BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
7:30 AM.
Daniel's eyes snapped open before his hand even reached the alarm. He'd barely slept—maybe three hours total, spent tossing and turning, his mind racing with every tower-climbing story he'd ever read. Strategies. Mistakes. Survival tips. Death flags to avoid.
Don't trust anyone too quickly. Always check for traps. Conserve your stamina. Watch your back.
The advice of a thousand fictional protagonists echoed in his head as he sat up, his body heavy with exhaustion but his mind razor-sharp with adrenaline.
This was it.
He swung his legs out of bed and caught sight of himself in the mirror across the room. Dark circles under his eyes. Messy hair. The face of a guy who was about to do something incredibly stupid.
Or incredibly brave.
He wasn't sure which yet.
Daniel moved through his morning routine on autopilot, but everything felt different now. Brushing his teeth might be the last time he did something so mundane. The water from the tap might be the last clean water he tasted for... who knew how long?
He walked to his closet and pulled out the clothes he'd laid out last night. Practical. Durable. Nothing fancy.
Dark blue overalls—the same ones he wore to the warehouse. They were tough, had plenty of pockets, and he could move in them. A plain black t-shirt underneath. His most comfortable sneakers, already broken in. A jacket tied around his waist in case it got cold.
He looked at himself in the mirror again.
I look like I'm going to fix someone's plumbing, not climb a death tower.
But honestly? That was fine. Better to look average and survive than look cool and die on Floor 1.
Daniel walked into his small kitchen and opened the drawer. His hand hovered over the contents—spatulas, wooden spoons, random utensils he barely used. And there, in the back, was his kitchen knife.
Not a fancy chef's knife. Just a regular, somewhat dull kitchen knife with a black handle. He'd bought it at a dollar store three years ago.
He picked it up, testing its weight in his hand. Light. Unimpressive. Probably wouldn't do much against whatever monsters were in the Tower.
But it was better than nothing.
"If I die, I die," he muttered to himself, sliding the knife carefully into one of the deep pockets of his overalls. "Anything is better than rotting in that warehouse for the rest of my life."
He paused, his hand resting on the kitchen counter.
His phone sat face-down next to the coffee maker. He'd avoided it all morning, but he knew what was waiting for him.
Three missed calls. All from Mom.
Daniel closed his eyes and picked up the phone. He couldn't just disappear without saying something. Even if he wasn't sure what to say.
He opened their text thread.
Mom:Daniel, please call me. I saw the news. Please don't do anything stupid.
Mom:Your father and I are worried. Are you okay?
Mom:Daniel???
His finger hovered over the keyboard. What could he even say? Hey Mom, I'm about to enter a death tower to try to become King of the World. Wish me luck?
He typed slowly:
Daniel:I'm okay. Don't worry about me. I'm going to do something that might change our lives. I love you. Tell Dad I love him too.
He hit send before he could second-guess it.
Then he turned off his phone.
If he kept it on, she'd call. She'd beg him not to go. And he might actually listen.
Daniel grabbed his keys, took one last look at his tiny apartment—the stack of novels on the shelf, the unmade bed, the life he was leaving behind—and walked out the door.
The drive to the Tower was surreal.
Traffic was a nightmare. Cars everywhere, some abandoned in the middle of the street, others honking frantically as they tried to get closer or farther away from the Tower. Police barricades lined the roads, officers shouting through megaphones for people to stay back, stay calm, but no one was listening.
Daniel had to park six blocks away and walk the rest.
The closer he got, the more he felt it.
Pressure.
Not physical pressure, but something else. Something that made his skin prickle and his heart beat faster. The air itself felt heavier near the Tower, like reality was thicker here.
And then he saw it up close for the first time.
"Holy shit..."
The Tower dominated everything. It rose from the ground like a black obelisk, its surface smooth and covered in those glowing blue runes that pulsed with an almost hypnotic rhythm. The base was massive—easily five miles wide, swallowing entire city blocks. Looking up made Daniel dizzy—it just kept going and going, piercing through the clouds, through the atmosphere, extending so impossibly high that it seemed to stretch into space itself. It didn't just touch the sky—it owned it.
