A Moment to Breathe

The room didn't change. Not after the door shut. Not after the light settled. It just... held still.

The torchlight on the walls burned low, flickering soft gold across the stone. Everything smelled faintly of ash and dust, but it was dry here. The air wasn't rotting, and the ground wasn't moving, and nothing had tried to kill them in at least ten minutes.

That counted for something.

Chains lowered herself to the floor with a hiss of breath and let her head rest against the wall behind her. Her legs stretched out in front, stiff and bandaged. Her forearm was still raw. Burned in two places, bruised in five. But she was breathing. Awake. Alive.

Blue sat across from her, knees drawn up, arms looped around them. She hadn't spoken since they'd made it to this little pocket in the tower. Her eye tracked the flame on the far wall like it might offer an answer to something neither of them could name.

Chains let the silence sit for a while. Let it grow heavy enough to feel real.

Then she exhaled and tilted her head back against the stone.

"This place sucks," she said, voice dry.

Blue blinked. Slowly. She didn't look away from the fire.

Chains didn't push. She let her own voice fade.

The burns were starting to throb. Not bad enough to scream, but enough to remind her she'd survived something. And survival came with pain. She could deal with that.

"You fought well," Blue said, eventually.

Chains lifted her head just enough to glance over. That caught her off guard. It wasn't the words—just the fact that Blue said them first.

"Thanks," she muttered. "Wasn't pretty."

"No."

Chains gave a soft, humorless snort. "Still counts."

Blue nodded faintly.

Another long stretch of quiet passed. The kind that wasn't tense, just tired. The kind you settle into when there's nothing left to say but your body hasn't caught up yet.

Then Blue spoke again.

"My trial… it was a hallway. One that never ended. I walked for what felt like hours. No matter which way I turned, it looped."

Chains frowned. "You mean, like—literally the same space?"

Blue nodded. "Exactly the same. Over and over."

Chains sat up a little straighter. "That's cruel."

"It worked."

Chains studied her face for a moment. Her tone hadn't changed. Still quiet. Still restrained. But there was something behind it now. A weight. She could hear it if she listened close enough.

Blue shifted slightly. Her eyes moved, just a little. "What about yours?"

Chains rolled her jaw and looked away. "Heat. Collapsing ceiling. Falling stone. I thought it was trying to crush me." She paused. "Maybe it was."

"Did you get out the same way?"

"No." Chains flexed her hand, watched the tendons pull tight beneath red skin. "I think I broke something. Not just in the room."

She didn't say more.

Blue didn't ask.

For a while, they both stared at the floor.

Then Chains' voice came again. This time, quieter.

"Why was I the only one cuffed?"

Blue didn't flinch. "I don't know."

That was it.

Chains didn't press. She wanted to. She almost did. But the look on Blue's face was enough—solid, calm, impenetrable. Not hiding something. Just... not knowing. Or not ready.

She leaned her head back again and closed her eyes. "Feels like a punishment."

"Maybe."

Chains cracked one eye. "For what?"

Blue looked at her now. Really looked. "Existing."

Chains held her gaze for a second too long. Then nodded once. "Yeah. Could be that."

The torch sputtered. A crack of old wax split the air. The room felt colder than before.

"You think this place is it?" Chains asked, voice quieter now. "Like, the end of the world type thing? Or is this just one more nightmare out of thousands?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think there are more people? Somewhere in this tower?"

Blue hesitated. "There were. Maybe still are. But I don't think they started where we did."

Chains let out a long breath through her nose. "Lucky us."

No one spoke after that.

Time passed. The torch dipped lower. Blue adjusted her posture slightly, pulling her knees in tighter. Chains winced as she tried to move her burned arm and gave up halfway through.

Eventually, Blue shifted her weight and looked over again.

Chains was half-asleep. Or pretending.

Her eyes were closed, but her breathing hadn't evened out yet.

"You think we'll make it out?" Blue asked quietly.

Chains didn't open her eyes.

"…I think we'll sure as hell try," she said.