Inside the Golden Tower

This discovery was terrorizing, something that could cut a tower of this size cannot be handled by Veritas alone. Gold is also extremely durable, so the magnitude of this destruction was not to be understimated. More importantly, he had to consider whether the creature or thing that cut the Golden Tower was still alive. Was it still in this place? 

The Golden Tower served many benefits to Veritas, due to being so high up he could see many things from above. He looked around and saw a tiny speck of gold in the mountains.

"That must be the golden door!"

He then saw the golden hut that he previously resided and rested in. It was farther than it looks, especially from above. 

Veritas was not at all worried about being scared of the heights, he was quite courageous climbing the castle towers of his kingdom after all! Yet, this new scenery from something that was almost as high as a mountain sent a chill up on his spine. It wasn't too terrifying though.

After scanning the mountainous horizon, Veritas changed his perspective and turned around, gazing towards the heart of the city.

"I'm not too far off now." he muttered to himself.

Deeper into the city, he saw the remnants of a giant golden castle underwater. Moving away from the heart were 3 identical towers similar to the one he was at. 

It was.. much taller than the one he was at, yet they didn't seem to be at full potential either. They were broken or cut down too!

"Why would a city of this scale need 4 humongous spires?"

Curiosity arose in the mind of the prince. 

When comparing the size of the Golden City to Elrod, they were not that different. Elrod was only slightly smaller than this Golden City, yet Veritas could not understand the purpose of the 4 golden spires. 

Even as a distinguished prince of a prosperous kingdom, this only made him more curious as for the purpose of them. He could only guess their use. 

"An observatory? Yet why would they need 4?"

Veritas pried no further and decided to get more clues before coming into a conclusion. Still, it was mysterious to say the least. 

After searching and gazing at the horizon for a little while, Veritas failed to find any vestige that weren't drowned yet. Only 3 more identical towers similar to his remained. 

"Everything is submerged"

Thus, he planned to reserve his Soul and head to the deepest part of the City. Although it was not as far when compared to the Golden Hut to the Golden Tower. It was still a large distance. 

Now, with his next stop decided, Veritas strolled inside the tower instead.

The Tower's diameter is at least as big as Elrod's castle along with its castle grounds. To think that there are 4 of these huge towers amazed him! Still, it took Veritas quite a while to circle the tower when he was in the water. Now, seeing it from the inside, he could guess as to why. 

Although the top was destroyed, he was lucky enough to stand on solid ground. It seemed like the area he was in was one of the floors of the tower. He estimated that it would take him a few minutes to walk from one end of the tower to another. 

Veritas investigated the ruined floor of the tower, searching for the stairs. It was filled with all sorts of things, although he could not distinguish most of them. There were golden books, ruined golden doors, destroyed walls, and many more!

After casually walking around and scanning the golden tower, he finally found the stairs that lead deeper to the tower. 

Veritas was wary, unsure of the creatures lurking inside. Perhaps they were already turned into gold? The golden creatures under the water reassured him of this thought. Yet, he couldn't afford to be careless. 

He gazed upon his Soul and activated Windsong to conjure a wind blade and a veil around him. It formed itself in his hand, lightweight and durable as ever before. 

Veritas knew that the insides of the tower were drowned in darkness, yet he decided not to make a light source as it was common knowledge that whatever creatures lay in the darkness, most of them would be attracted to light. 

Also, he did not have any materials to do so...

A plan formulated in Veritas' mind.

The first step was to test the darkness. Meaning, he would only pry on the floor below him and not go deeper than that. If there were any creatures then he would slay them.. if anything turns bad then he would immediately turn around and recuperate back at the top. 

After completing his first step, then he would dive deeper inside the Tower, slaying anything that he can and running away from danger. 

The last step is once he sees water then he would use Wind Cut to carve the gold, and get out of the tower after regenerating his Soul. 

It was a simple plan.

As long as he stayed vigilant and aware, then his chances of surviving were high. 

Heading down the Golden Tower was considered by Veritas as the most logical and safest route. Although he was unsure whether creatures resided inside, it was still better than using the winds to slowly fall down. It was easier to rise up yet much more complicated when falling down. 

Veritas peeked down the hollow insides of the Golden Tower. It was pitch black, without a fire it could cause trouble. But, he was confident with his eyes and sense of danger. 

"Here I go."

With a Wind Blade in hand, and a veil protecting him, he journeyed into the darkness below.

*

Veritas did not dive head in towards the darkness inside the tower. Rather, he stayed at where visibility was none and waited for his eyes to adjust from the darkness. 

After a few moments have passed by, his eyes could see in the darkness. It was not as clear as seeing in the daylight, yet it was sufficient enough for him. 

He looked down and saw the same structure of the floor from above. The difference is this one wasn't destroyed and ruined compared to the one at the top. 

