Ginevra and I swiftly retreat from beneath the gaping chasm that has formed after the complete collapse of the staircase—a structure that once connected the ground floor to the highest levels of the dormitory, spanning over thirty floors. My sword's upper half remains lodged in the wall, while its hilt—snapped from the blade during the desperate rescue attempt—lies discarded among the rubble.
We were convinced that, after witnessing our leap—and our survival—many other familiars from the upper floors would follow our example... but that wasn't the case. Only a handful dared to throw themselves down, desperate to escape certain death at the claws of those small winged demons. As for the others—especially those who jumped from floors even higher than ours...
...God... I can't even look... Their bodies hit the ground with a sickening thud, flesh and bones shattering on impact—their blood and viscera splattering onto me and Ginevra, leaving us frozen in sheer horror.
