Right now, they were sitting in a ‘cozy’ corner booth. Well, as cozy as anything made from kaiju parts could be. The table itself was uneven, its surface polished but visibly scarred, and the bench—a mix of leathery scales and exposed bone—was the farthest thing from comfortable. Joe was busy eating, drinking, and chatting with the members of the Blanche Brigade—at least, that’s how it looked to anyone outside their factions. To the casual observer, it was just another friendly meal.
The truth, however....
Grizzle barely reached table height, perched on a booster seat, deep in conversation with Brian about alchemy. Plates that had been piled high with food earlier were now empty, but everything else was an illusion, a clever trick courtesy of Gaia.
“How’d those keys end up in a monster swan’s mouth?” Grizzle gestured to the table where the keys lay, their metallic surfaces glinting under the flickering light.
“They’re scavengers. You’d be surprised what they eat on my world.” Nick leaned back with an easy shrug.
“I’m impressed with your spell.” Robyn scanned the room before nodding toward Gaia. “Everyone here is fooled by it.”
Rose twirled one of the keys between her fingers, smirking. “What’s it called?”
“Use Your Illusion.” Gaia smiled, holding one of the keys up to the light. “It’s rather brilliant, if I do say so myself. I could stand on this table and perform a burlesque dance with this key, and no one would be the wiser.”
Dawn raised an eyebrow, catching Gaia’s attention.
“What?” Gaia asked, feigning innocence.
A mischievous smile played across Dawn’s lips. “I love how being an ex-goddess turned mortal, imprisoned in a murder tower with us commoners has really humbled you.”
Gaia laughed, her voice rich and melodic. “It always amused me when mortals acted all holier-than-thou, spouting ‘self-praise is no praise at all’ while feeding off the lies of the powerful and spreading them. It’s a timeless and universal truth.”
Her gaze swept across the room, and Joe followed it, taking in the various factions spread out across the common room. There was no sign of Andras or his loyal followers—probably licking their wounds in the green zone.
In his mind, Halcyon sighed. They’re all clinging to the illusion of what once was, simply to survive. It makes Gaia’s illusion spell much more potent.
A message from the Bruiser Battalion pinged in the alliance chat, updating them on their recent wins and losses in the battlebox, along with an overall increase in their pooled time credit.
“So when everyone looks at us, all they see is us eating and drinking like we were earlier?” Rose clinked the key on the table.
Gaia nodded, brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Anyone with a sorcery skill tree can learn a variety of illusions, but most can be seen through by ascenders with a similar level and rank or specific skills like Robyn’s.” She tapped her temple and wiggled her fingers like she was strumming an invisible instrument. “I boosted mine using Quantum Sense and thread manipulation to weave this illusion on a playback loop. It's a high mana cost, but I don’t have to constantly feed it.”
Grizzle’s eyes lit up, clearly impressed. “That’s… incredible.” He leaned closer as if trying to decipher the spellwork by sight alone.
Gaia placed the key she was holding down with the others on the table. “We should also thank our all-too-modest Ryan for the sound-dampening bubble that keeps those with eavesdropping skills from listening in.”
Ryan’s cheeks turned pink. “It’s nothing. Really.”
Joe tapped the table, leaning forward with a grin. “Alright, let’s put our heads together and figure out what these keys, letters, and symbols mean.”
“I’ve been mulling things over and thought it best to put like with like.” Brian lined up the ten keys on the table. Each one had a single letter carved into it. Whether it was some kind of system-spun universal translator or not, Joe saw them as familiar letters. Even though they came from different worlds, their meaning was crystal clear.
Joe tilted his head, reading them out loud. “So what we have is U, S, E, E, M, E, P, I, T, H.”
“What about the keys with symbols?” TJ leaned closer to the table to inspect.
“I say we focus on the letters first.” Brian stroked his goatee like a wizard mid-contemplation. “Perhaps they’ll enlighten us about the meaning of the symbol keys or the order they should go.”
“Let’s write down all the possible combinations of words.” TJ grabbed a scrap of parchment from this inventory.
Dawn arched a brow, her voice dry. “I’m no math whizz but that’s bound to be well over a hundred.”
