The air had weight now.
Every step Arios took carried an echo that didn't fade right away—it lingered, twisted, and warped into a rhythm that didn't belong to him. The deeper he went, the more the dungeon felt alive, like the very stone around him pulsed in sync with a heartbeat that wasn't his own. The faint violet glow from before had shifted—deeper now, darker. It was red. A heartbeat red.
Arios moved cautiously through the narrow path, his hand brushing the edge of the stone as he walked. Every once in a while, the walls shuddered faintly, humming like a living creature drawing breath. The air reeked faintly of ozone and iron.
"Floor Six… no—this feels beyond it," he murmured.
The last chamber's glyphs had shattered in response to his battle with the dire wolves. But instead of freeing him, it had triggered a deeper layer—a sealed section that no student should have been able to reach. A place beneath the floor.
