The street lamps turned on one by one throughout the Owerneckers section of the city. The first to be turned on was the mansion's lights, and the they revealed an interesting sight. Seven of the main men were lined up in two rows that were parallel to each other. Fellipe stood in front of them all as he looked into the streets. As he stared into the city's depths, there was only one thought on his mind.
"Today will be a day that defines the future." Fellipe said to himself.
He raised a large megaphone to his mouth. Before he made the call, he turned back to see if everyone had their ear plugs put in. They gave the sign, so he put in his earplugs as well. He made one last check if the megaphone was turned to full volume, and when it was, he began his announcement.
"Everyone from the Owernecker's section of the city!" Fellipe shouted. The megaphone carried the message throughout the city, waking anyone asleep up and getting the attention of anyone already awake. "Come to the front of the Owernecker mansion! We have an important event!"
Fellipe let the moment last a little longer before turning off the megaphone and throwing it to the side. He wasn't worried about it breaking. The stuff it was made out of was pretty hard to dent. He turned toward the other main men and nodded.
"Is he ready?" Fellipe asked.
"He said he was when we asked him." Xantra said.
Fellipe nodded. The moment was near and the future of the first floor lay on this plan working. If it didn't work, which Fellipe didn't think was possible, then there was no coming back for the Owerneckers.
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An hour passed and everyone from the city, or hopefully everyone, showed up. When they saw the main men lining up outside the mansion, their confusion turned into fear. They didn't know what they were going to do to get back at them because of yesterday. They hoped that the main men had a clue of who was and wasn't against them since no one wanted to be on the opposite end of their wrath.
Fellipe coughed into his hand. "Today," He began. "We, the main men of the Owerneckers, have come out here to make amends!"
The people in the crowd were shocked from what they heard. They looked back and forth from each other, not understanding if this was a trick or not. The entire street was lined with alleys so Owerneckers could hide and strike easily if they weren’t careful. Their paranoia began to skyrocket like nothing before.
"I know you may not believe me!" Fellipe shouted even louder to speak over the crowd. "However, we have turned against our boss, Killian Neckers himself!" The crowd turned dead silent from the news he shouted over them. "After recent events, we have learned our lesson about what happens when we lord over everyone with a gun pointed at their heads. We have decided to reform ourselves to not hinder or harm, but to protect the people within our territory."
Fellipe waved his hand behind him and the real event began. Fellipe moved out of the way in order for the crowd to see clearly. They gasped as Killian Neckers was being carried by two other main men. No one could believe what was happening. It was the first time in the history of the city when the boss of a gang would be killed in front of a crowd.
"They shot him in the leg." One person in the crowd said.
"Yeah, and do you see his hair? They probably tortured him throughout the night." Another person whispered.
Killian looked down at the ground, unable to meet anyone's gaze. The crowd saw as he was carried to the place where Fellipe had stood moments before. The main men carrying him shoved him to the ground. He cried out in pain as his knee hit the floor. The moment finally began setting in as soon as Killian was down on his knees. From one person to the next, they all began cheering as the person that destroyed their lives for years was on the ground, kneeling to them.
A man in the front bent down, picked up a rock, and threw it at Killian. The rock bounced off his head and the man attempted to get a good look at the pain on Killian's face. However, when he looked he only saw him smiling.
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Helona was awake for a long time now. She was woken up from the sound of Fellipe calling for everyone to go to the mansion. She had no clue what it was about and she didn't care. She was leaving anyway, so whatever happened wasn't really her business. Kauss also woke up, but he fell back asleep shortly after. She tried to go back to sleep, but nothing happened.
She still felt everything from last night. The pain was gone, but the imprints of Galler's beating were still left behind. Her body ached and was incredibly sore to the point she could barely move. She's been through worse, however, so she decided to get up and stretch her aching body hoping that would put her muscles back in working order.