But what really made his blood run cold was the entrance.
A massive archway, at least three hundred feet tall and two hundred feet wide, carved into the black stone. The opening was so enormous that entire buildings could fit through it. No door. No gate. Just a shimmering barrier of light, like a vertical ocean of liquid starlight, rippling and shifting with an otherworldly glow.
And the people.
Thousands of them.
Some were clearly prepared—dressed in tactical gear, carrying weapons, backpacks full of supplies. Others looked like they'd just rolled out of bed, clutching baseball bats and kitchen knives like him. There were groups huddled together, people crying, people arguing, people praying.
News crews were everywhere, cameras pointed at the entrance, reporters shouting into microphones as they tried to capture history in real-time.
"—reports estimate over ten thousand people have already entered worldwide—"
"—government officials are urging citizens NOT to enter until—"
"—first confirmed death inside the Tower was reported twenty minutes ago—"
Daniel's stomach twisted. Someone's already dead.
He pushed through the crowd, eyes scanning desperately for Dante and Kevin. It was chaos—people shoving, shouting, panicking. A woman screamed as someone tried to steal her backpack. A fistfight broke out to his left.
This is a disaster. This is—
"DANIEL!"
He spun around.
There—standing near a police barricade about thirty feet away—were Dante and Kevin.
Daniel's chest loosened with relief. He shoved his way through the crowd toward them.
Dante saw him coming and his eyes went wide. His mouth fell open.
"Holy shit, you actually came," Dante breathed.
Kevin looked equally shocked, but also... scared. Really scared. His hands were shaking as he adjusted the straps on his backpack.
"You didn't think I would?" Daniel asked, trying to sound more confident than he felt.
"Honestly?" Dante let out a shaky laugh. "No. I thought you'd chicken out."
"I almost did."
The three of them stood there for a moment, just looking at each other. These were his boys. His crew since high school. They'd gotten drunk together, failed classes together, played video games until 4 AM together.
And now they might die together.
"You guys sure about this?" Daniel asked quietly.
Dante's jaw tightened. He nodded. "I'm sure. I'm not spending the rest of my life wondering 'what if.'"
Kevin swallowed hard. "I'm... I'm terrified. But I'm not letting you idiots go in there alone."
Despite everything, Daniel smiled. "Alright then."
Dante pulled out his phone. "Okay, so I looked this up. Apparently, you can form parties through the system. Makes it so we can share experience, communicate even if we get separated, and we won't accidentally hurt each other with friendly fire."
"Smart," Daniel said. "How do we do it?"
Dante gestured vaguely at the air. "Uh, just... think about it? The system's apparently thought-based."
Daniel concentrated, thinking System. Menu. Party.
[PARTY SYSTEM ACTIVATED]
A new screen popped up in front of him.
[CREATE PARTY?]
[YES] [NO]
He selected YES.
[YOU ARE NOW THE PARTY LEADER.]
[INVITE MEMBERS?]
Daniel looked at Dante and Kevin. "Okay, I think I just... invite you?"
He focused on Dante, thinking Invite to party.
A notification appeared in front of Dante's face, making him jump.
[DANIEL KIM HAS INVITED YOU TO JOIN HIS PARTY.]
[ACCEPT?]
"Got it!" Dante grinned and accepted.
[DANTE MORRIS HAS JOINED THE PARTY.]
Daniel did the same for Kevin.
[KEVIN CHU HAS JOINED THE PARTY.]
[PARTY STATUS: 3/6 MEMBERS]
Three health bars appeared in the corner of Daniel's vision—one for each of them. Green and full. For now.
"Six person max," Daniel noted. "Good to know."
Dante adjusted his backpack—stuffed full of supplies, way more than Daniel had brought—and looked at the shimmering entrance to the Tower. His usual cocky grin faltered for just a second.
"So... we just walk in?"
"I guess so," Daniel said.
