Floor 15 existed in perpetual dusk.
The gate deposited them on a stone platform overlooking Umbral, and for a moment even Dante forgot to breathe. The city spread before them like a dream carved from shadow and starlight, towers of dark crystal rising toward a sky that held neither sun nor moon but glowed with the soft purple luminescence of eternal twilight.
Bio-luminescent plants lined every walkway, their light pulsing in slow rhythms that seemed to match some unheard heartbeat. Bridges of solidified darkness connected spires that shouldn't have been able to stand, their architecture defying gravity in ways that made Floor 14's floating islands look mundane.
"It's beautiful," Sera breathed from somewhere behind him.
"It's a trap." Dante started walking toward the city gates, his boots echoing against stone that seemed to drink the sound. "Every beautiful thing in this tower is designed to make you forget it can kill you."
