by Esperion21
Kian Pineda has died a lot. In Oakhaven, the dungeon is simple: Beat the boss.Become the boss.Lose the floor.Reset.Climb again. Every victory grants power, territory, and control over a piece of the mountain. Every defeat sends Kian back to the beginning with nothing but pain, memory, and instincts his body refuses to forget. Most climbers who win a floor claim it. Kian never does. He keeps moving. Because in the dungeon, staying still means becoming part of the thing that keeps killing you. But the deeper Kian climbs, the less the dungeon treats him like another challenger. Old gear responds when it shouldn’t.His body remembers movements he never learned.And something beneath the mountain is starting to notice. Kian has to decide how much of himself he’s willing to lose to keep climbing……and how much was already lost before he ever began.
