"Who are you?"
Ellis immediately moved into a defensive stance. The hooded dark figure ignored him and continued into his apartment stepping into the light. The hooded figured had their hands in concealed in their pockets and was a little taller than Ellis. The figured took a hand out of their pocket and pulled off their hood, revealing an attractive looking young man around the same age as Ellis. The guy returned his hand to his pockets as Ellis studied him. He had long winter colored hair that fell into his face on the right side and was tucked behind his ear on the left. His piercing eyes seemed to glow an almost catlike yellow. The unknown person ignored him and kept walking closer toward Ellis with an expression of contempt.
"Why are you here?"
Ellis clenched his fists. He had to be prepared to fight. He didn't want to get too close to this guy in case he had a gun and he couldn't use any anima attacks without harming his apartment, so he needed a weapon. Using his peripheral vision, he located his halberd leaning against the wall to the right of him. Depending on what the intruder's response was to Ellis's questions he prepared a game plan. The halberd was about 5 steps away. Once he had the weapon, with its length all he had to do was step forward and swing the halberd to kill the intruder. Ellis readied himself as the intruder opened his mouth to speak.
"I followed the trail of blood from the warehouse here, but you look rather well, don't you?"
The intruder snickered and stopped after he was nearly halfway through the room.
He must be related to the arms trafficking people at the warehouse. I can't believe I didn't realize I left a trail of blood. I'm so stupid. I'm lucky Solara isn't home.
Ellis cursed to himself and didn't bother responding to the guy's question as he leapt toward his halberd. He figured anyone who barged into his house unannounced was probably not a good guy especially one who knew what happened at the warehouse. He had to finish this quickly before Solara got home so she wouldn't get caught up in it. Ellis deftly grabbed the halberd and dashed toward the intruder with his weapon pulled to the side. He swung it with all the power he could muster at the intruder's neck as he watched him preparing for any concealed weapons. The blonde boy stared at Ellis emotionless and didn't show any signs of moving.
He's not even going to try to dodge it? This is going to be easier than I thought.
TING!
Suddenly, one of the guy's hands flashed out of his pockets revealing a small dagger that collided with the halberd, stopping it in its tracks before it could reach the boy's neck. He then swiftly jumped forward, extended his leg out and kicked the halberd out of Ellis's hands. The halberd was sent flying into the air and then fell down right into the guy's hand.
What the hell was that?
Ellis's eyes widened in shock as he saw what happened. This guy wasn't normal.
"You're just full of smart ideas, aren't you? I honestly have no clue how you survived in the Tower."
The boy mocked as he twirled Ellis's halberd around in the air effortlessly with one hand still in his pocket before he pointed it directly at Ellis.
"You should be thanking me, you know. I cleaned up your little mess you left at the warehouse. You had a group of guys with guns heading here. Don't worry though. I took care of them for you. As well as, cleaned up your bloody tracks all the way home."
He mocked him more.
"What do you want from me?"
Ellis clenched his teeth as he spoke to him.
"Oh, calm down. I don't want anything from you. There aren't many of us who made it out alive, you know. I just thought we Tower Walkers should stick together what with the government rounding us up and stuff. You can consider it a favor."
The guy smiled mischievously as he stopped pointing the halberd at Ellis's face and tossed it back to him.
"My name is Belial. What's your name?"
Ellis caught the halberd and stared at him, not knowing whether or not to trust him.
"…Ellis."
Ellis said not breaking eye contact.
"You know, Ellis, you really ought to get your head out of your ass and start thinking before you act. I suggest you put some more points into intelligence, you arson. With how dumb you are right now; you wouldn't stand a chance against an entire crime syndicate. And then where would your mom and sister be?"
Belial made a pouty face as he finished his sentence before he tilted his head and grinned sharply at Ellis.
"How did you know?"
Ellis asked feeling both violated and dumb.
"Well, since I saw you prancing around town in your cute little handmade armor suit it was pretty clear. I did think it was a hilariously clever idea to say that you were in a reenactment group."
Belial said expressionlessly as he yawned and stretched his arms out over his head while he looked around Ellis's shoddy apartment.
Ellis wrinkled his eyebrows; he didn't think he stood out that much. But then again, he had only been home for two days and already killed three people as well as caught the attention of this freakshow.
"How many people have made it out of the Tower?"
Ellis asked assuming he was probably keeping tabs on other people as well as him.
"There are four other people, not including us, that I know of in this area."
Belial claimed as he plopped down at the kitchen table. Ellis made his way over to the table and sat down across from him.
"Why are you so much stronger than I am? Eliora said that I achieved a lot more than most people do on floor one. So, I don't understand why you're so much stronger."
Ellis curiously asked showing a slight hint of jealousy.
