Chapter 34

  Vyle(II)

Cain found himself speechless, incapable of even producing a coherent thought past ‘What the hell is going on?!’. Vyle must have noticed it as well and maintained the silence, springing into reality two porcelain-white cups of tea and pouring almost water-like liquid into them, though it steamed profusely.

Silence reigned for good ten minutes before Cain snapped back into reality, warily staring at the still-smiling Vyle. The cups still steamed, appearing not to have cooled in the slightest. He subconsciously reached for one and took a sip; though it was hot, it didn’t burn, strangely enough. Rather, the feeling was similar to taking a shot of tequila, just perhaps slightly enhanced. Putting the cup down with faintly trembling fingers, he reached into the inventory and pulled out a cigarette, lighting one up in a desperate attempt to calm down.

“... what tipped you off that I stole the Timecube?” he asked after a few puffs.

“The Timecube is a rather strange Artifact,” Vyle replied with a chuckle. “Generationally one-of-a-kind, you could say. It leaves behind a particular remnant of Mana that most Lords and above can identify with a glance. You needn’t be so startled, Cain Gregory. As I’ve said, you are hardly the first one to do it. To be more precise, as I have grown somewhat fond of you against the rest, this is the third time your planet had taken the Crucible.”

“W-WHAT?!!” Cain exploded in shock, his entire body shaking violently. “T-THIRD TIME?!!”

“Yes,” Vyle remained wholly calm, a faint smile still hanging on his face. “But fret not; both other times, the beholders of the Timecube succumbed to their greed very early on. Perhaps the most shocking part to you will be... that you are the one to last the longest.”

“... what the...” Cain mumbled, reeling. For all his knowledge of the Towers, this was too much. Even if his mind could rationalize much of what it had seen and substitute it into reality over fiction, this was a pure fantasy -- the knowledge that the entire Earth had been a part of a three-time-repeating loop.

“Usually, it takes good dozen loops before a Champion emerges,” Vyle mumbled lowly, more so to himself than Cain, yet the latter still heard clearly. “Yet... you are showing the potential. You were close to succumbing to the greed yourself, though. Hearts... are often difficult to deny their wants, I’ve come to learn.”

“... are... are you telling all this... to others, as well?” Cain asked with fright.

“No,” Vyle shook his head. “I was honest with you -- they are resting. Rather, technically speaking, you are with them right now, celebrating the fact that you needn’t climb any further and that you can leave this place.”

“...”

“I only wished to have a chat with you due to personal curiosity,” Vyle continued, ignoring the further-disappearing Cain who had all but mentally checked out by now. “Your concern with your companions over the personal glory... is a rarity.”

“...” Cain took a deep breath and let it go -- all of it. There was no point in disseminating Vyle’s words, not just yet anyway. He had no means of grasping the totality of it all, and just letting it weigh him down while he could be learning so much more was pointless. “Why? Isn’t it common sense that the Towers can’t be cleaned all alone?”

“... that’s where you are wrong,” Vyle smiled even more widely, startling Cain even further. “For example... I am one of those who conquered the Crucible without anyone’s assistance.”

“... oh for the love of...”

“Rather,” Vyle added. “Most Champions... are, I’m afraid, Cain Gregory. Very few have the wherewithal to share the glory. While it is entirely possible to conquer the Crucible alone, it is no easy task. Far from it. Personally, it took me 657 years. The fastest anyone’s done it alone is 449 -- and he is a legendary figure, even amongst the Champions. Yet... every single Champion who had been accompanied by others had done it in under 100 years.”

“... why are you telling me all this?” Cain frowned and asked, realizing he was being fed almost quintessential secrets of the Towers, and he hardly felt as though he’d earned them.

“As I said, you have piqued my curiosity,” Vyle replied. “Besides, hardly anything of what I shared with you is considered secret. All of it is written within the Crucibles -- on the walls, on the tomes, within the fervent expressions of ‘bosses’ as you call them as they fall. They are all competing, just as you are -- surviving, climbing, excelling. Tell me... in your past life -- did anyone cross into the Second Strata?”

“What’s that?” Cain asked, his frown deepening.

“... ah, you are among the unlucky ones,” Vyle sighed for a moment, shaking his head. “Unfortunately, my help cannot extend that far. Many things, Cain Gregory, you will learn by yourself. What you know... is a single note within an endless symphony. You’ve let your shallow knowledge nearly cost you once -- and I am sure you have learned from it. The place you call ‘the First Floor’ alone has so many secrets... that I doubt even five hundred years into the future you’d have explored them all.”

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“... can I ask you something?” Cain probed as a question settled in his mind.

“You can. As for whether I can answer it... I cannot say.”

“... what if... what if someone else steals the Timecube and uses it while I’m still alive? Will I lose all my memories?”

“That would be unprecedented,” Vyle chuckled. “After all, so long as you live, another Timecube cannot be crafted. So, rest easy. And... take your time. Perchance, it would be nice to have one straggler Champion with companions who had taken over a century. Would make the rest of us seem less foolish for being stubborn and denying the assistance of others. Our time, I'm afraid, has run out,” Vyle said as he glanced back, somewhere beyond the veil, the place Cain had no means of seeing. “In all likelihood, we shan’t meet again... not unless you complete the Crucible.”

