{ November 1 }
At this school excellence isn’t just rewarded - it’s tested.
Every school year there comes a week when certain students disappear. Not randomly. Not by accident. The school takes them.
Only those who show exceptional talent, intelligence, or potential are chosen, or that’s what they like to think. Are they ones most likely to reach the top or quite the opposite? But before they do - before they are allowed to truly belong to the school’s hidden elite they must prove they are worthy.
This is what happens when they disappear - some return stronger, some return broken and some never return at all. The test is not for their success. It is for their survival.
{ The chosen one }
Leading up to the event students who went missing start feeling watched. Books go missing from their shelves, replaced with strange notes or pages. Some start having dreams - not their own, but visions of an endless hallway, unknown languages or a door they cannot open.
In the middle of an otherwise normal day, the chosen students vanish. One moment, they are there; the next their seat is empty, their name is ignored as if they were never in attendance. The staff refuses to acknowledge their absence, claiming they are simply out sick or attending private lessons. Some classmates begin searching, others assume it’s just another mystery best left alone.
{ For everyone }
There’s an empty seat where your friend used to be. You know they were there just a moment ago - you spoke to them, they laughed at your joke, they wrote something in their notebook.
The teacher doesn’t acknowledge their absence. When you ask about them, you’re met with confused looks.
Their books are missing from their desk. Their name is not on today’s attendance.
Something is wrong.
Do you search for them?
Do you pretend not to notice?
Do you ask the wrong questions?
{ Who went missing? }
What each of them remember from that day they went missing? You’ll find out soon. But first -
The day seems normal… “normal” for everyone else. You wake up, you go to classes but your friend is still not there? What do you?
While you ponder on that the chosen students all wake up in the same room.
Welcome back Lenore, Amani, Innesa, Agastya, Arya, Dominic and Vincenzo.
You wake up to the sound of slow, deliberate footsteps.
The air is thick with dust, old candle wax, and something metallic - blood or rust, you can’t tell.
Your last memory? A voice. A question. A feeling of falling.
Miles North stands before you. His gaze lingers on each of you, his expression unreadable.
“You’re awake.” He exhales, almost relieved… almost. Then he leans back against the wall, arms crossed.