Premonitions

Huff! Huff!

I breathed heavily as the bubble tumbled around within the Queen's stomach. The cracks on the bubble made me worried the the structure might collapse and leave me to be slowly digested in the stomach acids of the giant shinhueh.

After some time, the tumbling subsided and the bubble softly travelled through the innards of the beast.

I sat back down onto the bed, breathing a sigh of relief. My eyes turned unfocused for a bit as a smile stretched itself ear to ear on my beautiful face.

I had done it.

I had finally become the heroine of this story.

Bam, the one that stole everything from me, the one that had no more purpose in life than to follow me, yet still the one that had taken the place of the hero from me was gone.

I had finally become the heroine, destined to see the stars one day.

"Ha... haha..." A low laught escaped my mouth, eventually transforming into a full blown laughter.

Hahahahahahahahahaha!

The sole sound of my laughter, music to my ears rang in the surroundings. I laid onto the bed, my limbs sprawled about and closed my eyes with a gigantic smile gracing my lips.

I remembered what the angel had said.

"The Boy is the one that took the risk, and so did the young man. And so, that Boy will become the Hero of this story, and the man an outlier, a being unbound by it. And what of you?"

I hummed a sweet tone, shaking my head side to side, unable to contain my excitement.

I chuckled in a high pitched tone, slamming my face into the pillows, squealing as I did so with my legs rapidly kicking the bed mattress.

"I will make you the heroine of this story. In exchange, you just need to do something for me." The angel had chuckled at the time.

My eyes glazed over slightly as images of Bam flooded my mind.

The giddiness in my heart could not be stopped. Everything I ever deserved would be mine now. That monster was never worthy or everything I would be capable of getting. He was a mistake, something that shouldn't even be alive. But now, I had done God's work.

Then, images of someone else overlapped my vision. It was a dark haired young man with dark black eyes. He stood at a height of 1.85 meters and had an enchanting and laid back disposition. The outlier, Winston Heath.

I giggled.

"Soon..." I said to no one in particular, my eyes taking a strange emotion.

I am going to have everything I ever wanted and will want in the future. After all, I am the heroine of this story.

Everyone exists only to serve me. I am destined to see the stars.

~~~

Everyone waited at the bottom of a large structure, in front of which the Queen's anus was exposed from where Bam and Rachel were to be shot out.

Winston sat onto a nearby bench along with Zarhan and Amon, as did Anaak. The rest of the regulars stood some distance away, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the two people.

They did not have to wait too long, as in just 5 minutes worth of time, the bubble came out along with all of the Queen's undigested food.

Splat!

The bubble cracked upon impacting solid ground and a sole female supported herself on her arms, her hair and body drenched in a green fluid.

Every rushed towards her, eager to greet them.

However, as they drew closer, they noticed something.

"Where's Bam?" Amon asked, his tone shaking a bit.

Rachel didn't speak, only gritting her teeth in response as if holding deep emotions within.

Winston who was at the back stared at her, his spirit vision activated.

His eyes reflected the figure of Rachel in it's entirety, a plethora of colours blazing at her body. Besides her legs, which were blackened in spirit vision, suggesting a lack of operation, the rest of her body was perfectly fine.

Her emotional colours were in disarray, expression deep sadness and regret.

Seeing this, Winston had a bad premonition.

"Hey! Yellow turtle!" Rak yelled. "Where's the Black turtle!"

Winston felt Zarhan tightening his grip on the spear, watching on at the scene that was unfolding.

"He..." Rachel spoke in a sort of hushed whisper, however, it was perfectly heard by everyone.

"Bam, he.. he fell off the platform while fighting off the bull." Rachel choked on her breath, a singular tear streaming down her face.

"He... he sacrificed himself to save me..." She said.

Everyone was quiet for a moment.

"NOO! TURTLE!!!" Rak yelled out in despair.

Everyone else felt a weird emotion arising in their stomachs, feeling extremely unsure about the situation.

Winston stole a glance at Khun, whose eyes were covered by his hair.

"..." Without a word, Winston began to walk back.

Then, he took out a coin from his pocket and flicked it up.

Bam is dead. He repeated in his head 7 times.

The coin landed onto his palm, and as he opened it, the coin displayed a clear tails.

He closed his palm and kept the coin back into his pocket.

~~~

Everyone passed the test. Apparently, Bam had made a deal with the administrator, which entailed that even if Bam failed the test, everyone else would be allowed to ascend to the next floor and not fail the test.

That sole fact made everyone feel a great debt towards the boy. Rachel had passed out after she descended from the Queen's stomach and thereby rested in her room.

Everyone else gathered in the hall to think over their next course of actions.

It was at that moment that Khun proposed something.

He would take Rachel up the tower with him, in order to fulfil one last wish of Bam due to which he was going to pass the test.

Everyone else also agreed through subtle communication ticks and deception from Khun, though it was hardly needed.

Winston was the only one, aside from Zarhan who had not outright agreed to the proposal, but since he did not object to it, everyone assumed he would also participate; an endeavor that he was not sure he would partake in at the moment.

However, as everyone left the hall, Winston was approached by the blue haired young man.

