Quinn followed behind the new group at a quick pace. The darkness surrounded them on all sides but they continued pushing forward. Quinn didn't know how much farther they needed to run, but he knew he would need to rest soon.

What is this place? Who are these people? How did they get here? Do they know anything about this mansion? Questions swirled through Quinn's head but they weren't able to be answered yet. They would first have to make it out of the darkness.

Quinn's legs were sore from running. His breath was ragged and his clothes were sweaty. He panted with each step that he took and fatigue was beginning to slowly build. He wasn't unfit, but he definitely wasn't the healthiest guy in the world.

The surroundings around him felt like a blur. He felt he was in a daze, only moving on instinct. He quickly snapped out of his daze when a screech was heard in front of the group. Everyone stopped running and began to prepare for a fight.

“Hey you, take this.” A voice could be heard directed towards Quinn. He turned his head to look at where the voice was located. Quinn skillfully seized a sword hurled by the man. The blade, silver and double-edged, shimmered in the torchlight held in Quinn's other hand, casting fiery reflections.

The sword felt comfortable in Quinn's hand. It fit perfectly, as if his hand had experienced holding a sword before. Quinn spun the sword, feeling almost reminiscent.

He didn't have much time to think about his next move as a horde of pitch-black monsters began to surround them. The room felt cold and a shiver ran down Quinn's spine. He felt fear as the monsters quickly approached them.

One of the monsters tried pouncing on Quinn, but he was able to use his new sword to slice the beast right down the middle. A puddle of darkness began to pool around the dead corpse. The liquid reeked of death and evil, no light reflected off of it. Quinn distanced himself from the liquid, feeling troubled by being near it.

Quickly after, another monster slashed at his leg, causing blood to soak his clothes. He kneeled from the pain before standing back up and delivering a slash directly to the beast's mouth. He tried cutting through the monster, but the sword was having trouble getting through its body. Finally, with one quick motion, Quinn was able to slice the beast through.

The beast fell to the ground. It let out a low groan before it rolled over and died. Once again, Quinn avoided the dark liquid that seeped out of its corpse.

“Hurry, let's make a path through this way. Focus on the enemies blocking this path.” Quinn once again heard one of the new group members yell out. He followed the man's orders, focusing on the path blocked in front of him. Others joined the fray, killing monsters and clearing a path for the group to get through.

Finally, after a few minutes, enough monsters were cleared. They sprinted through the horde of monsters surrounding the door, escaping the ambush of black beasts. Low and high pitch screams echoed behind them, sending a chill through the air.

They rushed through the doors and hallways once again, weaving through claws and teeth alike. Finally, after running for what felt like an eternity, a light could be seen off in the distance. One of the men smiled and laughed, “There it is, we can be safe there.”

Quinn ran into the doorway behind a few other people, followed by Kiara and Alec. Finally, he reached what appeared to be a safe place. Quinn felt stressed and anxious. What would have happened if they didn't save him? Would he have died in there? As his mind swirled, his body began to give out, and he passed out on the spot in the middle of the room.

***

How many times was Quinn going to pass out? He first awoke in the mansion, then in the dark cave, and now here. This was Quinn's first thoughts as he awoke. A blanket rested atop him and a warm fire sat by his side. He began to recall the memories of running from the darkness and the horrors within it.

His muscles throbbed and his head swirled, but he was able to keep steady as he leaned up slowly from the solid rock floor.

An unfamiliar man noticed Quinn had awoken. He walked over to Quinn and smiled, “Welcome back, you were out for a while.” The man changed out the rags that covered Quinn's body, “My name is Lex. It's nice to meet you.”

Lex had orange colored hair and amber eyes. His teeth were bright and white as he smiled, emitting a glowing aura. A red headband wrapped around his head. He wore a brown vest with brown trousers. His fashion was unique, and it matched him perfectly.

“You were hurt pretty badly out there, good thing we found you or you would have been out for the count.”

“Where am I? Where is Kiara and Alec? How long have I been out?” Worry set across Quinn's face, but Lex gave Quinn another smile.

“You're in a safe room right now and you have only been out for a day. As for your friends, they are fine. They have already been taken care of…” Just as Lex said that, a complaining sigh echoed through the room.

“Aw come on… Let me take off the bandages.”

“No. You're not in good enough shape to remove your bandages.” A woman spoke as she tried to keep Alec from removing his bandages. Alec ripped off the bandage under his eye, not even giving the woman's words a thought. He had received the scratch when they were running away from the beasts, but for some reason, it was no longer there.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“But that's not possible.” The man was stunned. Regenerative abilities such as that are something of a rarity.

“Well it has to be because it just happened, so lay off.” Alec fell backwards onto his small pallet. He seemed a bit aggravated, but his cheery nature could still be seen behind this facade Quinn had never seen before.

“Come on Alec be nice. Look, it seems Quinn has just awakened.” Kiara sat a few meters away. She was in a better condition than Alec was. Besides the minor damage to her arm, she was perfectly fine.

Alec rushed over to Quinn, “Quinn, are you ok? Did you hit your head too hard?” Alec sat cross legged next to Quinn, rocking back and forth as he awaited Quinn's response.

“I think I am fine now. It seems you are in good shape too.”

“He's in better shape than he should be. You should have heard him. I thought he was going to be out for a while, but the instant he got up he started whining about if you were ok.” Kiara smirked, slightly teasing Alec. This was the first Quinn had ever seen of this side of hers. Usually the calm and quiet type, she was openly making a joke. It made Quinn cheerful.

“Hey, don't go telling him that. Besides, it's not a bad thing to worry about your friends.” Friends, huh. It was only a day, but Alec had already considered them friends. Quinn wasn't mad about it, nor did he disagree. He simply smiled, acknowledging Alec as his friend. Without friends, Quinn didn't think they would ever be able to escape this mansion.

After finishing their small discussion, Quinn turned his head towards Lex, “Why did you save us? Who are you people?”

Screech…

Before answering Quinn's questions, Lex dragged a rusty metal chair across the floor and sat it in the middle of the room, “There, that is much better. Now then, you want to know why we saved you? The real question is why wouldn't we save you. We are good people, we believe humans have value and couldn't watch as you guys died in there. We heard your screams so we came.

“As for who we are, we are just like you. We are people who were thrown into this mansion, unknown as to who we once were. People like us are known as Wanderers.”

“Then, we are wanderers as well?” Quinn asked

“Yes, if you had awakened in this mansion then you are. Now before we go any further, we should probably get introductions done with. Sitting in the back corner is Winston. He is the strongest in our group.”

Winston sat silently in the corner. His body was huge. He had giant muscles toned to perfection and a giant axe that sat beside him. A large snake tattoo wrapped around his arm. Quinn knew that he shouldn't mess with this man.

“Sitting in the opposite corner is Cally. She is quick, being the fastest in our group.”

Cally was a short girl, with short brownish-red hair and a small build. She fiddled with a shiny silver dagger, spinning it in her hand. Although she may have been the smallest, she is also the most vicious. She had a gentle face, but written across it was a serious look. She watched the new group, making sure they didn’t do anything they weren't supposed to.

“Lastly, sitting next to her is Liz. She is the best at fighting, being very skilled and swift.”

Liz had straight blonde hair and diamond colored eyes. She had a bright aura that surrounded her. She was the calm and quiet type, but when it came to fighting, one shouldn't want to face her. A silver rapier sat in her lap, reflecting the firelight in its sharp blade.

“What about you? What are you good at?” Alec stared at Lex, trying to find any strong points.

“Well… I guess I'm more of an all around type guy. Not the best at anything, but still good at everything. Anyways, that doesn’t matter, what matters is your questions. Please, feel free to ask me anything.”

Kiara was the first to speak. She looked towards Lex, impatient to wait any longer, “What is this place? What are those monsters?”

Lex took a deep breath before speaking, “Right now, you are sitting on the bottom floor of the Tower of Nightmares. This is the monster's home. They dwell in this place, killing anyone who is unable to advance any further.”

“Bottom floor? There are more floors like this? How do you know all of this?” Quinn spoke with an anxious voice, looking for answers.

“Yes, there are a total of ten floors including this one. As for how we know this…” Cally tossed a map towards Lex. The paper was old and tattered, “This is how we know. We found it as we were exploring this place. This map tells us how many floors there are, where we currently are in this place and how much further we are from an exit?”

“So you're saying there's a way to escape this place?”

“Yes, but it isn't as simple as it sounds. Based on the map, the only way to escape this place is through the top floor of this tower. We can climb the tower, but with each layer, different nightmares lurk. If we aren't careful, we could easily die in this nightmare tower.”

“Then what other nightmares are there?”

Lex pointed to the left side of the map, “Here it tells us what horrors lurk on each layer. For the bottom layer, darkness is what rests here. For the layer above us, spiders will be waiting.”

“Did you say… spiders?” Kiara felt a shiver down her spine. Her worst fear was spiders, so having to go through an entire layer of just spiders was quite scary for her.

“Yes, spiders. As for the rest of the layers, we do not know. Most of the map is tattered and old. A lot of the information that would once have been here has been lost to time.”

“So since the tower is called the Tower of Nightmares, does that mean each layer is based off of a certain nightmare or fear?” Quinn had come up with this theory and was looking for someone to validate it.

“That is what we thought as well. Many people have a fear of the dark or spiders, so based on that info we can assume the other layers are based off of fears as well. As for what is on the other layers, we will not know what is there until we reach it.”

Quinn had felt more calm now that he had begun to understand where he was and what was going on. Still, the fear of what lurked on those higher layers scared Quinn. Quinn didn't have any big fears, but that didn't mean he couldn't be scared for what is to come.

“So, how long have you guys been in this mansion?” Alec said.

“We have been in this mansion for about a week. We met up in one of the rooms and have been together ever since. We have seen other people, but they decided not to join us. Maybe that was for the better, considering they haven't ended up here with us.”

“If you guys want to get much further in this mansion, you will need to learn how to use echoes.” Lex’s words were calm, but held great importance.

Echoes? Quinn wasn't sure as to what Lex was talking about. Little did he know, this would change his life forever.