The mornings were always hardest.

He took his time again, it was already past noon but he was still lying down motionlessly on his bed. Well, it wasn't really his, but he lived here. For now. The ceiling was slowly becoming more and more familiar to him, though it might just be that he's spent too much time staring at it for the past few hours. His head ached, a dull pain that's never really left him for the past few years.

He groaned as he sat up from his bed; it always took him off guard, how easy it all could be. The pain in his head subsided, even if only slightly. He was sure it'll just come back later, maybe pouting about how none of its friends liked it very much. Well, he didn't either, so he'd be very grateful if it just fucked off to somewhere and never came back.

He took a deep breath and got up, on his feet this time. He had a nightmare again, and He found it very childish of him to be bothered by it. They were beginning to get more and more common as the days passed, and he found that fact very, very annoying. He went to his pack, only to find it missing.

Strange, he remembered leaving it by the door. Did someone come in?

He easily dismissed the thought, no matter how hopeful the idea seemed. As if. It's been a week, and yet he hasn't found even the slightest hint of someone else being around.

He put his attention back to the missing pack and spent a few more minutes looking around the room. The bed was bare, and it was rightly so. It was comfortable enough and there was no point in a blanket; the room was always somehow at just the right temperature. Though, He would admit that a blanket could do wonders for his sleeping patterns.

Still, this room was way too spartan for him. Just a bed that could either be used as a chair or a table, a floor and four walls. Complete and utter emptiness. Like that feeling in his chest. He laughed at that one.

He sighed, giving up on his search as he walked towards the elevator. He'll just find something to help carry his stuff later, or barring that, he'll just use his shirt as a make-shift bag, though the idea of washing it seemed painfully tedious.

As soon as he stepped unto the elevator, it closed with a quiet, mechanical sigh. It hummed and he could feel his own weight shift, they were probably moving upwards towards... somewhere.

He never liked how long the elevator rides were, or how quiet it could get. It made him think, and if there's one thing he knew about himself is that he didn't really have the most optimistic line of thought amongst everyone he knew. Of course, there wasn't much of them here, and in fact, there were none at all. He brushes the thought aside, nothing good will ever come out of that.

His mind lingered on the... thing from his dreams. Super-Ultra-Hyper-Mega-Deathipede sounded like a good name. It was fitting, in more ways than one. It'd definitely cut down the horror factor the next time he thought of it. He made sure to try to remember that the next time he had nightmares. Who knows, maybe he'll get hit by a frikkin' laser beam next. It's definitely better than being a living pincushion.

With a soothing ding, the elevator door hissed open. It brought him out of his thoughts for now and gave him a good enough reason to leave. As always, the place looked oddly beautiful. The streets were, as decrepit as they were, hinted of some futuristic setting he'd seen from sci-fi movies. Smooth, shiny, though there were patches of dirt, rust, moss, and plants here and there.

The plants were amazing in their own right; purples, reds, blues, yellows, and all sorts of other colors blended together in a way that made everything look so utterly alien to him. Their shape was quite familiar, it reminded him of the plants his relatives had back at their place. Everything looked... tropical. Oddly familiar, even despite all the strange colors.

The desolate buildings were titanic in scale, and yet whatever markings they had on their walls were intensely intricate. So much so that staring at it just made his head hurt. It teased him with images, patterns, and symbols that almost made sense. A face on the wall, depictions of hill, or maybe even some language he's never seen before. It all overlapped with each other in a way that made it hard to see the same thing twice, even if you were looking for it.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

It always left him frustrated. He was curious, but he knew none of it would make sense to him. He tried to make sense of it but it always ate away at his time. Probably his sanity too. Last time he tried that, he had another nightmare about being out late in the night. Ultra-Super-Hyper-Mega-Deathipede came right out of nowhere and nailed him to the wall.

"Fucking harpoons!" He shouted. They weren't really directed towards anyone, the thoughts just seemed to loud for him to keep in his head. He remebered the feeling of it digging into his skin, violently tearing him apart. The tugging at his bones, or them occasionally snapping after being pulled on too much, or just breaking under impact.

He hated those dreams.

It took a while, but he breathed out; he visualized the tension pouring out of his mouth and pulled himself together. Night, he should be careful of that. He started walking, now calmer and steadier. He needed to move. It got his mind off things, kept him invested in the moment.

He looked up and saw clouds. It was like a thick all consuming fog, that covered every single inch of the sky. There was still a bright patch of light that was almost directly above him, probably the sun. Despite the weather, it was still quite bright, and his eyes still teared up at the strain of even looking at it's general direction. He looked away and focused on the gigantic tower that pierced through clouds. The buildings around him were taller than the scyscrapers at home, but that thing was a different story altogether.

It looked old; falling apart, and yet unmistakably steady. The foundation and support still held firm and it showed, even from all the way down here. It looked... detailed. He couldn't tell the difference between the design and the damage, it looked pretty to him either way.. He wondered if it was some sort of mega-structure, it looked like it could fit cities in there.

It was THE Tower, though he just calls it whatever he can think of. Sometimes Babel, sometimes Tartarus, sometimes The Thing Pops keeps in His Pants.

He could almost imagine it beckoning him over. There was a nagging feeling in the back of his head that there was something in there. It could be important. Maybe it'll be his way out of here. Someone, or something. There could be some sort of tram station up there, just above the clouds. Perhaps even a teleporter of some sorts.

"How unscientific." He scoffed, amused by the thought. Nothing about this situation was scientific in the slightest.

There were... things that were littered all over the place. Likely machines of some sorts, though the parts didn't make sense to him. None of them looked like they would ever function again, just a collection of parts piled up together. He didn't know much about electronics and even if he did, he wasn't sure if he could make sense of any of them.

He picked up a long piece of metal that was just lying around, he still needed something to protect himself with. It'd make a good spear, if he could just sharpen the tip, or at the very least, stick a knife on it. It was little more than a long stick right now, but it was something.

He started making his way towards the east, left of the Tower. It was too far for him to reach on foot, it would probably take him months of walking before he could get even remotely close to it. And that's without any distractions. God knows there were more than enough of those around these parts.

He remembered seeing something similar to a train station of some sort. He'll probably have to look for some way to make it work, and even if he can't, he would still have a clear straight path towards to Babel.

Problem was, he'll probably get there by night fall. He woke up too late and there was still a long walk ahead of him.

Well, speedrun it is, then.

First, get a good feel of the area, somewhat done. He had enough time to get used to all of this, even if it was hard to tell the exact specifics; he didn't have a good grasp of time anymore. Sometimes, he couldn't tell the dreams from his memories, but he did have a good grasp of the surrounding area.

Second, find a route. He was still working on that. Too much RNG with all the things that kept crawling around. He'd have to make a gamble, or, barring that, find another safe house. The train station should have one, he remembered seeing the red diamond over there, though he couldn't find the elevator in time. If he could just get there before night comes

His stomach growled, pulling him out of thoughts. It made him awfully aware of how hungry he was. He sighed again as he nursed his stomach. He still had a very poor idea of what was edible so he might be in a pickle here. Still, he had to deal with it now. It's good timing though, now that he thought of it.

It was already noon, so he'll just have to make the trek tomorrow morning, as soon as he wakes up. But for now, he's decided on his objective of the day;

"Find food. Lots of it."