Chereads / The Power of Tower Climbers / Chapter 4 - Family Ties

Chapter 4 - Family Ties

Karma sighed "Sorry about that Locus, unresolved issues" she muttered "we should be arriving in floor 14 soon." she finished and she walked off, deep in thought. "So, what happened to Felix?" Alexa asked and Locus smiled at her "He stayed behind to fight the floor guardian." he said "Soooo, he's dead?" Alexa laughed "not many people could fight a floor guardian, so if he survives we may need to be more careful around him." Karma walked back "we're here, let's go" When they got off the train Locus looked around "Felix should be meeting us next floor, assuming he's alive" Karma said "Kal should be joining us too" Karma said Alexa was staring at Karma, starstruck. "Stop staring at me kid, it's weird" Karma said and Alexa looked away "Sorry, it's just hard to believe that you're of the Crown family" she said, the awe still obvious in her voice "You just don't seem as proper as that family is" she continued and Karma laughed "You should see me at family dinners, I'm so much more polite" she said as they walked to the living area "The test will start tomorrow, get your bearings here, then rest" Karma leaned against a wall and looked around "I'm gonna go find a new cloak" she said and a bolt of lightning struck the wall next to her "Sorry, misfire" A voice spoke from above, clearing his throat the voice continued "Why Karma? you're beautiful" the voice said and Alexa just about fainted "Star Oren!" she yelled and Locus looked up at the blue haired figure standing above them "What do you want?" Karma asked. Star laughed "I can't come and tell a girl how pretty they are?" he asked innocently, Karma glared at him "You usually want something from me when you compliment me like that" she said and Star's expression turned serious "Fine" he said "I need some help finding my sister, she's on floor 15 and she hasn't contacted us" he explained and Karma nodded "I'll go get Luna, on one condition, if you see Felix tell him to watch out for Bell" Star nodded at her and went on his way. "What are you waiting for? Go explore!" she yelled and Alexa and Locus walked off, leaving Karma to find a cloak. 

Locus walked towards the next gate but stopped just short of the gate "Maybe we should wait here, there is no point in searching around, this place is just like the 10th floor" Locus said. "No need to" Karma said while she showed off her new  black cloak "let's go shall we?" Locus said with a grin. They walked towards the gate, it opened as silent as could be, they appeared in a big blue room "Welcome to floor 14's test" an older man said as he stroked his white beard "Now would you like to begin? You can choose only 2 people to take this test" the older man said, both Karma and Locus stepped forward "We shall take this test" Karma said excitedly "Well then let the test of abilities begins" the older man continued "You both have 1 objective, don't fall off! Oh and what i mean by that, in case you were wondering is don't touch the water down their" the man said as he pointed at the water about 10 feet below them "Well we already passed this test" Locus said "What do you mean child?" the older man asked. Locus started levitating above the ground "What is your ability?" the man asked "To control gravity ithink even i'm not sure yet" Locus said with a smile "Well then you may pass without taking this test" The older man said disappointingly "Thank you, see ya" Locus said as he shaked the older gentlemens hand "Well, i have not seen a boy with manners like that in a long time,thank you" The older man said with a smile. As they walked to the exit the crystal in Locus' pocket glowed "Hmm he must be close, guess we will meet him in the next floor" Locus said, they went through the gate and appeared on floor 15 in a bright red room. 