Before she could do even one exercise, she heard a knock at the operating room door. Helona assumed that was the doctor wanting to ask about what had happened last night. The main room was a mess after everything happened, but Helona was too tired and injured to fix anything. She opened the door and it wasn't the doctor that was there. Instead it was some bald man that was knocking at the door.
"Sorry, the doctor isn't here right now." Helona said. Her voice was scratchy and quiet due to the trauma on her throat.
"Am I really that unrecognizable?" The man said.
Helona's eyes widened as she realized who the man was. She blinked and rubbed her eyes thinking that the beating was worse than she thought, but he was still bald. Killian had shaved all of his hair.
"Why the fuck are you bald?"
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Yesterday night, as the main men were still looking for Galler and cleaning out the basement of traitors, Fellipe and Galler walked down to the prison rooms. They were discussing what they were going to do tomorrow.
"Are you sure he's going to agree?" Killian asked.
"He went down here with both Kauss and Helona to rescue us." Fellipe said. "I'd be surprised if he even hesitated."
They turned down the final corner and saw Relet sitting down and massaging his leg. The bleeding had long stopped by then since he had clean-up pouches of his own. He saw them, so he smiled and waved as they approached him. His smile vanished when he saw their grim faces.
"Did y'all not kill Galler?" Relet asked.
Fellipe shook his head. "We didn't even capture him."
Relet cursed as he held out his arms. Killian and Fellipe each grabbed a side and pulled him off the ground. He yelled as pressure was placed onto his leg. Blood began dripping from his leg again and it stained the pouch even more until it had nowhere else to go. Blood seeped from the pouch and began staining his pants again until his pants leg was nothing but red.
The pain in Relet's leg disappeared slowly once he was on his feet and holding onto Killian and Fellipe's shoulders. They began moving toward the basement exit, but it would take a while to get there. With Relet's leg as injured as it was, he wasn't of much help in moving as swiftly as possible.
"We need to ask you something." Fellipe began the conversation.
"What is it?" Relet asked, staring at Fellipe.
Killian prayed to whatever God Kauss believed in for Relet to agree to the plan. Without Galler, they had no choice but to ask him. Killian looked down at Relet's leg. He had bled an enormous amount since the last time he saw him. He had doubts that Relet would even survive the night.
"Relet," Killian looked at Relet, who stared back at him. "Will you be willing to give your life to keep the Owerneckers going?"
Relet's face twisted into a grin and without hesitation, like Fellipe predicted, he answered. "Of course I would. Why do you think I got Kauss and Helona to come down here with me in the first place."
Relet remembered when he walked up to the mansion that morning in order to turn in his bounty. He didn't expect to see a massive shootout go down right in front of his eyes. He's seen brutality before, but not an example of it on such magnitude. For the first time in his life, he was scared.
He quickly dropped the body he was dragging and ran away along with the crowd. He ran among the many pointless and meaningless faces. He blended in so well with the terrified crowd to the point that, when the shooting died down, he looked back on it and could only be disgusted by his cowardice.
Then he heard yelling in the distance. He looked down the street he stopped in and saw Kauss and Helona forcing a civilian to give them the details on what just happened. When he saw their guard drop after the woman told them what had happened, he knew things wouldn't end well if they went back to the mansion like that. He acted before he thought and reached out to them, warning them about what actually happened as he led them to the mansion.
The entire time, he didn't know what he was doing. He was acting without thinking as he took them to the mansion and prepared for a fight. As they walked down that alleyway, he would constantly look back at them. They were prepared and ready for a fight to the death. Something was pushing them onward, despite the threat of death looming over them. They followed him, despite the fact it could have been a trap.
Then again, he was no better as he did the same thing as them. He actively led them to a fight that could have ended up killing all of them. Yet, he continued walking. A second ago, he ran and hated the fact that he didn't fight back, so in some ways he wanted redemption for that moment. He wanted it so bad that his own body forced him to move despite his immediate want to not go anywhere near the mansion.
