TONG. The clock rang. Loud and clear like a bell. I glanced up. The second hand moved, as I suspected it might, anti-clockwise. My attention shifted back to the tablet. The screen had changed. Just as described, a 9 x 9 grid split into nine smaller 3 x 3 squares, a handful of numbers already filled in. Exactly as I imagined. I got to work immediately, left hand on the tablet, right hand holding the pen, I tapped away, glad it registered my claws scraping its surface as inputs. Numbers appeared. Tap. Next. Tap. Next. My brain spun, arrays of numbers tumbling around. This Sudoku wasn’t easy, I could tell; there were very few numbers in the same rows, columns, or sections. It’s fine. My eyes zipped around the grid finding one straightforward number after the other. I didn’t need to note much down yet. I just had to wrestle with the accuracy of my claws. A few missteps had already cost me precious seconds as I picked up my pace. With every filled in number, the next was just that much easier and it didn’t take long before I didn’t need to think anymore.
With the last number filled, the screen blinked, and the next table replaced the first. A quick peek at the clock, its minute hand barely moved. Less than 2 minutes passed. A walk in the park. I scanned the next puzzle. Even fewer numbers, but that’s all, barely a dozen. The same logic. A little tedious. Once you knew the patterns it was muscle memory running through the sequences one by one. And this was one muscle I’d exercised a lot. The fewer numbers, the longer it took to get going. My right hand was a blur, racing across the sheet. My left darted to and fro, quickly used to the tablet’s interfacing, claws raking its stubbornly pristine surface. Honestly, I really wanted this tablet for myself; beyond being sleek yet durable, it was perfectly responsive. I leaned back with a small sigh. Second one down. Clock said this one took me about thrice as long. I smirked to myself, I still had most of the time left.
The screen sizzled for a split second. Returning to the instruction panel. My hand moved forward to skip past it. I don’t need- wait. This one’s different.
Instructions: You will be provided with a 9 x 9 grid of square spaces. It will be sectioned off into nine 3 x 3 smaller grids with darker lines. Furthermore, every space will be sectioned off with thin dotted lines; the sum of all numbers in the aforementioned section will be recorded in the upper left square of the space closest to the first row and column. You will not be provided with any spaces previously filled in.
Fill in each slot with a number, 1-9. You may not repeat numbers along any row, column, 3 x 3 grid, or within each respective dotted area.
To fill in a number, tap the desired space: an overlay will appear listing the numbers 1-9. Then, tap the desired number. Placement is not final; you may change your answer by tapping the chosen space again.
When all numbers are filled in correctly, the puzzle will automatically submit.
This Killer Sudoku is the final Sudoku required to clear this Puzzle Room.
Oh, wow. Now you ramp up the difficulty. I felt a rising pride in my chest. Bring it on, I’d even do 16 x 16, or 100, whatever. Wait, no. Don’t give me 100, I was just kidding. The instructions didn’t linger, and was soon replaced by a table as described. My eyes widen for a moment. It, however, wasn’t kidding. I didn’t have a single number to go off of. I must’ve done some of these ‘Killer’ Sudoku before because my hand was already moving. I wasn’t quite as familiar. Slower this time, careful, a little uncertain, like trying to remember how to cook with an induction stove after years with electric. I drew another grid to take notes in while I collected myself. Tossing the first sheet aside, I got to working on the next. I needed to adjust myself. This was a completely different game. They might seem the same, but to even begin using the logic before, you needed numbers on the grid. And to do that, find the patterns. Every column, every row, even every 3 x 3 grid had to add up to 45. And that was the key. Everything built off of that. 16 with only two spaces had to be 9 and 7. 24 with three had to be 9, 8, and 7. 4 with two numbers had to be 1 and 3, while 7 with 3 numbers had to be 1, 3 and 4 etc. Neither hand blurred across their respective surfaces, but I kept going, steady.
19 + 14 + 14 + 13 +1, 61 - 45, 16. This one is either 9 or 7. Nothing existed beyond the confines of the tablet, the page, and the pen. If the clock was still ticking, I couldn’t hear it, only the scratching on the paper and the clacking of claws. 6, 9, 8, 2 and finally, 7 Done.
Nothing happened. Shit. Did I make a mistake? If it’d happened early on I was screwed, I’d have to start from scratch. Desperate, my eyes darted up and down, trying to take in every number at once. Where was the repetition? How much would I have to adjust? My heart in my mouth, I found it. Two 8s in the same column. It was just a typo. Relief flooded through me. Poking the screen, I entered a 7. A number of sounds tore through the silence all at once.
