Nolan clicked his tongue. "Potion first," he said, pointing at his sister's beaten body. "She's going to die, please."
Han sighed. He flicked the cap off and poured a few drops into her mouth.
A crimson aura fumed from her skin, and a crackling sound echoed from her broken arms and legs. The amount of blood pouring from her mouth decreased; however, her injuries remained mostly unhealed.
"Now, answers."
Nolan sighed in relief, taking a more relaxed posture beside his sister.
"We call it... or them, The Architects."
He began caressing his sister's matted hair. "I've never seen them myself, but the rankers say it's appeared in the tower before."
"A hooded figure. Never speaking... always watching."
"A god... a demon, I don't- we don't really know what it is. But what we do know is that they called us here."
Han nodded at that. 'Okay, so at least we know things aren't happening randomly. I'm not sure if that makes things better or worse.'
"You mentioned the tower. Is it the massive black building over the horizon?"
Nolan shook his head. "Potion first."
Han poured a few more drops into the woman's mouth. And her pale skin began to regain some colour.
"You can see the tower over the horizon, but no matter how far you walk, you never reach it," Nolan whispered. "Me and Jen tried heading there on our first week here. Bad idea."
"The landscape changes climate every few kilometres you approach it. And the level of monsters increases exponentially-"
Han raised a hand, cutting Nolan off before he could continue. "Climate changes? What do you mean by that?"
Nolan shrugged. "Exactly what I said. One moment, the sky is cloudy, overcast. And after taking just a few steps, you're in a snowstorm."
"That doesn't make any sens-"
Nolan scoffed. "Nothing here makes sense. The sooner you understand that, the better your odds are of survival."
Han had to agree with that. Nothing really made sense here. One moment, they were in a convenience store, the next? A fucking beehive. Still, the world itself seemed structured, after all, gravity existed, and they were given a somewhat fair chance at fighting the monsters they encountered.
That meant the architects had rules... or at least guidelines they followed.
He just had to find out what they were.
Chul took a seat beside Han, having completely devoured his chocolate bar. "The tower, what's at the end of it? If this is like an anime, then the tower is the way home, right?"
Nolan remained quiet, gesturing for Han to give his sister, