Five wooden doors appeared evenly spaced in the circular room, the original door they entered through now missing. The room changing without him noticing was disconcerting. Whether the doors were always there but unseeable or if they’d teleported in while he wasn’t looking, he was unsure.

Despite having no desire to return to the death cavern, the lack of a way back disturbed him. He was a rat in a maze, forced to follow the path to the cheese.

He circled the room, mindful they were on a time limit. An ornate glowing orb was set above each of the new doors, differing only by color at first glance. The orbs were colored green, red, yellow, silver, and blue.

When he studied the green orb closest to him, he gasped when he visualized a vivid scene contained within. The image was static, but his brain somehow assigned time and motion to it instantly, if it could even be explained in such terms.

A seed falling to the ground… a seedling bursting through the earth... a mature tree blooming… a seed falling to the ground...

All things happening at once, over and over again ad nauseam.

He snapped his eyes away, terrified.

“What’s wrong with him?” Johanna said.

“Nathan-san?” Asahi asked.

He was panting. He glanced at the other two players, unable to articulate what he’d experienced. He’d been a part of a projected vastness of infinity. What the serious what…

He took a moment to gather his wits, and finally said, “Don’t look in the orbs.”

“What happened?” Asahi said.

“It was… I dunno."

“Did it fry his brain or something?” Johanna asked.

Nathan shook his head. "No, but I… I think I almost lost my mind.”

Asahi nodded. “Understood, we won’t look at them.”

Nathan took a steadying breath. The technology dwelling in the orb dwarfed his brain's comprehension. Everything unfathomable proved possible.

Each reminder of his captor's superiority nailed home the idea that they could do anything to him they wanted. He glanced around at the other doors, careful not to look directly at the orbs lest he misplace his sanity again. His attention was stolen away from his fugue state as he realized his allies were in the middle of a conversation.

“...she was a horrible woman,” Johanna said.

“I found her amusing,” Asahi said.

She frowned. “How could you possibly? She was condescending. And for a Guide, completely unhelpful.”

“She reminded me of my grandmother. She would speak insults as she instructed but always as a facade. I always knew she genuinely cared.”

Nathan wasn’t sure he agreed with Asahi’s nostalgic assessment. In his mind, the Guide had been an accessory to Kean’s death. But he didn’t care to debate it since their ten minute time limit to make a decision weighed heavily on his mind.

“Asahi, you were talking about the Five Elements before. What else can you tell us?”

“That is a difficult question, Nathan-san. I did not realize the Guide would cut the tutorial short. I had many questions for her. I have a lot of knowledge but not sure which parts are relevant to these strange trials.”

That was a good point. It was impossible to know if Asahi’s philosophies had anything to do with aliens and their experiments. “Well, what about those arrows on the door symbol from earlier? Since they bothered to display it, maybe it’s important?”

“Ah yes, that is a logical starting place. The arrows pointing from each element to the next in the chart are the phases of generation of energy. Each element in the cycle makes the next stronger creating an infinite loop. An easy saying to remember goes like this: Wood feeds Fire, Fire begets Earth from ash, Earth mothers Metal, Metal collects Water, and Water nourishes Wood thus completing the cycle. Now these other arrows crossing the center, they are the phases of destruction cycle. They represent each element’s strength against opposing elements. They are…”

“What does any of this matter?” Johanna interrupted. Nathan flinched at her aggressive tone. “Let’s pick a door and get out of here.” She stepped towards the door with the yellow orb. Her jaw was set and her breathing rapid.

Nathan figured the stress of the day’s events was taking its toll. He could certainly understand. He recognized his own body suffering from a crazy cocktail of emotions and was only barely holding it together. Focusing on the game system helped distract him from… well… pretty much everything else. But despite empathizing with her situation, he considered her attitude annoying. She was wasting their precious discussion time.

Nathan stepped towards her and looked her firmly in the eye. “We only have ten minutes to milk as much information as we can. Asahi’s knowledge could give us an advantage.”

