They approached cautiously. AJ's form was glowing dimly, soft pulses of green light barely visible in the lit up room. Lily gently nudged him.
"AJ, hey. Wake up."
The glow along his surface brightened slightly at her touch. A second later, his form twitched—then shuddered—and the glow steadied.
AJ's voice emerged, slightly out of sync, "Hhuh? What—what time is it?"
"AJ," Walter said carefully. "Where are we?"
There was a moment of silence. AJ's form solidified into his usual round shape, as if dragging his consciousness back to reality. He looked around at them… then at the chamber.
Then his form rippled.
"What the hell...?"
"You moved us, right?" Victor said, arms crossed.
"Yeah, I—" AJ vision was constantly shifting between the various symbols.
"I found a tunnel, brought you all here whilst you were still asleep. Brought the gear and food too. Thought it was safer, then I sat at the entrance to keep watch and… I guess I dozed off."
"Tunnel?" Lily repeated.
AJ looked behind him.
The tunnel was gone.
The wall behind him was solid stone, carved with the same glowing script as the rest of the chamber. He approached it and extended a tendril against the surface. Smooth and solid, not an illusion.
"This—this isn't right," he murmured, more to himself than anyone else. "This wall wasn't here."
Ethan looked up at the large stone door opposite them. "Then what is that about?"
They all turned towards it.
The door stood at least three metres tall, shaped from the same rough stone as the rest of the chamber. It bore no handle, no visible hinges—just a massive symbol carved deep into its centre.
The symbol pulsed once, then again. A low, almost imperceptible hum accompanied each pulse, like a heartbeat in stone.
Walter stepped forward, eyes narrowing. "We've been trapped," he said. "Something is very wrong here."
Lily crossed her arms, rubbing the chill from her skin. "What was up with that blinding light?"
"Not sure," AJ said. "I don't like where this is going, it feels a little too similar to the Tower of Trials."
Victor stared at him. "And you still think it was a good idea bringing us down here?"
AJ didn't answer right away. He slid away from the sealed wall and faced the others. For a moment, his usual stillness cracked—his form shuddering. Then he steadied.
"I thought it was safe," he said finally. "But it looks like I've dragged us into trouble."
Silence fell.
"You didn't see anything when you scouted this place?" Walter asked.
AJ lightly rippled and shifted to the left subconsciously. "No. It was quiet, empty, no symbols or anything like that. But clearly something changed. This place… activated. I don't know how."
Victor sighed. "Of course. Nothing is ever simple with us."
Lily took a cautious step towards the large door. "Should we try to open it?"
"I guess so," Ethan muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "There isn't much else to do in here."
Sam, meanwhile, had knelt near one of the glowing symbols on the wall. His fingers hovered just above the etchings.
He couldn't understand their meaning so he pulled out his notebook and sketched them.
Victor walked up to the door and placed his hand on it.
At first there was no reaction. Then suddenly there was a thrum.
It came not from the door itself but from what lay on the other side of it. The stone floor beneath their feet vibrated subtly, dust trembling.
Then the door shifted.
A deep echoing sound of stone grinding against stone reached their ears.
The door opened in one smooth but slow motion. They carefully stepped forward into the darkness on the other side.
Then, as if triggered by their presence, fires ignited atop tall, evenly spaced pillars. The flames burned a steady white-gold, casting long shadows and revealing what lay ahead.
It was a vast chamber.
The ceiling stretched high above them, vanishing into darkness. The floor was made of pristine marble, pale and polished to a faint shine that reflected the firelight in subtle gleams. A wide path extended forward, guiding them through the space like a ceremonial road.
At the centre of the room lay a massive circular platform, that was raised above the rest of the room.
And at the heart of that platform, waiting patiently, were three towering archways.
Each arch was tall enough for giants to pass through, carved from stone that shimmered faintly as if it breathed. Rough symbols were etched into the tops of the arches, their lines uneven yet unmistakably deliberate.
One resembled a coiled serpent. Another bore the vague impression of an eye. The last showed two overlapping faces, one looking vaguely heavenly whilst the other gave off a devilish feeling.
They carefully approached.
A soft chime rang out, and a blue screen blinked into existence, its gentle glow unmistakable.
"Welcome to The Spire of Echoes."
"You stand at the first choice of many."
"Your path begins with this decision. Choose a door to go through."
They stared.
No timer. No hint. No second screen.
AJ sat in the centre looking around, his mind whirring.
"I guess… it really is a dungeon."
No one spoke for a long moment. Everyone was thinking about their next move.
Lily broke the silence. "Okay. So, we're in another dungeon, it seems similar enough to last time." She glanced at the archways. "I'm guessing these lead to the trials and judging by the different symbols the type of trial is going to be different."
"Makes sense," Victor nodded as he checked the chamber for hints. "No timer, no traps, just… pick your poison."
