The stairwell stretched upward like it had no end, each step heavier than the last. Their boots scuffed against stone worn smooth by time and countless climbs before theirs. The air was damp, thick, with a faint, rusty, and ashen taste.
Kaelen wiped a sleeve across his sweaty forehead, breathing like he’d been carrying the weight of a mountain on his back.
“I swear,” he muttered under his breath, glancing over the edge of the winding staircase, “we’ve been walking up these stairs for an entire day.”
His voice came low, like he was afraid to wake some sleeping beast lurking in the silence below. “Mahn… the poor guy’s gotta be terrified, all alone down there.” He raked his fingers roughly through his hair, tugging in frustration as if that would ease the gnawing guilt sitting in his che
