The room was silent.

Aiden sat in the corner of the room, arms wrapped around his knees as he tried to direct his mind to think of anything but Ivor's death.

Yet still the scene replayed in his head, over and over again- the blood, the burst, the poof leaving nothing but stained, tattered clothing...

He shuddered and tried not to puke.

He looked to the other side of the room, where the man in green, Otto, sat, the white-haired woman, Harper, her face buried in his shoulder so Aiden couldn't see her expression. Otto stared blankly, a glazed look in his eyes. Besides muttering something earlier about 'he's not respawning, he's gone forever', whatever that meant, he hadn't spoken a word.

Aiden shifted nervously, staring down at the ground again.

Footsteps caused his and Otto's head to snap towards the entrance, and Cassie Rose appeared in the doorway, the still bloody stone sword held tightly in her right hand.

"I checked the room," she said, returning the sword to her inventory, "and it's just as I thought. Besides the sword, there's nothing else in the chest."

Otto sighed and looked to the floor again, "So what should we do?"

Cassie crossed her arms, "Do you really need to ask? There's only one thing we can do- what we've been doing. Going through the hallway, and checking each room."

"What?" the words slipped out of Aiden's mouth before he could stop himself, and Cassie and Otto's gaze rested on him.

"There's not exactly anything else to do now, is there..." Cassie gestured to him, "...whatever your name is."

"Aiden. But why would you want to continue looking through these rooms," he stood up as he spoke, "when doing so was what resulted in Ivor's death?"

Cassie scoffed and said, "We're more prepared this time. Stop sounding so paranoid."

"Paranoid?" Aiden let out a nervous laugh, "Oh, because being worried about investigating the place that somebody designed to kill us off, already succeeding in killing somebody in a horrific way, is paranoid."

"We didn't know what was coming, but we do now. And might I remind you that these 'punishments' are very capable of dying." she brought out the sword, "So I think we can defend ourselves just fine."

"Uh, you can defend yourself just fine. Didn't that voice say that you killed people?"

Cassie inhaled sharply, her body stiffening. Then, in a cold voice she said "Didn't the voice say you endangered an entire city?"

Aiden flinched, looking to ground, "It... wasn't my best moment."

"Oh boo hoo you regret it. My bet is that you," she jabbed at him, "are just too scared to face the 'Blaze' that the person in charge has set up to punish you."

"I mean," he said, "I'd rather not die. No, I should be serving my sentence in a jail cell- not dying in whatever horrific way the person in charge has planned!"

"For the record," Otto said, causing Cassie and Aiden to look at him, "I think that Cassie is right about the hallway. Even if we didn't have Ivor's death to worry about, no one has any food. So if we decided to just wait it out..." he trails off, then continues with, "And who says that, should we stay here, they won't just send the 'Punishments' after us, instead of waiting for us to come to them?"

Aiden let out a groan, burying his face in his hands, "...Shit, it really is our only option."

Otto's features softened, "Your fear is legitimate, Aiden. But the person who designed this Judgment Day seems to be very clever, as they clearly know what they're doing, well enough to have forced us into this corner." he sighed, "The only thing we can do is continue on and hope that we find some way to get out."

"So," Cassie put her hands on her hips, "we're going with my plan, then? Continue searching the rooms?"

"Before we go, actually," everyone froze and looked to Harper as she sat up slowly, her eyes red and swollen from crying, "I think that Cassie and Aiden should go through rooms together. She's the one with, and most adept at wielding, the sword, and if Aiden is the next target..." she rubbed at her face, "It's best to be prepared."

For a minute, nobody spoke. Harper didn't add on anything, curling in on herself and looking at the ground. Finally, Otto looked back at Aiden and Cassie and said, "I agree with Harper... better safe than sorry in this situation. I assume you two would be willing to comply?"

Cassie shrugged, "I'd rather not," she glared at Aiden, "but sure."

Otto stood up, then helping Harper up as well, "Then let's not waste anymore time. Let's go see what these other rooms have in store for us."