“No offense, but I doubt it,” Johanna said, breaking eye contact to stare back at the door. “You heard the Guide; this room is going to collapse. I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to be here when it starts shaking. Yellow is my favorite color.”

Before Nathan could respond, she pulled open the door with the yellow orb and stepped through. The door slammed shut behind her on its own.

What the heck? Did she just leave them without even discussing it?

“That was rather… dramatic,” Asahi said deadpan.

“Yeah, it was. She didn’t even say goodbye. Or confirm if she was going to start with us in the main arena later.”

Asahi appeared thoughtful. “But a woman should have passion.” He nodded to himself.

“Um, sure,” Nathan said, not sure where he was going with that.

“Though the Earth element wasn’t a wise choice for her. Her body’s build is not predisposed for either defense or protection.”

“Nor is her demeanor,” Nathan added. He decided to push past the drama to bring the conversation back on topic. They were pressed for time. “So yellow represents Earth?”

“Yes. Wood is green, Fire is red, Earth is yellow, Metal is silver, and Water is blue.”

“I always figured Earth would be green or brown instead of yellow. But I suppose Wood already is taking the green spot and yellow looks better than brown. Come to think of it, shouldn’t Wood be brown?”

The soldier cracked a smile. “You could make a case for that. But these colors are historically and religiously significant, not something created casually on a whim.

“As I was saying, the intersecting arrows are the phases of destruction cycle. They represent which elements dominate, or destroy, their enemy element. Wood destroys Earth since its roots dig into it. Fire destroys Metal as it melts it with heat. Earth destroys or nullifies Water as it soaks it up. Metal destroys Wood as it chops it in half. And Water destroys Fire as it extinguishes its flames.”

Nathan thought about the relationships of both cycles. So each element had two allies and two enemies. Using Wood as an example, it was allied with Water and Fire. Water made Wood stronger and Wood in turn made Fire stronger. Its two enemies were Earth and Metal. Wood dominates Earth while in turn Wood loses to Metal. It was basically a five way paper-rock-scissors game.

Yep, this was definitely a magic system in an RPG. At least, a nanite based science magic system or something like that.

So which should he pick? In his role playing games, Nathan had always favored mage and wizard classes. They usually had a lot of offensive potential with ranged spell attacks, but were physically frail and had paper thin defenses. The archetypal glass cannon character. And he knew it would be incredibly stupid here. This was real life and his real body, not a game where he could count on having a formation of players to protect his weak body from a stiff breeze.

Here, death was not forgiving. He couldn’t just roll up a new character when he died.

It was a moot point anyway. Min-maxing his character’s build was currently impossible considering the lack of information to go on. The first challenge had been a fitness check and the second puzzle challenge would weed out those unable to think quickly or critically. Not to mention he knew very little about the main arena in general. All he could gather from the Guide was it apparently had monsters and dungeons.

Ultimately, he needed to be well rounded to handle anything thrown at him. He had no idea what he would face or would be required of him. The Guide had stated Wood Primes were balanced and flexible. He liked the sound of that. Plus, to take a page out of Johanna’s book, green was his favorite color. Not that he would ever admit it to her. And who knows… maybe he would have a synergy with the color since he already liked it. It was as plausible as any theory he supposed.

“I choose Wood,” Nathan announced to his fellow player. He then cringed at his unfortunate word choice.

Asahi didn’t notice the unintentional innuendo and nodded his head in acknowledgement. “Good choice, I was considering it as well. My heart is set on the path of Fire though. Speed and offense.”

Nathan nodded appreciatively. “As Sun Tzu once said, ‘speed is the essence of war.’”

Asahi appeared startled at Nathan’s recital of the line. He adopted a genuine smile and bowed his head towards Nathan. “I see you have studied The Art of War. I continue to be impressed by you, Nathan-san.”

Nathan had never actually read The Art of War. It was just a random saying he'd added to his profile page after googling 'speed quotes' since he was a runner. He didn’t tell Asahi that though. “Uh, yes. Thank you. I thought it appropriate given your choice.”

