Aurin and Luna landed in the tower with their Minakai, Shamtile and Innogon, standing by their side. Luna reached into her bag and put on a glove with a blue gem embedded into it. Aurin recognised it as one similar to what the Zodiac Squad member he faced had worn.
“Let’s go this way,” said Aurin. “I went this way last time and it…”
The young man realised what he had just said.
“The tower changes each time you enter,” said Luna.
Aurin pressed his fingers into his temple and massaged it. “I know, I know. I’m being sloppy again, sorry.”
The duo walked forward, their Minakai in tow, and followed one of the corridors presenting itself to them. Aurin instinctively wanted to turn left, knowing that the last time he faced a similar route it led him to silver coins. Perhaps, it would again, but he knew that he could not rely on his previous experience in navigating the floor.
“Don’t forget to keep an eye out for traps,” whispered Luna, trying hard not to sound like a know-it-all.
“Right,” said Aurin, grateful for the reminder.
Aurin rounded the corner and spotted a room ahead. He cautiously approached, careful not to trigger any of the unseen traps that could be activated by simply stepping on the wrong floor tile. As he neared the room, he spotted a hunched figure rummaging around on the ground. As Aurin and Luna entered the room, the figure stood up and turned to face them.
“Good day!” smiled the young man, barely older than Aurin and Luna. He had a round face and wavy red hair. Outside of the tower, you would have presumed him to be a farmer had you met him.
“Hello,” said Luna brightly.
“Are you a tamer?” asked Aurin.
“I am indeed, yes,” said the young man. “My name is Gardner. Fancy a battle? This floor has been too quiet for my liking so far.”
Aurin started to get more excited. “Let’s do it! My name is Aurin and this is Luna.”
“Who’s going to face me? I’ve only got two Minakai, so I’d rather not lose them both and get booted from the tower. One versus one is enough.”
Luna nudged Aurin forward slightly, but he had already decided that he would be the one to fight.
“That works for me,” said the man as he raised his hand, equipped with a glove containing two green gems.
Aurin sent Shamtile to the front of the room, ready to face whatever monster Gardner was going to use.
“Ready when you are, Gardner,” he said.
“Fantastic,” smiled Gardner as he thrust his hand forward. “Let’s go, Happynut!”
One of the green gems started to glow and a Minakai appeared upon the floor in a flash of green light. It was a reddish foot-tall nut-like creature with a face and a small shoot growing from its head that split into two green leaves. It smiled a toothless smile so wide that it was hard to see its eyes.
“Attack, Happynut!” called Gardner, suddenly seeming a lot more serious.
Happynut ran and jumped in the air. It curled up like a cannonball and threw itself towards Shamtile, who leapt out of the way.
“Conjure up some sand,” ordered Aurin.
Shamtile waved his hands around and a whirlwind of sand spawned from the chessboard-patterned floor. The little reptile directed it at the Happynut and it shut its eyes even more tightly, trying to blink away the sand that had hit it in the face.
“Follow up with a rockfall,” Aurin called out.
Shamtile raised his hands up, then brought them down forcefully and a large rock appeared in the air before suddenly plummeting onto Happynut, knocking the Minakai out. Luna and Innogon jumped up and cheered.
“Oh no!” yelled Gardner as he ran to make sure his Happynut was okay.
“Did we overdo it?” asked Aurin.
“No, no,” said Gardner as his Happynut disappeared in a green glow, “Happynut will be fine. He’s in stasis for now but will be on his way back to Kyle’s ranch the second I leave the tower. A little bit of sunshine and food then he’ll be right as rain.”
Aurin reached out his hand for Gardner to shake. “It was a fun battle.”
Gardner shook it. “Albeit far too short on my part. Congratulations, Aurin. We should have a rematch someday when we both have full teams and more experience.”
“I’d enjoy that,” said Aurin sincerely.
“Say,” began Gardner, with a slightly puzzled look, “I noticed you don’t use a summoning stone or tamer glove for your Shamtile. Is there any particular reason for that?”
“I haven’t found or bought any stones yet and Shamtile is my only Minakai so it’s easy just to have him follow me.”
“You can only use three Minakai for each tower run, so I’d think about buying one if you don’t find one in the tower before that. It’ll be useful for when you expand your team. Just a little advice, my friend.”
“It’s good advice, to be honest. Thanks.”
“I’ll see you both later, perhaps in town,” said Gardner as we waved and departed.
