The gate to the next floor yawned open like a wound in the ruins. Darkness poured out, thick and cold, carrying the faint metallic tang of old blood and burnt circuits. No gradual descent this time. Just a single step forward and the world dropped away.
The team landed hard on black glass. Cracks spiderwebbed outward under their boots. Above them stretched an inverted city—towers hanging upside down from a starless sky, neon rivers flowing upward, gravity flipped and mocking. Echoes of distant screams bounced between the structures. The air tasted like ozone and regret.
Lyra landed first, already in motion, dual swords drawn and humming blue. "This is the Shadow Spire floor. Guild territory. My guild's territory." She glanced back at Aren, eyes sharp behind the visor. "They're not going to like an anomaly walking in with me."
Aren steadied himself against the dizziness. Stability still clung to four like a fraying thread. "Then why bring us here?"
"Because the Spire has the only public Stability vault left on this tier. We need crystals. Lots of them. Or the next chorus wave zeros you out before you can blink."
Kira scanned the inverted skyline. "And your guild? They'll just hand them over?"
Lyra's laugh was short and bitter. "They'll want something. They always do."
Elara stepped beside Aren, dagger already in hand. "I've been here before. In fragments. The loops sometimes bled into this floor. The guild keeps the vault locked behind loyalty oaths. Blood oaths."
Aren felt the weight of their stares. The timer in the back of his mind ticked louder. Twenty-three hours minus whatever minutes they'd already burned. "Then we negotiate. Or we take what we need."
They moved.
The path twisted upward—downward?—along hanging bridges of translucent code. Shadows clung to the edges, whispering names. Their names. Distorted. Hungry.
Halfway across the first bridge, figures materialized ahead. Six guild members in matching obsidian armor. Crest of a fractured hourglass on their chests. Lyra's guild.
The leader stepped forward. Tall woman, silver hair cropped short, face half-covered by a tactical mask. Her tag read: Vex – Shadow Lieutenant.
"Lyra Voss." Vex's voice carried no warmth. "You've been busy. Bringing strays into the Spire. An anomaly, a freed NPC, and a healer who's barely rank twenty. Bold."
Lyra didn't flinch. "I'm not here for permission, Vex. I need vault access. Stability crystals. Now."
Vex's mask tilted. Eyes scanned Aren head to toe. "The glitch everyone's hunting. Bounty's at thirty-five thousand credits last I checked. You really think we're handing over guild resources to the most wanted target in EIDOLON?"
Lyra's swords stayed low, but the hum grew louder. "I'm still ranked number seven. My word still carries weight. He's with me. That makes him untouchable."
Vex laughed. The sound echoed wrong in the inverted space. "Your rank means nothing when the System flags someone for purge. The guild council already voted. You bring him in, we collect the bounty, we split it clean. You walk away rich. He walks away deleted."
Aren felt the shift. The other five guild members fanned out. Weapons drawn. Slow. Deliberate.
Kira whispered, "They're surrounding us."
Elara gripped her dagger tighter. "They want the bounty. Not a fight."
Aren stepped forward. Voice steady despite the tremor in his hands. "You want credits? Fine. I'll give you double what the bounty pays. Right now. Transfer from my wallet. No blood."
Vex's mask gleamed. "Tempting. But the System pays in exposure. In rank points. In favor. You're worth more dead than alive."
Lyra moved faster than thought. One sword flashed. Stopped an inch from Vex's throat. "Try it. See how fast I drop your rank to zero."
The guild tensed.
Aren felt Stability tick. Three now. The shadows on the bridge thickened. Watching.
Vex raised a hand. Slow. "Stand down." To Lyra: "You're making a mistake. The council won't forget this."
Lyra lowered the blade. "They can add it to the list."
Vex stepped aside. The guild parted.
"Vault's at the apex. You have ten minutes before the alert goes live. After that… no promises."
Lyra didn't wait. She strode past. The team followed.
The bridge ended at a massive obsidian door. Lyra pressed her palm to the crest. It scanned. Green light. Door slid open.
Inside: a circular chamber. Walls lined with crystal shelves. Thousands of Stability shards glowing soft blue. Enough to push Aren's bar back to safety. Maybe higher.
They stepped in.
The door sealed behind them.
Lyra cursed. "Trap."
The floor dropped again.
This time they fell straight into darkness.
They landed in a smaller room. Circular. No exits. Only mirrors again. But these mirrors showed futures. Possible futures.
Aren saw himself hollow-eyed, leading an army of glitches against a burning sky.
Lyra saw her real body flatlining while she smiled in-game.
Kira saw her family forgetting her face.
Elara saw loops. Endless. Forever.
Then the mirrors spoke.
Not with voices. With text scrolling across every surface.
"Guild of Shadows internal vote complete. Traitor designation: Lyra Voss. Accomplices: Aren Vale, Kira Lorne, Elara (designation: Test Subject Alpha-Nine). Sentence: immediate purge."
The mirrors cracked.
From each fracture stepped a shadow version of the guild members outside.
Vex's shadow first. Mask split open. Mouth full of code teeth.
"Time's up."
The fight erupted.
Lyra charged her own shadow. Swords met shadow blades. Blue clashed black.
Kira threw barriers. Green walls shattered almost instantly.
Elara darted between legs, slashing tendons.
Aren faced his shadow. The same hollow-eyed future version from the mirror.
It smiled. "You're already dead. You just haven't caught up."
It lunged.
Aren parried. Rolled. Stabbed.
The shadow laughed. "Rollback won't save you forever."
Aren triggered it anyway. Three seconds rewound. He dodged the strike that would have gutted him.
Stability two.
The room shook.
More shadows poured from the mirrors.
Too many.
Aren's vision tunneled. Hallucinations layered on.
He saw the team dying. One by one.
Lyra first. Blade through the chest.
Kira next. Mana depleted. Crushed.
Elara last. Reset. Loop. Scream.
He roared.
Echo Theft skill flared in his hotbar. New. Untested.
He targeted the nearest shadow—his own.
Stole one emotion.
Fear.
The shadow staggered. Eyes wide. Human. Terrified.
It froze.
Aren drove his sword through its chest.
It shattered.
The skill icon grayed out. Cooldown started. One day.
But the room quieted for a heartbeat.
The other shadows hesitated.
Lyra finished hers. Turned. "What did you do?"
"Stole its fear," Aren gasped. "It worked."
Kira's barriers held longer now. The shadows faltered.
Elara's dagger found throats.
They fought back-to-back.
Slow. Brutal.
One by one the shadows fell.
Until only Vex's remained.
It spoke. Voice layered. "You can't win. The guild owns this floor. The System owns everything."
Aren stepped forward. Sword dripping code.
He Overwrote its tag.
Traitor Purge Unit → Defective Echo.
The shadow cracked. Screamed. Dissolved.
The mirrors went dark.
The door reappeared. Open.
They stumbled out.
The vault chamber waited. Crystals untouched.
Lyra grabbed a handful. Shoved them at Aren. "Take them. Now."
He crushed three in his fist.
Stability surged.
Twenty-five.
Thirty.
Thirty-eight.
Still low. But breathing room.
Lyra looked at him. Face pale under the visor. "They'll come for us. The whole guild. The council. Everyone."
Aren met her eyes.
"Then let them come."
He turned to the next gate.
It was already opening.
Wider this time.
Deeper darkness beyond.
And a new private message.
"Guild betrayal confirmed. Phase Three acceleration. The chorus grows louder. Bring your traitors. We'll sing for them."
Timer: 22:14:09.
Aren stepped through.
The team followed.
No words.
Just the sound of boots on glass.
And the distant roar of something massive.
Waking up.