Onward Into The Labyrinth

With the walls being so high and the dirt being so luscious with grass and other plants and flowers, I would've thought that everything would've been dead. The sun can't hit it, so logically all of this stuff would be wasted at this point.

However, this Tower is unique. Nothing needs sunlight, and it's not like the sun ever sets. This is all fabricated... but why?

It's a question I've been asking myself since day one of coming into this damned Tower. Why was I here? Why was I imprisoned? Why did I go through so much? For what reason did Genesis make me kill those people that looked like my friends?

The people around me... we're all from different backgrounds, but we coalesce into one group with the same goal. Whatever that goal may be, nobody here was going to give up very easily. And so, we would begin our journey into the first crossroads of the Labyrinth.

"We can go left or right... which one is the best direction?" Orion asked, turning back on us with the backpack following his shoulders.

"If you were to ask me, I believe that left would be best. We follow the left wall, and we'll make it out eventually," Asoh said. I began to realize Asoh and Orion had the same body language... at least, it was very similar.

"Why don't we just smash our way through to the middle?" I asked, pushing my hands against the wall.

It had intricate designs all over, clad in carvings of stone and metallic brushings that decorated the top of statues that looked like important people.

"That's honestly not a bad idea... I'm just worried. Who knows what's in this Labyrinth," Shike said, tracing the walls with his fingertips as we walked forward.

"That's ominous, don't you think? Can you sense something?" Chi-Chi asked Shike. I tried to do that thing he said he had... that 'Sensing' thing... but I couldn't feel anything, just a cold breeze.

"It's not that I sense it... I can see it," Shike pointed ahead.

He was further up the curve on the rounded wall of the Labyrinth, so he could see it before everybody else. There was a wooden barricade, wrapped in twine, and a large tower with a smoky black figure standing on the top of it with a bow and arrow in hand.

"You're shitting me..." Boo mumbled.

"What? What's going on?" I crouched down with everybody else and started whispering.

"That's Pestilence... he's still alive?" Boo asked, crouching right beside me and peering over the small stone half-walls in front of us.

"Pestilence? What kind of name is that?" I asked, staring ahead with her.

"Don't joke like that... that's one of the Four Horsemen... Shike and I fought them with Sky, That Bitch, Alexia, Boo, and some of my other dead friends. It took everything to beat them..." Boo muttered.

"We only have two swords from the village, since you guys didn't get one... and then Asoh and Chi-Chi have their own weaponry... can we beat him with four people, Boo?" I asked her.

"Be honest with me, Chi-Chi and Asoh... do you have abilities? Are you good fighters?" Boo asked the two.

"That man looks like a cloud of smoke. Here, take my weapon," Asoh said, slightly laughing at her own incapability.

"Shike, Orion, Charlie, and I will take them out. The rest of you guys watch the back, make sure nothing can sneak up on us," Boo said, vaulting over the half-wall in front of us.

"I would've assumed you stayed dead in The First Trial!" She shouted out.

I kept my eyes peeled around that man named Pestilence... but it looked like he was the only one present.

"Buusu Achamo... I never thought I'd see you again... tell me, where am I?" The man asked.

Boo stood back with a confused look.

"What...? What do you mean? You know where you are, don't play stupid," She annoyingly said back to the man made of black smoke.

"No... I was killed... then I came here... why am I here...?" He asked.

What the hell is going on? The same thing happened with Orion as well.

"You're not an enemy then?" I asked next, walking up next to Boo.

"Oh... I'm your enemy, but I don't know why I'm here. I guess the setting doesn't matter. Are you ready for a rematch, Buusu?" Pestilence asked.

He drew his bowstring back and aimed it right at her.

In the blink of an eye, Boo ended up right behind him and cut through his body, specifically in a diagonal pattern across his chest. It looked like a metal bomb exploded inside of him and before I knew it, the smoke faded away, along with the man who was deemed a threat for a split second there.

"That was handled fast... why did you even need multiple weapons?" Chi-Chi asked, raising herself out of cover.

"Don't do that yet. There's still three more that I know are around here," Boo said. She kept her body locked in place and her eyes closed as she listened for more footsteps.

But how would clouds of smoke make noises like that?

"There are four of them like I said before. Each has its own weapon and style of fighting. Just be careful from here on out, that's all I'm saying," Boo said again, jumping off of the wooden platform and looking further into the Labyrinth.

"Shike, I see War. Famine and Death are close behind... and about a hundred Rubeki follow right behind. What do you want to do?" Boo asked.

"Damn, a hundred...? That's twenty-five each, can we take them on?" Shike asked next, looking back at Orion and me.

"I have no idea what's going on... I fought people in my time... what are Rubeki?" Orion asked. Chi-Chi and Asoh nodded, agreeing that our current situation was confusing.

"Pestilence was a Rubeki... and now, there are a lot more. Don't worry, Boo might be able to take all of them," Shike explained to us, crossing his arms.