"A lesson without pain is meaningless. That's because no one can gain without sacrificing something." — Edward Elric
---
Zeke opened his eyes to white. Not the white of a ceiling or a wall—the white of nothing. A void stretched endlessly in every direction, featureless and silent, as if the concept of distance had been stripped away and discarded.
He stood alone, the sound of his own breathing the only proof he still existed.
What trial has the Tower thrown at me?
This was supposed to be the first floor. The easiest one. The tutorial level where newbies learned the ropes.
This didn't look like a tutorial.
When he got out—if he got out—he and Anton were going to have a very long, very pointed conversation about what "beginner-friendly" actually meant.
"Zero?" His voice fell flat into the void, absorbed without even the courtesy of an echo.
Silence answered him. Not the comfortable silence of an empty room, but the oppressive, suffocating silence of complete absence.