The three of them moved toward the entrance, weaving through the crowd. Some people were rushing in eagerly. Others stood frozen at the threshold, unable to take that final step.
Daniel understood both reactions.
As they got closer, the pressure intensified. The hairs on his arms stood up. His instincts screamed at him to turn around, run, get as far away as possible.
But he didn't.
They stopped right in front of the barrier. Up close, it was mesmerizing—swirling with colors that shouldn't exist, humming with a low frequency that Daniel could feel in his teeth.
"Last chance to back out," Dante said, but he was already stepping forward.
"Too late for that," Kevin muttered, his face pale but determined.
Daniel took a deep breath and put his hand on the knife in his pocket.
Here we go.
The three of them stepped through the barrier together.
The world twisted.
Daniel's stomach lurched like he was falling, but also rising, but also spinning. Colors bled together. Sounds stretched and compressed. For one terrible second, he was convinced he was being torn apart at the molecular level.
And then—
THUD.
His feet hit solid ground.
Daniel gasped, doubling over, his hands on his knees as he tried not to throw up. Next to him, Kevin was actually retching, and Dante was swearing under his breath.
"What—the fuck—was that?!" Dante choked out.
Daniel straightened slowly, his vision clearing.
And froze.
They weren't outside anymore.
They were standing in a massive chamber—easily the size of ten football stadiums—carved entirely from the same black stone as the Tower's exterior. Glowing runes lined the walls, providing the only light. The ceiling was so impossibly high it disappeared into darkness hundreds of feet above them, and the space felt less like a room and more like standing inside a hollow mountain.
And they weren't alone.
Dozens—no, hundreds—of people were appearing all around them, stumbling through invisible barriers, looking just as disoriented and terrified as Daniel felt.
[WELCOME TO THE KING'S TOWER.]
The words appeared in front of everyone simultaneously, projected in massive glowing letters in the air above them.
[FLOOR 1: THE TRIAL OF RESOLVE]
[OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE.]
[PARTICIPANTS: 1,247]
[TIME LIMIT: 1 HOUR]
[BEGIN.]
The words vanished.
For three seconds, there was absolute silence.
And then the screaming started.
The walls began to move.
Sections of stone slid away with a grinding roar, revealing dark passages. And from those passages came sounds—clicking, chittering, growling sounds that made every primal instinct in Daniel's brain scream PREDATOR.
"Oh shit," Kevin whispered. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh—"
Something emerged from the nearest passage.
It was the size of a large dog, but that's where the similarity ended. Its body was chitinous and black, like a massive insect, with too many legs that ended in razor-sharp points. Its head was mostly mouth—a circular maw filled with concentric rings of teeth. No eyes. Just hunger.
And there were dozens of them.
Pouring out of the walls like a flood.
"RUN!" someone screamed.
Chaos erupted.
People scattered in every direction. Some pulled out weapons and charged. Others froze in terror. The creatures moved with horrifying speed, skittering across the floor and walls with equal ease.
Daniel's hand went to his pocket, gripping the kitchen knife.
This is real. This is actually happening. These things are going to kill us.
One of the creatures lunged at a man twenty feet away. Its jaws clamped down on his arm. His scream cut through everything.
[PARTY CHAT - DANTE:] STICK TOGETHER! DON'T SPLIT UP!
The message appeared directly in Daniel's vision, shocking him out of his paralysis.
Right. The party system. They could communicate.
[PARTY CHAT - DANIEL:] BACK TO BACK! DEFENSIVE FORMATION!
The three of them instinctively moved together, forming a tight triangle, weapons out.
Daniel pulled out his kitchen knife.
Dante had a baseball bat.
Kevin had... a tire iron?
They looked at each other. Three guys with improvised weapons, surrounded by monsters, in a Tower that wanted them dead.
Dante laughed—high-pitched and slightly hysterical. "Well. Here we go."
A creature charged directly at them, its legs a blur of motion.
Daniel's grip tightened on his knife.
[END OF CHAPTER 3]