The stairs spiraled upward, steep and narrow.
Each step Kael took felt heavier than the last. His legs burned. His hands trembled slightly from the battle below. But he didn't stop.
The Tower would not allow weakness.
As Kael climbed higher, the air grew colder. The stone walls closed in tighter. A sense of pressure, like invisible hands pressing down on him, made it harder to breathe.
Finally, after what felt like hours, he reached another door.
This one was different.
Instead of heavy wood or ancient carvings, it was made of polished black stone. So dark that Kael could see his own reflection in it. But the reflection didn't move exactly as he did — it lagged behind, almost as if it was thinking for itself.
Kael narrowed his eyes.
Something was wrong.
He placed his hand on the stone. For a long moment, nothing happened.
Then, the door melted away like smoke, revealing the next floor.
Kael stepped forward cautiously.
The room beyond was massive. A cavern of broken pillars and shattered glass. High above, a ceiling full of cracks let thin beams of ghostly light filter down. Shadows stretched in every direction.
But it wasn't the ruins that caught Kael's attention.
It was the hunger.
A deep, gnawing feeling filled the room. It wasn't coming from Kael himself — it came from the walls, the ground, the very air. The Tower itself seemed to be alive here, watching him, waiting.
Kael swallowed hard and moved carefully across the floor.
Crunch.
He looked down. Beneath his boots were broken bones, scattered like dry leaves.
> "Not a good sign," he muttered.
Halfway through the room, the ground trembled.
A low growl echoed through the chamber.
Kael spun around, readying his shards. His heart hammered against his ribs.
From the shadows, a creature emerged.
It was enormous — a hulking beast made of cracked stone and black mist. Its body was hunched, its arms dragging along the ground. Its face was a twisted mockery of a wolf, but its eyes were hollow, like deep wells of endless night.
Kael braced himself.
This wasn't like the mist creatures before.
This one was real. Solid. Strong.
And it was hungry.
With a roar, it charged.
Kael dodged just in time, the beast's massive claw tearing a chunk out of the floor where he had stood. Dust and shards of stone exploded outward.
Kael counterattacked, launching a bolt of fire from one of his shards. The flame struck the beast's shoulder, but it barely flinched. Its misty body absorbed most of the damage.
Kael cursed under his breath.
Direct attacks wouldn't be enough.
He needed to be smarter.
He sprinted toward one of the fallen pillars, using it for cover as he thought.
The shard of insight pulsed faintly in his mind.
> "Its core," Kael realized. "Hidden inside the mist."
He remembered now — creatures like this were formed around a single weak point. If he could find and destroy the core, the whole beast would collapse.
But finding it wouldn't be easy.
The creature lunged again, faster than Kael expected.
Kael barely avoided its crushing jaws.
He gritted his teeth, feeling the adrenaline surge through him.
No fear. No hesitation.
Kael circled the monster, dodging its wild attacks. He watched carefully — for anything that stood out, anything different.
Then he saw it.
For just a second, when the creature twisted to swipe at him, something shimmered near its chest — a tiny red glow, hidden under layers of mist.
The core.
Kael dashed forward.
The beast roared and swung, but Kael slid under its arm, sparks flying from his boots across the broken floor. He drove the fire shard directly into the red glow.
There was a sound like shattering glass.
The creature froze.
Then it crumbled from the inside out, collapsing into a pile of black dust.
Kael staggered back, breathing hard.
He had won.
But again — it didn't feel like a true victory.
He wiped sweat from his forehead and stared at the pile of dust.
From within it, a shard glimmered faintly.
Kael picked it up carefully.
The new shard was different. It felt colder than the others. Darker. As if it carried a piece of the Tower's endless hunger.
He hesitated for a long moment.
Then, without another word, he pocketed it.
Because in the Tower, power was the only thing that mattered.
And Kael needed all the power he could get.
With his new shard in hand, he moved toward the next door.
Whatever waited beyond, he would face it.
He had no other choice.