The door led us into darkness. After we’d stepped on through, it slammed shut behind us with finality. Somewhere in the dark, a switch was flipped, and the room transformed into a blinding white light. The sudden shift made me wince as my eyes burned. After a few seconds, my vision adjusted, and I got my first good look at floor forty-five.

  It appeared to be nothing more than an endless white void. Only the ground was solid beneath us with a series of large white tiles.

  A chat message then popped up on my screen.

  Roan: Yes! I always knew you guys would be first. Never doubted you for a second.

  I was about to reply when I received the following message.

  [God chat temporarily disabled]

  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Roan said he couldn’t follow us. Whatever was meant to happen on this floor was designed to surprise us.

  “Hello?” Hugo shouted into the space.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Well, there’s gotta be something here. It makes more sense to lure that thing to us than to walk in a random direction.”

  I opened my mouth and then closed it. That was actually a good point. It was very possible that we were required to kill something in this space before we were allowed to proceed. Though nothing appeared. Maybe there was some kind of hidden puzzle?

  “Our voices aren’t echoing,” Damian said.

  Hugo cocked his head. “Huh?”

  Damian bent down and touched the floor. He squinted like he was trying to see something. “There’s something off about this space. Every floor is manufactured, but they contain many realistic elements and follow the laws of physics. Our voices not echoing means that there’s some kind of illusion here.”

  I nodded, following his line of thinking. “This space must be smaller than it appears.”

  Hugo made Archer summon her bow and fire an arrow in all four directions. Each of them hit an invisible wall after about a hundred feet.

  So I was right about the space being smaller, though it didn’t make me feel much better. Even a space of this size should’ve caused our voices to echo a little. This would require further experimentation.

  [Please remain where you are and wait patiently until all the guests have arrived]

  You could almost detect the hint of annoyance in that message.

  The three of us glanced at each other, and Damian shrugged. “Roan did say something about a meeting.”

  “He said we were first before the System cut off communication,” Hugo added. “So I guess we just wait.”

  Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait too long.

  Another door appeared, this time ten feet up in the air. As soon as it opened, a woman fell through with a startled scream. She landed on the floor face first and groaned.

  Hugo: Should we help her?

  Lucas: I don’t think we should touch Climbers we haven’t met yet. Besides, it wasn’t a big fall. I think her pride took more damage than her body.

  “Ow,” she muttered as she picked herself up and pushed the long blonde hair out of her face. I was right. The woman looked more annoyed than hurt by the fall. She also didn’t look surprised to see us and immediately began assessing our clothes and weapons while we did the same in return.

  I didn’t hold it against her. Anyone you don’t know in the Tower is a potential enemy. Though at first glance, she didn’t appear to be very remarkable. But on second thought, that made her stand out even more, given where we were.

  Attractive and in her mid-twenties, she wore dark jeans and a black leather jacket over a band t-shirt. I recognized the band, which confirmed that she could only be a fellow Climber. It was strange to wear regular clothes and carry no weapon. Were those the same clothes she’d started the climb with? That didn’t make sense. Why would somebody avoid picking up magical gear that could help them, and how had she managed to keep her clothes in such good condition through so many floors? Perhaps she had some kind of shield power?

  “You’re staring,” she noted gruffly, though her eyes gleamed like she was secretly pleased.

  “Oh, sorry,” I replied. “I guess I was trying to figure out what your Class might be.”

  “And?”

  “Force fields?”

  She smiled. “Nope.” She then pointed at each of us in turn, starting with me. “I’m guessing you’re a sword guy. You’re a crossbow guy, and you’re a… birdman?”

  “Not even close,” said Hugo.

  She corrected herself. “Bird boy then.”

  She was being jovial, but there was a slight edge to her posture. She knew that there was a possibility that we would have to fight each other. Until that happened, I figured we should keep talking to pass the time and see what we could learn. I introduced ourselves, but of course left out what our Classes were.

  “I’m Ashley,” she replied. “So what do you think we’re in for this time?”

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Knowing this place, it’ll be something dangerous and needlessly cruel,” I said.

  She shrugged. “If you say so. Personally, this place has been the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

  There was a pause as we waited for the punchline.

  “What?” she asked innocently. “Were your lives really that much better before?”

  I glanced at Damian, who was holding his crossbow so tightly that his knuckles were white. Out of all of us, he’d suffered the most in this place by losing his wife. I had to get Ashley to stop talking before her big mouth started a fight.

  Luckily, the Tower intervened for me. Four large tiles, each six feet apart from one another, suddenly turned black.

  [Please stand on one of the designated tiles]

  Hugo looked around, surprised. “Is that it? Huh, I thought there’d be more of us.”

  [More are arriving. Please step onto the tiles.]

  “Wow, someone’s insistent,” I said. The fact that these responses were coming so quickly meant that we might be able to learn more by holding back. If time was a factor for this meeting, then I was going to extort whoever was talking for information.

  Ashley started walking over to one of the tiles.

  “Wait!” I called out.

  She stepped onto the tile and a translucent barrier formed around her.

  [Thank you. Your participation has been noted]

  Was it just me, or did it sound smug? I asked myself.

  [Remaining participants have fifteen seconds to claim a tile before the rest of the floor transforms into a bottomless pit.]

  The three of us hurried to claim a tile. You can never tell when the Tower is joking or not, but it was always wiser to err on the side of it being truthful. That being said, I had no idea how a bottomless pit would even work. Maybe invisible wormholes over a set area so that it gives the illusion of being bottomless by endlessly falling through the two of them? Or maybe it was a pocket dimension that truly was bottomless? The Tower had all sorts of tricks for manipulating space.

