[You Have Entered The "Death Tower"]

[Welcome To The Death Tower]

[Kill The Boss And Earn Riches]

[Congratulations For Beating The First Floor]

[Enter The Door When You're Ready For The Next Floor]

[You Will Level Up When You Enter The Door]

“What are these!” Daki flailed her fist at the blue screens. Karel immediately took out his sword and swung at the screen, after noticing no damage he jumped back hitting a wall. “Ahh!” The screens followed him, Karel knew he couldn’t win his opponent and ran straight at them. He jumped to Daki, blocking her from the incoming screens.

“Ahhh! What are you doing!” Daki yelled. “It’s okay! I’ll protect you!” He replied, with his entire body atop the woman.

“Get off me! It doesn’t attack!” She yelled and pushed Karel as hard as she could. “Get off me!” She repeated.

“I… I… There has always been something I-” Karel was kicked in his balls which caused him to get off Daki and roll around the ground with his hands on his crotch.

“What is wrong with you?! If it could kill, we would have already been dead!” Daki turned around and stared at the blue screens in front of her.

Karel shook his head and slowly lifted himself from the ground. He glanced a little at the blue screen display in front of him then stared at Daki. Seeing her red ears and shaking body, Karel knew the problem immediately. Shit! I was so pathetic! Ahhh! If I am that pathetic at death’s door, shit! Okay! She’s scared right now! Red ears, shaking arms, such obvious signs. What should I do now? Any orange juice? Shit, I have nothing!

While the two panicked from their individual situation, the door in the middle of the room glowed harder, yearning for attention.

A few awkward minutes passed, it was longer than anyone could ever ask for, but for the two, it didn’t even feel like a minute had gone by. Daki stood up first, with her arms hugged on her legs, she walked up to Karel with information in hand.

“I think we should go check that glowing door.” She said, awkwardly. Karel shook his head for a few seconds and looked behind him. He stared at Daki for a few seconds until he stood up and looked at his status screen.

“Before we go anywhere, let’s go and settle everything going on right now. So… what do we know right now.” He said. The two stiffened their bodies and tones, they sat on the ground and took a deep breath before they started.

“First, I looked at this screen and it seemed to be the different abilities we have or even humans as a whole, and at the same time, they are VERY detailed,” Karel explained.

“Did you add your “Free Stat” already?” Daki asked.

“What “Free Stat”?” Karel quoted in the air.

Daki slammed her face and chuckled, forgetting that the man in front of her wasn’t the smartest man she knew. “You can add it to your different types of stats, and it makes you grow stronger, though we are already far weaker than we were just before entering, this tower seems to have some magic that can suppress our abilities,” Daki answered.

“What?” Karel asked again out of confusion. He understood only half of what she said, but even then, no principles were ever understood.

“Ah! Just tap your strength stat by 10 and your agility stat by another 10.” She ordered Karel.

“Um… okay…” Karel did just that. “Now stand up.” Daki stood up using her hand and grabbed Karel by the arm. “Ugghh! You’re heavy you know.” She remarked.

“I never asked you to pull me up.” He said, looking in the opposite direction.

“Well, let’s go to that glowing door now,” Daki said.

She started walking toward the door and Karel followed, he tried his best to make comments as they walked, but his own embarrassment was taking over. Ahhhhh!! I’m so stupid!

“You ready?” Daki asked, rid of the nervousness the first door of the tower presented her.

“So… we will just not talk about how the door we came in from is gone?” Karel replied, changing the subject.

“Well… we were covered- by a bright- white light, that was clearly- magic,” Daki said, with a few pauses hinting at the absurdity of his question.

“But… teleportation magic doesn’t exist…” Karel replied.

“That was Faint magic, I saw one before, I know it is.” She answered with full confidence.

“So then… where does this door lead to?” Karel replied with another question.

Daki stared at the glowing door. It was a stone-arched door with a bright white light covering anything behind it. Due to the severity of the situation, Daki forgets about some simple principles.

She hurried to the back of the door and stared at the same image. It was a door connected to no walls, it was a single door in the middle of the room that goes absolutely nowhere.

“Uh…” Daki blinked her eyes twice. She accepted her mistake immediately and it made her ponder.

Karel walked past the door and to Daki. “So it was teleportation magic,” he said.

“But that can’t be possible.” She said and paused. “That magic has been lost in time.” She then paused again. Her eyes blinked and her fingernails started to fight… Daki was lost in her thoughts, she was completely flabbergasted.

“That’s what I meant,” Karel said. “Okay, okay.” He waved his arms up and down. “I know that I am not the brightest man alive, but I at least can help say some stupid things that will make sense… sometimes.” He remarked.

Karel was not the brightest man, he even said it himself. But if there was something he knew so much about that he could probably be ranked the smartest man with those sole set of information, that was the knowledge about Daki.

