"Right... Right.... you are the source of my power... that makes complete sense."
"Does it?"
"Hell no? How do I know you are not just a figment of my mind's creation due to how hard I pushed myself?"
"Hmm..." The colossal presence said with a husky, growly voice. "That's not completely inaccurate! I am no longer alive. I don't have a body with organs and a need for sustenance. Due to the level of power I held when I was alive, the prana that made up my everything has become me, and I became one with the prana. It's a strange concept to put it into words."
It made some amount of sense to Enkidu, there were certainly instances both in the real world and in the first floor where he would 'communicate' with the world around him to find the way to go or how a person actually felt.
"Right. So you're saying the prana that made you up, is inside me?"
The voice fell silent for what felt like half an hour.
"No. To be precise, you are an emissary, though... You are not of this world, that I can tell at a glance. To answer your question, there is no prana 'inside' you. People of this world are born with cores that are made to handle the absorption and adaptation of the pure prana around us, in turn making it our own, giving it our personality. Every time the tower has opened up to other worlds that did not have 'prana cores', they usually arose simply through evolution. I can't say for certain why you are an emissary, as ordinarily only tower inhabitants can be born as such, but you do not 'have' prana. If you wanted to you could even use up the entire prana pool on the first floor at any moment, although that would overload and disintegrate your body and soul." The voice said with a chuckle at the end.
"Alright, then my next question--"
All of a sudden, Enkidu's entire existence was shaken up, as if every single particle inside his body vibrated strongly at the same time, like the static on a television.
"It seems your companions need you to wake up from your slumber."
Enkidu's link to that realm began to grow thinner and thinner, progressively losing all senses, from touch to vision and hearing.
"There is one thing that you need to be aware of, and if you want to keep traveling with those four, you need to be sincere. I'm sure you thought that once you dismantled that proto angel at the beginning of the first floor, that it would be easy for you to defeat the creature at the end. The reason that the creature appeared in the first place, was that you entered the tower with those people, and you know this deep in your heart..."
It's no use... his voice sounds like it's coming so far away... even though... there isn't a drop of water... in this place... I feel like I am falling through... a deep ocean...
❖═══════⛰ Heir of the Heights ⛰═══════❖
"How much longer do you plan to keep sleeping in you motherfucker?!" Reinhardt said in between rushed gasps of air.
Reinhardt's oh so pleasant voice was like honey to Enkidu's ear and as he opened his eyes, a large ball of incredibly dense prana rolled behind them at a speed that seemed to increase by the minute. Enkidu opened his eyes wide funneling prana into his prana sense.
"What the fuck did you do to get into this predicament?!" Enkidu shouted over the sound of the ball rolling behind them.
"This place is booby trapped to hell and back... We've been running for an hour at this point and the ball does not seem to slow down even though there is no incline for it to keep gaining speed like this! I feel like we've been going in a circle all this time..." Reinhardt said, the aura sloshing off his body like the steam of liquid nitrogen as it's temperature rises.
"Alright then! Take me through the path you've been going one more time, I'll try to find a way to get us to safety!"
It wasn't out of the question for the path the ball had been taking to have been intentional, rather than just chasing the merry party. Enkidu's idea was that maybe there was a place they needed to go to reach safety that had been on the course they had just been running through over and over. Enkidu channeled prana to his prana sense more than ever before, but there was something strange. It wasn't that there was someone else there with them, it was that there was no one or anything else... Even so it took more power than ever before to scan even a small area of the floor with his prana sense.
"I found it! Take the next right, then two lefts right after then there should be a door, a normal sized door, like the one you would see at any home!"
Enkidu split his focus and his prana between the four, fueling them with more prana than they were losing while also enhancing their physical capabilities.
"What the hell is..."
"Shut up and speed up blonde boy! It's coming right up!"
Enkidu's words gave Reinhardt pause, the volcano being right on the edge of erupting. The four gave one last push making sure to line up so they wouldn't all be trying to fit through a small door frame at the same time.
The four were catching their breaths as Enkidu's back hit the hard wood floor.
"Let's carefully explore this place. If it's safe we can try... spending the night here." Reinhardt said as he scanned the around the place.
"I'm on it then." Enkidu said as he got up, intent on finding a place where he could relax and contemplate.
"I would like to come with." Reina said as she brought her hand up.
Each and every time Enkidu tried to look her in the eyes, all he could see was her collapsing, over and over and over and over... At that point he couldn't even tell if his mind made it up or it actually happened, but he could remember her giving him a smile right before losing consciousness.
