Tower 1 — Floor 22, The Memory Catacombs
The staircase spiraled down instead of up.
A bad sign.
Floors that descend are almost always mental-type trials.
Torches flickered in long corridors lined with reflective stone tablets, each etched with runes that shimmered faintly like shifting letters.
Ragnor groaned.
"Why does this floor feel like a funeral home?"
Iris whispered:
"Because… these are memory stones.
They're used to record echoes."
Lyra frowned.
"Echoes of what?"
Aetherion answered softly.
"People."
The hall grew colder.
Ahead, other parties examined the walls:
A clan in blue robes chanting around a glowing tablet
A beastkin squad checking runes carefully
A noble family's duo writing notes
A trio of assassins marking traps on the ground
Floor 22 was crowded.
Everyone walked with tense steps, speaking in whispers.
Ragnor blinked.
"Why is it so busy…? Don't people avoid mental floors?"
Atherion stared at the walls.
"Because this floor gives… information."
Lyra's eyes widened.
"About what?"
Aetherion's voice lowered.
"The Tower."
—
As they progressed, the runes grew clearer.
Each stone displayed a flickering scene:
• A man being eaten by a wolf-spider
• A woman crying over her dying party
• An adventurer striking down a child-sized monster and regretting it
• A fallen deity being sealed
• A shadowed figure smiling at a terrified climber
• A masked adult standing over corpses
• A floor-city being destroyed by a calamity
• A forgotten clan king dying in chains
Iris covered her mouth.
"W-Why… why show these…?"
Aetherion's response was cold.
"This floor collects memories of climbers who died here… or deeper."
Ragnor muttered:
"…that's messed up."
Rio walked close to the group.
Too close.
Something about the walls made him uncomfortable.
The further they walked,
the more the silver memory core in his pocket reacted.
Lyra noticed.
"Rio?
Your pocket is glowing."
Rio stiffened.
The orb pulsed—
matching the rhythm of a stone's runes.
Rio hesitated.
Iris touched his arm gently.
"Let's see what it wants to show."
Aetherion stepped forward.
"We watch together."
Rio placed the orb into the stone.
The runes blazed with light—
And a memory formed.
The Echo Unveils
A flickering image projected into the air:
A corridor.
Not this floor.
Somewhere deeper.
A boy-shaped shadow stood over a group of dead climbers.
Smiling.
Softly.
Innocently.
Wrong.
The watching parties gasped.
"What IS that?!"
"Is that a monster?!"
"It looks like a child—"
"That aura… terrifying…"
"Is this a future floor?!"
"No, that can't be human—"
Rio stepped backward, heart hammering.
Lyra looked horrified.
Iris grabbed Rio's hand protectively.
Ragnor muttered:
"…it's him."
Aetherion locked onto the image.
"That's the same shadow from Floor 20."
The memory continued.
The shadow stepped forward—
tilted his head—
and the entire corridor distorted like a warped reflection.
Everything collapsed in on itself—
then the memory snapped into black.
The runes dimmed.
Silence.
Ragnor clenched his fists.
"Why show THAT?!"
Aetherion answered quietly:
"Because this floor…
reveals dangerous futures."
Lyra shivered.
"So that thing… is getting stronger."
Iris whispered:
"He's not even a monster… he's something else…"
Rio didn't speak.
He couldn't.
Because the orb in the wall produced one final flicker—
One that only Rio caught:
A brief silhouette of an adult figure.
Mask cracked.
Red eyes burning.
Standing alone in a hall of corpses.
Rio gasped.
But he said nothing.
No one else saw.
Only him.
And the stone went dark.
Deeper into the Catacombs
The hall opened into a large chamber where dozens of climbers studied the walls.
The runes here displayed names.
Not memories.
Names of climbers who died within the Tower.
Ranks.
Clans.
Achievements.
Causes of death.
Lyra read quietly:
"Sylphine Arcosia…
Age 17…
Killed by Floor 38 Tempest Serpent."
Aetherion read another:
"Korin Cryos…
Age 29…
Lost to Domain Collapse—Floor 50."
Iris whispered:
"Floor… 50…"
Ragnor read one aloud:
"'Varkus Ironjaw, Age 21…
Killed by an unknown child…'"
Everyone froze.
Rio stopped breathing.
Ragnor frowned.
"Wait… unknown child…?"
Aetherion stiffened.
Lyra exhaled sharply.
"…it's him. Again."
Iris hugged herself.
"He's everywhere…"
The room shook faintly.
System text appeared:
[FLOOR EVENT: MEMORY DIVERGENCE]
[ALL PARTIES, PREPARE FOR INSTABILITY]
Ragnor sighed.
"Oh you've GOT to be kidding—"
The walls pulsed—
And all the names began to blur.
Random words merged.
Letters twisted.
Sentences rewrote themselves.
Aetherion realized something first.
"This isn't instability.
It's updating."
Lyra blinked.
"Updating into what?"
The runes rearranged—
slowly spelling out:
A FOREIGN ANOMALY IS WATCHING.
Iris whispered:
"…a-anomaly…?"
The runes flashed again:
IT HAS TAKEN INTEREST IN CHILDREN.
Rio took a step back.
"What…?"
Lyra shielded him.
Aetherion looked up at the ceiling.
"…the Tower fears something."
Then—
The runes went violently red.
RUN.
The chamber darkened.
Something was coming.
A presence.
A shift.
A cold whisper crawling down their spines—
Rio whispered:
"…that's… not him…"
Lyra swallowed.
"Then who?"
Iris's voice trembled.
"…somebody else."
The entire chamber shook.
The next threat was about to appear.