On one cloudless night, the gray tower of Hontila glistened under the beam of the full moon in the Kingdom of Flynosa. The tower was surrounded by a wide stretch of forest for all directions and only a small town surrounding the tower was the only civilization that could be seen for miles. A man cloaked in black robe traversed the maze of houses and buildings in that town, walking towards the tower’s direction.
He passed through the lawns and makeshift wooden fences the residents around the tower made for their homes. Most of the residents were in their beds and only the sound of crickets and other insects gave life and presence to the silent town. There was no light to be seen and only the moonlight beaming on the town was his only guide.
He passed the last row of houses and was greeted by the moat that encircled the tower. It was wide, around 100 meters across, with various types of river creatures living in it, dancing below the moon-lighted surface of the moat. It reflected moonlight around him and he stared at it as if in trance.
A distant memory flashed through his mind.
He stood there for a few moments reliving the emotions of that memory, and then the memory was gone again.
He crossed the only working bridge of the moat just ahead of him. There was no one guarding it like it used to, hundreds of years ago. As the times passed, the tower and the religion that supported it, got weaker until only the resident living in the free land around it took over in cleaning of the decrepit tower.
A huge untended wide space of area sprawled before the tower walls. Trees surrounded the premises and the various green untended plants thrive vigorously with no one to tend to them. Only a clear trail amongst the impassable foliage of trees and undergrowth led towards the open doorway of the tower.
The sleeping citizens of the Tower of Hontila did not notice that someone just entered the grounds of the tower they were supposed to worship and guard. Even if they were aware. they probably wouldn't care. After all, they internally knew that the tower they guarded was just a fake tower, not the one said in the legend that was the key to endless treasures.
The tower had stood through tough times of calamities and disasters. Countless conquests of various kings across the lands and ages had already perused and checked the whole tower. They never found what they seeked. Even when it was opened for the public, anyone curious and greedy for treasures had tried to check every nook and cranny of the tower. From the bottom to the top of the spiral stone staircase, only old stones worn by time could be seen. To everyone who had been there, it was simply an old tower. Sturdy enough to stand through times but was bound to topple someday. Not the tower that the legends claimed.
Even those citizens whose houses circled the tower, and whose generations of families have lived in the area had deemed that this tower was just an old, well-built tower representing their sturdy belief in the god they worship. But to the man that was currently walking in front of it, it was not just a simple tower. Because he had witnessed it before, the real secrets of this tower.
He did not stop in front of the doorway of the tower. He didn’t even go near it. He passed beside it and continued walking on, circling the tower towards its back. He stopped on one area of the wall where there were just bushes and old trees around. The wall in front of him was bereft of anything other than the smooth but jagged surface of stone blocks that composed this tower.
He rummaged through the satchel that he was wearing and fished out a medallion made of quartz with an intricate symbol of a tower etched on it. He pressed it on the surface of the wall and muttered some words. Not a second later, the walls opened up to reveal a new set of stairs leading below the tower.
The hooded man descended the steps with familiarity as if he had walked the stairs many times before.
The silent beings that lived in the tower for thousands of years, opened their eyes when they felt someone had just opened a passage to their home. They stared intently at the hooded man trying to figure out who he was, as he passed towards the dark eerie stairs without any hesitation. Even with the hood, it did not hamper their vision to see through the man's visage. They did not recognize him and they were sure it was the first time for the man to enter the tower, the real tower.
The hooded man did not use any light and continued walking down the steps. After some time, he finally descended into a landing. Despite how he couldn’t see anything, he still continued walking forward without a pause. He could feel the gaze directed at him but he still continued walking forward as if he knew there was something ahead of him. Ten minutes passed and he was still walking in complete darkness with no end in sight. Another hour later, the guardians of the tower gave in and a light in the distance appeared.
“Finally,” the man whispered to himself, “took them long enough.”
He continued walking toward the direction of the light at a brisk pace. He reached the area and saw a doorway that leads to a room. The doorway was covered by a transparent mesh of curtain only letting the light out and not what was inside. He looked back towards where he came from and there stood the stairs that he just descended more than an hour ago, a few meters from the doorway.
It did not ruffle him. This was better compared to the first time he walked this passage. That time, it took him more than a day.
