"Oooh!" Marvin let out a pained grunt, "That does not feel good when you're injured."
"How do you think I've felt?" I hoist him up just as he's about to sink.
Looking at me, his bottom lip quivers, a tear streaming from his eye, "I feel SO bad for you."
"As you should…" I agree, "Now, where is this?"
As I ask that question, a voice comes from behind.
"Looks like we've got some more people."
Slowly turning around with Marvin, I stared at the one who spoke. What greeted me was a tannish man, with blue eyes, brown hair, and a toned body sitting atop a rock. The man's wearing the same simple grey shirt and shorts as we were, but just "slightly" less torn than ours. Slightly was an understatement as it looks like his clothes were in pristine condition.
Seeing our current state, the man takes a sharp intake of breath, "That boss must've done a number on you two for you to look like this. Like, wow…"
No longer in the dim lighting that the cave had offered, I looked at Marin and found him skinned and dripping blood after having skidded across the cave ground. Additionally, there was a large purplish and black bruise on his ribs that his hand tried to cover. I hadn't suffered any injuries in the previous fight, so all the stab wounds had scabbed over, leaving me to look rather unpleasant.
"Here…" The man hops down from the rock and walks out in front of us, "I'll guide you to the recovery zone."
"Recovery zone?" I warily eye the man.
Seeing the look in my eyes, the man hangs his head, "Remember that plus sign that appeared on the door you JUST went through?" Marvin and I nod our heads, "Well, that was to symbolize that the next room… this room… was meant for restoration. It's a room made to fix… people like you..."
Circling us with his hand, we silently understood what he meant. 'It's meant for incompetent fools like you.'
Turning to Marvin to see what he thought, he relented. "Why not? What's the worst that can happen?"
Exhaling, I start to follow the man. Slowing his pace to match ours, he asks a few questions before we reach the area where we could fix ourselves.
"How'd the two of you come from that food together? Everyone else till now came in by themselves."
"We entered *cough* the first floor together." A wincing Marvin answered.
"You could do that?" The man seemed impressed, "Did it change anything about the tower?"
"More enemies spawn." I answer.
"Including the boss?!" His eyes go wide.
"No, no," Marvin waves the man's wild fantasies away, "It was everything except the boss."
"Oh…" I could clearly tell that the man was disappointed.
I wished to ask why, but I instead decided to ask a different question. "How come you're staying on this floor?"
"I like the way it feels." The man smiles, closed-eyed while looking to the sky, "Plus, I wanted to see what the other people who show up look like."
"But what about…" Marvin hectically coughs before continuing, "Clearing the tower?"
"Eh? I can leave that to the others, can't I?"
"But what if they die before reaching the top?" I tilt my head.
"Then they die…" The man shrugs, "It's not like their death affects me anyway. After all, I'm perfectly safe on this floor. Happily willing to spend the rest of my days right here."
"That's a rather cynical view…"
Wanting to say the same thing to the way Marvin treated the monster while choking him out, I angrily resist.
"We all have the right to think however we want. In the tower, where laws don't exist, you should find yourselves lucky that I'm not a sociopath or psychopath willing to murder everyone who comes to this restorative floor."
"Uhm, yeah, I definitely am…" Marvin vigorously nods his head.
A silence then falls over us as we slowly progress, but then it occurs to me.
"How come we can meet with other people on this floor?"
Watching the man think hard about my question, he eventually gives up, "It's just the way the tower was made I suppose… Not really any way to answer that question, is there?"
"I suppose not."
"All right, we're here." The man stops in front of a hedge, smiling back at us.
"This isn't anything though." Both Marvin and I stared at him in confusion.
"That's what you think…" The man twiddles his fingers at us and backs up into the hedge, disappearing into it.
With our mouths agape in wonder, a hand pops out from the hedge and beckons us forward. Following the man, I haul Marvin through the hedge and pop out on the other side. What greeted me was a large, open-air pool.
"Isn't this more of a fun zone than a restorative zone?"
"You people all think the same…" The man shakes his head, "This water is magical. It can heal anything! I even witnessed a man with a broken arm have it immediately mended. Now, you fellows should hop in and get yourselves healed."
"Hop in?"
"Yup." Not breaking eye contact with the man, he adds, "Oh, the water never gets dirty. No matter how much blood may flow in, the pool will cleanse itself to get rid of it. Plus… plus, the water also somehow mends clothing. That's why my clothes look so pristine."
Still not entirely trusting the properties of the water, Marvin decides to take the dive first. Forcing himself out of my grip, he throws himself into the water.
Sinking below the water, blood began to surface, causing my anxiety to rise.
"Marvin?!" But just as my worry had reached its peak, Marvin's head popped out, his eyes drooping.
Lazily, Marvin slurs, "This water is magical…"
"I know right?" The man smiles happily before turning to me and giving me a little push to the water.
Grumbling, I slowly climbed down into the water. The moment the water touched my wounds, it felt as though little fishes were gleefully plucking them away. Even more so, the parts of my shirt that'd been plastered to my wounds came off easily and reformed back to their original state. So, now, I stood there with my grey shirt and shorts looking like they had when I first began.
"You should fully submerge yourself." The man seemed to whisper into my ear.
Feeling as though my body didn't have the willpower to reject such a suggestion, I submerged myself under the water. Feeling the cool touch against my face, I nearly fell into a trance. But with my last shred of sanity, I pull my head from the water.