"Alright" Karma started "We have 3 goals here, number 1, we have to find Kal" they began walking, they exited the red room into a large field with many towns in the distance "number 2, we have to find Luna Oren" they walked towards little town not too far away "and finally, we have to find Felix, he has to do the test before he even gets close to the floor" she said as they reached the town "let's rest here for now, meet in the town square ok?" she asked, getting nods in response. After a few hours they met up in the town square, Locus was holding the glowing crystal in his hand, it was only getting brighter. "He's close" he said, when suddenly they heard someone yell "KARMA!" and not even a moment later Bellamy stood before them, behind him someone with red hair wearing a blue suit jacket, with a white shirt and loosened black tie walk up "that's not Karma, that's Anarchy" the guy in the suit said "Oh… that explains so much, guess I should've figured that out" Karma and Bellamy walked forward towards each other and the guy in the suit who had ducked behind a house came out. He was wearing an orange and black jacket with an orange beanie. "Felix!" Locus yelled, finally recognizing him "Why were you in a suit?" he asked "long story, I'll explain later" Felix replied as, without a word, Bellamy and Karma began to fight. "Ok, so that's Bellamy Crown, Karma Crown's older brother" Felix began "I've known him since my 2nd time in the tower, I also knew...wait a minute!" Felix continued, getting distracted half way through, he spun toward the fight "No wonder you knew about that incident! You were there!" he yelled at Karma, who stopped fighting for a second to wink at him. "Anyhow, that's Bellamy" he finished with a smile "I know i threw him off the train when he tried to fight Karma, which is when we found out about that" Locus said while he laughed. "That was you?" Felix asked "Nice job, I'm impressed" they turned to watch the fight, which was barely followable. The scene unfolded slowly as they watched a lightning bolt fly in out of nowhere and hit Bellamy, making him fly into the distance. "Disturbing the peace huh?" A female voice asked from the side "you should be ashamed" jumping off the roof was a blue haired girl wearing a black skirt with a blue line on the bottom, with a black shirt with another blue outline. "Luna!" Felix said, Luna looked over to Felix and smiled "Felix, hey" she ran over and hugged him "long time no see, how's it going?" she asked, Felix nodded "It's good, it's good, I found a new friend" he said, showing off Locus "Luna, this is Locus, he's a newcomer with an extraordinary ability, Locus this beauty is Luna Oren, her ability is well…... lighting control obviously" Felix introduced the two, Luna did her best to hide a blush and Locus stuck his hand out "pleasure" he said and Luna shook his hand "So polite" she said and looked at Felix "you picked a good one this time" she smiled at him and gave him a small kiss on the cheek "it's good to see you again Felix, but why are you here?" she asked "Ah, I was looking for these three" he explained "and we were looking for you" Karma said, walking forward to make sure she could be seen "your brother wants to see you again" she explained, Luna shook her head "I'm not going back, in fact, Felix can I come with you guys?" she asked and latched on to his arm. "F-Fine" he said, knowing he can't argue with her. 

Luna looked at Locus "You look familiar, i don't know where from but you do... something about your eyes...." Luna started to say but dozed off as she stared at Locus' hair "Ummmmm, i have no clue what your talking about, i have never met you before" Locus said anxiously "Well shall we get going?" Felix said as he glared at bellamy "Ima just leave once you guys get to the next gate" Bellamy said with distaste in his voice then pointed at Locus "I have my eye on you new-comer" Bellamy said as he glared "I'm not a newcomer" Locus muttered under his breath "What did you say!?" Bellamy yelled but before Locus could answer a blue haired woman in a red dress walked up "What's all the yelling about over here!" the women asked as she glared at Bellamy "Shouldn't you be on floor 40 with your father Bellamy!" the women stated everyone looked over to see a tall slender women with long white hair and deep blue eyes that seemed to pierce  straight through them  "I'm sorry Bree, how is the Drevil family doing?" Bellamy asked "the family is fine, but i'm looking for my little brother" Bree answered "You mean Skaw?" Bellamy asked "No, my youngest brother" Bree responded "i did not know you had a 2nd brother" Felix,luna and bellamy responded. Locus looked at Bree realizing she was there and tried to not get her attention "Well anyways i have been looking for him for a few months now" Bree said, she looked at Locus and ran to hug him "Uuuu hi sis" Locus said awkwardly while he started hugging her back "Where have you been! I have been looking for you like crazy!" Bree almost yelled "Wait what! He's your youngest brother!?" everyone yelled in surprise, Bree ignored them "I was kicked from the tower on the 70th floor and that's when Felix found me and i have been going up the tower floors since then" Locus responded "I told you not to leave floor 68! But at least you're ok" Bree said almost crying "Again, he's your brother?" both Felix and Bellamy said. 

"Yes, we're siblings, deal with it" Bree responded. "Jeez, as long as I've known you, I don't think I've ever heard about another brother" Felix laughed, Luna got into a defensive position "Calm down, don't get jealous Luna" Felix said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Wait, why would she be jealous? Are you two? Oh my god" Karma started asking, covering her mouth "how? Felix is the most violent person I've ever known, and I've met Theon Denn, Luna is the most innocent person" She said in amazement. Karma just about collapsed "that shouldn't be possible" Felix looked over to her and laughed "Why are you so surprised, when I first went through the tower, Luna was the one who went up with me" he said with a small smile, he looked over to Bree and Locus "Alright, we've got places to  Bree" he laughed at his own pun, Bree looked like she was about to kill him. An arrow made of fire hit a wall next to them "Sorry! Dramatic entrance and all that!" the archer yelled "Try to aim for somebody's head next time Kal!" Felix yelled back to him, Kal laughed in response "Why are we meeting here?" he asked, Felix shrugged "Oh, hello there Luna" Kal said, flirtatiously, Felix, not even a second later, was holding a sword to his throat. Kal laughed nervously "Uh, hey Bree, why are you hugging the newcomer?" he asked, slowly backing away from Felix's blade 

Bree looked at Kal, looking like she was gonna murder him "he is my little brother, and don't call him a newcomer he lives on floor 68!" Bree said still looking like she was gonna kill him "Wait what!" everyone said "Then how come i found him at the entrance of the tower all bloody?" Felix said "I don't know, only he can answer that but I suspect it's a reason to why he went missing" bree said then looked at Locus and hugged him again, Felix walked upto bree "I thin…" before he could finish bree activated her power and in a split second there was a knife at his throat, it was the same knife that Felix had on his belt "isn't that the knife on my belt" Felix asked as he stepped backwards and reached for the knife that was supposed to be on his belt but it was gone, Felix looked at his belt then back at bree "How in the hell! I never saw you move!" Felix asked "her power is to stop time" both Luna and Locus said simultaneously "That's why she is the family leader and not Skaw, plus she is the oldest" Luna said "well that explains why i did not see her even move!" Felix said still amazed "Yea, that's why not even i will mess with her" Bellamy said. Felix looked at Bree again "But as i was gonna say we need to finish this floors te…" before Felix could finish bree was behind him with the knife around his throat, he never even saw her move "say one more thing about Locus going anywhere and i will slit your throat" Bree said with a wicked smile, Felix could see the intent to kill in her eyes "Sis, i want to go with them" Locus said as he gave her a hug, Bree had the look of defeat on her face "Ok fine, i will be watching though so you better be able to control your ability" Bree said as she hugged Locus back "Hey Bree, don't you have your family's weapon, the Eye of Gravity as well as your time stop ability?" Luna asked "No" Bree responded "Then who does" Luna asked, Bree pointed at Locus "He has the ability to control gravity but he also was born with the Eye of Gravity" Bree said with a smile.  

"That explains one of the two missing great weapons" Karma said "Wait, two?" Felix asked and Kal laughed "With the guardian's disappearance and the legend of his return, nobody knows where the death scythe is, on top of that nobody knew who had the eye of gravity" he explained, Felix nodded as he began to understand "Ok, so then Locus can be even more powerful?" he asked, Bree nodded in response "How fun! Let's just get to the test yeah?" he said and began walking, the group following behind, all except for Bellamy who vanished to the 40th floor. "So, how's Star?" Luna asked Karma, who shrugged "He flirted with me when he saw me, so he must be fine" she said and Luna laughed "sounds like it" Felix looked over "He never flirts with me when he sees me" he said overdramatically earning a laugh from both girls who then glared at each other "I can already see a rivalry in the group" Kal whispered to him and Felix laughed "This is surprising, we've been together since my first time in the tower, I actually traveled with the three of you my second time in here" Felix replied astonished "Only because our family leaders forced you to" Kal joked back. "Best run through the tower ever, except when I was almost killed by the three of you" Felix said, reminiscing.  "Which time?" Felix asked and they laughed even Bree laughed who was behind them, then shook her head and muttered "Boys" 

"This test will be difficult" Bree stated "how come?" Felix asked "Well because your not allowed to take part" Bree pointed at Felix "and you guys will be playing tag/hide & seek with 3 floor guardians, so you know why you can't take part" Bree said rolling her eyes they walked towards the gate, Bree, Felix and Luna appear in a room with glass, they look through the glass and saw a giant maze. "Well this is definitely different from last time we went up the tower" Felix said in shock as he looked at the huge maze "Those walls are 200 feet high i know because i'm the one who suggested this floors test" bree said as she pointed at the walls of the maze "this should  be a good challenge for everyone" Luna stated "But i don't get it, why were we put up here to watch?" Luna asked "well that's the simple part, it's because you two would both break this floor and you both have the equivalent power to a floor guardian" Bree said as she looked disappointed that they did not see the obvious answer.

