CHAPTER TWENTY: The Sixth Door
Stairwell to Floor Six – 1 Minute After Clearing the Mosaic Trap
Their footsteps echoed through the metal corridor, tense and breathless.
Noah led. Behind him, Reina, Dylan, and Marik exchanged quiet looks, no words spoken. All four had survived what eleven others hadn't.
They reached a final gate. No console. No card. Just a steel wall and a single glowing button.
Reina reached for it—
> TRIAL CARD: 6♦ — "THE CORE TEST"
Players: 4
Objective: Open the Sixth Door
Rules:
– Only one can pass through at a time.
– Each player must solve a personal test in isolation.
– One player has been assigned the role of Decoy.
– The Decoy's test has no solution.
If the Decoy is detected and removed: All players pass.
If the Decoy remains undetected: Only the Decoy dies.
If the wrong player is accused: All players fail.
Reina stepped back.
Marik hissed, "They're making us accuse each other."
Dylan: "Or sacrifice one."
Noah read the card again. "Or choose not to accuse at all and hope the Decoy fails quietly."
Reina stared at the glowing button. "We're back in the psychological games."
---
The Isolation Chambers
Four doors opened. Inside: minimalist puzzle rooms, identical—at first glance.
Each contained:
A color-coded console
Three rotating cubes with digits, symbols, or equations
A glowing wire panel on one wall
A timer: 7 minutes
The doors sealed.
> Begin.
---
Noah's Room
His screen displayed a looping sequence:
🔺 → 3 → 🔹 → 7 → 🔺 → ?
A pattern puzzle.
He scribbled on the touchscreen, calculating symbol cycles. He found the sequence's base logic—shape = offset operator.
He smirked. Solved it. Timer paused.
> Puzzle Cleared. Await instructions.
---
Reina's Room
Her screen blinked with a question:
> "Balance the equation grid using only prime digits."
The wall displayed a 3x3 matrix with missing numbers.
She narrowed her eyes. Recognized a familiar logic grid test used in old university psych assessments.
She filled it in. It accepted.
> Puzzle Cleared. Await instructions.
---
Marik's Room
His console showed symbols from multiple alphabets—Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic—merged into strange glyphs.
He groaned. "Coded language overlay?"
But it was a cipher—rotating letters and matching phonetic rules. He caught the pattern.
> Puzzle Cleared. Await instructions.
---
Dylan's Room
His console flickered.
Then static.
Then:
> "Align the cube sum to 37 using rotational constraints."
Three cubes spun. No faces matched. One never stopped spinning.
He tapped. Reset. Tried again. The third cube glitched.
He frowned.
Waited.
Then realized.
> There is no solution.
His screen never paused.
His timer reached 0:03...
---
Back in the Core Hall
The doors reopened.
Only Noah, Reina, and Marik stepped out.
Dylan didn't.
A final screen blinked above them:
> Traitor Detected. Decoy Eliminated.
Three Survivors Authorized.
The Sixth Door unlocked with a low groan.
Reina let out a shaky breath.
Noah looked back at the sealed chamber.
"He figured it out," he said.
Marik added, "He didn't say anything. He knew we'd lose if we got it wrong."
The silence was heavy.
Reina: "Then why do I feel like we still failed?"