“A hundred? Try 3,628,800 possible arrangements of ten letters, not that all of them will make sense.” Halcyon sounded delighted to share his superior knowledge and Joe decided against correcting him.
Nick spun an E key in place and spoke quietly. “We have repeat letters, E appears three times. Adjusting for the repetition it’ll be a little over 600,000 permutations.”
Joe grinned. “We could ask Poppy to help us narrow it down.”
The little kaiju avatar appeared at the sound of her name. “Poppy loves math problem. Yippee!”
“Wonderful.,” Brian nodded. He stood and motioned for Grizzle to follow. “I’ll leave you in Poppy’s capable paws. If you need my input, message me. Grizzle and I will be in the alchemy room working on the breakthrough pill.”
As Brian and Grizzle left the room, TJ turned back to the table, tapping the keys with a fingertip. “Alright, team. Let’s crack this code before Brian turns himself into a glowing, potion-powered genius.”
Poppy spun in place, her tiny figure almost a blur. “600,000! Good estimate. Nick clever at math too!”
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Nick smiled and gave a little bow. “Used to be a maths teacher in my past life.” He frowned. “Those memories are fading. I can’t recall the exact n factorial formula anymore, but teaching probability and statistics was one of my favorites.”
Poppy waved her little paw excitedly. “I do! I do! Correct answer is 604,800!”
Dawn’s eyes went wide, giving voice to what Joe was thinking. “That’s a lot, but how many of those form words that make sense?”
The others nodded, and Joe thought it would help to direct Poppy to narrow it down. She’d dropped subtle hints before, like when she sang the ducky song, so she clearly had context that could help retrieve meaningful words.
“I know you can’t give us the answer to the loot box clues, but of all the word combinations that make sense, can you give me your top ten most likely options?”
Poppy fell silent, her tail twitching in thought. Then it perked up. “That is tricky! Should take a whole minute to complete.”
Joe bit back a laugh. It would take them a whole lot longer without her.
Ryan beckoned him closer, his expression serious. “While Poppy’s busy, I need to tell you something.”
Joe leaned in, already intrigued. Ryan had mentioned something about the rare tier loot box earlier, but the sudden arrival of those fairies had derailed the conversation.
“Of course. What’s up?”
Ryan lowered his voice, glancing around like he was about to spill state secrets. “Not sure how it happened, but when I checked my inventory before we took on the screamager herd, I noticed there were two rare tier loot boxes instead of the original one.”
Joe’s brow furrowed. “Are they identical?”
Ryan nodded but didn’t look convinced. “As far as I can tell. But Brian’s advanced Identify skill would give us a definitive answer.”
Before Joe could reply, Poppy zipped into his field of vision, spinning like a hyperactive top. Her energy radiated “bursting to share” vibes.
Ryan held up a hand to stop her. “Just a moment, Poppy. I need to finish this in confidence.”
Poppy puffed out her cheeks but hovered quietly—a minor miracle.
Ryan’s voice dropped lower. “I know we’ve all been second-guessing ourselves about Scaldera and Drillmaw, especially now that Lunara didn’t need to be killed to unlock this floor. Did anyone else notice that Luna’s name is in Lunara? Do you think her death and memories somehow shaped Floor 6?”
The group fell silent. It was a lot to unpack, and the grief over Luna’s loss was etched into their faces. No one spoke right away, clearly treading carefully.
Poppy’s tail drooped, her usual sparkle dimmed. “Lovely Luna. Poppy hopes her memory live on and on and on…”
Joe’s mind drifted to what Casper had said during their last meeting about how ascender experiences shaped the tower. Luna’s death was unique. She had been killed, dying a natural death without respawning. The lich had kept her body, and Joe couldn’t help but wonder why. It had to be connected.
Poppy’s voice broke the silence, bringing them back to the present. “Here are the words most likely to be of use:
- Time
- Use
- Stem
- Muse
- Site
- Spite
- Epitome
- Meetups
- Euphemist
- Epimetheus
“Poppy likes E-P-I-T-O-M-E! It’s fun to say!” She sang the word over and over until Gaia interrupted.
“Poppy, say the last one again.” Gaia’s brow furrowed.
“Epimetheus!” Poppy chirped.
