The final staircase was made of polished, black marble. It spiraled upwards into a darkness that seemed to swallow the light from their torches.
"This feels different," Kendra said, her voice a low growl. "The goblins were just monsters. The ghosts were sad. This… this feels angry."
"It's a test of leadership," Nox said, as they began to climb. "The first floor was a test of strength. The second, of empathy. This final floor… it's a test of will."
He knew what was coming. In his first life, this had been the hardest part.
They reached the top of the stairs and stepped out onto the roof of the school. But it was not the familiar, tar-and-gravel roof.
It was a playground.
A twisted, nightmarish version of one. The swing set was made of rusted, barbed wire. The slide was a chute of jagged, broken glass. And in the center of the playground, on a throne made from the twisted metal of a merry-go-round, sat a king.
