14, The Tower and The Fourth Floor

Octatus exited the testing space and asked

"Are you ready to go to the fourth floor?"

"I guess I am, but If I wasn't you wouldn't bring me there would you?"

"Cheeky brat, but you are correct. That is a testing floor. It's not for magic, but for your mind, your character, your attitude, your fears, your strengths, your pain tolerance and more. It will put you through different illusions and see how you react. Your body will not be injured but your mind will perceive everything as if it was real, even the pain. You won't die but it won't be enjoyable."

"That is ok. This challenge will be something that will make me better and help me find out more about myself. I am ready for this."

"That's the attitude a young one should have! Come now."

He took my hand in his once more and we headed to the wall ready to climb the stairs once more.

The staircase this time wasn't as long as the one bringing us from the second floor to the third, it was around the length of the first flight.

The belts on the wall though, had gained more and more stones.

The average belt now had 20 stones meaning these people were only a few stones away from being as strong as my mother before they died.

Realizing that this could be all that is left of my mom one day, a question came up.

"Is there a way to never die or to exist forever?"

This question caused Octatus to stop midway on the stairs and looked at me with a serious expression.

"No. Everything eventually has an end, Etanali. Even the life of the most powerful beings to ever exist, one day, will come to an end. Some creatures just live longer than others causing them to seem immortal. Life and death are both sides of the coin that is existence, one cannot be without the other. Why do you ask?"

"All of these dead, they all had dreams and strived to be great. Just like I want to be. How do I know I won't end up like them one day?"

The strength of all of those who owned the belts couldn't have been small, but they ended up here all the same.

"You will one day, there is no absolute way to prevent death. It comes for us all at one point or another, all we can do is become strong enough that the day it comes we can say 'Not today'. Without strength you can do nothing but accept what comes your way, but with strength you gain the options; to make your own choices and the choices of those weaker. This is why you should train seriously. Because when death comes for you, just like it will come for me and for all living beings. All you have to rely on is yourself. Even then, sometimes there is nothing you can do. Death is sad but it is still a part of life, just like life is a part of death."

I let go of his hand and looked down at my small palms in silence.

Octatus said nothing and waited for me to finish with my thoughts.

'It always comes down to strength doesn't it. You can have everything in the world but if you aren't strong enough to protect it, it might be better to have nothing. There are no police or anything, just me and my own power.'

'In this life I will have all the strength I can. Enough strength that I can stand tall even if I must hold up the sky itself.'

I balled my small hands into fists and raised my gaze to look Octatus in the eye and said in a determined voice.

"I will be the strongest then."

Octatus looked at my eyes for a few seconds and then nodded, extending his hand again.

"Good, let's get going then."

—

Arriving on the fourth floor a familiar sight greeted me again.

This floor looked very similar to the second floor, only this time the entire floor was covered with a dizzying formation.

Its complexity made all of the other spell circles seem like children's doodles in comparison.

The room was illuminated by several balls of light that floated around the room, it seemed as if they were alive.

"What are those? It looks like they are alive."

Octatus saw what I was looking at and answered with a smile.

"They are wisps, an amalgamation of mana, spells and intelligence creating an ethereal life form. They were created when the tower was formed in order to be the caretaker and guardian of this formation. Due to its crazy complexity and importance to our people this floor received special treatment. Only elders are allowed to bring people to this floor."

"I see. Are there wisps found in the wild?"

"There are but they are almost impossible to find, most will not even hear of them in stories. They are nearly mythical creatures. They say that naturally created ones will have a second form, but this hasn't been proven due to how scarce they are. Now focus, I need you to lie down in the center of the circle and close your eyes. I will do all the rest."

Following Octatus' instruction I walked past what must have been hundreds of thousands of tiny intricate runes and other interconnected symbols until I reached the empty center circle, lay down on my back.

A few seconds later the room glowed a bright white causing me to close my eyes.

When I opened them again I was standing in a green grassy field with a cloudless crystal clear blue sky above me, but there was no sun.

In front of me was an extraordinarily long rack full of an assortment of weapons going from blunt to bladed to polearms, there were even things I hadn't seen before despite my extensive movie watching.

There were several different variations of each weapon too, swords of varying blade lengths and widths and handles with all kinds of different grips.

Axes and maces and flails, every weapon he could think of and was here, the rack must have been over 150m long.

I was looking at them all in awe when I heard someone clap once.

I turned around quickly to see a man dressed in all brown.

Not like he was wearing brown clothes but as if he was made from the dirt, standing with his hands pressed together.

The dirt man took a fighting posture and I understood what I was supposed to do.

