The stairwell curved upward, and every step made the air worse.
It wasn't just warm, it was suffocating, like stepping into a room that hadn't been aired out in years., wet, heavy, and sour. The walls sweated filth, moss clung to every surface, slick and dark. Something else mixed in too. Not just rot, but mold, decay, something that used to be alive and didn't stop breathing when it should've.
Chains walked ahead. Her boots splashed through shallow puddles; shoulders tight. She didn't look back.
I followed, staying close but quiet. My hands wouldn't stop twitching. Every time the ground shifted under my feet; I had to fight the urge to stop moving, I wasn't calm, I just couldn't talk.
The tunnel opened into a round room.
There were five stone pedestals, spaced in a circle around a clogged drain in the floor. The walls were covered in mold, thick and black. A large, rusted door stood on the far end with a metal wheel in the center. Five narrow grooves ran from the door back to the pedestals.
Chains walked up first. "Symbols," she said. "Five of them. Five grooves to the door."
I stepped to one of the pedestals. The stone was wet. I wiped it clean with my sleeve and looked closer.
"Flame. Water. Lightning. Stone. Wind," I said. My voice sounded smaller than I expected.
Each pedestal had a slot under the rune. Just big enough for a hand.
I hated how clean they were.
"No instructions," Chains said.
I looked at the lines in the floor. "But it's a cycle. It has to be."
Chains glanced back at me. "You alright?"
I wanted to say no. But I nodded. "Trying."
She pressed her hand to the stone pedestal.
A low vibration passed through the floor.
Then a loud hiss.
Something opened behind us.
I turned. A slime creature rolled out of the wall. Big, fast, and shining like oil. The floor hissed where it touched.
"Wrong one," Chains said.
The thing rushed toward her.
I flinched. "Try water next."
Chains nodded and moved in. She swung the chain at it, hitting it dead center. It broke apart for a second, then pulled itself back together.
Acid sprayed from the hit. It caught her sleeve.
She gritted her teeth and pulled the chain tighter.
I ran to the water pedestal and pressed it. A blue light glowed in the floor.
Then I tried flame.
Another hiss. Another wall opened.
Chains didn't stop moving. "Still wrong?"
"Yeah. Fire after water doesn't work," I said.
She knocked the second slime back, but more acid hit her arm. This time, she ripped off the chain before it melted her skin.
"Chains are done," she muttered.
I stepped back to look at the symbols again.
"Water wears down stone," I whispered. "That has to be first. I hope."
I pressed the water pedestal again.
Then stone.
The lines glowed brighter this time.
"Wind moves debris. Wind comes next right?"
I hit the third pedestal.
The room started to feel lighter.
Then lightning, fire didn't make sense after wind.
Behind me, I heard Chains grunt. Her leg gave out. Acid had eaten through the fabric.
She didn't fall. But I saw the pain on her face.
I turned to the last pedestal. My hand shook, just a little.
"Lightning starts fires," I said.
Then I pressed the last rune.
All five lit up.
The grooves blazed white and the rusted wheel on the door began to turn.
The last slime hissed and melted into nothing.
Chains lowered her hand. The piece of chain she held was black and burned, but she didn't let it go.
I walked toward her. She was breathing hard.
I held out my hand.
She looked at it. Then at me.
She didn't take it. But she stood.
"Thanks," she said.
The door creaked open. The hallway beyond was darker than before, colder, narrower. The light didn't reach far.
We started down the path.
The grooves dimmed behind us. The stench of acid still clung to the air, but the grinding of the door drowned everything else out.
Chains didn't speak. She just adjusted the scrap of cloth wrapped around her burned arm and nodded toward the open passage.
I didn't speak either. My throat felt too tight.
We stepped forward, the sound of our footsteps swallowed almost instantly by the dark ahead.
The new corridor didn't welcome us it loomed, narrow, cold, breathless.
But neither of us hesitated.
She moved first, dragging one foot slightly from the pain. I stayed close, close enough for her to lean on me as we walked.
We walked.
Bound by what we'd already survived.
And whatever came next.