The remaining days on Floor 2 passed in a rhythm that he forgot existed since his early years in the Tower, the simple cycle of hunting, camping, moving, resting, and repeating until the body stopped questioning and just moved.
Ravenna adapted faster than he expected, her enhanced stats giving her the edge she needed to keep up with his pace, and by day four she could track prey through rocky terrain while by day five she could start a fire without help, and by day six she took down a mountain lion with a combination of flame and the knife he gave her while the look on her face when she realized what she did was worth more than any Heartstone.
"I did it," she breathed while staring at the dead animal with wide eyes. "I actually did it."
"You did." He cleaned his own knife while watching her from the corner of his eye. "Not bad for someone who never killed anything a week ago."
"That's..." She looked up at him with something complicated moving behind her expression. "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me."
'That's the saddest thing I've ever heard.'
But he didn't say that, just nodded and started cutting useful pieces from the carcass while showing her which parts were worth keeping and which should be left for the scavengers.
They made a good team, better than he wanted to admit even to himself.
---
On day six they ran into Adrian's group again when he heard the sound of combat echoing through the mountain passes in a way that meant something went wrong. He signaled Ravenna to stay quiet and crept toward the noise with his knife in hand, ready to turn back the moment things looked too complicated.
What he found was a mess, with Adrian's group now down to fourteen survivors fighting a pack of ice wolves that cornered them against a cliff face. The wolves were Floor 2 standard, nothing special, but there were a lot of them and Adrian's people were tired and scared and making the kind of mistakes that got climbers killed.
Adrian himself stood in the center of the formation, directing the defense with calm efficiency, his sword moving in precise arcs that dropped wolves without wasted motion. He was good, better than someone supposedly on their first climb should be, and that went into the mental file as another piece of evidence that nothing about Adrian Cross was what it seemed.
"Should we help?" Ravenna whispered while crouching beside him.
'No, let them handle their own problems, we don't owe them anything.'
But even as he thought it, he saw one of the defenders stumble, a woman whose name he didn't know, and a wolf lunged for her exposed throat.
His knife took it in the eye before he consciously decided to throw.
The wolf dropped and the woman scrambled back gasping while suddenly everyone was looking at him, the stranger who appeared from nowhere and just saved someone's life.
'So much for staying uninvolved.'
"They could use the help," he said while standing up, and then he joined the fight.
It was over in minutes after that, with his speed and Adrian's coordination and the desperate determination of the survivors combining to give the remaining wolves no chance. When the last one fell, the group collapsed in exhaustion and relief while blood soaked into the rocky ground.
"Good timing." Adrian approached him while barely breathing hard despite the fight. "I was wondering when you'd show up."
"Heard the noise." He retrieved his knife from the dead wolf's eye socket.
"And decided to help, which is interesting." Adrian's smile was the same as always, warm and false. "I'm starting to think you're not as cold as you pretend to be, Dante Graves."
'And I'm starting to think you're exactly as empty as I remember, because we all wear masks.'
"Just didn't want to waste the wolves," he said flatly while wiping his blade clean. "We can use the meat."
Adrian laughed, a genuine-sounding thing that didn't reach his eyes. "Practical. I like that."
They traveled together after that, safety in numbers and all the usual excuses. Adrian's group welcomed him and Ravenna with the gratitude of people who watched him save one of their own, and Ravenna accepted the attention with the bewildered confusion of someone who was never treated kindly by strangers.
He watched it all and said nothing while counting the hours until they reached the gate.
---
Day seven brought them to the exit, the gate rising from the mountainside like a promise of warmth with its carved symbols glowing steadily in the cold air. Adrian's group gathered before it, taking inventory, sharing what little food they had left, preparing for the transition to whatever came next.
Fourteen of them survived, less than half of the original group, and the losses showed in haunted eyes and the way hands trembled even when there was nothing to fear.
'This is just Floor 2, so wait until you see what's waiting on the higher levels.'
[Floor 2 complete]
[Survival time: 5 days]
[Hidden quest complete: +1]
[System points: +800]
[Administrator attention: Level 2]
He dismissed the notifications and turned to Ravenna. She was standing slightly apart from the group, watching the others with an expression he couldn't read.
"You okay?" He moved closer to her.
"They're so scared." Her voice was soft, almost sad while her tail wrapped around her leg. "All of them. They're trying to hide it, but I can feel it. They're terrified of what comes next."
"They should be." He moved to stand beside her so their shoulders almost touched. "The Tower doesn't get easier. It gets harder. Every floor, every challenge, every day you survive is a day you almost didn't."
"That sounds awful." She hugged herself against the cold.
"It is." He paused while considering his next words. "But it's also the only way to get stronger. The Tower breaks you down and builds you back up into something that can survive. That's the deal."
She was quiet for a long moment, processing that. Then she turned to look at him with those mismatched eyes, purple and blue, demon and human.
"Is that what happened to you?" She tilted her head, watching him.
'More times than you know.'
"Something like that," he said while turning toward the gate. "Come on. Floor 3 is waiting."
They stepped through the gate together, and the mountains disappeared behind them.