Floor 60

The Eternal Beach

Checkpoint Six

We didn’t return to floor sixty until a few days had gone by, as the shell had taken a while longer than expected to repair. Alexia had upgraded the durability a little, but for the most part it was still the same machine as before.

Our arrival point was not within the Architect base, but outside on the beach. We appeared knee deep in water, on the southern edge of the island.

I let go of Mika’s hand and studied the beach. There were no Architects, nor even drones, visible along it. The metal pillars further inland had the recognizable and identical figures still on them, but aside from that we saw no sign of any danger.

Lisa was the first to move, as she waded out of the water and onto the beach. Once there she stretched and looked back at us expectantly.

Mika had a sort of distant look on her face, and so I reached over and touched her on the shoulder. “Mika?”

She jumped at my touch, but her tension relaxed when she realized that it was me. “Sorry, I was thinking about something,” she said, and then went to join her sister on the beach.

My eyes followed Mika as she walked through the water, my own thoughts growing distracted. Ever since the fifty-second floor she’d grown a bit more distant from us, as though what she’d seen there still haunted her.

Though that was the purpose of the floor, it was meant to force one to change in some fashion. To grow, by showing a Truth. Whatever that was depended on the person, as well as how impacting it would be.

As I joined my daughters I glanced at Lisa. She had one arm wrapped around her sister, while she peered out at the ocean with eyes glistening with excitement. Whatever Truth she’d been shown had done little to change her, a testament perhaps to how hardheaded she could be.

“Hey,” Lisa suddenly called out to me, “why’d we appear out here and not in the base? I thought we’d get a chance to smack some Architects.”

“Because we used the portal, and your checkpoint crystals, instead of their transit system,” I explained to her, “any other questions before we go to the next floor?”

“No, I’m good,” Lisa said with a shake of her head.

A look at Mika gained me another shake, and I decided to push on. We headed in toward the center of the island, and after a while we reached the same path we’d used before.

As we retraced our steps from the previous visit to the floor, I kept a close eye on whatever drone was closest to us. Though they all watched us, it was only their eyes that moved. There was a certain tension in the air every time we got close to a pillar, but in the end it was all for naught.

The portal was, as before, unguarded. It was an easy situation that only made me all the more concerned, but even as my daughters touched it none of the nearby drones stirred. Even as we disappeared I couldn’t shake that feeling that something was wrong.

Floor 61

Enigma

Where we arrived at next was a simple white room, shaped like a cube. Off to the side of it were two beds, and in the middle of the room was a table. There were no decorations, and a single light was centered above.

On the table were four square blocks, each one a different color. One was red, another blue, the third green, and the final one yellow. Impaled into the middle of the table was a long dagger, one made of a metal that shone white in the light.

“I hate this floor,” I grumbled as I walked over to the table, joined by my daughters a few moments later.

Lisa leaned over the table and studied it, and then she noticed that words were engraved into the wood, “Cut that which it draws?”

“What’s that mean?” Mika asked.

“I have no clue, and it’s exactly why I hate this floor,” I admitted to them, “do you have any ideas?”

Lisa reached out and pulled the dagger from the table. The table shook a little from her movement, but nothing else changed. She poked the edge of the blade with one finger, her eyes narrowed.

“When one thinks of draw one expects art,” Mika mused as she walked around the table, “but I don’t see anything.”

I crossed my arms, and attempted to ignore Lisa as she sliced and stabbed at the air with the dagger. “It has to do with these blocks, I’m expecting we need to use the dagger on one of them.”

“Let’s just stab one then!” Lisa exclaimed as she took a step toward the table, the dagger lifted up high.

I stepped in front of her, having expected she might opt for that strategy. “If you make a mistake on these puzzles you can lose a limb...or a life.”

My words caused Lisa to pause, and then she lowered the dagger and stepped back. “Let me know when you figure something out,” she mumbled.

I glanced at the dagger she held, studying it for any sign of symbols or lettering. Instead it was merely a regular blade, except perhaps for the metal that had been used to create it. Though I’d gone through all of the floors of the labyrinth I couldn’t recognize the type.

“Father, this is water,” Mika said, as she poked at the blue block, “I thought it was wood?”

“Water?” I stepped over and put one finger against the block, and the feedback from the shell made it obvious that she was right. It rippled beneath my touch, and yet somehow still maintained an overall cubed shape.

Mika touched the other three. As she pushed her finger against the green one it bent inward, and for a moment I thought I could see blades of grass. The red one reacted similar to the blue, even leaving behind a wet mark on her fingertip.

The yellow square was the weirdest of them all. When she touched it her finger seemed to pass through, as though it was intangible, and she could only frown in reaction.

“What’s this supposed to be?” Mika asked.

I pressed my own finger against the yellow block, and was surprised by how easily it passed through. Yet thanks to the sensors of the shell I was able to tell exactly what it was.

“Raw energy.”

Mika put one finger to her chin as she studied the blocks. “Cut that which it draws?” she murmured.

“Clearly has nothing to do with drawing, like art, but I know you can draw from a well,” I said as I tried to vocalize my thought process, “I’ve never heard of daggers and energy interacting at all, so I think that’s out. Was that green one grass?”

“Something like that,” Mika replied, as her eyes moved to the red block, “I think it’s that one or the blue one.”

“Yes,” I agreed with her, as I tried to figure out why the red block looked so familiar to me. It was only when Mika touched it again, the red stain marking her fingertip, that it dawned on me.

I motioned with one hand to get Lisa’s attention. “Stab the red one.”

“Yes sir!” Lisa exclaimed as she eagerly leapt at the table, and brought the dagger down onto the red cube without hesitation.

