Sintra awoke to the reflection of a familiar pair of brown eyes and red lips.

"What the fu—"

"I'm telling you, Sintra. The government is out to get you!"  Lee's voice cut in, startling Sintra as her head snapped to the side to look at her friend.

Sure enough, Lee was standing at the bathroom door with her messy blonde hair and tired blue eyes, frowning at Sintra's wild expression.

"Are you okay, Sin?" Lee asked worriedly, her eyebrows knitting together in concern as she regarded her friend's stunned look.

Sintra's gaze returned to the bathroom mirror, gasping before warily touching her face with her free hand, her eyes slowly drifting to the red lipstick she held in the other.

"H-how? I-I was in an elevator and it took me to a rainforest and there were monsters and insane, freakishly tall women chasing us and—"

"Wait, wait, wait. What are you even talking about?" Lee tittered nervously.

"We— I almost died," Sintra said shakily, turning to Lee once again.

"Sin, you never left," Lee said, staring at her friend as if she had gone mad.

"Lee, you were ri—" Sintra tried to say but stopped as a bout of dizziness overcame her body, her legs buckling below her.

She staggered a little, gripping the lipstick tighter as if it would prevent her from falling.

"Woah, Sintra!" She heard Lee say, catching her instinctively as Sintra keeled over. She felt Lee lower them both to the hallway floor before propping her head up on her lap.

"Sintra!" Lee's voiced echoed in her mind, but this time it sounded deeper. In fact, it didn't sound like Lee at all but Sintra's eyes had closed now, her mind fighting to get up and finish their conversation.

"Sintra!" Vante's voice called, her eyes flying open to meet his panic stricken face.

His damp hair still clung to his forehead and a crease had appeared between his eyebrows, worry distorting his handsome features as he watched her pant.

"Are you alright?" He asked, cradling her head in his lap as Sintra finally realized that he was yellow, courtesy of the light streaming from the elevator.

"Where are we?" She flew up, looking around in confusion as her mind replayed the dream she just had.

"Where do you think?" Vante sighed, his eyes drifting off to the yellow light that illuminated the room.

Sintra slapped a hand to her face, shaking off her fatigue as she finally got her bearings.

She brought herself to stand using the handrails, swaying a little from the elevator's movement through the shaft.

"You really should relax. You're exhausted," Vante told her. He was sitting on the floor, one leg draped over the other as his hands braced against the cold metal, his attention never leaving the lights.

"What happened?" Sintra asked.

"You don't remember?" He responded, finally looking at her.

As soon as the question left his lips it all came flying back to her. The elevator, the rainforest, the two-headed panther, the giant women, her employees, Anna.

"Ugh," she winced as she clutched her face with one hand.

"I told you that you needed to relax," Vante scolded, finally standing as he tried to reach for her.

"Don't!" Sintra shouted, startling him.

She could tell her tone had caught him off guard but his shock turned to apathy in a second.

She wondered for a minute why the elevator was moving so slowly this time around, turning her attention to the display panel that counted upwards to 19. They were just passing floor 18.

"You have great sense of taste," Vante said, pulling Sintra's verification card from his pocket to hand it to her.

"Why did you read it?" She scolded.

"Not alot of things to do when your stuck in an elevator with an unconscious woman after nearly being killed by a titan now is there?"

"Do you always have to be so condescending?" Sintra frowned, finally sitting down again.

When Vante didn't answer, she asked another question.

"What's your special skill?"

"Like I'd tell you," he scoffed.

"That's not fair!" Sintra protested.

"Life's not fair. You'd know that better than anyone," he responded, twisting his verification card in his hand.

Sintra had always thought Vante to be a good man despite being her rival. His father had ran his company before him but retired a few years ago as his health declined. Needless to say, the company soared regardless of this since their CEO was not only handsome but apparently very deceitful.

"Why did you invest in my company?" Sintra asked him.

"What?" Vante half laughed. "We almost died and you pass out for hours and when awake you're asking about a company that for all you know is gone forever. Does it even matter now?"