Gaia snapped her fingers, her eyes gleaming with realization. “The Titan god of afterthought and excuses. Or, as I like to call him, a lazy, lying bastard.”
“You think that’s the one?” Joe leaned forward, rearranging the keys.
“It’s the only word that uses all ten letters, and the others don’t seem relevant.” Gaia crossed her arms.
“What about ‘Time?’” Dawn interjected. “That seems pretty relevant.”
TJ nodded in agreement.
Joe played devil’s advocate, hoping to get everyone thinking. “Time is relevant, but that still leaves six letters. Poppy, is there anything useful from the remaining letters?”
Poppy shook her head. “Nothing useful!”
They spent a few minutes tossing out other likely options, batting ideas back and forth until they finally reached a consensus: “Epimetheus” was the word clue that made the most sense.
Now all they had to do was figure out how it tied to the six symbol keys.
TJ picked up one of the keys, turning it over in his hand with a grin. “This is bananas.” He held it up for everyone to see.
Joe squinted at the symbol etched onto the key. It took a second, but then it clicked. The symbol looked exactly like a golden banana. The kind that wouldn’t look out of place in a Donkey Kong game.
Halcyon laughed, his voice echoing in Joe’s mind with that familiar mix of sarcasm and amusement. “Ah yes, the legendary banana of destiny. Watch out, Joe, maybe the next clue involves hurling barrels. If you’re lucky, you might get a princess at the end. Or at least an extra life.”
Joe couldn’t help but grin, the dragon’s amusement swelling in his chest like an infectious wave. Didn’t think you were a gamer. He stopped dead in his tracks, the grin slipping. Wait… how do you know about Donkey Kong? His stomach flipped. Were they starting to share more than feelings?
TJ placed the key back on the table, drawing attention to another one with a gorilla-shaped icon etched onto it. “Does that banana go next to the big black monkey thing?”
“It’s an ape, not a monkey.” Nick adjusted his glasses. “It doesn’t have a tail.”
TJ smirked, pointing at the key. “Maybe it’s between its legs, or they forgot to etch it on.” He moved on to examine the remaining symbols, clearly unbothered by Nick’s logic. “What do you make of the rest of these? A blue spiral, some kind of red archway, a hand, and a scroll. How are they connected?”
“And what do they have to do with a titan god of excuses?” Dawn crossed her arms, mimicking Gaia’s stance.
Rose leaned in, her expression thoughtful. “The red arch looks like a Shinto temple. It’s a place of worship. Maybe that’s the connection to the god.”
Joe quickly messaged Brian for his take.
Brian: The spiral could be wind-based since the information on this floor is wind affinity dominant. And according to the Titan Hall of Fame archives, the titan on this floor is a gorilla who likes to hoard items.
Joe turned to Robyn, raising an eyebrow. “Can you see the truth of the order they should go in?”
Robyn’s face scrunched in concentration as he stared at the symbol keys. After a moment, he pointed to each key in turn with deliberate precision. Joe nodded, a smile tugging at his lips.
“How about this?” Joe rearranged the symbolic keys. “Spiral, Temple, Banana, Gorilla, Hand, Scroll.”
He mentally typed the sequence into the chat to cross-check with Brian.
Brian: I think that’s the correct order, but you won’t know for sure until you enter the floor.
Joe leaned back, shooting a look at Nick. “How do you feel about making friends with a gorilla the size of a building?”
Nick smiled. “Sounds ideal to me.”
The group huddled together, with Gaia double-checking that her illusion spell was still holding strong. They began hashing out plans for navigating the floor and deciding who would take the lead.
The hum of machinery cut through the conversation as the screens flickered to life. The Time Hacker’s familiar face appeared, his grin sharp and cheerful.
“Greetings, my dear ascenders.” His voice drew on like he had all the time in the world. “Ah, how the moments tick away, each second a tiny death…”
The screen flickered, casting eerie shadows. “But I digress. Allow me to enlighten you. The path ahead is not for the faint of heart, nor the dull of mind. A storm brews—wind, chaos, and the weight of regret…”
His grin widened, and his voice dropped to a menacing whisper. “Prepare well, ascenders, for what comes next will not simply test you. It will unmake you.”
The screen glitched, and the Time Hacker disappeared, leaving behind a chilling image in his wake.