The gate to Floor 17 opened at dawn.
Golden light spilled through the archway as the crystalline barriers that had marked Floor 16's boundary dissolved into nothing, revealing a path that led upward into territory most climbers never reached. The Lightbreakers stood before it, fully equipped and rested after a night of celebration and quiet conversation.
"Ready?" Astrid asked, bouncing slightly on her heels with barely contained energy.
"Almost." Dante didn't move toward the gate.
The team noticed his hesitation. After everything they'd been through on Floor 16, after the trials and confessions and the battle against their own reflections, they could read him better than before. Something was wrong.
"Dante." Ravenna stepped forward. "What is it?"
He looked at them: seven people who trusted him, who had bled beside him, who had shared their darkest secrets because he asked them to. What he was about to say would feel like betrayal, and there was no way to soften it.
