Heather’s lungs burned as she desperately tried to suck in air, choking on the black viscous liquid surrounding her. Her head was fuzzy as she struggled to stay conscious. The fluid was impossible to see through, and she’d lost all sense of direction.

She still clung to Jamie tightly, which gave her a small amount of comfort. Most of that was overshadowed by the realization of just what was happening to them.

We’re both going to die. Rather than being upset, she felt strangely calm. There was no fear, no denying it, no vow to defy fate. It was over and done, and there was a certain amount of relief she felt at that.

They’d struggled for so, so long already. Didn’t they deserve some peace? A time without the voices screaming in their heads, the constant fear and loneliness surrounding them. A time to… be free. So, with a smile, she closed her eyes, ready for death to take her into—

Pure agony brought her back to clarity as her legs were suddenly torn off below the knees. Heather screamed with what little breath she had left, her eyes snapping back open. She felt blood flowing out of the stumps where her legs once were.

Jamie squirmed against her, and Heather’s ailed mind went to work. She forced herself to activate LIGHTNING to give her just a little more time. Her body was starting to fail, and she felt herself on the verge of losing consciousness.

Most of all, though, she felt a deep-seated rage welling up within her. This thing had convinced her that death was a release, freedom from the struggles of life. Now that she was thinking clearly, she could recognize the soothing aspects of whatever fluid they were floating in.

It seeped into her mind, trying to calm her fear and make her accept her death. Well, she refused. She hadn’t lived these past two years, struggling every second of every day just to get a little bit stronger, to give up now.

Forcing her thoughts into order, she focused, letting the crackle of energy beneath her skin overtake her senses. Her muscles were failing, her heart slowing, her lungs lit aflame from asphyxiation; but she had a couple of seconds left. That was more than enough for her.

Letting the energy around her surge as her rage almost blinded her, she poured everything she had into directing her LIGHTNING towards the nearest piece of metal. The fixtures for the torches in the room above had appeared to be made of steel, so she banked everything on the slim chance that those were the only metal items around them.

Her energy linked to something, and she pulled on the connection with all her might. Like an elastic band being released, she shot forward, making sure to keep a tight hold on Jamie as they rushed through the darkness. She felt her vision failing even though she couldn’t see, knowing that her body was about to finally collapse.

Another chunk of her was torn off by something deep in the darkness, this time ripping off part of her torso. The pain struck her like a freight train, threatening to break her focus. With the last bit of energy she had, she forced herself to move faster, finally seeing a dim light ahead of them as her body succumbed to exhaustion.

Heather didn’t know how long she was unconscious, but she woke up to someone poking her cheek gently. Struggling to force her eyes open, she took note of the way her throat burned and the sharp pain flaring through her ribs. They felt broken.

Jamie sent her a soft smile from above her, her blonde hair dripping with the black fluid they’d been submerged in. She tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness washed over her, and she collapsed back, coughing violently.

“Take it easy,” a male voice said. “You’re lucky ya didn’t suffocate, kid. Shiznitz, that was terrifying.”

Turning her head to the side, Heather groaned, taking a moment to recognize who it was. Paul stood against the wall, a hard look in his eyes, his face set in a scowl.

“What’s… shiznitz?” she forced out, and his expression softened a bit.

“Just trying to find a way around the whole ‘no swearing’ thinger. Seriously, though, ya gotta rest for a moment. Jamie literally brought ya back from the dead.”

Heather turned back to Jamie and found her cheeks dusted red as she twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “I had to do CPR. But… please, don’t scare me like that again.”

Forcing her arms to work through her exhaustion, she wrapped them around Jamie’s shoulders, giving her a gentle hug. “Ya know I can’t just let you die alone, right? I… had to try something…”

Jamie sighed. “Yeah, I get it. Doesn’t make it any less terrifying. For a moment…” She paused, her expression darkening.

“Sorry about that, sis,” Heather mumbled. “I’ll try not to do that again.”

They stayed like that for a while as Heather’s body recovered. Her legs and torso had already healed by the time she’d woken up, but her energy levels were almost exhausted. Once she finally felt ready to stand, she let Jamie help her to her feet, leaning against her heavily.

“Ha, that answers one of my questions,” Paul said suddenly, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

“Which one?” Jamie asked, her arm around Heather’s shoulders.

“Was trying ta figure out your relationship. You two didn’t seem like lovers or anything, so siblings checks out.”

Heather glanced over at Jamie, giggling as Paul’s words registered. “Yeah, that describes it pretty well. We pretty much grew up together, so we’re siblings in all but blood.”

Paul nodded, his fingers playing with his hammer. “I getcha. Got a friend like that from college. Peas in a pod, the two of us.”

They all chuckled before growing quiet, finally taking the time to process everything that just happened. Heather’s breathing picked up as she registered just how close she’d come to dying. If she’d been alone…

Jamie grabbed her hand, giving it a squeeze, and she squeezed back as her panic settled. She wasn’t alone. Jamie was with her, and so was Paul, somehow. She didn’t know how he’d survived, but he must’ve done something to break out of that disgusting black sludge.

