Brave.
That was normally not a word that I'd think of when I'd think about myself, but I could think of no better word right now. I'd literally called myself spineless a few moments ago, but how else could I describe my drastic improvement since my first tower run?
Back when I had first fought the giant monster, I hadn't even given myself a chance, cowering behind a shield that led to my own death. But now, I managed to kill it by myself. I had gotten stronger and braver, even if it didn't feel that way.
All of this streamed through my mind as I floated in the magic pool. I knew I was still a coward at heart, but the little bit of bravery that I had gathered made me feel better.
That giddiness quickly evaporates by a familiar face appearing by the poolside.
Getting out without him prompting me to, I keep my gaze off Dax's figure, still feeling the intense betrayal I'd given him. I could hear him trying to talk to me, but his words went into one ear and out the other. I would not face Dax until I'd truly better myself.
With such a long way to go, I passed on the food and water and head directly up to the next floor, my heart racing as I thought about the boss that sat on floor twenty.
Shaking my head away at those kinds of thoughts, I start to scrape at the moss that sat around my feet.
'One step at a time.'
Treating the rat monster like I had the original monster; I start to wonder if I could come up with better names for these monsters. Slamming my stuff into its head while holding my eyes closed, I don't find a solution to my naming dilemma.
Checking myself repeatedly, I can't believe that I managed to kill one of these rat monsters uninjured. I mean sure, I'd done the same when I was with Marvin or Dax, but I thought that was just because they drew a bit of fire from the monsters.
Knowing that my means of dealing with these monsters served as a real advantage, I tried to think of a different way to go about my recruitment for a teacher. Mabey if I told them a few clues about the tower they'd join me.
Realizing that I'd have to die to test my theory, I reject the option for now. Death was painful after all.
Shuddering at each variation of my death, I start to scrape at the moss on the next floor.
Continuing my closed eye swinging against the rat monsters, I reach a standstill after killing off nine rat monsters on floor nineteen.
Tracing my hand along the red door, I scrutinize it closely. Was it just me or was there a single more speck of golden embroidery on the faded door?
Humming methodically, I just think it to be a trick my mind was playing on me. But now, I was stuck with another question.
How did I deal with the giant rat boss?
Unlike before where Dax had been able to cleave through its head, I didn't have any sort of sharp weapon on my person. There was something I was missing because it felt like this tower wasn't built with the intention of not being clearable by using a weird weapon. There had to be some way I could kill the rat boss with a staff, otherwise, I'd be welcomed back by Death.
"When in doubt… replicate Dax." I heave out, readying myself for the probably death-inducing fight.
Splashing down in the water, I shake my head in frustration. There had to be some way to get rid of the water… I just wasn't seeing it.
Deciding to take my eyes off the other side of the arena just so I could search around, I found nothing that could be useful to me and now I was stuck with my back facing the encroaching rat boss.
Seeing it get ready to charge its way toward me, I suddenly recall the monster's reckless abandon. Maybe if I found a rock it could piece itself on, it'd kill itself without me needing to even lift a finger. But now was not the time for that as it was time to JUMP!
Feeling a breeze brush past my legs and water splash up into my face, I spit and hectically wipe at my eyes, seeking to regain my sight.
Splashing my way toward the recovering rat boss, I swing my staff down at its head, my eyes open to see the impact.
But rather than injuring the monster, I seemed to injure myself instead.
Feeling a shock run through my arms, I nearly dropped my stuff from the pain that coursed through my arms. It was like experiencing the feeling of striking the helmet of the first boss all over again.
Letting out a high-pitched squeak, the rat monster swung its arm at me. Luckily, I managed to stumble far enough back that the swing just barely grazed my chin. Letting out a sigh of relief, my breath hitched when I noticed that the monster had been able to recover.
"Uh oh."
Sprinting away from it as fast I could, I make it to the other side of the arena, the side the monster had started on. And there, I saw my ever-beautiful savior, a slightly tilted stalagmite.
Almost rushing over and kissing the rock, I whipped back around to find the rat monster preparing to charge at me again.
Leaping away once more, my luck finally seems to run out.
Peeking back at my legs amid my jump, a blur passed by me, and everything up to my knee had miraculously disappeared. Even after bouncing through the water, my eyes never left my amputated legs. Waving them a bit and showering blood into the water, I start to wonder, completely clear-headed, why it was that I didn't feel the pain.
Stroking my chin, it was at that moment that a dam had burst.
Like a low heat had been turned on below my knee, the heat gradually got hotter and hotter, leading me to clench my teeth together. But the heat just didn't stop. Even after screaming, wailing around, and dumping the seemingly cool water on my injury, nothing stopped the burn from getting more and more painful.
"F*ck!!!"
Unable to stop myself, I start to let out a slew of curses, wanting to do anything to lessen this burning sensation. Biting down on my lip hard enough so that it bled didn't help. Tearing at the skin near the injury only seemed to make it worse.
Hovering my hands over the injury, I shake violently, my voice already going hoarse from all the screaming.
