The man's wild, blue eyes fix on me, the desperation in them shifting to something harder, more dangerous. He knows what I'm thinking. He knows I'm weighing his life against the risk.
"Don't you dare," he snarls, straining against the chains again. The iron groans, a deep, mournful sound. "Don't you fucking dare leave me here."
"I'm not." The words come out of my mouth before I've even fully decided. They feel right. Leaving him here would be...
I don't care for it.
That's good enough. "But I can't cut the chains. There has to be another way." I look around the room, searching for anything that could help. The chamber is mostly empty, just the central pillar, the glowing orb above, and piles of what looks like dark, volcanic rock scattered along the edges. "Is there a key? A lever? Anything?"
He stops struggling, his chest heaving. He stares at me, a flicker of something other than rage in his eyes now. Calculation. "Key," he says, his voice lower, more controlled. "It threw the key. Out there." He jerks his head toward one of the piles of rock.
I frown. "What is 'it'?"
"The warden," he spits the word, a fresh wave of disgust and anger washing over his face. "The thing that put me here. It comes when the light is brightest. It taunts me. It..." He breaks off, his jaw clenching. "It threw the key. It's out there somewhere. In the rocks."
I look at the piles of jagged, black stone. They could hide anything. Searching them would take time. Time I don't know if we have. I glance up at the glowing orb. It seems to be pulsing slightly, the light growing brighter, then dimmer, in a slow, rhythmic cycle.
"When will it be back?" I ask.
"Soon," he says, his gaze flicking upwards. "When the light peaks. You don't have long."
"Wouldn't it be smarter of you to lie and tell me I have time, in case I leave?"
"What's the good in you helping if you just die first? That's just stupid." He's still glaring at me, but he's thinking now. I can see the gears turning behind his eyes.
He's not just a ball of rage. He's clever.
I have an ally.
I just need a damn key.
I start toward the nearest pile of rock. It's larger than I thought up close, a small mountain of sharp, obsidian-like shards. I start shifting the pieces, my bare feet careful to avoid the sharper edges.
"What's your name?" I ask, my eyes scanning the debris.
He's silent for a long moment. "Toby," he finally says, the word sounding strange and foreign, as if he hasn't used it in a long time.
"Ariel," I reply. It feels strange to give my name. It's a piece of the person I used to be, a person I'm trying to shed. But it's who I am. For now.
"Why are you here, Ariel?" Toby asks, his voice laced with suspicion.
I move a large, flat slab of rock, revealing nothing but more rock underneath. "I died."
"Don't look like it." Toby says, and there's a wry humor in the statement.
"...Isn't that how we all end up here?"
I don't know that for sure but it seems...likely. It doesn't look like there's a lot of people here who just decided to drop in.
Toby snorts, a dry, rasping sound. "Yeah. Guess so. I didn't think it'd be like this, though." He pauses, his chains rattling softly as he shifts his weight. "What kind of floor are you looking for?" He asks.
"I'm not looking for a floor. I'm getting to 100." I move to another pile, my hands becoming scraped and dirty with the effort.
His laugh is sharp and bitter. "Ambitious. And stupid. These things only get worse the higher you go." He's quiet for a moment. "I came here trying to get to the fifth floor. They say that one's good." Another laugh. "I never even made it."
I stop searching, my hands covered in black dust, and look at him. "It's good?" I thought they were all like this. Purgatories of some kind. "Why?"
"Because it's...normal. Like the old world. No monsters. No tricks. You can just...be. I heard about it from someone who'd been there." He looks away, a flicker of old pain crossing his face. "They called it 'The Waiting Room'. Sounded like paradise compared to this damn place."
He snorts, and there's little humor in it. "Guess this place thought it'd be funny and give me a place to stop and wait forever."
I go back to my search, my mind racing. A normal floor. No monsters. It sounds too good to be true. But it's something. A goal beyond just 'up'.
A place I could catch my breath, maybe.
I haven't even tried to nap since I woke up here, and I don't know how long ago that was anymore. It feels like days, but could be hours.
"How did you end up here?" I ask, moving another sharp-edged rock. "In these chains?"
His voice is low, flat, devoid of emotion. "Carried too much. Slipped and fell. That thing was on me before I could get up. Woke up chained. Guess I should be happy I woke up at all." He rattles his chains again. "Some don't."
My hand brushes against something cold and smooth, hidden under a layer of smaller rocks. I clear the debris away. It's not a key. It's a small, metal box, about the size of my palm. It's simple, unadorned, and cool to the touch. There's no lock, no hinge. It's just a solid block of metal.
"What is this?" I ask, picking it up.
Toby cranes his neck to see. "Don't know. Never seen it before. Open it."
I turn it over in my hands. There's a small, almost invisible seam along one side. I try to pry it open with my fingernails, but it won't budge. I grab one of the sharper rocks and use it as a makeshift tool, wedging it into the seam.
With a sharp pop, the lid comes loose.
Inside, nestled in a bed of faded velvet, is a single glass vial filled with a swirling, silver liquid. It catches the harsh light from the orb above, shimmering like liquid starlight.
"What the hell is that?" Toby asks, his voice a mixture of awe and suspicion.
"I don't know." I pick it up carefully. The glass is cool, the liquid inside moving with a life of its own. There's no label, no instructions. It's just...beautiful.
It must be part of the answer.
Probably.
I might be being too optimistic. It might be nothing at all.
But my gut tells me it's important.
I close the box and put it in the pocket of my skirt, then turn my attention back to the rock pile. I'm running out of time. I can feel it. The light from the orb is getting brighter, the heat intensifying. The 'warden' is coming.
"Who were you? Before you died?" I ask, my movements becoming more frantic.
The question hangs in the air for a moment. I think he might not answer.
"Nobody important." His voice is quiet, almost lost in the oppressive silence of the chamber. "Just a guy who tried to do the right thing and fucked it all up."