Finally able to stand on her own, she moved away from Jamie and took in her surroundings. They’d ended up back at the entrance to the second floor, and she studied the tiles on the floor, trying to distinguish which ones were safe and which ones were trapped.

There was no visible indicator of the trapped tiles, which she’d already suspected. She was starting to realize just why certain character builds had made it halfway through the TOWER in the past. Crafting builds with high STL STATS would easily be able to sneak past enemies and discern which tiles were trapped, but none of her party had that ability.

…Wait. She glanced towards Paul, taking in his equipment. From the looks of things (and from the comments he'd made), his build looked like a crafting build. Although she wasn’t the best at judging things since she’d never played Leveled Plane before, she had a hunch that he might be able to locate the traps.

He noticed her staring and turned towards her, meeting her eyes. He shook his head, and she sighed, her shoulders falling. Of course, that would’ve been too simple.

“Any ideas?” she asked—she couldn’t really think of anything. Paul hummed, scratching his head.

“Well, we know some of the tiles are trapped, so there’s that. You guys check the door? It took me half a minute to get out of that gunk, and when I crawled out you were nowhere to be found.”

“Yep, door’s got a magic jammer built in, so we can’t force it open,” Jamie said. “Think one of the tiles opens it? Trapped rooms usually work like that.”

Paul nodded, his eyes rapidly scanning the room. “Makes sense to me. What’s the plan, then? Don’t wanna get sucked under again.”

They went quiet, both deep in thought. Heather took some time to debate their options, her vision tinting blue as LIGHTNING activated. Her gaze swept across the room, searching for something, anything out of the ordinary.

She squinted, noticing that most of the tiles had a light blue glow surrounding them. The few without the glow formed a winding, broken path towards the far corner of the room before leading to the locked door.

Frowning, she deactivated LIGHTNING and stepped on one of the tiles that didn’t glow, both Paul and Jamie calling for her to stop. When she didn’t get sucked under the floor, she smiled, hopping in place a few times from excitement.

“I think I can see the path!” she called, and their eyes widened. “Trapped tiles must have some energy running through them, ‘cause I can see ‘em with LIGHTNING. Just step where I step, and we should be good!”

Her companions looked skeptical, but with a shrug Jamie stepped forward, stopping right behind Heather.

“Better than any of our hairbrained ideas, I think,” she told Paul, and he sighed.

“Pray this doesn’t get us all killed,” he mumbled, but they both heard him. Heather chose to ignore that comment, activating LIGHTNING again as she scanned the room, searching for the optimal path through the trapped floor. Weaving her way between tiles, she began carefully making her way across the floor, hoping that her theory was correct.

After passing over ten tiles, her tension started bleeding away. At twenty, she started humming to herself, her mood quickly improving. Sometimes there was a large gap between the safe tiles, forcing them to leap to the next one.

Paul slipped once, since his STATS weren’t as high as theirs, and with a shriek he was sucked under the floor. Heather couldn’t stop herself from giggling, although she felt a little bad about it.

It only took him a few seconds to escape this time, something that shocked both her and Jamie. From the looks of things, he had an improved swimming skill from his CLASS, which explained how he could find the surface so easily. Still, he looked a bit embarrassed about the situation as they helped him out of the sludge, grumbling under his breath as he followed behind them.

Finally, they all reached the corner of the room, and Heather stepped onto the tile at the end of the path. It sunk a few inches into the floor, letting out a click as it slotted into place. The door on the other end of the room groaned as it slowly slid into the ceiling, revealing the staircase to the next floor.

“There’s that, I guess,” she said, finding the whole thing almost upsetting with how simple it was. “A bit of a let-down, to be honest.”

She continued picking her way across the floor, slowly making her way to the door.

“I’m just glad there wasn’t another trap or something,” Paul commented, running a hand through his sludge-covered hair. “This was bad enough.”

Before long, they were all safely at the base of the staircase, and they all let out sighs of relief. Heather disabled her magic, and they all nodded to each other before climbing to the next floor.

Compared to the first two floors, the next few were disturbingly easy. There was another puzzle, requiring them to strike some orbs in a specific pattern to open the door. If they failed, snakes would be released from holes in the ceiling that they would need to kill. It took them a few tries, but the solution came quickly, and they moved on.

There were also some enemy camps that they were meant to sneak past on a few floors. Since their STL STATS were abysmal, they didn’t even try. They just rushed the camps, taking down enemies as quickly as they could to keep them from grabbing their weapons. It was surprisingly fun.

One floor was a mob rush, but the lighting was good, and she and Jamie were extremely skilled fighters. The goblins rushing at them were obliterated, although Paul struggled with them for a while. As he continued defeating enemies, though, he started gaining LEVELS, which increased his STATS, so even he wasn’t doing too bad.

LEVELING in every mode other than Realistic was simple enough to understand; defeat monsters to increase your LEVEL. With each LEVEL increase, players could distribute five STAT POINTS, allowing them to increase their STATS. Even Heather could grasp it, and she wasn’t a gamer.

Realistic Mode was different, because of course it was. Jamie explained it to her a while back, and to be honest, LEVELING in Realistic Mode was terrifying, especially considering their situation.