Then when he got to the mansion, Kauss and Helona’s determination only grew. Even when Killian broke whatever promise they made, they still went out of their way to save him. Relet could only look on as Kauss stood up on his two feet with a bullet wound and blew open the lock to the cell as he sat on his ass unable to move.
If they could do that then he could give up his life in order to make their sacrifices worth it. If he didn't agree to die, then what would have been the point of risking their lives to begin with.
As Relet stood on his knees in front of a crowd cheering for another man's death, and a gun pointed to the back of his head that had Killian's hair stitched onto rat skin for a wig, he smiled knowing that his death would mean something. He was still afraid to die, however. He was so afraid that he was on the verge of tears as his body shook from terror.
As the gun fired and the bullet pierced through Relet's skull, he refused to let fear show on his face. He put up a smile and kept it until his face hit the ground. The cheers from the crowd grew more wild as their absence of hope began to fill despite nothing truly changing in the end. The city would still be ruled by Owerneckers, but a tiny glimmer of hope blinded them to the fact that the city would constantly be covered by darkness that towered over them every day.
"Killian is dead!" Fellipe yelled as loud as he possibly could without damaging his throat. The crowd cheered even louder as they began throwing rocks at the body. Little did they know they were destroying the evidence that the real dead man was a double. "We will create something better! The people that want to be an active part of this new path that the city will go, come up to the mansion!"
Two main men grabbed Relet's body, and while covering his face from view, they dragged him off into the mansion to be cremated, leaving behind no evidence. The crowd split into the people that would become the new Owerneckers, and the people that would watch their activity from afar. The city would change, but the future was uncertain how long it would continue to last before changing once again.
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Killian, Kauss, and Helona walked down the streets toward Kauss' home. Killian had already packed his stuff, and Helona had her bag in the hospital already, so it just left Kauss. Helona told Killian about what happened that night with Galler, and he told them about the exchange with Relet. They walked in silence as the only noise that sounded was their footsteps sliding against the dirt road. Kauss' house wasn't far, so it didn't take too long to get there despite moving incredibly slowly.
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Kauss could barely walk and most of his steps were just tiny limps. If Helona could, she would force him to rest for another few days, but she wanted to get out of the floor quickly and they couldn't risk exposing the fact Killian was alive. Despite his hair being shaved off, he still had the same voice and face so if someone looked too closely, he'd be caught.
When they made it to Kauss' home, they stood in front of the door for a few seconds. When Kauss woke up yesterday, he couldn't imagine that everything that happened yesterday would occur. If he went back in time and told himself what would happen, his past self would laugh in his face. The city was a ruthless place, but a revolution on the Owerneckers, Killian "dying," and him climbing up the tower wasn't something that would come to his mind. Especially all of those things happening so close to one another.
Kauss opened the door and walked inside the room. He flipped his lightswitch and the lights in the living room turned on. Helona walked to his room to pack up his clothes, and Killian looked around the place for any weapon to bring with them. Kauss pointed Killian's way to his gun and knife collections. Granted there were more knives than guns, but he just really enjoyed the feeling of a knife more than a pistol.
As for Kauss, he walked into the closet that was beside his kitchen. He turned the lights on and the pictures of his Dad and grandmamma greeted him. Kauss walked over to the dresser that held his grandmamma's ashes. He slowly sat down on his knees, careful to not disturb his stitches, and he prayed to the pictures.
Kauss always wondered why a picture of his Mom wasn't on the dresser. He knew that grandmamma thought she was alive, but Kauss wasn't as hopeful. Everyday after grandmamma died, Kauss would hold a photo of his Mom in his hand.
He pulled open the bottom drawer and took out the photo. Her curly black hair, the hair he inherited, faced toward the picture. Her face wasn't visible since she was staring at the elevator, preparing to climb. Apparently it was the only picture of her left since the rest was lost to time.
