: Game Theory

The lights didn't flicker—they just changed.

One moment, sterile white.

The next, saturated red, as if the walls had inhaled blood and decided to keep it.

A chime rang out. Not musical. Not mechanical. Just a pure, tonal note, like a string pulled taut across metal.

Then the voice returned.

[Round One: PRIORITIZATION]

[Instructions: When the door opens, only ten may pass.]

[There are thirty-eight players.]

[You decide who walks through.]

The floor rippled underfoot. A circular platform split open at the far side of the chamber, forming a doorway of black static. Behind it: unknowable dark. No map. No hint. Just a void that felt like forward.

Silence.

Then panic.

"What the hell does that mean?" someone shouted.

"It's a trick," another snapped. "There's probably thirty-eight doors and we're just being tested—"

"No," Lucas said. Calm. Cold. "There's one."