To increase her LEVEL, Heather would need to throw herself in a life-or-death situation against a stronger enemy and come out on top, according to Jamie. Heather really didn’t want to have to do that, but it would most likely be inevitable.

She was pulled from her thoughts when they came to the end of the stairs leading to the tenth floor. A set of ornate double doors lay before them, with bright torches placed on either side. They almost looked like the doors of an old monastery, made of metal instead of the stone doors they’d seen previously.

“Alright, we should probably take a break here,” Jamie said, catching Paul’s pack as he tossed it to her. “My guess is that’s a boss room, and we’ve already cleared enough floors today, so I’m thinking we should eat some food and get some sleep. Dunno about you, but I’m starving.”

Heather’s stomach let out a low gurgle, and she blushed, giggling softly. “Sounds like a plan.”

Jamie pulled out a bloody sack from Paul’s pack, wrinkling her nose in disgust. Sure, they had cans of food that they’d brought along, but they needed to save those for emergencies. Although it was gross and make Heather nauseous to consider, goblin meat was their best bet if they wanted to conserve supplies.

Paul offered to cook for them, using his hammer to break off a piece of stone. His ARTIFICER CLASS (whatever that was) seemed extremely useful, allowing him to generate heat through his hands using some sort of skill. In almost no time, the meat was cooked and ready.

Heather grimaced as she chewed. Her mouth was flooded with the flavor of a rotting corpse, and she almost spit it out right then and there. Steeling herself, she swallowed, shuddering. According to Jamie, goblin meat was safe to eat, so that wasn’t anything to be worried about. It just tasted horrible.

She hoped they could find something better in the upper floors. For now, though, she finished off her portion of goblin meat and drank some water to wash it down. She still felt like gagging, and the aftertaste was almost worse than the initial flavor, but it was bearable.

“I think I’m gonna head out,” Paul said once they’d finished. “Gotta spend some time with Susie. I'll see ya tomorrow.”

“Alright,” Jamie replied, waving at him as he began logging out, “we’ll both sleep here for the night and work on the boss tomorrow.” He nodded before vanishing in a flash of light, his pack disappearing with him.

Jamie let out a sigh the moment he disappeared, the cheerful façade she’d developed vanishing in an instant. “I honestly half hoped he drowned in the sludge.”

It was sad that Heather wasn’t even fazed by that comment, or by the way Jamie’s voice had taken on a much darker edge. She just nodded instead.

“The cooking is nice, but the food’s kinda gross. I’d almost prefer to starve,” she said. “I… don’t really know what to think.”

Jamie leaned back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. “Yeah… it’s sad, but he’s barely even my friend anymore. It just doesn’t feel natural. There are times where I just wanna…”

Her eyes flashed, a cold aura suddenly wafting off her form, and Heather felt a chill run down her spine. Almost instinctually, she felt her rage building as her vision tinted red, her trained response to Jamie activating DARK DRUID.

Then it faded, and her emotions sunk back into that ball of flame in her chest, settling as Jamie took a deep breath to calm herself.

“Please tell me you weren’t gonna go for the throat this time,” Heather pleaded, shuddering. She still vividly remembered when Jamie had first torn out her throat with her teeth. Jamie shrugged.

“Don’t think so. I was mainly thinking about what he’d look like with only half his head.”

Heather sighed. “He means well, I can tell. And he used to be your friend, so I wanna give him the benefit of the doubt. Still…”

“Can’t trust him?” Jamie asked, and she nodded. “Same here. It’s just been you and me for so long, I can barely remember what it’s like to have anyone else. Especially in a game like this. I don’t think I can look at him without thinking about everything that could go wrong.”

“Well… he’s been helpful so far,” Heather said. “Maybe it’ll all work out.”

“Fat chance. Most likely, we’ll both end up dead because he does something stupid. I mean, that torch he grabbed on the first floor? He’s lucky that ended as well as it did. He's still treating this like a game, but that's not how we have to do things.”

Frowning, Heather nodded, thinking through everything they’d been through so far. To be brutally honest, Paul had been a liability ever since they started climbing the TOWER. He made them lower their guards on the first floor, which was a mistake that almost cost them dearly, and then on the second floor was the first one pulled beneath the surface.

Then there were the many times they needed to bail him out as enemies surrounded him, lest he died under the onslaught. Heather almost got stabbed once while she protected him, barely managing to dodge the strike in time.

“What do you think?” she asked Jamie. “Should we let him get killed so we don’t have to worry about it too much?”

Jamie closed her eyes, her lips pressed together in a thin line. It took her almost a minute to respond.

“For now, I think we should continue as-is. He may prove useful later. But if we’re ever put at risk trying to protect him, I vote that we move on with our lives and leave him behind. Better him than us.”

Heather found herself agreeing with that sentiment. Paul was the only one who was truly safe in this journey, and he’d already caused his fair share of issues. If it came down to them or him, she would choose them in a heartbeat.

Satisfied with their decision, she lay down against the cold stone platform, preparing to sleep. Jamie’s back pressed against hers, and she closed her eyes, taking comfort in her presence. It was the only thing she had left that she truly cared about.