Floor Ninety-Nine was different from all the others that came before it.
Owen stepped onto a platform suspended in an endless void as Stars twinkled in the darkness around him.
The platform itself seemed to be made of a crystallized element reflecting various colours off it.
There was no up or down here, no sense of gravity beyond what the platform provided.
Standing across from him was a figure.
Upon closer inspection, it was a Dragon.
But not just any dragon.
It looked exactly like Owen.
Same black scales, each one identical in placement and size. Same golden eyes that caught the starlight. Same size, same build, same muscular frame.
But its eyes were cold and blank. Devoid of the spark of life and warmth Owen felt when he thought of Yuki.
Then the tower's voice spoke.
[This is your shadow. The version of you that could be. The you that chooses power over purpose. Domination over protection. Self over others.]
[Defeat it. Or be consumed by it.]
