"Welcome!!!"
Letting out a yawn, I awaken from my comfortable nap.
Cracking my eyes open, I abruptly recall what happened on floor twenty. And instantly, I started to cry.
Wondering how I managed to forget such an event for even a second, I silently apologized to Marvin, begging for his forgiveness. It was at that moment I remembered that Marvin should be here with me too.
Drying my tears, I stared every which way, and sure enough, Marvin was right next to me. It looked like he was leaning over to grab my shoulder, so I took his outstretched hand, showing a bright smile to him.
Quickly tearing his hand from my grasp, he gives me a disgusted look.
Tilting my head in confusion, I tried to discern why he was treating me like such a stranger.
'He must think it my fault that he died to that boss… not that I blame him…' I hang my head dejectedly, 'I am useless after all.'
Keeping my head down like that for a very long time, Death eventually gets to the part of his speech where he allows us to speak. In that instant, Marvin took the opportunity to reach out to me once more.
"You all right man?"
Wanting to respond to Marvin with utmost fervor, Death silences my voice just before I can.
Shooting a mean gaze at Death for interrupting my reconnection time with Marvin, I ever so slightly process his words and it dawns on me that it's the same speech he conducted on the very first day, word for word. Crinkling my nose, I start to wonder why Death would do such a thing.
'People return back here when they die in the tower… right?' I can't help but wonder once more.
Forthwith, I decided it wise to memorize the faces of the ones that surround me. I see everything from an old man to a child.
Creating a list of their facial features in my head, the voices of millions once again rise. But just as quickly, the voices also died down just to rise right back up again.
Clearing my throat, I recognize my ability to communicate and turn my attention back to Marvin.
With his eyes focused on me, I drop my head, "I'm sorry."
"For wh-"
I cut him off. "I know I'm useless weight, but I still should've been able to do something about the giant rat monster… You didn't deserve to die like that."
Preparing myself to be chewed out, I'm instead stupefied.
"What the f*ck are you going on about." Marvin sneers, "The two of us have never met. Mabey you're confusing me with someone else."
"You're not Marvin?"
Marvin goes wide-eyed, backing away from me slowly, "You some kinda stalker? How do you know my name?"
Twisting my head in confusion till my vision had turned nearly sideways, I ask Marvin tentatively, "You do remember what we went through, right?"
"I'll say it again man… I HAVE NOT MET YOU!" Marvin gets hostile.
"But we went through the first twenty floors together… er… scratch that… nineteen floors together… we both died on the twentieth."
"DIED?!" Marvin howls, "You need to check your eyes or something because I'm still very much alive! Heck, YOU'RE still alive!"
"Come on Marvin," I shrug off his words, "Don't treat me like this…"
Massaging his forehead as if to prevent a headache from coming on, Marvin gets right up in my face and yells in a hushed voice, "For the last f*cking time… I… have… NOT… met you!"
Taking on a complicated expression, the room starts to shake violently. Looking behind, I find the entrance to the first floor open.
"Why's that opening again, for the third time?"
"Eh, you'd knew that'd appear." Marvin finds my words captivating, "Have you… climbed this tower before?"
"We've…" I point between both him and me, "Climbed this tower."
Puffing out his nostrils, Marvin seems to almost burst from range. But suddenly, his demeanor turns calm and his gaze cold.
Standing up, Marvin starts to walk away.
"Marvin? Marvin, where are you going?" I peeked past him, wondering if there was something over where he was walking.
"I'm not really in the mood to deal with you right now." Marvin looked like he was restraining himself, "I just got suddenly dropped in this tower, and now… and now I've got to deal with a crazy man. Both of those are problems and I can fix one of them right now."
"But Marvin, we have to clear the tower." I try to get through to him.
"Why… tell me why I should even step one foot into the tower with you by my side?"
Finding that question difficult to answer, I admit, "I know I'm not the strongest… and that I'm often a deadweight… but with what I learned from the previous tower climb, I'm sure we can go higher than before."
"Nah man," Marvin shakes his head, "You're on your own…"
With that, Marvin made his way through the crowd, putting himself further and further away from me. I watched him for a long, long time until he was nothing more than a speck in the distance. And then I sat there, contemplating what I'd just gone through, contemplating THE question.
Do people really come back to this preparatory floor when they die… or is it just me?
So, with renewed energy, I decided to ask the people around me if they'd ever climbed the tower before.
But no matter how many people I asked, they all gave roughly the same answer, "No."
But I didn't lose hope and trekked my way through the gathering of people, asking every one of them. I lost count of how many people I asked, eventually getting to well over one hundred. It was just then that my eyes land on Dax.
At first, I was immeasurably happy to see him but then occurred to me.
He went into the tower after us and managed to clear it faster. Huh.
Wondering whether his talent was the cause or if the increased monster load slowed us down by that much, I snap myself out of it.
Ignoring the others, I call out to Dax.
Whipping his head upwards, I watch his eyes take on a light very similar to the one Marvis had given me. And that was one of absolute confusion.
"Dax, I never thought I'd find you."
"Do I know you?" Is the first thing he asks.
"It's me… Edwin… we met on the restorative floor between floors ten and eleven."