"Yes it does! You don't understand how hard I worked to build this. The things I saw; the things I had to do!" Sintra argued.

She watched as his eyebrows knitted together, looking down at her small frame. Heaving a sigh, he braced himself against the hand rails before stuffing his two hands in his pants pockets and turning his attention towards the display panel.

His mouth twitched as if he wanted to say something, or frown, or both but he held his composure well, hardening his expression.

"I guess that makes two of us," he said lowly, his tone low-spirited but veracious.

Sintra wanted to ask what he was talking about but her mind drifted back to something he had said. She had been passed out for hours, but how? And why was the elevator moving so slowly when the other ride was so swift?

The two remained quiet for the rest of the ride, allowing Sintra's mind to flash back to her dream again.

"Sin, you never left," Lee had said. But that was a lie because she did leave.

Anger stirred into Sintra's body as she thought of how foolish she had been to not heed her friend's warning. It was not as if she didn't believe in anomalies, she just didn't believe she would be apart of one.

She released her hand from the railing to clench her fist but her eyes quickly jolted to her palm as she slowly opened it to reveal the red lipstick she had held in the dream.

A frown plastered itself across Sintra's mouth, deep and unmoving. She had not even realized that she had it in her hand but just how did she get it?

Sintra wondered if it was indeed the one she had been using this morning since she usually stuffed it in her bag but that lipstick was still in the pile of things she had dumped on the floor of the elevator. 

The thought of bringing it from her dream puzzled her as they finally arrived at floor 19, the elevator dinging before the number dulled on the control panel.

When the door opened, a sweltering rush of heat knocked them backwards, causing Sintra to drop the lipstick as her eyes watered instantly from sand particles temporarily blinding her.

Vante stepped out first, his eyes wild with disbelief as Sintra watched his once polished Hermes dress shoes sink into a layer of fine powdery sand that stretched farther than their vision would permit.

She followed him, taking a step out in the scorching heat of the desert as the sun activated her skin's calefaction.

"You've got to be kidding me," Vante said, Sintra silently agreeing with him.

She thought she would surely faint once more as she surveyed the scenery before her, her mind wondering if she had missed a psychedelic ingredient in her coffee this morning and she was hallucinating it all.

The desert was a furnace of burning sand heaped in small mountains as it spread across the barren wasteland of arid air in wavy dunes of ochre gold. The high noon sun was sizzling against Sintra's skin, satcheting its way across the land and toasting the sea of sand like a brioche bun.

There were no cacti nor tumble weeds like in the movies. Just crumbling rocks further in the distance and several elevators all lined off on either side of Sintra and Vante's with bewildered humans all wearing the same expression of horror.

Sintra's eyes became sodden before the tears finally fell and all she could think about is how much she would need as much of her bodily fluid as possible.

"Are you crying?" Sintra heard someone say, snapping her out of her stupor.

The woman was wearing rags. Or atleast, that's what they looked like to Sintra. A black tank top too big for her upper body revealed her unbranded training bra and a thin, red harem pants and combats boots adorned her lower half and feet respectively. Thick, kol like eyeliner decorated her eyelids and her brunette hair was placed in messy bun as thin strands hung loosely down her shoulder.

"Helloo?" She laughed, waving a hand infront of Sintra's face, prompting her to step back.

"My bad," she admitted. "The name's Jesse. Nice to meet ya," She announced with an outstretched left hand.

It had been a while since Sintra had seen a human as peculiar as this Jesse. She reminded her of Lee but in a less friendly and genuine way.

The way her eyes seemed to analyze Sintra's face, expectant and hopeful. The way she stared at her like they had known each other for years but Sintra had just forgotten her. The way her arm seemed to dislocate from its joint as she held it out, wriggling her boney fingers as they waited for a welcoming handshake that would never come.

"She can't talk?" Jesse asked Vante but he did not answer either, his face twitching as if trying to suppress a scowl.