"It took me a little over three months in the Tower to finish the first three floors, so I'm a lot higher level than you are. Plus, I actually use all the stats that I'm given."
Belial said condescendingly as he pointed toward his head.
Ellis stared at him in shock. It took him over four months in the tower to clear one level and this guy cleared three in three months.
Actually use all the stats I'm given? I have used all my points though?
Ellis thought to himself in confusion before asking another question.
"Has everyone else who's gotten out of the Tower made it to floor three?"
"No, from what I've heard, no one has made it past the second floor yet."
Belial said, almost disappointed.
"So, why did you?"
Maybe he had a dying family member too and wanted to get a cure-all potion to heal them? Why else would anyone want to keep climbing the Tower without stopping?
"I dunno, I thought it was pretty fun and easy."
Belial said as he exhaled, seeming bored with the conversation.
This guy is a psychopath.
Belial looked at Ellis, who's jaw was practically touching the kitchen table.
"Anyway, I just wanted to drop in to give you some advice."
Belial said as he got up from the table and headed for the door.
"Oh, before I forget."
Belial turned around and tossed a card to Ellis.
"Here's a work opportunity if you don't mind fighting. You know, if you need to pay some medical bills. Or get your sister out of some trouble."
Belial winked and grinned playfully at Ellis before skipping out the door.
"Fortune awaits!"
Belial sang as the door closed behind him.
What the hell just happened.
Ellis looked down at the business card. It was pitch black and all that was written was an address in shiny gold lettering.
Wait, what did he mean get my sister out of trouble? Is she in trouble? What else does he know? Why does this crazy person want to help me? He doesn't seem like the type of person to give a helping hand to a complete stranger if there's nothing in it for him. Maybe he works for the government and is trying to gather everyone who made it out of the Tower.
Ellis was thoroughly creeped out by Belial and was trying to piece together everything he had just learned when the door to the apartment creaked open once again. Ellis jumped to his feet still holding the halberd in his hands.
It was Solara.
Ellis put the halberd down when he saw it was her. She came into the apartment quietly with her head down. As soon as Solara turned her head, Ellis saw that her right eye was a shiny purple and swollen shut.
Ellis's demeanor turned serious as his mind flashed back to what Belial had said.
"What happened."
"Uh, it was nothing. I just ran into a pole. I'm so clumsy."
Solara laughed quietly as she brought her hand up to her eye blocking it from his view and tried to walk past him.
Ellis grabbed her shoulder, stopping her, and spun her around.
"Who did that to you."
Anger fumed from Ellis's body as his face got red hot. He had been beaten enough to know what her black eye was from. It was no accident.
"Let go of me Ellis, you're hurting me."
Solara whined as she tried to get out of his grasp.
Ellis let go of her shoulder but blocked her path.
"Stop lying Solara, what happened?"
"It's nothing, honestly. Don't worry about it, I'm fine."
Solara said, trying to brush it off.
"Solara, what happened?"
Ellis said raising his voice.
Solara pushed past him.
"Leave it alone, it's nothing."
Solara said as she made her way to the kitchen.
Ellis tried to grab her arm again, but she jerked it out of his reach.
"Seriously, Ellis stop treating me like I'm a child. You left and I had to do everything on my own. I figured it out. I don't need your help."
Solara said angrily.
Ellis knew she was hiding something, but he didn't want to start a fight with his sister. He took a deep breath and calmed himself down.
"You're right. I'm sorry that I left you alone. I won't pressure you to tell me."
Ellis said, stepping back a couple of steps. He was gonna find out what happened one way or another there was no reason to upset his sister further.
Solara's expression changed slightly as her shoulders seemed to relax, and her eyes fell soft.
Ellis went and grabbed the half-empty potion. Solara saw the potion and looked up at Ellis shaking her head.
"No, I don't need any of that. We need to save that for mo-"
She stopped suddenly when she noticed the scar on his cheek.
"What the hell happened to you??"
She asked as she ran to him to inspect his cheek.
"I tried to get my old job back. It didn't go so well."
Ellis looked away as his expression darkened.
Solara was annoyed by the half-assed answer but didn't bother digging for any more context.
Ellis popped off the cork of the potion to pour a few drops over Solara's eye. She protested at first but reluctantly complied when Ellis almost spilled some onto the ground.
As her eye began to heal, she looked down and saw that the potion was more than half empty. She let out a heavy sigh.
"Do you think there's still enough left in there to help mom?"
"I don't know. I went to the hospital today and gave her some more, but so far nothing has changed."
They both looked down at the potion.
Ellis put the potion in his backpack before they ate leftovers silently at the table before going to bed.
...
Ellis woke up at noon again, it was amazing to be able to sleep so much. Solara had left for school hours ago. Ellis sat up and thought of what his plan was going to be for the day.
