It was quiet at first, and cold too. Aerith could only tell that he had been laying there on the cold hard floor for an hour or two and for some reason he could not move.
After the first couple hours he finally managed to pry his eyes open and gasped for air. His lungs swelled and he started to cough. "Shit, what the hell! Was I not breathing all this time?" He could not believe it himself.
He climbed up to his feet still amazed by the fact that he was still alive. His senses felt pretty much the same, they were not dull in any way even his bones felt the same or perhaps a bit energised. The air was metallic, humming faintly, like breath trapped in iron lungs.
He heard coughing behind him, turned sharply, and saw both Emilia and Nasha struggling to their feet. Just like him the looked fine, which was a relief. But one thing took him by surprise.
"What are you doing here?" He asked his automaton-like companion. "Or were you also called by the tower?"
The thing pale girl shook her head lightly, her eyes still as eidolic as always. "The lord asked me to protect the young lord."
"Wait, you can just do that? But does she always have to talk like that?" He asked himself.
Emilia spoke in a ghostly voice. "Where are we?"
Now that he had confirmed his companions safety he could freely explore this supposed tower and what made it so special. At first glance it was not impressive or did not seem like it should be but he was in a long tunnel, it's wall dark red and several feet wide. It seemed endless as it ran for what seemed like miles of darkness.
It did not look like any ordinary cave, for one it's walls were red which was not a normal thing. And they were too smooth, not rock having a rough bump. It was like the entire tunnel had been crafted, it reminded him of what a train station looked like and it looked almost identical.
He ran his hands on the wall and felt them run over slight contours, intrigued he peered at the wall even closer to see lines etched into it. They looked like runes, perhaps similar to the one he had seen in his strange system or maybe some other strange language. There was also the fact that it was just nonsense, something created to beautify the wall.
Aerith furrowed his eyebrows in deep thought. "Now who would want to beautify a cave wall, is this really the tower, doesn't seem all that interesting." Indeed it felt like a let down with how much it had been hyped at first. It made him wonder how he got pulled into this in the first place.
Just like a bad wind a voice spoke, it was not cold neither was it hot, it was in between. It sounded female, and very strange and sorrowful, simply hearing the voice itself felt like it could make one to shed tears. "Oh really, the tower does seem that way at first doesn't it."
All three of them jumped, Aerith retreated by a few feet till he was in between Nasha and Emilia before looking for the source of the voice but there was none. "Where did that sound come from?" He told himself. His legs gave way a second later leaving him to fall into the arms of Nasha, his body felt on the verge of crumbling. "Shit, I forgot."
Nasha pulled him up so swiftly and effortlessly that it made him wonder just how strong she was. "Young lord , you are not fully recovered."
Aerith had not felt his earlier injuries from his encounter with Emilia's other side hit him till now, it had felt like his actual state of health had been paused in time till recent. Whatever was happening was causing his head to spin both literally and figuratively.
"Is this place playing tricks on me?" He spoke out loud.
There was a brief silence before the voice spoke again, it still carried the same enigmatic feel. Aerith had to bit his lower lip hard so he would not feel like weeping. "Indeed the tower plays tricks to those blind enough to fall for them."
Emilia looked at a corner of the darkness and spoke, "Come out whoever you are."
Aerith started at the darkness expecting something horrid to walk out from there but instead what came out was not that. But that did not mean it was any better, it was much worse. "What in god's green earth is that?" Even his automaton-like companion trembled for the very first time, Emilia was the only one who did not fidget in fear, instead she stood frozen in shock and fear.
Aerith's jaw dropped and the words simple slipped out of it. "Is that a tuna?"
Standing before him was what looked like a strange aberration that should not have existed.