Enkidu had found himself in that realm once again, the realm of the mind and the soul, the only difference was that it wasn't a vast expanse of darkness, but now a quaint little home in the countryside.
Enkidu had been laying on the bed, the smell of the wet grass outside slowly rousing him out of his slumber. On the other side, though faint, the sound of a gentle stream poke through the window down the hall.
Wha... What happened back there?
That was the only thought racing through his mind, no matter what he tried to do to change it.
For someone who was so deeply connected to the world, the experience of an entire existence simply crumbling away at the finger snap of some lofty god-like being was utterly indescribable. No matter what Enkidu tried, there was no way to remember even a sliver of what happened at that moment.
"You should stop that."
The sound of his own voice coming from right outside the small house had completely brought Enkidu out of his daze, fully alert and extremely disturbed. He had attempted to get up so suddenly, his vision went dark for a few agonizing moments.
"You don't recognize me? Just take it slow and come outside. There are tea and cookies I prepared for you to enjoy."
The thought did pass through his mind for the slightest of moments, that the identity of the one using his voice could only be...
There was a vague sense of familiarity everywhere he looked. Every single whiff of air and every single step brought back a sense of warmth in his chest he hadn't felt in a very long time. It was useless, however, as there was no way to remember anything about that home.
As he opened the door, a wave of gentle warmth and sunlight hit his face all at once. It was hard not to feel at home, but the memory of having his own voice come from someplace else kept him on his toes.
There was a small round table held up by three legs. It also looked familiar, but the figure sitting down, it's back facing Enkidu... that... it was himself. It had a head full of hair, trailing down it's back. The only difference is that it was all blue with yellow portions at the tips. You could almost mistake that hair for a woman's hair, so silky and smooth, flowing like a river down it's back.
Enkidu approached cautiously. As he did the figure remained unmoving, as if he was just taking the worst possible choice in a horror movie. Beneath that curtain of hair there was a growth poking through its bangs. As Enkidu sat down, the figures face was in full view.
It was as if Enkidu was looking through a mirror, though small horns made of a pitch-black obsidian like material poke through its rich curtain of hair.
"Have you figured it out?" The man said with a grin.
"You're not me, that's the one thing I know. You're just assuming my form."
"Really, now? That might have been true the first time we met... but now, not so much."
The answer came to his mind immediately.
"You're the source of my power."
"Bingo!" The man said, snapping his finger with a large smile on his face. "So, you can use your brain when you want to..." The man added as he chuckled. "There is major significance within my current appearance, but that's not what I wanted to talk about. Eat, don't hesitate!" The man said as it pointed towards the cup of tea sitting right in front of Enkidu.
Enkidu observed the cup of tea for what felt like half an hour.
"Oh? You can tell?" The man said with a very much entertained expression.
"It contains prana. The same type that I use."
"Correct. Now that I look like this, you'll be even more sensitive to prana and able to manipulate it at the molecular level. Of course, that's if you don't get yourself killed in the next couple of hours... which leads us to what I actually wanted to talk about." The man said as he rested his arms on the table, bringing his hands together all fidgety.
"That... thing back there. Was it really the administrator?" Enkidu said as he brought up the cup to his lips, testing the tea's temperature.
"It was. But at the same time... It's very difficult to put into words what I felt when it spoke to you. It didn't look like the administrator I knew, but his essence, so to speak, felt the same. He was right when he said that you shouldn't have gone through any of the perilous trials you went through. Even though you are nearly identical to an emissary, the tower should have taken that into account... I would say giving you those pieces of divine gear wasn't even close to sufficing for the loss and anguish you experienced..." The man said, almost as if he actually felt some kind of remorse.
"I've seen divine gear before, this doesn't feel like that..." Enkidu said as he brought his hand up, closely studying the ring.
"That's because what you've seen are made by human hands. What the administrator gave you... it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it is made from the tower itself. Stop changing the subject god damn it!"
Enkidu was taken aback at the man's tone.
