Inside the Tower
The nightmarish tendril hands quickly disappeared as soon as they completed their objective. Frein found himself in the middle of a dark room. Four braziers emitted blue flames that dimly lit each corner, but the unnatural darkness absorbed any light from those sources, preventing them from illuminating the entire room.
His steps landed on solid floor submerged in unseen liquid. The curiosity to touch it lingered for a moment but was quickly dismissed. It was impossible to look at his hands in this darkness anyway. It could be water, or blood, or some other form of substance, but it didn’t really matter at this point.
Before he did anything else, Frein decided to Gather. He got nothing, but at least it only meant that the Tower was refusing him meiyal. It was evidence enough that the Nightmare influence was properly maintained.
When he tried to Mill, what he already collected responded as expected. He and Elizzel Milled as quickly as they could before reaching his dispersion limit. He barely got anything from it in the grand scheme of things, but little is better than nothing.
With a sigh, Frein started walking around, reaching one of the braziers closest to him. The moment he was within the light, the darkness pulled away slightly, revealing a pillar beside the light source and a damp wall just a few steps away. The wall led to an archway, opening to a tunnel.
He ignored it and went to the next one, only to find the same setup. A pillar and a damp wall with an archway leading to another tunnel. The two remaining braziers showed nothing different. It irked Frein. For one thing, he couldn’t remember which tunnel he came from or if the entrance had completely disappeared.
“This feels so much like a game,” he said, scratching his head.
“What about this is a game?” Elizzel asked, tugging on the Tether.
The entire situation was too deliberate. He appeared on a different land as a manifestation of himself where death wasn’t exactly a risk. He met powerful beings who could offer him rewards in exchange for completing an objective. In other words, a quest. And said quest brought him into a dungeon with a puzzle.
“If we’re on a time limit, this would be exactly just like a game.” Frein walked towards the first brazier he approached only to realize he had jinxed himself. “Is it just me or is the water higher?”
The sound was obviously different, but he couldn’t feel the water level—if it was indeed water—through his shoes. The fact that it wasn’t seeping through his footwear was enough clue to indicate that it was, in fact, not water. Thankfully, it couldn’t be blood either.
“We need to get a move on, Frein.”
The curiosity nagged at him but he pressed on just like Elizzel said, deciding to venture into the tunnel. Frein kept his left hand on the wall as his guide while he walked in the dark despite the same presence of the eerie liquid on it. It wasn’t flowing downwards, as if gravity decided that the substance should be on the wall.
Frein endured the creepy feeling and kept his right in front of him as he moved on. He also took deliberate steps, keeping his balance on his back foot in case he needed to jump away from a sudden pitfall or any other kind of trap.
Most of all, he emphasized his Siffera on his awareness and sense of hearing. He had tried on his sight first, but the darkness wasn’t natural at all, and his eyes couldn’t see even if he enhanced it.
His right hand, the one he kept in front, touched something. Another wall, wet as expected. Did I reach a dead end? Frein shuffled around, trying to reach for an opening while still maintaining his left hand attached where it was.
Finally, he bent down and reached an open space. It was wide enough for him to crawl into. A chill ran up his spine and he had to gulp down the nervousness that was stuck in his throat.
“I should’ve learned some flare or light Meiyal Arts.” Somehow, he doubted that would work anyway.
Frein quickly rummaged through his Spatiera, trying to look for any mundane light sources. He brought his mobile phone and had never tried to use it outside of the initial attempt when he first came to Brymeia. Naturally, he forgot to charge it—no, he couldn’t find any proper way to use the charger. And after he was introduced to M.O.B.I.L.E., he never had any purpose for the phone at all.
“Did I bring a flashlight?” No, he did not. And he quickly killed the small hope that he could be lucky.
A sigh escaped him. Closing and opening his eyes didn’t change a thing. It was pure darkness, and it was chipping off his sanity. The one thing he didn’t want to happen is to start imagining some horrifying things lurking within the darkness. Like a horribly disfigured zombie crawling from under his feet screaming. Frein shook his head and renewed his grip on reality. He didn’t need his own thoughts making him mad. The unknown liquid that was his constant companion was troubling enough.
