Tower 1 — Entrance to Floor One
The transition was instant.
One moment they were in the echoing corridor of Floor Zero—walls whispering, illusions screaming.
The next, a flash of white swallowed them whole.
When color returned…
The air was thick. Heavy. Wet.
Ragnor gagged and covered his nose.
"What—what is that smell?!"
Lyra scanned the area, bow drawn.
Iris clutched her book tighter, shaking.
Aetherion's cosmic aura shimmered uneasily.
They stood in a huge circular chamber of stone… except the stone was wrong.
It rose and fell.
Like breath.
The entire room was inhaling and exhaling.
Veins of dull red light pulsed across the walls in slow, rhythmic patterns.
Iris whimpered.
"T-the room… it's alive."
Aetherion crouched beside a wall and placed a hand on it.
"It's not organic. Not exactly. It's… somewhere between stone and flesh. Dimensional tissue. The Tower isn't built—it grew."
Ragnor grinned nervously.
"Great. So we're trapped inside some kind of breathing… rock… thing."
Lyra didn't look at him.
"Where's DRM?"
And that was the question none of them wanted to ask.
Aetherion scanned the chamber slowly.
"No footsteps. No sound. No aura trace."
Ragnor frowned.
"Did he leave?"
"No," Lyra whispered. "He's still on this floor. I can feel it."
"How?" Ragnor asked.
Lyra hesitated.
"It's like the air gets heavier when he's close. Like something above us is watching."
They moved forward carefully.
The breathing walls pulsed.
Then the floor shivered.
Aetherion raised a hand.
"Wait. Something's—"
The room inhaled sharply.
The pulse turned red.
Then crimson.
Then a deep, suffocating black.
Thin holes opened across the walls.
Dozens. Hundreds.
Ragnor's fists clenched.
"Get ready!"
Iris stepped back.
"S-something's coming!"
Lyra nocked an arrow.
Aetherion's hands filled with star dust.
The floor began to tremble—
—and that's when they saw them.
The Heartcrawlers
Small, slick creatures slithered out of the holes:
red like raw muscle
eyeless
thin needle-like limbs
mouths that opened sideways
moving like newborn horrors
Dozens spilled onto the floor.
Lyra fired immediately—
Arrow pierced one.
It exploded into black mist.
Aetherion threw a microcosm burst—
Five more disintegrated.
Ragnor stomped one flat.
The others hissed.
Then, all at once, they stopped.
The creatures lifted their heads.
Their jaws hung open.
Their bodies stiffened.
Ragnor blinked.
"…uh. What's happening?"
Lyra lowered her bow slowly.
Aetherion's aura flickered.
"They're… afraid."
Iris trembled.
"N-no… they're sensing something…"
The creatures all turned toward a corner of the room.
Where nothing stood.
Nothing visible.
Nothing alive.
But then—
The air bent.
A faint ripple.
Pressure spreading.
DRM appeared like a glitch in reality—
as if he'd existed there the whole time and they only noticed him now.
Child-sized.
Mask expressionless.
Red eyes glowing faintly.
No footsteps.
No breath.
The Heartcrawlers screeched—
—and fled instantly, crawling back into the walls like terrified insects.
Silence.
Ragnor exhaled.
"Okay. That settles it. He's cheating."
Lyra lowered her bow.
"He saved us again…"
Iris hid behind Ragnor.
"Why is he HERE? Why is he FOLLOWING us??"
Aetherion stepped forward.
"DRM."
No reaction.
"Can you understand us?"
The masked child tilted his head.
Then—
he slowly pointed at Lyra.
Lyra froze.
Ragnor stepped forward protectively.
"Hey—what do you want with her?"
DRM didn't answer.
But something else did.
The Tower.
The floor split open beneath them—not to swallow, but to carve glowing runes into the stone.
A message appeared:
[FLOOR ONE TRIAL: SELECTED TARGET — LYRA]
[DRM HAS IDENTIFIED A CANDIDATE]
[BEGIN THE CONSTELLAR MARK TEST]
Lyra's eyes widened.
"M-me?! Why?!"
Aetherion glared at DRM.
"Why her? Out of all of us?"
The masked child simply lowered his hand.
Lyra felt her skin burn.
A glowing star-shaped mark appeared on her arm.
Aetherion stepped back.
"That's cosmic… but corrupted."
Ragnor growled.
"Kid, what are you doing to her?"
DRM turned away, walking deeper into the floor.
Iris whimpered.
"H-he's not picking people randomly. He's… testing us. Testing her."
Lyra clutched her glowing arm, breathing sharply.
She whispered:
"…why me?"
The Tower answered.
A deep, booming voice filled the chamber—not DRM's voice, not the system's, not anything alive.
A cosmic echo:
"YOU HOLD THE STARS IN YOUR VEINS."
Lyra fell to her knees.
"He… he's awakening something inside me…"
The group froze.
DRM stood at the corridor's entrance.
He looked back.
He didn't speak.
But his mask tilted—
just enough to convey one meaning:
Follow.
Ragnor nodded slowly.
"Alright. Fine. We follow the weird nightmare kid."
Lyra stood shakily.
Iris swallowed.
Aetherion smirked slightly.
"Floor One… let's see what you're hiding."
The group stepped forward.
The breathing walls sighed.
And the Tower smiled.
CHAPTER 4 — STATUS REPORT
Ragnor
Level: 7
EXP: +120
Skills:
Earth Strike (Stable)
Ground Pulse (Improving)
Aura: Tense
Physical Status: Good
Mental State: Frustrated curiosity
Notes: Growth steady
Lyra
Level: 6
EXP: +210
Skills:
Starlight Arrow (Stable)
[New Awakening] Constellar Mark (Dormant)
Aura: Fluctuating
Physical Status: Light pain in arm
Mental State: Confused, anxious
Notes: Trial selected by DRM
Iris
Level: 5
EXP: +90
Skills:
Temporal Bind (Minor)
Chrono Sense (Unstable)
Aura: Fragmented
Physical Status: Stable
Mental State: Fearful
Notes: Tower exposure worsening time sensitivity
Aetherion
Level: 7
EXP: +140
Skills:
Microcosm Blast (Stable)
Aura: Expanding
Physical Status: Stable
Mental State: Curious, cautious
Notes: Suspects DRM knows cosmic secrets
DRM
[UNREADABLE]
Level: Error
EXP: Unknown
Aura: Stage 1.5 — Silent Nightmare (Building)
Domain: Slight movement detected
Mask Sync: 65%
Emotional State: Unknown
System Note: "Subject has initiated a candidate trial."