Ruby Fridays

Chapter 70: Eliminated

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N O W P L A Y I N G

» [ Pit of Souls - Re Quiemm Beatz ] «

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───── ❝ R U B Y F R I D A Y ' S P O V ❞ ────

║ Gregorian Calendar ║ 02 - 28 - 2027 ║

║ Sunday║ Third Day of Olympia's Cup║

Long awake from my slumber last night, I sit in the corner of the cold, empty white room me and my team are now staying, leaning against the frame of the wall. The fluorescent lights above flicker mechanically, casting a pallid glow across the sterile surfaces. The air is still, devoid of noise or movement. The stillness of the room belies the chaos we face beyond these walls. We have been briefed on the dangers, trained to handle the unknown, but it does little to quiet the doubts that creep into my thoughts in these quiet hours.

There are no windows, just that one exit. The door at the far end is made of thick metal and blends seamlessly into the wall, with no handle or keyhole visible from this side. The room offers no comforts, no place to sit but the cold, hard floor. The lights continue their steady, mechanical flickering, a mockery of the natural rhythms of day and night. The air hangs still and stagnant, devoid of any trace of the outside world.

This place was designed to isolate, to cut one off from the outside. There are no distractions, nothing to stimulate the mind beyond the blank monotony of the walls. Time loses meaning in a place like this. One can only guess at how long they have been here based on the aching in their bones, the gnawing hollowness in their stomach. But even those bodily markers fade as the body grows accustomed to this new normal of bare subsistence.

This room was meant to break one's spirit, to leach the hope and will to resist from their very soul. The thought of escape seems futile in the face of the impenetrable door and unyielding walls. One begins to forget what life was like beyond this place, the faces and voices of loved ones fading into indistinct memories. The mind and body grow dull under this ceaseless assault, surrendering at last to the inescapability of this sterile cage. This place was designed for one purpose: to reduce a person to nothing.

I do not know how long we've been here exactly, left with only my thoughts in this empty void. Minutes, hours? Nonetheless, time has no meaning in this place anyways. An uneasy feeling grows within me the longer we're trapped here, an itch beneath my skin, a crawling sense of dread, as I knew that some place that's far more sinister lurks beyond that featureless metal door, watching, waiting for the games to start.

For what purpose have we've been brought to this cold, sterile cage? And for how long must we remain here, prisoners of this empty white room? Again, I don't know as the flickering lights offer no answers, only the growing shadows of my isolation. With each passing moment, the dread builds within these featureless walls, seeping into the stagnant air like a fog.

The uncertainty of why we were chosen and when we will be freed only feeds the sense that something malevolent awaits us, something that lurks in the darkness beyond our sight, toying with us for its own cruel amusement.