“He seemed nice,” said Luna.
“Nicer than the Zodiac guy I ran into last time,” laughed Aurin.
He, Luna and their Minakai returned to the corridor to try a different direction. They weaved in and out of the long hallways and across the various rooms. It took less than ten minutes to cover the entire floor, but it felt a lot longer to both of them. Along the way, they battled a couple of stray Minakai and picked up a few coins, but it was otherwise as quiet as the first floor was the previous time. Luna insisted that this was normal, but not to expect the easy ride on higher floors.
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
“What’s the highest floor you’ve been to?” asked Aurin.
“The third floor,” Luna admitted, suddenly seeming shy. “I entered the tower for the first time four weeks ago and this is my fifth time in here.”
“That’s nothing to be embarrassed about. You know how my first attempt ended.”
“What’s that up ahead?” asked Luna excitedly as she pointed. “Is it what I think it is?”
Aurin squinted up the corridor to the open doorway ahead. Inside the room sat a blue egg-shaped gem, considerably larger than Aurin’s head. It was embedded in a podium of ornate gold that wrapped around it, securing it firmly in place. There was a great majesty about it, radiating importance with how prominent it was against the otherwise flat tower floor.
“Is that the elevator?” asked Aurin, also growing excited.
“Yup!” exclaimed Luna.
The quartet ran into the room and admired the beautiful stone. Aurin suspected that the orb alone would be worth thousands of ounces of gold, never mind the gold content of the stand itself.
“Has anybody ever tried to remove one of these things?” he asked with no intention of trying himself.
“I’ve never thought to ask,” said Luna, raising an eyebrow. “I don’t know if the magic of the tower would even let you.”
“How does it work?” asked Aurin. “How do we go up?”
“Hold out your hands and touch the gem,” said Luna, moving to do just that. “Don’t worry about our Minakai, they’ll follow us.”
Aurin copied her, holding out his hands. They both laid their palms on the large gem and felt themselves being pulled. The sensation was similar to the feeling of entering the tower through the vortex in the doorway, however, they could tell they were being dragged upwards rather than forwards.
The pair stood on the second floor mere seconds after touching the elevator. The room they were in looked different from the ones below. The chessboard pattern on the floor was now yellow and grey, while the walls were a dark green. Aurin was glad that it had changed, it would help him keep track of which floor he had reached once he rose higher and higher.
Once he was no longer disorientated on this new floor, Aurin led the way forward. Something about the corridors here felt darker, but he didn’t think that it was just because of the walls. There was something that made Aurin feel unsettled, but all was quiet except for the soft humming of the light from the glassless lanterns.
After navigating a few looping corridors, Aurin spotted a room ahead. He walked towards it, hoping it would hold a treasure of some kind. Sadly, for him, it was empty save for a couple of large red berries.
“Wow!” exclaimed Luna. “I was hoping to find Orna berries around here somewhere.”
“I’m glad the berries excite you so much,” laughed Aurin.
“You can joke, but they’re great for helping Minakai recover from fights once you mix them into a good meal. They work by themselves, but they can be enhanced.”
The pair walked out of a door on the other side of the room and deeper into the second floor. It only just hit Aurin how difficult it would be each time he entered the tower if the layout kept changing. One floor was bad enough to keep track of, but what about a dozen floors each new tower run?
“Egg,” said Aurin bluntly and with a large grin forming on his face.
Luna clapped her hands as Aurin ran into another room excitedly. When Aurin stepped through the doorway, he heard a click as four teal birds appeared in a flash of white light. It was a small flock of Peekan, a flying Minakai, which were neutral elementals as signified by the white light.
“Oh no,” said Aurin, realising his folly. “Shamtile!”
The earth elemental lizard ran into the room on all fours, followed by Luna and Innogon.
“Inno, it’s time to battle,” said Luna pointing towards the birds.
The Peekan split into two groups of two, one group heading for Shamtile and the other towards Innogon. Shamtile began conjuring small rocks and tried to knock birds to the ground, but they were fast. Innogon shot jets of water from his mouth, only clipping stray feathers.
“Shamtile, wait for it to get close then summon the best boulder you can!” called Aurin.
Shamtile waved its arms in anticipation as the birds dived at him. As Aurin had ordered, he summoned a boulder and the two Peekan crashed into it, bursting into light shortly after. Innogon continued to spray water jets, rolling out of the way of the birds anytime they struck, but it was clear that he was tiring.