He entered a cavernous room the size of a King’s hall. The room was well lit with various lamps affixed to the walls and ornately designed candlesticks scattered around the tables and drawers. But the biggest source of light was the huge fountain located in the center of the room where the waters in it shimmered with moonlight glow. Dozens of small water channels were connected to the fountain spanning towards the different sides of the room and vanishing through the walls. Water flowed on them as if they were mini rivers branching from the main river. Which was partly correct, the water that flowed in it came from the moat that surrounds the tower above.
The water channels intersected in a pattern similar to a spider web and in between of these water channels were elevated spaces where tables and drawers were placed. Within these tables were a cluttered mess of books, manuscripts and trinkets of materials unfamiliar to the common people.
The shelves lining the perimeter of the room contained various devices, ingredients and mechanical things that no one in the outside world had seen for hundreds or thousands of years. Anyone would feel greed lurking within them seeing these materials and stuff. These were not just some rare materials, they were magical materials that could change someone’s life.
But the hooded man just passed them as if they were worthless to him. With determined and heavy steps, he navigated the whole area of chairs and tables, hopping from one water channel to another, passing the beautiful fountain in the middle of the room and heading towards the far end of the room.
The more steps he made the more the gazes staring at him intensified but he ignored them all and continued on his way.
In one corner of the other side of the hall, stood an unassuming table with various types and sizes of books haphazardly filed over it. Some of them were open on pages with letters of languages even the guardians of this tower did not understand.
The hooded man reached the table and he rummaged through the mess of books, making the plumes and foreign looking pens around it rolled to the floor.
He fished out a metal gilded book under the pile. He checked it once if it was the correct book he was looking for. Confirming that it was, he suddenly sprinted towards the direction of where he came from. One second he was on the other side of the room and then the next he was jumping all over the tables and chairs, never caring about the mess of overturned chairs and falling materials that was caused by him. He couldn’t care as he was running from time itself.
The tower’s guardians who were watching him were confused about what he was doing. He looked like he was stealing some book but they were not worried about the act. Without their permission no one could take out any items from this tower. If he knew how to get inside the tower then he should know about this.
They were more curious about what he would do next. They had been stuck at the tower for thousands of years and anything that took them out of their boredom was a welcome thing for them.
This was what the hooded man was wagering for.
He swiftly passed a random looking shelf and took a glass figure in there without pausing. He finally arrived at the tables near the fountain and while he was crossing the last table, he swiped a necklace from it.
The guardians' gazes at him intensified when they saw what he had taken.
He knew he only had a few seconds of time.
He continued his momentum and arrived at the foot of the fountain. He took the bulging satchel on his side and dumped the prepared materials inside towards the fountain while he dumped the book, glass figure and the necklace next. Instantly, the water sucked all of the materials and the room immediately burst into commotion of sounds and alarms.
A large booming sound banged from the entrance of the hall, echoing inside the hall.
The hooded man swayed from exhaustion and fell to the floor. He couldn’t remember when was the last time he had a rest or eaten. He had been working and preparing for almost a month and he deemed it worth it. He bursted into a laugh then a second later his laugh turned into sobs. “Finally.” He mournfully whispered to himself.
Dozens of figures in different shapes and sizes burst into the room frantically. They were cloaked in various colors of robes hiding their faces to anyone who could see them. They immediately converge on the fountain trying to find out what the hooded man did to the Rantiio.
Some of the figures went to the crouched man on the floor and the others immediately assessed the mess the man had made to the tower.
“How could this happen?!” One of the figures exclaimed, holding his hand inside the Rantiio’s water to communicate with the tower forcibly.
Another figure turned to him with a furious expression,“I told you to stop the man from entering. Look what happened now!”
“It’s not like I expected him to toggle with the Rantioo right away, he had the key to the tower! Who would have thought he would do this?!”
“He’s right Nadana, he had the medallion key. We all thought he was the replacement.” a fidgeting small figure in the back said in a thin voice . “Besides, we did not expect him to use the Rantiio right away, only we can use it. Even if the Head Priest comes here and uses it, they would not be able to. What is strange is Rentiio's reaction. Look at it, it’s following whatever he instructed. You know the tower would not do something it was not meant to do.”
