Gone Red, a name that has been passed down since the early days of the second floor. A few hundred years ago, humanity of the second floor waged war against every monster that has terrorized them since the moment the tower was first built. A war of bloodshed, fangs, and lightning pursued in a time of darkness and excessive brutality. The floor still felt the scars of the war to this very day. Monsters cower in a human’s footsteps and their weaponry of static and fire, forests that used to make up ninety percent of the floor was cut down by over two-thirds, and the very weaponry that they used to fight back are still being used to the modern day. Except for one.

For the smaller and less ferocious monsters, fighting them was a trivial matter. A person could go against a monster like the Pokun and come out victorious with little to no injuries. As the monsters grew larger and more aggressive, humanity had to make strategic plans other than hit it till it dies. Tactics like the surround and conquer, were a small group of soldiers would lead a monster to a secluded place then have hidden soldiers pounce when the time was right, were still being taught to the guards this very day.

However, one monster proved to be a powerful foe. Maxing out in strength due to its sheer muscle mass, defense due to the scales on its tail and exoskeleton on the legs, and cunning due to its oversized brain, it surpassed even the most advanced of tactics. The Tetson was a troublesome enemy, slaughtering humans in the hundreds.

Back during the days of old, it lived in seclusion amongst its counterparts and only attacked humans because they were free meals. It did everything in its power to survive, and survive it did. It is one of the longest living creatures to ever exist in the tower. When the original species was placed inside the tower, it didn’t need to change too much to survive. It was an apex where it lived, and it continued to carry that apex status.

Then humanity gained the power of electricity as Gaxtex siphoned the energy from the tower and taught Junto how to do the same. The food chain was broken that moment the first Tetson fell to its face by a human tribe. When humanity gained power, they decided to destroy everything they perceived as evil. One of their first marks was the Tetsons, and they vowed to make them feel humanity’s wrath tenfold.

The Tetsons were smart creatures, so when they learned the humans were beginning to rival them in the food chain, they took an interesting approach and left them alone. For the first few years, they hardly approached a human to eat it as a meal. There were much more appetizing and least likely to fight back meals elsewhere. However, humanity refused to let the Tetsons forget them. They fought back hard, and soon the species began to realize two things. One, the humans were killing them in droves. Two, they were also killing the rest of the food. Fed up with being pacifists, anytime a human would get close, they would strike in fear of being stricken. Soon, that was passed down to the next litter and then the next.

However, despite the humans newly gained power, they were still weak and defenseless compared to the Tetsons when alone. So they covered up their weakness with numbers and cunning. One cunning man, one of Linux’s ancestors, decided to make a weapon that would sacrifice little and achieve much. It was a weapon that he came up with on the spot and took nearly three months to draw up. During that time, more people died, filling the man with even more hatred. Fueled with intense hate, he put it all into his creation.

When finished drawing it up, he began the actual process of creating it. A single one would only take a month to create and when he showed it to the council, they were impressed and gave him permission to create more. This invention was the Gone Red. When used, it would blow into a light show of crimson that was so intense it lit up the night sky. Since it was filled with so much red energy, anything that was in the explosion’s deadzone would be evaporated from existence.

They used them specifically to cull the Tetson threat that was at large throughout the war. It worked, knocking down the numbers to near extinction. To use the bomb was a three-step process in order to kill even one Tetson. First, they had to lure it to the bomb like normal. Tetson’s were crafty and cunning creatures, and provoking one would set off alarm bells in its head. Instead, they had to let the Tetson begin the chase first then act like prey and run. Second, a sacrifice would be waiting with the bomb in hand. In order to set it off, someone needed to be center stage and pull on the activation string.

The third step was the most important of all. Run like hell itself is chasing them. As soon as the activation string is pulled, there was only a two second delay until the explosion. Only two needed to die, the sacrifice and Tetson, so it was heavily advised for people to make a break for it as soon as possible.

As one could reasonably assume from the procedures, it was as costly to humans as much as to Tetsons. It was so costly that once the Tetson numbers shrunk below half; the council declared the usage of the bombs unsafe and carrying too much risk to ever be used again. Some rejected to this notion, saying there is no risk large enough to counteract the revenge. Linux’s ancestor was one of these people, which even though he wouldn’t realize it until his death, he set up his family tree to be watched by the council for years to come. Some called for the notion that it never should have been used to begin with. Accidents were common and the bombs’ destructive power was far greater than they expected. Sometimes the plans would go awry and either the Tetson caught the lure, or the bomb would malfunction and blow earlier than anticipated.

What rang true is that the bomb would no longer be used, and in turn, production was halted.The bomb used too much red energy to stay in production and if there was no target to use them on, then what was the point. In the current day, there were only three bombs remaining. All of them were left in the council hall in Felxin to never be used again. Until now.

Linux stared at the bomb, his face glowing red with anger and disbelief. Why would they bring out such a weapon? What were they going to use it on? Which dumbass in the council gave the go-ahead to use a weapon that obliterated everything it touched. What in the living hell was going on?

He shouted these words in his head as he left his cover and ran toward the guards. Stealth be damned; if that thing blew up here, who knows what would happen. He reached around his side and gripped his staff, swinging it in front of him. Pressing the button on the metal, the middle opened up and red lightning soared across the air in a wide arc.

The guards were too late in spotting it, and when it came into contact, he flew through the air and landed hard. The bomb that he had in his hands fell to the ground, landing with a loud clang and making a dent in the dirt. The other guards brought out their weapons agonizingly thanks to their wounds and injuries.

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Linux stopped and held his staff out to the guards. They held up their weapons too, and in normal circumstances, he would back down without hesitation. Five against one was just suicide for the person alone. However, he had the advantage and the guards knew it. For one, Linux was right next to the bomb. Two, they were hurt beyond belief. If they even tried to fight him, there would be no one strong enough to stop him when he began breaking their Gaxtex Sheilds.

“Listen up.” One of the guards shouted. “Step away from the bomb and no one will get hurt.”

Linux could see sweat dripping from the man’s forehead. He was putting up a tough facade, nothing but a lie to make himself feel like he’s in control of something that was ultimately taken from his grasp ages ago. It was fairly depressing how he tried to be the big man of the place, but deep in his mind, Linux knew he would snap. He didn’t comply with the guard’s orders. He stood in place, his weapon held high and eyes straight forward.

The guard was the first one to break. His arms began shaking like a leaf being carried away by the wind. He dropped his weapon to his side. The injuries were just too much to bear. They’re still healing, but he wouldn’t be in peak condition anytime soon, and until then they were sitting ducks asking to be beheaded.

The other guards did the same and lowered their weapons. Linux breathed a sigh of relief, but kept his eyes open. At any point if he let his guard down, he could easily be hit by any surprise attack coming his way. Just on cue, he could hear the wind part as something sped to him.

Looking to his left, Linux caught the sight of red electricity whizzing toward him at an incredible speed. Linux jumped back and away from the bomb, avoiding the lightning. It sped past him and collided with the ground, setting the grass alight. He turned and saw the guard he knocked on the ground was back on his feet with his weapon pointing toward him. It looked like nothing more than a stick with a red energy capsule placed in the middle.

The other guards quickly took out their weapons and began their advance. Linux didn’t want it to come to this. He was just planning on taking the bomb and disassembling it, but they forced his hand. Whatever happened now, it was on them for forcing him into such a situation. There was only one thing he wouldn’t stoop to and that would be killing them. It would be pointless and look even worse for him if they were to be found.

Taking his staff out, he swung it at the first person that came close. The staff came into contact with the guard’s shoulder and a snap of broken bones rang out. They fell to the ground while grabbing at their shoulder as tears fell from their eyes in deep pain.

The next one came and they’ve already begun swinging their weapon. It was a scimitar, a sword with a curved blade, that was streaked with red lightning arching across the blade and slightly off it. As they swung the blade forward, Linux stepped back quickly, losing his balance. To top it off, lightning snapped onto him and burned his arm slightly brown. He fell on his back and rolled out of the way as a mace was being brought down. It slammed and missed, cracking the ground beneath it with ease.

