Don't worry, dying isn't a common thing that happens in the Test. Most people stay alive.

It's just that for some... the Test is a little more deadly.

Skylar whips his head back towards the noise, eyes wide with fear. "We should stick togeth-"

Just before he finishes, a large black feline leaps out of the undergrowth nearby. It charges towards us, white fangs glistening.

I wisely ignore Skylar's advice and get out of there. I take a few turns, lined with more cobblestone coated with moss, and have a life changing apotheosis.

We're in a maze. For the first part, we'll need to escape.

First part? Well, there's four in the Test. Usually. Sometimes there's 3, 5, maybe one.

I did mention that the Test changes every year, didn't I?

For that reason, I can't afford to let my entire family legacy down because I decided to go buddy-buddy with the only other Tester.

I always thought those cliché books where friendship was one of the main themes were pretty stupid anyways. But that's just me.

As soon as I realize that I'm out of danger, I take a look around the walls. There should be some kind of tell tale sign or clue, telling us about our task here.

Yes, you might say, Well, it's a maze. Just escape it!

Dear reader, you gotta understand this. The Tests are never that simple. Okay, sure, we might need to escape the maze, but the exit won't be the easiest thing in the world to find.

Also, what kind of idiot wanders around a maze, hoping the exit will appear?

I attempt to look for landmarks, but so far, all I see are candle holders serving as the only light source, distanced just a few feet away from each other.

I take a moment to admire the little flame on the wick. I've only heard of these things from the books. Long, white sticks of wax that were used several hundred years ago, back on Earth.

I wave my hand over it, marveling at the heat, then scold myself.

I'm not a stupid child. I'm an intelligent being and I need to pass this Test.

That being said, I take the candle out of their holder and do the same for every other one down the path. I don't have a ball of string, but this should suffice.

Assuming they don't just respawn later.

I ignore the thought and look down the now darkened road I leave behind. The Tests were designed to be difficult, not impossible.

Of course, I don't know who designed the Test, but does that really matter right now?

A little further on, I hear the sound of rushing water. Given that this is the only element in the maze that is unusual compared to the rest, I go towards it.

It takes another few turns for the thick river to come into view. More underbrush comes into view too, but I dismiss this observation.

The river is lined with plant life more dense than any other that I've seen throughout the maze thus far. Green ferns and thick bushes stand at the edges, with a small number of little trees accompanying them.

As I near the river, small white shards poke up from the dirt. I crouch to dig them out, but here's where I make my mistake.

Remember when I said that there was a lot of underbrush? I should've really taken that as a sign, because more dark felines emerge from the plant life, hissing and snarling at me.

They must've been protecting that white shard. Hah...

I barely manage to duck before one of them lunges at me. I roll over, clumsily getting back up on my feet before the second feline pounces.

This one's claws grazed my elbow, which effectively rips my shirt sleeve but draws no blood.

Slowly, the two back me against a wall. Naturally, out of desperation, I throw my candles at them.

One at a time, of course. Throwing about ten candles at once is just a waste of material.

The candle bounces off the fur of the left feline with a THUNK. This momentarily dazes the creature.

Oh, nice, they're automatons.

The right feline's eyes begin to glow dangerously as it tries to swipe at me. I duck and roll, leaping towards the river. If I can do this right, I can lure them into the river, where they'll drown themselves.

The felines turn and charge at me as I throw two more candles. This annoys them, causing them to go faster.

At the last second, I fling myself aside. The two felines are hurled headfirst into the water.

This doesn't do a lot though, because they simply get up, shake their metallic pelts, and creep towards me once more.

Right... I forgot... waterproof fricken automatons are all the rage these days.

The felines learn from their past mistakes and begin sprinting towards me from both sides, ensuring I have no escape.

Wow, I'm really going to die here.

The thought doesn't go any further than that because at that moment, a miscellaneous piece of metal flies through the air and punctures the head of the left feline. It collapses on the grass floor, disabled. The glow of its eyes starts fading.

The remaining feline stares at its fallen companion before another piece of metal goes through its skull too. It falls right on my feet, the weight of it heavy against my toes.

Skylar emerges from the maze where the flying shards of metal came, which leads me to assume that he threw them. 

"Now can we stick together?" 

When I don't answer, he adds," Fine, if you won't work with me because I just saved you, at least work with me because I have information you might need."

He shrugs off his backpack- backpack? How'd he get one? Anyways, he takes out a lighter and an ax, then points at the trees. "The robotic panthers stay away when there's fire. Help me with this, please?"

"I don't have an ax."

"They were in the backpacks that were near our spawn place. I thought you would've gone back for them.."

I curse my stupidity.

"You can use a knife instead?" Skylar suggests, holding the blade out to me. "After we do that, we need to find food."

