14 – RUSCKAN VILLAGE – STONE TOWER

He knew that there was a problem with his way of thinking, because his mantra was not working. He wanted to just sit down, and let the worries of the world just fade away into oblivion.

But then, he reminded himself of his mission and his purpose. He summoned a knife, and looked at it. He grinned.

“Secret weapon.” He said, and then jammed the bone blade deep into his leg.

The pain crawled its way up his body, the tingling sensation of being suddenly more awake and aware making him almost moan in pleasure. He focused on the fabric of the illusory spell, and felt it weaken. He jabbed his leg again, he needed more power, more juice.

The mirror shattered, and the real was revealed behind the veil of fake and lies. A large pillar of stone loomed in the distance, majestic as it towered above the canopy and the tallest of the trees. There were holes that looked like windows, and wooden structures nested in the cracks and hanging from the various outcroppings of the irregular needle in the sky.

That was where he had to go.

The sun was slowly rising above the horizon, and even now the tip of the tall stone pillar was illuminated by the golden orange glow of the rising dawn. Inch by inch, the light traveled further down while David traveled closer and closer to the tower.

He did not encounter any more traps and illusions, and the whole forest now that it was morning looked nothing more than a normal forest.

By the time he was at the base of the pillar, it was noon and the heat from the sun was making his sweat lightly. His steps were hurried and fast, and the dry ground was easy to navigate.

He touched the cold, grey stone. The earth seemed to answer his call, and small steps appeared out of the vertical wall, inviting him to climb upwards. He gingerly took the first step, then the second and the third with more and more confidence. He destroyed the steps as he left them, and created them only as he needed them.

Even then, by the time he was halfway up he felt tired and weary, as if he had run a marathon and was not allowed even a second of rest. With the last of his mental energy, he willed for a small cave to appear in the side of the wall.

The stone melted away like water, and an opening barely big enough for him to lie down appeared. He went inside, and felt the coolness of the stone and the shade. The view from up here was amazing. In the distance, the large banks of fog shrouded the invisible marsh that was beneath them, and in the middle the forest was a carped of vibrant and dark green.

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Everything else was hidden by a distant haze, as if the world itself was nothing more than what he was seeing.

After a brief rest, during which he recuperated his mental strength, he resumed his journey up. The mountain seemed more and more willing to follow his commands the more he used his magic, and he could feel that if he kept training then one day, he would be able to upgrade his affinity even without the help of the white room.

Eventually, he reached the top. The whole flat space at the top of the pillar was hidden inside of a cloud, and the myriad of water droplets sang and danced all around. The fog was white and thick, and all the sensations coming from the water all around distracted David right when he needed to be focused the most.

“Who’s there!” A booming voice asked.

Before David could even reply, though, a large chasm opened beneath his feet. He felt that the earth, the stone, was far away from him. His control was slipping, and he was unable to form footholds to avoid falling down.

And so he fell in the dark abyss that appeared without warning. But before he could even pick up speed, he saw the clouds overhead get darker and heavier. Then a loud boom, a blinding light. He didn’t know which came first, if the light or the sound, because then he was in the white room.

Only then did he realize what happened. A lightning struck him, and killed him.

Reincarnating in 3, 2, 1…

23° Reincarnation.

>Body upgraded with: Air magic: low.

>Choose target location. Current mission; Silverscale forest.

“Current mission.” He said, and wondered just where he would appear again.

>Confirmed.

>Mission is respawn type. Complete objective to unlock new area.

Process complete. Namaste, and good luck!

Pain.

Pain pain pain pain pain.

Pain.

Darkness.

The pain lasted long, and hit hard. Never did it give him any respite, but he knew that he had died in battle, and so he thrived in the pain and took it all within himself. Let it be a fire to reforge his soul, let it be the opium with which he would get high before a hunt. Let it be the prize as well as the punishment, the happiness as well as the despair.

Let it be all that there was in the entire world.

As his thoughts took shape once again, he saw that he was in a dark place completely devoid of light. The after effects of the respawn were still lingering, they had been lingering for quite long as of late, and there were sudden flashes in his vision because of that.

His whole body was still shaking, and a new sensation pervaded everything.

The air, he could feel it.

He could feel that, apart from a bubble all around him, there was no air for several meters. He was trapped. Fortunately, the rock was once again answering his call.

He was inside the pillar, back on the ground level, but at the center of the stone formation. And he had to get out, and get back up again. Once there, he had to find a way to survive the attacks from the mage who lived at the top of this strange stone tower. Only then would he be in a position to consider killing the one who stole the crystal that defended Rusckan village.