributed based on ranking, until the last few are left with nothing."
He crossed his arms as he and the other guides floated higher into the skies.
"Oh, almost forgot," he added lightly. "If you turn back or attempt to run away, you'll die. You may stop once you reach your limit, but under no circumstances may you retreat."
His laughter echoed faintly.
"Good luck, my little cuties."
…
Uriel's face twisted into an ugly frown.
He'd very clearly noticed that nearly everyone else had awakened strange, supernatural abilities upon arriving here, while he hadn't.
He'd assumed there would be time for Enoch to explain why. Or maybe even offer a solution.
Apparently not.
'Let's do this. I can do it.'
He slapped his cheeks lightly, forcing himself awake.
'I just need to not be last.'
[The race will begin in three…]
Across the massive crowd, people began to prepare, stretching, bouncing in place, testing their bodies. Others cautiously activated their newfound abilities, unfamiliar but eager.
A competitive silence settled over the humans of Ithurial.
Their minds shifted. They accepted the rules.
One by one, they awakened as predators, not merely seeking survival, but dominance.
[…two…]
Amid it all, Uriel prepared himself, the air thick with fear, excitement, and desperation. His heart thundered in his chest, his hands trembling.
He looked at Enoch.
The man stood lowered, eyes colder than the void itself, his focus absolute. A pressure radiated from him, subtle, yet not unlike Tholyr's.
Enoch met Uriel's gaze and nodded, silently mouthing a single phrase.
[You got it.]
Uriel nodded back, steadying himself.
'I got it.'
[…one…]
The tension was suffocating, so thick it felt as though the world might shatter again at any moment. Some swayed, nearly collapsing under the pressure.
But none fell. They stayed standing.
Focused.
Their lives depended on it.
[GO!]