Chapter 12: Shadows Hiding in the Corner

I rested for about a day at the bottom of the stairs after the previous floor. I was mentally drained, even the most basic tasks felt like they were grueling, so I took a much needed break. However, it wasn't just to rest my tired mind, it was to figure out what I was going to do about the current problem right in front of me.

The hallways in front of me looked almost identical to floor two, but the lights above were fluorescent and they would flicker occasionally, as if there was too much power being drawn suddenly. The lights were dim, making the hallways just barely bright enough to see down for a little bit.

The real issue lay in the size of the hall. It was barely wide enough to even shimmy down. The hallway was just barely wider than the length of my foot, my nose would almost scrape against the opposite wall with the back of my head touching the opposite wall.

To say it was going to be a tight fit was an understatement. I wasn't able to keep my bag on my back at all, and turning my body around would be impossible until I found an intersection, if there even were any down here.

Dragging the bag behind me… or beside me, was a horrible idea. The concrete floor would tear a hole in it before I even got to the next intersection. The bag itself was almost too big as it was, I could carry it between my legs, but I would move so incredibly slow. If I had to try and escape from something while carrying the bag like that, I was surely going to have a rough time.

My options were limited, so I did what I could to reduce the size and weight of the bag. I took out one pair of clothes, bringing me down to the pair on my back and one extra. I took out some of the larger, less calorie dense food as well, I would have to leave it here. I ate as much as I reasonably could, not wanting to waste any of it.

I would have loved to stay here and eat it myself over time, but leaving it here and making progress was the same as waiting here and leaving later. I'd still take the same amount of time to clear this floor, even if I rested for a few more days. So in the end, leaving it here was better, and the clothing I left was the most torn up and dirty pair I had.

I ended up leading with my left foot, and carrying the now smaller bag with my right arm. It was really heavy when carrying it like this. Over these two months of malnourishment, my arm strength had lowered significantly. The amount of water I had in here made the bag already above twenty kilograms.

I would power through regardless. This water was my only hope of surviving down here, and I had no idea how long it was until I made it to the hub floor. I could only push on with what I was able to take with me.

Just a few minutes into my journey down the halls that were way too small, I was regretting not taking some water out. It was heavy, extremely so. I was used to carrying the bag on my bag after all this time, but carrying it with just one arm at my side was just too demanding.

I could easily switch arms by just setting it down then stepping over it and picking it up with the other arm after leaning over, but I was just going to tire myself out. I struggled through the pain, pushing on down the hallway that felt endless.

It was slow going. The flickering lights were hurting my eyes, but I needed to keep them open just in case there was anything that tried to attack me. Not like I would be able to do anything if something did appear, I would just hope that I could move faster than it.

In the bottom corner of my right eye, I saw something when the light flickered, a shadow that moved. I turned my head to look at it and assess the situation, but there wasn't anything there, not even when the light flickered again.

Was I starting to hallucinate? Hopefully not, but I would monitor the situation a bit more carefully, and try to account for myself seeing things. I won't ignore anything though, as the one time I would dismiss it as myself seeing things, would be the one time it was actually something dangerous.

The lights were flickering constantly now that I had traveled a decent way down the hall. It was almost irritating with how much they were flickering, as none of the other floors had been this bad. I was constantly thinking about closing my eyes so my head would stop hurting, but I needed to keep my eyes open to spot dangers.

I saw something in the corner of my right eye as my left foot made contact with something hard. I checked the right only to see nothing and quickly whipped my head to the left to see what my foot touched. A book, a simple leather bound book that I hadn't seen in a while.

I was stumped for a while on how I was going to pick it up and read it, this hallway was too small to do anything normally. So I got creative, I set my bag down and hooked my right foot under one of the shoulder straps. This had given me the support I needed to easily reach down my left side and just grab the book.

Using only one hand, I checked the spine of the book to find the familiar words. 'There is freedom in death.' A sight I was happy to see, and finally, a floor where I was going to have some luck. I struggled with the book for a while, but finally found a way to hold it open and turn pages with only a single hand.

'To whomever reads this, I'm sorry, I can't help you escape.

But I can help you survive.

I've left books on every floor I can get access to. This book is for Floor Twelve.

Amazing work making it this far, if anyone ever reads this after I write it. Getting past the previous floor is one of the hardest challenges that someone new to this place can experience, but your journey isn't over.