"Stuck up assholes," Jesse muttered as she walked back to her elevator.

"Oh, go to hell!" Sintra blurted out suddenly, stopping Jesse in her tracks. She watched her turn slowly, real dramatic like they do in the movies before giving her a theatric smile as she spread her arms on either side of her.

"News flash lady, we're already here!" She told her, swishing sand behind her as she twisted her feet to turn and walk away.

"Ugh," Sintra grimaced, cursing the desert, cursing the elevator and cursing her life. Before she could spiral into a state of despair, the voice of the automated woman sounded again.

"Welcome geniuses and congratulations! You have all cleared level 1 of Elevate. As you may have noticed, your elevators have been placed next to each other for the purpose of this level. We have grouped you in teams of four so please listen for your names." The voice finished, proceeding to call the names of random participants shortly after.

Sintra felt like she wanted to spaz out. The day had started off so normally. Though she was a little stressed about the meeting with Vante she had never imagined this.

Chased by a two-headed panther, almost drowned by the tentacle of a river monster, beaten by savage monkeys and hunted by Amazonian women. Not to mention that she had seen 4 of her employees die right before her eyes and failed to do anything about it.

The words she had spout to Anna burned her subconscious, scorching her mind with failure and guilt. She had fooled herself into think that she could help but when faced with the opportunity, she almost collapsed under fear.

She had played the part of a valiant warrior determined to break through all obstacles and return to her life but right here, before the scorching wasteland of sand before her, she had reached her limit.

She was not okay and she was tired of pretending.

"Group 5: Vante Kim, Sintra Magnus, Jesse Lovett and Felix Granger. The leader appointed is Sintra Magnus." The automated woman announced.

Sintra froze up at her name, swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat as it had gone drier than the sand beneath her feet.

"Groups have now been assigned. Now for your instructions: Inside the elevator of your leader, a rucksack has been placed with equipment and essentials you may or may not need for your mission. You will also find a device that is both a digital map and game enhancer. A timer has now been set for 3 minutes as it relates to group discussion." The machine woman stated.

"Sintra," Vante called but she did not respond.

"Well what do you know, ofcourse we'd get stuck with the prudes, Felix." Jesse said as she made her way over to them, this time accompanied by a man as tall and athletic as Vante.

"I'm Felix," he introduced himself.

"Don't even bother, Granger. These two are mute," Jesse told him.

"Lovett was it? Do you ever shut up?" Vante chided.

"Only when a real man tells me to," Jesse told him, arching an eyebrow before using her tongue to poke the inside of her cheek.

Vante sneered at her before leaving for the elevator.

"Are you okay?" Felix asked Sintra, bringing her to regard him properly.

He had kinky low cut hair that had been dyed snow white and his cheeks were as chubby as a little childs'. Sintra thought the aunties of the world would have loved them as they reminded her of stress balls; therapeutic to squeeze. She watched him wipe a line of sweat that had formed on his beautiful bronze skinned forehead with his mint green shirt before allowing it to fall over his blue jeans.

Sintra didn't answer him though, returning her gaze to the desert.

Vante appeared again, a brown rucksack in hand as he passed out water bottles, knives and sunglasses.

Sintra watched as he retrieved a very strange looking gray, cuboid device with an assortment of buttons, engraved patterns and numbers on it, a red dot situated at its peak.

He pressed the button labeled "START" and a 3-dimensional holographic layout of the desert emerged from its red centre, startling the four of them as they circled around it.

"Atleast they gave us a map this time," Felix said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Is that... us?" Vante asked, prompting everyone to follow his gaze on the map. Sure enough, Team 5 was indicated by a glowing purple dot on the map as well as the elevators of all the participants that resided next to each other.

A closer look revealed a path way that was symbolized by broken red traffic lines that ended at another dot marked as "TARGET" that glowed a shocking color of yellow.

"Why would they tell us where to go?" Vante muttered.

"Maybe they wanted to make it easier because the last game was so hectic?" Felix suggested.