"Winston." He called out.

Winston raised an eyebrow.

"I have something to talk to you about." He said.

Winston nodded and they headed back to his room for further discussions.

After they reached his room, Khun continued with the conversation.

"It's about Rachel." He said grimly.

"What about her?" Winston was unsure where the conversation was going.

Khun's eyes held a slight edge, something Winston was not used to seeing. Through his spirit vision, he noticed a strange emotion of rage and unclarity flowing through his psyche.

"I talked with Mr. Ro about her condition. Although the official reports say that she can't walk and the cure is only on the upper floors..." Khun took a slight pause. "Through Mr. Ro's own observation, along with a doctor he had asked for a report, her legs are perfectly fine."

Winston's eyes widened in bafflement.

"You mean..." He asked, unsurely.

Khun nodded.

"She lied." He declared. "The wound was even that fatal. It did no damage concerning her legs, neither did it damage any major tissues."

They sat in silence for a moment.

"Then-"

~~~~

Winston walked along a hallway, walking in front of doors that led to the rooms of several regulars.

Eventually, he stopped in front of Rachel's.

With a strange expression, he gazed silently at the door, his spirit vision peering through the wall.

Rachel who was laying on the bed and sleeping had her entire body clad in white, a symbol of excellent health. The Black colour he had seen was all but gone at this point.

Someone... or something... it messed with the information travelling through the 'spirit world'. He thought with a rough face. He gritted his teeth as he looked at her emotions. Happiness. Contentment. Cold clarity and glee.

He shook his head as he remembered what Khun intended to do. Apparently, he planned to tell Shibisu about the fact too.

Winston walked back. His emotions were in a mess.

Things just got a lot more complicated. His spirit vision scanned his surroundings, trying to see through anything that might still be prying at him.

He put his hand into a pocket and took out the coin.

Bam is dead.

Bam is dead... He repeated 7 times.

Then, he flipped the coin.

Ding!

The coin danced in the air and fell towards his hand, however, it fell right off to the ground after bouncing off.

The divination had failed...

Winston picked up the coin, his face devoid of any real expression.

Coincidences... so that's why... Winston felt that he had uncovered some strange secret, a game that was happening constantly in the shadows, which he had somehow managed to uncover.

Then, he felt his sequence 7 potion, an object that felt closer to him yet infinitely far away.

He shook his head, feeling hundreds of possible explanations arise in his mind. From the forces of Jahad to the strange rabbit, Headon, there was nothing he could confirm at the moment.

He sighed and decided to head back to his room, practice cogitation and calm his emotions. As for progression to the next sequence, he decided to do so after ascending to the next floor. For some inexplicable reason, the floor of tests seemed like a giant trap, someplace he did not feel comfortable in to try and ascend.

As he was walking back, he suddenly smiled.

A smile that carried a million emotions. A smile that masked every other emotion under it. A smile befitting of a clown.

~~~

~~~

~~~

On an unknown floor of the tower, in a dark cave like place, something stirred. A strange red light flashed onto the walls and the surroundings, illuminating the various murals embossed onto the wall and the plethora of statues with demon like faces in a baleful crimson glow. A large hole was in the ceiling, revealing a large moon that shone with a dark light.

A humanoid figure got up from the ground, stretching it's arms and body with a groan.

Then, it scratched it's back with it's flexible arms. The figure stood at an intimidating 7 feet tall and was increasingly muscular, making it appear intimidating in the red light.

Slowly, the figure walked fully into the light.

And there he stood, a massive hulking man, his skin a pale silver in colour with albino hair and a pair of red eyes. His face was stretched into a wicked grin, revealing white teeth. His face held features that looked somewhat similar to a young man, yet he also held various wrinkles on his face.

Tired, he said, "It's been long since the directions of fate turned to violently, they're barely being held together...

"Man... I haven't had to move personally since that guy pissed me off." The man bellowed with a strange, beast like growl.

Then, he laughed.

"I suppose being a silver dwarf isn't all that great after all huh... but I guess I've been inactive for long enough." He said and walked off.

~~~

"I wish you all luck regulars." Hansung Yu smiled as he saw off the regulars.

"Before you go, I would like you give something to all of you." With his words, a plate floated onto the platform where everyone stood. The plate held various black rings.

"This is a token of rememberence for all of you. I hope you all achieve great things." He said.

Everyone took the rings and donned them on their fingers.

And then, they were teleported to the next floor.

~~~

End of Volume One~ Vistas of the Test Floor.

~~~

A/N: There you have it folks. I will not be beginning with the second volume until I have completed all the chapters beforehand, just so you know. Otherwise, I might even drop off the novel due to stress of uploading every day.

Even so, I don't want to extend the upload schedule since such a schedule is needed for being a contracted author. So yeah, expect a big break. Also, I didn't have any plans initially about this novel and this was supposed to be just some side project that I would write for fun, but it has become something way more popular than I had expected. And since that's the case, it is my duty as an author to not drop the novel and provide an ending for anyone that may choose to stick with it.

Still though, no promises~~~

Throw some stones and see you next volume~~~

Cheers~~