Floor 2: Marked

"Tsk."

Ren was again in my shadow. I did not like getting used to it. Even if I couldn't feel him, the thought of it sent invisible creepy crawlers up my skin.

"We're almost there." Ren's relaxed voice snuck behind my ears.

Focusing on steadying breaths, I moved toward the village for the last time.

The rats were in chaos. Infected ones drooling and dull eyed, taking any bite they could of their neighbors. The still sane ones using swords to cut down the mad ones. It only sealed their fates. The slime oozed and climbed limbs to reach new blood.

I gulped down my own siliva.

"Remind me why I'm the guinea pig again?"

"If the slimed rats leave you alone, then we know for sure they won't attack the others."

The red slime know their owner. He said so earlier. As long as he travels in our shadows the slime shouldn't attack.

I not so confidently speed walk down toward the Main Street. A pair of wrestling rats pile up in front of me. I freeze as the infected rat chomps down on the other's neck. It pulls back with blood and a peice of trachea falling towards its prey's chest. The red slime oozes down to feast.

A moment of barely breathing passes. The infected rat eyes me for a mere moment before charging off to the next target.

"See, all good." My shadow calls out soothingly.

I breath in, and march on. The street, the huts, the dead and dying. Blood and visera being covered and consumed by the ever growing slime piles. It was too long for comfort to reach the dome's entrance.

A blood trail with bits of red slime covered the entrance floor.

"Oh fuck me." I spat out. "I'm not crawling through that shit."

"It's the only entrance, Fern." Partially held back giggles came from Ren.

On the verge of getting beyond shower fixable levels of filth, my mind spun for an alternative. A sly smile for my expression became an odd contrast with the second floor.

"System Inventory."

The small one foot transparent box appeared before my vision. It was filled to the brim with a blanket and a small grouping of fish eggs. I yanked the blanket out, and eyed my shadow behind me, smugly.

"Seriously? The store doesn't sell blankets." My companion grumbles.

"We can use mine next time."

"I can't use your blanket in the intermission zone." He huffs out his last complaint, as I lay out the fabric.

I emerged clean, into the dome, and satisfied with myself. Only to have my face resume a less than pleasant expression by the intense smell of the enclosed space. Lurching forward the sight and smell causing what little from my insides to spill out.

"Uhh..!"

"Just think of it like a butcher shop." Ren's attempt to help leaves me scoffing and wiping at my wetted mouth.

"Stop talking." I snap. Eyes tearing away from the putrid state of the Queen. My feet following the path around and to the gate.

Her once plump body was sinking in and split open down her back and ripping down her sides. Slime was wriggling and moving, eating away at leftover flesh and unborn pups. The dome floor had a deep enough layer of blood to cause swishing liquid sounds as we moved.

We stood in front of the gate in silence. The second Ren would leave my shadow the slime would target me.

"I could just shove you through it?" He offered. I let out a sigh, and grant him a careless shrug.

"Let me open it first."

My roughened hands press lightly to the large knob less doors. A creaking and a opening to a swirling black. Just like the portal that Asule used at the start of the tower.

"Okay."

I feel nothing as my shadow splits off into another living being, but that being's precense is now so familiar. We've known each other for such a short time.

He doesn't shove me in as I expected but his hands press gently on my shoulder blades. He hesitates, unsure for once.

"What are you waiting for?" I stumble. "I'll see the whole team on floor three."

"Yeah." His voice seems chilled.

"…" I can hear the slurping sounds of slime approaching. Still my thoughts are split between panic and the one behind me.

"Ren…" It's a barely audible whisper. "I'll see you soon."

There was no guarantee the others' trips would be so smooth.

It was the quickest of movements. Ren pulled me backwards. His hands curled around my wrists. His front to my back. His breathe on my nape.

Shivers extended throughout my limbs. My body and mind fighting over conflicting instincts.

"I hate being touched Ren." What should be a snarl comes out sounding like a daring purr.

"I know." His voice husky, desperate. "I'll settle for this till next time, Artemis." He plants a bite into my shoulder.

I hitch in a breath as the bite burns. My arms struggle for a mere moment before I'm hurtled into the portal. The doors closing behind me.

Blood dribbles down from the bite mark. My stunned self grasps the wound. A system message pops up.

'WARNING: You have received a beast mark!'

'A powerful hunter has marked you as his!'

'You have received the title: Mate of Ren Panthera!'

'Mate of Ren Panthera: The great hunter has chosen you as his mate. He will know your location at all times. He will sense your current health status.'

My face twitches.

"That smug ass mother of..!"

…

POV: ???

A poor pen snaps at the sudden rage of its owner. In response a nearby snake can't help but snicker.

"He moves fast." The snake grins.

A sharp glare emits from a not amused crow.

"The deal is off the moment he breaks any tower rules."

A sadistic grin and a lick of the lips. The snake can't wait for the foolish cat to make a mistake.