“Aren’t you 99th floor’s Guardian?” Cain quizzed with a frown. “Won’t I have to fight you?”

“... you already forgot,” Vyle smiled wryly. “We are not inanimate challenges, Cain Gregory. By the time you reach my current Throne... I'll either be dead or long since ascended beyond it. Don't worry about me or anyone else here; maintain the singular goal, and the same care you've shown for those around you. Farewell, Cain Gregory. I shall hope to see you again in a distant, distant future..."

Blinding light flashed in front of Cain’s eyes, one so bright he felt as though it burned through him. He felt tossed and churned through the spacetime once again, heaved through dimensions he wasn’t even aware existed. This went on for a good hour, the longest journey he’d ever experienced in-between the realities, and one that nearly had him passing out by the end. Breathing was difficult, and each breath taken felt harder than the last.

By the end, he was genuinely thinking he might not even survive. Yet, he did -- breathing became exponentially easier at some point, and the pressure entirely vanished. He opened his eyes slowly, blinking, and realized... he had no clue where he was. Startled, he looked around and noticed seven bodies were strewn about, passed out but very much alive. They likely endured similar travel to his but were unable to maintain the consciousness through it all.

After a brief inspection of standing up and walking around, he realized that Vyle -- or whatever else may it have been -- had tossed them all the way back to the entrance of the Tower, hidden in one of the surrounding dark corners. As Cain expected, there was a stream -- a sea, really -- of people going in and out, chattering and hollering and fighting.

He retreated quickly and went to wake up others slowly, one by one. Everyone was quite dizzy and disoriented for a good while, which was why Cain remained there, hidden from the sea of people streaming in, contemplating in silence while the others slowly recovered.

What he learned today... likely few, if anyone, knew in his previous run. From what he could infer, the previous ‘user’ of the Timecube did exist within his original timeline, but they died very early on. Perhaps that was the reason why there wasn’t a general outliner at the very top, someone who could ream through the floors all on their own.

There was an additional inference, however, that had his skin crawling -- Earth... was not the only place these Towers descended. While that was the suspicion all the while even in his previous timeline, he had all but confirmed it -- all these 'creatures' and 'monsters' within the Towers were likely natives of some other planet somewhere in the universe at some point in time. Will that happen to us as well? He pondered fearfully. Whether we produce a Champion or not... will the entirety of humanity be swallowed within the Tower and sent to be 'monsters' and 'creatures' for the next particular species? Jesus...

His head hurt and spun, forcing him to cease the train of thought. By now, the rest had slowly begun to recover, excitement swelling faintly in their expressions as they'd finally escaped what was to them, undoubtedly, pure hell.

“Where are we?” Emma asked in a coarse tone.

“At the entrance,” Cain replied, taking out another cigarette from his inventory as the hadn’t even finished the last one, losing her somewhere in the drifting limbo of spacetime. “Of the Tower, I mean.”

“Eh? All the way back?! You sure?!” she asked, excited.

“Yeah,” Cain replied, smiling. “We should stay here for a while, though. At least until everyone’s recovered enough.”

"Yeah..." she nodded, happiness apparent in her eyes. Yet, as with others, that happiness was short-lived. Their bodies, as well as minds, began to relax as they'd come to realize they were no longer in mortal danger.

The nerves that had previously been stretched taut loosened and tiredness began to assail them, as well as the seared memories they would never get rid of for as long as they lived.

Cain empathized... but he couldn’t help. He didn’t know how. For him, what helped was time... and disassociation from everything. He didn’t want them to do that, not in the slightest. Some pain was worth feeling, as it entailed that happiness can also be felt. As long as they don’t do anything radical... he thought, glancing around at them. They should be fine. Diya’s the biggest suspect... I should ask Rick to move her in with Emma as a precaution.

The young woman was pale in the face, even more evident due to her natural, darker skin tone. Her eyes appeared vacant, and she discussed and talked very little with others ever since the fight with Nightmare. And considering that her interactions even before that were still minimal... Cain saw her as the likeliest candidate to do something 'radical'.

“... we should leave,” Cain said, standing up. “Beyond those boulders is a sea of people split into two -- one streaming in and one out. We’ll trace back some and route back through the sea heading out, just melding into the group. If we get separated on our way out, we’ll meet in front of the same building we first met at. Any objections?”

"..." nobody said anything, prompting Cain to take the lead and walk back slightly before rounding around and joining the sea of people. Though there were thousands, and the line appeared infinite, it only took them roughly an hour to leave the Tower.

The army still monitored it but had drawn a certain distance, letting the entrance breathe. Stalls had already sprung as Cain suspected, and it looked like Rick's affiliates worked out some deals as there were restaurants and bars open just two blocks over from the Tower, filled to a brim. So it begins... he mused, glancing back at the behemoth that no longer appeared as veiled as it did his whole past life. However little, he now at least knew the general idea behind the Tower, even if the true intent and motive, and just who was behind it, still remain a complete mystery. One day... one day I’ll find out. One day...