Autumn of 345, A.D.
Daisy’s cybermonkeys scurried about the museum, just as they did throughout the city, keeping everything neat and orderly. Kai barely noticed them anymore—until their simian calls echoed through the vast hall, impossible to ignore.
The museum was one of the capital’s largest buildings, and after every exam, its collection grew. Years ago, Kai and Alex had estimated how long it would take before the building reached full capacity. Alex’s theory was that Daisy had already accounted for humanity’s survival when designing it. If they could figure out how many more exhibits it could hold, they might uncover how many years Daisy had predicted humanity had left.
After running the numbers and measuring the available space, they had arrived at an unsettling estimate—about a hundred more exhibits. If Alex was right, humanity had roughly a century left. The thought rang true to Kai. He couldn’t speak for the other sectors, but his own was barely holding on. Once home to millions, now it housed only two handfuls of people.
Kai shook his head, pushing the thought aside. There was no use dwelling on doomsday theories. He refocused on his task—finding a past exam that highlighted the value of perspective.
He stood before the maquette of the 15th Daisy Trials, a detailed miniature recreation of an event from long ago. That year, Daisy had tested cooperation, a common theme in the early exams. One thousand sectors had been divided into twenty teams of fifty, tasked with rebuilding a monument.
The celebratory model sat on a sturdy table, showcasing the reconstructed site—a circular arrangement of upright stone pillars, each about the height of a human hand. Kai studied the placement of the stones, trying to decipher their pattern. There was something ancient and mysterious about them, something that made it hard to look away.
The attention to detail that went into these maquettes never failed to impress him. Tiny grooves and weathered markings had been carved into the stones. The surrounding grass wasn’t just green felt—it was real moss. Ariel often spoke about her training with Albert, sharing how much work went into maintaining these models. Kai was glad it wasn’t his job. There was no way he could craft something so intricate.
Flipping through the trial runner’s report, he scanned the details. The challenge hadn’t been easy—each team member was graded individually, which led to backstabbing and credit hoarding. Their trial runner that year had only placed in the top 800s, but even that had earned enough hormones for one hundred couples. Back then, with a larger population, even a low ranking had been enough to bring home something valuable.
Kai considered how a shift in perspective might have helped the trial runner perform better. He had fought for leadership—but should he have followed instead? Would that have given him a higher score?
A voice interrupted his thoughts.
“That wasn’t a good year for us, was it?”
Kai nearly jumped out of his skin. “Albert! You scared me.” He turned to find the old historian standing behind him. “How long have you been there?”
Albert chuckled. “Sorry, my boy. You were so focused, I didn’t want to disturb you.”
Kai exhaled, steadying his breath.
“How I would have liked to be part of that one,” Albert mused. “Stonehenge has always fascinated me.”
“Stone edge?”
“Stonehenge. The name of the monument.”
“What was it for? I can’t figure it out.”
Albert laughed. “You’re not the only one. I’d love to hear Daisy’s take on it.” He shot a glance at one of the cybermonkeys lingering nearby. “But her majesty only listens. She never speaks. Isn’t that right, you old hag?”
The cybermonkey stared at them, red optic lights glowing blankly.
“I remember when…” Albert trailed off.
Kai frowned. Sometimes, Albert was like an old machine that needed a good whack to start working again.
“Stonehenge, Albert! You were going to tell me about Stonehenge!”
“Oh, right. Right.” Albert cleared his throat. “No one knows for certain what it was used for. My favorite theory? That it was an observatory.”
“An observatory?”
“Some historians believe it was used to track lunar eclipses, solar events, or seasonal changes. People may have relied on it for agriculture and timekeeping.”
Stolen story; please report.
Kai glanced back at the model. The yellow glow of the overhead lamp cast long shadows across the tiny stones, dark streaks cutting through the mossy field.
“I was just thinking,” he said, “maybe if the trial runner had understood what they were building, they would have done better.”
Albert hummed in thought but said nothing.
*
353rd Daisy Trials, Round of 256.
Capture successful!
Tries left: 12 of 20.
Flintstone ???? (Uncommon)
1 of 3
HP: 3
VP: 1
Capture successful!
Tries left: 11 of 20.
It looked like his opponent hadn’t come across this rock—or had simply failed to notice it. It couldn’t always be the other guy getting lucky, right?
Satisfied with the discovery, Kai studied the new card.
So this is flint. If memory serves me, it can be used to fashion tools and start fires. A good find.
This card, too, had high HP and low VP. Another hint that the crafting arena would make or break this round. Satisfied that there was nothing else here to capture, he resumed his march.
As he walked through the maze of rock cubes, he fiddled with the map and discovered he could zoom in and out. He zoomed out as far as possible, tracking his exploration. He estimated he had already seen 70% of the map.
