Damn it, that scarred bastard again!
Magnus sprinted like wildfire, and just ten ters ahead stood that middle-aged man with the scar - the one who ambushed him earlier. The guy recognized him too, eyes flashing with surprise before twisting into a vicious grin. He suddenly stopped, snapped a tree branch off to use as a weapon, and turned to face him.
Magnus’s face darkened with the sa cold fury. Without hesitation, he charged uphill straight at him. When they closed to about two ters, Scar raised the branch to strike - but Magnus dove forward. His head slamd right into the man’s knee, and with a grip like steel, he yanked Scar’s ankle hard. The bastard lost his footing, yelled, and went tumbling downhill, shrieking the whole way.
No ti to check if he was dead. Magnus sprang up and bolted toward the mountaintop without looking back.
Less than a hundred ters left. He’d managed to shake off the crimson seawater by about thirty ters. Suddenly, the mountaintop glowed - brilliant, shimring with all colors. The blood-red sun rose quicker than anything he’d ever seen, moving straight above the peak, spilling multicolored beams across it.
There’s sothing up there - sothing that ans survival.
Among all these desperate people, Magnus was the only one sure of it. He knew Emma had made it out from this Anomaly Zone in his last life. Besides, why would a trap designed to kill waste ti and effort like this? If this was about slaughter, they’d just toss everyone into that cursed sea. No ten-second pauses between deaths, no show of rcy.
No, this place was giving people a chance to live.
Stupid as he could be, even Magnus couldn’t miss it now - this had to be the legendary Anomaly Zone. He pushed harder, twenty steps, ten - he was getting close. That rainbow light cut into his eyes - it was almost blinding.
But then a scream tore through the air up top. A man, his body afla, ca tumbling down from the peak like a human torch.
Everyone - Magnus included - froze at the sight. Was the peak also a deathtrap?
The crimson seawater behind him surged closer. Panic exploded. So dropped to their knees, screaming, swearing, shouting nonsense. Total ltdown.
No! There had to be a way to live!
That thought hamred in Magnus’s head as the seawater closed in - ten ters, maybe less. He gritted his teeth, turned, and kept running for the peak. If he was gonna die, he’d damn well see what that glowing light was first.
Three ters. Two. One.
He lowered his head against the blaze of light and leapt -
The mont he hit the top, everything changed.
No more blinding colors. Beneath him was a flat, cool surface, white and smooth like marble. Above, the blood sun hung directly overhead, casting red light around. Warm tones, but it felt dead cold.
As his eyes adjusted, Magnus took in the surroundings - and was stunned.
He stood on a massive square platform, ten ters to a side - about a hundred square ters total. Each direction - north, south, east, west - held a towering white column in a style he’d seen only in ruins of legends, five ters tall, wide enough to need three n to embrace. In the center stood a towering white pillar, the tallest among them - ten ters high and thick enough for five n to encircle with outstretched arms.
Magnus scanned the surroundings warily. Over forty people had made it up onto the square platform. Everyone stood crowded in the center, eyes filled with tension and suspicion.
Suddenly, screams rang out from beyond the platform. Instinctively, everyone turned their heads - the crimson seawater was less than ten ters away from the edge now.
"Damn it!" a man bellowed. It was Knuckle, a hardened ex-con, his voice harsh as a whip. He roared at the crowd, "Listen up, all you bastards! Don’t let a single one climb up! Kick them down! Hard!"
Most of the forty here were convicts like him. At his command, more than thirty imdiately joined in, shouting and stomping down on those still climbing. Screams echoed as the seawater stayed frozen five ters below.
Among the chaos, Magnus caught a familiar face not far off - Emma. She clung to a man’s ankle, screaming desperately. The convict cursed and raised his other foot to stomp on her wrist.
Magnus sprang forward without thinking. One powerful kick slamd into the man’s back, sending him stumbling forward onto Emma. Her grip dug tighter into his leg, about to drag both of them down together.
"Let go!" Magnus yelled, grabbing Emma’s wrist and pulling hard.
But she didn’t hear. Shocked and terrified, she kept holding on.
"You trying to die!?" Magnus growled. He yanked harder. The pain made her fingers slip. The convict, still flailing, grabbed at her waistband as he fell. Magnus snarled, pulled Emma up with a final jerk, then drove a brutal kick into the man’s head. The man shrieked as he plunged into the crimson sea below.
"My sister! Where’s my sister!? Where is she!?" Emma clung to Magnus’ arm, her voice cracking with panic.
"Hell if I know!" he snapped. But just then, five ters off to the right, Abigail leaned against a sapling, trembling, surrounded by encroaching seawater. She was shouting her sister’s na at the top of her lungs.
"I’m here, sis! I’m here! Where are you!?" Emma heard her voice but couldn’t see her, desperately scanning the area.
Magnus pressed her head still with his hand. "Don’t move, damn it. I’ll get your sister!"
Abigail didn’t dare move. Across from her stood three brutal-looking ex-cons, eyeing her like wolves. The area around her was complete chaos. She couldn’t see Emma - could only scream her na, like her life depended on it.
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