At first, he could not distinguish what he saw but as he got closer to it his eyes started to see clearly.

"This is a door."

There were more doors similar to the one that he was standing in front of. They were all golden and shining amidst the darkness. Turns out that the reflection from the sun had quite helped in retaining his visibility from the darkness.

It was only on this floor though, Veritas doubted that there'd be much light on the deeper floors.

In any case, Veritas gestured to open the door. He carefully rotated the handle and pushed it. It was as heavy as the door from the golden hut, taking him a couple of seconds to open. 

He scanned around and it looked like one of the rooms from his castle. It was.. luxurious. It seemed like it was made for the nobles or the royalty. 

Inside, he found the golden walls shining, there were golden chairs, golden chandeliers, golden vases, and a golden bed.

He walked towards one of the chairs and dragged his finger around the top surface of it.

"Dusty.."

Very dusty indeed. It seemed this room was last cleaned a couple years or decades ago. I mean, they did turn into gold after all..

Next, Veritas scanned the vases and chairs, investigating them with vigor. 

"These are royalty, made by an exquisite craftsman."

As a Prince himself, he would notice the quality that these ornaments have. They had a couple of luxurious vases in the castle so he would know what these looked like. 

It proved his suspicions correct, these rooms were made for royalty or nobility. Maybe they were reserved for them?

Lastly, Veritas moved over to the bed, seeing as it was turned into gold. The blankets, the curtains, and the design, they were all top quality. Seeing them turned into gold made their beauty shine even more so. 

Suddenly! Veritas' eyes suddenly widened, he was shocked at what he saw!

"A human!"

It was a man, sleeping quietly in bed. However, they were gold, almost like a statue that was sculpted by the best craftsman. He knew that these were the humans turned into gold in his mother's story. 

"So innocent. It looks like he doesn't even know what happened."

It was scary, to slumber in peace yet never waking up at all. It was a punishment comparable to death. 

"I have to investigate the other rooms."

Veritas hurriedly made his way to the other rooms. He opened the doors one by one using his strength and scanned them. Inside, he found that the people inside were all sleeping. However, he could not sense the same thing that he felt when gazing upon the Golden Serpent. 

"They are... dead."

Unlike the Golden Serpent who felt alive to Veritas, the humans inside of the Golden Tower did not have the same feeling of life. They were devoid of light from their slumber and now they have fallen, to sleep forever. 

"You may rest now and slumber in peace."

Veritas paid his respects to the fallen individuals, he gestured a prayer and wished them for peace. 

As he walked towards the end of the hall, hoping to dive deeper inside the tower and searching for the way down, he suddenly heard a silent screech far behind him.

It was as if two metals were getting dragged together. 

Startled by this, Veritas slowly turned around and saw a face peeking behind a wall, smiling and gazing at him. It's fingers were partially golden, and it looked like a child. 

However, it was not human! Veritas felt that "that thing" was not a human!

"Shit!"

Then! It vanished from sight, hiding behind the walls. Veritas gripped his Wind Blade and kept his heart calm. 

Being scared now won't do him good!

Veritas rushed towards the humanoid thing behind the walls. He deemed to defeat the creature now or it would cause him trouble. As he reached the wall where he'd last seen it, there seemed to be nothing in there.

"Where is it?!"

With those words, Veritas suddenly felt a feeling of dread coming in every direction. It was as if the winds were screaming at him! 

As soon as he felt the dread, something from the darkness jumped at him! 

Veritas reacted quickly and blocked the sharp golden fingers of the humanoid child! He then pushed his blade causing the child to run away and hide once more. 

Again! The shift in the wind warned him of an attack but he knew not of where it would come from. Veritas sharpened his senses and used the wind to feel!

He focused and waited for the attacker to come, then he suddenly felt the wind shift from his right!

"There!"

Veritas slashed his blade towards his right, he felt as if it had cut flesh. Whatever attacked him was now wounded or dead!

Then, he heard a loud thud! on his right, it seemed that the humanoid creature fell and made a loud sound. It was as if two metals crashed into one another. 

Although his vision was diminished, Veritas learned to use the wind as an extension to his senses. This solved the problem that he was facing in the dark!

He heard metal dragging against metal, it seemed like the humanoid creature was now crawling away from him. Veritas carefully walked towards the direction of the sound.

As he investigated further, he saw that the humanoid child creature looked like it was covered in gold yet still retaining its flesh. Not wasting any time, Veritas stabbed his blade into the creature's head. 

"Just what the hell was that?"

He was unsure of what the humanoid creature that looked like a child is. He thought that it could be a spirit possessing one of the bodies here. That seemed unlikely as they would have been turned fully into gold, thus rendering their movements uncapable. 

"A creature capable of turning into a human.."

Veritas thought that there could only be one answer to this!

"A demon!"