The corridor beyond the landing was deceptively quiet. Kaelen led, his shadows stretching and curling along the walls like liquid smoke, brushing the carved runes with a sentient grace. Behind him, the newcomer, clever, secretive, and silent, followed with measured steps, eyes scanning for traps or hidden threats. The novice climbers who had survived the Forgotten Floor trailed miserably, clinging to walls and each other, muttering prayers Kaelen suspected no god would answer.
"You do realize," Kaelen said casually, voice echoing off the stone, "that at this rate, we're either going to find treasure or death. Possibly both. Either way, I'm entertained."
A faint ripple passed across the polished stone floor ahead. Shadows recoiled ever so slightly, a pulse of apprehension that Kaelen felt before he saw it. The tower had remembered him again, and this time, it had something more… deliberate in store.
"You feel that?" he whispered to the silent companion.
They merely raised an eyebrow. "I feel it. You?"
Kaelen smirked. "Always. But apparently, so does the floor."
The corridor opened into a grand chamber. High ceilings disappeared into darkness, and at the far end, an enormous mirror stretched floor to ceiling, its surface black and reflective, almost swallowing the faint light of their surroundings. Kaelen's shadows prickled at his senses. Not malevolent, exactly. But attentive.
From the corner of his eye, he noticed the novice behind him tripping over his own feet. Kaelen suppressed a sigh. "Classic. Step carefully, human furniture."
The figure ahead, the secretive companion, stepped forward, silent, observing. Their hands brushed lightly along the wall, as though gathering information about the chamber's structure. Kaelen noted the precision: trained, deliberate, not careless like the rest. Perhaps this ally was the only one on this entire floor who might actually survive the next encounter without embarrassing themselves.
Kaelen's gaze returned to the mirror. The surface shimmered unnaturally, and slowly, almost imperceptibly, a form began to emerge. Its reflection wasn't Kaelen's or the companion's. It was darker, distorted, sharp angles where smooth curves should have been, limbs longer, fingers clawed. And yet it mirrored their movements, in some twisted mockery of mimicry.
"Well," Kaelen said quietly, "either the tower's finally bored enough to make me a dance partner, or this is going to be mildly annoying."
The figure in the mirror shifted, stepping forward. Its eyes, dark voids flecked with faint red light, locked on Kaelen. It tilted its head, mimicking his expression, then twisted it unnaturally. It grinned.
Kaelen blinked. "…Ah. I see. You're one of those fun types who copy everything. Classic."
The shadow behind him surged, stretching tendrils lazily toward the mirror. The reflection recoiled slightly, and Kaelen's lips curled. "Oh, don't flinch. It's rude to act afraid before the dance even begins."
The first novice whimpered and stumbled backward into a wall. Kaelen shot them a sideways glance. "Yes. Very helpful. Keep that up. It will absolutely intimidate the monster."
The mirror monster lunged, claws swiping across the reflective surface. Kaelen reacted almost lazily, stepping aside. But the reflection did not move as expected. It duplicated, shifted, and attacked again from a slightly different angle, faster than the eye could track.
Kaelen's grin widened. "Ah. Adaptive. Intelligent. Finally, someone who isn't completely predictable."
From the corner, the secretive companion tilted their head, observing the monster, the chamber, and Kaelen's shadows. "It's testing your movements," they said softly. "Mirrors distort, delay… It's not brute force, it's calculation."
Kaelen raised an eyebrow. "Calculation? That's cute. Let me show you how entertainment works."
He flicked his hand, and the shadows on the floor became mirrors themselves, twisting the faint light across the chamber in jagged, unpredictable patterns. The reflection recoiled and advanced, confused by the inconsistency. Kaelen tilted his head mockingly. "You might want to read the manual before you play games with shadows, friend."
The mirror monster hissed, an unpleasant, scraping noise that made the hair on Kaelen's neck rise. But it hesitated. The shadows were teasing it, wrapping and unwrapping, sliding unpredictably between attack vectors. Kaelen's movements were minimal; most of the work was done by the reflective play of darkness, bending the monster's own mimicry against itself.
A novice behind Kaelen screamed as they tripped on a jagged stone, falling face-first onto the floor. The mirror, startled by the unexpected impact, flickered, momentarily unsure which reflection to copy. Kaelen suppressed a grin. "Ah, yes. Humans. Absolute chaos generators. You have my gratitude."
The secretive companion moved slightly closer, speaking softly. "Your shadows… they're responding to more than just you. They're… reading the environment. Feeding off unpredictability."