“Distract them,” ordered Aurin.
Shamtile ran towards the remaining two Peekan and flailed around, hoping to grab their attention. When they started chasing him, Innogon was free to catch his breath for a moment. He took careful aim and shot a jet of water at one as it charged for Shamtile. It was knocked out in a watery splash and disappeared from the tower seconds later. The remaining Peekan saw that it was alone and flew out of the room, wanting to save itself, giving the quarter a resounding victory over the wild Minakai.
“Thank you,” said Luna to Aurin. “I’m not much of a battler if I’m honest.”
“I’m sorry. It was my fault for setting the trap off and summoning them in the first place,” lamented Aurin, slapping himself lightly in the face.
“That egg definitely belongs to you. You know how to handle Shamtile so well, so I’m sure a second Minakai will be easy.”
“I don’t know about handling him well, but at least this run hasn’t ended in disaster yet.”
Aurin thanked Luna and walked over to the egg. As he picked it up, Aurin noted that it was a little bigger and heavier than a football. He placed it carefully in his backpack, not wanting to damage it, but he had the suspicion that it was sturdier than your average egg. Upon putting his backpack on once again, he found himself doubting that he could carry more than half a dozen of these easily.
“Help!” called a voice from down the corridor.
“Was that Gardner?” asked Luna. “Did the final Peekan attack him?”
“I’m not sure,” said Aurin as he ran to the door.
Aurin followed the commotion and saw Gardner suddenly burst into light, now ejected from the tower. As Aurin hurried along, he heard two voices chuckling and start to talk amongst themselves.
Aurin and Luna darted around the corner and saw two individuals, a male and a female, in Zodiac Squad uniforms standing with their Minakai. The male had a green wolf cub in front of him and the female had an orange puppy dog in front of her.
“Got any eggs?” chuckled the man, tossing an egg from hand to hand. “That young lad was very kind and donated one to our cause.”
“We thought we’d give him a shortcut home,” smirked the woman.
“Shamtile, get them!” barked a furious Aurin.
“Back him up, Inno,” ordered Luna, visibly angered with a red face almost matching her hair.
The two Zodiac members were taken aback by the sudden attack. Shamtile hurled rocks at the orange dog while Innogon shot jets of water at the green wolf.
“Don’t just stand there, Heatpup!” yelled the woman.
“Do something, Petalcub,” scolded the man.
The two canines charged at Aurin and Luna’s Minakai. Shamtile continued to hurl rocks relentlessly at the orange Heatpup, utilising his earth elemental advantage against the fire elemental. Innogon’s strong jets were powerful enough to knock the green Petalcub back repeatedly even without an advantage. Both the Heatpup and Petalcub were clearly already tired from fighting Gardner and the two Minakai attacking had caught them completely off guard.
The Zodiac members yelled orders and protested vigorously, but it was to no avail. Shamtile threw a particularly large rock and Innogon shot an extra intense jet of water, both of which knocked their targets out within seconds of each other. Shortly after the Minakai burst into light, their Zodiac tamers did the same—all four were expelled from the tower.
“Good job, boys,” smiled Aurin, squatting low and patting his Minakai friends on the shoulders.
“Yes, well done,” agreed Luna, retrieving Gardner’s egg from the floor, having been dropped by the Zodiac man.
“I think we should leave to check on Gardner. I don’t want to speak for you, but I think both of our Minakai have earned a rest.”
Luna nodded. “No, you’re right. Come close to me and I’ll cast the spell.”
The young girl withdrew her Orb of Return from her pack and stood up, fixing her hairband that had gone astray in the excitement. She held the orb out in her palm and focused, willing it to return her and Aurin to the entrance.
Aurin felt himself pulled downwards, Luna alongside him, and they found themselves almost instantaneously on the grass at the tower entrance. The Zodiac members were nowhere to be seen, but Gardner was sitting on the grass a short distance from the pathway, up against a nearby tree.
“They ran into the woods,” lamented Gardner, his face filled with disappointment.
“Are you okay?” asked Luna.
“Thanks for dealing with them.”
“How did you know we dealt with them?” enquired Aurin.
“They appeared out here shortly after I did and I could see you weren’t ejected by a defeat. There was something different about how your teleportation looked.”
“What now?” asked Luna.
“We should go back to Hazelton,” said Aurin, wondering if he could come up with a better plan on how to handle the Zodiac Squad there.