Kauss would constantly tell himself that he would make a portrait and set the picture along with grandmamma and Dad. However, he would say to himself to wait the next day, then the next day, then the next. He wondered during those times if he ever doubted his Mom's death. Back then, he always denied her being alive, but now a slight twinge of an idea formed in his head. What if she was truly alive, and what if she was waiting for him.
Kauss, unsure of himself, put the picture in his pocket and grabbed the next item in the bottom drawer. The last item was a medium sized vase that had a lid that would stick on so tight it was nearly impossible to remove. He shut the drawer back and then opened the top one. Inside it was grandmamma's ashes. As carefully as Kauss could, he placed the ashes into the vase and tightened the lid as tight as it could go. Once it was so tight that not even Kauss could loosen it, he stood up slowly, making sure to carry the vase with him.
"I'm taking you out of here with me." Kauss said to the vase. "If Mom's still alive like you said, then we'll find her together."
He walked out of the room and turned off the light for one final time. With a final wave, he closed the door and walked out of the house with Helona and Killian, who were ready to leave with him. Kauss had one more reason to climb the tower now. He had to find out the truth on if his Mom was dead or alive.
As soon as they left the house, a gunshot fired off in the distance and the sound of a massive amount of people cheering erupted. The main event of the day was over, and Killian was presumed dead. People would begin to make their way over to them soon if they didn't hurry.
They walked as fast as they could toward the elevator. They could quickly get to it if they went through an alley. Trouble was that there might be people lying in wait. However, most, if not everyone, was at the mansion. They had to take a chance if they liked it or not.
They walked through the alley as people began coming down the street. They were quick enough and they hoped no one saw them hide in the alley. It didn't take long to get to the other end and make their way up the hill toward the elevator. With each step they took, Kauss' anxiety grew and grew until it reached an absolute peak as they stood in front of the elevator door.
Lines of energy flowed through the elevator in cracks like the way the cube did. Considering they were made out of the same energy it was no surprise to him. Kauss took a deep breath and walked up to the elevator. There was an imprint of a hand on the surface of the elevator door. Kauss placed his hand within it and it glowed with energy for several seconds. The door opened with a hiss and allowed them passage into it.
Kauss' heart couldn't stop beating. He couldn't calm himself down as his arms and legs shook with so much force he was sure he would fall any second. He felt someone grab his hand, and he looked to see Helona smiling sweetly back at him. She couldn't fool him. He could see her shaking just as hard as he was. Kauss turned and saw Killian walk into the elevator with little effort. He didn't mind that by stepping onto the elevator, he'd be changing his life forever. Maybe he did care and was just good at hiding it.
Kauss and Helona together took deep breaths, and walked onboard the elevator. As soon as they did, the doors shut and it filled up with light so bright that it blinded them. Kauss covered his eyes, but he couldn't block the light from breaking through his eyelids and reaching his pupils. Despite not being able to see, from the outside people saw the elevator heading up. They saw as more people broke through their fear and ascended above them. Today was truly a momentous occasion
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Galler looked upon the three as they went above then even he could reach. Galler growled and balled his hands into fists. He was too pissed off to think straight and his head was in a blaze of fury. He couldn't think. so he began walking toward the elevator as well.
He had no future down in the first floor anymore. The only way he could be at the top here was through the Owerneckers, but those plans were ruined. He had to find some other way to become the top of everyone, and as he thought more and more about it, he began to smile. If he could climb the tower and reach the top, then wouldn't he be considered the peak of human form. He would be looked on as a God. He could become the first man to make it to the top, and along the way he could kill those three brats in revenge.
His shoulder rang in absolute agony, however. He gasped and grabbed his shoulder which was somewhat patched up after he escaped. He was still too injured to climb at the moment, but it wouldn't stay that way forever. He smiled thinking to himself about what he was planning to do. All he needed was a few days, and he could be healthy enough to climb. He wouldn't be in peak condition, but he would be able to move without stress on his body.
