The woman laughed hysterically, her eyes wild.
"I always wanted to taste a young maiden," she cackled. "Let’s go to the next floor. We’ll have so much more fun than you will have with the man."
Rina’s eyes sharpened like blades.
Elental power surged through her legs, crackling into the ground.
A spike of stone erupted beneath the madwoman, impaling her through the chest.
Shlunk.
Her kitchen knife fell to the floor.
Clang.
Blood poured from her mouth as her wide eyes locked with Rina’s.
With a flick of Rina’s trembling hand, the spike vanished.
Thud.
The woman collapsed, lifeless.
Rina’s legs gave out beneath her. She crumpled to the ground, tears streaking her cheeks as she stared blankly into space. Thoughts swirling I killed soone with my own hands, Mother! I don’t like killing humans, she gave no choice, I had to , I had to....
Nearby, Hati was licking Alex’s face. He groaned, tilting his head weakly.
"S-S-Stop, Hati... I’m awake."
With a struggle, Alex sat up, his entire body aching. He looked around.
Rina was crying alone on the platform.
ika and Lyra stood off to the side, somber.
Kaelan continued torturing the old man with his fire, rciless and focused.
Pain racked Alex’s bones. He sat cross-legged and began circulating the power of his three rings.
The wood elent surged through him and was sucked into his scorched flesh, like water to a parched cal.
When the energy was spent, he stood with a grunt, still aching.
"That lightning... it was different," he muttered.
He climbed up onto the platform, Hati at his side.
Turning to ika, he asked, "What did I miss?"
ika gave him a crooked smile.
"Nothing much. Just took out the trash."
Alex looked toward Rina and asked, pointing gently, "What happened to her?"
ika sighed and replied with mocking dryness,
"She’s crying because she had to kill a crazy woman who wanted her dead."
Alex nodded thoughtfully and walked toward Rina. He crouched beside her, speaking softly,
"Killing isn’t easy—I understand that. But saving yourself... that shouldn’t be hard, right?"
Rina turned to him, her eyes full of tears, and nodded.
Alex gave her a warm smile. He stood and ruffled her already ssy hair with gentle affection.
Then he moved to the side and sat down, Hati following and curling beside him.
Alex uncorked a gourd of water, gargled, drank, then poured so into a bowl for Hati.
From his spatial ring, he took four steaks wrapped in a paper—two for himself, two for Hati.
Rina, seeing the food, wiped her tears, stood up, and walked over. She took the gourd, washed her face with the cold water, drank a little, then sat beside Alex.
He handed her a steak wrapped in paper. She took it silently and began eating.
ika and Lyra exchanged a glance and smiled at each other. Then they joined the circle, summoning their als from their spatial rings.
Kaelan finished with the old man, washed his hands using a water gourd, and sat down with the group.
Lyra eyed him curiously.
"Why are you still shirtless?"
Kaelan glared at her.
"I don’t have another pair of clothes," he snapped.
As they ate, Alex asked, "So what’s the plan now? How do we get out of here?"
ika replied, "We are in so kind of tower that goes downward. There’s another floor after this, and a way to get out." She paused and looked at everyone.
"As I understand it clearly, we have to clear the tower. Then, maybe, a way to the outside will appear."
Everyone’s face beca solemn.
Then Kaelan asked, still deep in thought, "Are we still in a dinsion?"
Everyone’s face beca even more solemn, a little bit of despair appearing in their eyes.
Alex sighed loudly and said, more to himself than to others, "If we have to clear it to get out of here, then we have to do that."
All of them nodded. The little despair in their eyes vanished and was replaced by a look of resolve.
After finishing their al, they went down into the basent and found the dark stairs leading further downward, lit only by torches on the wall. After descending, they ca in front of a huge black-colored door. As they approached, the door—
CREAKED
—and opened wide.
The other side of the door was shrouded in darkness.
All of them backed away, hesitation clear in their eyes.
Lyra spoke, her voice trembling with fear, "Do we really have to go in there?"
Nobody answered.
After a mont of silence, Alex whispered, as if afraid so being inside the darkness might hear, "We have to go... if we want to leave this forsaken place."
Hati agreed with a single bark.
All of them nodded and moved forward slowly, their steps hesitant.
