The Charred Survivors

While walking further down the hallway, Orion, Alex, and I spotted a staircase leading downwards. With a slight nod of our heads, we agreed and started to move down, one step behind each other to prevent splitting up.

"Are we being hunted or something? What's the sense of urgency? It feels like we were just able to walk out..." I asked the two of them.

"Asoh wouldn't have attacked you. They probably can't figure out how to reach us. At least, I couldn't if I were them. This Tower is far too confusing..." Alex answered me.

It was only then that I started to slow down on the staircase, moving down what must've been thirty flights of stairs now.

"Alex... you might be right. This might be for nothing. They don't have to watch over us closely... the Tower won't ever let us leave," I said.

Orion eventually stopped, considering the idea, and smiling with a chuckle.

"I'll be damned, that's actually not a bad idea..." He said, leaning against the railing of the staircase.

"So, then what do we do? How would we logically escape?" I asked Alex and Orion, hoping for the answer.

"First things first, I think we should throw logic out of the window. The Tower might not even move in the same intervals that we first speculated. All movements might be planned or even random to keep people trapped inside and never find an escape. It can't be a maze if the rooms are constantly changing," Orion told me, tracing the railing with his finger.

"Sure, but there is a bottom to this staircase. Once we end up there, we might be able to think of something new, so let's continue," Alex said, pointing down through the metal-grated stairs and at a wooden door with a plastic-looking handle.

We eventually climbed down ten more flights of stairs and opened up the door, revealing a large forest with trees that lines the outer edge of the circular room. Near the top of the dome in the middle stood swirling birds, and right under them, a mountain peak, so steep that not even a climber could get there.

"Damn... how big is this Tower?" I mumbled.

"Look at that, newcomers!" I jumped at the loud noise coming from the ground right beneath me.

On a very small cliffside, Orion, Alex, and I stood above a group of about four people, all covered in dirt and mud, and with skinny bones that had no muscle on them.

Orion was the first to drop down in front of them, barely clearing their small fire pit and animal skins all around. He looked upon their tattered and dirty clothing and chuckled.

"Were you guys born here or something? How long have you been in this place?" Orion asked them. I didn't think it was the right way to speak to them, but I followed along behind him, only because his confidence could squeeze answers out of the weaklings in front of us.

…what am I saying?

"Who knows how many weeks it's been now... where did you guys come from?" The people asked us. I thought of it as a stupid question, looking back up from where we jumped down... only to realize that there was nothing left from where we jumped.

No doorway, no hallway... no walls... it was just gone as it had never been there in the first place.

"Oh no way... this place really is cursed then, isn't it?" Orion mumbled.

"It's like I'm forced to relive the memories I had up on The Isle..." A person in the group of four said.

Alex and I directed our eyes toward them, slowly walking over to his position.

"Hey, what does that mean? What do you mean by 'The Isle'? Do you know of a place like that?" I urgently asked, putting my hand on his shoulder.

A girl in the group, who looked younger than everybody else, threw my hand to the side and pushed me back with a stern look on her face. She had the most meat on her bones, which probably meant that she got all of the food.

"You don't touch my brother!" She screamed at me.

"We're from The Isle, I don't care about your brother at all, I want to know why he knows of that name," I told her, gaining the attention of all people around us.

"You're from The Isle as well? Tell us, did Zeal pull you off and drag you here as well? I swear, as soon as we make it out, I'm going to kill him," One of the older guys in the group told me.

"Don't lose hope yet, but Zeal has already been killed. Popped into a cloud of red dust by Illya Asterio, do you know her?" Alex told them, which caused them to celebrate a victory I wasn't expecting.

"Anything to get rid of Zeal! We've heard very little of her... did you see it happen? How do you know?" One of the younger guys in the group asked.

"We saw it happen, on The Scorched Isle. We didn't see you guys... Orion, do these people look familiar?" I asked him. Orion studied their faces closely and shook his head.

"The Scorched Isle... is that what you Pinnacle Survivors call us?" The same younger guy asked us.

"Pinnacle Survivors...? Wait a minute, what do you call yourselves? We come from The Isle, we are Arkians. What are you?" I asked out of curiosity.

"The Charred Survivors. You are Pinnacle Survivors. Are you not from The Charred Isle?" He asked, to which I shook my head.

It looked like that cleared up a lot of misconceptions to start, but another one rose up right after the clarification.

"Then... why are you here? What happened to The Pinnacle?" He asked once more.

"It was destroyed by the White Stones or something. Zeal brought you here... he turned your Isle into one big glass sheet, and there was nothing left. Our Isle was covered in lava and left for Mother Nature. Yet, we both ended up in the same place," I explained to him.