Tower Of Memories

I left the building and set out on the eerie and dark street. My mind was empty, I didn't quite know what to do now. I had spent all my brain power on that plan, so now my body was moving more over on its own, like a mindless beast. I can't really explain what was happening. The closest thing would be spacing out, but it wasn't what had happened.

I was in a state of shock, and surprise, I was bewildered by what had happened. All my work was crashed in one second. 

I shook my head and came back to my senses. Hope wasn't lost, I mean I could go to The Core whenever I wanted, so I could just wait one month and then put it into place.

But that doesn't sit right with me. It wasn't that I didn't have the patience, but because I didn't want to sit on my ass for a whole month. But what other solution was there?

'I'll just leave it to fate.' I said with a disappointed tone, as I wandered the lonely street. The stone had more of a blackish-grey color or did it look that way because it was dark? The cold air gave me a gentle touch as kept moving. The motion of my exhaling echoed through the vague silence.

I was growing quite bored with this look, which made my eyes swirl, trying to find something interesting. It didn't matter whatever it was damn it, just give me something else than this stone. I saw it enough in my memory, I don't want to see it anymore.

'Do I have a dopamine addiction?' I wondered whenever I realized how hard I was searching for it.

But as I was debating with myself, on the endless stone, the brown leather bots of a human appeared.

An oversized lab coat covered his legs, so it was safe to guess that he was a researcher. Beneath this coat, was a black t-shirt, stained by who knows what. His hands rested inside his pockets, but their pale color was still clearly visible. He had some weird circular goggles sitting on his ginger hair. His blue eyes gave a confined look while taking into consideration his smug smile.

'Yeah no, never letting it to fate again.'

"Hello there! Your name wouldn't in a twist of luck, clearly not intended and orchestrated by yours truly, be the rare but extravagant, rare, and amazing name of the amazing child Jacob Moon."

'Can you shut up?' I said while clearly both annoyed and confused by his question. Well not really by it, since it wasn't so hard to answer, but the way he phrased it was confusing as hell like he did not have to do all that.

My words went through one of his ears and left through the other. His unbothered could be sensed through his annoying laugh.

"Ah, you don't have to be that rude you child, after all, I'm just a lonely researcher who wants only to buy the greater good for humanity. But, I have clearly annoyed you in some way, so if you would be nice enough to tell me what had angered you so much I'd be more than happy to oblige and change something about it. Now back to the topic, you still haven't answered my urgent question."

A wave of silence suddenly hit, making the air harder to breathe from the awkwardness of the situation. Weirded out by his way of speaking, I decided to just answer with short sentences.

'Yes, that's me.' I said with my voice cracking mid-sentence. It wasn't a great look... I think.

He put his hands together and leaned in toward me, a bright smile taking shape on his face.

"That's excellent, I can't believe this accident, it is truly a twist of luck. It isn't like I planned this, I couldn't have ever been able to pull such an amazing stunt off. Maybe if I was as amazing as you, but Im not, so sadly this was just luck and not my doing."

I back away, uncomfortable by his gestures of getting closer. After all, this guy was a complete stranger, who knows what his intentions were?

'Yeah, cool I guess... so what do you want.'

"Ah right! Im such a dumbass, forgive my insolence. My name is Rune Garfield, one of the rising researchers of humanity. Me and my team have been working for a while now, on a way to clear multiple infected memories at once. And after many years, we have made a prototype."

He then stopped for a while, he turned toward the ground, and stared at the hard stone. This was the first time I saw him so down, so it had to mean something... well it wasn't like I knew him for a while but still.

But he quickly regained his composure and continued talking.

"Ah, but no contractor wanted to take part in testing our prototype so we've been stuck for some time. I don't blame them though, I wouldn't participate in such a dangerous prototype from a not-very-popular company. We also couldn't send a weak contractor, so it made things worse, they had to be strong enough to clear a memory on itself. So our dreams were crushed."

He raised his head from the ground and looked at me with hope and optimism, light shining in his ocean-like eyes.

"But after hearing there was someone who came out of the hardest gate, I wondered if he would be willing to participate in testing. And now that I found you, are you willing to help a poor company out... no, are you willing to help humanity."

'No' Is what I wanted to say. Helping humanity wasn't something I wanted, so it was a terrible deal. But, this was the perfect chance to level up my skills before entering The Core. Plus, I had nowhere to go. I didn't want to go home because my family would ask too many questions about my early coming.

So, I swallowed my pride and accepted defeat.

'Oh, but I would be more than honored to!'

He looked at me surprised, his eyes watering a little because of my answer.

"Oh, but the honor is mine. So when can you start?

I mean, the best option was now, I didn't want to waste time, nether did I want to sleep on the street so it was the most logical answer.

'Right now.'

He looked at me dumbfounded, had I said something wrong?

"Young man... we think the same! There's no time to waste, the best option is always now!"

...

I was put in a white van and taken to a remote location, and meanwhile it wasn't a remote location this was still suspicious.

After leaving the van, I looked at the gigantic gate. I always wondered how they are made. How they were able to stop people from suddenly getting transported to their trials. How their difficulty varied. They were a mysterious topic to me.

"This is it. My baby. It can hold multiple infected memories, and I'm so proud of it. So are you ready?"

Was I ready? I mean, I had just finished my trial a moment ago for god's sake. I had hardly tasted freedom, this was all happening to fast, slow down damn it.

'Never been more ready.' Ok yeah, ignore me, stupid body.

I walked through the crimson flames of the large gate. The heat wrapping itself on my body.

Moments later, I found myself standing on some green grass. The color was vibrant, I had never seen it so alive! But after all, this wasn't reality.

I looked up and froze as I saw what I would have to face for the following days. My eyes trembled, and I felt a strong pressure against my ribs as my legs started giving out. This human body! Can it be more weak?

'Well damn me, it's a tower.'