Concrete and adobe crumbled as the window of the tower window exploded. The roughly 2-by-1-meter hole carved into the side of the wall, one of many that wrapped around the fourth floor, was quintupled in size, spraying rubble and dust everywhere.
Despite the chaos, Lemaerk slowly levitated the destroyed pieces of its walls that littered the ground outside and floated them back to where its window had stood. Several combatants on the fourth floor paused and watched as the chunks of concrete fell back into place, and the sections of the wall that remained empty due to the pieces being obliterated into dust materialized from nothing, sealing any gaps around the reformed window. Several other fighters were less awestruck and took the opportunity to take out those not paying attention.
The purple bubble that encapsulated the adventurers crashed into the ground outside the tower, splattering open and throwing everyone apart from one another. The group was bruised and beaten, lying about the patchy fields in a tired mess. The knight laid out flat, his entire suit of armor stripped from him and his eyes closed. Riva lay on her side, both arms by her head, with Roman lying awkwardly by her legs. Leone had one knee up and one hand on his chest, breathing slowly. Meanwhile, Azim had landed a bit farther from the rest of the group and was starting to twitch and short out.
“What… just happened?” groaned Leone, who was still regaining his leeched strength.
Azim slowly stood up, his head twitching slightly and his monotonous voice scratching. Slowly, the metal man uttered in a glitching voice, “II-I think w-w-we… l-lost.”
“I-I still f-f-fail t-to see the m-meaning behind th-th— Man’s words… ‘G-G-Goodbye’…”
Slowly getting up, rubbing her head, Riva asked, “‘Goodbye’? What does that— Oh, no…”
The group all noticed it at the same time. Through all of their talking and collecting themselves, the formerly possessed knight remained unmoving. The air seemed to still for a moment. A common nerve seemed to strike all of the adventurers at the same time. As they crawled and ran toward him, their movement seemed slow, as if with each step they were somehow getting farther away. While Azim could not actually feel the same stiffness as the others, the damages to his internal systems was simulating a similar effect.
“Hey, hey!” Leone shouted, coughing a bit as he exerted himself. “Dude! Hey, hey, stay with us, man! Stay with us!”
The three travelers circled the knight, propping him up on Riva’s knees and desperately trying to get him to open his eyes. Leone was frantic, having quickly grown attached to the man and seeing him as a sort of idol in their brief time knowing each other. Riva was tearing up, though she refrained from sharing any words about how she was feeling. Roman simply cowered behind Azim, wary of the situation. Azim, ignoring his damages, assessed the man’s condition the best he could, but could not think of anything helpful to do. Not thinking it would do much, the robot gently placed his left hand on the knight’s chainmail-covered chest, tearing the coating of steel with little effort.
“Azim, Azim what are you doing?” Leone asked with an anxious tone.
Not responding to the young man, the robot placed his hand back on the blond man’s now-exposed chest, placing his palm against his sternum. Steadily building up speed, the metal man began vibrating his hand. The knight’s chest shook rapidly in tandem with Azim’s hand, bringing the man back to consciousness after a few seconds. “Mm… ugh… hey, kid,” he groaned weakly. “Thank you for saving me yet again.”
The man looked around at the adventurers leaning over him, smiling at all of them. “Well isn’t… this nice,” coughed the knight.
“Hey, hun’,” Riva replied. “You’re going to be alright, you know that, right? You’re going to be just fine.”
The knight looked up, though not at Riva, instead past her, straight into the open air. He smiled and said, “I know… I know… I’ll be seeing them soon.”
“No, man, don’t talk like that!” shouted Leone.
“It’s alright, it’s alright,” urged the man, whose blond hair had started to fall in front of his face. “It’s my fault I thought I could go back. This is just what I get for trying something I wasn’t ready for.”
Not considering the tension of the current situation, Azim asked bluntly, “Why is that your philosophy on the matter?”
Leone looked over at the robot but looked back down when the knight started talking. “Look at me!” he tried to shout, but only ended up coughing. “I’m 31. For a human, that’s… something. To be 31 and… not even… strong enough for level 4 of that… damn tower, what a joke am I…”
Leone tried to reassure the man, urging, “Come on, man, don’t say that, just work with us to—“
“No!” snapped the knight. “It’s true, and… that is fine. I was always… the runt of… the litter…”
The knight’s words were interrupted by a short fit of weak coughs. “My older brother and sister… could have… accomplished much more in here… by the time they were 20. I… was always… behind. I am at peace with that.”
