[Phase two of the trial has now started]

  Sweat began to drip slowly down Athan’s face in panic. ‘There is a second phase to this trial that we now must survive, just like we did in those caverns.’

  Athan turned his head slightly towards all the people. They were taking in this new environment. But the thing that caught their attention the most was the burning circle in the sky, which produced a bright light that illuminated everything around them.

  Something freezing brushed against Athan’s skin. It was the cold air, which he hadn’t felt since he first woke up. The gusts of wind would blow across his body. The light provided just enough warmth so nobody would freeze.

  Looking over at the Brute, Athan finally decides that he should ask him his name…instead of just calling him the Brute. Athan walks up to the Brute and takes a breath. “What is your name? Now that we have made it past the first phase.”

  The Brute takes a breath and smiles. “Let’s save that for another time.”

  On the other side of the platform, Xavier was carefully examining the end. He was slightly bent at the knees and would ludge just over the ledge. After some careful examination, Xavier walks back over to Athan and the others.

  “Hey, guys.” Xavier points over the ledge. “The drop isn’t too far down; we could make it.”

  Amelia shrugs her shoulders in doubt and puts on a pouty face. She crosses her arms.

  Xavier looks at her with a confused look, but then he looks at her with a grin. “What? You don’t think you will make the jump down?”

  Watching them argue, Athan couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. He was now asking himself whether or not he could make the jump. And if he couldn’t…well, that was the end for him.

  Trying to reassure himself, Athan looked down at his injured leg. But to his surprise, it had healed completely. Athan slowly examines his leg. He uses his hands and has them go all around the wound, feeling for anything still damaged, but he comes up with nothing—the blood from where the wound once was is the only thing that remains.

  He slowly stands up and moves his leg up and down, discreetly trying to make sure no one else notices this unusual phenomenon. To his surprise, he was able to move his leg just fine, no pain whatsoever.

  ‘Is this my newfound strength?’

  Instead of questioning himself, he looks back over at the group and still sees Amelia and Xavier arguing over whether or not they should drop down.

  Athan sighs.

  “I think we should jump.” He grunts a little to clear his voice. “I mean, if we don’t jump, we will die up here.”

  Xavier and Amelia stop arguing and just slowly turn their head towards Athan. Amelia gives Athan a look of surprise, while Xavier's face begins to light up with excitement.

  “So? We are really going to do this?”

  All the boys' shoulders stiffen, while Amelia just crosses her arms. She no longer has a pouty look. Now her face slowly becomes more nervous as she tightens her face and bites her lip. The boys, on the other hand, looked determined, especially Athan.

  There was a set look on Athan's face.

  “I will go down first.”

  The Brute sighs and looks at Amelia. “I will help you down. It won’t be easy, but you will have to trust me.”

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  After some hesitation, Amelia nods her head.

  Clearing his mind, Athan entirely focuses on the ledge and the drop. He slowly walks up and looks over the ledge, observing how far the drop is. Athan was looking at the drop but couldn't gauge how far it was. But he knew the drop was far. The ground was able to be seen, although there was this weird substance that Athan couldn’t seem to name that wrapped itself around the peak.

  ‘Is it the cold air?’

  Athan backed up a bit. The other people on the platform begin to turn their gaze towards Athan. With a slow start, Athan carefully walks up to the ledge. He puts one leg over the ledge and onto a rock. After a couple of minutes, he brings his other leg over the ledge. Athan takes a deep breath and exhales. His hands were the only part of his body on the ledge now.

  Athan swallows the dry saliva in his mouth.

  Now with half his body over the ledge, Athan carefully moves his left hand onto a rock below the platform, and he does the same thing with the other hand.

  Suddenly, it was like a pain of a thousand nails hit Athan’s hands in a second. The pain was unbearable, but Athan refused to let go of the rocks, even if the pain screamed through his hands.

  Slowly but steadily, Athan moves one hand down with the other. He would repeat the process with his legs.

  Athan finally realized what was causing the immense pain. It was the freezing air. It felt as though it was tearing through his skin. Athan’s lips were drying up fast, and his hands were bright red with his fingertips being slightly purple; even so, Athan pushed through the pain as much as he could.

  Later would be the worst, though. Athan was just halfway down the peak when his hands went numb. Athan felt nothing in his hands, and the same was happening to the rest of his body.

  In fear of dying, Athan brought himself closer to the cold rock wall he was clinging to and just sat there slowly breathing.

  As Athan sits there, he begins to hear sounds above him. The sound of something clanking together fast. And then it clicked for Athan.

  ‘Ah shit. Don’t tell me there are man-eaters out here, too.’

  Even with the sudden realization, it was too late. Towering above was the soulless, purple eyes glaring at Athan. It was hard to make out any other part of the man-eater due to the weird substance covering it. Athan knew, though, that this thing was probably going to kill him.

  Suddenly, something comes whipping from the air, it was long. And in a second, it whipped through Athan’s arm, tearing it clean off. The long whip then party sliced through Athan's body. Before it could finish, though, Athan was already falling to the bottom.

  His body gave out. He was going to die.

  Falling through the freezing air, Athan was silent. It was like every motor function failed to respond. And after a few moments, his body his the surface at the bottom hard. His head began to ooze blood, staining the white stuff. Blood from where his arm was and his torso was also oozing blood. Other parts of his body were unresponsive, as if they were completely destroyed.

  ***

  At the top, the others watched, but had been unable to see Athan for some time now, as has disappeared into the cold, thick air.

  The Brute looks over at Xavier. “I think it’s our turn to try.”

  Xavier holds up one of his hands. And with a composed look, he says:

  “I think we should wait and see what happens.”

  The Brute understands why he might want to wait. So instead of going down the peak, the group of three just stood there and watched as other people slowly descended.

  Watching Athan climb down the peak gave other people hope that they, too, would make it down. Slowly, some of the groups carefully sent one person at a time. But it was clear not everyone was doing great, as screams could be heard from people falling down the peak and hitting the ground hard at the bottom.

  The others started to hesitate now. They were now letting fear take over.

  There were only a couple of groups who didn’t hesitate, even after all those people fell to their deaths. One was the blonde spikey-haired kid, and the other was the black spikey-haired kid. The groups that Athan saw earlier. They were still doing well.

  The blonde spikey-haired suddenly just jumps off the edge. The spikey-haired kid jumping off the platform baffles everyone on the platform. His group did not do the same; instead, they slowly climbed down together under each other's guidance.

  Spikey black-haired kid jumps over the ledge and grabs onto the ledge quickly with his hands. He repeats the jumps process down the rest of the peak. His teammates just decide to climb down slowly.

  Xavier decides that enough time has passed and enough people have died. “Okay, let's do this.”

  Walking up to the ledge, Xavier throws himself over and quickly grabs onto the nearest rocks with his hands. Just like Athan, he feels the cold pain of a thousand needles hit his hand. Unlike Athan, though, Xavier used his newfound strength and created flames around his body. In the cavern, his body was slowly being destroyed by the flames, but now it has adapted much more. With his flames, he slowly climbs down the peak.

  The Brute looks at Amelia.

  “I’ll carry you down.” He had an unyielding look.

  Amelia lets the Brute lift her. And with ease, Amelia just falls into his arms. The Brute slowly walks to the end of the platform and looks over it before descending.