Enkidu pursed his lip, his heart heavy and beating faster and faster as time passed in pure silence. It felt like there was no breath in his chest nor he could open his mouth to breathe in either...
"I'd rather not..." Enkidu said hesitantly...
"Are you sure, Reina?" Reinhardt said, putting his hand on her shoulder.
Enkidu could see her give Reinhardt a nod from the corner of his eye as he pushed on by himself.
The environment looked no different than a house from the victorian era. The wooden flooring seemed to be made out of oak. Although the wood had not been rotting, it was creaking with each and every step one took. There were painting's framed up all over the walls even up to the ceiling, but they were empty. There were bookshelves filled with books, but no matter which one you took and opened, there was no text in all five hundred pages.
"Why are you going off on your own, are you alright?" Reina said as her voice sounded closer and closer until she grabbed his shoulder. "Why aren't you looking me in the eye?"
Enkidu tried his best to hide his eyes from her gaze, but even then it only took a glance to see the kindness and gentleness, that soft but concerned look in her eyes. Enkidu's heart beat faster but not because of any romantic feelings or anything close to that. A tsunami of emotions was about to hit him with full force.
"Why are you acting like this towards me?" Enkidu said meekly, voice shivering.
"What do you mean why? We shared something back there..." Reina said, her voice trailing off.
"T-That as it may be... I shouldn't have come with you, or... at the very least... I wish you people were evil..."
A slap flew across Enkidu's face, the sound of it echoing through out the empty halls.
"Honestly, how can you snivel like that?!"
Enkidu was left speechless, his eyes opened wide, mouth left agape.
"If you're feeling bad about those that died at the start of the fight... don't be. It was upon Reinhardt's insistence that Father even allowed those first ringers to join the expedition."
"You don't get it..." Enkidu said, his gaze turning to the ground as if gravity applied itself upon his gaze.
"I don't!" Reina shouted pridefully.
"Then why are you--"
"I want to understand! I want to know. I don't know what I'm feeling right now towards you. I don't know if it's a budding love or just simple attraction or just the connection between two people of the same type... still... Will you tell me as we go around this place? It'll probably help you take your mind off things as well..." Reina said.
"How... How can you pry open my heart so easily like that, Miss Reina?" Enkidu said with a wry smile.
"Just Reina. Now talk."
As the two explored the seemingly infinitely repeating space he had started from the very beginning.
❖═══════⛰ Heir of the Heights ⛰═══════❖
"Right... okay, so this thing that claimed is the source of your power told you that the reason that 'creature' as it called it was so strong just because you were there? How can you trust that kind of bullshit?" Reina said, genuinely dumbfounded.
"I know it's right. I know about this tower just as much as you do. Even though I am able to commune with the 'world' information about the tower doesn't come easily. But there are hints. For example, this expedition was sponsored by the world government and yet there is no one else with us. There should have been hundreds of people. According to Maelet, we were supposed to keep communications tight with each squad and share information as we go. It was supposed to be a lot more coordinated."
"How do you know that it's not just something about the tower that we simply don't know about? This is my opinion, but because you look at things through the prism of being 'the chosen one' and being able to commune with the world like some kind of Jedi, you are not able to look at things in a manner that will allow you to be objective about these situations we have come across."
"Maybe... Still... I can't help but feel extremely guilty. Especially with how hard I pushed you during that fight..."
She burst into laughter bordering on the maniacal.
"You can count me to go inside the mouth of a dragon with you all the way!" Reina said as she pointed to herself with her thumb, flashing a white toothy smile. "Oh! I know! How about I teach you spearmanship? If you're able to commune with the prana around, maybe you'll pick it up fast!"
Enkidu let out a chuckle.
"Alright, Reina. I'll take you up on that... but I want to be upfront with Reinhardt. Let's regroup."
They soon found out that there wasn't a need for them to regroup, because... even though they all took different paths, they all met in the same place they found themselves as they passed through the door.
"Be upfront about what exactly?" Reinhardt said, giving Enkidu a mean glare.
"A-Ah... Ok... So, I have come to be certain about something." Enkidu said hesitantly, as if he was coming clean to his father after being caught with the hand in the cookie jar. "I think the reason that angel at the end of the first floor was that lethal... was because we went in together in the tower..."
"Huh?!" The look on Reinhardt's face was puzzling, so full of anger, so twisted and at the same time completely confused.
He flashed a glance to Reina, after which she responded to the gesture with a nod.
In a mere instant, the entire room was flooded with golden light, Reinhardt's aura flaring up. The look on his face didn't betray any but one emotion. Rage.
Lightning bounced off Enkidu's body as Reinhardt's savage and rage filled fist sunk deeply within his face.