At those words, my stomach rumbles. "How can we be hungry in a simulation?" I ask dumbly.

"The simulation is telling you that you're hungry. Remember, it's a test. We might not actually be hungry, but neglecting our needs is bound to reflect negatively on our score."

"But-"

Skylar is already turning towards the trees.

Silently, I finish my sentence. What if that decreases our score instead?

At the same time, I answer my own question. In real life, you can't just neglect your hunger. You'd die. Because life is not a simulation. Only the Tests are.

I assist Skylar in chopping down the wood with the long bladed knife.

Or at least, I try.

The blade got stuck halfway into the branch when I brought it down. I try to saw through it, but it doesn't work.

"Maybe we should switch tools," Skylar says. "Here."

He shoves the ax into my hand and takes the handle of the knife. He removes it from the tree, then slices downward.

The branch falls onto the ground.

"Say," I start, chopping down branches with my new weapon. It's still hard, albeit easier. "How do you know they're scared of fire?"

"The robots? Uh, well, I took a flaming candle and threw it at the one we encountered at the start. It didn't do damage, but when it saw the flame, it just bolted. And even if I'm wrong, having a fire won't be too bad. Even if they come, we could just throw flaming sticks at them."

For some reason, Skylar smirks after finishing the sentence.

"Flaming sticks?" I ask.

His smirk fades. "Nevermind."

We continue cutting down more wood until the pile is stacked. Carefully, Skylar and I cut the branches into smaller segments. This way, we have kindling, twigs, and plain branches.

Skylar fashions a makeshift campfire within minutes. Soon, a fire is ready.

I go towards the white shards from earlier. They're embedded into the ground, so much to the point where I can't dig them out.

Skylar wordlessly hands me a shovel.

I take it in the same manner and poke the hard dirt. Then, I thrust the blade of the shovel into the earth, scooping up a huge chunk. Cautiously, I remove the shards from the dirt.

They turn out to be bones.

"Oh nice, food," Skylar says from somewhere behind me.

I turn around to see my partner standing over one of the automatons, chips and jerky in hand. The automaton has been taken apart, though not completely.

I hurry over to inspect it, lest Skylar mess up something pivotal in its structure.

"What are those?" Skylar asks, noticing the shards in my hand.

"Bones or something," I reply, surveying the felines.

The two automatons are similar, but there are differences in their mechanics. For one, the left feline has three more gears, small but noticeable. The right one has more simplistic paws than its counterpart.

"They're basically the same," Skylar sums up for me.

"Okay.... That means, this part of the Test has to do with evolution or something."

"Mhm..."

Skylar pokes the fire with a stick to stir up the embers. "Any proposals, then?"

"What was the information you thought I needed?"

"There was a door right next to where we spawned. I'm guessing you didn't notice that?"

I refuse to let him see that he's right. I hadn't been paying attention at all when we first began this test.

"Anyway, in front of the door, there was this gold basin. Like we're supposed to put something in there. And there's a keyhole, so there's gotta be a key hidden among all the felines."

"For all we know, the maze is endless," I point out. "The basin might call for a broken automaton, but still... the key? We can make one out of wax. There are candles everywhere, after all."

"So you're telling me we can just make a key out of wax just by looking at its keyhole?"

I can't answer that either. Instead, I say,"Everything is put in here intentionally. So far, the amount of plants dictates the likelihood of encountering a killer machine. The killing machines themselves have food for us. The trees were to scare off the automatons. Those shards have to have some purpose too."

"What's your theory?" Skylar overturns his pocket and dumps out more bones.

Immediately, I see where the pieces would go together. I place the pieces together a certain way. When I finish, I take a step back.

The pieces form a paw, much like the automaton's paws.

"We might have to collect all the shards to build a skeleton. We put that skeleton in the basin."

"You just said that the maze might be endless. How many bones would we need to finish it?"

"Not all skeletons are finished." This was something I learned from Professor Ollyat's class. "We might not need to completely finish it."

"Okay.... I do wonder why they use automatons instead of real wildcats. They can create them just as easily in a stimulation like this."

"Do you think the key might be hidden in one of them?"

Skylar shakes his head. "That would be way too much searching, killing.... And unnecessary."

"So we hunt for shards."

With that conclusion, I take the bag of jerky without Skylar's permission and begin eating some of it.

"They're plentiful around leafy areas. Therefore, we'd need to follow.... The river." Skylar nods towards the path. "Rivers would be one of the more biota dense areas in this place."

"Get enough bones, kill automatons for food, and light fires to keep them away. Nice."

"And find the middle."

"Do y'know where it is?" What if the maze changes? That would be bad...

"I did leave a trail of nuts I found near the spawn point. We should be fine."

"For this part."

"Thanks for the reminder. Definitely needed that."

