The stairwell to Floor B8 didn't feel like a descent.
It felt like falling sideways.
The corridor twisted in on itself, walls woven with pale vines that glowed in the dark. The air changed from cold and dry to warm and sweet. By the time the four of them stepped onto the next floor's platform, they emerged into light.
Real light.
Not magic.
Not illusion.
Sunlight.
Or something that mimicked it perfectly.
They stood in a massive underground garden.
A ceiling of quartz and luminous moss spread far above their heads, casting soft golden light across acres of white grass, tall trees with spiraled bark, and thousands—thousands—of pale blooming flowers.
The air smelled of honey and citrus.
A breeze they couldn't explain brushed across their faces.
It felt... safe.
Too safe.
Mira stared.
"This is beautiful."
Seren didn't lower her weapon. "This is bait."
Sova walked to the edge of a small pond, dipping her fingers in.
"Water's clean."
Thane didn't speak.
He looked at the flowers.
Tall stems.
Petals like bone china.
They opened and closed slowly… with breath.
Not wind.
Breath.
They made their way across the garden slowly, staying in formation.
No monsters. No movement.
Just a rustling softness and the occasional birdsong—recorded, repeating every twenty-eight seconds exactly.
Seren noticed it first.
"That bird just sang the exact same pattern twice."
Sova nodded.
"Same call. Same rhythm. Too perfect."
Mira touched one of the flowers gently.
And her hand jerked back.
A fine yellow dust clung to her fingertips.
She blinked.
Stumbled.
Then dropped to her knees.
"Mira!" Seren caught her.
Thane stepped forward and grabbed Mira's wrist.
Her pupils were wide.
"Get it off her," he said.
Sova poured a bit of water from her canteen. Seren wiped Mira's fingers clean.
It helped.
She blinked again.
"I saw... stars. The ocean. Then my brother's grave. I don't know—"
Thane said flatly, "Pollen-based psionic trigger. Likely illusion mixed with memory bleed. Don't touch the flowers."
Seren looked at him. "You've seen this before?"
"No," Thane said. "I understand it."
They burned a path forward.
Literally.
Thane cast Scorch Zone ahead of their walk, igniting a safe path through the flower fields.
The garden began to react.
Petals hissed.
Trees creaked.
The light above began to flicker.
And the ground beneath their feet shifted.
Not down.
Forward.
Like the garden was trying to walk them into something.
They reached the center clearing within the hour.
At the middle of a raised stone platform, one massive flower stood taller than a man.
Its petals shimmered silver-blue.
Its stem curled like a question.
And around its base, bones.
Adventurer bones.
Some still armored.
Some still... twitching.
"This is it," Seren said.
Thane stepped forward.
The flower tilted.
Toward him.
Not wind.
It reacted.
To him.
Then it bloomed.
Not open—bloomed.
With a sound like silk ripping in slow motion.
Inside: a face.
Vaguely humanoid, but floral. Petals for skin. Eyes made of soft light. Its mouth opened.
And it spoke.
Not in words.
In feeling.
Regret.
Hunger.
Hope.
And recognition.
Thane blinked.
The message burned through his mind like fire through silk.
The girls raised their weapons.
"Thane?" Mira asked.
"What is that?"
He didn't answer.
The flower wept.
Droplets of silver fell from its eyes.
And the moment he stepped close, it attacked.
Vines lashed out—razor-thin and fast. Mira raised a barrier, Seren deflected two, Sova cut one mid-flight.
Thane didn't dodge.
He stepped into the strike and burned it mid-air with Flame Arc cast without motion.
The core of the flower pulsed.
And it spoke again—into him.
"You do not belong, and yet you are born from us. Why?"
He lunged forward with Magma Sword, slashing upward into the stalk.
The flower screamed.
A burst of pollen exploded around them.
Seren started coughing.
Mira collapsed again.
Sova dropped to one knee.
Thane stood in the cloud.
And breathed in.
The flower hesitated.
He cast Lava Geyser from below, launching the core upward.
Then Burning Chain—snagging it mid-air.
Then Scorch Zone.
The entire platform caught fire.
And when the flower tried to cry out a third time...
Thane whispered:
"No more lies."
He raised his hand.
And snapped his fingers.
Firebolt.
Right through its heart.
The flower burned.
The pollen vanished.
The garden wilted.
Every blossom curled in on itself and withered in moments.
And the light dimmed.
When the floor stabilized, the path forward appeared.
No treasure.
No notes.
Just ash.
And bones.
And silence.
Later that night, when Mira asked what the flower had said, Thane answered with a shrug.
"Nothing important."
But he lied.
Because what it had said—what it had asked—was something he couldn't ignore.
Not anymore.
📈 Level: 5
🧪 EXP: 132 / 180
📜 Meteor Blueprint Progress: 3.3%