Towards the Golden Tower

The water was cold, nearly freezing,

That was what Veritas would say if the water had touched his body. The Wind Veil was working its wonders, keeping water from touching his body. Similarly, Galebreathe was serving its purpose of regulating his airflow. The situation was ideal for Veritas. Unless, of course, a golden abomination were to rush towards him. 

The Golden Tower was still far from his reach, so Veritas needed to retain his energy, and with the help of Galebreathe, it was almost impossible to run out of stamina. 

He calmed himself down and focused on swimming towards the Tower. Ideally, a boat could've been better but visualizing and creating one with Windsong could prove to be quite difficult. He had to consider the buoyancy, the size, the edges, and many more.

Additionally, it would take a lot of time to create one that could be utilized.

Under the water, he could see quite clearly. The water was not mudded or dirty, it was clear and blue. This was not an issue when detecting monsters that came from the depths. 

The conditions were near perfect. Veritas assessed that he had at least a 90% chance of succeeding. 

As his thoughts wandered, he gazed upon a glitter underwater. It shined bright yet not as bright as the radiance of the golden door. Veritas could not determine what it was yet he noticed that it was in a peculiar shape. 

"Should I get close?- No, I should stick to my goal." he decided.

So, he ignored it and continued to swim towards the Golden Tower. His vision of the Tower from underwater was mesmerizing. It was a very tall tower that loomed under the depths, it seemed like a spire. 

That Golden Tower peeked in the surface, it was that tall. Veritas believed that the water was at least 100m or more. Nevertheless, the Spire was more than a hundred meters. 

As he got nearer to the Golden Tower, the water seemed to get deeper. The bottom of the water was now slightly visible, he could see the golden trees, grass, and etc.. 

Although, his mind still remembered the words that his Father gave him. If his Father, a Beyond Soul Rank, warned him about the depths then Veritas himself should be worried. Yet his heart was calm, focusing on his goal.

Veritas swam for at least 10 minutes now, he felt that it was that long.

Still, he already made half the progress towards the Tower. The Winds boosted his body after all, increasing his speed.

Yet, he could feel his Soul wavering, as if the prolonged use of Galebreathe was finally taking a toll on his Soul. 

"Shit.."

He cursed as the situation suddenly turned dire. He had not expected the Golden Tower to be that far. Was it really that big?

Maybe.

He could not let that distract him, he needed to focus and keep swimming towards the Tower. 

Again, he saw a glitter underwater. The bottom of the water was now near invisible yet he still saw shiny objects at the bottom. This time, it was not singular rather it was multiple.

"What could those be?" he pondered yet disregarded the thought. 

The glitters turned from multiple to many and then from many to numerous.

It was basically covering the bottom now.

It seemed like there was light coming from the bottom due to all the shining gold objects.. or things.

Veritas could feel his Soul tremble now, he had at least a few minutes left, maybe 2 or 3 more. He had to hurry. 

Then! The shiny objects at the bottom seemed to become even more radiant. As if the glimmering were focused at one point. 

As he continued onwards the tower, his eyes widened. It was a Giant Sea Serpent reaching for the Tower. It was large, it's radiance glowed across the blue water. Yes, it was golden, it was stationary and could not move. However, Veritas felt that it was alive inside, this shook his nerves and filled his body with dread. 

"Had it not been turned to gold, what would have happened to me?"

He did not ponder further, but now he could see the Golden Tower in front of him. Saying that it was huge was an understatement. Comparing it to the trees from the forlorn forest would not be a competition.

This! This was 10x, if not more, larger than the trees! 

Additionally, the Golden Serpent aiming for the Golden Tower was also quite a spectacle. However, Veritas had no time to be at awe, he was at a rush.

He quickly headed towards the peak of the Golden Tower.

Above the water, the Golden Tower still loomed and aimed for the skies, it seemed like a mountain. Yet from the distance, the Golden Tower seemed miniature!

"How far did I exactly swim?!" Veritas was bewildered.

"Galebreathe is crazy!" he thought to himself.

He no longer needed the skill as he was not in motion anymore. Veritas gazed upon his soul and deactivated Galebreathe. 