Skylar yawns and curls up beneath a tree. Within moments, he's sound asleep.

I will not lie, I'm half tempted to leave Skylar to fend for himself. Maybe steal the backpack too, while I'm at it.

But he has information that I would've never gotten if it weren't for him. When we return to the middle, I'll need to snag that backpack, if it's still there.

Guess he wasn't as useless as I thought.

However, without me, he wouldn't have found out what the endgame task was. So yay me.

If you're hoping for an epic adventure that goes on for chapters and chapters, you're going to be disappointed. Skylar and I don't do anything else except avoid automatons, find shards, and create more fires. We didn't really talk much, either. I hope you weren't hoping for some funny character interactions or anything.

After a little more maneuvering and candle collecting, we make our way back towards the middle. At this time, two.... Rest periods have passed. Our sleep instincts took over twice, that's what I'll say. In this temple, we can't tell what night and day are. Not that it matters too much, unless we have a time limit.

I really hope we don't have a time limit.

An orange backpack sits near the bronze double doors, which I snatch up quickly. It feels good having my own tools, because I don't have to rely on Skylar's anymore. I'm sure Skylar is glad that it's there too. The relief is evident in his eyes.

Together, we lay out the structure of a jungle cat. Except....

"How can that paw have so many bones, but that one doesn't?" Skylar asks.

I stare at our handiwork dumbfoundedly. "Maybe we're missing some bones?"

"We've scoured four different riverbeds to get this many. This should be enough, considering we didn't find many in the last hour or so."

And yet. The structure of the creature is unevenly distributed. The front paws have the sufficient amount of bones to replicate those of their robotic replicas, but that leaves weird looking bones for the back paws.

The tail is too short.

"Wait... what if we just took some of those bones," Skylar gestures to the front paws," and move them to the back?"

"Then it won't match up."

"Yes, but it would make more sense. We'd be piecing together an earlier evolutionary phase of the jungle cats."

"And those extra bones?"

"Not all bones will fit. This must be the History part of the Test..."

I figured no harm would be done if we followed Skylar's suggestion. Sure enough, as soon as we lay down the last modifications of the structure, a key appears on the ground.

Skylar picks it up and places it into the keyhole, unlocking the door.

All we can see is a great, dark, yawning void. Fun.

I follow after Skylar, eyes narrowed. He might be right about some of our tasks, but I still don't trust him.

Once we both cross the threshold into this impenetrable void, the door closes behind us.

We can not see anything at all.

I hear a yelp from next to me, then the weight of someone crashing into me.

"Do you have your lighter out?" I ask, helping Skylar up.

Skylar slips again, dragging me down a step. That tells me we're on a staircase. "Sorry, sorry, here-"

A small round plastic rectangular object is thrust into my hand. With my other hand, I pull out a candle and light it.

It's not a lot of light, but it's enough to make the stone around us visible. I light a few more candles with the already lit candle.

"I really wish the backpacks came with flashlights," I mutter. This gets me a shaky laugh from Skylar, who's managed to get back to his feet. I give him five lit candles and take the last three for myself. He needs the light more than I do.

I lead the way down the small, cramped spiral staircase too. There are small black symbols engraved into the wall. A triangle, an omega, a circle. In no particular order, they fill the space like a swarm. Every stone brick has at least one tiny symbol.

I try to pay as much attention as I can, but this backfires as soon as I turn my head from the wall to the space in front.

There is a giant skeleton inches from my face. I hear another tiny shriek from behind. It has a large jaw of teeth and a spinal cord, but that's all there is to it.

"I'm surprised you haven't told me to stop yet," Skylar laughs nervously as we avoid the white decorations.

"Stop what?"

"Stop screaming-"

We come face to face with another skeleton. This one has thick flippers. It's as large as a car, but this one doesn't have a head. Just a tail.

It seems to be the same animal. I can't be sure, though.

"You didn't scream this time," I note emotionlessly.

"I think I'm doing a good job with self rest-" Skylar yelps as the little symbols on the wall are now accompanied by red dots that look suspiciously like... blood? The blood spots become bigger and more numerous as we continue down the stairs.

Despite myself, I laugh. Actually laugh, in a way I felt like I haven't for months. "It's childhood trauma, I get it, don't worry. No way an eighteen year old would be scared of the dark if they didn't have some dark story behind it."

"Good to know I'm not the only one who bears marks of my past."

I can see Skylar's hands shaking in the candlelight. "Do you know anyone who's ever taken the Test alone?"

"No... Nor do I really want to- I mean, I'm sorry you're stuck with me, but still-"

"Calm down. Take a breath. I don't know if we'll have to fight anything down here but-"

A very loud hissing rudely interrupts me.

"...but we should be prepared if we do," I finish meekly.