Kaelen shrugged. "I call it style. Subtle, effective, and very dramatic. Makes the rumors more fun."
Indeed, the rumor network was alive already. By now, whispers had seeped through hidden corridors: "Kaelen bends shadows like the tower itself dances for him. First floor, erased monsters. Forgotten Floor stabilized. Now… mirror monsters hesitate before him."
The reflection lunged again, claws extended. Kaelen's shadow elongated and split, forming multiple reflective tendrils. Some moved in unison; others operated independently. One of the monster's arms swiped through the reflected shadows and… nothing. The shadows bent, deflecting, and then returned to their master.
Kaelen quipped casually: "You might want to rethink the whole 'mirror equals advantage' strategy."
The monster screamed, a sound like grinding glass, and advanced more aggressively. Kaelen stepped slightly forward, shadows swirling like a living cloak. He raised his hand lazily. "Reflective Shadow," he murmured, almost to himself, testing the words as much as the power.
The shadows responded. The air shimmered faintly. The mirrored tendrils bent and fractured, creating multiple illusory copies of Kaelen himself. For every strike the mirror monster attempted, a shadowed afterimage countered.
"Confusing, isn't it?" Kaelen said, voice dripping with amusement. "I can see you're trying hard. Adorable."
The secretive companion finally stepped into the open. "It's reacting to you, not the illusions," they observed, calm and deliberate. "Your real form is predictable. The shadows aren't. That's why it falters."
Kaelen grinned. "Exactly. It's called dramatic flair. And subtlety. And… superior positioning. Mostly flair, though."
A Wretchish screech echoed from the mirror chamber. The reflective monster had lunged, misjudged, and smashed its own claw into the mirrored floor. Cracks spider-webbed across the surface, momentarily revealing darkness beneath, shadows writhing within like snakes. The reflections multiplied, and for a moment, Kaelen's afterimages were indistinguishable from reality.
He twirled once, almost lazily, and the monster froze, caught between attacking him or the duplicates. Kaelen's smile was sharp. "Decision-making, my dear. Always a problem for your kind."
The novice behind him fell again, tripping into the wall, screaming. Kaelen rolled his eyes. "Yes, very helpful. I appreciate the environmental chaos."
The monster lunged one final time, claws tearing through multiple reflections. Kaelen didn't even blink. He extended a hand toward it, and the shadows reacted instinctively, wrapping around the creature. Its movements became disjointed, fragmented, mirror duplicates flaring across the floor, ceiling, and walls. One claw smashed against a reflected shadow, and the pain traveled back, multiplied, fractured. The monster shrieked and disintegrated into black shards, scattering across the chamber like shattered glass.
Kaelen flexed his fingers, letting the shadows retract. "Done. Was that fun? No? Well, I enjoyed it enough for both of us."
The companion, still calm, tilted their head. "You make it look effortless. But the way the shadows moved… it wasn't just instinct. There was anticipation."
Kaelen smirked. "Anticipation, intelligence, style. Pick your favorite. Or all three, it doesn't matter."
The rumor network outside, if anyone still remembered to check, exploded further. "Shadow manipulator defeats mirror monsters effortlessly. Uses reflective shadows to confuse and destroy. Humans and monsters alike fail before him."
Kaelen glanced at the mirror remnants. "I think this floor just earned itself a new nickname. Call it… Dramatic Entrance Floor. Catchy, isn't it?"
The secretive companion allowed a small smile. "You might be insane. But effective."
Kaelen grinned. "Insanity? Maybe. Entertainment? Definitely. Efficiency? Naturally."
They moved forward together. Shadows stretched ahead, probing, testing, already anticipating threats beyond the next corridor. The rumor network buzzed. The tower itself seemed… aware. Not hostile. Curious. Challenged.
Kaelen's lips curled into a sharp smile. "Excellent. Let's see how far this entertainment can go."
The chamber fell silent behind them, mirror shards scattered like forgotten memories. The next floor awaited. Deeper. Darker. Harder. But Kaelen didn't fear it, not when the shadows obeyed without hesitation, when the rumors whispered his legend, when the companion beside him moved with precision and quiet intelligence.
The tower had seen much, but it had never seen him.
And it would learn.
Kaelen's reflective shadows had defeated the mirror monster with style, chaos, and minimal movement. The companion's presence had enhanced observation, the rumors spread further, and the tower began recognizing a new, unparalleled climber in its midst.
The next challenge loomed. Shadows, companions, rumors, all converging into one undeniable truth:
Kaelen wasn't climbing. He was rewriting the rules.