The looming Tower blocked the setting sun. The spread of twilight was split into two separate floods of orange light.

  “I’d guess around 10 [Floors],” Durn said.

  Thesa squinted and held her fingers out, trying to work out the size for herself. She tried to picture the Tower divided into [Floor] sized sections but she was tired from a night of stressful dreams and she kept losing track while counting.

  “If you’re not well,” Merijest whispered, “we can rest longer. Or we could set you up to rest somewhere hidden with Yabba and the Foxtapus to guard you.”

  “I’m fine,” Thesa lied before following it up with a more truthful reason, “I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep anyways. I need to keep moving around a bit.”

  ***

  The best part about a Tower is that unlike most subterranean [Dungeons], each [Floor] is limited to at most two or three rooms. At least usually. Most in-ground [Dungeons] were on the smaller side anyways but the chance of a sprawling maze was higher there.

  None of that would matter if the party couldn’t get past the front door.

  “I really feel like we haven’t given punching enough consideration,” Witmie said. She flexed her arms and continued, “A couple jabs from these babies and the door is pulverized before the [Alarm] can even sound.”

  Durn laughed and shook her head. “That is not how [Alarm] spells work.”

  The door itself was made of bright green jade. A pair of something like iron hunting traps were affixed to it as if they were the mouths of a two-headed beast.

  “There might not even be an [Alarm] spell,” Thesa pointed out. “You said yourself that detecting and identifying are two different things.” Her head thrummed. Being tired would certainly decrease her fighting acumen, but puzzles? trap doors? Her patience for those was six-feet under. It didn’t help that the Foxtapus was growling at the door while Yabba and the Bronze Motif were gleefully creaking and jingling, respectively.

  Ignoring the conversation, Merijest dragged two claws across her cheek, taking some blood from each wound. She rolled her head around her shoulders and the blood froze into a pair of tiny disks. Then she placed a dry nut from the party’s rations onto each disk and flicked her hands to send the discs floating toward each of the hunting-trap-mouths.

  The traps clamped down, not touching the food in any obvious way and yet when they opened the gift was gone. With a metal creak, the door swung open.

  “A Threshand,” Merijest explained. With a gesture toward Yabba, she added, “They’re related to Nest Walkers.”

  “Do they also have an incongruous flesh half?” Witmie asked.

  “Look at the hinges,” the demoness replied.

  Sure enough, in place of regular hinges, the Threshand had two sets of humanoid hands emerging from the jade door just before the wrist and gripping the doorway.

  Thesa shuddered. “Not cute like Yabba…” she mumbled with her arms crossed.

  ***

  The first [Floor] of the Tower was empty but for another weird door barring the way up.

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  Made of a gemstone the color of chestnuts, the door was inlaid with a set of tiny stairs.

  ***

  Thesa paced the room, trying to both extinguish her nervous energy and stay awake. The non-sapient [Familiars] became interested in this pacing ‘game’ and joined in.

  “Awwwe, the little tiny stairs are so cute!” Witmie said. Then she mumbled, “too small for my stuffy, but she could probably manage.”

  While Durn rolled her eyes at Witmie, Merijest stood in front of the door, tilting her head to one side and then the other.

  “How about this?” the demoness said. She stuck out two fingers and moved her hand as if it were walking up the stairs. Sure enough the door began rising into the ceiling. When she took her hand back, just before it would have been crushed into the ceiling, the door stopped. The gap underneath was enough for everyone to squeeze through without much of a problem.

  ***

  “The [Dungeon Core] must really like doors,” Durn said as the party climbed onto the 5th [Floor] to discover yet another empty chamber with a puzzle door. It was the fifth such chamber in a row.

  The surface of the door, which was made of jasper, was covered in 2-inch needle-like points. Where a handle might have been, a short chain hung from the door.

  ***

  Thesa’s nervous energy had reduced almost entirely to a gravitational pull toward sleep. Every few minutes? seconds? she shook her head violently to escape from nodding off even while standing up.

  Merijest again offered a break. “It’s not a bad time for lunch anyways.”

  “We can’t rest here,” Thesa replied. “There’s probably more Knights at the bottom of the Tower as we speak or maybe a monster that’s been stalking us on every [Floor], waiting for us to get tired and rest only to pounce.”

  “Sure. That’s why I set up hexes,” Merijest replied. She was getting frustrated with Thesa’s obstinate refusal to even sit down, but she maintained her composure. Without waiting for a reply, she began whispering something in the Dead Tongue and walking around the room.

  Thesa huffed. Her irritability swelled again. “That’s fine. I’ll work on the puzzle while you all rest.”

  Thesa cast [Strength of Winged Boar] on herself, in case it was abnormally heavy. Then she approached the door, lifted the chain and began to pull.

  It worked…or rather was working. As soon as Thesa leaned back with the chain, she felt a sensation similar to when she used her [Arrow Time] ability. Time slowed to a molasses crawl.

  The door moved. The hinges creaked.

  But whereas [Arrow Time] painted her vision with a blood-red filter, this effect was tinted the same yellowish color as the door itself.

  The door moved. The hinges creaked.

  And whereas [Arrow Time] allowed her to move at normal speed through her slowed surroundings, this effect left her brain unaffected.

  The door moved. The hinges creaked.

  Thesa assumed that the rest of the party must be affected too. She was so. Fucking. Tired.

  The door moved. The hinges creaked.

  A spell effect over the whole room would require a lot of [Mana] to maintain for more than a few seconds. But each second took a full minute to pass.

  Thesa’s eyes. Her tired eyes. They shut slowly. She kept pulling. Over soon…she hoped.

  To the rest of the party, it looked like this: Thesa huffs over to the door, grabs the chain and pulls the door open with her full weight before letting go and falling to the ground asleep.

  ***

  “So how long did it feel like?” Merijest asked. Thesa’s head was now in the demoness’s lap. A whole night had passed.

  “I think…” Thesa mumbled with embarrassment, “I think I fell asleep before it ended, so I don’t know…at least a quarter of an hour or so.” Her hand traced Thesa's armor for a small gap around her hip. The demoness's claw lightly traced Thesa's skin.

  “Well I’m glad you’re feeling better, kitten,” Merijest replied. “It’s important for my [Witch] to be in tip-top shape,” she added with a devious smirk.

  Thesa covered her face. After a few minutes of more teasing and a bit of relaxed silence, Thesa said, “I’m sorry I tried to make you kill the Otomoid.” Her head was still in Merijest’s lap as she stared at the wall. “I felt like a scared little kid when I saw it. I think my mom and I were running from something like that.”

  Merijest nodded. “I see. I'm sorry myself for assuming I understood your reason for fearing it.”

  They sat briefly in silence. Thesa closed her eyes slowly then opened them again.

  “Speaking of,” Merijest continued in a soft voice. “While you were sleeping, Lelly got back to me about something I asked her for this morning. Sounds like she might have to flee IBMC, but I’m getting off topic. It’s important that you know it. Otomoids were driven out of ItherBeau in 4698 z.e..”

  “But that’s before I was born…and what about the one we just saw?” Thesa replied. “Maybe there have been pockets that nobody knew about?”

  “Maybe,” the demoness continued, “but they were supposedly driven out by Beautuk’s magic. Something is off about that, don't you think?”

  Thanks for reading!

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