“Indeed. Another bit of wisdom he wrote also loosely relates to our decision. ‘Move swift as the Wind and closely-formed as the Wood. Attack like the Fire and be still as the Mountain.’”

Asahi’s quote was a lot more impressive sounding than his own, although the Guide had already shut down hopes that Wind was one of the elements. But regardless, the man’s formality had a way of putting Nathan at ease even in their crazy situation.

The soldier bowed again. “It has been an honor, Nathan-san. I will choose to start with you in the main arena when it’s time.”

“Sounds good. Good luck as well, Asahi-san.” He hoped he used the honorific for his name correctly.

The soldier turned and walked towards the water bowl in the middle of the room and took a long drink of water. When he finished, he headed to the door with the red orb. He nodded to Nathan once more. Then he hesitated.

“I regret what happened, Nathan-san…”

Nathan knew exactly what the man referred to; leaving Kean behind. Nathan nodded, not sure he could speak as emotions welled up in him. Guilt, anger, grief.

“I was arrogant,” Asahi continued, his head bowed forward. “I chose to lead, but I only led us to disaster. The boy died for my foolishness. If I had helped you carry him from the beginning, you would not have fallen and thus needed help yourself. You acted heroically and have my deepest respect. Pass the second challenge and we will see each other again.”

Then he opened the door and stepped through. The door slammed shut behind him.

Nathan took a moment to wipe the tears from his eyes. The man had made a mistake. But who wouldn’t in the type of ridiculous situation they were thrust into? If Nathan learned nothing else, it was that the arena trials were a place where mistakes held deadly consequences. The first challenge had vividly driven the point home.

He followed the man’s example by helping himself to the water bowl. He wanted to be well hydrated for what was to come. He mused that Johanna would probably regret she hadn’t drank more when given the chance. He hoped he would see her again despite her curtness. Surviving a near death experience together had given him a connection to his two allies, even if he didn’t mesh well with one of them. Of the three, he figured Asahi would be the most likely to succeed.

Once he’d drunk himself to overflowing, he headed towards the door with the green orb. As he reached for the metal ring serving as a door handle, his legs were violently knocked out from under him. He crashed against the ground, a pain in his hip indicating he’d bruised it. The floor was shaking and small pieces of rock began breaking free from the ceiling.

Crap, he’d waited too late. There was only one minute left.

He staggered to his feet which was a surprisingly difficult prospect. The excessively unstable floor made the earthquake of the previous cavern seem mild in comparison. The bowl in the center of the room toppled over and crashed to the ground, nearly crushing his feet. As he leapt back, the water sloshed out, drenching his pants.

Freaking Guide. She had definitely downplayed the intensity of the shaking in her warning.

Nathan turned towards the door but the ground countered with more intense wobbling. He stumbled backwards. He over corrected as he fought for balance and a shift in the shaking slammed him forwards into the wall. Blood ran into his eyes.

He wiped the blood away with his sleeve as he leaned against the wall for stability. The earthquake did its best to throw him back to the floor in the meantime. When his vision cleared, he could see the green orb door was right beside him.

He reached out his hand and snagged the door ring. His body lurched to the side but he tightened his grip. He was hurled once again to the side, painfully yanking his arm holding the ring. It nearly dislocated his shoulder from its socket.

The door swung open with his momentum while he collapsed to the ground, but he was still on the wrong side of it. He crawled on his hands and knees around the open door in a mad scramble, aiming for the opening. He lunged forwards, crossing the door’s threshold. The door slammed shut behind him.

The shaking immediately ceased.

He lost track of how long he laid on the ground recovering. His forehead was bleeding and a pounding headache consumed his thoughts. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he needed to move. There had been a time limit of some kind in every room so far and the consequences for dallying were no joke.

Could that room have been the second challenge? Was it that easy? A task as simple as picking a door before the time limit expired. Dumb players who goofed around were weeded out, saving the aliens the hassle of killing them later.

He made a humorless laugh at the thought. He’d nearly failed and died even though it was such a simple task. He resolved to never make light of a warning given here again.

