Kael moved with slow steps, but his golden gaze still burned.The darkness no longer crushed him.It receded.For the first time in a long while, he did not feel imprisoned in endless night.
A renewed determination throbbed in his veins.His steps rang against the stone, heavy yet sure.The corridor stretching ahead looked like a dungeon: thick, cold walls, roughly hewn, like an ancient castle.
He drew a deep breath.Yes.It looked like a video game corridor.
And that was when Thana, still perched on his shoulder, spoke.Her hesitant voice broke the silence:— Tell me… Kael… could this be… a… "dungeon"?
Kael blinked, taken aback.Thana went on, awkward, searching for words as if she were trying a foreign tongue for the first time:— You know… a place where you have to… "farm"… like in the game I played with Lyana.
Kael stared at her, momentarily stunned.Then a breath, almost amused, slipped from him.He hadn't expected that.And yet, in a way, she wasn't wrong.
The quest spoke of chained souls to free.Repetitive objectives.Infinite bonuses.Yes… it was exactly what she described.
— Tch… looks like it, he muttered, a faint curl at his lips.
He tightened his grip on his own emotions, the gold of his eyes gleaming against the stone.A "dungeon," then.And he fully intended to drain it of its last breath of shadow.
Kael advanced, the Eye of Nyx still open.Within his golden field of view, the dark was no longer uniform.It pulsed.Filaments of Magia ran along the stone walls, invisible to a normal eye.
He frowned.— Density's rising.
Thana nodded, her tiny silhouette vibrating faintly.— You feel it right… it's converging somewhere, lower down.
They followed the silent flow, each step carrying them deeper into the damp corridor.The floor turned uneven, cracked slabs bleeding fine trails of dark mist.
Then, abruptly, the space widened.The corridor opened onto a vast hall.Kael froze at the threshold.
A banquet spread before him.A long stone table, set yet broken by time, where chipped goblets and split plates still lay.And around it…
Spectral figures.Seated.Motionless.Their translucent bodies twisted to the rhythm of their nonexistent breath.Eternal guests, suspended in an endless feast.
Only the scraping of invisible chains broke the silence.A heavy, smothering weight saturated the air.
Instinct screamed in Kael.He had not yet set foot in the hall, and already he knew: these specters were not to be approached.
…
— Wait.
Thana's voice cracked through his mind.She straightened on his shoulder, the halo of her tiny body trembling with palpable unease.
— You're not reacting… she murmured, almost incredulous.How can you stand there, as if their presence doesn't crush you?
Kael frowned.He was about to reply, but she rushed on, faster, more chaotic:— No… I see it. Your eyes aren't fully awakened. They perceive… but not enough.So… let's see if I can…
A dark spark flashed from her miniature palm.It slid into Kael's golden pupil.
Everything flipped.
The specters ceased to be mere translucent silhouettes.Their contours detonated into a tide of raw Magia.A scarlet density, oppressive, saturating every corner of the hall.
Kael choked.His stomach knotted.He lurched and vomited, violently, unable to endure the sight.
These things were not souls.They were abominations.Their very existence howled against logic.
Thana pressed her lips together.Her voice resonated, calmer now, laying markers in the chaos:— For comparison… the hound from the first floor had twenty times less density than one of these.Do you understand? Even these "specters" already crush the scale.
Still bent, Kael fought to regain his breath.
Thana added with a bitter, almost wry smile:— But there's a flaw. They only act against organic beings.A non-organic can pass through them—or even strike them… and they won't react.
Kael lifted his head slowly, still shaking.The contrast slammed into him: unspeakable horror, and a grotesque flaw.
He inhaled, wiping the blood at the corner of his lips.The Tower didn't just grind you down.It mocked you as well.
They withdrew from the threshold.Kael pressed his back to the corridor's icy wall, a hand to his gut, still racked by what he had seen.Acid rose in his throat, but he forced his breathing to steady.
Silence pressed in.Then Thana spoke, steadier than before, as if to steer his mind away from the shock:— We can't stay here.
She indicated the banquet hall with a slight motion.— If we hug the western wall, we can reach that great door… look.
Kael raised his eyes.Even at a distance he made out the heavy stone leaves, half hidden by shadow.Before them, a staircase plunged into the depths.
Thana resumed, with a cool, almost clinical logic:— If we truly seek gaols, there's only one place they could be.As low as possible.
Kael wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, his gaze still burning gold.He drew in a long breath and nodded.Downward, then.
He was slowly catching his breath again.His hands, still shaking, clenched on his knees, as if he needed anchoring not to sway.Thana kept studying the hall, her eyes lit with an analytical gleam.
— You need to understand something, she said at last.These specters don't behave like the other creatures you've faced.
Kael turned slightly toward her, sweat still beading his brow.— What do you mean?
— They don't care about scent.Or sight.Or sound.
She paused, her voice lower still:— Their existence is fixed on a single parameter. If you cross their perimeter, they strike. And their strike is… fatal.
Kael held silent, golden eyes locked on the seated silhouettes.He understood.The danger wasn't in their apparent stillness, but in that invisible line he must never cross.
He remained there a moment longer, staring at the banquet hall.The specters did not move.The eternal feast continued, as if their mere presence was enough to keep this place chained to the Tower.
Thana cut through the hush, voice steadier, sharper:— If we keep to the western wall, we can reach the door. And beyond it, a stair.
She met his eyes, sure of her reasoning.— If there are gaols on this floor, they will be further down. Always further down.
Kael clenched his fists, jaw tight.His body was still rattled by the shock, but his mind was already ready to dive.
He nodded, slow and sure.And his gaze anchored itself in the dark, where the stair awaited.
Down.It was the only path.