Sam rubbed his temples. "Serpent for body, faces for spirit... given that the eye gave us a labyrinth before, it should be a test of the mind."
"Intellectual challenge," AJ pulsed.
Victor's fingers twitched slightly. "Riddles and traps then. That does sound about right."
Ethan spoke. "I'd rather take another beating than this moral crap. At least a fight's straightforward."
Lily gave Ethan a menacing glare before she turned and marched over to the eye-carved arch. The others followed silently, the air thickening as they crossed the threshold.
The chamber they entered was perfectly cubical, its smooth stone walls inscribed with numbers and words.
At the centre floated a three-dimensional puzzle box, its geometric segments rotating slowly in midair. As the last of them entered, the doorway sealed shut with a final-sounding thud.
Ethan walked towards the centre, eyeing the walls. "A box, wonder if there's anything inside it."
Walter's face revealed small smile, "I do like surprise gifts."
Victor remained still, his gaze locked on the puzzle box. "The box is probably the key to getting out of here and in that case, the writing on the walls are going to be the clues to opening it."
"Everyone pick a side," AJ pulsed, extending tendrils to touch the inscriptions, looking for some kind of reaction. "Victor, you take care of the box."
They worked in tense silence. Sam deciphered the numeric patterns; he had quickly recognised a Fibonacci sequence.
Lily put her emotions aside, doing her best to work out the puzzle. She slowly figured out that Sam's numbers pointed to rotational measurements written on her side.
Walter's wall contained lines of poetry, "72 steps to heaven's gate, 14 strikes seal their fate.", "18 cycles of moonlit pain, 5 deaths forge the immortal frame."
Combining that with AJ's wall of numbers he was able to match the rotation measurements to the segments.
Once they were satisfied that they had figured it out, Victor began rotating each segment as they instructed.
At some point, the box locked in place, however its segments weren't quite aligned. The box pulsed slightly before it began rotating on its own, undoing all of their progress.
They groaned in frustration, as their efforts were thrown away.
The sound of grinding stone filled the air, dust trickling from the ceiling like a fine rain. Then, they stopped. The walls had moved inward making the chamber noticeably smaller.
"Seems like that attempt was a flop," Victor stated matter-of-factly.
Walter had kept a close eye on the walls as they moved.
"We probably have six more attempts before this becomes... problematic."
Ethan braced against one of the walls. "Anyone else feel claustrophobic?"
They took a quick breather, everyone taking a moment to collect their thoughts and steady their nerves.
Lily worked with Sam, double-checking that they got the right measurements on her side of the chamber.
Walter double-checked his side with AJ's numbers, ensuring the instructions were correctly matched to the rotation amounts.
Victor stood ready at the puzzle box, his hands poised to rotate the segments as directed.
"Alright, let's go through it again," Sam said, his voice steady. "Maybe we just messed up one of the steps."
They began the process once more. Walter said the segment, and Lily called out the rotation amount one step at a time. Victor rotated the segments, his movements precise and deliberate.
The box segments were slowly aligning as they followed the steps meticulously. They held their breath, hoping this time would be different. But as before, the box pulsed and rotated on its own.
The walls contracted further, the chamber growing ever smaller. They felt more confined, but they pushed aside their growing claustrophobia to focus on the task at hand.
"What are we missing," Lily's frustration was slowly mounting. "We followed every step correctly."
Walter nodded, his cane tapping the ground as he considered their next move. "There must be something we're overlooking."
Sam stepped forward, his notebook in hand. "Let's take a step back and review everything together," he suggested. "We need to make sure we're not missing anything."
They gathered around the puzzle box, their eyes scanning the walls and the box itself. They each explained their respective sections to the others and guided them through the process of finding the solution.
Lily reviewed the measurements on her side but paused midway through. "I think I see a mistake here," she said. "This seems off." Sam helped her figure out where it went wrong and what the correct measure was.
AJ caught a mistake on Walter's side as he went through it. There were two spots where he had mixed up the segments that needed to be rotated.
Having identified and fixed their mistakes Victor stood ready at the puzzle box, his hands poised to rotate the segments. "Let's give it another go."
Ethan's nervousness was showing as spoke. "We need to get this right."
AJ pulsed softly, "It's gonna be alright, big guy, we got this."
With the corrections made, they began the process once more. The box seemed to align more smoothly this time around.
They watched with bated breath as the segments locked into place. And yet they had failed once more. The walls closed in, forcing them into a circle around the puzzle.
