Tower of Endless: Death Granted Entry

Moon, who was walking away disinterested, ignored the rift, the wind, the whistle, and everything he was familiar with, but he found himself looking at the source of the unusual voice.

He didn’t know what it was, but he wasn’t familiar with it, and for some reason, he felt like he should look.

As a war slave, he hadn’t seen a woman, or any female human, for a very long time... since the old aunty who gave him bread a few times... that was even before he became a slave...

Most of his childhood was forgotten, and he never bothered with it... even for kids his age, the only thing they discussed was kill counts and weapons... and even such discussions were luxuries for slaves.

Never getting to know or see a female human once, he had heard a few of the higher-ranked personnel of the military mention marriage a few times before getting killed in action.

He wondered if mating kills human males. It was a weird idea... he even wondered if he should do a mating call to find a female, but he wasn’t sure about what a human mating call sounded like.

He was only around other boys. Maybe he had seen a female beast a couple of times, but not a female human.

And now that he was seeing one, around his age, and unlike the female banshee that he failed to recognize as a real human... he was unable to take his eyes off.

He for some reason wanted them to look back at him, but they didn’t...

He failed to even recognize the state he was standing in, but he thought, ’Should I get their attention by going back and beating these two idiots senseless?’

Little did he know that his wild teenage hormones were starting to take over.

Though the moment his mind went to beating the ’two idiots’, his eyes fell on them, only to find Dorbish walking away in his direction, not bothered with them, and Roran scratching his head, looking at the dismissive Dorbish.

Moon in his mind had painted an image for each of them, and Roran was a clown-like guy, but Dorbish seemed like a guy who knows his way around the world, so... for him who lacked common sense or peers until recently...

His resilient mind calculated that doing what Dorbish does at this moment, until the norm was identified, is the way to maintain everything the way it should be.

And now, only now, he finally realized it.

The abnormal, painful way he was standing in during the last few minutes.

He corrected his back and neck so smoothly like he did nothing abnormal or embarrassing in any way, walking in the direction of the Staff Eatery... he didn’t eat for a long while, and though it was obvious that there was no longer anything to eat now, it was still better to check than assume.

Unaware how much embarrassment he saved himself from with this action, he decided that food was the answer...

Dorbish didn’t follow. He was just eyeing the bench to take a seat, and he had yet to know his way around the facility, nor did he trust following Moon... Most of his intention was just seeking some distance away from Roran.

”Chef Ed,” Moon called as he opened the door of the eatery. ”Oh, you really are here.”

The lights were on and the moody man was sitting... his hand was open and there was something that looked like a scene playing.

Curiously, he glanced there, but he forced his eyes to drift every second or so...

He was trying not to show the fact that he had no idea what this was.

Ed, after 10 or so seconds, closed his hand, shifting his focus to Moon... ”About damn time, you brat,” he scowled.

”Sorry.” Moon scratched his head apologetically.

A platter full of stir-fried rice, that looked different from the last few, slammed onto the counter.

It was fuller than usual, almost twice the amount he receives per meal.

Moon looked at it, not knowing which is which, but he was still sure that the food was superb here regardless of what was cooked.

He grabbed his platter and sat down to eat. As if feeling his curiosity, Ed clarified, ”This is egg and stir-fried rice, your lunch and dinner portions... I am not throwing away any food.” He raised a finger threateningly. ”Make sure to eat all of it.”

Moon nodded, ate a spoonful, delighted... he shook his head.

”What, you don’t like it?” Ed was watching him more intently than usual.

”Uh, no... it’s delicious like always... It’s just... I was curious.” Moon spoke without raising his eyes, focused on the food.

”What do you want to know, kid?” Ed openly asked, not putting on airs.

Moon looked him in the eye. ”About Sky Splitting Edmond...” Moon stopped there. It was a cool title, or so he thought.

Ed looked away. He thought for a moment. ”I know you want to be able to use echo...” He paused for a moment... ”Haaaa... how long has it been?” he exhaled, exhaustion evident in his voice all of a sudden. ”I stopped counting after the hundredth... a very long time has passed since we started rotting in this place.”

After a moment of silence, ”We... we were the coolest of an era,” Ed spoke slowly.

”We fought left and right.

”It didn’t matter who they were trained by, or who was backing them, or which group they belonged to.

”We mopped the floor with every single one of them.

”We were never under anyone, nor did we let anyone take over our lives.

”We climbed the tower without a pause, and whoever tried to stop us...” he stopped talking, absently looking at the ceiling.

”You and Teacher Samuel?” Moon wanted to know more, so he prodded.

Ed replied, ”No, there... there actually were three of us, we were three... we had a third member in the gang.” Bitterness was dripping off his voice.

Moon looked down again. He felt sorry and knew the pain of losing someone who one used to entrust his back to... ”I’m sorry.”

Ed looked at Moon amusingly. ”Ah, no, the son of a bitch is probably still alive,” Ed spoke lightly. ”Last I heard, he got himself a piece of land... or a farm... not sure.”

Puzzled, unable to understand what they were doing here now that they have achieved so much. ”I was wondering, I mean... what was the reason you ended up...”

Ed cut him off. ”Becoming so uncool, you mean? Becoming a cook and that bastard playing fake teacher?”

Moon didn’t know how to answer. His instinct screamed that whatever he said could be taken against him...

Ed laughed it off. ”You are still young, it’s hard for you to understand... But to put it simply...

”The more we ascended, the stronger we got, the more we had to lose...” He shook his head. ”Maybe we grew too fast... faster than anyone else, faster than our peers... too fast that it felt threatening... maybe it was impossible to keep up with, or maybe... this tower refused to accommodate us.”