Chapter 33

The sound of bone cracking caused us to freeze. The floor was littered with white, fragmented pieces. We’d been carefully making our way through a literal graveyard of all sorts and sizes, as the heavy breathing continued to intensify.

I looked down at the offending source of the sound. In trying to avoid stepping on a skull, which I guessed had been a goblin at some point, I’d stepped on a small, hollow bone. Did it belong to one of the chickens from the floor? And were these all from today? They couldn’t be, they were too clean and polished. How long had these remains been down in this cave?

“I think we should head back.” Nyle whispered at my side. “Between the ominous breathing, and you know, the literal cave of bones, I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

I looked at him, feeling the same thing. And yet, something tugged at me. Curiosity. What was down here?

“It’s only the first floor.” I said quietly. “And there’s three of us.”

“I don’t remember anything in the notes about caves of death for the first floor.” Nyle countered.

Lyn was huddled with us now. The torch had begun to flicker, the light dimming slightly. She’d needed to be closer to avoid disturbing the bones as we’d continued downward.

“He’s got a good point.” Lyn said in agreement to Nyle. “I don’t think this is smart.”

I glanced forward. There was a bend in the cave coming up. “Let’s peek around that corner at least?” I said. The cave itself had been growing in size as we’d been descending. Now the path, which had started out at perhaps ten feet wide, was closer to the thirty. The ceiling was so high the torch light couldn’t even reach it.

“You’re curiosity is going to get us killed.” Nyle said with a shake of his head.

“Where’s you sense of adventure?” I countered. I continued to slowly creep forward.

“It’s about fifty feet behind us,” Nyle replied. “Now I’ve just got my sense of fear and my sense of this is exactly what Commander Phyr would consider a dumb and reckless thing to do.” He hissed the last part. I shot him a grin. Just a few more feet.

“Look,” I continued. “We all know the only monsters listed for the first floor are wolves, and goblins. Didn’t we just handle nearly twenty wolves with ease? We’ve got this.”

The other two shared a look, and I knew they weren’t convinced. We were just at the corner. I could practically feel the heavy breathing now. The air was heavy and hot. I wasn’t sure when, but somewhere during this descent, I’d gotten either accustomed to the scent of death, or my nose had purely been overwhelmed and I couldn’t smell anymore. I wasn’t really sure.

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I peeked around the corner, holding the torch out, and gasped in surprise. The sound caused Lyn to squeeze beside me so she could get a look. The moment she did, she gasped as well. It was too much, Nyle joined in, and let out a third gasp.

We’d reached the end of the cave system. Before us was a massive open expanse. It looked to be circular, at least fifty feet if I had to guess, though the torchlight couldn’t extend far enough in to give us a good gauge.

It could, however, extend far enough to reveal two things to us.

First, about four different chests, all gilded in silver, sitting near the entrance to this massive open room. The lids were closed, but the mere sight of them caused me to itch with excitement. Treasure chests. Such things were mentioned in the Climber Notes. Special boxes that could hold anything from coins, to weapons, to armor, to pretty much anything else the Tower could offer. The only mention of them in the notes for the first five floors was as a reward for defeating the boss on the fifth floor. Defeating the Goblin King.

Which caused the next thing we could see to make less sense. Because while the treasure chests, as far as I knew, were associated with floor bosses… the creature in the middle of the open expanse was not a goblin. And, once again, this was the first floor…which had no mention of bosses at all.

“That’s a big wolf.” Nyle said quietly. The creature in question was indeed a massive wolf. It had to be at least fifteen feet in length, probably closer to twenty, judging by its proportions. It was hard to get a good gauge though, because it was currently sleeping. It’s head, larger than any of us, was resting on its front paws. Its tail was wrapped around its other legs, making it look like a giant, sleeping dog.

Minus the teeth that were the size of a human arm. Its fur was pure black, helping it blend into its surroundings even more, making it even harder to gauge the actual size of the creature. It inhaled, the sound echoing heavily all around. Then it let the breath out, dust kicking up in front of it as the air rushed past us.

“We should probably leave now.” Lyn said, though there was hesitation in her voice. “Let the sleeping wolf lie…” She trailed off. I glanced at her, and she was eying the treasure chests, fixated.

“Probably,” I agreed, but I was creeping forward, not backwards.

“Ash,” Nyle whispered angrily. I continued moving forward. “Ash, come on.”

The torchlight flickered, and the wolf’s ear twitched. I froze, my breath caught in my chest. The giant creature shifted slightly, its tongue licking its teeth, but its breathing stayed the same. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding and continued forward.

I heard footsteps behind me, as Lyn and Nyle crept towards me. Well, Nyle did. Lyn was heading towards one of the chests on the right of the entrance, while I was heading towards one on the left.

“Let’s open the chests and get out of here.” I said quietly. Lyn nodded in agreement. I didn’t need to look at Nyle to know he was against the plan.

“You’re both going to wind up dead.” He hissed. “Seriously, did you learn nothing during training?”

“It’s the first floor,” I reiterated, more for myself than Nyle. “We’ll be fine.” I was mere inches from the chest, but paused to look at Nyle. “Just stay quiet, and we’ve got nothing to worry about. As long as it doesn’t wake up, we don’t even-“

A loud screeching sound echoed in the room. Lyn was frozen in place, her eyes wide with horror. She’d reached her chest, and it had let out an ear-splitting squeal as it had opened, like the joints had been overly rusted. We all froze, as silence filled the room. Silence, as no one dared breathe. Silence, as we all realized the wolf in the center, was no longer taking its long, heavy, restful breaths. Silence, as I saw the massive eye open, narrow, and focus on the chest, and Climber, that had disturbed its rest.

“Shit,” I said aloud, the need for silence no longer key. “Shit, shit, shit.”