But instead of falling back down, the token stopped mid-air, hovering at eye level as it began to glow with the same warm coppery light.
The moment it stabilised, the symbols on the archways were set ablaze. They each began to morph bizarrely, reshaping themselves into something different.
The token slowly dissolved in front of them, disappearing into nothingness as the symbols took on their final shape.
They all resembled the tilted scale, but they were each slightly different from one another—they were all tilted to a different extent.
A moment of silence passed.
"Three different degrees of tilt," Sam murmured..
"The leftmost barely tips. The centre one is roughly halfway down. But the rightmost..." He paused. "Is tilted as far as it can go."
Walter stepped closer, his weathered eyes studying each symbol. "Balance disrupted to varying extents," he observed, his cane tapping a slow rhythm against the stone. "The question becomes—what is each scale measuring?"
"Maybe it's about fairness?" Lily's voice carried hints of worry—their last experience with the scale wasn't one she wanted to remember.
Victor's mind was working. "Difficulty," he hummed. "Minimal tilt, minimal challenge. Extreme tilt, extreme consequences." He paused, considering. "Though knowing this place, it could just as easily be the opposite."
"In that case let's pick the middle one" Ethan suggested, though his voice lacked its usual confidence. "We don't know if it's leaning in our favour or not so the middle is the safest bet, won't be the best but won't be the worst either."
The others nodded, Lily jokingly praised him for actually using his brain, as they made their way towards the middle archway.
It opened into a corridor of polished black stone, so smooth it reflected their forms like dark mirrors. The air thrummed with an energy that made their skin crawl and their hearts beat faster.
"This feels different," Lily whispered, her hand instinctively moving to her bow.
"More intense," AJ agreed from her shoulder, his form rippling with unease. "Like the Spire is putting all its attention on us."
The corridor opened into a vast circular arena, its walls rising so high they disappeared into darkness.
Stone benches formed concentric rings around the chamber's edge, designed for an audience of thousands. At the centre stood something that made them all freeze.
A being stood, at least four metres tall, draped in robes that seemed woven from shadow and starlight.
But it was the creature's head that drew their horrified fascination—six stone faces orbited around a central point like a grotesque halo, each one distinct and terrifying in its own way.
Currently, a face of cracked stone with glowing red eyes and what appeared to be bloody tears faced them directly.
The air around the creature began to pulse. Heat waves shimmered from its form.
The creature's voice resonated through the chamber, carrying the weight of absolute authority.
"You dare enter my domain."
The Face of Wrath locked into position with a grinding sound of stone on stone and the chamber's temperature spiked further.
"Combat formation!" Victor snapped. "Ethan, centre! Everyone else, spread out!"
The Arbiter raised its arm, and a massive stone gavel materialised in its grasp—a weapon that looked like it could crush buildings.
The very air around the gavel distorted with heat, and when it moved, it left trails of flame in its wake.
With surprising speed for something so large, it brought the Hammer of Verdict down where they had been standing moments before.
The impact sent shockwaves through the arena floor, cracking stone and throwing them all off balance. Where the hammer struck, the stone had somewhat melted, creating a crater of bubbling rock.
Ethan, who had been moving towards the creature, stumbled as the wave of searing heat rushed by him.
"It's fast!" he grunted, rolling to avoid a second strike that carved another crater in the floor. "And hot as hell!"
The heat radiating from the Arbiter was becoming unbearable. Sweat poured down their faces, and the air itself seemed to burn their lungs with each breath. The Face of Wrath's eyes blazed brighter as it continued its attacks.
Lily loosed an arrow, the projectile striking the creature's robes but simply bouncing off harmlessly. "My arrows aren't penetrating the robes!"
Walter circled to the side, his sword unsheathed and held ready, trying to stay out of the worst of the heat waves. "Aim for the faces! Those seem important!"
Sam muttered to himself as he observed the battle. "The faces were rotating before, but now they're locked."
Victor darted in from the creature's blind spot, gritting his teeth as he resisted the overwhelming heat. His new dagger found its mark between the stone plates of the Arbiter's arm.
The improved weapon bit far deeper than his old blade would have, and dark ichor flowed freely from the wound, hissing and steaming as it hit the superheated floor.
The Arbiter's response was immediate and violent. It spun with surprising grace, its free hand sweeping towards Victor in a backhand that could have shattered bones. Victor threw himself backwards, avoiding the attack.
"Physical attacks work on the body," AJ observed, his form beginning to shift as he prepared to join the fight. "But the faces are likely controlling everything."
The Arbiter's blazing gaze locked onto Victor, continuing to attack him, it raised its gavel high.
He rolled desperately as the weapon came down, the wind from its passage so hot it felt like being inside an oven.
"Too close," he gasped as he scrambled to his feet.
Ethan charged in with a roar, his new obsidian-edged axe raised as his arm gleamed with channelled mana.
The weapon struck the creature's leg like it was soft wood, sending dark fluid spattering across the arena floor.
The cut was clean and deep, but it barely seemed to notice, its rage-fuelled form continuing its relentless assault.
The gavel came down again, this time striking Ethan's newly crafted shield. The impact drove him to one knee, his arms shaking from the tremendous force.
He pulled back quickly as the searing heat transferred through the shield's surface. The ravager scales that lined its edge were already looking damaged.
"Keep hitting it!" Walter called out, striking at the creature's ankle with his sword. Every blow chipping away at the Arbiter's stone body.
