Chapter 191 – Floor 21: Part 1
Floor 21b- The Painted World Within
Summary: A god who wishes to remain anonymous has demanded your participation in the exploration of the world within Archmagus Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. Their Apostle desires anything of value within and has willingly offered a large sum of Aether to the Tower to force others to explore the Painted World.
Goal: Explore the Painted World and deliver anything of value to the Apostle of the god who wishes to remain nameless.
Reward: Commensurate to the items found within the Painted World.
“This is bullshit!” Mathew cursed as he lowered his arm and looked out at his surroundings.
He was in a world of colour and paint.
Mathew stood in a courtyard, the stones made of dark greys and shaded black lines. It lacked detail, more of an artistic impression of a stone if observed from a distance, but lost features as you stared closer.
Blurry buildings surrounded the courtyard, and no matter how much Mathew looked at them, they refused to coalesce into anything more real than a vague impression of tall structures just out of reach.
The sky was a vivid blue, with clouds so white and fluffy that they were unrealistic. Everything in this world was exaggerated and lacking in realism. Looking down at his body, Mathew saw that he was similar; he looked cartoonish as if an amateur had painted him.
“The Painted World.” Mathew whispered before he turned red with anger. His pinkish-painted skin shifted to bright scarlet as he shouted.
“I didn’t agree to this!”
“Join the club.” A voice said to the side. Colours swirled and amalgamated to form another person. Similar to Mathew, they appeared colourful and unhuman, like a caricature of a person that an artist had painted on a lark in an afternoon.
The woman was followed by dozens of other people, who were similarly confused and frustrated as Mathew. He could hear them talking to each other or cursing at the surroundings. Ignoring them, he spoke to the first person who appeared.
She wore armour, bright silver metal that Mathew could see had brushstrokes through the paint. A sword was belted on her hip, and her long, black hair was braided.
“Were you forced here by some god as well?” Mathew said, and the woman nodded.
“Floor 21b, yeah. You’re right; this is bullshit. Some Apostle can just force us to do their dirty work, and we have no choice but to do it? Must be nice.” The woman said, and Mathew nodded.
“Being a Thrall to a god has its perks; too bad the negatives outweigh the good.” Mathew replied, and this time, it was the woman’s turn to nod.
“What is this place? I’ve never heard of a ‘Painted World’ before.” She asked, and Mathew briefly explained what had happened to him on the previous Floor, how he had traded the Mona Lisa painting for a Crown.
“That’s all I know.” Mathew said with a shrug.
“Brillant. Into the lion’s den, I suppose.” She responded.
“I’m Gwen.” She offered.
“Mathew.”
“Any ideas? Should we just pick a direction and start walking?” Gwen asked.
“Sounds as good a plan as any. If everyone splits up, we should be able to get this over with pretty quickly.” Mathew replied. They were about to join some of the other groups that had already formed and go over a game plan when an image appeared in the air above them.
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It was the Mona Lisa Painting, enlarged to an absurd size. She still had that small smirk on her face, although it seemed more condescending than Mathew remembered. She was definitely looking down on them, both figuratively and literally.
“Hello, Interlopers, to my Master’s ‘Painted World.’ While I would like nothing more than to expel you from this place, I am required to test you before I can do so. I have formed a covenant with my new owner, the rules of which are simple. If one of you can pass three of my tests, one of my Master’s many treasures will be yours. Fail, and you will be expelled.”
“That’s not so bad.” Gwen whispered, and Mathew nodded in response. Being expelled likely meant failing the Floor, but it was better than the alternative.
“Into Oblivion.” The Mona Lisa finished, her painted eyes moving over until they locked onto Gwen.
“What a bitch.” Gwen responded softly.
“Let the First Test commence.”
The Mona Lisa continued to hover above as the painted buildings began to morph. The paint ran and formed new images in the courtyard. There were blank canvas on easels in front of each person and a single brush placed horizontally on the stand.
Mathew stared at the white canvas, but there was nothing on it. He let out a sigh.
“I’m screwed. I’m shit at painting. I couldn’t even draw a stick figure if my life depended on it.” Mathew let out a huff of air. Gwen smiled, her lips curving comically into an exaggerated fashion. The Painted World distorted faces to an extreme degree, making it difficult for Mathew to discover her true features.
“Are you sure about that? Because it kind of does.” Gwen replied, and Mathew let out a snort.
The Mona Lisa spoke, her voice echoing across the courtyard.
“My Master believed that art came from within, that the brush converted feeling and emotion into images. In front of you is a canvas and brush. Through those items, you will look within yourself and bring out the vision you find there. Colours are emotions, and this test isn’t about technique or ability. It’s about making me feel.”
“Begin.”
Mathew cautiously approached the easel and carefully picked up the brush. It was longer than his hand, made of wood with long, conelike bristles. The handle of the brush made the tips of his fingers tingle. There was magic inside the wood; he could feel mana entering his hand, sweeping up his arm and into his head.
“What the?” Mathew managed to say before his vision darkened, and he was pulled out of the Painted World. There was a kaleidoscope of colours as the mana began to break down some barrier in Mathew’s mind that he didn’t even know existed. The world shifted and turned.
Mathew squeezed his eyes shut as a sudden wave of nausea hit him.
“Life is colour. Red is the colour of passion and anger, but life and love. Blue is made of sadness but is also calm. Yellow is for fear and terror but also for hope and joy. Green is life, jealousy, envy, and serenity. Purple is a noble colour of Emperors and Kings, mysterious and creative. It is made of loss, sadness, and love that are no longer there. Grey is the colour of confusion and melancholy, of age and death. But it is also of knowledge and wisdom.”
An old man’s voice spoke out from the darkness, his tone soothing, and Mathew felt the nausea inside him recede.
“Colours reveal so much about us, the things we like and the things we hate. What are your colours, Mathew? What do you see when you open your eyes?” The voice echoed and then faded away. Mathew felt a tug on his consciousness, an urge to open his eyes.
When he did, Mathew was overwhelmed by the intensity of the colours he saw.
Everything was red. He stood in a world made of blood. The ground was formed from corpses, so many piled on top of each other that no mountain on Earth could equal it. They were all people he knew from his time in the Tower. People he had met on various Floors, people who had died or had been killed by him.
Red.
He could feel the anger and hatred in the world. It welled up from deep inside him, spilling out of him like blood from a wound. Mathew screamed in rage.
So intense was his anger that he began to cry. Tears, bright and brilliant blue, flowed from his eyes and formed pools of water on the ground of corpses.
The world of red now had blue in it, and his anger mixed with sadness and loss. He had lost so many people in the Tower. Friends that he would never see again, so many people that he couldn’t even recall their names.
But there was more to his loss than those inside the Tower. He mourned for his family outside the Tower. What must they be going through without him?
After the tears flowed, Mathew felt a sense of calmness descend upon him. The rage dissipated along with the sadness, leaving him serene and peaceful. Beneath his feet, the red of blood and corpses mixed with the blue of his tears to form a new colour.
The world was replaced by purple, and Mathew found his colour. He opened his eyes and stared at the image he had painted on the canvas in front of him.
It was of him wearing a long, purple cloak and a silver crown. He held a sword in his hands and stood before a crowd of people, protecting them from a dark shadow. The Mathew in the painting seemed incapable of defeating the shadow but was determined to try and protect the people anyway.
“That concludes the first test.”