“Your w-words are not re-re-reflective of yo— Actions today, and wha— You de-demonstrated can only be c-c-considered a rejection of th-those ideas,” Azim asserted, taking a moment to stabilize himself and his words. “…If you really are weaker than your siblings, then that is a true compliment to them, because that is in no way an insult to yourself. The man on that floor did not appear to fit in with everyone else there. He was likely not supposed to be. Someone that strong should continue upward, instead he stayed back and made toys out of weaker participants. Yet still, you stood strong against him… and against myself. In your altered state, you were rather formidable, and that is not solely due to that man’s magic. However, the strongest thing you did… was regain control of your mind. Only someone of real strength would be capable of such a feat.”
Closing his eyes again, the knight responded, “Ha ha… you, kid… are truly are quite… the talker….”
“It is only the truth.”
“Before I go…” the knight uttered. “I want to ask… you all… if you could find my brother… and sister, just to let them know… what will have become of me… in a moment. The last time I heard… from them, they stated… they were about to head into… the Spiral Caverns. That… was but a day or two ago. They will… want to know. It’s funny, you all are strangers to me… and yet, I find it so easy to trust you with my dying wish. Please, just them know…”
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“We will make sure we find them, and inform them of your trials,” comforted the robot.
“Thank you, ha ha…” coughed the dying man. “You... are admirable.”
Then the knight turned to look at the other travelers. “And you, kid, are... a hell of a wizard. You have got a fire in you. Do not... let it go out.”
“I won’t man, I promise,” Leone assured, holding the man’s hand. “Especially for someone as cool as you, man.”
Laughing lightly, the knight groaned, “Attaboy.”
Gazing up over him, the man in chainmail stared at Riva, who still had tears in her eyes. “Again, I know… we haven’t known… each other long, so I can’t say… I know you all well, but… I can see who you are to these boys, Riva. Keep them in line, make sure… they take care of you… just as much as you take care of them.”
Wiping the tears from her eyes, the woman nodded in understanding, flashing a small smile as well.
“Alright then, I think… that’s about everything… I am very glad… to have met you all.”
Closing his eyes once more, the knight’s head slowly tilted back, his body going limp and sinking into Riva’s knees. The group stared at the still figure for several seconds, none of them saying a word. When she was ready, Riva slowly stood up, being careful to rest the knight’s head gently down as she did. They all looked at one another, Azim then back up at the tower. Following Azim’s lead, Leone looked up, too, noticing the window hole they had smashed out of already repaired. “I know we can’t right now,” he muttered, “but we need to kick that guy’s ass.”
“We will, Leo,” Riva replied softly. “But first, we need to get Azim fixed up. He looks pretty damaged.”
“Oh shit, buddy, I’m sorry!” Leone reacted, turning to the android. “How are you holding up?”
Azim responded with minimal glitching, “I-I can feel that some of my internal systems are d-damaged, so I will need materials and space to repair them. Other than that, I am all right.”
The robot looked down at their deceased new friend and said, “I believe it would be best if we gave him a proper burial.”
“I think that’s a good idea, dear,” agreed Riva.
Buring the knight in Milkwood Forest, with the help of Roman, the adventurers stood back to plan their next move. “When shall we inform his kin of him?”
“Him…” Leone looked down at the dirt mound. “Aw damn, we never actually got his name! Oh Viyona, he died and we don’t even know his name! We even agreed to go on that side quest for him. What are we gonna’ do when we find his siblings? How are we going to find them? We won’t be able to ask around about him, we don’t know what his damn name is.”
“Hey, hey!” yelped Riva in a short tone. “It’s alright, Leo, it’s aright. We’ll figure it out when we get to it, but it doesn’t need to take up all our attention, okay? He’s going to be fine, they’re going to be fine, we’re going to be fine. Just relax. Let’s refer back to Azim’s question.”
Leone began to mellow down. “Alright, alright, you’re right… Sorry, buddy.”
“It is all right, it is of no concern to me,” the android asserted.
“Well, Riva’s right, as much as we should do it, this isn’t our top priority. I know that.”
The robot seared at Leone, “What is the priority?”
“You, dear.” Riva chimed in.