They paused, a brief silence hung in the air as they scratched their head or bit their nails, wondering what had gone wrong.
Ethan felt that he needed to take his mind off the shrinking room and so he took a brief look at Sam's wall. When he studied the numbers and recognised something, he was surprised.
"Hey Sam, aren't some of those from pi?"
"What do you mean from pie? Now's not the time for food—" Sam cut himself off as he noticed the digits of pi that were evenly spread out across the wall. "You're a goddamn genius."
They then worked together to correct the sequence, matching it with Lily's measurements and again with AJ's and Walter's instructions. After double checking their solution, they began.
Rotate the upper tier 72 degrees left, a deep thunk reverberated through the chamber as the segment engaged.
Spin the lower section 14 degrees to the right, the sound of Victor's grunting and grinding metal sounded out. Twist the middle section counter clockwise until it clicks.
The puzzle box's segments started locking into place, each with a satisfying clink. They held their breath, anticipation filling the air.
As the final segment aligned, the box opened with a soft hiss, revealing...
Nothing.
The interior of the box was empty, whilst they hadn't expected anything grand they still expected something.
They exchanged disappointed glances. "That's not cool." Ethan whined.
"No treasure for us," Walter sighed.
The walls of the chamber began to move outward, the room slowly expanding back to its original size. The door they had entered through creaked open, revealing the path back to the main area.
They stepped through the doorway, their minds still reeling from the rather empty victory. As they entered the large open space, they noticed something was different. The familiar archways were gone, the chamber bare except for the central platform.
The blue screen flickered to life in front of them, its gentle glow casting a soft light across the room.
"Congratulations. You have passed four floors."
"You are now on the fifth floor."
"You may rest here for two hours."
The blue screen flickered out, leaving them in a moment of quiet reflection.
Ethan stretched his arms letting out a long sigh, the tension in his shoulders easing slightly. "A break, sounds good to me."
Lily sat down on the cool marble floor, her bow resting beside her. She took a deep breath, her eyes closed.
Walter leaned on his cane, his gaze sweeping over the chamber. He walked over to Lily and sat down beside her, his presence a silent offer of comfort.
"It was a difficult choice," he said softly, his voice gentle. "I'm not over the moon about it either but we can't blame them for thinking about us."
Lily opened her eyes, her gaze meeting Walter's. She nodded slightly, her expression softening. "I know," she said, her voice quiet. "I just need some time."
Victor pulled out his knife, he started doing small tricks, twirling it around, his posture was relaxed as he sat a short distance away.
He looked at Lily, his expression unreadable but his eyes showing a hint of remorse. "We did what we thought was best," he said, his voice steady. "For all of us."
Sam pulled out his notebook and reviewed his notes. He glanced at Lily, offering her a small smile.
"We're all in this together, sometimes that means we have to prioritise ourselves over others."
Lily took a deep breath, she knew she wouldn't forget the choice they had made, but she also knew that dwelling on it wouldn't change anything.
They settled into the chamber, their bodies weary but their spirits slowly lifting. They had faced the first trials of the Spire of Echoes, each challenge testing their strength, unity, and resolve.
Ethan stretched out on the cool marble floor. He pulled out a small pouch of snacks, offering it to the others. "We should eat something, gotta keep our strength up."
Lily accepted, her fingers brushing against Ethan's as she took a small handful. The others followed suit, each lost in their own reflections as they ate.
The two hours passed in a quiet blur, resting and recovering in their own ways. As the time drew to a close, the team stirred, their bodies refreshed and their minds clearer.
Suddenly, the familiar archways appeared on the central platform, their towering forms casting long shadows across the chamber.
The team looked at them, their eyes widening in surprise. The archways were different this time, they were all engraved with the same symbol: two overlapping faces.
Lily stood up, her bow slung over her shoulder as she approached the archways. "They're all the same," she asked confusedly. "What does this mean?"
Walter leaned on his cane, his gaze sweeping over the archways. "It seems we're not being given much of a choice."
Victor sheathed his knife as he approached the archways. "Let's just hope this isn't the new norm."
Ethan slowly approached with more food in his hand. "So much for letting us pick our poison."
Sam eyed the symbols carefully, looking for any minor differences. Deciding that they were in fact identical he walked towards the one in front of him with a small sigh and a shrug.
They stepped through the archway, the door sealing shut behind them with a thud. They found themselves separated once more, each standing in their own little room as the blue screen reappeared before them.
"In order for the others in your group to survive, you must decide who to sacrifice."