Before their eyes, the Rantiio fountain started to dissolve all of the materials the hooded man had dropped. It only means it was processing whatever instruction it was given. If some random thing were accidentally dropped inside, the Rantiio would spit it out instantly.
The still furious Nadana turned towards the still crouching man and bellowed, “ What did you do?! What did you order to it?!” She yanked him upward and shook him like he did not weigh anything, “ Who even are you?” she asked furiously.
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The man did not answer or uttered any words. He was letting her shake him there, above the air, his face gone with any expression. Only the leftover tear stain was a sign that he had just cried a while ago.
Before Nadan could do anything to the man, the Rantiio flashed a blinding light. The silver water in it started churning and the water was slowly being pulled from the eight main water channels that connected the Rantiio to the moat outside. It was slow at first then it gradually took up speed.
“What is it doing?” a very tall tower guardian screamed. “Why is it sucking the water? Don't tell me…” a realization appeared on his face. “From this rate, it will suck up all the water in the moat outside.”
Different degrees of horrors appeared in the faces of the tower’s guardians. The Rantiio flashed a bright light again and then the medallions that were hanging in their neck also started shining. Seconds later, information flowed through their brains. They instantly understood what was happening.
“He’s trying to kill everyone in the kingdom!” Nadana exclaimed out loud.
“Make it stop!” someone said.
They all immediately buzzed around the room trying to stop the Rantiio’s operation, even though they had no idea how to. They were only guardians, the tower operates by itself and they only assist if they were needed.
Ghonuy, the tall tower’s guardian covered in a velvet cloak deck with symbols of various animal hooves, went towards the crouched man.
“It won’t matter now,” he said to the other guardians. “The tower is following this man’s order. It won’t do it in the first place if it is deemed not the proper step to do. There is something more to this.”
Ghonuy immediately raised his hands or what looks like an equivalent of it towards the forehead of the man. His hands shined in a bright green hue and a sliver of bright green clouds of renisas flowed towards the man. The renisas wrapped the man invasively as it slithers all over his body.
The hooded man screamed as pain enveloped all over his body.
“Don’t resist it, you’ll only feel more pain if you do.” Ghonuy warned him.
“Gho-nuy s-stop!” the man pleaded, holding his throat. He felt that thousand of ants were crawling inside his body. What made it worse was that it brought a tingling chilling cold that he had never felt before.
Ghonuy was shocked that the man knew his name. Despite this, he still did not stop his Rentom scan. He even increased the intensity of the renisas to search faster.
After a few seconds, Ghonuy withdraw his renisas. He could not help staggering back from what he had discovered.
“Mariela what have you done?!” he muttered to himself.
“What about Mariela?” Nadana asked.
Rashrei, the small fidgeting tower guardian, closed her single eye. She opened it again a moment later and it was now tainted with confusion. “It’s strange but I can’t sense her soul here in the tower.”
Yellow light flashed on Rashreis body and one second later she was beside a wall on the right side of the hall. She raised her two little hands and touched both of them towards the wall. She closed her single eye again and searched thoroughly the tower for Mariela’s soul. Her eye opened with more confusion in it.
“She’s gone. She’s really gone.” she uttered.
“What do you mean she’s gone?” Nadana asked her, puzzled by Rashrei’s words.
“Yes, she’s gone.” Ghonuy replied instead. “She sacrificed her soul to send this kid back through time.” he pointed at the now unconscious man sprawled on the floor. “ The future head priest of this tower.”
A cacophony of exclamations sounded from the guardians.
“Sacrificed her soul?”
“Traveling through time?”
“Is that even possible?”
“A male Head Priest?”
A silent figure who was still standing in front of the Rantiio touched his medallion and a crackle of electricity flowed through the medallions of the other guardians. They stopped talking and looked at him.
Finally getting their attention, the figure ordered them with his raspy deep authoritative voice in their minds, “Let’s talk about the details later on. Let’s fix this first.”
They all agreed and immediately flashed again around the room. Countless instructions were given by the silent figure through their medallions. A huge amount of materials and gadgets has been taken from around the room in hopes that it would interfere with the Rantiio’s process. But whenever they dropped it into the fountain, it only spat it out. It still continued to sucked more water and the more time passes the more its sucking rate increases.
