Chapter 4 - Anamnesis

Gwen’s sudden squeeze had its consequences, and the two of them had tumbled back onto the bed of moss beneath them, the strain finally easing out of their bodies. Unfortunately, this meant that their limbs had given out and that they were now stuck in the awkward position of one of them piling atop the other.

Ignis had half a mind to try and struggle out of Gwen’s dead hold, uncomfortable with the slight weight pressing down on his torso and the boney horns digging into his ribs, but in the end, he could do nothing except sigh when not a single muscle would budge. ‘Guess we’re stuck like this,’ he thought, not finding it too bad of a prospect.

Because despite the lack of personal space between them and the newness of their friendship, neither of them were willing to protest each other’s closeness. Not when it was so novel and so substantial.

Gwen’s tail still shifted a bit though. “...Should I get off?” She asked him.

“I don’t know,” Ignis tried to glance down at her, to no avail. “Can you move?”

A moment of silence stretched out between them as the girl tried to shuffle off his torso.

“...No.” Was her plain reply, slightly muffled from where her cheek was pressed against his chest.

“Then don’t bother. It’s fine.” The boy tried to even his breathing, both to make it more comfortable for the girl lying listless atop him. “So, how do you know we’re in the White Tower?”

Suspicion and curiosity. Gwen could not fault him for these emotions. After all, in Ignis’ mind, there was no way that a place like this could be part of the White Tower. It was too far, too unnatural, and underground to boot. The true entrance to the gargantuan structure was miles and miles away.

But she trusted the memory. Her memory. So bereft of her actual presence, but an infinitesimal sliver of knowledge that belonged to her all the same.

“I just do,” she answered. “The call I felt from the White Tower resonates with this place as well. According to my memories, it’s an underground detachment that leads into the center spire. A shortcut, to be precise.”

“A shortcut…” Ignis echoed, sounding apprehensive and disoriented. “It’s so close to Cassius. I don’t understand how no one else could have found it.”

It certainly threw a wrench in her credibility, with how large the entrance to this colosseum was, but an almost foreign trickle of knowledge gave rise to an explanation.

“The chasm it was in – it was underneath a forest, wasn’t it?” In her haste, Gwen had nearly missed the speckles of green that rustled up above. “It was also built into the wall quite closely. Unless someone had been looking for it specifically, they would have missed it.”

“I guess that makes sense…” Ignis said reluctantly. “How did you know about it then?”

Wading through the thick mists that plagued her mind, Gwen searched for any other traces of bright, miraculous clarity. She grasped the few tendrils that led into the void and reached out as far as she could, only to receive nothing. The girl closed her eyes, swallowing back a frustrated whine.

“I didn’t,” she replied quietly. “I understand what this place is, but I don’t know how any of it is related to me.”

Ignis released a long breath, squinting against the blue light of the room. It was clear that he was contemplating something; perhaps the implications of this discovery? Gwen could not begin to guess, but as the silence grew, so too did her trepidation over his judgment.

Not wanting to disturb him any longer, she forced herself up to her knees before sitting atop the moss, which prompted Ignis to sit up too. He stayed that way, taking in all the sights with a conflicted expression before noticing Gwen had started to wince.

“Are you hurt?” He asked, shuffling closer to her.

Gwen nodded slightly, brushing her fingers over a raw patch of skin on her cheek. “I think I got injured when that lizard slammed into me,” she murmured. “When I was knocked to the ground.”

She lowered her hand as Ignis gingerly touched the sides of her head, tilting it to better view the dirt-covered cuts that marred her face. “It’s not serious from what I can see,” he told her, reaching into his shoulder satchel. “We can clean it up and dab some healing oil on it. It’ll go away in minutes.”

From his satchel, Ignis pulled out some clean cloth, a small bottle of water, and a vial of yellowish liquid. He dabbed the water onto one of the cloths and began scrubbing her wound, causing her to wince. “Just bear it for now,” the boy encouraged, taking off flakes of dirt and dust with every swipe. “Even small things like this can come back to haunt you. Trust me, I know.”

