The darkness smelled of damp rust, old sweat, and the panicky fear of someone breathing too much. Inhale. Exhale. The rhythm was mechanical, ingrained deep in the muscles before the mind even registered its existence. The iron cage rattled upward. Each jolt sent pain through a body that felt like it had been dragged through hell and back.

Simon, even though he didn't know that name at the time, he only knew that the syllables felt like a distant echo in his head, crouched in the corner of the moving elevator. His hands were clenched into fists, his knuckles sore and bloody. He remembered nothing. No faces, no wars, no laws. His mind was a blank slate, erased by the people who had sent him here.

But his body remembered. His muscles knew how to strike. His instincts screamed at him to take cover. While the other boys would cry, scream, or hyperventilate in such situations, Simon remained perfectly still. His eyes, icy cold, watchful, and eerily calm, scanned the cage. He was searching for weak points, for weapons, for a way out.

A dull thud. The elevator stopped abruptly. The bright, merciless sunlight cut into the darkness, making Simon squint. He inhaled the scent of fresh earth, grass, and sweat. Dozens of young men's faces crowded around the cage, sweaty, dusty, with eyes burning with the same mixture of hope and despair.

"Another newbie! Damn, he's huge!" someone shouted from above.

A few hands grabbed the gate and squeaked it open. A face bent down, curious but cautious. Simon didn't move immediately. He observed. Like a cornered predator, he assessed each of them. He studied their postures, the way they shifted their weight. Not professional soldiers, his subconscious analyzed in a flash. But survivors.

"Hey, buddy" a boy with messy hair said, holding out a hand. "Don't panic. Welcome to the Maze. We don't bite... most of the time, anyway."

Simon stared at the outstretched hand. He didn't know who this boy was. He didn't know who he was. Only this damned, urgent feeling in his chest told him that he couldn't trust anyone.

They called it the Maze.