Tower 1 — Floor Five, The Chamber of Echoing Minds
The air on Floor Five felt different.
Not hostile.
Not hungry.
Not violent.
Worse.
It felt familiar.
Like walking into a room you forgot you'd been in before.
Ragnor rubbed his arms.
"Why is it so cold…? This is worse than the prison floor."
Lyra scanned the walls.
Veins of blue energy pulsed faintly under the stone—like the Tower was storing thoughts.
Observing them.
Remembering them.
Iris stepped forward slowly, her breath shaky.
"…this place… feels like… someone else's dreams…"
Aetherion narrowed his eyes.
"No. Not dreams."
His voice lowered.
"Memories."
Ragnor frowned.
"Whose?"
Before anyone answered—
A system message appeared midair.
[FLOOR FIVE: TEST OF MEMORY]
[RULE: YOU CANNOT LIE TO YOURSELF.]
[RULE: YOU CANNOT FORGET.]
[RULE: YOU CANNOT RUN.]
Lyra whispered:
"…this is a mental floor."
Aetherion nodded.
"A reconstruction floor. This Tower is far older than we thought."
Ragnor scowled.
"Older? How old can a building be?"
Aetherion glanced at DRM.
"…old enough to recognize him."
The air pulsed once—like a heartbeat.
The floor awakened.
The Memory Fog
Blue mist spilled across the chamber like rolling water.
It didn't move naturally.
It moved with intention.
Curiosity.
Malice.
Lyra pulled back.
"Don't breathe it—!"
But Iris had already inhaled sharply.
Her eyes widened.
Then widened more.
Then she collapsed.
"Iris!!" Lyra shouted, grabbing her.
Ragnor rushed over.
Aetherion grabbed his shoulder.
"STOP—!"
Too late.
Ragnor touched the mist—
His body locked.
His jaw clenched.
His pupils shrank.
He froze mid-step, eyes flickering with glowing blue patterns.
"R-Ragnor—?!"
Lyra reached toward him—
But the mist rose around her legs too.
Aetherion cursed under his breath and flared cosmic mana around himself—
The mist responded instantly.
It swirled toward him, circling like a predator.
He stepped back.
"Damn it—this mist reacts to emotions!"
Lyra panicked.
"What do we DO?!"
Aetherion answered sharply:
"Calm down.
Steady your mind.
Do NOT let it touch your thoughts—"
But then he saw DRM.
Standing perfectly still.
Mask slightly tilted.
Red eyes glowing through the slits.
The mist drifted toward him…
Then evaporated.
Like steam hitting flame.
Lyra gasped.
"…it can't touch him…"
Ragnor, halfway trapped in memory fog, managed to whisper:
"H-How…?"
Aetherion's expression hardened.
"Because he's not hiding anything from himself."
Inside the Memory Trap
The fog swallowed Ragnor completely.
The world around him dissolved.
He gasped—
—and opened his eyes in a different place.
A broken field.
A fallen village.
A memory he buried deep.
He saw:
His father dying.
His mother running.
Him failing to save them.
His hands trembled.
He whispered:
"No… not this… not again…"
A voice echoed behind him.
"Why do you keep lying to yourself?"
Ragnor spun.
A version of himself stood there—older, scarred, disappointed.
"You weren't strong enough."
"You'll never protect anyone."
Ragnor roared.
"SHUT UP!"
But the memory didn't stop.
It multiplied.
Ten versions of himself appeared.
Accusing him.
Judging him.
Breaking him.
Ragnor dropped to one knee.
Lyra's Memory Trial
Lyra's vision blurred.
She found herself standing in snow.
Cold.
Alone.
Silent.
Her village.
Her home.
Her sister.
Dead bodies frozen in ice—
memories she tried to erase.
A small silhouette stepped from behind a tree.
Her sister.
"Why did you run?"
Lyra fell back.
"No… stop…"
"Why didn't you save me?"
Lyra clutched her bow, shaking violently.
"I c-couldn't—!!"
But the snow thickened.
The voices grew louder.
Her sister's face twisted into accusation.
Lyra dropped her bow.
Iris's Memory Trial
Iris's body curled up on the stone floor of Floor Five—
but her mind was elsewhere.
A long hall.
Clocks ticking backward.
Her parents screaming.
Her magic spiraling out of control.
She relived the moment she first discovered her time ability—
when it distorted everything around her
and destroyed her own home.
A child version of herself appeared, crying.
"You broke time."
Iris sobbed.
"No… please… I didn't mean to—"
"You destroyed us."
Iris screamed.
Aetherion's Memory Trial
Even Aetherion wasn't spared.
The mist tried to enter his mind.
He resisted.
Barely.
His cosmic aura pushed the memories back,
but images forced their way through:
A planet collapsing.
A mentor dying.
A cosmic beast devouring a star.
His own helplessness.
He growled.
"Not now… not here…"
The mist pressed harder.
His knees buckled.
And DRM?
He stood still.
Unmoving.
Untouched.
Unbothered.
The mist couldn't show him anything.
Because DRM…
never formed memories the same way humans do.
Never saw things as trauma.
Never feared the past.
Never questioned himself.
He tilted his head slightly, almost curious.
Then—
He flexed his aura.
A harmless one.
Stage 1 — Silent Nightmare.
Not enough to hurt the others.
Just enough to make the mist recoil violently.
The fog shrieked.
Veins on the walls pulsed.
Memory illusions cracked.
Breaking the Trial
As DRM walked forward—
Every memory trap shattered.
Ragnor gasped and fell to his hands and knees.
Lyra collapsed, crying silently.
Iris curled into a ball, trembling.
Aetherion exhaled shakily, sweat dripping down his forehead.
Ragnor whispered:
"…what… what happened…?"
Aetherion looked at DRM.
"He freed us."
Lyra wiped her tears.
"H-how…?"
Aetherion stared into the empty space beside DRM.
"He didn't have a memory to trap."
Ragnor frowned.
"What? Everyone has memories."
Aetherion shook his head.
"No.
He has… something else.
His past doesn't exist the way ours does."
Iris shivered.
"So… he's immune to memory floors…"
DRM kept walking.
Never looking back.
Never hesitating.
As if memory itself was beneath him.
A New Message Appears
A system box flickered into existence.
[MEMORY FLOOR INTEGRITY: BROKEN]
[UNKNOWN ENTITY DETECTED]
[FLOOR RESTRUCTURING ITSELF]
[RUN.]
The walls began to pulse violently.
Aetherion's eyes widened.
"Oh no. The Tower is panicking."
Lyra grabbed her bow.
"What do we do?!"
Ragnor lifted her to her feet.
"We follow him."
Iris steadied herself.
"We don't have a choice."
The chamber shook violently as the Tower began rewriting its structure, panicked by DRM's interference.
A doorway formed in front of them.
The passage to Floor Six.
DRM walked through it.
Without a word.
They chased after him—
As Floor Five collapsed behind them.