Felix laughed "Does she not know?" he asked rhetorically "I actually defeated a floor guardian, forced him to yield" he explained Bree looked at him "I know Felix" she said and Felix scoffed "Then how am I only equivalent to a floor guardian?" he asked "Because you didn't kill him and each floors guardian becomes more powerful the higher up you go" she responded as she turned around to watch "I was being merciful" he muttered and walked next to her "Locus can do it undoubtedly, I'm more worried about Kal, his ability isn't that helpful for this sort of situation" he said, looking around "He'll do fine, remember the 25th floor?" Luna asked "When you suffocated half of the people, who helped you fight the others off? That was thousands of people against you two, he'll make it" Luna reassured him "But that was fighting" Felix said "This is different" he muttered as he searched the maze for Locus "Why can't I find him?" he asked, Bree pointed at a part of the maze that was almost pitch black "Over there" she said. Felix looked over at the spot where he saw Locus running through the maze, in pursuit was one of the floor guardians who started to float randomly. "Always with that move Locus" he muttered "That won't work, he's gonna use that to his advantage" just as Felix predicted the guardian dropped to the ground and broke into a faster sprint "That guardians ability is to use attacks to his body as a booster for strength or speed, I know him" Felix said as he watched the guardian get thrown into a wall "Locus needs to change up his strategy or he'll get caught" he said and Locus turned back around to run, turning rapidly to lose the guardian, to no avail. "Where'd they go?" Felix asked

Felix saw the guardian fly into the air "He must have gotten close to him" Felix said "But that's not gonna help Locus any" Bree stated, all of a sudden they see Locus appear in the center of the maze "did he get caught?" Luna asked "no, no i don't think so" bree said and pointed at Locus as he flew across the center with the guardian appearing from the far left "is it just me or is Locus speeding up?" Felix asked. Bree  looked closely at Locus "He is! He is speeding up faster everytime he completes a circle around the center, what is he doing?" Bree said with the look surprised "I know what he is doing, and it's smarter than what i would have thought of" Luna said "what is he doing!" bree yelled "Well i think he is trying to create a tornado of some sort" Luna said "Wow that's not something i would have thought of" Bree said, just as luna said that a giant tornado appeared at the center of the maze and the guardian went flying towards them, he hit the glass and slid down right then the tornado stopped, Locus was nowhere to be seen. 

"What the hell?" Felix muttered "Where's Locus?" he asked, looking around again trying to find him. "Where the hell did he go?" He said, frantically searching the maze for any sign of him "Damn it!" he yelled pacing back and forth "He could have gone literally anywhere, somewhere in the tower maybe… or maybe he was sent out of the tower again, that's a damn shame" he muttered, Luna put a hand on his shoulder "Calm down" she said, Felix wasn't listening, just pacing back and forth muttering to himself. "What the hell?" Felix heard someone say, his head shot up and looked around for the voice, nobody else was there "Where did that kid go?" he heard the voice again "Ugh, alright, I have to get back to work" the voice stopped at that. "Again?" Felix muttered "What is it?" Bree asked "I've been able to hear people, without being near them, it happened again, I heard the guardian" Felix explained, looking at the maze, trying to find his other companions "We'll find Locus soon, I'm sure of it" Luna reassured him.

Felix looked around for everyone else, he Spotted Kal and Karma were already at the exit "Well i guess they made it, but still where is Locus!!" Felix looked over to ask Bree. Bree was nowhere to be found "god damn  it" Felix yelled "She left a while ago, i think she went to go look for Locus, after all they are family" Luna said with a smile. Locus looked around to only see nothing but blackness "Where.. Where am i?" Locus asked as he looked around frantically "Don't worry too much little brother" a man said, Locus looked over his shoulder to see a guy about the same height as him but skinnier with spiky white hair being somewhat covered by a grey beanie and was wearing a black shirt with grey shorts but what stood out the most was his deep red eyes that had the same piercing affect as Bree's and that's when he realized it was Skaw his older brother who was  floating next to him "You are under the maze lil bro" Skaw said as he flicked Locus' forehead "You know that was quite a show you put on, thanks for going through with the plan big sis told you" Skaw said with a smile "Yea well i still don't know why she had to tell me in secret as she hugged me" Locus said frowning "Don't worry about that, it was the only way i could get you alone to have more training" Bree said as she appeared next to Skaw "Hey sis long time no see" Skaw said smiling "Not now, i'm only here for my favorite lil brother" Bree said coldly as she punched Skaw "You know its only cuz he has the family weapon" Skaw said smiling even more "No! It's because i don't want him turning into you!" Bree yelled at him "Ok ok, just let me train already" Locus said then gave his brother a hug.