[FLOOR 15 — UNLOCKED]
[SIDE STORY FLOOR ACTIVE]
[ENTER FLOOR 15? Y/N]
[WARNING: DEATH IS PERMANENT]
James selected yes.
The white light came up fast.
Floor 15 did not open with the Dark Knight.
The light faded around them, and muddy ground settled beneath James's boots. He smelled damp earth first, then old smoke, then something sour beneath it that reminded him of the shrine.
They were standing on a road at the edge of a village.
James knew where he was before he finished turning his head because it was the same road, the same houses, and the same hill with the shrine at the top, but everything had been changed just enough to make recognition feel wrong.
The road had been wet the last time. Now it was dry and cracked, with deep lines running through the mud like something underneath had pulled the moisture out of it. The houses stood open on both sides of the road, doors hanging inward, windows dark, interiors too still.
