Chapter 21 - A Glimpse of the Past

Floor ?: Unknown

Threat Level: ???

A room between !$@&()*.

Staring at the incomprehensible floor screen. 'Where am I.. and that was the Arena Master. Rest and recover until I am ready to move on huh..' Sitting up to get a look at my surroundings I am sitting on the bed of a rustic looking room. A window to my right shows utter darkness, the night sky I suppose. Shaking my head to get the cobwebs out. 'People are after me, People are calling for help.' thinking of all the things that happened so far. 'That seems to be a common occurrence thinking of all that has happened. I have always been one to dwell on things.' "sigh.." the breath escapes my lips, 'the gains from the last floor were great, even if the two D rank Trolls were out of the norm, everything lately is out of the norm. Most progression paths for climbers is a lot slower, sure the risks and life and death situations are common, but things so far above a specific climber's level coming down the Tower, is not a common occurrence at all.'

"You are right it is not a common occurrence. Little Time do I have.." a woman shadowed in pure light, sits on the foot of the bed her back facing me, long golden hair flowing down her back, barely visible in the shadowed light. "I waited so long for help.." her voice was a soft echo in the room, a small chime that seemed to resonate. "You are the first to answer me in soo long." her voice choked with emotion, sadness.

My voice doesn't leave my body, I try to speak, 'Who are you..' Her body turns slowly to face me the shadowed light dims slowly a vision slamming into me, my body left reeling, "You already know, how have you forgotten Nihr?.." I did not think a persons voice could contain such sadness, an existence forgotten.

My head begins to split, I stand before a pantheon of Gods, "#$&@(*)%#, YOU FORCED OUR HAND!", my body shaking in barely held back rage shouts back viciously, "I DID NOTHING BUT SHOW YOU THE PATH YOU HAVE CHOSEN WITH YOUR OWN ACTIONS CURTHAN!" the God standing at the front of a massive dias screams out in rage, "YOU ARE TEMPTING FATE! NONE COULD WITHSTAND IT! WE ALL FIGHT EVERYDAY AGAINST THEM!" a woman from the side glides forward towards the God Curthan's side, "You think we did not know what our choices would lead to.. You think so little of our knowledge and wisdom. He was our only choice, we couldn't just-" her voice dies off at the anger radiating from my host.

"The choices you all have made have lead me to stand before you all. This is the only warning I will give. Leave Him Out Of This. He has done enough for the cause..." another god steps around the side of the dias, the room shaking from the presence of so many beings of power. "If not him then who? Who else has the &*@#_!, he is-"

"DO YOU NOT THINK HE HAVE SUFFERED ENOUGH!" my throat hurts, pain going through my body. The being that I am in stops abruptly, turning towards the back of the room, my body the current me the me of this life lays against the wall decimated by wounds from weapons and energy itself. "The cycle must continue, If not him then who.." the womans voice echoes softly. "I will.." echoes out slowly on a stone bench sits a child, looking barely old enough to be away from their mother's eye. "Mal.." my hosts voice comes out softly. The girl shifts from sitting on the stone bench to standing, "I have been around long enough.. and he and you have done enough, #$&@(*)%# it was never suppose to be your job in the first place." walking to the bloody and hurt body of myself leaning against the wall the child crouches down, "Will you give me the &*@#_!?" The body shakes slightly a ghostly form overlaying it for but a moment, a shadow. "I can't..." the shadow responds slowly its words causing the Gods within the room to shake like leaves in a storm.

The child stands and turns back to the gathering of Gods. A child is gone, a woman stands there now, golden hair framing her kind face. "He has done enough, more than any would, for longer than many did, It is someone else's turn, Will you watch over them after it is done #$&@(*)%#?" my host is shaking the rage is gone, hope has fled, helplessness crushing down on me and him. These emotions overwhelming and violent. "I will... one last battle, to end this cycle." my host barely replies. A thought not my own comes through me, 'I will not allow this to happen.. even if I must !@_$ %#!%_#*&@*(!@$*_!@ $(!@*$!) #@()!)^^$!@_(!@$#! (!@).Tali, will understand in the end.."

The god who shouted in the beginning has a frown on his face, as the entire room shakes bright flashes piercing the veil. "They are here.." purplish black energy starts to creep through the cracks around the room. Before the room is violently ripped away.