"A bit addicting, isn't it?" Staring at the man, I see him smugly smiling down at me.
It was just then that I realize there was something behind the man. Peering past him, I see a natural opening, one that didn't require hedge maneuvering.
"Why'd we go through the hedge if that was there?" I point at the opening.
"Because it's so much cooler to go through the hedge." The man explained as if it were obvious.
"Hmm."
Turning to Marvin, I see him with a goofy smile on his face, gracefully drifting on the water.
"All right, that should've been enough time for you to heal… time to get out."
This time, the man's words were an order rather than a recommendation.
"But why?" Marvin whined.
"Well, you want to climb the rest of the tower, don't you? And you need to get out of the pool to do that."
"He's right." I admit, climbing out of the pool.
Seeing my ability to exit from the pool so easily, Marvin unhappily climbs out as well. Examining the two of us from head to toe, the man bobs his head at the pool's handiwork.
"Now over there," The man points at a corner where two hedges connect, "There's a box. It has food and water. Take however much you want… it is endless after all."
"Endless?"
"Yeah." The man gestures, "You should realize by now that everything in here is magical."
"I guess so." I bite my cheek in ponderance.
Strolling over to the box in the corner, I lift open its lid and find two halves of the box. On one side, there was a pair of water bottles. On the other, there was a pair of sandwiches. I reached out to grab water and a sandwich, but I realized that I was neither hungry nor thirsty. Not even a little bit. Deciding to forgo the two, Marvin greedily grabs both water and sandwiches.
Pulling them away, he stares with starry eyes at the empty box but grows depressed when they don't reappear. Turning to the man, Marvin points at the box angrily.
"If you want more, just close the top and open it again."
Following his instructions, Marvin closes and reopens the box and chortles in delight at having found the water and sandwiches reappear. Starting to hastily tear at the sandwiches and drink the water he held, the man wanders his way over to me.
"Not hungry?" Shaking my head, the man replies, "Your loss."
Wondering what he meant by that, it was revealed when Marvin foamed at the mouth in delight.
"Thease ahre sho ghood."
Leaving Marvin to fulfill his desires, I turn back to the man.
"Who are you?"
"Well, that's a bit of a difficult question to answer." The man scratches his head, "I am a… person… who…"
"No, no, no," I stop him there, "I meant what's your name."
"Ohhhh, that makes more sense." The man slaps his own forehead before sticking his hand out, "I'm Dax."
"Edwin." I take his hand, "And the one scarfing his food down over there is Marvin."
Upon hearing his name, Marvin's head perked up, but seeing that he wasn't needed for anything, he quickly returned to eating.
"If you don't mind me asking," Dax spoke up, "Why were the two of you so injured from the boss? Didn't you fight it two-on-one?"
"We did…" I hang my head low, "But my talent isn't useful for fighting, and Marvin… Marvin's a bit headstrong, at least when trying to save someone."
"So, what are your talents?"
"I have Eternal Life… whatever that means. And Marvin as Advanced Spearmanship. What about you?" I asked him in return.
"Master Martial Arts." Dax starts to grow disgusted by Marvin's demeanor, "I used to train karate when I was a kid, but who knew I had a talent for it."
"All martial arts?" I crook my eyebrow.
"Well, it doesn't describe anything specific… so, maybe." Dax uncertainly answered, "And I mean, it's not like it matters how many martial arts the talent covers, I'm not climbing the tower past here… I have an appreciation for my life, and I don't want to throw it away trying to do something I don't want to."
"Then why climb to this floor in the first place?" I ask.
"To get away from the people…" Dax instantly answers.
Remembering the millions of people squabbling on the first floor, I can't help but understand Dax's intentions.
"Well, anyway," Dax claps his hands together, "The two of you should get on your way if you are really inclined to clear this tower."
"He's right." Marvin suddenly appears next to us, having apparently finished his food escapade, "If I stay here any longer, I fear I may become attached."
Looking down, I saw him carrying a ton of sandwiches and water.
"Ah, I forgot to mention," Dax also notices the collection Marvin built up, "You can't take anything from this floor to the next one. You're only allowed the weapons you got from previous floors and your clothes."
"That's what you think." Marvin scoffs, "Now, where are those stairs?"
Once again beckoning us forward, Dax walks through another hedge.
Following him, I find a white, pristine, granite staircase awaiting me. I wondered why these stairs were so much nicer than the original solid stone stairs, but I just conclude it to be the whims of the tower administrators.
As I prepare to make my way up, I'm brought to a halt by a screaming Marvin.
Finding that he hadn't followed me through the hedge, I run right back through the hedge and find… Marvin trying to scoop the pool water into a bottle.
"I can't…" Tears stream from Marvin's face, "I can't scoop it… I want this magic water… please!"
And sure enough, every time Marvin scooped the water, it'd fall THROUGH the bottle and right back into the pool.
"If you could." Dax pats my shoulder, his face stern.
"On it."
Hooking my arms under Marvin's armpits, I dragged him away from the magic pool.
"No… my precious water… come with me!"
Constantly flailing, I grab Marvin's spear from the ground and continue my trek towards the stairs. Reaching the first step, Marvin finally stops his tantrum.
"Well, at least I have these." He sniffles, holding the water and sandwiches close.
Making our way to the top, I drag the now-obedient Marvin through.