Astolfo was having a hard time wrapping his mind around things. In just an hour of stepping on this floor, he had come across hundreds of crazed dog-like monsters that drove him to the brink of death. Even now, dozens of those repulsive abominations were staring at him through the layer of clear water. Thankfully, they weren’t dumb enough to come in while he was knocked out.

There was another thing Astolfo couldn’t wrap his mind around, and that was the extent of his injuries. While not deep, they were still many, yet he could barely make out a handful of cuts on himself. He had been unconscious, but it wasn’t longer than a few hours, how had he healed this much? The same thing had happened earlier when he had just come to this place. Thinking he couldn’t answer anything right now, Astolfo put the question in the back of his head and stood up.

The beautifully sculpted statue of the mourning angel that adorned the fountain was even more enthralling than the one he had seen upstairs. The caving on the platform that showed a grandiose staircase enticed him, but also filled him with agitation.

With a sigh, Astolfo reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. The picture of an exquisite manor revealed itself as Astolfo unfolded the paper. The grand estate that one would guess housed none less than a god was covered in a faint blue light as fireflies circled its vicinity. The house was beautiful, but Astolfo’s gaze remained on the cave behind the house. Like a blemish on a masterpiece, the dark and gaudy cave alone seemed different from the rest of the scenery.

This cave was currently Astolfo’s only hope. The single thread holding his sanity, keeping him from giving up. Astolfo once again engraved the sight the only place that looked anywhere close to an exit in his mind and pushed the rising emotions back in. He would get out of here and reunite with his family, no matter what.

With a determined grunt, Astolfo folded the page he had torn from the books upstairs and placed them back in his pocket. He filled the water back in his canteen and ate some of the fruits he had tied around his waist. Astolfo glanced around him at the disgusting canine monsters still surrounding him.

Astolfo smirked and raised his middle finger at the monsters as he descended from the fountain.

**

After a brief descend from the elegantly crafted staircase, Astolfo came across a passageway on one end while the stairs continued on another. Astolfo was torn between the choices, how would he know what kind of danger lay in both places, at the same, one of them could give him more space than the other like the difference between the first and the second floor. In the end, he decided to check out this floor too. He excused it with being tired, but his anxiety about the exit played the biggest role in the decision.

Astolfo cautiously passed through the passageway and climbed up a small opening that left him at another fountain. Though it looked similar, this fountain and the sculpture in it were unmistakably leagues above the ones he had seen earlier.

“Isn’t passing through water and that passageway inconvenient as hell?” Astolfo said as he walked out of the fountain of clear water and stepped into the heart of the place. There wasn’t much difference in this place from the ones above other than the fact that this was much more grand and intact in its structure. Though, it was much smaller than the floor above as he could see the periphery quite close by.

Astolfo first picked up a pebble and went right next to the fountain. He took in a deep breath and shot the pebble against a wall…

“…Nothing.”

It seemed there weren’t any monsters like those canines around. He stuck around the fountain for another fifteen minutes just for good measure before sighing in relief and moving towards the houses around.

The resplendent mansions were snugly packed around him. Though the space between each one was enough for entire carriages to pass through, their lofty gardens and loftier walls made it seem small. Astolfo looked around for a short while in search of monsters of any kind. Assured that there wasn’t any immediate threat, Astolfo decided to rest in the houses closest to the fountain.

He passed through imposing doors and walked by wild yet pompous gardens as he took refuge in the large mansion a couple of times the size of the Kirsche residence. Strange sculptures comprising of circles adorned the vast mansion, carpets and furniture spread everywhere giving the mansion a filled yet spacious feel. As he explored more, he once again found that other than wooden furniture and items of relative irrelevance, most daily things weren’t in the place, just like in the houses he had seen above.

Astolfo soon found the biggest room in the place with the biggest bed around. He immediately jumped on the bed and sprawled out. With the stick, he had broken off at his side and his food and water within arms reach, Astolfo smiled and made himself comfortable in his temporary abode.

“I’ll leave,” he said. “I’ll rest up and I’ll get out of here.” It seemed to him that he was getting more sentimental after his recent experience. To shake it off, he shifted his thoughts towards these ruins.

“Hmm, why is it such hard work to switch between the floors? It isn’t hard to tell that these people are separated by a class system, but it must have been bad if they went this far to keep people from switching over… And what about the missing things, it’s like most of the metallic things were taken away from here…”

As he thought over everything he had come across, Astolfo could feel his unease go away and a sense of calmness flood in. Soon, the boy slipped into a dreamless sleep.

**

“▒▒▒▒▒▒”

Noises.

“░░░░░░”

Screams.

“▓▓▓▓▓▓”

Wails of despair, calling out in indecipherable words. Voices he could not register, let alone understand, assailed Astolfo with deafening magnitudes shaking him awake. Instead of getting off the bed in a panic, he stayed down and collected himself, and made a note of his situation with closed eyes.

Though the sound was loud, it seemed to be coming from a distance, so he wasn’t in any immediate danger. He was still on the bed and his weapon and goods were where he left them. That was great.

Clutching the stick in hand, Astolfo opened his eyes. Astolfo froze up from head to toe as a fearful chill ran down his spine.

There was an eye looking down on him.

Black veins spread like webs in the rotting white sclera. The giant red iris flitted around observing him. A little below, on the wall right across him was a similarly giant mouth filled with uneven teeth.

Astolfo gulped and slowly pulled himself up. Sounds of flesh tearing reverberated through the air as more eyes and mouths popped up on the wall with every little movement he made. Astolfo made his way off of the bed while watching the newly forming eyes and mouths.

All of them were staring at him. Watching him.

Astolfo didn’t utter a word as he simply walked out of the room. With the same heavy movements he had been maintaining all this while, he closed the wooden door of the room behind him and slumped down against it.

“What in the world was that…” he said. With a deep sigh, Astolfo sipped on the water and ate some of the fruits he had on him.

“I should leave now… to the exit…” He got up and sped down the long corridor. He had planned on checking more rooms, but he was sure as hell not going to do that anymore.

Astolfo soon reached the front door of the mansion and stepped out just to be greeted by the same spine-chilling sight he had seen a while back. Eyes and mouths had appeared all over the outer walls of every single mansion on the floor, and they were all pinned on him.

“So this is why I didn’t see any monsters…”

With gritted teeth, Astolfo ignored the eyes and mouths and stepped towards the fountain. He felt it was dangerous to run and was glad he had chosen the closest house to it. Without turning back, Astolfo jumped into the passageway and started his descent down the staircase.

“I should have rested on this damn staircase.”