The mist clung to Kieran's skin like sweat, thick and metallic. Every breath felt heavier now. He wiped his forehead with the back of his sleeve, his fingers trembling.
He wasn't sure if it was from fatigue… or what they'd seen.
The girl moved ahead, silent again, her blade ready but lowered. Since the encounter with the hollowed students, neither of them had spoken. There was something sacred to the quiet—an unspoken agreement not to name what almost caught them.
Finally, they reached a slanted stone corridor, half-buried under a collapsed ceiling. On the other side, the air shifted.
The fog was lighter here.
And through it, rising like a wound torn into the sky—they saw it.
The Tower.
Kieran stopped walking.
It stood crooked, like some ancient beast forced upright. Jagged stone, leaning slightly, pieces missing. Vines choked the base. Its uppermost peak pierced the clouds. Around it, the terrain was fractured—a spiral of broken bridges, platforms, shifting steps floating above a pit of swirling black.
"This was supposed to be the goal?" he whispered.
The girl's eyes narrowed. "It is."
"But it looks like a—"
"Trap?" she finished. "It probably is."
The two stood in silence, the tower looming ahead. Below, in the winding spiral path, shadows moved. More students. Some limping. Some running. Some… not moving at all.
"How many do you think made it this far?" Kieran asked.
"Not even a quarter."
They moved.
Down uneven steps carved into old, ruined stone. Kieran kept his hands out, balancing, eyes darting. Every step brought new nightmare into view—stairs that shifted mid-step, vines that hissed when brushed, statues that bled black liquid from stone eyes.
Kieran nearly slipped once. A panel collapsed under his weight. He threw himself to the side, caught the girl's arm, and they both rolled into a low platform that cracked under them… but held.
His pulse thundered.
"You okay?" she asked.
"I think my spine is permanently shorter."
She gave a faint smirk—a first.
Then, a sound. High above.
A crack—like stone being torn open.
Kieran turned toward the noise just in time to see a figure drop from the sky.
No—not fall. Land.
A boy, tall and broad-shouldered, hit the tower platform below them with a seismic thud. Dust exploded around him. He stood slowly, rolling his neck.
Then he looked up. Straight at them.
His eyes glowed.
Kieran's stomach flipped.
"Do you know him?" he asked.
"No," she replied. "But he's marked."
The boy's skin shimmered faintly, as if something beneath it moved—like oil under flesh. His jaw was set. His walk deliberate. He headed for the base of the tower.
"What's he doing?" Kieran whispered.
"Claiming it."
Kieran's thoughts raced. "Is that… allowed?"
"There are no rules anymore."
Suddenly, the path ahead of them moved.
Stone steps rose from the fog, connecting platforms in a new pattern—one that spiraled upward toward the tower entrance. The entire field responded to the boy's arrival like it recognized him. Or feared him.
The girl crouched low. "He's triggering the tower's final lock."
"Final what?"
She pointed upward.
The fog above them parted slightly. Something massive loomed in the clouds—suspended by ancient chains, motionless but coiled. A shape… a being. Sleeping. Waiting.
"If he reaches the door and activates it without a challenge," she said, "that thing comes down."
Kieran didn't ask what it was. He didn't need to.
His breath came faster. Sweat clung to his back. The air smelled of lightning and blood.
"What do we do?" he asked.
Her hand went to her blade.
"We challenge him."
Kieran blinked. "We? As in me too?"
"You've come this far. You're stronger than you think."
"I haven't used a single flashy ability."
"You haven't needed one."
She turned to him fully, and for the first time, he saw something strange in her expression. Not pity. Not amusement.
Respect.
"You fight smart," she said. "And that matters more than glowing hands."
Kieran took a shaky breath. Then nodded.
The wind around the tower howled louder. The boy below them reached the stairs to the top, his head lowering like a beast ready to charge.
And the stone trembled again.