TONG. From the clock. Louder, sonorous, the deep peal of a bell far too big for that clock. I almost jumped out of the chair.
Clickclick. Underneath its echo, to my right. The doors unlocking, I assumed.
Tink. From behind. Faint, but audible. Something small hit the floor.
Three noises, simultaneous, my ears could barely pick them all up. I flash my eyes to the clock. Its minute hand stopped right before the 8. Just under 20 minutes for the trio of problems. Not bad, not bad at all. The second hand was stopped around 9… until it started moving again, faster, and faster. Backwards again. 9 to 8 in only a few seconds, then 7 in just one. A second later it hit 3. It was spinning, a blur, I couldn’t even make it out anymore. Now the minute hand had picked up speed and was masquerading as its thinner sibling. In just a moment, it reached 7. Tink
My head swiveled back. I saw a glow, no, a pair of them, gleaming even in the daylight. Two shiny coins on the floor. Silver, one slighter larger, thicker, than the other. Tink. Another coin hit the ground. I glanced up, 5 minutes had already passed and the minute hand was at 6. Tink. 5. Thump. 4. Thump? I turned back to the coins to find a backpack, a bag, a schoolbag. My eyes went wide. A thought sprouted. Alien, but intimate. A longing. And a memory, stirring.
Walking… Sunlight…
Heavy… Schoolbag… On my back… To school
I clutched at my chest and slammed a palm onto the table, struggling to my feet. What, what is that? Where is it? The moment, fleeting, gone before the next ‘tink.’ But engraved in me. My subconscious screamed, railing against the memory. But I remembered. Remembered every sound. The touch of a light breeze on my face, the smell of Plumerias* soothing over me. And yet, it was just a drop from an ocean I’d lost. So little of what I once had. My knee buckled and I fell, taking the desk down with me. Tinktink. Click. Tinktink. Tinktinktak. I’m sure those sounds made their way to me but my mind was elsewhere. I dragged ragged breaths in, panting, heart like it was bursting from my chest. Until it was the only noise breaking the eerie silence.
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That was me. Heading to school, to the classroom. A classroom just like this, with the same arrangement of chairs and tables. When I was small. Small and weak, a shadow of what came before. Everything else, myself, the environs, lost to those shadows.
I’m not sure how long I stayed there trying to bring my breathing under control. But I did eventually turn to the source of the click, at least according to my subconscious. The final and furthest door from me. Clearing the puzzles with so much time left must have unlocked the final Room. A peek at my wrist confirmed it.
I took a deep breath, pulling in a whiff of old wood and chalk. I felt around with a hand, searching for the dropped tablet, claws scraping the ceramic. Where? I swear I heard… Did I? It could’ve just been the sound of wood crashing on tiles. The pen was nowhere to be found either, just the scattered ruins of three sheets of paper, scrawled all over with dozens of numbers. And a schoolbag. A flash of annoyance ran through me at losing those two tools, but perhaps there was more inside the bag.
Well, at least I’ve cleared this Room, and I didn’t really need a rest now that I’d calmed down. Time to move on. Thank you to who or whatever sent me the backpack. I grabbed at one of the two shoulder straps. Black, smooth, soft. Light too, as I lifted it, despite how large it was. Larger than most schoolbags I could think of. It felt slightly more weighted in one corner; something was inside. There was one zipper, conveniently large enough for me to hook a claw through. Was this custom made for me? Convenient, if a little creepy. I idly wondered if the rewards for this Room were random as I pulled it open, where a glass container greeted me, reminiscent of a milk bottle.
It shaped like a milk bottle, but not filled with milk. Transparent greenish yellow liquid No milk colored like that, does it? The liquid reminded me of something. Like it belonged to a different kind of bottle. I carefully lifted it up, and shake a little. It churned like water.
