The stairwell spiraled downward through the tower like a massive stone spine, wide enough for six men across and carved directly into the black rock of the obelisk. Bone supports jutted from the walls at uneven intervals, some cracked, some freshly reinforced with pale mortar that hadn't yet darkened to match the rest of the structure. Red moonlight filtered down through narrow slits high above, mixing with torchlight and casting warped shadows that stretched and twisted as the Deathforged ran.
Boots slammed against stone. Armor clattered. Shouted orders echoed from above and below.
"Move, move, move!" Seris hissed as she ran, keeping pace beside Atlas while Garruk thundered behind them, each of his steps shaking dust loose from the ceiling.
Ako was practically bouncing off the walls, darting ahead and then back again like she couldn't decide whether she wanted to lead or bite someone. "They're getting closer!" she shouted, glancing over her shoulder. "I can smell them!"
Lorian didn't bother looking back. "Fantastic! Because I can hear them, and that's somehow worse!"
A spear clanged against the stone wall near his head, skidding across the steps.
"Hey!" Lorian yelped. "Rude!"
Atlas didn't say a word. He was already calculating distances, angles, counting footsteps between turns, noting where the stairs narrowed and where the supports looked older than the rest. His eyes flicked once to the ceiling, then to the mortar seams along the inner curve of the stairwell.
Something about this section felt wrong.
"Atlas," Seris said under her breath as they rounded another bend. "This part of the tower—"
The stone beneath her foot gave way.
There was no crack, no warning tremor, just the sudden absence of ground as a section of unfinished stair collapsed inward. Seris's breath caught as she dropped, arms flailing instinctively as broken stone and dust fell with her.
"Oh no!"
Everything happened at once.
Garruk roared and lunged forward, the stone beneath him splintering further under his weight as he reached for her, while Atlas didn't hesitate for even a fraction of a second. He spun, grabbed the edge of the collapsing stair with one hand, and dove after her.
"KEEP GOING!" Atlas shouted upward. "DON'T STOP!"
Ako skidded to a halt, eyes wide. "Atlas—!"
"GO!" he barked again.
Lorian grabbed Ako by the arm and yanked her back as another section of stone cracked loose. "He's got her!" he shouted, though his voice shook. "We don't all need to die today!"
Garruk hesitated only a second longer before snarling and turning back up the stairs, putting his bulk between the others and the advancing soldiers as the stairwell above erupted with shouts.
Below, Atlas fell.
"What—Atlas!" Seris managed as he caught her mid-fall, one arm hooking around her back while the other locked around her shoulder, dragging her hard against his chest as they dropped together through open air.
The impact never came all at once.
They crashed through a wooden support beam first, splintering it into shards that spun around them like shrapnel, then tore through a thin stone platform that collapsed beneath their combined weight, sending them tumbling again as Atlas twisted his body instinctively, angling himself beneath her. They rolled through dust and darkness, the tower's internal skeleton screaming as they punched through layer after layer, until finally Atlas hit hard, his back slamming into solid stone with a grunt that he swallowed as Seris landed atop him.
The breath left her lungs in a rush, her forehead pressing briefly into his shoulder as the world settled, the distant sounds of shouting and metal fading to something muted and far away.
For a long moment, neither of them moved.
Atlas exhaled slowly, teeth clenched, as pain radiated through his spine in controlled waves, while Seris lay frozen against him, one hand gripping his coat as if to confirm he was real.
"You alive?" he asked finally, voice rough but steady.
Seris swallowed, pushing herself up just enough to look down at him, her hair falling loose around her face as she nodded. "Yeah. I think so. You?"
"I've been worse," he replied dryly, shifting just enough to confirm that nothing vital was broken, even if everything hurt.
She stared at him for another second longer than necessary, her brows knitting together as realization caught up with adrenaline, and then she spoke quietly, the words slipping out before she could stop them.
"Why'd you save me?"
Atlas paused.
He didn't answer right away, instead easing her off him so he could sit up, one hand braced against the stone floor as dust drifted lazily through the dim red light filtering down from above. When he finally looked at her, his expression was neutral in that familiar way that said far more than he intended.
"Because you fell," he said simply, as if the question itself were strange.
Seris huffed softly, shaking her head as she got to her feet, brushing grit from her clothes while her tail flicked with restrained emotion. "That's not an answer."
"It's the only one you're getting," Atlas replied, standing and rolling his shoulders with a quiet wince before looking down the corridor stretching away from them.
The lower levels of the tower were different from the upper halls, less ceremonial and more functional, the walls narrower and reinforced with heavy ribs of bone and metal, the air colder and tinged with damp. Torches burned low along the corridor, their flames casting long shadows that twisted across the stone.
