The Tower's Newcomers

About another hour of walking forward brought Alex, Chi-Chi, and Asoh to the front gate of the tower.

It was... unreal.

The tower's width looked as big as what I imagine the moon's surface to look like up close. The tower sat upon so much wide area, and it was just as big as the furthest my imagination took me when I thought about it. It was lined with stone, large windows, and trees that sprouted out of the floors underneath each of the cement and glass-lined floors. The sight was... almost unexplainable.

"Well, we're almost there. Keep going," Asoh said, pushing me further with a slight push on my back.

"S-Sure... just through this gate?" I pointed.

The golden-painted gates slowly opened up, and a man in a full suit of black and red armor was super thick. He looked down at me from his impeccable height, and threw his head to the side, leading me toward the next area before entering the tower.

It was this weird machine with an "X-Ray" sign above two large rectangular posts that kept up the sign. Once I walked through it, the man nodded again and pointed toward a bench. There wasn't a word exchanged between him and me.

Alex followed my same path and eventually sat down right beside me. He sighed heavily with a confused look and then pointed his head at the ground.

"Now that we've cleared them, we want to take them to Queen Ultima, Roy," Asoh said. He grunted and nodded, tapping his weird, three-pronged spear onto the ground around six times.

We all waited in silence, watching for something unique to happen when a group of soldiers turned the corner in the same armor and the same coloring, except for one in an opposite color set with a more prominent red, and a girl with a white hoodie, black shorts, and black boots that encapsulated equally black socks. She walked with a confident look on her face... almost resembling Sky's unparalleled confidence.

"These are the newcomers?" That girl asked. The soldiers bowed around her and she returned eye contact with me.

Her eyes were devoid of any emotion or light, and her constantly angry look sprung up on me... even quicker than the shine of the White Stone on her left hand.

Alex and I both shot a worried glance at each other after we noticed it, kept our heads high, and attempted to contest her look.

Her look was far too rigid and painful to keep up with. When I blinked, she was already focused on my eyes.

"Have you seen a White Stone before?" She asked us.

Alex and I both felt our stomachs drop to our feet as the red-haired girl dispersed her soldiers with a wave of her hand and closed the distance between us.

"I can read your minds, Charlie and Alex," She muttered close to us.

Again, my eyes started to follow her position as she slowly backed up with a smile.

"You... your stare... why is it so familiar?" Alex asked the girl in front of us.

"You've seen a White Stone, and I look familiar? Could it be...?" She muttered.

She grabbed a tight hold of Alex's throat and lifted him up in the air. Chi-Chi reacted before I even could, and I got up in her face to push her back.

The girl didn't retreat, her eyes only looked down at me.

"You both know Sky Asterio. What do you know of him?" The girl asked. How did she know?! Can she truly read minds?!

"Yeah, I can read minds... but something's hazy in yours, Charlie. What am I missing?" She asked. She dropped Alex and closed in on me.

Alex was right... her look does remind me of something... what is it?

Maybe it was the way her eyes were so curious, yet so demanding. Innocent, yet so powerful... they reminded me of an old friend.

Right as I thought of her name, the girl's eyes finally lit up. Light returned to them, and a fiery rage filled every crevasse on her face as she grabbed tightly onto my throat as well.

"You know my sister... you know Red..." She muttered.

Memories came flooding into my head. That's who it was.

A person I long ago regarded as dead... I saw Red within her sister that was violently throwing me around now.

The girl threw me into the floor and stood on my chest, digging her heel right above where my heart was.

"You have about no seconds left before I push this through your chest. TELL ME WHERE MY SISTER IS!" She yelled out.

"WAIT! Just, relax! We'll tell you everything we know, so maybe get off of my friend!" Alex shouted back at the girl. Alex shoved the girl out of the way and she retaliated, lightly knocking his hand away and pushing his entire arm out of place, breaking it with a loud snap.

Alex screamed out in pain and I grabbed onto her foot, sliding my way out underneath her stance and gaining ground away from her. I stood back up on my feet and took deep breaths while her crazed gaze met mine once more.

"You said you read my mind?! Then you know how screwed you are if you hurt us! Our Leader doesn't take kindly to strangers like yourselves hurting his family!" I shouted out at her.

"You mean Sky Asterio? Do you think I'm afraid of him?" She asked.

Usually, when somebody asks that question, that means they have no reason to be afraid... but she didn't know our circumstances. She didn't know that Sky was so powerful... she was making a big mistake.

"I think you'd be stupid to not be afraid of him. You have no idea how powerful he is," I told her.

Her look quickly returned to normal and her light-filled eyes were matched with a perfect white smile.

"I've figured out all I've needed to. Chi-Chi, slash out his knees," the girl declared.

It must've been the Queen... Queen Ultima...

Chi-Chi slashed the back of my left knee and I fell to the ground, clutching it in pain with blood gushing out of the spaces between my fingertips.

"I know, there's no way you could've predicted this, Charlie and Alex, but you've fallen straight into my trap. This city... Ultima Tower, it's important, and the reason it's important is because you're not able to use Strands here at all. Your knee will be forever impacted by that cut, and it will not heal. You will rot here, you will age here, and you will suffer here, just like the rest of my citizens," Queen Ultima stated.

"Why would you tell us that now? Isn't that kind of... idiotic?" I asked her.

The Queen shook her head and smiled.

"I know, Sky Asterio would hunt after you if you were missing. I know why he's powerful, and I know that without his strands, he's just a vessel of the Deity he declares himself to be. I wanted to bait him into my city, and you two are the perfect reason to do it. Finally, my plan to defeat Sky Asterio has started!" She declared.