Novels2Search

The Cycle

An elderly women entered a giant hall, she looked as if she was either extremely tired or very unhappy or the combination of the two. Well, whou would be happy and full of energy if they had to do 12 hours of paperwork the day before and now had to explain to about 200 young people that they would die in 2 years. That's why nobody wanted to become the Councilperson of Heroes' Affairs regardles of perks the job offered. Such a person would be responsible for actions and performance of Heroes as well as their mental and physical health. Convinced by the money offered by being part of The Council and the ability to participate in decision-making progress, Agatha stepped up and took the responsibility. She came from a rather impoverished but still noble family and all by herself brought back former glory of her house. Now she had to give a speech and somehow explain to the crowd before her that they didn't have good perspectives for the future, yet still convince them to cooperate with The Council.

"Calm down everyone, please take your seats." The group looked at her with doubtful looks but still listened and sat down. "It is my pleasure to welcome everyone and explain all there is to your situation. As Philip might have mentioned you are our Heroes and our hope. You were summoned here from your world against you will and I truly apologize for that. Words will never show how much I am sorry for your precarious situation and lack of options. I am not going to beat around the bush and it is mine and Philip's solemn duty to clear any misunderstandings and make sure you leave this room with no questions. So I have two pieces of news for everyone gathered here, one good and bad. Let's start with the good one - all of you were blessed with a certain kind of seal while passing through the gate. After Awakening you will be granted abilities far exceeding imagination of common folk living in this town and be more or less the most powerful humans in this world. Each and every one of you will awaken at least one element and be able to use what people from your world call magic." After the last sentence an uproar and commotion broke out among the young people, some exclaimed in happines something about their dreams coming true while others threw sceptical glances at Agatha waiting for the bad news.

"I will not keep you in the dark anymore so here comes the not so pleasant part. The Seal has one major setback - when the cycles comes to an end, you are like a bright star on night's sky for every monster from The Tower. They will not stop until they have hunted down every single one of you. I don't mean to scare you but this is the reality here, many people die every die by the hands of beasta you will call weak after you awaken. Even more will die of starvation if we don't conquer at least 5 floors by the end of this month. Now that the most important things have been said Philip will take over. Ask any question we will try to answer them all."

Stolen story; please report.

A girl in her early twenties stood up and asked the first question.

"How can I get back home?"

"You can't unless you reach the top floor of dungeon"

"Has anyone ever done that?"

"Not that we know of" Philip cut her short.

Everyone gathered gasped out in surprise. Another person stood up, this time a boy about 19 years old.

"How can we know what you are saying is true?'

"You can go outside and ask anyone, you can even go to The Tower and get yourself killed if that satisfies you." The middle-aged man smiled cruely.

A man sitting in the first row of seats and asked next question.

"What is this cycle thing?"

"Ah finally a smart question." Philip sarcastically clapped his hands. "Our measure of time is a little bit different than yours. We use both years and cycles, one cycle lasts for 6 years and it begins with you, Heroes, being summoned here and ends just before the next ritual. This part of Cycle we are currently in is characterised by gates of The Tower being open for anyone to enter but closed for monsters that live inside. It will remain this way for 2 years. Then every gate that has been opened by you will stay opened untill all heroes die. After that happens we have about 4 years of rest and peace only to have you guys here when the Cycle repeats itself."

"Every gate opened by us? Not all of them?"

"Exactly. If you lot manage to climb to 5th floor only the five floors visted by you will connect."

"So if we kill all monsters on each floor we enter then there shouldn't be problems."

"Yes and no. We have tried this strategy before and discoved it's not that easy. You can clear floors and kill all monsters inhabiting them, but you can never get rid of ones inside The Tower. Why? Because they are reborn 24 hours after their death and they will rush out straight to you after their return."

"So we need to do what has never been done before and kill all monsters on all floors before 2 years time. By the way how many floors are there?"

"Fifty."

"And what is the record so far?"

"The best team we ever had reached 34th floor the last time we heard from them."

The summoned youth looked at each other in shock and disbelief not knowing how to react to this sudden news. After a minute of contemplation they all exlaimed in unison.

"OH FUCK US! We are going to die!"