Gwen only bit her lip in response, attempting to remain staid. Her constantly furrowing brow spoke volumes of how well that was going. But apart from the pain, perhaps there was another reason why her expression looked so pensive.

Something more related to that off-hand comment of his.

“Ignis,” she said. “May I ask you a question?”

“Huh? Yeah, shoot.”

“Why- Ow!” She flinched when he scrubbed the wound a little too hard. After a quick apology, the boy got to work on dabbing her cuts with healing oil. “...Why did you go out into the Rift Valleys when you were banned from it by your father?”

It was something that had bothered her during their entire journey, though it was put on the back burner as a result of all the events that transpired. Ignis had clearly gone off on his own into these dangerous lands multiple times and had learned how to treat his wounds as well as fend for himself. He was out here so much that he had to be temporarily banned from leaving again, a notion that he obviously did not respect.

From that observation alone, Gwen was… worried about him.

His care of her wound slowed once he registered her query. “I- I told you. I’m here because I want to help you, and no ban is worth–”

“Not now. I mean before.” Gwen gently took his hand off her cheek when his ministrations finally stopped. “You’ve been to the Rift Valleys many times before now. It’s obvious. I’m just… curious as to why. From the way you’re reacting, you had no idea that anything of value would be in this direction.”

“Well, I–!” For a fraction of a second, Ignis seemed like he was about to get angry. His eyes were wide and his lips were curled back. Ready to snarl. Ready to snap.

Gwen fought back the instinctual blip of fear that erupted in her chest and was rewarded with the sight of Ignis’ shoulders slumping, his rage aborted with resignation taking its place. “...You’re not wrong. I didn’t know that there was anything out here, but that didn’t mean I… gave up on it. The prospect of something valuable being here, I mean.”

He crossed his legs, methodically picking up the medical implements he left scattered around. “I don’t really know how I can explain this to you since you didn’t grow up in Cassius,” he murmured at her. “But the town… It’s going bust. Our ancestors built the town close to the White Tower as a safe haven for travelers; specifically Explorers. But when Damocles conquered the only entranceway and Ascalon was built to surround it, no one important has been here in ages."

“And as you can imagine, that’s not great for our economy,” Ignis joked, but there was real pain behind his mirth. “My dad got into the Mayor’s Office almost as soon as everyone started heading down south instead of north-west, so he’s been trying to save this sinking ship of a town for years. Keeps trying out projects and sustainability proposals and stays up all day in his office working to find some kind of magic bullet to keep us all alive.

“Needless to say, he doesn’t have much time for a son, but– I don’t know, I want to help him? The town? This is my childhood home, Gwen. I don’t have anything else and even if I did, I don’t want to lose it.”

Gwen lowered her head, regarding him with patent calm. “So you risk life and limb and your father’s ire on desperate hopes.” She summarized plainly.

Ignis laughed shamefully. “Well, when you put it like that, I sound like an idiot–”

“Thank you.”

Two simple words, but when they echoed through the room and in his ears, Ignis snapped out of his self-deprecative spiral. He stared at the white-haired girl in front of him, who was smiling with an emotion that he couldn’t quite parse.

“What?” He croaked in confusion.

“Thank you,” Gwen repeated, reaching out to cradle his head, keeping his gaze on her. “Your recklessness saved me.”

“Uh, I don’t–”

“I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t been so selfless.” Her voice was full of sincerity, enough to make his protests die in his throat. “Someone would have found me eventually, but I wouldn’t have this sliver of memory to call my own if you weren’t yourself.”

Ignis wanted to tear his gaze away from hers. He needed distance, space, and a barrier of any kind to make this exchange easier to handle. But he was given no respite, and the rain of her heartfelt faith tasted like salvation from a drought.

Once more he laughed, this time with incredulity, because how had it come to this? “Why are you even pressing this point?” He asked, almost like a plea.

“Because you’re sad despite doing something so wonderful,” Gwen whispered with unmatched certainty. “They punished you for trying to help them, and you got hurt trying to save them, but it wasn’t for nothing and you don’t have to be sad.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“You said it yourself: Ascalon conquered the only entranceway. But think about where we are! What it means for you!”