Seris followed his gaze, then glanced down at her empty hands with a frown. "Still don't have our weapons."
"Noticed," Atlas said, already moving, his steps quiet despite the damage his body had taken.
They walked in tense silence for a moment, their footsteps the only sound as the distant noise of pursuit echoed faintly above them, before Seris spoke again, her voice lower now.
"You didn't hesitate."
Atlas glanced at her sideways.
"When you jumped," she continued, keeping her eyes forward, "you didn't even think about it."
He snorted quietly. "Don't flatter yourself. I'm a killer, but that doesn't mean I just like to see people die..."
She smiled faintly at that, though it didn't quite reach her eyes, and before she could respond, Atlas lifted a hand sharply, signaling her to stop.
Ahead of them, five demon guards stood clustered near an intersection, their backs turned as they spoke amongst themselves, spears resting against the stone while their armor caught the torchlight in dull red glints.
Atlas's mind was already racing through options when Seris leaned closer, her voice barely audible.
"I have a plan."
He frowned slightly. "Like what?"
"You'll know what to do," she whispered, snapping her fingers before he could argue.
The world lurched.
Atlas's stomach flipped violently as space folded in on itself, his vision collapsing into darkness before exploding outward again, his body reappearing behind one of the guards in a rush of vertigo that made the floor feel like it was tilting beneath him. The sensation was deeply wrong, like being poured through a narrow space he was never meant to fit through, his senses lagging a half-second behind reality.
Before the guard could react, Atlas recovered on instinct, his hand snapping out to twist the demon's neck with a sharp, efficient motion that ended the sound in his throat instantly.
The others turned, shouting in alarm, and Seris snapped again, the portal tearing open beside Atlas as he was yanked sideways through nothingness, reappearing behind another guard just long enough to repeat the motion.
A spear whistled through the air toward Seris, forcing her to react as she vanished in a blur of shadow, leaving Atlas alone as the remaining guards regrouped, spears lowering as they advanced.
"Seris!" Atlas shouted, backing toward the shadows as footsteps echoed closer.
"The lights!" he added, trusting her to understand.
One by one, the torches vanished with sharp snaps, swallowed by portals that winked out instantly, plunging the corridor into darkness broken only by the thin red glow of moonlight bleeding through high slits in the stone.
The guards froze.
Something moved.
They heard it before they saw it, a rush of air, the scrape of boots against stone at impossible speed, a flicker of movement that vanished the moment they turned their heads. Panic crept in as their formation broke, breaths quickening as shadows swallowed the walls.
One guard thought he heard footsteps right behind him, spinning just in time to glimpse a blur of motion before the world went black.
Another swore he felt fingers brush his shoulder before pain exploded across his neck.
The last guard staggered back, heart hammering as he tried to track the movement, only to feel Atlas's hand clamp around his skull, holding him inches from death.
"Where's the armory?" Atlas demanded quietly.
The guard sobbed and pointed down the left corridor, words tumbling out in a rush, and Atlas struck him hard, dropping him unconscious before releasing his grip.
Seris reappeared beside him, pale but steady, breathing controlled as she glanced around the aftermath. "You looked very impressive back there."
Atlas flexed his fingers. "You made me sick. I hated that."
She smiled faintly. "You are welcome."
They moved quickly after that, following the guard's directions until they reached a reinforced door etched with sigils, Seris snapping her fingers one last time to bypass the lock. Inside, racks of weapons lined the walls, the familiar weight of steel settling back into Atlas's hands as he reclaimed his daggers and long, thin sword, while Seris retrieved her bow and checked the tension on its string with practiced ease.
As they stepped back into the corridor, a voice echoed ahead of them, calm and amused.
"So this is where you are," the voice said. "I just had to follow the trail of bodies."
A tall figure stepped into the red moonlight.
He was at least seven feet tall, all lean muscle and sharp angles, his black armor fitted closely beneath a light gray fur cloak that shifted as he moved. His skin was pale like the others, his horns long and jagged, and his tail swayed lazily behind him. His eyes met Seris's first, black sclera framing white irises, pupils glowing red as a thick aura of resonance rolled off him in slow, deliberate waves.
Something about him was wrong.
Seris felt it immediately.
Atlas felt it too, even without resonance, tension coiling through his body as he raised his blade.
Then he heard a loud gulp from Seris, her hand's were shaking slightly.
"What's wrong?"
"He's...he's bad news. You can't see it, can you? His Resonance?"
What she saw was a flowing red aura, it exuded from his pale skin and filled the hall.
"No... I cannot," Atlas whispered under his breath.
The demon smiled.
And both of them braced for what came next.