He backed off as he began to prepare for his trip to climb the tower. "Those brats better pray they're faster than I am." Galler snarled with a demonic grin.
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Once the light disappeared from Kauss' eyes, he could finally open them again. He had no idea what happened and what would happen, but he did know he didn't feel like he was on an elevator anymore. He wondered if they managed to get to the second floor already, but something still seemed off.
He opened his eyes and gasped at what he was seeing. Kauss, Helona, and Killian were standing in a void of white and gold. The space around them seemed to shift and change like ripples of water in a cup. The whole place was disorienting to look at, but at the same time he felt better than ever. It was as if the scars and injuries he'd gotten throughout his life magically vanished, and he could feel as if he weren't in constant pain and uncomfortability.
"Where the hell are we?" Helona asked.
"I don't have a clue." Kauss answered, looking all around him.
Killian shrugged, keeping a cool and calm demeanor to him. He was freaking out on the inside, but he wasn't going to show that. He looked down and saw there wasn't really a floor beneath them. He pounded his foot and he could feel a hard surface beneath them, but it looked like everything else in the void.
Killian decided the next best thing to do was look up and he regretted it immediately. For the first time in his life, Killian screamed as loud as he could thanks to terror filling him. Kauss and Helona looked at him as he fell on his butt as he continued to stare above them. Kauss wanted to look up as well, but he didn’t want to see whatever was up there that managed to shake Killian up to such an extent.
Helona looked up and she did the same thing Killian did. She began screaming her throat out, eyes wide at whatever was above them. Kauss reluctantly decided to follow alongside them. He didn't know what was up there and not knowing was driving him insane.
Kauss stared up and once he saw the thing up there, he began screaming as well. The monsters he had dreamed of anytime he looked up at the ceiling finally came alive after all this time. Above them, floated a massive serpentine creature that snaked around itself. It was so long that Kauss couldn't find the head among the entirety of its body.
The monster's main body was black with hints of silver and red spread throughout. When Kauss spotted the head he wished he never went out of his way to look for it. The head of the monster was completely red in color. The head was a bit bulkier and thicker compared with the rest of the body. It had a massive, knife-like horn coming out from the top of its nose and the eyes were nothing but orange circle's on the side of its head.
Its head moved and it began looking toward them. Kauss and the others were frozen in fear, and if there wasn't something stopping him, Kauss would've pissed himself right when he saw the monster. The fear that he had in his body began growing larger as he saw the monster began descending down to them.
Then it roared. The thing's roar was so loud and boastful that it created shockwaves of wind all the way down from where it was. The creature's mouth was nothing but a ginormous black hole with fangs that glinted in the light of the void. The serpent's body began unraveling as it came closer and closer to them. Kauss wanted to run away, but his legs couldn't move. He was frozen in place.
Finally, the creature's head came down in front of them. It wasn't directly in front of them as it was far enough away that they could see its head in its entire majesty. It growled and looked at them with it's orange, soulless eyes.
"New arrivals!" A voice boomed throughout the void.
Kauss could only assume that the thing that was talking was the monster in front of them. Whatever it was, it had the ability to speak without the need to move its mouth. At that point, Kauss had no doubt that the thing in front of them had to be some sort of God. The power it exuded absolutely trifled anything that anyone tried to have down in the first floor.
"My name is Keyex!" The monster introduced itself. "I am a judge of the tower! I keep track of anyone's mentality that decides to pass by through this point! If I decide that you are worthy to continue to climb, then I shall let you into the next floor! Otherwise, you will go back to the first floor, though not in one entire piece!"
The next few seconds were nothing but silence. Kauss could hear the monster's low rumbling as it did whatever it did to judge their mental state. He could barely understand anything that was happening. He was just hoping he didn't fail, or else as the monster stated, they'd go back down losing a bit of themselves.