"I haven't got a clue what you're talking about…" Dax gives me a blank stare, "I have yet to climb the tower, let alone make it all the way to this restorative floor you speak of."
I find my hopes dashed, "So, you don't remember either."
Seeming to find my current look pathetic, Dax sighs, "Listen… it seems like you've been through a lot and are stressed. So, why don't you sit down and calm down? And if you're feeling up to it, why don't you share your pain?"
Nodding to his words like a child would, I plop down onto the ground and take a few deep breaths in.
"Whenever you're ready." Dax comforts me.
Slowly but surely, I explain my story to Dax. Amidst my story, we managed to gain an audience of ten listeners. Said listeners were constantly gasping, murmuring, and nearly crying.
"So, that's what tower is…" Dax stroke his chin, "If what you said can be taken for fact, then clearing up to the twentieth floor shouldn't be a problem."
"But what of the monster on the twentieth floor?" A random female listener asks.
"You said it walked on water," Dax confronts me, and I nod, "Then clear the water?"
"You believe me?" I look at Dax, my eyes watering.
"Well, I have no way to disprove you…" Dax rubs the skin on his ring finger, "Plus, you described your story with such passion, that it's hard not to trust your words."
"We could always prove it…" A male listener inserts himself into the conversation. "What if all of us here clear up to floor ten."
"Didn't you hear what he said before," A woman smacks him on the back of the head, "If there's a huge number of us, then that means we'll be forced to fight a mass of monsters?"
"I wasn't suggesting us to travel as an entire group…" The man rubs the back of his head, "We could all travel in pairs of two with the restorative floor serving as a meetup spot."
"I suppose that could work." Dax smile.
As we form groups, I can't help but ask, "How come you all are willing to risk your lives?"
"Well, you told us what to be wary of, so…" One answered.
"There's food and water on the restorative floor, so…" Another answered.
"I don't want to be left out, so…" All of us stared at the one who answered.
And now, our group of twelve had split into six separate groups. Luckily, I managed to score the partner position with Dax.
"Ah, before we all head down… let's get each other names. After all, if any of us don't make it to floor ten, then…" Dax didn't even need to continue as everyone silently understood.
Introducing ourselves in turn, we head to the stairs, all of us heading down at the same time.
"So, to enter together we have to…" Dax turns to me.
"Have some sort of physical contact with one another."
"Easy enough." Dax treated me the same way Marvin did and hooked his arm around my neck. Turning back to the rest of the group, Dax nodded, "See the rest of you on that restorative floor… hopefully."
Walking through, Dax treats the hit of nausea as if it were nothing and keeps himself vigilant.
With the screen appearing that shows our weapon choices, I decided to stick with the sword and find that Dax went with the dagger. Though, almost immediately after picking the dagger up and inspecting it, he hooked it onto his side, and didn't touch it again. Not even when the monsters appeared.
"Um… Dax…" The monsters charge forward, "They're coming…"
"I know." Dax takes a sharp breath in and in a split second, executes a roundhouse kick into both heads of the monsters.
Hurtling away from us with blood spurting out from their heads, they twitch for a few seconds after hitting the ground and take their few final breaths.
Kicking some more as if to get rid of the blood that got on his leg, Dax grumbled.
"Turns out your words could be taken for truth." Dax turned to me and gave an approving nod, "Which means that monster on floor twenty is also real."
"I wonder how the others are faring…" I ponder.
"They're probably fine." Dax eventually gives up on getting rid of the blood, "Those ten wouldn't have climbed if they weren't confident, they couldn't get to that restorative floor."
"I guess you're right."
Giving a prayer to the dead monsters, Dax and I make our way up all the way to floor ten without any issues. I didn't even need to do anything as Dax swiftly dealt with any monster that appeared. It didn't matter if the monster was behind him, above him, or in front of him, he'd deal with it.
Finding his talent to be so impressive, I praise him wholeheartedly the entire time. After all, I'd never gotten the chance to prove myself even a bit more competent.
Noticing my self-depreciation, Dax gave a friendly smile, "You've already been through so much up till now… so, just take a break and let me handle everything."
Relenting, Dax and I walked into the tenth floor.
"So, this is the ugly thing that's killed you before, right?"
Nodding my head, Dax stretched himself out before the giant monster even peeked its head out. Getting down on the ground, Dax sprints forward, approaching the black cloak that covers the monster.
Hearing something approaching, the monster peaks its head out only to receive a fistful from Dax.
Becoming disoriented from the punch, the monster loses its ability to rise to its feet.
Taking the opportunity, Dax finally pulling his dagger from its sheath and plunges into the throat of the monster, dragging it all the way around the monster's gullet.
Reaching up to stop the bleeding, the monster's hands get fended off by Dax's kicks and punches. And, in probably torturous moments for the monster, the giant monster bled out and died.
Wandering over to me, Dax thanks me, "If you hadn't told me about the appearance of that monster, I'm sure that fight would've gone a lot more poorly... And I bet the others feel the same way. Now… let's get going to that magic bath you hyped up so much… I'm feeling dirty."
Laughing in tandem with Dax, we wait on the restorative floor for the rest.