“If we’re in an underground passageway…” He mumbled, true light finally returning to his eyes. “Then… there’s not only one entrance to the White Tower.”

“There is another,” Gwen confirmed. “Which means you did something amazing, Ignis.”

“So please… don’t be sad.”

They sat there, atop a bed of moss surrounded by lights making up for a sky they could no longer see. Her hands were cradling his face, gentle yet firm in a way that she only learned about recently, her actions reminiscent of another’s stubborn kindness. In a way, their roles had reversed, for the girl had dug deep into a moment of weakness to expose the boy’s bristling veins to the cold air. She insisted, she persisted, and she pulled out every raw hurting only to brush her lips upon it like a goodnight kiss.

It was something she absorbed, a behavior she desired to mimic. Her beating heart demanded she answers the throes of this festering care that was so unlike the guilt nurtured in her stomach.

So she spoke. And when the speaking ended, Ignis outright cackled.

“Gwen, you’re too much, do you know that?” He laughed around her hands with a warmth unmatched. “How am I supposed to do anything when you say things like that?”

“Does this mean you’re not sad anymore?” Was all she asked.

“No, no, I’m not.” He brushed her hands off his face, rising to his feet with renewed vigor. “You’re wrong by the way. I’m not the only amazing one here. You’re the whole reason we found this place, so in terms of merit, you have a place right next to me.”

Gwen didn’t quite understand what he meant by that, but seeing him smiling made her heart want to dance. “I’m glad,” she said, pushing herself onto her hooves. “And if you still have some energy left, I would like to investigate the top of those stairs.”

She pointed her staff in the direction of the stairs opposite to them, which led into parts unknown. Caught in either enthusiasm or plain tunnel vision regarding a solution to his town’s dying economy, Ignis didn’t even think of protesting.

“Alright, let’s do this!” He chirped. “You and me versus the world, Gwen! I’ll fight for you if you fight for me!”

He grabbed her by the wrist, strongly tugging her toward the stairs. Gwen began to wonder if she should have some sense of fear about her friend’s newfound zest for adventure.

‘It should be fine,’ she thought to herself as they climbed the stairs one step at a time. ‘As long as he keeps smiling like that, something must be going right.’

That's what she wholeheartedly believed.

----------------------------------------

If Gwen had to sum up the zone they found at the top of the stairs using only one word, she would have gone with ‘colossal’.

They emerged from a hole in the ground into a massive room several times larger than the colosseum they had left behind. Pillars taller than lighthouses jutted up to a sightless ceiling in regular intervals, kept within the patterned lines of concentric rings lining the floor. The entire place was kept lit by the same blue sconces that came to life in their presence, washing the whole place in an azure glow.

The sight of those repeating pillars and their intersecting patterns across the floor was dizzying but bearable. It helped that the pillars around their stairwell were made as an exception, acting almost like gates that led them forward.

“This place is like a giant forest,” Ignis commented as they walked the path together, his eyes searching for a boundary he couldn’t see. “I don’t think I ever realized how huge the White Tower would be on the inside.”

“The structure itself suggests plenty,” Gwen replied, trying to blink away the sting in her head. “However, there is a difference between seeing and experiencing, isn’t there?”

“Mom’s stories didn’t prepare me for this, I’ll tell you that much.” He glanced at her. “Do you have anything new going on in your head? A new memory?”

“Perhaps?” The echo ringing in her ears now ebbed and flowed like the tide, curling as waves do when they meet the shore. “There should be a familiarity to it, but my mind isn’t receiving any feedback.”

“So nothing new?” The boy translated.

“Nothing new.” The girl sighed.

Ignis hummed thoughtfully, his attention flitting from pillar to pillar. “I half-expected those stairs to take us all the way to Ground Zero, but I guess if they did, people would have found the other entrance by now.”

Gwen’s pointed ears perked up at the new term. “Ground Zero?”

“The first floor of the White Tower, just beyond the entrance,” Ignis explained. “Mom told me that it was a big place filled with these circles that bring anyone that steps on them to the next floor. There are supposedly dozens of them, and people set up camp around them because they want to hoard exclusive first dibs or something.”