I was getting thirst- Stop that thought! How could I know it’s safe to drink? I wasn’t that desperate yet. I needed a way to figure out what this mysterious liquid was before I would even touch it. Putting the bottle back inside the bag, I shoved the book and Core into compartments together. The inner lining was soft, so I think the bottle should be fine tumbling around a little. Nothing was too heavy inside the bag that would smash the glassware. I decided to hook the lantern on the zip. If I did it right, it wouldn’t jostle when I moved. And finally, I turned to the pile of shinies, crouching to scoop them up, ten total, with one larger than the rest with reeded edges. Ten sides with small curved phrases inscribed on its faces: ‘Thailand’, ‘B.E. 2560’, ‘? baht 5’. They surrounded what seemed to be a pagoda on top of an odd circular symbol. I’ve seen these exact coins before. Just not so glowy. Where…- I felt dread crawling up my spine. Nope, enough of that. Forget it. Every cell in my body screamed it’d be better not to dwell on it, and who was I to ignore them?
Each of the smaller coins carried similar inscriptions, ‘? baht 1’ instead of ‘? baht 5’. Different numbers after B.E. Some had a Relief. Or a headshot of a person, turned to the side. The coins’ faces. The larger coin has a value of five. ? meant 5. Five baht. Probably the name of some currency. This was my language, I think. The smaller coins were one baht each. I clutched at them, sending them skidding, failing to pick any up. Okay, one more try, here we- fuck. I watched one roll away from me and sighed. This was going to take awhile. Far too many tries later I’d only managed to put three in the bag. Oh my god, this’ll take forever.
Grunting with a foul breath, I looked around the Room. What else was around? I paused, eyes locked onto the table I’d worked at. Paper. A little ripped and torn but it’d do. Retrieving it swiftly, I returned to the coins, armed with battered stationary. Using one edge of the sheet to scoop the coins into a pile balanced precariously between my hands and the paper, I crumpled the page around the metal. A makeshift coin pouch. As makeshift as they’d come. It’d last long enough to toss into my pack and that was all I really cared about at this point.
With the schoolbag slung over my shoulders, I pushed a few scattered desks and chairs away, clearing my way to the trio of unopened doors. Wood, dirty birch, scratched and weathered. Rusted metal handles. Each door was identical, bar the symbols at the top of each one. Three up-arrows of varying lengths, a sword like the one I’d seen on the very first door, and a chalice. I lingered, weighing my options and the trial I’d completed. What’d have happened if I’d taken longer than an hour? Would I be stuck here, forever? I guess I’m lucky the test was something I was so good at, seeing as I took just under half an hour. There’d been six instances of rewards before the challenge Room had unlocked. Whatever lay beyond this wooden frame was certainly going to be more difficult than the others. It was a Challenge Room after all.
I like the sound of that, pushing myself against whatever was thrown at me. And the reward that lay glittering beyond. Tantalizing. Captivating. My claws were already scratching the wooden surface. It was… reckless. Stupid. I knew, I knew the pattern of these Rooms: clear one, be rewarded, strengthen and prepare for the next, and on and on. As my current Room proved, the rewards were proportional to the challenge. And this next one was a ‘Challenge Room’. Whatever was on the other side of the door was no doubt going to be the toughest thing I’d faced so far. I didn’t know how many of these Rooms there’d be, or how difficult they’d get, but I knew I’d need to be stronger to overcome them. And what I’d gotten so far had been convenient but wouldn’t help me too much in a fight. Maybe the lantern. The Goblin core too, but these were no doubt small drops in a bucket and there was so much more out there. I could feel it. Right now, I’m underprepared.
I might not be so lucky next time, being given something that came so naturally to me. How many people could finish all three of those within an hour? Within half that? There will be a Room I’ll struggle with. And maybe whatever I can get from this will help me with that. Maybe a wristband upgrade, I don’t know, the rewards seem like they could be practically anything. I can’t take this lightly. The question became, if I take another door first, can I return back here to try the Challenge Room? Well, one way to find out, at least. Walking back across the class, I touched the concrete wall and pushed. It slid open, revealing the blood-stained cave once again. Stepping back through, I investigated the space around me again, all the way back to the Lobby Room. Opening that again, I peered inside.. Same old scene, all the furniture and the fireplace. Nothing’s moved, nothing jumped out of the shadows. I wasn’t locked out. At least for now. Returning to the three unopened doors, I paused again. There was no way to tell if that would change. Or if it’d be different now that I had a choice. Could the other doors just fade away the moment I unlocked one?
Fuck. Nothing to it. I’d just have to risk it, reckless as I was. At least a peek. If I got locked out of going back, at least I’d be in the best Room. I just had to hope I was being paranoid for nothing. Readying myself for a brawl, schoolbag on my back with the lamp strapped tight to its side, I gripped the rusted handle and turned.
