Tower of Endless: Death Granted Entry

Moon felt countless emotions he’d been bottling for a very long time finally resurfacing. Things he either avoided thinking of or just buried under the rapidly changing lifestyle of his.

Once again asked, lifting his gaze back into Samuel’s eyes, gleaming in the darkness, the colour of gold radiating over his eyelids. ”What are you exactly fighting for?”

”Right now?” Samuel asked back.

His question earned a nod from Moon, Yet, against his expectations.

”Nothing.” Samuel, for the first time, smiled. ”There’s nothing left for me to fight for, not a single thing.”

”I’m preparing to fight for things that no longer exist, the time, the sacrifices, the beautiful things I left behind for a dream that could never come true.”

”this tower, it promises you everything... before it all disappears.”

”Slowly, everything you once held dear is either sacrificed, lost, or fogotten along the way.

”before long, there will be nothing.

”But, can I truly blame it on the tower?

”The tower was occupied by them long before I was born, the rules were set. Maybe I was wrong; we were wrong... We were never allowed to dream, to earn our place in here.

”And honestly, you enjoying this life... or even sustaining it... I’m not concerned.

”The Tower will not allow you to be satisfied, to be content with the simple joys...

”Sooner or later you’ll lose it all,

”You might be wondering, what I don’t stop and climb?

”You’ll still lose... Happy ends don’t exist here, not for us who were born outside of these ruling forces.”

Shuuuu~

A shockwave erupted from around Samuel, blasting wind violently in every direction.

”Who said that I will be only a victim because I was not born in these lowly clans?

”Who said I cannot fight back...”

His voice went low ”Who said that fate cannot be reflected?”

Moon raised his hand against the violent wave of wind, his eyes locked on Samuel’s.

He understood maybe more than Samuel intended, maybe more than he should even.

Maybe, he and Samuel are of the same character, to an extent at the very least...

The main difference was that Samuel had lived longer and made his choices in life, but Moon hadn’t just yet.

Hauntingly, Moon was now afraid of something. A dread that lay far into the future. The outcome of his life, his time.

The losses he would suffer.

’Would come a day when I will also be like him, locked in a place for centuries, unable to leave?’

In Moon’s mind, the image of his older self turning into someone like Samuel overlapped with his image that looked closer than ever to the current matrix of seals.

Such thought was frightening.

Moon, who came from misery, couldn’t bear to grow into misery.

Against his expectation, Samuel wasn’t done.

”Edmond saw you came from the first floor, a strong fighter in essence.

”Someone no one would want, with the Death Echo taking root in your being

”A child cruel to himself

”Doesn’t hold greed in his heart, eager to learn.

”At first glance, everyone would want to get a hold of you, but what if they find out?

”What would happen if you were to be discovered by either undead hunters or even worse...

”The necromancers...

”Once you leave this facility, can you imagine it

”How many will be coming for you personally, or your head?”

Moon stood there unmoving. ”It doesn’t matter. I don’t know any of them, and I will kill anyone who comes for me, my freedom, and my good life.”

”What would happen if they come from higher floors, beyond your level of strength?”

”I’ll hide, climb, or find someone to kill them for me.”

”We’re getting there. Look ahead; those who will come for you won’t come alone. Killing one won’t make a difference.”

”Ah—

”Edmond should have mentioned it; you will be locked into an endless cycle.”

”The only escape is to climb, and the further you climb, the less room for you to escape... and once you’re finally there...

”Someone will tell you that you’ve been running into a dead end.”

Samuel took in a deep breath, circling around Moon who looked ahead with hollow eyes, looking at nothing.

”It’s not something one man can defy, and most certainly not three.”

”Long time ago, the three of us met on this very floor; there wasn’t any facilities at the time... Just aggressive recruitment for cannon fodder to either die and be discarded or live and prove their worth.

”The three of us fought, we won, and stood at the top of our peers... Methods may differ, but we managed to get there.”

Samuel didn’t continue; he closed his eyes tightly.

”We also did ourselves wrong; we did many people wrong... We marched like possessed at this very dead end.”

He opened his eyes again, looked at Moon with a gaze that felt different, lighter, or so Moon felt. ”I hope you may find a better conclusion; we at least came here when we had something... you came with nothing.”

Moon, for a long time, was unable to find the right words; he blinked into the space.

Every word Samuel said was his own lifelong experience, the same as the seals on his body... It was something he lived and suffered.

His experience with the eyeball was something he only knew of; not a single person, other than the man in the bright space, witnessed it but himself...

Yet, all of these ascenders came after passing by the eyeball.

Does that make the ball a common enemy of everyone or himself only?

But if someone in similar circumstances- someone who happened to enter in the same way and also had Death Echo- would their fate be the same?

Moon was certain they would, maybe worse even, since he managed to get out and find his way out.

That alone gave Samuel’s words credibility; he knew as well as Samuel that he would face a similar fate to the three of them sooner or later.

If not worse...

They at least had one another; he was alone...

Colten and his group were not real allies, just a short affiliation that would end very soon.

He would never trust his back to them, never in his lifetime.

As for Basil and Barret, they were too weak. Moon could never entrust them with his back... Lest they die and get him killed as well.

Moon wanted to ask so many questions.

What were these people called necromancers?

What was that eyeball?

How strong was it?

Can Samuel right now kill it?

Was his path forward blocked before even arriving, before his first memories came to be?

Was he even deserving of their help, everything they gave him?

There was much more he didn’t know, nor did he understand...

Moon, if he lived long enough as Samuel, would become as strong as him; his background and history would soon be forgotten.

In front so many problems, he found himself feeling small, yet...

Of all of these possible questions, only that one was spoken.

Moon tightly shut his eyes. ”So, did you bring me here to say that it was hopeless for me to keep living?”