Another few seconds passed, and Helona and Killian were in absolute terror, but also awe of the creature in front of them. Helona's first thought that came to mind was if there were more of them. If so then climbing the tower would be even more deadlier than she thought.
From what the creature said, they'd go back to the first floor if they failed it's judgement. However, she had a sneaking suspicion it would be easier than the creature let on. After all, no one had come down from the tower to the first floor ever since the tower was constructed.
Indeed, Helona's prediction was right. "You three have proven worthy!" The monster said. "As you climb, anytime you move up a floor you will have to test yourselves! If you manage to pass without losing your life, then you can continue onward! You may also encounter my brethren as you continue to climb and be judged by them as well! Their judgement is much harsher than mine, however!"
After a whole minute without any of them speaking, Helona raised her hand. She gulped down any doubt or fear down her throat since the question she needed to ask was important. It could mean life and death if it couldn't be answered.
"What are you judging us on exactly?" Helona whimpered out.
The monster looked directly at Helona. She recoiled her hand back down to her side. Her fear began rising again as the eyes of the monster seemed to stare directly into her soul.
"You will find out when you reach the top of the tower!" The monster said.
Once it realized there were no more questions, it roared as loud as it could. Kauss had to cover his ears to block out the onslaught of noise that it made. The air around them rushed at them so fast it felt like it was trying to rip him off of the ground and send him flying.
Before he could be sent into the air at mach speed, the lights surrounding Kauss vanished. Kauss opened his eyes again, and saw they were all back on the elevator. They looked toward each other, all of them wondering if what they saw was real. Before they could have time to conclude that, the elevator door opened with a whine.
Light shined it's way into the elevator, but this light was different. Kauss couldn't put his finger on it, but it seemed completely different compared to the light down in floor one. This light seemed much warmer and more welcoming, as if it had its arms spread wide open for a gentle hug.
Killian was the first of them to step outside. Helona and Kauss followed afterward, holding hands as they exited. When they left the elevator, they couldn't believe the wonders they were seeing.
The ground below them was filled with grass and plants as far as the eye could see. Kauss could hear the faint sounds of wildlife all around him, but it wasn't the sound of unwelcoming rodents. It was as if nature itself was a lot calmer and less invasive, turning itself into a pretty spectacle Kauss had never seen throughout his seventeen years alive.
Kauss looked up and saw that the ceiling above them was no longer a black void. Instead it was a bright blue color and some white, puffy looking things were floating across the ceiling. Kauss didn't know if he should even call it a ceiling by now; it seemed to be something else entirely, something much more beautiful.
"Hey, look at me!" Helona called out.
Kauss turned and saw Helona smiling with a random flower in her hair. When he saw her, she smiled as happily as she could. Kauss smiled back as he couldn't help but laugh at everything happening. He cursed his past self for not wanting to climb the tower. If he hadn't made that decision, then he'd never have been able to see all of this beauty. There were no suffocating alley's, there were no rats and rodents trying to steal food, there was no one around wanting to kill them. All there was, was peace.
"Look at that thing!" Killian yelled, pointing at something in the air.
Kauss looked up and saw the first wildlife he's seen since coming to the floor. It was some sort of creature with some kind of long fur on its arms. It moved its arms and somehow was flying like that. It's body was covered with red and blue scales and the mouth ended at a sharp point that curved down. It flew over to a spot where there were other creatures of its kind.
Kauss went ahead to get a closer look at them. He wanted to see what exactly they were and how they could fly like that. He got close, but not close enough before he stepped on something that made a sharp cracking noise. The creatures made some sharp sound and flew off into nowhere. Kauss cursed himself and looked at what exactly they were doing.
When Kauss saw the blood, he knew exactly what those creatures were doing. Laying in the grass, an old man lay dead with many bite wounds covering his body. Blood sprinkled onto the grass as the air picked up, swaying the grass around. It turned out that even in peaceful looking places such as this, there were still horrors laying just around the corner.