Tower of Endless: Death Granted Entry

Now well fed with clean, tasty food and hydrated with regular drinking water, Moon looked at the still-eating Uon.

Moon managed to overcome the chaotic feelings food brought.

His eyes fell on the style of clothing he had. It was the same as Teacher Samuel, robe outer garments. Underneath were different types of clothing, but the robes were the same for all.

”Big brother, are the clothes you’re wearing the uniform of this facility?” he asked.

He had seen the same style on Uon and Teacher Samuel, though Teacher Samuel’s was golden-rimmed.

Though Chef Ed had something different on, and the crazy banshee had a leather set of armor instead of clothing, they all held the same emblem.

The golden shield.

”Yeah,” he spoke while chewing. ”For teachers and assistants, we wear these white robes. Chef Ed is different. As for Teacher Rowa, she’s always going in her armor, so she’s the abnormal one.”

”So this golden shield is the sign of the facility?” Moon asked, pointing his finger at Uon’s left side of the chest.

”Indeed,” Uon answered, taking another spoonful.

”Does that mean there’s also a golden sword?” asked Moon.

”How did you know?” Uon’s eyes shone.

”Isn’t that obvious?” Moon paused before adding, ”Have you ever seen a guy holding a lone shield with nothing else go into battle?” he reasoned perfectly.

”Oh, yeah, I had many times!” Uon refuted right away.

”What?”

”What what?”

”How does someone fight with just a standard shield?”

”How would I know?”

”Haven’t you seen them for yourself?”

”I did.”

”How do you not know?”

”I saw them, but I didn’t see them fight.”

”Then they might have had a weapon as well.”

”No.”

”Why?”

”Because...” Uon paused this time, thinking for a bit. ”Let’s say they push whatever with the shield.”

”You mean hit someone with a shield in the face?” Moon’s eyes shone.

”That works?”

”This is brilliant!”

”Glad that helped.”

Feeling lost suddenly, Moon stopped talking for a moment.

”What were we talking about anyway?” He couldn’t remember

”Not sure.”

Silence fell as both started to recall what was going on. Uon was not exactly silent, considering the volume of his chewing.

”You idiots, you were talking about the golden sword,” Chef Ed reminded.

”Ah, thanks, Chef,” Moon replied. ”So there is a golden sword.”

”Yes, but you might not see any of them anytime soon anyway,” Uon answered with certainty.

”What do they do?”

”I’m not sure. Last I asked Teacher Samuel, he said they run missions all over the Tower.”

Moon wasn’t sure what that meant, but he didn’t ask further.

He looked at the food in front of Uon, and it was just a single bite away from finishing.

They rose to their feet. Uon held his platter and walked toward the counter. Moon followed. They placed them where they should be, at the other end of the counter, along with the spoons and the cups they drank from.

”Thanks, Chef, it was a meal I won’t forget,” Moon took the initiative this time.

”There are still people who appreciate good cooking,” Chef Ed seemed rather more pleased than usual.

As Moon was preparing to walk away,

”Hey kid, wanna keep eating here during your stay?”

”Um, Chef Ed, Moon will join the students’ eatery once it reopens,” Uon refuted.

”Shut up,” Ed scolded back.

”But Teacher Samuel—” Uon tried to refute again.

”I’ll bash your head first, then his if you interrupt me again.”

Uon stood nailed to where he was.

’Oh, you can finally feel any danger?’ Moon amusedly thought.

”Answer, you brat, will you eat here?” Ed’s eyes returned to Moon with the same question.

”I would gladly eat here every day for as long as I can,” Moon answered genuinely.

It was what he was truly feeling now. It was a new core memory for him.

”Aight, I’ll arrange for that to happen. Consider your portion ready every meal in here,” Ed assured before taking the empty platters and walking away.

”Thank you,” Moon thanked him one last time before they started leaving the eatery, now heading to where he would sleep for these days till the students’ dorm reopens.

The cold breeze was nice and peaceful. Though the dark sky was nothing close to what he had seen in the Memory Fragment.

He yearned for it, but wasn’t driven into mad obsession either.

The world outside seemed too dangerous.

Anything was better than that mud-colored sky of the trial.

Anything was better than this hell.

He came to appreciate this place more and its peacefulness more.

”So, where are we going now?” Moon asked, as he was aimlessly following Uon.

”About that, students have their own dorms, but they’re closed around this time, so you will be sleeping in a vacant assistant’s room for now,” Uon explained.

”Oh, you’re going to be my next-door neighbor?” Moon said jokingly.

”You can say that. Also, you’ll be the neighbor of Teacher Samuel as well,” Uon said.

And now that Moon thought about it,

That old man looked like an average guy you could see every day... but that didn’t matter. Now that he was walking down the roads, looking at the streets as a free man was a different experience.

Before long, Uon pointed at a building. ”That’s where both assistants and teachers live.”

The building had the same majestic structure as everything around, looking like intersecting lines matching the curves of the bridges above.

And they walked more.

The more Moon realized,

This place... it was huge.

Utterly huge.

How did only a few people live inside this building?

The size of the staff eatery was insignificant compared to this. It was like looking at a pebble, then a mountain.

And from there, Moon saw pillars, short and decorative.

They stood of both sides of the walkway leading to the gigantic building.

From one of them, he saw something.

Looking at him piercingly.

A pair of eyes blending perfectly with the stone pillar and the darkness of the night, brightly lit through the shadows.