With every floor we passed, the air grew thicker, the pressure building around me, and the scent of death growing heavier as the rot burned my nose, my cuts and scrapes stinging more with every step as if the air itself was toxic.

 

The crazy thing was… I almost liked it. I could sense death all around me, but somehow I felt at home. The black marks on my skin never seemed to fade, not like before, and it started to feel like the more I felt the pressure, the more I felt the call of the abyss, the more I felt like I was home again... It was like my body was overflowing with the energy around me, channeling it, instead of fighting against it.

 

Dark smoke began faintly swirling around me, filling my eyes and changing the way I saw. For a moment everything was black void, and without even trying to I could tell I was using the techniques, all of them. It was different than actually being there though. I could still see my family, I was still walking after them, and despite not seeing it, I could feel the wall of the cave when I reached out and touched it.

 

“Siya… You need to calm down.”

 

I heard Zu whisper from behind me.

 

I placed a hand over my chest, ‘I am calm though. “I feel fine…” My heartbeat was steady, and my body wasn’t shaking. ‘I am calm… Arn’t I?’ I continued to gaze through the abyss, and before long I began to see the monsters that lurked within. Time seemed to freeze still, but we all kept moving forward as I saw the undead crawling around us in the plane of the abyss. I hated them. I was afraid, angry, and saddened, but all of those emotions were torn from me. The only thing left was the strange sense of pity that somehow felt like it wasn’t even my own.

 

A demon stared at me from across the distance and everything stopped, fading to pitch black as if I had fully entered the abyss. He had pure white skin and massive horns that spiraled from his bald head. Rather than feet, his lower legs grew out into hooves, only becoming larger closer to the ground. A strange leather and fur garment gently waved around him in the thick air. It appeared to be finely made, despite its almost barbaric style.

 

Suddenly I felt weightless and all I could do was stare back. As I looked into his eyes they glowed a brilliant red and somehow it appeared as though he was getting closer.

 

He never moved his feet, but as I stared back at him he casually dropped a massive black-stained hammer, and crossed his arms, showing his hands were stained with the same black coloring that marked our bodies, only it was even more intense… demon’s blood.

 

“Siya…” Zu’s voice echoed from behind me again. “You need to snap out of it.”

 

It suddenly felt like everyone was fading away from reality, setting up camp in a different plane of existence. I couldn’t even understand their words anymore.

 

My body froze still like I was petrified, but I felt no animosity toward me coming from the demon I was looking at. More like, he was waiting for me to do something… No… To show him something. Its face may have been a mix between an orc and a skull, but even through its bony expressionless gaze, I could draw an uncanny resemblance to the way my father looked at me during every test he had ever given. It was almost too similar. There was no killing intent, no fear, almost like it wasn’t even alive, just waiting patiently to see the outcome.

 

“Siya…” Zu groaned, saying my name louder than before as he grabbed my shoulders and held me in place. “Fine then!” He covered my eyes from behind, pulling me back.

 

I felt something drain from my body, but it felt warm. It was like the cold and darkness was being pulled right out of my eye sockets.

 

When he moved his hand away, everything was normal again. “Zu?” I turned around and immediately stepped back. The illusion magic he used had shattered, exposing his horns as He grew several feet. His height started to rival that of my brother’s as his shirt tore off and his skin changed to a pale grey that only made his scars all the more clear, rivaling only my own in severity. “Z-zu?” I said his name again, stepping back.

 

He started to breathe heavier. As he opened his mouth I could see fangs like those of a wolf. His black hair took on a purple hue and spiked out like a bush of needles. “I’m Fine…” He growled out confidently. “This much I can take.”

 

My body started to feel lighter, and my skin began to clear up, the marks fading from black to a soft grey. The pendant he had given me though… His soul stone… It swirled with a thick black mist inside the jewel that once glowed so pure.

 

My father did nothing but let out a grunt with a snarl, not even bothering to use his words, while my brother barely raised an eyebrow, letting out a heavy sigh. “If you overdo it, I’ll be sure to end you quickly,” He said bluntly before turning back around, waiting for me to do the same before he continued.

 

I felt like I was drifting between worlds, and there was little doubt in my mind that I was almost trapped in the abyss. What scared me the most about it though, was that I walked in on my own…

 

“Sis, you need to keep moving, and keep eating, here.”

 

My brother threw me another stale, dried, and salted sandwich. It hurt my teeth just to bite into it, feeling like sandpaper in my mouth, but just like before I ate it without complaining, well, without complaining out loud at least.

 

I looked up at the door, noticing the tally marks on either side. “Hey, Air. Does the tally mark the floor number? If that’s right we're on floor 33 now, right?

He casually tore down a host of vines behind him, revealing dozens more. ‘That can’t be right. This should be floor 35 at most, but there are… over 70 marks.’

 

“That's not the floor number…” Zu muttered.

 

‘Maybe it’s the number of people marking the deepest they went, like a record?’ “So… what is it?”

“The Deadman Tally,” Airsidh said softly, resting a hand on the wall, slowly tracing the marks. “Some see it as a warning, some see it as a challenge, but it’s the number of recorded deaths. It’s rare for parties to be fully wiped out, so the survivors leave a mark in place of a funeral.”

 

My whole body became flooded with chills as I slowly closed my eyes and took a deep breath hanging my head for a moment. “So we're done now right?”

 

He raised an eyebrow, sitting down on his large pack as we took a breather. “What?”

 

“I’m supposed to keep working till I’m in my grave right? Well, we’re here, so I’m done now right?”

 

He let out a small snort, smiling as he turned his head slightly.

 

“What, no lecture about staying focused this time?”

 

Leaning back, he rested his eyes for a moment. “No, that one was actually pretty funny, so I’ll let it slide.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Yeah, I liked it. I appreciate the wordplay… Besides.” He flicked his wrist without so much as opening his eyes and somehow I reacted. Before I knew it I was holding a small dagger, and a second later I was dodging an attack from a wraith, killing it with a single blow. “I think you’ve learned that lesson… Experience might not always be the best way to learn, but it certainly is the fastest.” He slowly sat up. “He Zu! You let one get past you. At least loosen up a bit. There’s no point in being so tense and nervous if you're going to screw up too.”

 

I slowly looked down at the knife in my hand, then at the floor where the magic crystal lay shattered, and finally back at my brother, who was once again perfectly relaxed, resting his eyes with a smirk as he pointed his voice back toward me.

 

“Oh no, look at that I made you work during your time off. Wow, you're putting in overtime even in your own grave? Well, since you're already working you might as well keep it up. While your at it go ahead and dig yourself back out. It’s rude to try and cram yourself in someone else's grave and call it yours you know.”

 

Flipping around the knife in my hand I quickly put it back in its sheath, still trying to figure out when he took it in the first place. ‘So this is what it’s like having an older brother. It’s a lot different than having an older sister but… This… It’s not so bad I think.’