"The Tower doesn't grow upward—it digs through you."— Engraved on the gate to Floor 43
Kael stepped onto Floor 43, expecting stone or steel.
Instead, his boots sank into moss. The floor was alive—green, vibrant, glowing with veins of blue sap running like rivers underfoot.
Trees spiraled upward, not with bark but with glass trunks. Their leaves shimmered like polished shards.
Tirien looked around warily. "This looks... too peaceful."
Kael crouched and touched the ground.
Tower Notification:
Welcome to Floor 43 – The Glassroots Labyrinth
This biome is anchored in regenerative life-force. All wounds heal faster, but any cut taken spawns a Thornblood Echo.
Objective: Reach the Heart Tree. Accept the Offering or Burn It.
(Optional Hidden Path – Blood of the Cult – Detected)
Kael flinched at the last line. He hadn't seen that phrase in years.
The Blood of the Cult.
Flashback — The Cult of the Blooming Veil
Before the Tower, before his escape, Kael was a child of the Blooming Veil.
Not by choice.
He had been orphaned during the collapse of the silver mines in the south. The Veil took him in, fed him, trained him.
They spoke of purity, of "rooting the soul" by cutting away all weakness.
Rituals involved pain, bloodletting, poison resistance, and trials in thorn pits. Kael bore the scars still—spiral ridges on his ribs where the vines had been grafted in.
At twelve, he passed the Rite of Thorns.
At fourteen, he was chosen to be a Seed-Bearer—one of five marked to eventually sacrifice themselves to "bloom" the cult's divine tree.
But he ran.
And the Tower found him.
Or maybe, he found the Tower to escape them.
Present – Glassroots Labyrinth
The woods grew thicker with each step. Kael felt the vines whispering—not with sound, but with memory. His memory.
He cut them away, one by one. But every slash left a wound on his forearm, even if shallow.
And from each cut, a Thornblood Echo emerged.
Twisted versions of himself. Not literal clones, but memories given shape—Kael at 14, at 10, at 6. Each held a version of his old pain. The smallest carried a tiny ritual knife.
"We bled so you could run," it whispered.
"Why do you still run?"
Tirien stepped in, ready to help.
But Kael raised a hand. "No. I'll handle this."
The fight was like bleeding through time.
He faced himself again and again, cutting down his younger selves—not with hate, but with purpose.
Until only one remained: a boy no older than five, holding a flower.
Kael knelt. "You didn't deserve any of it."
The boy smiled—and faded.
The woods grew still.
Tower Notification:
Floor 43 Trial Cleared: Path of Self-Acceptance
+300 XP
+Trait Evolved: Will of the Chainless II
Gain +15% resistance to mental status effects and illusions.
Unlock Special Resistance: Cult-Born Warding (50% resistance to plant-based control effects)
Hidden Path Rejected – Alternate Fate Diverged
The Heart Tree appeared ahead—glistening, massive, its trunk twisted in mirrored bark.
A burning bowl sat in front of it.
Two options.
Accept the Offering.
Or Burn It.
Kael didn't hesitate.
He lit the fire.
The tree screamed—but it was the scream of chains breaking.