"You're going to be woken up shortly. I can't tell you what is going to happen, but I can give you some advice. Do not join one of the Twelve Bloodlines. It will greatly hinder you in your quest to... find yourself in the tower. If they're like what I remember... and even if they're not! You have a very special and rare opportunity here. You have the potential to become something else entirely! Not an ascender, not one of the Twelve Bloodlines, not even a family patriarch."
Even though the man had been rambling on, Enkidu had an idea of what the man was trying to tell him... in a very unnecessarily roundabout way.
"This is... and I'm too old to say something like this out loud, but you have the adventure of a lifetime waiting for you. You can even reach and contend with what is outside the tower."
The man's face became twisted with pain before dissolving like ash into the wind.
"That was... strange." Enkidu said as his sense became duller and duller, his consciousness slowly being roused awake by the debacle going on outside.
The dull sound of shouting happening outside brings Enkidu out of his slumber and as he does, the conversation takes focus.
"You need to hand him over, Rein! You don't know what he is or who he is!" A voice similar to Reinhardt's pleads audibly.
"Yeah... maybe. But he is a pretty genuine guy, it's hard to find that in people these days... even your own family can't meet that standards in some cases." Reinhardt said without a single speck of hesitation in his voice.
"Oh my god... You're hurting my brain... What part of we have every record of every single person to enter the tower and he doesn't show up in there don't you understand?! It's not some kind of imprecise bureaucratic process. It's literally impossible to enter the tower and not show up!"
The argument kept going for a while until Enkidu sensed a familiar presence. Not close or even next to him... but inside his very soul.
That's probably because the tower's classification of your existence can't be tracked with whatever method they are using. You're an emissary, after all.
That man's presence once brought him distress but at that time, it felt different. It didn't feel like a separate existence anymore... not an intruder... but another part of himself.
Thankyou.
As he attempted to get up from the bed, a slender hand gripped his hand, hard. Turning to look to his right, it was Reina, who had sat next to him as he rested. "Don't go outside." She whispered.
"Why not? I need to make my position clear." Enkidu returned with a whisper.
"What the hell is that I bullshit?! There is no I in us. That's beside the point. That person outside is Rein's big brother who had entered the tower about fifteen years ago. If you go outside, the only thing you'll achieve is make things worse for everyone."
What she said made sense to him. If it was any time before that second meeting with that mysterious being, he may have just waited inside for the storm to pass, but no more. Enkidu proudly walked out through the door, the warmth and light of the sun feeling unbelievably pleasant on his face.
"If you have an issue, you better take it up with me." Enkidu said, preemptively raising his prana usage at a moderate rate. "This guy... he's more like a rag, he was just there along for the ride." Enkidu added as he pointed to Reinhardt who sat behind him.
Reinhardt's brother gave Enkidu a long look as he scanned him from head to toe. "Yeah. I can see it. You're strong. Unbelievably so. Who...?"
Enkidu pondered the question for a second. "Oh. Mae... your father hired me to join this expedition with your siblings."
The world of the third floor looked almost no different to the outside world, aside from some technological differences. There was no electricity... so everything ran on prana. From the corner of the street, the two kids ran towards their older brother, excited to spend more time with him.
"Uncle En! Uncle En!" The two chanted. "We thought you were never going to wake up again!" They said with tears in their eyes between sobs.
Enkidu gently patted the two as they cried, their faces stuck to his chest as he brought the two up and held them in his arms.
"Well... this isn't my jurisdiction either way." He said after he took a good, long look at the three. "I just came here to watch out for my little brother, but no matter what happens, I'll make god damn sure he gets off scot free." The big brother said as he turned to leave. "You will all have to go get sorted to one of the Bloodlines. Whatever happens there... it's all completely outside my control."
"What's your name?!" Enkidu shouted.
He gave Enkidu a good look from the corner of his vision. "My name is Valen."
That fellow named Valen... he doesn't hold any negative feelings towards you... but well. If they're still doing that sorting shit, it's clear that once you get there, and they say your name, that something WILL happen. It's up to you to make the most of it.
The fellow sharing a soul with Enkidu had a complete connection to his emotions and viceversa. Enkidu couldn't sense any apprehension or fear or even hesitation for that matter.
It was true that as far as his prana sense went, there weren't more than one hundred people that were stronger than him on the entire third floor.