[One vote cast. Participant eliminated. Please say goodbye to Participant Fang Lei]
At those words, the other man's pedestal gave a final, shuddering groan.
Fang Lei—that was his name, Kain realized distantly—did not scream. He did not beg. He simply closed his eyes as his throne plummeted into the abyss.
The creatures surged like a black tide, swallowing him whole.
For a moment, there was only the wet, tearing sound of flesh being torn apart.
For a long, drawn-out moment, the others sat in silence—frozen—listening to the nightmare inducing sounds beneath them.
Then the barrier around their chairs flickered back into place. The world was silent again.
Kain finally let out the breath he'd been holding. His shoulders sagged, limbs trembling in their restraints.
He wasn't dead. Not yet.
But he had danced on the knife's edge. He had almost died. Helplessly.