I charged at the man barefisted intending to punch him in the face.

He dodged my fist and hit me with a well placed uppercut causing my vision to go black.

Seconds later I was once again standing in front of the weapon rack.

My teeth weren't actually aching and my face was fine, but the memory of the blow was still quite fresh.

I understood the purpose of this part of the illusion.

I had to test all kinds of weapons to find something that suited me while actually taking damage and feeling the pain of the blows without risking bodily harm or major long term consequences.

I just needed to keep my will strong and endure the pain I was certain I was going to face.

For a few seconds I was afraid of the future pain that I was sure to go through since the dirt man didn't seem to hold back.

I even 'died' in one punch from him, but then I realized that this is the best place to train.

Doing this anywhere else would be just as painful but even more dangerous since my actual body would be damaged.

Re affirming my desire to be the strongest I chose the weapons that are used in one of my favorite fantasy series.

I grabbed two sabers that were similar in shape off of the rack.

I turned around with swords in hand and saw that the dirt man was waiting for me and this time he also had two sabers in his hands.

It seems like this dirt man would always fight me with the same weapon I picked from the rack.

I charged at the dirt man and performed an overhand strike with both swords.

He blocked the strike with a single sword trapping both hands in the air and with his second blade he stabbed my neck.

It took a second for me to realize what happened but then he pulled out his sword and pain flooded my senses and my vision went dark..

I regained my vision and once again I was standing before the rack of weapons, the sabers were back in their spots.

I screamed and reached for my neck and then stopped as I felt there was no blood and the pain was gone, the memory of the stab was still there though.

The fear was also still there as I realized just how brutal live combat in reality is.

'Even if I won't die like Octatus said, there was still a phantom pain that hurt quite badly and I didn't even have to deal with the pain as my body healed.'

Gathering my wits again I decided to skip the swords as they didn't seem to be right for me.

Then my eyes fell onto a khopesh and I decided to give it another try with the sword.

The egyptians were badass and their swords were very cool, I picked up one with a very exaggerated curve.

I turned around and went to face the dirt man, who was also wielding a khopesh identical to my own.

This round did not change much at all, I simply died in a different way.

It was a single clash and then my sword was thrown from my hand and I was decapitated.

Panicking when my vision returned my hand went all the way around my neck making sure my head wasn't falling off.

Sighing in relief that it was still attached I shuddered as I remembered the sensation of the blade going through my neck and viewing my own body from a falling head.

I grabbed a weapon from the next section on the rack which was heavy weapons.

This didn't fare any better for me.

I grabbed weapon after weapon after weapon and each time I ended up dead and back before the rack of weapons as I began to dread fighting the man of dirt once again.

By this point I had been slashed, bashed, crushed, stabbed, impaled, strangled, beheaded and mutilated dozens and dozens of times.

Nothing seemed to work against that man of dirt, I hadn't even lasted more than 2 exchanges let alone hit him.

The last weapon I had yet to try was the bow staff, and that was because it looked like such a boring weapon to use.

But seeing how there wasn't really any other weapon I haven't used yet, I picked up the staff and decided to give it my best.

It felt surprisingly good in the hand.

All of the other weapons didn't quite fit my hand right, some were beautifully ornate and others were rugged and simple but they all had something indescribably uncomfortable about them.

The polearms were always better than the others but they also just didn't feel quite right.

The staff, boring as it is, seemed to fit the indescribable requirement that all the others failed.

Swinging it around a few times to get a better feel for it, I turned around to face the dirt man who was waiting for me with a staff in his left hand.

I approached him slowly as I knew from experience that rushing in would allow him to attack first.

When I got within range I jabbed him with the end of the staff like it was a spear, the dirt man knocked it aside easily but I didn't lose my grip on the weapon.

The dirt man stepped to the left and struck an overhead blow aiming at my head.

I raised both hands to block the blow with the center of the staff between my hands.

Receiving the blow I kept my arms straight and bent both knees slightly to disperse the impact through my body to my legs.

I pushed up with my legs tossing the dirt man's staff to the right putting his body in the way of the opposite end of his weapon.

Since he was momentarily defenseless I pulled back the staff and swung at him with the left end aiming to hit him in his face.

My aim wasn't perfect but it did hit hard on his jaw causing the dirt making it fall to the ground.

I was stunned, for the first time after trying over 60 times I managed to hit the dirt man!

Except I made an error and started to celebrate my victory while the battle was going on.

I had completely dropped my guard allowing him to make a great sweeping strike with the end of his staff connecting with my chin.

I received another epic uppercut that sent my flying like a rag doll as my vision went black.