Checking his accumulated score, he counted 14 victory points. Not great, but not terrible either.
His mind wandered. How was Ariel doing?
She was already in stage two of the blight, her body wracked with constant pain. She was surely worried about him right now.
I wonder if anyone else would have been a better fit for this challenge. Neil, maybe? Or Albert?
The thought made bittersweet memories surface, ghosts of the past brushing against his mind.
Regardless, he was confident he was the right choice between him and Ariel. She wasn’t good at thinking outside the box, no matter how hard she tried. She was better with math, structure—things that fit neatly inside boundaries.
The setting sun stretched the shadows of the rock cubes across the quarry. The elongated silhouettes made him think of something Albert had once told them.
What was that place called? Stone edge? No. Stonehenge. That’s it.
The quarry’s layout—endless pillars of stone, their shadows warping across the ground—transported him back to the museum, to the 15th exam’s maquette. If he wasn’t mistaken, that was the day Albert had taught them about perspective.
Kai glanced at the map overlay in the corner of his vision. All the rock piles in the quarry were marked.
Could there be a pattern to their layout?
He squinted, but nothing stood out. Maybe he needed to complete the whole map before something emerged. Who knew? Maybe there was a rare card tied to it.
He stepped across one of the rock cube’s elongated shadows—and stopped.
Perspective.
Turning, he studied the dark silhouette on the ground. What if, instead of capturing the rocks, he tried to capture their shadows?
Kai positioned himself near a pile of rocks and aimed the camera downward. He adjusted the framing, ensuring the shadow stretched just right, then went for it.
Capture successful!
Tries left: 10 of 20.
Shadow ? (Common)
3 of 4
HP: 0
VP: 3
My opponent has thought of it too? They’re good.
Luckily, the card was common. It made sense—shadows were everywhere in this arena. It wouldn’t have been fair if [Shadow] had been any rarer. That meant Kai didn’t have to worry about the entire pool being scooped up. If he needed extra points at the end of the round, he could just snap a picture of his own shadow. Its point value was the same as [Lichen]—useful for scoring but worthless for crafting.
Kai stepped out of the rock pile’s shadow—then froze.
Something was missing.
His breath caught as he waved his hand, watching the floor. Nothing. No movement. No shadow.
The light passed right through him.
Now that he thought about it, it made sense. He had already determined that the camera couldn’t capture him. That meant light didn’t interact with his body at all. No reflection. No shadow.
Not having a shadow only made the feeling of detachment stronger—as if he wasn’t a part of this world.
He shook off the unease and pushed forward.
By now, he had covered most of the quarry. He had come across two more flintstone boulders but nothing else of interest. All that remained was half the map’s perimeter. He had explored everything from 12 to 6 o’clock. Now, only the other half remained.
Still, no more ponds.
That unsettled him.
If there had been another pond, it would have meant his opponent just got lucky—a random good spawn. But there was only one. That meant their rival had actively found it first. The chances of them spawning right next to the treasure trove were slim. Which meant…
They probably have the map and compass upgrades. Maybe even more than that.
That, in turn, meant they had a better score than Kai in the previous stage.
That and how they had thought of photographing shadows… His opponent wasn’t just lucky—they were capable. That was a problem.
Reaching the northernmost edge of the arena, Kai pressed a hand against the rock wall. He exhaled slowly and kept moving.
He didn’t remove his hand as he walked. Phasing through water. Through stone. No shadow. The longer he spent in this place, the more he felt like a ghost. But the rough grain of the rock under his fingers was grounding. It reminded him he was real.
He ignored the patches of moss, lichen, and succulents scattered along the cliff walls.
As he approached the westernmost point of the arena, his hand suddenly slipped through the rock.
Kai lurched forward, barely catching himself before he fell.
He turned, pressing both hands against the wall. Solid. He stepped to the side and tried again. His hand went right through.
His pulse quickened. Wasn’t this supposed to be the edge of the arena?
He squinted into the distance. The rock wall stretched in a perfect curve.
He grinned.
“Daisy, Daisy, Daisy. I knew you were hiding something from me.”
Leaning in, he pressed his body against the wall. He expected resistance—but his arm sank through effortlessly. He reached deeper, walking forward, his hand vanishing into solid rock.
When his head passed through, everything went dark.
He kept walking.
Then, as suddenly as the darkness swallowed him, he emerged into dim light.
Tracks crisscrossed the ground, vanishing beyond the shimmering barrier behind him. Thick wooden beams supported the passageway, and lamps, placed at intervals, flickered faintly, illuminating the tunnel.
Kai’s lips curled into a smirk.
He had just discovered a hidden area.
A mine.
[Opinion Fragment ??] + [One Minute ?]
?? | HP: 1 → 0
? | HP: 1 → 0
Crafting successful! You’ve crafted [Public Review ????].
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