I sit there, my breath is gone, my vision clouded with spots, the woman is gone. I sit back on the bed in the room the vision clearing from my sight. The Arena Master standing by the door with an utterly confused look on his face, until he notices my difficulty breathing, he runs up smacking a palm to my back, energy crushes through me any defense that I had, gone like wet paper. A fresh breath of air comes to my lungs as my breathing gets under control. "Breath Nihr..." he says slowly.

My breath comes in gasps then calms to a controlled rate. Looking up at the ceiling her name leaves my lips, "Tali..." the room around us almost instantly buckles under the one word. The Arena Master's eyes goes wide, "How?!-" He throws out a hand a form like energy expands shoving out against the room, keeping its shape. "You met her didn't you.." his eyes turn to me in disbelief, "How?" shaking my head the room settles the pressure and the room stops buckling inward. "Do not say her name again, or the Tower itself might attempt to kill you." turning my eyes to the Arena Master, "I thought I knew who I was.. but did I?"

The little snippets from other lives, the skills and memories, the visions, things that were "sealed". What or who will I be when all of them are in the open. That body that was so broken and destroyed looked like me, those were Gods of this world? a world? which world?.. pain flares in my head as the spiral goes on and on. The pain receding as quickly as it had come.

[NETWORK]

Leave it for now friend, gain strength, for the knowledge you seek is at the top.

Relaxing back as the pain dissolves, "Send me to the next floor already, can't keep thinking of these things. Once I gain the necessary strength, I will be able to get my answers." the Arena Master is glaring at me. "I should drag those answers out of you child.." turning my gaze to the childlike arena master, I open my mouth as a screen appears before me.

[NETWORK]

He has no power to do so. We will talk soon, answers and more. Get to Level 5.. then maybe I'll be able to-

'Able to?.. what? [NETWORK]?...' nothing but silence greets me back as I sit there being glared at by the Arena Master. "I don't think you can at this point or you would have." he deflates visibly at those words. "I thought I had a clue after all this time. Young'uns, bah... on your way can't be bothered with you anymore.." waving a hand towards me I see cracks of purple in the dark window next to me. The next moment I am standing in the middle of stone road, being greeted by the Floor 6 popup.

Floor 6: Broken Forest

Threat Level: F - F+

The first true step on a path to climbing the Tower, everything from floors 1 to 5 are considered a tutorial on things to come for experienced Climbers. Welcome to the true tower, floors are never the same from this point onwards, good luck.

Description: The Broken Forest, is part of a remnant %#@&* that was pulled into the Tower after its destruction. The inhabitants range from Goblins, Hobgoblins, to lower tier Ogres. To pass this forest navigate the broken forest and slay the Broken Spire's Master. Or tread a path not travelled by others to go to the next floor.

Standing in a gloomy forest, the light barely above the normal for when a sun sets behind the horizon. The sounds of birds, and insects showing that this forest was still very much alive, but the trees give off an aura of death, wrongness, a mist lingering above the waist. 'Broken Forest, goblins no issues. Hobgoblins stronger than goblins, weaker than ogres.' while that thought crossed my mind, a goblin that is significantly taller than any other that I have seen so far steps out from around a tree, looking down the road away from me. Its skin is a rustic brown, and it is wearing regular leather armor, with a small shortsword and buckler in its hands. Standing on this stone road that seems to divide the forest in two, I can see the road twist and turn ahead. [Inspect] fires off identifying the "goblin".

[Inspected: Hobgoblin Scout]

System Status

Tier:F

Class:Hobgoblin Scout

Level:16

Health:???

Energy:???

Strength:41

Endurance:58

Dexterity:80

Agility:96

Perception:55

Intelligence:24

Wisdom:27

Charisma:10

Luck:8

Resistances

Physical Defense:

55

Elemental Defense:

10

Mental Defense:

0

Soul Defense:

0

Immunities:

N/A

Skills

Name Grade Level Description

Dagger Mastery [Uncommon] 4

Due to continuous use of a dagger, the user has increased dexterity and agility when using them.

Leadership [Uncommon] 1

Through leading and organizing of those under it, whether through force or brains, it has gained the basics of leadership.

