Tower 1 — Floor Nine, Deep Within the Hall of Trespassers
The corridor narrowed until the group had to walk single file.
Ragnor in front.
Lyra behind him.
Aetherion next.
Iris tucked close to Lyra.
And DRM…
He walked last.
Silent.
Steady.
Small footsteps echoing in patterns the Tower seemed to adapt to.
Every few meters, the walls pulsed—
stone veins glowing faintly.
Whispers slithered across the air.
Not words.
Not language.
Just raw hostility.
Ragnor shuddered.
"This floor HATES us."
Aetherion corrected him:
"No.
It hates HIM."
They all turned slightly—
DRM continued walking calmly, seemingly unaware that the entire floor's structure curled away from him like a cowering animal.
The Path Splits
The corridor forked into three paths.
Left.
Right.
Forward.
Aetherion frowned.
"A split. This is a choice floor."
Lyra scanned quickly.
"Which path is real?"
Iris, trembling, whispered:
"M-my time sense… i-it's fuzzy… the paths are… overlapping…"
Aetherion stepped forward.
"I can read gravity flow—"
The torches flickered.
The walls warped.
And three silhouettes appeared on each path.
A child's silhouette.
Same size.
Same mask.
Same posture.
Three DRMs.
Ragnor cursed.
"Oh HELL no—"
Lyra raised her bow instantly.
"A mimic?! Three mimics?!"
Iris grabbed Aetherion's cloak, panicking.
"W-Which one is the real one?!"
Aetherion's heart hammered.
"Everyone—DON'T MOVE!"
Ragnor spat.
"We need to know which one to follow!"
Aetherion whispered:
"No.
The rule says: Do not follow the one who looks back.
So we watch."
Three DRMs stood still.
Then—
The one on the left tilted his head.
The one on the right tilted his head.
The one in the center—
did nothing.
Ragnor whispered:
"…which one is looking back?!"
Lyra shook her head.
"No—DRM tilts his head ALL THE TIME—how are we supposed to tell?!"
Aetherion's eyes darted.
"No. DRM tilts left.
But only when curious."
Iris squeaked:
"T-the right one is doing it too though—"
Ragnor cracked his knuckles.
"Let me punch them and see what breaks—"
Aetherion hissed:
"You hit a mimic and the whole HALL will devour us!"
Lyra's voice cracked:
"What do we do?!"
The center DRM finally moved.
He raised his hand.
Then pointed behind them.
A slow…
deliberate…
motion.
Lyra's blood ran cold.
"…that's not DRM."
Ragnor spun around instantly.
"BEHIND?! WHAT'S BEH—"
A small figure stood in the shadows.
A child's silhouette.
Mask facing them.
Glowing red eyes.
The real DRM.
Ragnor's voice dropped to a whisper:
"…oh… shit…"
Lyra trembled.
"T-then those three—"
The three fake DRMs' heads snapped toward the group—
with a sickening crack.
All three smiled behind the mask slits.
Wide.
Wrong.
Inhumanly stretched.
The mimic entities giggled.
Three voices overlapping:
"Come follow us…"
"We know the way…"
"Trust us…"
Iris screamed.
Lyra fired immediately—
Three arrows.
Three hits.
Three exploding shadows.
The mimics dissolved instantly, shrieking like boiling metal.
The path forward reshaped itself.
Only ONE corridor remained.
Ragnor wiped sweat from his brow.
"I hate this floor."
Aetherion nodded.
"We all do."
Iris whimpered.
"But… how did we know which one…?"
Aetherion pointed at DRM.
"…because he didn't move."
Ragnor blinked.
"That tells us… what?"
Aetherion swallowed.
"He wasn't curious.
Wasn't cautious.
Wasn't confused.
He already knew mimics were coming."
Lyra exhaled shakily.
"And the Tower responds to HIM.
He probably knew the real path before the split even happened."
Ragnor glared.
"So he could've warned us!"
Aetherion looked at DRM.
DRM simply started walking.
Slow.
Calm.
Mask facing forward.
Aetherion sighed.
"…he's not that kind of kid."
Lyra murmured:
"We're alive. That's enough."
They followed the real path—
But the mimics weren't done.
