Chapter 4

Daphne was sitting next to Kiana on the marble floor as Kiana shook uncontrollably next to her.

"She just... died," Kiana's eyes were wide, still terrified. "It was so terrifying. How are you still okay after Nero?"

"I'm not, actually," Daphne hugged Kiana, trying to help the frightened girl stop shaking. "I just try to think of this as a game."

"A game?" Kiana repeated. "What do you mean?"

"I try to think of this as a survival video game, where I have to beat these challenges to reach the boss level. On the way, some of my teammates die, and I'm sad for them, but in the end, I still win. I still live. That's how I stay sane."

"But I don't want to have to sacrifice my friends to survive! I'll never live with myself. And how do we know that anyone will even win? There are twenty-five floors, and we've only unlocked three, with only nine of us left!"

Daphne continued hugging Kiana as the other seven came down the stairs. "The third floor is rooms with our names carved into each door, and there are locks on each door, though we can't seem to unlock them," Avery reported. But the strange thing is, there are five other doors, with the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 carved on them."

Daphne frowned in confusion. "What could that mean?"

[Players, get ready for the next challenge]

Creator's voice boomed out suddenly, shocking them all.

[The next challenge is to play Murder Mystery]

"Not another game of death," Pamela cowered.

[The rules of Murder Mystery will be explained once you see your roles. In each of your designated rooms, a role card has been placed there. Once you see your role, you must place your role card in a slot in your room, which will take back the cards. Once that is done, you must all gather back down here on the first floor to understand the rules of the game.]

Slowly, all of them went up to the third floor and went into their rooms, the door unlocking this time. Daphne slipped into hers, trying but failing to lock the door behind her, despite it having a lock. There was a bed, a desk, a chair, and a small bathroom. She noticed a black card on her desk, not unlike the one she had picked during the first challenge. She picked it up, and on the card, read the words 'Murderer'.

Daphne shuddered, not knowing, and afraid to find out what it meant. She saw in her room, a slot similar to the one that had given them the guns to the Russian Roulette challenge, and put her role cards in there.

She saw a notebook on her desk and opened it. It was blank, but she saw a pencil, a sharpener, and an eraser next to it.

Before she had too much time to wonder about it, the Creator's voice called them down to the first floor, and she hurried down the stairs.

However, when they reached the first floor, five boys with the numbers 1,2,3,4, and 5 on them were already there.

[Players, 1,2,3,4, and 5 will be new players. They are players who have previously insulted the audience and were punished by being called numbers instead of their names. As long as they're numbers, they're not allowed to say or write or even communicate what their names are, or they will be killed. They would have been punished with death immediately, but the audience decided to give them one chance. They will be participating in the game of Murder Mystery as well.]

"Enough of this. What are the rules to Murder Mystery?" Sophia stepped forward.

[Murder Mystery has the roles of two Murderers, one Detective, one Guardian, one Psychic, two Twins, and six Peasants. Peasants are ordinary without any powers. Every night, you must be in your rooms from ten at night until six in the morning. Not doing so will result in death. Every night, the Murderers will decide on someone to kill. They are allowed to exit their rooms by eleven-thirty to twelve-thirty and enter a person's room to kill him or her. The targeted player is allowed to scream the Murderers' names and fight back, though they cannot kill the Murderers, or fatally injure them. They are not allowed to bar their doors. However, the special role of the Guardian can save someone. Every night, the person who got the role card 'Guardian' can choose to protect someone. By doing so, the protected person's door will lock, locking every single door if the Murderers attempt to kill the protected player. The Murderers must kill or attempt to kill someone every night, or they will be eliminated. The role of the Detective is that they can inspect another player. The Detective can see if you have a role or not, but that is it. The Detective cannot determine if you're a Murderer or not. Also, the Detective is only allowed to use his or her power when it strikes 2:00 a.m. The Psychic role allows the person to leave behind a visible message to the remaining players when killed. The Twins are connected, which means that if one of them dies, the other dies as well. The Twins will know who each other is from the start, as the name of their Twin was written on their role card. Under no circumstances can a player kill another player, apart from the one time at night for the Murderers. Every night, at 8:30 p.m., every player must gather here in this hall to vote who they believe is the Murderers. You will all have ten minutes to decided before a countdown will start. That is when you must point at the person you're voting for. You all will have ten seconds to vote. When the votes are tallied, the one with the most votes will be eliminated. The room of the player that was voted out will be locked. Anyone who fails to vote will be eliminated. The only time therr will be no voting is when no player was killed that night because the Murderers atttampted to kill a protected player. This game will continue for twelve days. If the game has not ended by then, all players will be eliminated.]

"How do you end the game?" Mia whispered voice scared.

[If the Murderers are voted out, the Civilians will win. Doing this will result in all the remaining Civilians going free, and any of the numbered players who were amongst the winners will be given back their names and rights as a player. However, if the Murderers win, then the last players who survive with them will move on to the next floor.]

"Whichever side that wins, there are losers," Pamela pointed out. "What happens to the losers?"

[Well, if the winners are allowed to proceed to the next floor as a reward, the losers must also be punished. The punishment for the losers is death. Your twelve days start... now.]