Linux twisted his hand around his staff, and the metal twisted with it. The tip of his staff glowed and arched a dome around him. The advancing guards stopped in their tracks as they realized what he had done. As he stood keeping the dome steady, he checked the scenery for anyway to get out of his current situation.

Four of the five guards were standing in front of his dome, waiting for it to drop. The energy in his staff wouldn’t last forever, and he couldn’t move as much as they couldn’t. He trapped himself in his own creation. However, he wasn’t worrying about those four. What he really wanted to know was where the fifth guard was.

Linux swiveled his head left to right, hoping to spot any sign of them. When his eyes settled on the fifth guard, his stomach dropped with a depressing thud. The guard was picking up the bomb and walking toward the hole with it. He could see the guard sweating as the bomb dragged him down with its overwhelming weight.

“Stop this!” Linux yelled to the guards. “What do you think you’re doing! What is this even about!”

“Linux.” One of the guards spoke. They were a woman, the one that had her arm hanging by a thread and the scimitar in the other. “You weren’t even supposed to be here.”

“And where was I supposed to be?”

“Anywhere but here. I guess the first floorers could do the rest of the work.”

Linux’s brain worked overtime as he tried to figure out what exactly they were planning. They had brought out a Tetson, fought it till it retreated, then brought the Gone Red to the hole. Blowing up their burrow wasn’t going to kill it outright; it would need to be a straight on collision. At best, the bomb would blow the burrows to smithereens and injure the Tetsons, but otherwise, it would just get them even more pissed.

Linux’s eyes widened as he realized what exactly was going on. They knew he wasn’t by himself and he had first floorers with him. The council knew he was going after the Tetson’s. The council knew that it couldn’t have been him that killed the guards. They were planning on killing two birds with one stone.

“You’ll die if you set that off here! Are you really going to give up your life for this!” Linux was getting desperate. The council was planning on killing him for good. He couldn’t die here, not when there was so much left he had to do.

The female guard lowered her weapon and stepped as close to the dome as she could get without burning herself. She sat down cross-legged and stared at Linux’s eyes. No, she wasn’t staring at him. She was staring at his very soul.

“Do you not remember me?” Linux stared back and tried to picture her face amongst the many others he’s seen. He couldn’t recognize her a single bit, so he shook his head, knowing good well that was the wrong answer. “Well, it was a few years ago when you brought my sister’s body back to us. She died to a Tetson attack while volunteering to help you with energy gathering at the elevator.”

“My family cried and cursed you out to no end. I was one of them cursing you with every fiber of my being. However, when you left, I could see the deep pain and sorrow in your eyes. I felt sorry for you.” A spark of lightning flew in the air. Linux looked and saw the guard pointing a Seer Gun above him. He was signaling to someone and his imagination ran wild with the amount of things that signal could mean.

“So I chased after you and apologized. You know what you said to me the moment I did.” Linux shook his head, not remembering anything about this girl. It could have been a numerous amount of things he said and it would be like playing twenty questions when trying to guess what he told her.

“You said she died honorably because her death helped progress the floor a bit further.”

Suddenly, dawn arrived. The night turned red as nearly on the other side of the floor, a burst of red lightning flew into the air along with dirt and trees. The light that it showed off was as bright as the sun rising for a new day. Where the sun gave a warm feeling of beginnings in Linux’s gut, this dawn sent shivers of panic, fear, and dread down his spine.

At the same time, he remembered this woman. There were only a few times he ever voiced his own beliefs to people, so once she said that, it was easy to remember her. Her name was Constant Tiku, a woman who he had met only twice through his life. The first being that moment he brought her dead sister to her house since she was the only relative alive, and second being the moment he saw her during the guard initiations from when she passed her training a year and a half after her sister’s death.

Another burst of lightning fired into the air. Before, the ground slightly shook, but now it vibrated with so much intensity that Linux nearly lost the grip of his staff. He looked at Constant one last time. This would be the third time he’s seen her. The third time being the moment she died.

The guard pushed the bomb down the hole with his feet while gripping the activation string. The string came loose, and the land had gone red.