Deception

They didn't speak when they left the chamber.

Chains moved with a limp, her burns sealed but angry. Blue walked beside her, arms loose at her sides, her posture quiet but taut. The stairwell spiraled up without warning. No door. No sound. Just the same hollow breath of the tower drawing them higher.

Eventually, the stairs opened into a tunnel, wide and earthy. The scent was the first sign something had changed, wet soil, rotting bark, and the bitter tang of moss.

They stepped into the light.

It wasn't real sunlight. Not really. But for a moment, it felt close enough.

Overhead, high above a canopy of tangled green, golden light streamed through swaying branches and glinted on patches of thick undergrowth. The stone of the tower was gone, hidden beneath layers of root and foliage. Trees, twisted, pale, and too symmetrical, stretched from the jungle floor to the cavern ceiling like they belonged there.

The air was thick. Humid. It pressed down on them with the weight of a storm that hadn't broken yet.

Chains blinked and shaded her eyes with her hand. "You seeing what I'm seeing?"

Blue didn't answer. Her gaze swept the tree line, slow and focused.

The space was open. Much bigger than the previous floors. But the ceiling hung low. Tangled branches weaved into the stone above like a woven cage. Scattered boulders, waist-high and smoothed by time, dotted the area like remnants of some ancient battleground.

It felt wrong. But not in the same way as before.

Not rotting. Not hollow.

Just… out of place.

They walked. Neither of them rushed.

For thirty minutes, they made their way through the overgrown floor, pushing past vines, stepping over roots, scanning every shadow between the trunks. The quiet wasn't dead this time. Insects hummed faintly. Leaves rustled where no breeze moved. Once, Chains swore she saw something move behind the trees. But when she looked again, it was gone.

"Almost feels like outside," Chains muttered, wiping sweat from her temple.

Blue stopped walking.

Ahead of them, the path opened into a wide clearing. The trees thinned. The moss gave way to cracked stone and low-lying shrubs. At the center of it all was light—warm and golden, pouring down from a break in the canopy.

Chains stepped forward, eyes narrowing.

Then she saw it.

There was no break.

The "sky" above them wasn't sky at all. It was stone, just like every other floor. Embedded in it were clusters of glowing rocks, jagged, uneven, pulsing faintly with a soft amber hue. Thin vines dangled around them, veiling the deception like curtains.

Chains swore under her breath.

Blue stepped up beside her and stared.

"So much for fresh air," Chains said. "They even faked the sun."

She took another step forward, eyes scanning the clearing, watching for anything that felt too still.

That was when something shifted.

Chains didn't see it, just heard the crunch of stone behind her, sharp and sudden.

She turned.

Blue had already moved toward the edge of the clearing, crouching beside a boulder.

Chains' stomach twisted.

"Watch out!" she shouted.

Too late.

There was a flash of movement, something small and gray darting out from behind the stone.

Blue didn't react fast enough.

The creature lunged and drove a jagged knife deep into her shoulder.

Blue gasped and stumbled backward, collapsing to the ground with a strangled cry. Her hand flew to the wound. Blood poured between her fingers, dark and wet.

Chains moved.

She didn't think. Didn't speak.

She slammed into the thing with her full weight, shoulder-first. It yelped and skidded across the stone, the knife clattering free.

Blue was curled up, teeth clenched, clutching her shoulder. Chains dropped to her knees beside her, tore a strip of cloth from her own already-ruined pants, and pressed it hard against the bleeding.

"Hold that. Tight."

Then she stood.

The creature was getting up.

Now that it was still, she could see it clearly, light gray and green skin, long ears, a twisted nose, eyes like wet marbles. Its limbs were thin, wiry. Its hands clutched the knife again, still slick with Blue's blood.

Chains' vision tunneled.

The thing didn't speak. It crouched, ready to strike again.

Chains didn't give it the chance.

She ran forward, fast and low, drawing her fist back like she was about to throw everything she had into it

She kicked.

Hard.

The impact knocked the creature off its feet. It hit a boulder spine-first and slumped down, wheezing. One of its arms twitched, scrabbling for the knife.

Chains kicked it again.

And again.

And again.

Until it stopped moving.

Even after it stopped twitching.

Until her boot was covered in something that wasn't hers.

Breathing hard, she turned back toward Blue.

Blood still trickled down her arm. Her face was pale, but her eyes were open. Alert. 

Chains exhaled and dropped to her knees again.

"This place," she muttered, voice low and shaking, "is really starting to piss me off."