Gwen tried to imagine what that would look like, but she could barely parse what a camp was, let alone multiples of them. “I shall take your word for it.”

“To be fair, I don’t think Mom described it very well,” Ignis said. “She was kind of tipsy when she started talking about it.”

It was on that lovely note that the path laid out for them came to an end.

Gwen looked around them, trying to find what about this particular set of rings was worth being guided towards. There were intricate grooves carved into whitish stone, made of minimal curves and mesh-knit edges. The design repeated in perfect symmetry eight more times, like a blooming flower made of dangerously sharp petals.

Something hot throbbed behind Gwen’s eyes.

“Is that a Yantra?” Ignis asked himself, crouching down to get a better look at the motif. “Weird. I thought things like these were Alayan Reasonings. What’s it doing in the White Tower?”

Due to his angle, the boy did not see Gwen pressed the heels of her palms to her eyes, her face screwed up in frustration.

“Then again, things from Alaya are supposedly older than the White Tower…” Ignis continued to mutter. “Was it always based on that? I only flipped through some passages in a book, so I don’t know what it will do. Gwen, is this something you recognize?”

He looked up, his mind blissfully at peace, only for incandescent horror to shatter it in mere moments.

Gwen was standing on the Yantra.

“Holy shit, don’t just stand on the Yantra!” He screamed.

The girl swiveled her head around, crystal clear understanding written on every line of her face. She opened her mouth to speak, to exposit the wondrous knowledge that had finally been granted to her, only for the Yantra to start glowing with blinding light.

Ignis, having gone through a roller-coaster of emotions because of this girl, now rode hard on the train of fear that sent him sprinting towards her, trying to tug her away from the unknown magic.

“Gwen, move!” He commanded when the girl wouldn’t budge. He barely noticed her shake her head as the light intensified, her expression defiant and pleased.

“No, it’s okay,” She comforted. “I know what this does now! It’s merely a–”

FWIP!

“-teleportation cir… cle…”

Gwen’s succinct clarification died in her throat as the bright glow faded away, leaving her and Ignis somewhere far different from where they had been before. The pillars had vanished, motes of firefly lights replacing the sconces that once lit their way. Vegetation grew here, twisting and winding in all kinds of colors that crept into the crevices of every imperfection. The space was wide, but it was brimming with life.

And brimming with people.

People dressed in armor and rifling through bags, armed with weapons both esoteric and common. They were gathered in groups, arranged around a set of bed rolls or pitched canvases, or even around a miniature living room if she was seeing the furniture correctly. All manner of appearances were gathered here.

And every single person within a twenty-meter radius was staring at them with shock.

The pair froze.

“...Hey, uh… kids?” One man dressed in armor piped up, slowly rising to his feet. “Were you– Umm, where did you…?”

‘Come from?’ Was the last part of the sentence he couldn’t finish.

Gwen looked at Ignis.

Ignis looked at Gwen.

Instantly, mutually, and simultaneously… their expressions morphed into panic.

Light rose up beneath their feet, and an invisible Yantra enveloped them as the teleportation sequence responded to their overwhelming desire to flee.

Everyone around them jumped to their feet. The man in armor called out to them. “Hey! Wait!”

But they were too late.

FWIP!

Hand-in-hand with an unbreakable tightness, Gwen and Ignis reappeared in the Pillar Room. They stared silently into the distance, shuffling nervously off the engraved patterns of the Yantra. A part of them expected someone to follow after them, to activate the circle, and confront them with questions. However, after a minute of tense silence, the Yantra did not light up again.

Together, they released the breath they were holding.

“...At least we’ve confirmed that we can enter the White Tower proper?” Ignis asked with an unsure grin.

“Yeah.” Gwen nodded, trying to keep her claws from breaking Ignis’ skin. “...I think we should go home now.”

“Yes. Yes, please.” Ignis nearly slumped from relief. “Let’s go home, Gwen.”

“Mhm. Let’s bring our discovery home.”