Seeing movement in the corner of my eye, I was distracted for a moment from my agonizing injury. The rat boss hadn't died.
"Fplll…" Rather than shouting profanities, I instead sputtered blood from my mouth.
Going between watching the monster and worrying over my hellish injuries, I see the rat boss clutch at its abdomen, snarling in what appeared to be pain.
Turning its way over to me, I saw its red blood dripping from a wound.
My captivation on the wound was short-lived as the rat boss prepared to charge his way right through.
With my brain working at a million miles an hour, I looked for any way to escape my situation. And amidst my serious thinking, I couldn't help but remember what one was supposed to do upon being set on fire. Finding my own thoughts to be bizarre, my mind accentuated one of the steps.
Roll.
Using my staff, I strike it against the ground and fly off in a direction. Using the momentum I had granted myself, I start to roll frantically. With my staff flailing around as I rolled, I thought to tuck it in with me, but the monster had already charged forward.
Feeling something smack against my flailing staff, a few of my fingers break and the staff was aggressively torn from my hand; my head trying to follow the direction my staff took off in.
With my eyes being drenched with water though, it took me a few more moments to see what happened. Even more time since tears had started to fall from my eyes, courtesy of my castrated legs and broken fingers.
But through blurry eyes, I saw a sight I never thought imaginable. The rat boss, upon possibly tripping up over my poorly placed staff, had its head planted in an upstanding stalagmite. From the little I could see; it looked like the end of the stalagmite was protruding through the back of the monsters.
In fact, it was getting hard to see and it felt like I was about to black out at any moment.
Peeking back at my legs while wondering how much blood I lost, I can't help but cringe at the amount of water impregnated with my blood. Though amidst my blood, there stood a door that had a halo so bright around it.
With a useless left hand, I flounder around in the water with my right, desperately trying to get through that beautiful birch door. But no matter how much I tried, it only seemed like the door was getting further and further away.
And it was then I was struck with a familiar fever dream feeling.
One moment, I had my hand scratching across the bark of the birch tree door. Another moment, I was face down in the water, slowly suffocating to death. I had no way to tell what was real and it only got worse when nausea clasped my being. Now my fever dream was lying on a patch of grass and being dragged across it by an unknown person.
With the ringing in my ears only getting louder, my last moment was spent under the surface of the water, staring at a squiggly figure.
Flittering my eyes open, I prepare myself to hear the familiar "Welcome!!!" from Death, but it never came. Even weirder, it felt like I was lying down on my back, my face sun-kissed.
Slowly sitting myself up, I bring my left hand up to my face and stare at my unbroken fingers closely. Even more, when I looked at my legs, there was no injury to speak of. I had both in complete functioning order.
"Consider yourself lucky."
I turn my head to find myself sitting near a man that screamed the word survival. With a bandana wrapped over his head, a pair of teeth around his neck, and a stick in hand that he was sharpening with a knife, the man stare at me with piercing brown eyes. He was tanned with sand-colored hair and an aura about him that made me feel the need to respect him.
"What happened?" I find my voice comes out naturally, no longer hoarse from all the screaming that I'd done when I'd lost my legs.
"You came in here nearly dead, and I had to carry you so you could heal in this water." The survivor points his knife at the pool.
"…Thank you." That was all that I could think to say.
"Think nothing of it." The survivor resumes his spear-making craft, "Just saving someone that needed to be saved."
Nodding, the 'conversation' comes to a dead stop, and I find myself with nothing to do. I wanted to ask the survivor for tips, but I didn't feel like bothering him with my own problems. Standing up, I ready myself to face the turtle monsters a floor up, but I'm stopped by the survivor's questioning.
"You planning on going to the next floor?"
"What would you say I do instead?" I ask back.
"Oh, I'm not saying it's a bad idea…" The survivor defends himself, "I just think that climbing with a body like that is just as irresponsible as it is dangerous."
Looking myself up and down, I inquire, "What's wrong with my body?"
"What isn't wrong with your body?" He gives me a blank stare, "You're nothing more than skin and bones. If you want to be able to respond properly, then you're going to need to get a stronger body. You know what they say, 'Mens sana in corpore sano.'"
"What?"
The survivor sighs, "'A healthy mind in a healthy body.' You can't have one without the other."
"So, you're saying I should…"
"Train until you can't train no more…" His eyes finally light up, "Yes… yes, I am."
I never really trained my body before I entered the tower. Sure, I work out here and there, but it wasn't on a consistent basis. So, I had no idea where to start.
Scratching my head, I stand there dumbly, as if waiting for divine intervention. Seeing how lost I was, the impassive survivor stood up. Taking off a belt I didn't even know he had on, he cracked it.
"It seems you're a lost little lamb." He walks toward me slowly, constantly cracking his belt, "So, let me help you get whipped into shape."
Seeing him sport a smile I'd never even seen before; I couldn't help but feel an impending sense of doom. I wasn't sure why I felt that though. I'm sure he was just going to train with good and honest interests.
Nothing to fear here… I hope.