A few moments ago, the two Espers had arrived and stopped before the entrance leading to the Second Floor. However, neither showed the slightest intent to step through.
It wasn't hesitation born of fatigue, but something deeper as though all will to move forward had been drained from them.
Or rather, the sight before the gate had frozen them in place for their own separate reasons.
Beyond the gate lay a grotesque worldscape of meat and flesh reminiscent of a pulsating phenomenon that defied every natural order. The ground was not soil, but layers of raw, quivering tissue, slick with a sheen of viscous fluid that oozed between every crevice. Veins as thick as roots snaked across the surface, glowing with a reddish luminescence, pumping an unseen life force through the terrain.