He first peeled up the floorboard and took out the cash, jewelry, and anima gems, then put them in his backpack before getting dressed and heading out the door with the mysterious black card in his pocket.
As he made his way toward the hospital, he noticed that the city was looking visibly better.
Wow, they must have people working all day and night to clean all this up.
Ellis thought to himself during his jog to the hospital.
When he arrived at the hospital, it was still packed with people. He went through the same routine he had for the last two days before he made his way up to the 7th floor and looked for Dr. Medicus. He saw that he was talking to another patient in the hall, so he waited until Dr. Medicus was done before getting his attention.
"I have the money to pay off the medical bill."
Ellis said to Dr. Medicus as he approached him and went to pull off his backpack.
"You're sister already paid off the $10,000 last night? Did she not tell you about it yet?"
The doctor raised an eyebrow at him as Ellis stared speechlessly in confusion.
"Anyway, I have some more patients I need to talk to. Have a good day, boy."
Dr. Medicus patted Ellis's shoulder before walking by leaving Ellis still stunned. What did the doctor mean that it had all been paid off? His sister definitely had no way to get that much money that he knew of.
Ellis decided that he would go to his sister's school later and wait for her to get out of class so he would ask her about it while they walked home. He went into his mom's room and closed the door before he took out the potion. He slightly opened his mom's mouth to pour in the potion but stopped when he saw the tube distributing fluids into her body.
What if I inject the potion straight into her IV? It should make the potion work even more effectively, right?
Ellis searched the drawers in the room and found an empty sterile syringe. He injected a small amount of the potion into her IV to be delivered directly to her bloodstream.
Ellis stood there, anxiously, watching the vitals screen by the bedside to see if anything changed. After ten minutes, nothing had changed. Ellis's shoulders slumped over.
Dammit.
"I'll be back tomorrow, please get better."
He kissed his mom's forehead and left the room. As Ellis exited the hospital, he pulled out the business card that Belial had given him and looked at the address. Luckily, it was only about a ten-minute jog from where he was now.
When he got to the address he found a massive black building. He pushed the doors open and entered. It was a nice-looking place with glass containers showing off various items. Most of them were old looking artifacts, probably worth tons of money. After looking around for a second Ellis walked up to the front desk, warily.
"Hello! How can I help you?"
A woman asked, popping her head above her computer. Her hair was pulled back into a simple bun and she had on a floral blouse.
"I have this card."
Ellis took the card out of his pocket and handed it to her.
"Oh!"
Shock filled the woman's eyes before she regained her composure.
"Okay, if you would like to follow me into this room and wait for Mr. Droven."
She said as she got up in a hurry and headed to a room to the left of the counter.
Ellis followed her in and she closed the door behind him leaving him alone in a small office looking room. A few minutes later the door opened again.
"Mr. Droven is ready to speak to you. Please follow me."
A new woman with long hair said as she gestured for Ellis to follow her out the door.
She took him to an elevator, swiped a card, and selected floor 20. After taking the elevator up, she walked Ellis through a pair of double doors into a massive room, filled with various things that had obviously come from the Tower, including preserved monster corpses. Ellis looked around and saw piles of anima gems in glass cases.
The woman led him to a suede sofa and motioned for him to sit down.
"Mr. Droven will be with you shortly."
She said as she turned and left the room, closing the doors behind her.
Ellis looked around a bit more and saw an anima gem, only slightly smaller than the Imp King's gem he had with a thick glass display case enclosing it.
Creak!
A large door on the other side of the room opened and a man probably in his late 50's with slicked-back black and silver hair walked into the room. He motioned for Ellis to come into his office. As Ellis entered the office the man shook his hand. Ellis grasped his hand firmly as the man introduced himself.
"Hello. Let me introduce myself, I'm Droven."
Droven said as he sat down in a big chair on the other side of a large fancy wood desk.
"I'm Ellis. Nice to meet you."
Ellis replied hesitantly as he sat down across from the man.
"So, you're a Tower-Walker?"
Droven said as he put his elbows on the table and clasped his hands together.
"Yeah."
Ellis responded warily.
"Prove it?"
Droven's eyes narrowed as if trying to call Ellis out in a lie. Droven had many people coming to him looking for money or fame. If Ellis just pulled out an anima gem or something of the like then he would know that they weren't a Tower-Walker. There were only a few ways that would actually prove that you came out of the Tower. Show some of your power, use magic, or call out your TowerCard.
Ellis thought for a moment before he decided his best course of action would be to show the man his TowerCard. If he was recruiting people who have come out of the Tower then maybe he could make some money from them as Belial said. As Ellis pulled his TowerCard out and held it in his hand, Droven's eyes widened. He had only seen this a few times before so the shock of it still hadn't worn off yet. Ellis put his TowerCard back while Droven smiled and nodded his head. He finally had another new recruit.