This floor is almost a joke compared to the previous. The only challenge is getting any gear through here that you have collected from the various floors above. As you are already experienced, the halls are too small for complex maneuverability.

Thankfully, there have yet to be any confirmed dangers on this floor. Everyone who ventures through that floor has seen things in the corners of their eyes, it would be foolish to not check to see if anything is actually there, but know that there has never been a confirmed attack in many years.

The flickering lights can cause more permanent eye damage, so if you can, as foolish as it is, try to travel as much as you can with your eyes closed. On very rare occasions, the lights will rupture causing a toxic gas and glass shards to rain down. Holding your breath and carefully moving far away will save you from any harm from the gas.

In the unfortunate event you inhale the gas, do not drink water for roughly ten hours. Water will make any symptoms worse, so ignore the feeling of thirst you feel during this time. I also recommend that you try not to stop unless absolutely necessary. The tight halls prevent proper stretching, and as stupid as it sounds, leg cramps can be very bad.

If you get a leg cramp and don't properly stretch it, it can lead to a pulled muscle. Good luck traveling sideways with any kind of pulled muscle. Regardless, there is only one more thing I can truly give advice on for this floor.

If you absolutely have to rest, do everything in your power to not lay down. Laying down in this place is incredibly dangerous, as the lights can burst at any time, so if you're laying down, it takes a while to get up. A lot of pushing on walls and wedging yourself. Not really conducive to running away from poisonous gas and glass shards.

Good luck, we may meet soon, be prepared for a challenge more difficult than you can even imagine.'

Neat. So the real danger on this floor was the lights all along. I was almost expecting some sort of monster that would attack me if I didn't check the thing in the corner of my eye. It is just an illusion or trick of the lights. Either way, I would still be checking it, just in case, but I now knew that I wouldn't die from it.

I promptly closed my eyes under the intensely flickering lights, I trusted the books without any doubts at this point. They had been right way too many times for me to ignore, and if the person who wrote them was alive, I will have to thank them for their hard work.

I didn't find it on a few floors, but I guess that's to be expected. With how random everything is, I'm bound to miss a few things here and there. I wasn't worried, even though I used to worry all the time about missing things that were available to me.

Even before I came to this place, I would always worry about missing events with friends. I would ruin my healthy sleep schedule to stay up late at night because I would worry I would miss that one funny joke just after I left.

I just learned to not worry about it as much I guess. So what if I missed that one extra bottle of water, I had plenty in my bag. Comparing it to the real world it would be; so what if I missed a joke, I still had fun hanging out with my friends while I was there. I didn't need to be around for everything, I can still laugh about a joke told to me later once I wake up or get back from whatever needed doing.

I laughed to myself as I went through the halls barely faster than an infant could crawl. I was going to be here for a while, and that was okay I guess. A nice chance to relax and let my mind decompress. The previous floor really brought up some old thoughts.

Thoughts I had actually long forgotten. I wonder why it decided to focus on that, was that what made me the angriest out of all my past experiences? I don't think it was, or maybe it was the most simple memory to extract and prod for signs of weakness.

Alas, it is something I don't need to think about anymore. It was always easy to wax poetic when talking about things like the past and reflecting on heavy topics, but it is always easier to leave the past where it is and focus on what you're doing now only using the past as what it actually is; a learning experience.

Left foot, right foot. I heard my feet fall on the concrete. It didn't feel that bad on my feet, as the boots I was still using since floor three have completely worn to my foot shape. They were still in decent condition, thankfully. I was worried about it as I didn't have a second pair of shoes or boots.

I just shimmied along the halls, there was an intersection every now and then, and I would just pick a random direction. The small halls were odd to travel down, but I made it work. I could feel my right arm getting more and more tired, so I switched to my weaker left and led with my right foot once I reached the next intersection.

I made sure to open my eyes often to check for exits to the floor. I wasn't too hopeful that I would find an exit so early on a floor, but the formula was usually the same. I would get to the floor, I would explore around, either find a book near the beginning through sheer chance, or find nothing.

I would then move on and experience the rest of the floor myself, book or not. I would run from monsters, and I would scramble head over heels for any resource. Then after some sort of event, I'll find the next floor.

Quite a simple way to break it down, but it covered everything I did. It was enjoyable though, every time I went to a new floor, there was a new twist. Everything felt fresh and new despite usually being covered in some kind of rot. Actually, how old was this place?

Thinking broader, what is this place actually?

