Chapter 149: The First Floor
The atmosphere within the Imperial encampment remained tense long after Commander Reinhardt collapsed.
Healers surrounded the unconscious commander while restoration magic illuminated the surrounding area in waves of golden light. Nearby, medical teams rushed between injured soldiers, treating wounds that varied from simple fractures to horrifying injuries that should have been fatal. Several survivors remained conscious, but their expressions disturbed Aurelion far more than their physical condition. These were elite Imperial soldiers. Veterans who had survived battlefields, monster hunts, and military campaigns throughout the continent. Yet now many stared into empty space with hollow eyes, as though portions of their souls remained trapped somewhere far away.
Fear.
Not ordinary fear.
The fear of someone whose understanding of reality had been shattered.
The sight alone silenced countless questions.
Whatever existed inside the Tower had broken men who should not have been broken.
Several hours passed before Commander Reinhardt finally regained consciousness. By then, a private chamber had been prepared inside the command headquarters. Present within the room were only a handful of individuals. The Emperor. Grand Duke Caelion. Several senior military commanders. A few trusted Archmages.
And Aurelion.
The commander sat upright upon a reinforced bed while healers monitored his condition from nearby. Although his wounds had been stabilized, exhaustion remained visible throughout his face. Dark circles surrounded his eyes. His skin appeared pale. More importantly, there was a hesitation within his gaze whenever it drifted toward the Tower visible beyond the distant windows.
The Emperor allowed several moments of silence before speaking.
"Commander Reinhardt."
The soldier immediately attempted to stand.
"Remain seated."
The Emperor’s tone left no room for argument.
Reinhardt reluctantly complied.
The room remained quiet.
Everyone understood the importance of what came next.
Humanity’s first eyewitness account.
The first genuine information regarding the Tower.
The Emperor’s gaze remained steady.
"Tell us what happened."
The commander inhaled slowly.
For several seconds, he simply stared at the floor.
Organizing his thoughts.
Reliving memories.
Eventually, he spoke.
"When we found the gate, we expected a dungeon."
His voice remained rough.
"We expected monsters. Traps. Combat."
Several military officers nodded.
That assumption seemed reasonable.
The commander laughed weakly.
"There were no monsters."
The room grew quieter.
"No monsters?"
An Archmage frowned.
"Then what was inside?"
Reinhardt looked up.
"A world."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
The words lingered within the chamber.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody interrupted.
The commander continued.
"The moment we crossed the gate, reality changed."
His expression tightened.
"The dead lands disappeared. The Tower walls disappeared. Everything disappeared."
Aurelion leaned forward slightly.
His full attention focused upon the report.
"We arrived in a field."
The commander spoke slowly.
Carefully.
As though still struggling to believe his own memories.
"A normal field."
"Green grass."
"Blue skies."
"Mountains in the distance."
"Birds."
The military officers exchanged confused glances.
That wasn’t what anyone expected.
The commander continued.
"We thought it was some kind of illusion."
"We searched for magical interference."
"We found none."
His voice grew quieter.
"Then we found a village."
The room remained silent.
"A village?"
Reinhardt nodded.
"Farmers."
"Children."
"Merchants."
"Ordinary people."
Several individuals frowned.
The description sounded absurd.
The commander noticed their disbelief.
"We spent days investigating."
"Those people were real."
"They had families."
"They had histories."
"They had religions."
"They remembered generations of ancestors."
His expression became increasingly troubled.
"They believed their world was real."
A chill spread through the room.
Aurelion felt it immediately.
This wasn’t a dungeon.
It wasn’t even a battlefield.
It was an entire civilization.
A complete world.
Contained within a single floor.
The realization stunned everyone present.
One Archmage eventually spoke.
"Could they have been created by the Tower?"
The commander shook his head.
"I don’t know."
"That’s the problem."
"They felt real."
His eyes drifted toward the distant horizon visible through the window.
"I’ve met liars."
"I’ve met actors."
"I’ve interrogated spies."
"Those people weren’t pretending."
The commander swallowed.
"They genuinely believed they were living normal lives."
Silence returned.
Several minutes passed before the Emperor spoke again.
"How long were you there?"
The question seemed simple.
The answer wasn’t.
The commander’s face darkened.
"Approximately four months."
The room froze.
Every person present stared at him.
Even Aurelion blinked.
"Four months?"
Grand Duke Caelion immediately leaned forward.
"That’s impossible."
The commander laughed bitterly.
"I know."
His voice carried exhaustion.
"We lived there for four months."
"We established camps."
"We conducted investigations."
"We explored cities."
"We studied local customs."
The Emperor frowned.
"You entered the Tower twelve days ago."
The commander slowly nodded.
"I know."
The room became deathly silent.
The implications were staggering.
Twelve days outside.
Four months inside.
Time itself operated differently within the Tower.
The revelation alone would reshape countless future decisions.
Supply management.
Military deployments.
Political planning.