  Speaking of, as the barriers formed around each of us, I got the feeling we were about to witness more spatial manipulation.

  The light switch was flipped again, leaving us in a black void. Only this time, the tiles we were standing on became white and illuminated us. It looked like we were stood on platforms floating in the darkness. Except this time, we weren’t alone.

  Eight other white tiles could be seen in the far distance with figures on them. Slowly, they grew larger as their tiles floated towards us. Each tile contained a Climber wearing a unique manner of dress. I didn’t recognize any of them, save for two. The Fool and Daisy. Neither of which were looking my way. It felt silly to call out to them, so I decided to wait until we’d completed whatever nonsense this floor had planned for us.

  “Welcome Climbers,” Tanver Vhar said from above.

  Another tile became illuminated up above us, except this one came with a podium. There was no microphone, but his voice was being magically projected so that we could all hear it perfectly.

  As soon as he appeared, I glanced at the other Climbers. It was interesting to see that some recognized him and some did not. Tanver Vhar. A seven-foot-tall, muscular alien with bone white skin and pure black eyes. Every time he opened his mouth, it was difficult not to stare at the razor-sharp teeth of his. He spoke like a posh British aristocrat, but those teeth and that body screamed only raw primal violence.

  He was still talking, but I could barely pay attention. Blood was rushing to my ears, and I just had one thought that I kept repeating to myself as I clenched my fists.

  You killed my friends.

  Hugo must’ve noticed something was amiss. He saw the way that I was staring at Vhar and became worried that I might do something reckless. He messaged me.

  Hugo: Not yet. Okay?

  It was just three words, but it spoke volumes. I nodded in agreement.

  Lucas: Not yet.

  “You represent some of the best this Tower iteration has to offer,” Vhar continued. “As such, you are being given some special attention today and a chance to shine.”

  “Well that sounds delightful,” an Indian woman said sarcastically. She was dressed in light forest green armor and didn’t appear to carry a weapon either. Her defiant posture suggested she was looking for a fight as she stared up at the podium.

  Vhar’s eyes flashed with anger as they settled on her. The woman felt the weight of his gaze and then looked away.

  “As I was saying,” Vhar continued. “Each of you has shown an exceptional aptitude for adapting and growing in the Tower. This floor is about proving it to the others with a special broadcast. Every Climber on the floors above you will be watching along with countless inhabited worlds.”

  They’re going to see how we fight. This floor is going to turn us into targets. At least for those of us that survive. I know Roan warned me not to, but I had to say something.

  “This doesn’t seem very original,” I said. “Directly pitting Climbers against each other is typical Tower stuff. It’s what the Officiator would’ve done.”

  I knew I was poking a bear, but if this was being broadcast, then Vhar was restricted on how he could act. I wanted to unbalance him by hurting his ego. I wasn’t here to perform for others or fight for my life as some kind of teaching moment.

  I’d hoped my comment might anger him, but to my surprise he smiled and said, “you’re not fighting each other.”

  A square glass case the size of a football field appeared in front of us. It was illuminated by a series of white floor of tiles.

  “One by one, you will go into the cage to fight a creature of my choosing. You will have five minutes to defeat the creature. If you have failed to do so before the time is up, then you will die. And before you ask, no, your domain will not serve as an escape hatch.”

  Great, tell everyone that I have a domain ability. Wait, does that mean some of the others have domain abilities?

  “And what do we get if we win?” asked the Indian woman.

  Vhar’s smile widened. “You get to proceed to the next floor with your life. Though unlike my predecessor, I’m not interested in whittling your number down to a scant few. This is your chance to show strength and inspire the other Climbers who have yet to reach your heights. The methods here might still seem harsh, but this place has always been about creating the strong through conflict.”

  I was getting really sick of hearing that line and had to say something. “Creating the strong to do what, exactly? Serve as some god’s foot soldier?”

  This time Vhar ignored me and looked straight ahead like there was an invisible camera filming him. He said, “Now to begin. The Climbers below me have been ranked using a combination of their current level, skill and fight ability. We will go from weakest to strongest, beginning with the 12th ranked Climber. Ashley, you will have five minutes as soon as you enter the chamber.”

  Ashely nodded, looking determined.

  Vhar looked back up to address the audience. “This Climber has had what can only be described as a turbulent time in the Tower. At the beginning, when she chose to handicap herself in regards to her Class, I thought she would be an early casualty. But in true Climber fashion, she found a way to adapt even if it, to this day, still leaves her weaker than she ought to be. This will be an interesting fight, so watch closely.”

  A man wearing a skintight blue super hero like suit smirked at the Indian woman next to him and said, “I bet it takes rocker Barbie more than three minutes to clear it.”

  “I bet she doesn’t make it at all,” she countered, grinning, clearly familiar with the other Climber. She looked around for others to join the conversation, but none of us found it funny. We were all focused on seeing what the monster would be and how she’d fight it.

  A swirling black portal appeared inside the chamber and a reflective metallic blob fell through and landed on the floor with a splat. There it remained inert while Ashley’s tile carried her over to the chamber. The tile docked with one of the glass walls.

  “You may take a moment to plan and prepare,” Vhar told her. “Then just simply walk on through. The timer will begin as soon as you ent—”

  Ashley ran inside before he’d finished talking and charged at the creature.