Blood. Too much blood. It fills my lungs, my mouth, my skin. I breathe it like air. I inhale—and for the first time in centuries, I feel pain. I am awake.
A flood of memories seep into me. Screams, cries, yells, a cacophony of inflicted pain carved across centuries stain my mind.
I was a monster. A catastrophe. A deity of slaughter.
Before my body was torn asunder, there was a whisper–
"Return."
I awaken in the past. Human again, Beowulf. A sane man. A second chance.
The Tower.
The Tower doesn't make mistakes. Why am I sane? The Towers intention was for me to regress a madman.
So why am I… free?
And how do I know the Towers intention?
***
Before Regression
Four weapons are embedded into the body of the beast. Gargantuan, it looms— 25 meters tall (82 ft), 12 meters wide (39 ft). The four Cardinals stand before it, the body of The Great Calamity.
"Is it finally over?"
"Gah! Don't you know not to say stuff like that?"
"She's been through a lot."
"We all have."
As the Cardinals exchange words, the beast's body begins to pulse.
"Dammit."
"What the hell did I just say!"
"It isn't down yet."
"Everybody, be on guard."
The monster writhes and convulses. Flesh bubbles, tearing apart as it pulses, masses of red flesh dissolves into rivers of inky blood.
Squish! Squish! Squish!
The body of the beast began to shrink, the red flesh separates dissolving into blood. Emerging from the clumps of blood a humanoid figure wreathed in an inky mass of black and red falls over.
"Its—!"
A suffocating wave of murderous intent is exuded from one of the Cardinals. The Cardinal of the East dashes towards the remanence of the calamity.
"Fei, wait!"
"Dammit, someone stop her!"
"Be careful when approaching the remanence everyone!"
The Cardinals give chase.
Fei the Cardinal of the East was mercilessly hacking off pieces of the inky sludge that covered the humanoid with her gauntlets.
'Come off, come off, damn you! He's this close if I can just—'
Strong arms seize me. Val and Cilphy pull me back, restraining my struggle.
I lunge. My breath ragged, my hands shake, but my voice cuts through the silent battlefield—
"HE'S RIGHT THERE!"
"Calm down Fei!"
"It's still dangerous! How could you just recklessly…"
SMACK!
Ura cracks her hand across my face. And I stop moving allowing the stinging sensation to wash over me. I then steady myself as I remember why we're here.
"I'm sorry," I mutter. "You can let me go."
Ura sighs. "Hope that didn't hurt too much, I'm also sorry."
Val and Cilphy release their grip on me.
The battlefield was a wasteland caked with blood and ruin. But we are one step away—one last step from accomplishing what we had sworn upon.
Cilphy grimaces and begins to speak up.
"Let's finish this."
A solemn agreement passes between them. They all look to each other and nod in agreement knowing just what comes next. They form a circle surrounding the figure.
This is it.
With this attack against The Tower's greatest calamity, a god of slaughter, a nightmarish monster—the greatest hurdle in completing the Tower will die.
However, the lover, the brother, the student, the friend the Cardinals had previously known would die along with it.
They had resolved themselves to this long ago, as this was a final act of mercy to honor their previous companion.
"Goodbye."
"I Love you."
"I'm sorry."
"Rest easy now."
FLASH!
***
Before I can continue my thoughts about the Tower, before I can make sense of why I'm here, my body betrays me.
Tears spill from my eyes, unbidden. The weight of my entire past crashing into me
I scream.
'Ugh! This pain—too much, too fast. No wonder I wasn't sane. No one could endure this and remain whole. It wasn't strength that allowed me to move—it was pure instinct. Survival. Beo you bastard, how could I do all of this?'
A slew of curses spill from my lips toward myself as knowledge forced itself into my mind.
'Dammit! If this continues—ah, my head!'
Blood spills from my nose, my ears, my eyes.
I clutch my skull; my body begins to act on its own again and I suddenly feel feint. As if my energy was being sapped and displaced.
My vision darkens. The last thing I see is my door swinging open…