Then the silent figure fished out a stone the size of a fist, with dozens of colorful symbols in it, from inside his robe. Countless shocked gazes looked at him, baffled by his actions. But they did not stop him from sacrificing it into the fountain, even if it broke their heart seeing a powerful item getting wasted by a problem it was never meant to solve. But desperate times need desperate measures. They watched breathlessly when the item was dropped to the Rantiio hoping it would disrupt the process but to their disappointment, the Rantiio only spat it out again.
An hour later, the tower’s guardian just stood there with a pile of materials and gadgets around them doing nothing.They had tried to do everything they could think of but they were not able to disrupt the Rantiio’s process.
The hall now was lit with lights of green and blue. Symbols and lines had appeared in the floor of the hall creating elaborate diagrams of shapes and images. A rentom diagram was starting to form on the floor of the hall, countless intersecting lines now lined the whole area filling the blank spaces of the floors. There was still a huge area empty with anything but the Rantiio was slowly filling it out. In less than an hour, it will probably be completed.
The residents outside were alarmed by the sudden sound of bells clanging from the tower. They converged towards the tower and were shocked to see that the water of the moat was shining a bright silver light. But their surprise turned to worry when they saw the water level on the moat was visibly decreasing. Only half of the moat remains and by the looks of it, it was still decreasing in volume every minute that passed. The moat was one of their sources of river foods, and if it dries their lives would surely be affected.
The guardians inside were no better than them. It was not just about the Rentom diagram that could eradicate all the human beings in the kingdom, it was also the fact that their very purpose of staying in the tower for thousands of years was going to be for nothing. Even if they stopped the Rantiio, the loss of silver water had already caused them irreparable damage.
They just stared helplessly towards the Rantiio who was still consuming silver to supply its processes.
“Will this be the end of us?” Rashrei asked the other guardians while she sat on her knees looking glumly at the receding water. No one answered her.
They also knew it. They knew their lives were at stake.
While they sat and stood there with hopeless feelings, the Rantiio flashed a bright light again and the water being sucked to the Rantiio churned more faster. New more lines, symbols and shapes appeared in the rentom diagram. A new field of diagrams started to manifest above them. Many new symbols and holograms of obtuse figures and letters started to appear midair.
Noticing the new symbols, Rashrei gave a start. “What is this? This… this is a different diag-” before she could even finish her sentence a bright life flashed again and at the same time the medallion in their necks also shone. A new information flowed to their brain and their expressions turned a little bit brighter than before.
“The tower is helping us!” Nadana exclaimed, joy evident in her voice.
Despite the good news and the new instructions given by the tower. Rashrei was still puzzled by it, “Is it so weird. Eight people still have to sacrifice their soul for this. Why? This seems strange”
Her concerns had grounds too, anything with eight is always a matter of worry. for them.
“Think about it later. Assist the rentom diagram quickly, we don’t have much time.” the silent figure ordered. They then hustled around the hall picking things and putting it in the rentom diagram.
Their synchronized movements flowed through the hall and a new version of the rentom diagram was now being made by their intervention.
Almost 75% of the rentom diagram was finished and all they have to do was wait for the Rantiio to mitigate it. What they were doing was tweaking the already made diagram and changing the structures and purpose in it by adding new materials that would interfere with the whole diagram, rewriting its programs inside. . They were halfway done when suddenly, a black renisas appeared out of nowhere.
Before anyone could react, it had already entered the Rantiio.
Nothing changed for a moment then the once bright rentom diagram, tinged with green and blue light, had now been smothered with dark renisas in some areas. This dark renisas wiggled around the diagram, changing some connected lines and adding symbols to the diagram.
A look of horror and panic appeared on everyone’s faces.
The dark renisas was eliminating all the changes they had made. Worse, it was reinforcing the original diagram form.
Nadana couldn’t help buckling down on her knees while she pointed at the dark renisas. “Why is it here?! How is that even possible?”
Ghonuy was also shocked seeing it, “It should only appear when the successor is here. It already killed ours!”
Then a hopeful thought crossed Rashrei’s mind. “No, we might be wrong.” she said with a hopeful voice. “This could also mean that the successor was still alive.”