“But then again, we could have just been thrown into this room by someone, and that door is just a lingering type of magic that once we enter in… that person will lift our fainted bodies to the next floor.” He continued.

“I know it sounds a bit insane and weird for anyone to do that, but it makes sense right? That is the only logical answer.” He continued more.

Daki stopped her crazy mannerisms and gasped. “You’re right! Okay! Problem solved! Let’s go in the door now.” She yelled; running to the door immediately.

“Wait!” Karel yelled, worried about her fainting body just being touched by some random man. But what he was about to witness was something he would have never thought to be real.

“Ahh…” Daki disappeared through the door. Karel ran straight to the other side to look for her, yet she was not there. Another loop around, she wasn’t there. “Teleportation magic… it was real… it exists!” He yelled.

Knowing full well that it was not, in fact, some fainting magic, but was actually teleportation, if Daki was now on the other side without him, she would have immediately understood the situation.

Karel hurried with worries. He entered the door and was bombarded with more blue screens.

[Congratulations For Beating The Second Floor]

[Enter The Door When You're Ready For The Next Floor]

[You Will Level Up When You Enter The Door]

He shoved the screens away from his eyes and heard. “It’s real! Karel! Teleportation magic still exists!” She ran straight to the man and hugged him.

Karel gulped and blushed. “Uhhh… yeah! So umm… can you… uhhh…” He stuttered. “Get off me… now…” He continued.

Daki looked up at Karel’s face and froze for a second before immediately turning around to the door in the middle of an identical room. “So… setting the weird floating screens aside… I think we should go into that door again until we find Burter.”.

Karel drained his saliva and released his emotions, “Well now that you mentioned it… what magic are these floating screens?” He asked.

“Well I don’t really know, I just thought of it as some type of thing that doesn’t kill us. We really shouldn’t waste our time.” Daki answered. From the very beginning, she had tried to make sense of the situation, though any sort of thinking that could lead to an answer was never met due to her overcoming emotion.

The teleporting door was an exemption, only because “Teleportation” magic was a very popular lost magic theory, causing her mind to immediately think about it, but other than that, only one thing was in her mind. I can’t handle any more of this situation! Burter! Where are you?!

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Daki ran straight to the door, “Let’s go! We can’t waste any more time!” She yelled, entering the door afterward.

[Congratulations For Beating The Third Floor]

[Enter The Door When You're Ready For The Next Floor]

[You Will Level Up When You Enter The Door]

“Let’s go to the next one fast!” Daki said, walking fast to the door.

“Wait…” Karel said. He looked down and fidgeted his fingers.

“What is it?” She looked back smiling.

“Well… it’s just that… what if we die?” Karel replied.

Daki paused. What are you saying, idiot?! Ahhhhh!!! My heart will explode soon! I can’t! Sorry, but I can’t right now! She thought in her mind. “We won’t die okay!” She blurted out in a burst, yelling unexpectedly.

Karel was caught off guard. He looked up with his eyes welled “But still-”

“Cause you’ll protect me… right.” Her mouth stayed open, and a slow breeze of air ran down her mouth. With her eyes fixated on Karel’s, he retracted and started walking.

Karel took a strong breath in and released it violently out. “Yep! I will! You can never last outside without me.” He said and scoffed. Karel crossed his arm on her shoulder and they started to walk to the door.

Hmph, so easy. It wasn’t only him who knew the other, though this was starting to feel uncomfortable so… as they entered the door, the sweet atmosphere was brought down to the ground, smashed to bits, and exchanged with a drizzle of horror.

[Congratulations For Beating The Fourth Floor]

[Enter The Door When You're Ready For The Next Floor]

[You Will Level Up When You Enter The Door]

The two gulped at the same time. Arriving at a dark room, blinding their eyes from the sudden change of brightness. The size of the hallway; enough for a giant to walk through, brought shivers down their spine.

“Is Burter behind that carved arched door?” Karel asked. He moved much closer to Daki and pressed their arms.

“Well… we have to go in… to see,” Daki replied.

Life outside of the tower, or to be clearer, life outside of the Barren Land was not a scary experience. A person experiencing fear could only ever come from criminals or their parents yelling at them. The Barren Lands was the only thing that held monsters, it was the only thing that could ever cause fear to shiver down anyone’s body… and that was the first time they felt that fear.

Karel and Daki walked slowly to the door, eyeing the angel and demon carvings on the door. Out of the two, Karel didn’t know a lot about history, nor did Daki, but even if it was just a tiny bit, she felt a different set of fear staring upon the horned figure with sharp wings and a pointed tail.

The carvings on the door started to fly out and laugh with its mouth overlapping its face. Daki was scared, that was a fact. She tried to inch closer to Karel, though as two arms pressed couldn’t possibly get any closer, only her arms started to hug his waist and her nails scratched without her knowing.

