Tower 1 — Entrance to Floor Four
The stone pathway narrowed into a long descent of jagged steps.
No torches.
No lights.
Only the faint, sour glow of red veins crawling along the walls.
Ragnor cracked his knuckles.
"Why does every floor smell like death and regret?"
Aetherion sniffed the air.
"…because it is death and regret."
Lyra exhaled slowly.
"I feel… something waiting down there."
Iris clutched her chest.
"This floor feels… wrong. It's heavy. Like something is breathing beneath us."
Ragnor snorted.
"Great. More breathing floors."
The Tower answered his sarcasm with a deep distant pulse, like a heartbeat muffled by stone.
Aetherion's brow furrowed.
"That wasn't the Tower."
The group stepped down.
The darkness grew thicker.
The air grew colder.
And DRM walked ahead—
Silent.
Unmoving.
Focused.
His red eyes flickered beneath the mask, tracking something none of them could see.
Lyra watched him.
"DRM… what are you sensing?"
He didn't answer.
But Iris whispered:
"Something… following us."
Ragnor froze.
"What?"
Iris's voice shook.
"T-two presences… actually."
Aetherion turned immediately.
"One behind us. One ahead."
Lyra's grip tightened on her bow.
"Two?"
Iris nodded.
"One is faint. Like a shadow.
The other is strong.
Very, very strong."
Ragnor cracked his neck.
"Which one's closer?"
Iris swallowed.
"…the one behind."
Silence.
The group turned slowly—
hands on weapons—
Nothing.
Just darkness.
Cold.
Thick.
Silent.
Aetherion whispered:
"Iris… you sure?"
Iris nodded rapidly.
"I feel it. It's hiding just outside our perception. Like… a dream. A nightmare. Watching."
Lyra's skin prickled.
"DRM…?"
She turned to him.
The masked child was staring into the darkness.
Not afraid.
Not surprised.
Almost… curious.
Aetherion stepped beside her.
"He sees it."
Ragnor frowned.
"Sees WHAT?! There's nothing—"
A sudden laugh echoed from the darkness.
A soft, faint, barely there laugh.
Too quiet to be human.
Too sharp to be friendly.
Iris grabbed Aetherion's arm, trembling.
"There!! Did you hear—"
But the laugh vanished as quickly as it came.
The corridor fell silent again.
Ragnor forced a grin.
"Just the Tower. Playing tricks."
Aetherion said nothing.
Because Iris was right:
There WAS something.
But it stayed hidden.
Silent.
Waiting.
And DRM didn't chase it.
He simply turned back toward the downward stairs.
And walked.
Not a single word.
Lyra whispered:
"…he wasn't scared at all."
Aetherion murmured:
"Because he knows what it was."
Ragnor groaned.
"And WE don't."
Iris nodded shakily.
"No. We don't. But it didn't feel like a monster."
Aetherion's eyes narrowed.
"It felt like…"
He stopped himself.
Lyra finished his sentence softly:
"…a person."
The group exchanged uneasy glances.
Aetherion stared into the dark one last time.
"…a very dangerous person."
Floor Four — The Door of Teeth
They continued down until the steps widened into a massive chamber with a grotesque door.
A door made entirely of interlocking teeth.
Human teeth.
Monster fangs.
Jawbones carved into architecture.
Rows of molars forming pillars.
Long incisors acting as bars.
A skull-shaped frame above.
Ragnor gagged.
"That is the worst thing I've ever seen, and I've seen me in the morning."
Lyra whispered:
"This floor… is the Prison of Hunger."
Aetherion nodded grimly.
"This is where the Tower stores its… failures."
Iris trembled violently.
"What i-is that supposed to mean…?"
The Tower answered for them.
A deep, guttural system message echoed around the chamber:
[FLOOR FOUR: PRISON OF HUNGER]
[THE ABANDONED. THE STARVED. THE LEFT FOR DEAD.]
[YOUR FEAR WILL FEED THEM.]
Iris dropped to her knees.
"T-t-they're… they're starving monsters—"
Ragnor clenched his fists.
"So? We kill them. Easy."
Lyra whispered:
"They're not normal monsters…"
Aetherion nodded.
"They're the ones the Tower itself rejected."
Ragnor blinked.
"The Tower rejects stuff?"
Aetherion:
"Yes. The ones too unstable. Too unpredictable. Too broken to control."
Ragnor whistled.
"So… our kind of people."
Lyra shot him a look.
"Not funny."
Iris trembled.
"S-some of them used to be human…"
Ragnor stopped joking.
Lyra froze.
Aetherion's eyes widened.
"…Iris, what?"
Iris hugged herself.
"Some of the presences inside… feel human. But twisted. Tortured. Hungry. Unstable."
Ragnor cursed.
"Shit…"
Aetherion exhaled slowly.
"…this is going to be worse than the Maw."
DRM stood before the Door of Teeth.
He placed a small hand on it.
The teeth rearranged.
Grinding.
Twisting.
Groaning.
Like a jaw preparing to bite.
Slowly…
the door opened.
Darkness inside.
Cold.
Wet.
Rotting.
Something crawled along the ceiling—
but scurried away from DRM the moment he entered.
Ragnor blinked.
"Okay. That one was scared too."
Aetherion whispered:
"They all are."
The group entered behind DRM.
The door of teeth shut behind them.
The darkness swallowed them whole.
And from the shadows—
that same faint laugh echoed again.
Closer.
Lyra stiffened.
Iris whimpered.
Aetherion's heart sank.
Ragnor tightened his fists.
DRM kept walking.
No reaction.
No hesitation.
The laugh faded.
But the presence did not.
It lingered.
Watching.
Following.
Invisible to them.
But very, very real.