Stealth [Uncommon] 1

Through consistent attempts at controlling its body weight and movement to stay hidden from its prey it has gained the basics of stealth.

Tracking [Uncommon] 1

Through constant attempts to track a prey to its lair, you have gain the basics of tracking.

'Decent stat spread, better than the ogre's I fought before this is surprising. It is a higher tier than them as well. Strike fast..' Launching into a sprint before the Hobgoblin looks my way, I reach for the Dark. But come up strained, the Dark moving like tar below me, that last move from the arena must have stressed the connection and it significantly for it to be this slow. The hobgoblin's ears flicker and its head snaps my way seeing me in a sprint towards it, eyes sharpening, it reaches down grasping a horn on its waist. I reach it just as it rips the horn free and goes to put the horn to its lips, 'Stop the sound, since the dark is tar-like, use it like tar, stuff it down its throat.' like a sludge coming off my hand I slam a hand into the horn and subsequently the Hobgoblins face the shadows under my tunic flow out into the horn, stopping any sound from escaping it. The hobgoblin chokes on the tar-like shadows, attempting to shove me back its clawed hand holding its sword scrapes across my tunic throwing me off of it and away, dropping its horn in consequence.

Looking down at its signal horn it sees the shadowy substance on it, and decides it is not worth it, throwing a downward swing towards me after I land on the ground. Rolling to the right, and coming up against a tree as the sword strike the ground where I was at. I hope to my feet, 'Am I recovered enough.. No.. Dark is strained.' Pulling my dual iron shard daggers I kept for the novelty of them, since I was planning on relying on the Dark for a portion of the Tower until later when I might delve into the other energies, which is significantly detrimental to me right now. 'All my eggs in one basket so to speak..' I lunge upwards towards its face with one dagger, and bring the other towards its side, 'should have just enough to kill it with a well placed hammer..' its sword comes up in a parry knocking one of my shards off track from its face as it sneers the sword in its hand coming back down to cut off my hand. I grin the dagger next to its side slams home into the leather armor piercing it just below the ribs. "URGYA!!" it screams in my face the direction of its sword altered slightly sliding off my wrist as shadow coats where it hits, leaving a fine cut instead of lopping off my hand, the response time of the Dark being so slow it left a wound instead of purely deflecting it.

The grin on my face only gets wider as I let go of the dagger pierced into the side of the hobgoblin. A hammer of shadows slamming into the hilt of the shard shortly after, my head splits with pain the moment the solid hammer formed and hit another solid object. The dagger easily slides the rest of the way into the hob as the hammer collides with it, the hobgoblins eyes go wide, a shriek in its mouth dies as it gurgles and drops to the ground the dagger piercing its heart.

"Too close... need to find a place to recover before anything else happens." 'wait this was a scout right.. oh no. gotta move..' grabbing its short sword, ignoring the messages that popped up I turn fast and start running, the shadows still spread out strained but spread, my headache becoming worse every second its pushed beyond its limits while overused. I see a group of Hobgoblins with some regular goblins fighting it out a small distance near where the scout was. Changing directions mid-run, I keep running changing directions, choosing different paths to keep me from being tracked hopefully.

I consciously slow my running and footsteps after a bit, stepping back through some of my prints to create false trails just like in the past-... 'the past huh..' shaking my head I continue through the motions of covering my tracks, I make it to an outcropping of tree's huddled together near a massive tree, the other trees in the area not anywhere near the tree in the centers size. I move quickly pushing myself, going to lose consciousness soon if I keep this up, checking the tree with the shadows, it comes back fine, nothing in it or around it that could cause harm, and the top of the trunk has a space just big enough to fit my body and rest comfortably. Rushing to the tree, my head is pounding my eyes sting as I force myself up into its branches climbing for the crown of the tree where the space was. As I reach the crown my eyes begin to strain, my brain and willpower pushing my body to stay conscious my hands start to slip, bark digging into my hands I feel something grab my wrist as I begin to lose grip pulling me back to the bark I just let go of. Pulling myself onto the crown and sprawling myself out. I look to what grabbed my wrist, dissolving into the tree was a hand made of shadow. The pain overwhelming my brain.

"Visit us..." was all I heard as my mind went into the darkness, the last sounds I heard were signal horns from the Hobgoblins, goblins and more searching the forest.