"Welcome!!!"
I shudder, anxiously grabbing my neck. Feeling that my neck was completely intact, I take in a few sweet gulps of breath before fluttering my eyes open.
'Oh, that's why I'm fine…' I just realized that I was back to ground zero, the preparatory floor.
Shaking my head, I begin to recall the fight that I had with the turtle monster.
After having to retract its neck, the turtle monster pulled its head all the way back into its shell. Staring into the eternal abyss that the shell offered, the head of the turtle suddenly rocketed outwards, its beak wide open.
Not even able to react in time, the turtle monster closed its beak down around my neck. Carving through my flesh with relative ease, the final thing I remember was the turtle having a piece of my skin flapping from its beak and a tremendous amount of blood coming from my neck.
Shuddering once more after having recalled the experience, I continue to massage my neck lovingly.
'To think I'd be so incompetent that I couldn't even handle a mob monster.' I sulk.
Yet, even having replayed the scene over and over in my mind, I wasn't quite sure what I was to do. Even if I was to take advantage of it stretching its neck, would I even be able to strike it down?
'Back to step one, I suppose.' I drag my finger across the stony ground.
I knew I was inept when it came to fighting, so I first had to find a solution to that problem before I decide to indulge myself in even trying to clear the tower. Creating a goal for myself, I look up, trying to find someone with the qualities to teach me combat techniques.
'But which one?'
Staring at the millions of heads, I didn't know a single thing about determining the quality of someone else's talent.
Sure, I could turn back to Marvin and get him to teach me how to handle a spear, but after the little outburst he'd shown me last time, I didn't feel comfortable enough crawling back to him.
I also didn't even want to turn to Dax's group since I really did feel like I betrayed Dax's trust. I'd only go back once I was strong enough.
'So, take my chance with a random person?'
Scratching my head at my lack of options, my mind only got more jumbled when everyone else started speaking.
'Mabey I should just ask people about their talents and choose one that's suitable.' I smack my fist into my palm.
Like a swiveling turret, I turn my head slowly to the left, my eyes locking on the first person that I saw. It was a young kid no older than probably sixteen.
I wanted to crawl over to him, but an invisible hand rest itself on my shoulder and kept me seated – unmoving.
It was only after waiting a few minutes that I was gifted the ability to move. And it was abrupt, so I flung myself forward, my face planting itself on the stony floor.
With everyone's eyes trained on me, I gave them no heed and crawled myself forward toward the boy.
Looking at me like some sort of anomaly, the boy couldn't help but ask, "Can I help you?"
Watching as he slowly skirts away so I couldn't touch him, I ask him directly, "What's your talent?"
"Why would I tell you?" His face morphed into one of disturbance.
"Well, I wanted to see if there was anyone here with a combat talent…" I tell him directly, "And if someone did have a combat talent, then I'd ask them to teach me."
"Why do you need someone to train you?"
"So, I can climb the tower…" My eyes point at the opening that had just started to appear.
With his eyes fixed on the climbing wall, the boy eventually turns back to me, "Erm… I don't really want to help you."
"Oh, that's fine then… I can just ask someone else then."
Showing him a happy smile, I turn to the person directly beside him, a woman who looked to be in her forties, and asked her the same question.
Answering me in a similar way to the boy, I continue my journey to find someone with a combat technique that'd be willing to teach me. However, it somehow caught on for the surrounding people of what I was doing. Because of this, all of them stay silent when I ask them about their talent. Even after searching through hundreds of people, no one ever spoke up about what their talent was.
I wondered why that was.
Back when I'd been with Marvin, we shared our talents freely. Even when I was with Dax, the hiding of talents didn't seem normal.
Mabey it was because I'd grown my trust in them both.
Shrugging off my theory, I continued to go around, getting more and more desperate the more that I asked. It even got to the point where I clung to a young woman, crying at her feet while desperately asking for her to share her talent with me.
The surrounding people had torn me off her and someone who look like the definition of a policeman carried me away and threw me against the wall. Getting right up into my face, the policeman spoke in a slightly menacing tone.
"Listen here… You're disturbing the peace of these fine people." The policeman points behind him, "Quit bothering them with your useless inquiries."
"But they're not useless." I seriously defend myself, "I NEED to find someone that can teach me how to fight… otherwise… well, otherwise what am I supposed to do?"
"What are you trying to do?" The policeman probes.
"Become competent at climbing the tower." I answer simply.
"Can't you do that by actually climbing the tower?"
"I already tried." I stare him dead in the eyes, "But I'm just a hopeless fool who can't seem to do anything right."
Breaking my gaze with him, I shove my head down between my arms.
"So, he's a crazy person." The policeman murmurs to himself, letting out a deep sigh before grabbing me by the arm and standing me up, "Just to get you away from these good people… I'll join you and even train you."
"You'd be willing to do that…" I'm stunned.
"If it means keeping a sociopath like yourself from ever having the chance to throw a fit." The policeman grabs me by the elbow, dragging me to the tower entrance, "Then yeah… yeah I will."