"I doubt that," Jesse rolled her eyes, taking a swig of her water.

"If the elevators are labeled why aren't the other players labeled as well?" Vante asked but was interrupted as the machine woman's voice had started to speak again.

Sintra still wondered where it came from even out here in the lonely desert where no trees were able to hide any intruders.

"Three minutes have been expended. Use your maps to guide you to your destination. Your task is located in the area presented and gifts for passing the previous game have been placed on your way to the target. There is no timer set on this mission, however, your map does not work at night. Please keep that in mind. You must complete the task and retrieve the pass to move your elevators. Let the games begin. Good luck, Geniuses!" The voice finished.

"Well, you heard the witch. Let's go!" Jesse said with fake enthusiasm as she placed her sunglasses on her face before grabbing the map from Vante. 

Everyone but Sintra moved.

"Sintra?" Vante called at her but she just stared at them, her lips trembling with fear as she tried not to faint again.

"Sintra?" He called again, this time the tears ran freely as she shook her head.

"I can't— I can't," she struggled to say as she started to cry. "No more please!"

"Sintra—"

"Will you stop calling my name! Everyone just stop saying my name. I can't anymore. I can't!" She shouted.

"No, you can. You can do this. Come on now. What happened to feeling safe later huh? What happened to the brave girl in the rainforest?" Vante asked.

"We left her there!" She said, her eyes still overflowing with tears as she weeped. "We can't win this thing, Mr. Kim. We never could. I know you're not a fool. Do you really think they would lay out a path for us to follow so easily and it'll be sunshine and flowers? No! They've set traps. They're trying to kill us!"

"We don't have time for this," Jesse rolled her eyes.

"I'm sorry but she's right,"  Felix agreed. "We're all scared here but if we don't do something we will all die indefinitely."

"We're going to die anyways," Sintra told them.

"Let's just leave her," Jesse told them.

"We can't do that! What's wrong with you?" Felix frowned at her.

"Then listen up, Sintra." Jesse said, making air quotes as she said her name. "We don't have time for this. I survived worse shit in that jungle and even worser shit in my real life. Get it together and let's go. Everyone else is already gone."

"Worser?" Felix asked.

"Oh, sock it, Granger! " Jesse replied.

"Why are you running to your deaths?" Sintra interrupted their squabble.

She didn't understand why everyone was so accepting to an unknown fate. She had tried that attitude in the jungle and had almost died, twice. She didn't save anyone, not even herself, Vante did.

She had thought initially that she just needed to get through this to return to the real world and continue her mission to help people. But if the fates had decided that this was where she should be, tired, defeated and on the brink of possible death, then maybe the world didn't need her help after all.

Vante interrupted her train of thought as he scooped her up, throwing her over his shoulder.

"Let me down, Mr. Kim!" She protested as she hit him against the back, ignoring the firmness of his body and spine.

"No, you're not acting like yourself and quite frankly, it's embarrassing so maybe you're tired. Either way, we need you and we don't have time to convince you that we're not racing to our deaths. We're just trying to take back our lives. If we win this thing, we can confront the assholes who put us here and get to the bottom of this." He told her.

The words "taking back our lives" replayed in Sintra's mind. He was right. If they did succeed, they would elevate to what was believed to be an elite extraterrestrial society. They would get to confront the game masters of this disaster and possibly get back home. This couldn't happen, however, if they gave up and died. Atleast with the games, they had a chance.

She wondered how her hope had dwindled this low in such a small amount of time. The death of her colleagues had cut her deep, leaving a festering wound of despair to poison her mind into believing that she would not make it; that she could not make it.

"Let me down, Mr. Kim." she told him.

"If you're going to try to run away—"

"No, I'm not. This is just no way to carry the leader of the group now is it?" Sintra said, prompting him to set her down.

"There she is," Vante announced, a hint of a smile lurking around his mouth.

"Are you two love birds done now? We have to go!" Jesse rushed.

"Shut up!" Sintra told her, grabbing the map from her as she lead the way towards their destination.