The Last Ticket

Twenty-four contestants. Twenty-four worlds. One theme park with no end. They signed a contract with a blank where the prize should be — and between one breath and the next, they were somewhere else. The Midway is infinite. Every ride is free, every craving is answered, and nothing in it can kill you. Its host, Barry Beyond, has never told a lie. He wears a smiling porcelain mask, he loves the rules, and he would very much like you to enjoy yourself. Every week there is a challenge. Every week, somebody's ticket is torn and they go home. A mercenary who has forgotten how to walk without two tonnes of armour. A vampire countess who announces every scheme before she makes it. An inquisitor who never lies and never needs to. A capybara who just wants to sit in the sun. A girl from an ocean who has never, in her whole life, been alone. They are nineteen years old, far from home, and extremely good at exactly one thing each. The prize is anything they want. The cost is everything they didn't know they had. Nobody dies. Somebody leaves. (No AI in the story, just the graphic because I draw like a two-year-old)