The others also realize this. If the black renisas appeared here it only means it’s trying to get to the sucessor.
“And now it’s killing it again.” the silent guardian stated to them grimly. “Don’t worry. The tower would not want the successor to die. Wait for its instructions.”
Not a second later, their medallions started to light up and new information flashed to their minds again.
The original diagram was supposed to kill all of those people living in this kingdom. The renisas of the tower might not be enough for it to really exterminate all of these people but a significant portion of them might end up getting their souls or rentom destroyed. They really did not care about the humans, but these humans may give birth to the successor. So they needed them to survive. But with their modifications a while ago, it did change the diagram according to the tower’s instructions. It would lessen the amount of death into eight people. But that was what made it strange and it did not sit well with them.
Why eight? They wanted to ask the tower but they knew it would not answer them. If it is seven or nine, then they might not be this worried. It could be thousand or ten thousand but it had to be eight.
Eight was a sacred number for them for many reasons. They felt there was more to this. They felt that they were being led on by something they did not know.
Despite their worries, they still removed the quartz medallion from their necks while all of the eight of them walked towards the eight main water channels of the Rantiio. On the eight sides of the hall, eight major controlling centers were created as parts of the rentom diagram. When everyone was in their positions they put the medallions towards the center points. They put together their hands in it and activate their renisas. Yellow and green renisas shone on the eight sides of the diagram. Their renisas converged with the diagram and the edges of the diagram turn to their own renisas’s colors. The dark renisas inside squiggle as if on guard against the new renisas in the diagram field.
Determined gazes stared intently at the dark parts of rentom diagram. They let their renisas flowed inside the parts where the dark renisas converged and tried to take over control of these sections. But contrary to their expectation, the black renisas only resisted for a moment and it started to dissipate. But before they could breathe out, the diagram that was 75% complete a while ago had now changed instantly to be near completed.
Reading the diagram gave them a shock, it had reversed their modifications, again, now it had made the diagram to its original purpose, to kill all the humans in the kingdom regardless of how many the tower could kill.
They only had a few seconds left before the rentom diagram was completed. They were tricked by the dark renisas.
With grim realization, they already know what to do. The tower had already instructed them of repercussions if ever an error occurred.
They looked at each other’s face and without hesitation bared their rentom, their very soul, towards the rentom diagram.
“If we have to sacrifice ourselves, then we have to,” Rashrei said with determination. She looked at the other seven figures with a bitter sweet smile on her face. “ If the successor is alive. Let the God of Birds guide their flight!”
“Let the God of Birds guide their flight!” the others repeated before a huge field of renisas filled the room. Intense colors of yellow and green flashed to the room, dancing in sync with the rentom diagram.
Then they all crumpled to the floor unmoving.
The diagram was completed but they had modified it with the sacrifice of their rentoms. They didn’t have to do anything anymore, the tower knew what to do next.
The water on the moat outside the tower was slowly siphoned into the tower till all anyone could see outside was the dry moat bed and the various debris and moat creatures left by the sudden loss of water.
The last of the channels’ waters were being slowly siphoned out by the Rantiio.
When the last drop was completely siphoned, the Rantiio pulsed and the tower above released a wave towards the whole land of Flynosa.
*****
The unconscious hooded man slowly woke up from where he passed out on the floor. He sat himself up slowly and checked his surroundings. He looked at the dried Rantiio and towards the crumpled figures of creatures he once knew. The diagram was completed, though it was a bit different from what he intended, he did not care. He knew it still served some of his plans.
A look of sadness passed his face and he steered his gaze away from the crumpled bodies. “Why do you all even bother?” he whispered.
He just wanted to kill all of the citizens of this kingdom. And if the tower couldn't do it, then he would do it with his own hands.
He looked at the crumpled bodies again and offered a goodbye to them.
“This world is going to end anyway. You all know that. At least now, you won’t be able to see its end.”
He stared at the door of the hall and started stumbling towards it.
“Goodbye old friend.” He said to the tower.
The tower just stood there, just like the block of stone people in the kingdom have deemed it to be. Maybe it was also a type of prophecy, that the tower of legends the people thought to be fake, had finally become one.