Elizzel, too, was understandably silent. Frein could feel her fear through the Tether. The lack of sight made both of them more sensitive to their connection, blurring the line on who was actually feeling frightened.
It felt like a cop out, but Frein had no choice. He focused his Siffera on his courage.
Enhancing his mental state and emotions were by far the hardest things for the Art to accomplish. Making himself braver, or happier, or sadder, or angrier, or calmer, or whatever else that changed his mental condition or emotional disposition seemed to contradict the Art itself.
The only explanation he could come up with for it was that emotions and mental states weren’t something for him to own. It felt like a farfetched detail, but he really didn’t have anyone to compare with, nor was it a necessary angle to consider for Siffera. At least, not until now.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Enhancing his courage with Siffera cost him a significant chunk of meiyal. If a physical enhancement amounted to a finger, then becoming braver took an entire hand instead. But it helped ease the unwarranted chill and calm the anxiety building up from the constant darkness. Even Elizzel grabbed on it, making herself calmer.
Without words, Frein dropped to his stomach and started crawling. The liquid had risen deep enough to cover his hands and legs, but the narrow ceiling afforded some space for him to raise his head still. Whatever this substance was, he didn’t want his lips anywhere near it, not even if it smelled like nothing.
The sloshing bothered him more than the tight space. It caused too much noise for his enhanced hearing. But he couldn’t afford to stop it, he had to be aware in case something unexpected happened.
The constant thought of the ceiling suddenly dropping down and reducing him to paste lingered in his mind. The incessant sloshing confused him, making him wonder if someone else was crawling behind him or beside him. Even the uneasy thought of the liquid slowly rising added pressure to his already taxed mind.
But Frein held on and crawled, stopping every once in a while to listen. Both the silence and the noise were torture, and he was afforded no middle ground.
“How long is this going to take?” Elizzel asked, finally running impatient, her annoyance and enhanced courage blanketing the fear.
And just when Frein started to wonder himself, the ceiling that brushed against his hair suddenly vanished. He reached backwards, feeling for the sharp angle of the wall and slowly guided himself to his feet.
Light slowly appeared. It was kind enough to give Frein’s eyes time to adjust, the blue flames returning one by one. At first, he thought he had circled around when he saw four of the same braziers. Then relief washed over him when a fifth blue fire appeared in the middle of the room, hanging on a chandelier.
The unnatural darkness vanished, and the room was eventually properly illuminated. It provided Frein some reprieve. He immediately checked himself. The liquid was nowhere to be found, not even traces of it stained his clothes. He was simply dry.
Imbelia? Why?
It was the only thing that made sense for him. A flood of Imbelia that suddenly disappeared. But the Keeper’s Tower supposed to have existed even before Meiyal Arts existed—or at least, that was the impression Frein had.
The mysteries kept piling up and it was taking a toll on Frein’s curiosity. But before he could entertain the thought of figuring out how to wield the blue flames and crawling back to check if the liquid would return, a podium slowly raised from the center of the room.
There was an orb on the platform. A M.O.B.I.L.E. It shimmered to life and projected a screen.
Acknowledged: New Tower Participant
Discipline: Meiyal Arts
Unique Perks: Faunel Tether, Visitor
Challenge Activation: Analyzing… External influence detected
Considering Proposal…
“Really feels like a game.” Frein made a swiping motion in front of the screen, expecting something to change, but nothing responded to his prompts. Only until a minute later did the screen change.
Challenge Activation: Completed.
Challenges have been organized for the Participant.
Challenge Completion: 1/2
Objective: Fulfill all Challenge Completions to retrieve your desired item.
Warning:
This Challenge, including this guide, will dramatically change should you reactivate the Tower through any reason or method whatsoever. This specific environment has been prepared for you by the Keeper’s Tower with consideration to external influences namely, Su’karix, the Thousand-Year Storm.