"Where is the entrance to this thing?!"

Veritas had already circled the entire thing yet found no entrances. Although he already knew that the entrance was probably submerged and turned to gold already. 

"How do I enter?"

Searching around, he scanned for possible holes that he could squeeze into. 

"Nothing huh."

Pondering once more, he came to three possible solutions to enter the Golden Tower. One was to simply break it with brute force with Wind Cut or his Wind Blade. However, this seemed like it would take a long time to do. Additionally, his Soul is almost distraught. His second solution is to simply fly up there, using Windsong to rise up and stay at the top seemed like an ideal situation, this could give him a bird's eye view as well. The third solution was to swim down and enter from below, going through all the levels of the Tower to reach a spot where water had not flooded yet. This was the most dangerous option, as he could run out of Soul and get stuck inside. 

"Two seems like the most viable option." 

So, he decided to go with the second solution. 

His plan was to stay afloat for a couple more minutes and restore his Soul, and then use Windsong to raise himself up and rise above the Tower. 

"If I fail, it would mean certain death."

One simple mistake would lead to his death as falling to the water from high up would break his bones rendering him useless and left to die alone in this Golden City. So he had to be careful and reserve his Soul well. 

Veritas managed to stay afloat and rested his Soul for a couple more minutes. Although he was not rushing the time, he felt a sense of rushing as if something were telling him to act faster. Also, the gaze of the watcher seemed more intense than ever before. 

A few moments passed by and he finally regained some of his Soul. Although he already felt its capacity increase due to the fact that he got closer to the heart, it was still small as it was still recovering. 

Needless to say, he had lower amounts of Soul than when he resided in that small hut near the water. 

Veritas, gazing upon his Soul, activated Windsong. His mouth filled with air and he commanded the winds.

"Raise me up above the Tower"

A simple command for the winds, it was not as complicated as forming a sword, it was as simple as making a cut. 

Slowly, Veritas felt the winds rush towards him and raise his arms up, he felt the pressure and strength of the winds gradually raising his body to float. Soon, his body was out of the water, water flowed from his white tunic and wrinkled skin. 

"Feels nice to finally get out of the water."

Although it was slow, the wind was gradually picking up its pace. Veritas felt the strength getting fiercer, almost like a storm. 

Then, he was moving as fast as the wind itself, it was painful for his wrinkled skin yet it was nothing that he couldn't handle. After experiencing true pain from the Gargoyle Knight, this was lightwork compared to that. 

Soon, the winds gradually died down and decreased, the Golden Tower was high but luckily it was not that high. Thus, Veritas reached the peak of the Tower, or rather.. the shattered peak. 

"Was this tower cut in half?"

What met his gaze was destruction.

Atop the tower looked like it was bitten off or cut off by something vicious. It was dreadful.

But now, he had a place to temporarily stay, he only needed to restore his Soul and make his way down the Tower, cut the Gold and head towards the heart. 

After all, the capacity of his Soul increased, thus he would have an easier time when traversing the depths. 

Veritas sat down at the desolated tower and assessed the situation. 

First, was the Golden Serpent reaching for the Tower, the width of the serpent was only a little bit smaller than the width of the tower. It was mesmerizing to see a golden statue of such, but also terrifying at the same time.

Secondly, after seeing the Golden Serpent, he finally understood what those shining objects at the bottom of the water were.

They were sea creatures.

Fishes, crabs, sharks, and many more.

"Shouldn't they be living at the sea? They could've crawled to the city when it flooded.. But how did they turn to gold if they crawled there?"

It was.. peculiar. 

Thirdly, the City felt.. lonely. It felt very empty, with no humans in the vicinity. He did not see any golden statues of humans either. It was as if they were moved or... removed.

Then, lastly. The Tower itself, it was cut off by something. How could a Tower of this size be decimated to what it is now. Had this tower originally reached the skies? Then what monstrosity has destroyed it?

Yet the most important piece had to be mentioned. .

If this tower was turned to gold after it was cut of then it would have smoother and shinier surfaces. What Veritas saw was the scratch marks looked like how he had cut the golden wall back on the hut. 

"It looked fresh, as if this tower was cut recently. "