We didn't say anything when the wall opened. We just got up and walked. Our bodies were heavy, slow from days without real food, but our feet kept moving. The next floor didn't start with stairs. Just a short hall, then a wide room. At first, it looked empty. Then I saw the doors. Lined across the walls, stretching from end to end. All of them were the same—flat stone, iron handle, nothing written. No clues. No sound. Just doors.
The tower was tired of pretending to be something it wasn't. No mist here. No voices. Just a long stone room lined with doors. Dozens of them. Maybe a hundred. They all looked the same, flat, smooth, pale gray. No signs, no handles, no marks.
Chains stood beside me, breathing slow and rough. She still hadn't fully recovered. Her steps were heavy now, dragging a little. Her burns were healing, but not fast enough. She hadn't said anything since the last floor, not since we walked through that wall.
We were both thinner now. I could feel it in my arms, the way my bones stuck out sharper than they had before. She looked the same. Hollowed. Drawn. But we were still walking. Still breathing.
That had to count for something.
I looked around the room.
"So," Chains muttered, "any guesses?"
I shook my head. "Not yet."
She exhaled and walked toward the closest door on the left. She looked it over, touched the seam. "Feels real."
"They all feel real," I said.
She opened it.
The moment we stepped through, the world shifted.
We were in a different room. Smaller. Circular. Stone again, same as before.
And something was there.
The first enemy was simple. A hulking humanoid shape, made of stitched hide and leather. It moved slow, groaned when it walked.
I couldn't let chains be the only one fighting, i gathered every ounce of will i had and stepped forward.
It didn't last long. The thing was slow, frail, all it took was a few slashes and the leather fell apart, ash came flowing out.
Right as i delivered the last attack we were back in the hallway.
Same doors.
Same silence.
"I think that was the wrong one," she said.
I walked over to the floor near that first door and scratched a line into the stone with the tip of my knife.
"One down."
We picked the next.
The second enemy was faster. More human. A woman with no face, holding long needles between her fingers like claws. She screamed when she charged. Chains blocked with her arm and shouted as the needles cut into her forearm. She kicked the woman away, rolled under the next strike, and slammed her elbow into her chest. I helped again this time. A slice across the back of the creature's leg dropped her long enough for Chains to finish it.
More ash.
Back again.
Two scratches on the stone.
Chains wiped her blood off on her pants, eyes dull. "Still wrong."
Third door.
This time, it was worse.
The room was dark. The enemy didn't show itself right away. Then something crawled from the ceiling—long and thin, with too many joints in its limbs and no mouth, just holes where its face should be.
It dropped onto Chains fast.
She screamed as it sank claws into her shoulder.
I rushed forward. Stabbed deep into its side. It didn't move. Didn't even flinch. Chains slammed her head into its neck, breaking the grip, then drove her knee into its chest. It barely staggered.
Something snapped in Chains.
Her hand glowed red.
A thin chain of burning light wrapped around her forearm, heat pouring off her skin. She moved faster. Hit harder. Her next punch cracked the thing's chest and sent it flying. Her breath came in gasps, but her strength was real. She leapt, stomped it into the ground, again and again, until it vanished in smoke.
She dropped to one knee after.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
She didn't answer right away. Just nodded and stood up.
We scratched the third line.
Fourth door.
It wasn't even humanoid.
A beast. Four legs, fur matted with black fluid, eyes glowing red. It didn't wait. Just lunged, Chains tried to get to me in time to block, but it was faster than her. I screamed it wasn't something i could block or dodge.
It pinned me to the floor, jaw open, too close to my face. It's breath was disgusting and hot
Her arm flared again.
The chain burned brighter, wrapped tighter. She yelled and pushed it off the ground, body twisting. She took the creature with her, slammed it against the wall. Its bones cracked or Her's I couldn't tell, but it kept fighting. She grabbed its muzzle, forced it open, then struck its throat with her glowing arm. The chain lit the room.
It burned through.
Gone.
But Chains stayed down longer this time.
When she stood, her breath shook.
"What are we supposed to do? There is no way we can fight a hundred monsters stronger than that." I said panicking
I scratched the fourth line. My hand was trembling.
For now i ran over to Chains trying to help with her injuries, we couldn't keep going like this even with that power of hers.
"Are you okay?"
"Just give me a minute every time I use that thing. I get stronger but it hurts like a bitch." She said in a raspy pained voice.
We didn't have time, we were starved and thirsty. If we waited any longer we would just get weaker and weaker. We have to find the way out of this trial. Soon.
Fifth door.
The enemy was different.
A man. Or something shaped like one. He wore armor that looked ancient, all angles and rust. A black sword was in his hands, long and serrated. He didn't speak. Just stepped forward with perfect control.
Chains tried to fight, I did too.
But he was far stronger than both of us.
He knocked her down with one swing, then cut her open with the second.
She didn't cry out.
Just grit her teeth.
The chain wrapped her body now, glowing around her ribs and thigh. She screamed and pushed off the floor, her foot cracking the stone.
She was on fire, encased in flames. I couldn't get close enough to help her as much as i wanted to try.
Her first hit knocked the knight back. Her second broke his arm.
But every time she struck, her injuries got worse.
Her skin blistered.
Her breathing turned shallow.
I pushed with all I had to get closer, rushing in from behind. I stabbed as deep as I could into his leg.
He faltered, just a little.
Chains didn't hesitate.
Her fist took his head off.
Ash.
Silence.
We didn't speak. Not right away.
I scratched the fifth line with blood instead of the knife.
Chains collapsed beside me.
Her body shook.
"You can't keep using that," I said. "It's killing you."
She gave a weak laugh. "It's the only reason I'm still alive."
I helped her sit up.
"I'll pick the next one," I said.
She didn't stop me.
I stood slowly and stepped to the center of the hall.
I didn't know what to do, if Chains has a power like that maybe mine is that thread from before.
It showed us the way once.
I closed my eyes and focused. At first everything was still and black, then I felt it, something pulled me just enough to notice. it buzzed at the edge of my skin. It led to a door halfway down the row.
I walked toward it.
Chains followed, limping.
"This one?" she asked.
"I think so."
I opened it. Eyes closed.