Everything.
Aurelion quietly absorbed the information.
The Tower was becoming increasingly absurd.
Worlds within floors.
Different time flow.
Entire civilizations.
Every answer generated ten new mysteries.
The commander continued his report.
"Initially, everything seemed peaceful."
His expression hardened.
"Then we learned the truth."
The atmosphere shifted instantly.
Several officers straightened.
The Emperor’s gaze sharpened.
"What truth?"
The commander’s hands clenched.
"The villagers feared something."
His voice lowered.
"They called it the Calamity."
Aurelion immediately paid closer attention.
"The Calamity?"
The commander nodded.
"According to local legends, a disaster appears every generation."
"It destroys cities."
"It kills thousands."
"Then it disappears."
His expression darkened.
"We thought it was mythology."
The room already knew what came next.
They were right.
Unfortunately.
The commander continued.
"We spent weeks gathering information."
"Eventually we discovered records."
"Historical records."
"Every generation."
"Every century."
"The same disaster."
"The same destruction."
"The same pattern."
Several military officers exchanged uneasy glances.
"What was it?"
The commander’s answer came immediately.
"We never found out."
The room froze again.
"What?"
The commander laughed bitterly.
"Because it found us first."
A heavy silence settled over the chamber.
The commander’s expression twisted slightly as memories resurfaced.
"One night."
"Without warning."
"The sky changed."
His breathing grew uneven.
"The stars disappeared."
"The moon vanished."
Several individuals felt chills.
The commander continued.
"Then the attacks began."
"What attacked you?"
The question emerged from one of the Archmages.
Reinhardt remained silent for several moments.
Then he answered.
"We don’t know."
The room remained frozen.
"We never saw it."
His voice carried genuine frustration.
"Cities burned."
"Villages vanished."
"Entire armies disappeared."
His hands trembled slightly.
"We fought."
"We defended civilians."
"We organized evacuations."
"We lost people."
The commander’s gaze lowered.
"We lost many people."
The room fell silent once more.
The casualties suddenly made sense.
Not a dungeon.
Not monsters.
A disaster.
Something powerful enough to threaten an entire civilization.
The commander continued.
"For nearly two months we fought."
His voice sounded distant.
As though he were describing someone else’s memories.
"Eventually we reached the capital city of that world."
"There we discovered the truth."
Everyone waited.
"The world wasn’t endless."
Aurelion narrowed his eyes.
"What do you mean?"
The commander looked toward him.
"The horizon."
"It ended."
The room became completely silent.
"It ended?"
The commander nodded slowly.
"The world had borders."
Several individuals frowned.
"We traveled beyond mapped regions."
"We reached the edge."
His expression carried lingering disbelief.
"There was nothing there."
Aurelion felt his heartbeat increase slightly.
Nothing?
The commander continued.
"No ocean."
"No mountains."
"No sky."
"Just darkness."
Infinite darkness.
Several people visibly shivered.
The commander continued.
"Then we found the monument."
This immediately captured everyone’s attention.
"What monument?"
The commander’s face tightened.
"A giant stone pillar."
"Hundreds of meters tall."
"Covered in runes."
His voice lowered.
"There was writing."
The room leaned forward collectively.
The commander recited the words from memory.
"’Welcome, Challengers.’"
Silence.
"’Floor One Cleared.’"
The room froze.
The commander continued.
"’Proceed to Floor Two.’"
Nobody spoke.
Nobody breathed.
The implications hit everyone simultaneously.
The entire civilization.
The villages.
The cities.
The disasters.
The months spent surviving.
Everything.
It had merely been Floor One.
Just Floor One.
Of one hundred.
The realization shook the room more than any previous revelation.
Aurelion stared toward the distant Tower beyond the window.
For the first time since its appearance, he genuinely understood the scale of what humanity was facing.
Not a dungeon.
Not a tower.
A collection of worlds.
Entire worlds.
One stacked upon another.
The commander eventually continued.
"We touched the monument."
His expression grew complicated.
"The next moment we were expelled."
"Expelled?"
The commander nodded.
"Returned outside."
"Twelve days after we entered."
The room fell silent once more.
Nobody knew what to say.
Nobody knew how to process the information.
The Tower had surpassed every expectation.
Every assumption.
Every theory.
And somehow, humanity had only scratched the surface.
Aurelion remained standing near the window long after the report concluded.
His gaze fixed upon the colossal structure dominating the horizon.
The Tower stood exactly as it always had.
Silent.
Motionless.
Watching.
Yet now he understood something important.
The structure wasn’t simply a challenge.
It wasn’t simply an opportunity.
It was an entirely separate reality.
A civilization.
A universe.
Compressed into one hundred floors.
And somewhere within those countless worlds awaited mysteries capable of changing everything humanity believed about existence itself.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
For the first time in years, genuine excitement stirred within his heart.
The unknown awaited.
And eventually...
He intended to meet it personally.
[To Be Continued]