----------------------------------------
“What… is it, Tolius?” a dark, female voice boomed.
The black-robed bald man from Lemaerk now stood in a dark cave, dozens of meters below the surface. After dealing with the strange metal man with glowing, orange eyes and his companions, taking out the foolish knight so valiantly, the witch retreated from the tower to relay some valuable information. He had been stationed in the tower of Lemaerk because of his high magic level, as well as his casual yet loyal manner. He had not been given the clearest instructions why, but he knew he was expected to prevent as many challengers as he could from advancing forward. Tolius felt he had done a good job. His mental manipulation magic was what he took the most pride in, pitting people against one another like action figures that he smacked together. However, when he was faced with the knight he had already beaten once again, and some new toys alongside him, the witch was curious. He was only more so when he managed to take the slightest peak into the other strange, thin knight’s head.
“I’ve got some news for you, mistress…” Tolius announced with his arms stretched out wide.
“I would hope so, given the fact that you have left your post without warning,” the looming voice bellowed. “What I would like to know is what was important enough to do so.”
The faintest bit of fear slid down the bald witch’s cheek, trucking down his neck. “Of course, mistress,” he stated, a bit softer than before. “Well, I was taking care of the tower, like you asked. I was doing a great job, in fact. Almost nobody got past me.”
“Almost?” the woman’s voice questioned, with a quieter tone than before that somehow still carried the same intensity.
“W-Well y-you know,” Tolius stuttered, “I couldn’t stop everyone. Y-You know, some people stayed away from me and slipped by, the floor allowed people to teleport out where they were ready it’s not like I could block—“
“Do you assume that I do not know of the trials that lay in that tower, or the rules that are in place within it, Tolius?”
This was when the sweat on the witch’s face evolved from a single trickling drop to a mall shower of nerves. “No, no! Never!” he shouted, putting his hands forward. “Mistress, the only thing in this world I know to be certain is your overwhelming superiority, and such dominance does not come short when the tower of Lemaerk is involved. I would never even begin to insinuate such a notion.”
“Then what do you have to relay to me, other than your failure?”
The shadowy figure rested deeper in the cave, where the final bulbs of light finally dissipated. Despite knowing she was there and where to look when speaking, Tolius could not actually see his mistress. She was a powerful being, so much so that she had people like him doing most of her work for her. She rarely left her cave of solace. Tolius himself had never known her to, but she and a few other subjects had made claims of it. The robed bald man suspected that the setup she had was designed to add to her intimidation. To not see her, to only hear her looming voice and see an amorphous shadow, only exaggerated the seeming threat that she posed. Others had even informed him of times someone had stolen a look at her when she had not permitted, shining a light or getting too close. In response, she had left them to act as new wall decor for the cave’s tunnels. To be so domineering and imposing that you were not even meant to see her was an image she had upheld that Tolius could not help but admire. It was truly awe-inspiring. Even in fear, you could be in awe. Yet likewise, even in awe, you could be in fear.
“It’s not— … … I found someone on that floor, someone I intentionally left alive, for they have the potential to be of great interest.”
“And why… would that be?” questioned the voice. “The thought of someone more powerful than yourself only makes me think I should have them by my side instead of you. Someone of rare species or royal lineage enters these routes on occasion, it is nothing to wake me for. If you think they have anything of value or something they could offer me, you suggest that I am not fit to take what I want when I need it, or secure such resources when I feel their need is required. So do tell me, Tolius… what you could have possibly found, that is more significant than anything I have already made you aware of?”
Summoning all of the courage he had, taking a deep breath, Tolius confidently declared, “I encountered an armor-covered individual who fought a fellow knight I had possessed. The knight had been given enhanced strength and carried on his own an enchanted set of armor. This other individual fought with remarkable battle intelligence, using metalmancy to strip my knight of his armor and eventually defeat him. He then used a sprat metal spell of some kind to escape my Binding Light.”
“So your failure is of the utmost significance. Thank you for your honesty.”
“Mistress, before he got loose, I began to enter his mind. He had used several metal magic spells and was able to take on as well as avoid several powerful attacks. Yet, while I was only able to see for a moment, I am sure of what I saw.”
The shadowy figure did not say a word, leaving the room in an award silence that almost left Tolius fumbling for the rest of his words.
“Mistress… that stranger, had a base magic level… of 0.”
END OF PART 1