Walter took a step forward, gaze lingering on the symbols. "They're crude but not random. Someone—or something—wanted them to mean something."
Sam blinked, then quickly pulled out his notebook. "These symbols for also in that small room earlier."
He flipped rapidly through its pages, muttering half-thoughts under his breath until he stopped on a few sketches. Six symbols.
"These," he said, tapping the page. "I copied these whilst we were in the previous chamber. They were etched into the walls." He looked up. "I didn't know what they meant and still don't. Thought they were just decorative. But…"
AJ pulsed faintly in the centre of the room. "You think they were a warning?"
Sam hesitated. "I think so, or at least some kind of hint at what was waiting for us."
Ethan cracked his knuckles. "Does it really matter? One's got a snake, one's got an eye, and the other's got… faces. I say we pick one and push through. If it's a fight, I'll take it. If it's not…" He glanced at the others. "You guys can handle it."
Walter spoke. "Which one do we pick then?"
AJ rotated slightly. "The eye."
"Any particular reason?" Victor asked, brow raised.
"Not really," AJ's voice echoed. "Might as well figure out what this place holds for us by getting stuck into it."
Ethan grinned. "Good, let's do it then."
Without further debate, they stepped towards the central arch—the one marked by the rough etching of an eye.
Up close, the carving looked even stranger. The pupil looked more like a vortex than an iris. It pulsed once as they passed through the door beneath.
The air shifted.
The doorway opened with a whisper of displaced air, revealing a narrow corridor of smooth stone walls with faint lines of light flowing along them.
As they stepped through, the door shut behind them, no turning back now.
The corridor stretched forward before fracturing into two paths. Then three. Then more. It was a maze.
AJ glided forward without a word, a soft slither barely audible against the marble. As he moved, a faint trail of glowmelt and slime shimmered into existence behind him.
Walter nodded once. "Good thinking."
They chose a direction—left—and moved together, close and quiet.
Behind them, the glow pulsed gently, marking their passing.
They moved forward cautiously, AJ taking the lead. Every wall looked the same.
At one point, they passed a segment they'd definitely walked before, AJ's trail cut across in front of them.
They pressed on.
Another few minutes passed in tense silence before Lily stopped dead. "Wait—look."
Ahead of them, a section of wall shuddered. The stone slid with a grinding sigh, one path being blocked off as a new one opened.
"It's not static," Sam said, stepping back. "The maze is changing as we move."
Victor exhaled through his nose. "So we're rats in a shifting cage. Great."
They kept going, no longer pretending to know which turns mattered. They turned when they had to and followed the path when it seemed right.
Sometimes they crossed over old trails but now they weren't sure if knowing where they'd been really mattered as the maze continued changing.
Time bled away—ten minutes, then twenty. An hour passed, maybe more.
Finally, they turned a corner and saw something different.
A door.
It stood at the end of a straight corridor, square frame and arched top.
They ran over it, practically pushing each other as they stepped through.
They found themselves back in the vast marble chamber.
The three arched doorways in the centre were the same yet different, the same three symbols were carved into their tops, only their new positions giving away the fact that something had changed.
A soft chime sounded, and a blue screen blinked to life in front of them.
"Floor One Completed."
"There are 21 floors total."
"Your choices will shape the path ahead."
"OK, well, that was mostly uneventful." Sam sighed, "We can't really deduce anything about what the symbols mean from that."
Victor folded his arms. "The eye led to a maze..."
"Still nothing tried to actively kill us," Ethan said. "So I'm calling it a win."
AJ slid closer to the new archways. The symbols above each door were different this time, still etched roughly. One looked like a tilted scale. The coiled serpent and two overlapping faces made a reappearance.
Sam frowned up at them. "Same structure. Three choices. I'm guessing it'll keep doing that. Different trial each time, each symbol representing a different type of trial."
"We'll end up going through all of them eventually." Lily said.
"Great," Ethan said, already striding towards the arch with the serpent. "Then let's get to the part where we fight it out. This one's got a snake—feels like the 'fight stuff' door."
Victor grunted. "You just want to hit something."
"Yeah. That's the point."
He didn't wait for consensus. Just placed a hand on the door and pushed. It opened without resistance, stone gliding aside with a faint hiss of air.
Ethan looked over his shoulder. "Coming or what?"
AJ pulsed once and followed.
The others exchanged a glance, then stepped through.
The door sealed shut behind them.
They entered a wide chamber—circular, featureless stone stretching far above them. Dim light poured from slits in the ceiling, casting harsh shadows across the smooth floor.
And then, without sound, the centre of the floor shifted.
Stone peeled away, revealing five tall figures rising in unison. Each one was humanoid, carved from stone, limbs elongated, joints angular. No faces—just smooth surfaces where features should be.