Chapter 60

The twenty-second floor did not welcome them with claws or teeth, nor with the heavy breath of some monstrous creature waiting to tear them apart. Instead, it greeted them with silence that stretched too long, air that felt just slightly heavier than it should be, and a strange stillness that made even the sound of their own footsteps feel intrusive, as if they were trespassing into something that did not belong to them.
Aerin was the first to notice it, though he did not speak immediately. His steps slowed, his eyes moving around the wide expanse of uneven terrain that seemed to shift between forest and stone without any clear boundary. “It feels… off,” he muttered eventually, his voice lower than usual.
Mira clicked her tongue lightly, though her gaze was far more alert than her words suggested. “Everything feels off after the twentieth floor. You’re just noticing it now?”
Kael said nothing at first. Her eyes moved across the landscape, tracing patterns not just in what was visible, but in what felt inconsistent. The way shadows stretched a little too far, the way distant sounds echoed even when nothing moved. It was subtle—so subtle that if she had not already been paying attention since the earlier floors, she might have dismissed it.
“It’s not the floor,” she said finally, her tone calm but quieter than usual. “It’s us.”
Both Aerin and Mira turned to her.
“What do you mean?” Mira asked, frowning slightly.
Kael did not answer immediately. Instead, she crouched down, brushing her fingers lightly against the ground, feeling the texture of it, the faint vibration beneath it. Then she stood again. “The higher we go,” she said slowly, choosing her words more carefully than usual, “the more it tests something other than strength.”
Aerin let out a small breath. “So… like the last floor?”
“More,” Kael replied.
They did not move forward immediately after that. Instead, they adjusted—not with weapons, not with stance, but with awareness. It had become part of their routine now, something unspoken yet understood. They explored, observed, waited.
And just as Kael had sensed, the challenges of the twenty-second floor revealed themselves not through battle, but through confusion.
The first time it happened, it caught Mira off guard.
They had been walking for what felt like hours, following a narrow path between tall stone formations, when suddenly Mira stopped. “Wait,” she said, her voice uncertain. “Didn’t we pass this place already?”
Aerin looked around, then shook his head. “No… I don’t think so.”
Mira pointed toward a jagged rock formation. “That crack. I remember it. I swear we’ve seen it.”
Kael’s gaze lingered on the same rock. For a moment, she said nothing. Then she stepped forward, walking past it without hesitation. “We didn’t,” she said.
Mira frowned. “But—”
“You think we did,” Kael interrupted, not harshly, but firmly. “That’s the difference.”
Mira went silent after that, though the tension in her expression remained. It was not easy to accept that what she felt so clearly might not be real.
Later, when it happened again—this time with Aerin—he reacted differently.
They had split slightly while gathering materials, still within sight of each other, when Aerin suddenly froze. His grip on his weapon tightened, his breath quickening.
“Someone’s there,” he said.
Mira immediately turned, alert. “Where?”
“There,” Aerin pointed, his eyes fixed on a distant figure partially hidden behind a cluster of trees. “I saw someone move.”
Kael followed his gaze. She narrowed her eyes slightly, focusing not just on the shape, but on the way it existed within the space.
Then she shook her head.
“There’s nothing there.”
Aerin didn’t move. “No… I saw—”
“You saw something,” Kael corrected, stepping closer to him now. “That doesn’t mean it was real.”
Aerin hesitated. His breathing slowed gradually as he forced himself to look again, more carefully this time. The figure… wasn’t there anymore.
“…I hate this floor,” Mira muttered under her breath.
Kael almost agreed.
But she didn’t say it.
Instead, she made a decision.
“We stay here,” she said.
Mira looked at her immediately. “What? Why?”
“Because you’re both reacting,” Kael replied, her tone steady. “And that means you haven’t learned how to ignore it yet.”
Mira crossed her arms, clearly frustrated. “So what? We just… sit here and let the floor mess with our heads until we get used to it?”
“Yes.”
“That’s insane.”
“It’s necessary.”
Aerin didn’t argue. He simply nodded after a moment. “She’s right,” he said quietly. “If we can’t control this… it’ll only get worse on higher floors.”
Mira looked between them, clearly unwilling, but eventually she sighed. “Fine. But if I start seeing things that talk back to me, I’m blaming both of you.”
For the next few days, their routine shifted again.
They still trained, still gathered materials, still fought the occasional creature that appeared—but the real training happened in silence. In moments where they questioned what they saw. In decisions where they had to trust their judgment instead of their instincts.
Kael watched them carefully.
She corrected Aerin when he reacted too quickly. She forced Mira to pause before acting on impulse. And quietly, without saying it out loud, she adjusted herself too.
Because even she wasn’t immune.
There were moments—brief, fleeting—where even Kael hesitated.
A shadow that moved when it shouldn’t.
A sound that came from nowhere.
A feeling that something was watching her.
She never spoke about those moments. She simply observed them, broke them down, understood them, and moved on.
By the fifth day, the change was visible.
Aerin no longer reacted immediately to every movement. He paused, observed, then acted.
Mira still reacted—but now she caught herself midway, correcting her own mistakes with a frustrated click of her tongue.
And Kael…
Kael had grown quieter again.
Not because she had nothing to say, but because she was thinking more than before.
It was during one of those quieter moments, near the end of their stay on the floor, that they found it.
They had set up a small camp near a cluster of uneven rocks, using the natural structure as partial cover while Mira sorted through herbs and Aerin cleaned his weapon.
Kael had wandered slightly away, scanning the area—not for danger, but for anything unusual.
That was when she saw it.
Not something obvious. Not something that stood out immediately.
Just… a disturbance.
A section of ground where the pattern of footprints didn’t match the terrain.
She crouched down slowly, her fingers brushing lightly against the surface.
There were marks here—faint, almost erased by time or movement. But not random.
Intentional.
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
She traced one of the marks carefully, her mind already analyzing the depth, the spacing, the direction.
Not a monster.
Not random movement.
A human.
Someone had been here.
Recently enough that the marks hadn’t completely disappeared.
Kael didn’t call out immediately.
Instead, she studied it a little longer, confirming what she was seeing before standing up and turning back toward the others.
“Aerin,” she called.
He looked up instantly. “Yeah?”
“Come here.”
Mira followed as well, curiosity already written across her face.
“What did you find?” she asked.
Kael stepped aside slightly, letting them see.
Aerin crouched down first, his brows furrowing as he examined the marks. “…These aren’t ours.”
“No,” Kael said.
Mira leaned in closer. “Another team?”
Kael shook her head slowly. “Maybe. Maybe not.”
Aerin looked up at her. “What do you mean?”
Kael’s gaze lingered on the marks for a moment longer before she answered.
“They’re too… controlled,” she said. “Not random movement. Not exploration.”
Mira frowned. “Then what?”
Kael straightened slightly, her expression calm but her eyes sharper than before.
“…Someone passed through here,” she said, her voice quiet, “and they knew exactly where they were going.”
Aerin’s grip on his weapon tightened just slightly.
Mira didn’t speak this time.
And for a brief moment, none of them moved.
Because even without saying it out loud—
They were all thinking the same thing.
Riven.
Kael didn’t confirm it. She didn’t deny it either.
She simply turned away from the marks after a moment.
“We stay,” she said. “A few more days.”
Mira blinked. “Still?”
Kael nodded. “We’re not ready yet.”
Aerin looked at the ground one more time before standing up.
“…But we’re closer,” he said quietly.
Kael didn’t respond.
But as she walked ahead, her steps were just slightly faster than before.
And that was enough.