Please choose a destination: Up / Down
“Up it is.”
The device acknowledged his response with a soothing bell, creating a wave of meiyal that rippled throughout the entire room. The four braziers stoke their flames, and runes began to form a circle. More scribbles of flaming runes descended from the brazier above and soon Frein was surrounded by a familiar sight.
“Katherine used this back on Earth!” he couldn’t help exclaim. Trepidation filled his thoughts. The assurance that he was in a state of Dream manifestation didn’t keep the anxiety away.
“What if it brings me somewhere far away and I can’t go back?” he asked, hoping Elizzel could answer. He motioned to step out, but the pillars extended into enclosed walls. It was the second time a part of the Tower had hindered him from backing away.
This time, he really attempted to leave. Not so much that he’d choose to break Su’karix’s pearl. He was still holding onto it as a last resort in case he was really brought somewhere impossibly far away.
Without waiting for a response, Frein emphasized his Siffera and delivered a fist to the enclosed wall, hoping to bulldoze out of the enclosure. His arm punched through the earth, but it didn’t break the entire wall. In fact, the wall itself gripped on his arm, preventing him from pulling away.
“I don’t think it’ll bring us anywhere else but inside the Tower, Frein,” Elizzel replied finally. “This is a transportation mechanism that most people from the Order of the Void use. I think what you saw from Katherine looked the same, but the runes are most likely entirely different.”
It was too late to churn on her words. His instincts screamed that the information was important for some reason or another, but the current situation didn’t allow him enough room to think.
The circle completed and the entire room vanished.
Frein clearly remembered the first time it happened. He blinked, and then he was in Schrodie’s Realm. No preamble, no fanfare, no cosmic tunnels or portals.
So when he was lifted rapidly to the skies, out of the stratosphere, and into the darkness, he couldn’t help but swing back and hope there was a way to return.
He found nothing. Not even Brymeia. Only a void of darkness.
“What the—”
Then land appeared.
Frein was assaulted by the stench of death and decay. He was on top of a hill, surrounded by corpses. They were arranged in a way that it cleared four distinct paths.
To his right was a bright red river, bubbling and producing heat haze on top of it. To his front was a gigantic section of a skeleton arm sticking out in the background of a burning wasteland. It rested on an entire mountain range, creating sections over the landform where it had fallen.
To his left was a canyon, a steep drop to the lava rivers below. He could see some creatures running around the riverbanks while some swam in the molten rocks. His gaze followed the flow, leading to an estuary and eventually into a sea of lava.
Noise pulled his attention behind him. There was a small, ruined outpost, surrounded by lesser Nightmares. They were all malformed humans, succumbed to the Nightmare influence but lucky enough to avoid an encounter against a Deep one.
“Looks like that’s where we’re supposed to go,” he said, trying not to panic in case Elizzel wasn’t with him.
“Where are we anyway?” she responded, much to his relief. “And why there? Didn’t Su’karix say we’ll meet Deep Nightmares?”
“Hopefully, we’re still in the Tower and this is a new floor. And we’ll still probably meet one... or maybe two, considering our Challenge Completion thing.” Frein prepared his Siffera. Now that he had a clear objective, he no longer needed to enhance his courage. With a goal in mind, his confidence shot through the roof.
“Besides, it’s the closest landmark and doesn’t look as dangerous compared to the other directions.”
“They might be lesser Nightmares, Frein, but that’s still a lot of Nightmares.”
Frein took a chance to Gather just to double check if the rules had changed. No luck there, but he quickly moved on. The faster they were done, the lesser the risk of running out of meiyal.
“At some point, we have to be strong enough to not get bothered by them.” Frein took a step and unleashed his meiyal pressure, calling the lesser Nightmares’ attention. They all snapped towards him and broke into a stampede, making the ground shake.
He smiled, taking the time to press his fists together to hype himself up. “And this is probably the most ideal situation for us to get to that point.”
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