Mika lifted her hand up as though to stop her, but her unspoken disagreement was too late for her sister. The dagger slid through the red square without resistance, and then the table dissolved into particles.

There were no alarms that went off, and the room remained still. Mika looked at me and lifted one eyebrow inquisitively.

“The red block was blood,” I explained to her, “and you can draw blood from someone by stabbing them.”

“Oh, why didn’t you say that?” Mika asked with a frown.

I paused for a moment, as I opted to not say my first thought. “I’m sorry,” I apologized.

Before she could either accept or deny that the room shook, and then a new table lifted up out of the floor in front of us. On it was a single goblet, crafted from the finest gold that I’d ever seen.

Next to the goblet was a single bottle of wine, which was still sealed. A single card, folded closed, sat next to the wine bottles.

Lisa picked up the card and opened it, and then tossed it lightly to Mika. “Who’s Wye?”

Mika caught the card and read the contents, before she looked at me. “Let’s just say she’s like Rinth,” I told her, “why, what’s the card say?”

“Happy birthday. What’s she talking about?”

I couldn’t help smiling at that. “I almost forgot, today’s the anniversary of my rebirth,” I told her, and then gestured at the bottle of wine, “do you mind storing that for me?”

Mika picked it up and slid it into her sack, though it barely fit given all of the gear she’d shoved in already. “But exactly who is Wye? Is she like Rinth, and locked to this floor?”

I lifted up one finger and put it against Mika’s lips. “It would be best if we didn’t talk about this subject any further,” I told her, “otherwise you’ll get a repeat of the fifty-second floor.”

There were the few seconds of confusion, and then an understanding dawned on her face. She reached up with one hand and lightly touched at her own neck, as though remembering how she’d been choked by something unknown.

Before either of my daughters could ask another question the room shook again, and the table in front of us vanished once more. A silhouette of a person appeared near the far end of the room, and there was a sort of visual jerk to the world around us.

Rosalind stood next to the portal, her arms crossed and her head tilted forward. She looked almost as though she was asleep, and even as we entered the same reality as her she didn’t respond.

“Hi!” Lisa called out as she waved at Rosalind.

The Architect snapped to attention, looking up at us. “Greetings,” she said, with a slight nod of her head, “was the puzzle too difficult for you?”

Lisa went to talk but I put one hand on her shoulder. “Yes, we had to even take a rest break because of how long it took,” I said, as I had no interest in telling her we’d retreated temporarily, “I’m sorry it took so long.”

“This is why arrival together was preferable,” Rosalind said before she pointed at the portal, “shall we progress further?”

“Yes,” I replied, though I wondered if she’d even noticed how the shell had been repaired.

“Caution is recommended,” Rosalind told us, and then she put her hand against the portal and vanished.

Lisa poked me in the side. “Why’d you lie to her?”

“As Pierre would’ve said, you want to keep your cards hidden until the hand is over.”

Lisa mulled on my words for a bit, but in the end shrugged her shoulders. She approached the portal along with her sister, and then offered her hand to me. “Whatever, let’s get going!”

Floor 62

The Alloy Mountain

When we appeared our feet contacted with a sheet of platinum. Beneath us, and stretching out in all directions, was nothing more than metal. Every type imaginable covered the ground in patches, creating a strange look that was drastically different from the norm.

Off to our east a mountain rose up, one that shone in the midday sunlight. I knew from past experiences that it was the greatest source of ores in the labyrinth, and it even had some only found on this floor.

From our spot we could barely make out what looked like buildings near the base of the mountain. Small figures that I assumed were Architects, though most likely drones, could be seen moving around.

“Over here,” Rosalind called out from a little off to the south.

When I looked at her I noticed the once desolate and empty plains had changed, and now there was a large structure, one that was about fifty feet tall. The true size of it was in the length, however, as it stretched on for what seemed to be miles.

“That’s the prison?” I asked her.

“Affirmative,” Rosalind said, and then she started to head toward it without further words.

The lack of strategizing annoyed me, but since standing around would get us nowhere I followed her. My daughters shadowed my steps, silent and focused.

As we got closer to the prison I could make out more details. The exterior was smooth, with no lettering or symbols anywhere. There were no windows, and instead it merely had the look of a rectangular block of metal.

On the north side of the building was a single door, one that had two Architects standing outside of it. Even from our distance I could tell that they weren’t drones.

When we got closer to the door one of them stepped forward and lifted up one hand. “Terminate momentum,” the guard said as he studied us, “explain purpose.”

The four of us stopped, and Rosalind was the first to speak. “Manager Rosalind,” she said as she put one hand on her chest, “escorting prisoners.”

The guard sneered at her. “Scheduled transference?”

“Negative. Spontaneous development.”

Without warning a blade emerged from the chest of the guard, one that came from behind him. The other guard had silently stepped forward and constructed a basic sword, and then had used it to murder his fellow guard.

As blood gushed from the half-opened mouth, the dying guard tried to glance back over his shoulder. “What?”

Rosalind stepped forward and delivered a powerful slash, severing the guards head from the rest of his body. By the time the head hit the ground she’d already deconstructed her own weapon, and turned to glance back at us.

“Individuals, allow me to introduce Arim,” she said, “a Samara follower.”

Arim had the same overall look as the other Architects, with his white hair and red eyes. He was a bit shorter than most, almost the same height as my daughters, but he made up for it by having thick arms and legs.

“Trustworthy individuals?” Arim asked as he eyed Rosalind.

She gave a small shrug of her shoulders. “Enemies of the supremacists.”

Arim’s wariness didn’t seem to grow any less, but he made no move to attack or leave. “Complication has arisen.”

Rosalind’s eyes narrowed. “Explain.”

Arim half-turned away to look at the prison behind him. “Executive Toma arrived.”