The two took their time walking to the door, and they finally arrived. Karel, overwhelmed by the current position of Daki’s body against his, didn’t dare move any inch further from her. His fear was completely overridden with just the touch of the woman he loved. Her scratches hurt… but it’s so worth it!!!

He looked straight at the door, seeing nothing but butterflies in his mind, but what happened next was not something he would ever expect. It was only a few minutes, but it felt like a second. It ran like the wind and ended halfway through its journey. The feeling was unsatisfying and the result was bitter… but what could he do about it anymore… when everything was already over?

“Should we open it?” Daki asked, gulping afterward.

But the door didn’t need their touch, it slowly opened and released the screaming sounds of humans dying through horrible torture. The wind blew out of the opened gateway, instinctively making Karel block Daki’s body. With his arms tied around her, the wind soon stopped unexpectedly.

The door kept on going, still screaming, yet soon it stopped, and even most of the air surrounding them disappeared.

Karel stopped and slowly looked back, revealing to Daki the sight of a real… demon from the carvings of the door…

Her life flashed before her eyes, there were no incoming attacks, nor any life-threatening injuries, but at that moment, one second of a look was all it needed, she knew she was dead.

***

“Mommy…” Cried a little girl walking down the forest lost in direction.

It was the young Daki, with her life flashing before her eyes, for some reason, it was fixated on one moment… it was the time she realized… that she would be safe forever…

10-year-old Daki, after wandering to the forest out of a small rebellious phase, got lost as a result. She cried and cried, though the forest hid her screams as hard as it could.

It was a long day, but the memory was hazy. Daki kept on walking, having nowhere to go, she hugged herself tight with one arm and scratched the trees with the other.

Soon, she found a pond. It was of no help to a 10-year-old of course, but it was still a landmark, so she stayed.

Daki didn’t know her way around the forest, but she knew that being outside of it was better than anything. “I’m sorry…” She wallowed in regret at her sudden outburst.

“I didn’t mean to…” Tears fell to the pond, rippling a beautiful pattern. “I just…” She stopped talking and covered her eyes.

Soon her crying had to stop no matter what. Her stomach started to shout and her eyes were so red it made her cry just because it hurt; the vicious cycle of crying.

She endured the grumbling of her stomach, pressing it hard and laying down the ground on her arm. Night soon fell, alone in the cold dark night, a normal child would just die, her body shook from the cold.

Daki closed her eyes and breathed out with her mouth. With her fleeting mind closing its end from the cold and hunger, a rustling noise behind her got louder and louder.

“Hmmm!” Karel yelled. He jumped over the curled body of Daki and crouched. Karel took out the bread in his mouth and smushed it into her open mouth. “How can you survive without me.” He said.

“A-el!?” She said with a piece of bread in her mouth.

“Yeah, it’s me, Karel.” He replied.

Daki got up from the ground and sat. She took the bread out of her mouth, “Karel!” She yelled and hugged him. Even if her tears had already run dry, she still cried.

“How did you find me!?” She asked wallowing.

“Secret.” He answered.

“Hmmm!” She released her hug and pouted at Karel; placing the breath back in her mouth and with her barely looking at his body.

“But always remember!” He crouched lower for lowered head to see him. “As long as I’m here! There’s nothing you have to worry about!” He said smiling.

Daki stared into his eyes for a single second, but to her, it felt like an entire minute. At that moment she didn’t know what the feeling was, but soon enough it was just a simple answer, she had “Fallen In Love.”.

“Hmph! This bread tastes weird.” She said blushing. Karel looked at her red cheeks and red ears, and that was also the day Karel associated her red ears and red cheeks with the reaction when she was scared. Oh well, no one is perfect.

“Well, cause it took me so long to find you.” He answered. “Anyway, let’s go!” He stood up dragging her hand. “Your mom is worried sick you know, you have to apologize big, so let’s go get her some flowers, I found some on the way!” He said.

Daki was filled with random thoughts in her head, Karel started to look like he had butterflies surrounding his face, she didn’t know but she was hallucinating. Daki nodded her head and agreed.

The two walked back into the forest, and the rest… is history…

***

That ends today…

Oxygen is something people normally need. Though a question on how oxygen could flow inside a tower with no windows is a good question, you really shouldn’t look into it that much.

Air was stopped from pouring out of the room. Air was also stopped in a small radius surrounding the two. It was only seconds until every piece of oxygen was sucked dry by some unknown power.

Ending her flashing life, Daki just blurted out, “I love you.”

Eh. Eh. Eh. Eh. Eh. Eh. Karel repeated. Wait what?! What! Wait! What am I panicking about? Say it back! His body shook and his eyes blurred. Say it back! He opened his mouth yet nothing came out. Eh…. Daki…. Where are you…. I… His sight turned black like his eyes closed on their own. No! I need to say… I… Lo-