He held up his wristband to see it glowing. He opened his interface and began reading his new messages.

[You have gained 2 NPs for testing the full time limit of the Room of Choosing.]

The game had to be mocking his stupidity by rewarding him for that moronic display. He'd ironically been contemplating how he needed to avoid mistakes, yet he immediately turned around and made one. He shook his head at himself and winced at the pain. At least he now had 9 NPs and only needed one more to upgrade General Fitness to level two. Half glass full and all that. He continued reading.

[Drink the elemental elixir to gain your affinities. The second challenge will then begin.]

Dang it. So he hadn’t actually finished the second challenge. He still had that to look forward to.

He sat up and peered around the room. It appeared identical to the one he’d just vacated. It even had the same central pedestal with a water bowl collecting drippings from the ceiling opening. Guess that last minute drink hadn’t been worth nearly dying over after all.

He wiped his forehead with his bloody sleeve again. His stomach nearly flipped again at the sight of the blood. He decided to bandage his head with his shirt, but not before he washed the wound with water. Surviving all this insanity to only then die from an infection of some kind would be his luck. He climbed onto his shaky legs and stepped over to the water bowl.

The water was green. Like slime green. He hadn’t noticed the strange coloration while sitting on the ground. His message log had stated he needed to drink the ‘elemental elixir.’ There was no question now what that referred to. His best guess for why it had a weird green color was to represent the Wood element. No way was he washing his head with this stuff. He was kind of glad he hadn’t picked the red door like Asahi. Would the man have to drink some kind of blood water? Nathan shuddered at the thought. Johanna’s yellow water had to be just as gross too if it resembled the bodily fluid he imagined.

He checked around the circular room. There were exactly zero doors leading in or out, not even the one he entered by. He didn’t have much choice but to drink. The room would probably explode or something if he refused.

But first, he needed to take care of his bleeding. Once he drank the elixir, no telling what kind of shenanigans it would let loose. He slowly peeled his sweaty blue shirt off his back where it had adhered to his soaked white undershirt. The disgusting fabric featured a mixture of dirt, sweat, blood, and various vomits. The offending substances combined to create a new level of stench he’d never previously been exposed to. If he’d been back home, he would have thrown the shirt directly into a trash bag instead of washing.

He regretted not using the crystal clear water in the previous room for cleaning his clothes. So many little details he kept missing. He needed to get his head in the game and not waste golden opportunities for exploiting available resources.

He wrapped the sorry excuse for a dress shirt around his noggin, tying the sleeves in a knot to hold it in place. He tried to use the cleanest sections for covering the wound but most of the shirt was… icky. With his head now bandaged, he was ready for the fun part.

He cupped his hand and dipped it into the slime water to scoop it out. At least its consistency resembled water more than it did slime. That was good; it gave less credence to his theory that it would mutate him into a giant ninja turtle. He sniffed the liquid and smelled nothing. That was also good.

He brought the alleged elemental elixir to his lips. He touched his tongue to it. His mouth began fizzing, otherwise having no taste. The sensation reminded him of how hydrogen peroxide reacted to a wound. Despite that, he supposed he preferred the water being fizzy and tasteless like this; he couldn’t even begin to imagine the horrific flavors the deranged aliens could come up with. Only marginally satisfied with his taste test, he reluctantly sipped the rest of the handful.

Once finished, he examined his body to see if anything happened. He felt absolutely nothing except for the fizzing sensation in his throat and mouth. Honestly, kind of a letdown given how psyched up he got for it. He assumed he would grow a third eye or an extra finger of some kind at the least. Maybe he had to drink more?

Then he felt new tingling. First in his fingers and toes. Then his arms and legs. The weird sensations grew as they traveled towards his core. The sensations began speeding up. When they reached his heart, he gasped in pain at the debilitating squeezing pressure in his chest.

Was he having a heart attack?

Before he passed out, his last thought was trying to recall if hydrogen peroxide was toxic when drunk.