The Echo Hall
They reached a long, narrow hallway.
Mirrors lined both sides.
Old.
Cracked.
Impossible reflections.
Ragnor scowled.
"Mirrors? Fantastic. Nothing bad EVER happens with mirrors."
Lyra grabbed him.
"Don't look into them."
Iris clutched her book.
"T-Too late… I-I saw myself…"
Aetherion spun.
"Did it move?! Did your reflection move?!"
Iris stuttered:
"N-n-no—
But… I saw someone behind me…"
Lyra froze.
"Who?"
Iris's voice trembled, breaking into a whisper.
"…shadow."
Silence.
Ragnor swallowed hard.
"That dude… is he FOLLOWING us…?"
Aetherion shook his head sharply.
"No. Mimics use your memories. They know who haunts your fear."
Lyra stepped forward.
"Then my reflection—"
She stopped.
Her reflection was smiling.
Lyra wasn't.
She stumbled back.
"No—no—nononono—"
Her reflection whispered:
"Follow me."
Lyra fired instinctively—
The mirror exploded.
Aetherion shouted:
"STOP BREAKING MIRRORS—THE FLOOR WILL—"
The hallway trembled.
Dozens of mirrors cracked.
Hundreds of reflections shifted.
A rising chorus of whispers filled the hall.
Follow me…
Follow me…
Follow me…
FOLLOW ME…
Iris covered her ears.
"MAKE IT STOP—!!"
The reflections lunged—
Dozens of distorted copies of the group—
Leaping from the glass.
Aetherion yelled:
"FALL BACK—!!"
Ragnor punched a mimic in the face, shattering it into shards of smoke.
Lyra fired arrow after arrow.
Iris unleashed a burst of unstable time magic.
Aetherion crushed three mimics with a gravitational pulse—
But for every one destroyed, two more crawled out.
The corridor dimmed—
Until only one figure glowed.
DRM.
Standing in the center of the hall.
Unmoved.
He raised his hand.
His aura pulsed—
Stage 2.5 – Crackling Dread (Mirrorbreaker).
Every reflection froze.
Every mimic paused mid-lunge.
Every mirror bent inward—
as if the glass itself feared him.
Lyra stared in awe.
"…he… stopped all of them…"
Aetherion whispered:
"No.
They stopped because the Tower did."
Ragnor's jaw dropped.
"The FLOOR… is scared of him?!"
The mirrors imploded.
All of them.
A clean burst.
A scream of shattering light.
A rotating sigil appeared at the end of the hall.
Aetherion exhaled shakily.
"…exit."
Ragnor wiped his sweat.
"Let's GET OUT of this nightmare already."
Iris nodded weakly.
"P-please…"
They sprinted for the exit.
DRM walked.
Calm.
Unbothered.
And when they reached the doorway—
a whisper echoed faintly behind DRM.
Not from a mimic.
Not from a reflection.
From the shadows.
"Next time… I'll follow YOU."
Aetherion froze.
Lyra spun.
Ragnor clenched his fists.
Iris whimpered.
"W-Who… said that…?"
DRM didn't react.
But his red eyes glinted once through the mask.
The group stepped through the passage.
Floor Nine sealed behind them.
And the whisper faded.
CHAPTER 20 — STATUS REPORT
Ragnor
Level: 15
EXP: +290
Physical: Exhausted
Mental: High stress
Notes: First direct mimic engagement; instincts sharpened by necessity
Lyra
Level: 14
EXP: +320
Physical: Stable
Mental: Fear re-triggered
Notes: Reflection manipulation affected her deepest trauma
Iris
Level: 11
EXP: +430
Physical: Weak
Mental: Fragmented
Notes: Saw a shadow figure in a mirror; memory strain increasing
Aetherion
Level: 16
EXP: +350
Physical: Good
Mental: Hyper-aware
Notes: Now fully understands mimics as existential threats
Mimic Collective
Status: Repelled
Behavior: Evolving
Notes: Now directly interested in DRM
DRM
Level: ERROR
Mask Sync: 89%
Aura: Stage 2.5 — "Mirrorbreaker Pulse"
Emotional State: Calm
Notes: Mimic hive fears him; Floor stability nearly collapsed