Like, I can accept that it might be some odd, naturally occurring conglomeration of dead dimensions. Like floor ten that clearly used to be some society before it flooded and colossal creatures claimed the water.

What if this place had been created, when and why? When, there's no way to accurately guess, but if I had to, I would say a long, very long time ago. Everything is rotting down here, with very little of it being clean and healthy.

What is it? Well, that's easy, it is random floors clearly designed to each fulfill a purpose. Even I was not so blind as to pass by the obvious. Each floor wants something to be experienced. This floor was claustrophobia, and while I suffered from it long ago when I was young. I did have that resurgence on floor two, but I wasn't feeling it so much here, even though the halls were smaller.

I regretted bringing up claustrophobia almost immediately as I felt a tightness in my chest. I opened my eyes and felt my heart was racing, it had been for a while. I was just able to keep myself distracted deep in my mind while it was happening. I was a fool to think I could escape the feeling of fear so easily.

I tried to keep my breathing calm. The hallway started to feel as if it was shrinking in on me. I felt immense pressure on my chest, I knew it wasn't real but my brain was telling me that I was going to get crushed. I didn't want to listen to it, so I kept moving.

Despite the feeling of dread and panic that had quickly set in, I was moving at roughly the same speed. I was pushing myself more than I needed to with this, but I needed to stop letting my fear control my actions. I had done it so many times and I kept falling back to it.

The previous floor was the only time I had fully conquered my mind and controlled it exactly the way I wanted. Even now I still had more control, but my fear was stronger than it had been even on the previous floor, it was clouding my thoughts, forcing me to breathe more heavily than was necessary.

I stopped, unable to control the intense shaking of my legs and arms. I was terrified, the halls were too small, and I was going to be trapped here. The halls would get thinner slowly, I wouldn't notice and eventually get crushed.

I grabbed a bottle of water. Sipping from it was hard with the horrible angle I needed to contort my arm to if I wanted to sip the water without pouring it all over the place. The shaking from the anxiety and fear sure didn't help, but I just closed my eyes. If I didn't see the walls, there weren't any walls.

I stood in the same spot for a while, sipping some water slowly, trying to calm my racing heart. It was beating so fast, I thought it was going to win whatever race it was competing in. Jokes aside, it almost hurt with how fast it was beating.

Calm breathing, and time. I eventually managed to calm myself and grabbed my bag when suddenly, a light above me burst. I started to hold my breath, thankfully I had just inhaled a lot of air shortly before it burst.

I kept my eyes closed and felt what was almost a powdery substance bounce off my face. Glass dust, how violent was the light bulb burst? It didn't matter as I got some distance, as far as I could go while holding my breath.

Something I realized was that holding my breath above water was so much easier than under water. When I went through the door to floor eleven, I was so out of breath even after less than a minute of swimming. Now, moving through the halls with my breath held, all the practice I had really paid off.

Easily two minute of holding my breath later and I took a breath. I wasn't even gasping for air, oddly enough. I felt like I was far enough from the broken light to be safe, so I opened my eyes once more. I checked back down the hall where I came from, I could see a white smokey gas hanging slightly above the floor.

The light had actually just turned to dust, there wasn't a single glass shard I could see on the ground of the hall. I didn't miss an exit while I traveled, so I just kept moving forwards. I was bound to find one soon if I just kept moving.

If this was the same size as a normal floor though, I would be in a lot of trouble as I had been traveling very slow due to the confinement. I let the thought fall out of my mind, I had enough anxiety, so more was likely a bad idea.

With my heart rate calm, I was able to keep my fears held back so they didn't affect my direct train of thought. I was still slightly scared of the small space, but I just kept distracting myself with various things. I tried to sing a song, but my throat was even more hoarse now and despite knowing what I was trying to say, it wasn't understandable.

So I just hummed some music that had stayed in my brain for these past few months. I was missing some of the more modern comforts, but I was getting used to this, it was mostly silence usually interrupted by whatever gimmick the floors had in store for me.

I managed to constantly keep distracting myself. For a long time there wasn't anything other than lights and skinny halls. I had two more lights break above me, so much for being rare, but I had found the exit to the next floor.

I was glad it wasn't the size of a normal floor, but it felt quicker than normal. Who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth though. An exit was an exit. The door looked like something off of a straw hut I had seen on the fancy resort beaches in advertisements.

I opened it up and was greeted by the normal staircase, but it felt so much larger than usual after being cramped up for so long. I had a really good stretch and sat down. I'd go down to the next floor after I sit for a while.