The road out of the Lower Gate settlement did not lead immediately back to Floor Eleven.That was the first problem.According to the current Association map, the eastern road should have reconnected with the standard progression route after twenty minutes. Daniel had verified the distance twice before they left. Noah had confirmed the same thing through the weak Watcher channel.Forty minutes later, the six were still walking through an empty stone corridor.No intersection.No transfer marker.No Floor Eleven gate.Kieran stopped.Kieran: We have officially been lied to by geography.Daniel checked the map again.Daniel: The current route is displaced.Kieran: Better wording. Same betrayal.Leonard looked at Ethan.Not for an answer.For comparison.Ethan opened the old Original Reality route record they had copied from the Lower Gate archive.Historical line.Current line.They did not match.Ethan: Original Reality used a continuity bypass here.Mara: EAT?Ethan: No. Post-Reality

The road beyond the second fork descended. Not toward a lower numbered floor. Toward an older layer beneath the standard progression route. Daniel made everyone repeat that distinction after Kieran announced they were "going backward to Floor Negative One." Kieran: It was a joke. Daniel: Jokes become labels. Kieran: Elias would hate how powerful you became. Ethan: Elias would probably agree with him. The path widened into ancient stone. Old lamps. Moss. Water channels. No current monsters. The eight-point Last Dawn marker appeared every few hundred meters. Each one carried a different tiny symbol beneath it. A sword. Bow. Book.