Lily found her mark, sending arrow after arrow towards the creature. Her new obsidian-tipped arrows struck the stone sending chips of burning rock flying. Its face began to show some damage, hairline cracks appearing.
AJ's body remained a translucent green as it expanded and contracted multiple times, finally settling on an outline that greatly resembled his previous human appearance.
An axe of his own materialised in his hand—it was larger than Ethan's axe as he didn't need to hold a shield at the same time. He charged forward, quickly closing the distance.
They worked with practised precision, each member covering for the others as they pressed their assault.
Victor darted in and out, his dagger finding gaps in the creature's defences. Ethan stood firm, blocking the Arbiter's strikes with his shield while delivering powerful blows of his own with his axe.
Lily provided constant pressure from range, her arrows finding their mark. Walter struck at the creature's extremities, wearing it down bit by bit. AJ moved around the battlefield, his malleable form allowing him to attack from unpredictable angles.
The air shimmered constantly now, and breathing felt like inhaling flame. But gradually the Face of Wrath began to show serious damage. Deep cracks spread across its surface.
With a coordinated assault from AJ, Ethan, and Victor on the Face of Wrath, it shattered. The sound was like a mountain breaking apart, echoing through the arena with tremendous force.
The moment the face crumbled, the oppressive heat began to fade. The remaining faces started their slow rotation around the creature's head, and the entire atmosphere of the arena shifted. The rage that had pressed against them like a physical weight dissipated.
"Anger clouds the mind, but perhaps emptiness will serve you better. Let us see how you fare when nothing matters at all."
The Face of Indifference locked into position—a completely blank mask with no features whatsoever.
Where the Face of Wrath had radiated heat and fury, this new visage emanated a bone-deep chill that had nothing to do with temperature.
The emotion radiating from this new face was perhaps even more dangerous than the rage they had just faced.
Where anger motivated action, even if destructive, this overwhelming sense of apathy made even breathing feel pointless.
The fog reached them, and immediately they felt its effects settling over their minds like a heavy blanket of despair.
"Why are we even fighting this thing?" Victor found himself saying, his dagger hanging loose in his grip.
The words came from somewhere deep inside, a voice that whispered of futility and meaninglessness. "What's the point? We're just going to die anyway."
Lily lowered her bow, arrows scattering from her quiver as her fingers went limp. The fog curled around her ankles like chains made of resignation.
"We're not strong enough. We never were. I'm just... I'm just holding everyone back."
Ethan sat down heavily, his axe clattering to the arena floor. The stone was cold beneath him, and somehow that felt appropriate. Everything was cold now. "Maybe we should just give up. This is too hard."
Walter's sword trembled in his hands, suddenly feeling the weight of every accumulated year pressing down on his shoulders. "All those years of knowledge, and for what? I'm just a useless old man waiting to die."
The Arbiter watched them with its blank, featureless face, and somehow that empty gaze felt more crushing than any blow from the Hammer of Verdict. It didn't need to attack them—why bother, when they were defeating themselves?
Only AJ seemed partially resistant to the effect, but even he felt it, the way hope drained from the world like colour from an old photograph.
Sam sighed as he shook his head, the motion feeling sluggish, like he was underwater.
"No," AJ said, his voice barely audible in the thick, grey air. "This isn't real. This isn't us."
His words sparked something—a tiny ember in the vast grey nothing that had settled over them. He forced his translucent form to move, each step requiring tremendous effort, like walking through quicksand.
"Remember who you are," he called out, his voice cutting through the apathy like a blade through silk. "Remember what we've accomplished together. This fog—it's lying to you. We're stronger than this!"
Lily blinked, and for a moment the grey lifted slightly from her vision. "He's... he's right," she whispered, her voice growing stronger. "This is just another trial. Another test."
Victor straightened slowly, his grip tightening on his dagger. "We've come too far to give up now."
"The fog is affecting our minds somehow, creating artificial depression... but knowing that..." Sam looked up, his eyes clearer. "Knowing that means we can fight it."
Ethan rose to his feet, his axe once again in hand.
Walter stood straighter.
The Arbiter seemed to sense their recovery, its blank face somehow managing to convey surprise despite having no features. It raised its gavel, but the movement was different now—uncertain, almost hesitant.
Fighting through the lingering effects of the fog, they renewed their assault with a vengeance born of defiance. Their movements were still slower than normal, but their determination burned brighter than ever.
AJ led the charge, striking the creature with renewed purpose. The obsidian-edged weapons bit deep into stone that seemed somehow more brittle now, as if the creature's doubt had weakened its defences.
Lily's arrows found their mark, each shot driven by the memory of who she really was—not the scared girl the fog had whispered about, but an archer who had never missed when it truly mattered.
Victor danced between the creature's attacks, his mind calculating weaknesses with cold efficiency. Ethan's axe carved into the creature's stone body, each blow powered by the simple urge to protect the people around him.
Walter struck with great precision, finding spots where hairline fractures had formed.
The Face of Indifference began to crack almost immediately. Without the crushing weight of apathy to protect it, the blank mask proved surprisingly fragile. Within moments, spider-web fractures covered its surface.
With a sound like sighing wind, the featureless face crumbled away.
The remaining faces began their rotation once more, but something had changed. The creature stood differently now—less certain, as if it was beginning to understand that these six were not like the others who had challenged it.
The Face of Justice locked into position, its stern features and glowing eye filled with what might have been respect.