"I'm not a sociopath." The policeman ignores my words.
Climbing down the stairs, the policeman reaches the bottom first and quickly opens the door.
"To go in together, we have to have some sort of physical contact…" I explained to him.
"Is that it? Neat." The policeman chews on his tongue.
Grabbing me by the elbow once more, the policeman taps his head, "I'll make sure to keep that in mind."
Throwing me at the door while releasing his grip on me, I'm gripped by something else – nausea.
Having been a while since I hurled after entering a floor, I wipe at my vomit and desperately search for the policeman.
"I got played…" My lip quivers, "Some upholder of justice he was…"
I say this without even knowing if he was a police officer or not.
"I guess I really am back to square one then." Rubbing my arms in fear, I didn't want to go through the same kind of torture that I had on my first tower run.
With the weapon screen appearing in front of my face, I stood there a while wondering whether the sword was really the weapon I was searching for. I always fumbled around when it was in my hands, and I couldn't ever unsheathe it properly.
"But at least it's sharp…"
After a few more moments of deliberation, I decided to swap weapons once more.
Falling from the sky, there was a long, gangly stick. Picking it up off the ground, I can't help but notice that the staff has quite a bit of heft to it. Swinging it around a few times to get a handle on it, the gross leathery monster came running out of the tree line.
Seeing the blunt weapon that I held in my hands, the monster snickered to itself, continuing its frantic run.
Holding the staff like I would a baseball bat, my legs quiver relentlessly under my weight. With the butterflies in my stomach seeming to touch my heart, I squeeze my eyes shut.
With not even an inkling of sunlight piercing through my eyelids, I hear a volatile scream come from the monster and take that moment to swing my staff.
With the feeling of my staff striking something akin to a water balloon, I tear my eyes open to see the monster lying a few feet away from me. Bleeding profusely from its head, I stare down at the end of my stuff and see that it's been sprinkled with blood.
With my stomach cramped into a knot, I whimpered, my forehead starting to hurt from how clenched I had it.
Turning away from the monster's corpse while also running to the shade the trees offered, I finally found the ability to catch my breath.
Resting my head against the bark of the tree, I collect myself and look back to the monster's corpse. Even though I was riddled with guilt at having killed it, I couldn't help but notice how easy it had been. Just a single strike to the head from a blunt object was all it took to kill them.
So… why did I show so much fear when facing them?
Right after thinking that though, Dax's words struck me.
"Just because I want to uphold my moral compass… huh?" I needed to grow past my moral compass.
I wasn't going to get anywhere if I kept climbing with the wrong mindset. But that's easier said than done. It's been so engrained in me that killing other things was bad, so for every floor after, I still hesitate to kill, I still closed my eyes, and I still cowered in fear.
And each time I did, as the floors got progressively harder, I nearly die. I risk my own life just to protect one that wouldn't care. After what I'd seen from the rat boss, were the monsters even real?
I explored the floors to try and answer that question. I wanted to find something that the monsters had made that would signify that they exist beyond this tower. That they had lives to live and a culture to protect. But no matter how hard I searched; nothing came up.
I was left sitting with my back against the door that led to the first boss, my eyes a bit lifeless as I began to doubt my own identity. Does it matter if they're simply constructs created by the tower? They still bleed the same red that I do.
Gripping my head in frustration, I decided to do what I do best – procrastinate.
With the thought of 'I can answer it later', I head to the boss floor.
After having watched what Dax had done against the boss, I couldn't help but try to replicate the same thing. Running quickly towards the monster after entering the arena, I strike at its rising head with the head of my staff.
But rather than hearing wood against flesh, I hear wood striking metal.
Remembering that the monster wore a metal helmet, I staggered backward, fearing for my life.
Grunting while lifting itself completely, the monster looked at my tiny quaking body and sneered. Turning around, its back now facing me, the giant monster grabs its blunt weapon.
It was at that moment that something seemed to speak to me. With words that I couldn't recall even if I tried, my eyes became clear, and my body stopped shaking.
Rising to my feet, I approach the monster quickly, just in time for it to turn around.
Whipping my staff around with my body, I slammed the end of the staff into the thin leg of the monster.
With a repugnant snap, the monster was quick to crumple under its own weight, crying out in pain as it grabs at its shattered kneecap. Trying to nurse its leg, I awkwardly take a step toward the head of the monster before then jerking my weapon around and sending it into the uncovered spindly arms of the monster. With both eyes closed, I hear both arms break, making them less than useless.
Wanting to cover my ears to deafen the cries of the monster, I stopped myself because I knew I still had a job to finish.
With tears threatening to burst from my eyes, I stand over the head of the now growling monster and start to wail my staff down onto its sheltered head. My staff, which refused to snap, started to cause the faceplate of the helmet to cave in, revealing the disgustingly malformed face of the giant monster.
Continuing to wail down onto it, I only stopped when I could no longer feel the hot breath of the monster breeze onto me.
Looking up away from the monster, the birch door signified my victory.
Refusing to look the monster in the face, I hurry my way to the restorative floor, shivering as I do.