As they stepped into the darkness beyond the door, the door behind them vanished—along with the small amount of light that ca through it.
Darkness swallowed them.
A darkness that squeezed out all light.
You couldn’t even see your own hand in front of your face.
Then ca a sound—the rustling of leaves. The scent of a forest filled the air.
Breaking the uncomfortable silence, Rina asked in a ek, tearful voice, "Where is everyone?"
Lyra replied with a trembling voice, "I’m here."
ika responded, her voice shaken and uncertain, "I-I-I also can’t see anything."
Kaelan snapped, trying to chase away fear with anger, "We all can’t see, ika!"
ika shook her head in the darkness—though nobody could see—and said in a trembling voice, "N-No, I’m not talking about that. I can see in darkness because of my elent. But here... I can’t see anything."
Alex crouched and touched the grass beneath them. He looked at Hati’s glowing purple and grey eyes—the only visible thing in the dark.
"Guys! Calm down first. Kaelan, use your elental fire—give us so light!"
As the idea clicked, Kaelan imdiately summoned a fla in his hand—
Light flickered to life.
All of them huddled close to it and looked around.
Rina said the obvious, "We’re in a forest!"
Alex studied the surroundings and noticed that the trees and plants seed to shift away from the firelight.
"These plants are strange," he said thoughtfully. "They’re... afraid of light. It’s like light never reaches this place."
Everyone looked around and noticed the sa thing Alex did.
ika, now calr, said, "Let’s move and find the way out of this floor."
Far away from them, in the darkest part of the forest, blue glowing eyes erged from a human-like silhouette made of pure shadow. It turned slowly toward the patch of yellow light intruding upon its sacred dark domain.
As Alex and the others moved forward with the small fla flickering in Kaelan’s hand, they heard a rustling above the trees. All of them looked up.
Dozens of silhouettes perched silently in the branches—humanoid in shape but twisted, made entirely of darkness, with glowing blue eyes. Their presence radiated murderous intent and a bone-deep hatred for the light.
Hissssssss!
A chorus of hisses echoed through the trees.
The group huddled together, panic setting in.
"What... what are they?" Kaelan whispered, taking a step back, fear evident in his voice.
Alex whispered, "Prepare for—"
Before he could finish, the shadows leapt.
They didn’t aim for everyone—only Kaelan. As they rushed him, their very bodies devoured the light, extinguishing it instantly. The fla sputtered and died.
Darkness swallowed everything.
There was no place for filthy light in their holy domain.
Kaelan collapsed unconscious on the grass, and with the light gone, the others could only make out flickers of glowing eyes before the shadowy figures lted back into the forest.
Hati barked and growled at the vanishing creatures of darkness, but they were already gone.
Now, fully consud by darkness—and fear—the group collapsed to the ground.
Alex sat beside Hati, heart pounding. His mind raced for a solution, but the oppressive dark clawed at his thoughts, twisting them into silence. This wasn’t just darkness... it was despair.
He had felt this once before—when his little sister died. The sa cold emptiness.
Tears fell from his eyes, hidden in the gloom.
Nearby, Rina sobbed. "I-I’m scared... please... soone... soone hold my hand..."
She curled up, hugging her knees, her voice breaking.
"I-I’m here," Lyra cried. "Where are you, Rina? I-I can’t see anything!"
She crawled blindly toward the sound of Rina’s voice, hands fumbling across the grass like a blind child.
ika’s voice trembled. "I-I’m coming..."
Suddenly, Rina flinched at a touch on her hand. "W-Who is this?" she cried, clenching her fists.
"It’s ," Lyra said with a small, shaky smile. She extended her hand and found Rina’s again. "It’s . I’m with you now."
The two girls hugged tightly, clinging to each other.
"Where’s ika?" Lyra asked softly.
"I’m here," ika said, reaching toward the sound—only to accidentally grab sothing soft.
"KYAA!" Lyra shrieked.
"It’s !" ika blurted out, panicked.
Lyra grabbed ika’s hand and pulled her close, not caring anymore. The three of them held each other in the dark, a fragile barrier against the crushing fear.
Alex and Hati sat nearby, still and silent.
The oppressive darkness crawled closer.
Beneath the grass, the plants rustled—quietly, carefully—creeping toward their unaware prey.
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