Tower of Endless: Death Granted Entry

Moon walked out the door and took a deep breath, suppressing his laughter and smiles.

He forced a slight frown, eyes full of urgency and confusion.

Only then—

”BIG BROTHER UON, LOOK WHAT I’VE FOUND!” he screamed his lungs out in the middle of Hall 1.

He started sprinting, first to Uon’s room. ”BIG BROTHER UON!”

KNOCK~

KNOCK~

KNOCK~

’Not here yet, probably?’ he thought to himself, running downstairs. ’Maybe in the arcane shooting field?’ He inquired, ”BIG BROTHER UON!” and shouted his lungs out.

Moon inhaled deeply again, ”BIG BROTHER U—”

”OOF!” he crashed into something that appeared suddenly in front of his face while sprinting.

’Which basta—’ he nearly cursed inwardly, but as he staggered backwards, taking a better look at the unreasonably impressive height of whatever he crashed into, ”BIG BROTHER UON!” His attitude flipped back instantly.

”What, what’s going on, why are you screaming?” Uon asked, feeling the urgency in Moon’s tone and actions.

Moon brought his roundish Echo, still in his hands, close to his face. ”You gotta see this, there’s no time!” Moon spoke very fast.

”Ah, oh, show me, what’s going on!” Uon frowned; his tone held a trace of urgency as well.

”Look here, my Echo.”

”What’s with your Echo?”

”You gotta see it for yourself!”

”O... kay?” Uon leaned forward as Moon raised his Echo close to Uon’s face.

Moon locked his eyes on Uon’s, not closing his own. ’Gotcha!’

”Oh my?” Squinting deeply, Uon tried to see what Moon was speaking of, but—

BANG!

”OH MY!” ”HAHAHAHAHA, I did it!”

Moon, not looking directly, wasn’t completely blinded this time; as for Uon, he squinted deeply before blinking a few times.

Moon, in pain, could see him looking seemingly fine.

”You okay?” Moon asked, skeptical.

Uon staggered a little. ”Oh, mother!”

’Mother?’ Moon dried his streaming tears with his sleeve, not understanding what Uon was even saying.

”Mother, I’ve lived long enough to have an arcane student!” He held his chest tightly; a single drop of tears fell from his right eye.

’What’s going on now?’ Moon watched the scene through reddened and pained eyes. ’What about my grudge?’ he asked himself, unable to make sense of the situation.

With one hand on his chest, Uon leaned forward to Moon. ”Thank you, thank you so much.” His gentle smile returned.

But that wasn’t the end of it; he gave Moon a hug too.

’Should I just stab him in the back? WHAT OF MY GRUDGE, YOU YELLOW BASTARD... WHAT DO I DO NOW?’ Moon screamed inwardly.

”You know, as a child, my dream was to be an arcane teacher... many, many things happened before I ended up here at last, with not a single student,” Uon said as he let go of Moon.

”Your eyes are fine?” Moon asked the important question.

”Ah, that?... You don’t have to worry, there’s no way such weak light could hurt them, otherwise my ascension would have been in vain, right?” Uon said, patting Moon’s shoulder before turning to walk away. ”I have many things to prepare now.”

As he was walking, without turning back, ”Being brothers with you was a winning shot on my side. I got to have my first student and probably the only arcane student I’ll have in my life, thanks to you.”

Moon watched Uon walk away; his words echoed in his head.

’Mother?’

’Too weak?’

’Ascension in vain?’

’Do... don’t worry?’

’Who said I was worried?’

’What of my grudge?’

A vein pulsated on Moon’s neck and forehead. He turned around and returned to his room even though it was dinner time.

Slam~

Behind his room’s door, Moon leaned on it with a blank face.

”What do I do now?” he asked himself. ”Is it impossible to settle any grudge with someone who ascended more floors than you?”

He turned off the lights and lay down in his bed; maybe sleep was the answer now.

He only wished Ed wouldn’t be angry that he skipped dinner again.

Yet, sleep eluded him. For a long time, he kept staring at the ceiling with empty eyes. His mind raced; beating Samuel was impossible too. Even if his stats were lowered, it didn’t mean his body actually got weaker.

He was not weakened by any means; he just lowered himself to Moon’s level so he could allow him to fight him evenly.

Or so Moon concluded.

After a while longer, he realized he couldn’t sleep like this. He decided to go out for a walk.

’My luck can’t be shitty enough to see Mishu another time today, right?’ he thought as he made his way out of the Hall.

Walking along the usual path he walked usually, along the rubble, Moon sighed.

The bench he used to sit on was split in half. ’Stupid cat!’ he cursed inwardly.

After passing by it, further away, he found another bench in sight. He walked there, and for some reason, he found a folded blanket on one side.

He wasn’t bothered by it in the slightest.

Haaaaaaaaaa~

He exhaled sharply once he was finally seated. ”What a day.”

It wasn’t Moon who spoke this time. Someone said it in the dark.

”Excuse me, may I—”

Moon turned his head, and their eyes met. Dorbish was back to his new bed as a homeless man for as long as needed to restore his room.

Yet, his luck was bad enough that he met Moon at his new temporary bed.

He pursed his lips and decided not to say whatever he wanted to say. Instead, he reached out to his blanket and decided to leave.

”Fellow ascender, why are you leaving?” Moon asked, halting his action.

Even though Moon didn’t like his needless eloquence in the slightest, when they fought, he came to respect the guy a lot.

’How many did I beat so much and stayed standing?’ Moon asked himself.

Dorbish halted, making eye contact with Moon. ”Shouldn’t you ask why I’m staying here instead?”

Moon rubbed his chin before nodding. ”Fellow ascender, why are you staying here?” Moon rephrased his question sarcastically.

Dorbish pushed the blanket, taking the middle spot of the bench before sitting down.

”You see, someone got chased by a cat and ran at a certain building that was punched through by the cat,” Dorbish explained, looking at the dark sky. ”That spot where the punch landed happened to be my room.” He gave Moon a side look.

Moon pursed his lips. ”Damn cat tried to steal my food; he even beat my subordinate,” he spoke truthfully.

Dorbish sighed. ”I can tell,” he said as his eyes fell on Moon’s face.

Moon rubbed his cheek. ’Dammit, I forgot about that,’ he cursed inwardly.

Still, he didn’t feel good about it; it wasn’t the type of free man he wanted to be. Not one who ruined the lives of others.

Apologizing wasn’t something a slave growing up on battlefields would be familiar with.

Moon probably had never seen such a thing, not even once, or heard the word in the first place. He also didn’t think sleeping on a bench was a very bad thing either.

It was a decent place overall: the facility, the bench, the golden sky.

But, once again, ’Do I have to be the reason someone loses his place to stay?’ he asked himself.

Unpleasant.

It felt very unpleasant, to the point he felt angry again.

Moon thought everything through, wordlessly, both himself and Dorbish staring into nothing.

”Wanna stay in my room till yours gets fixed?”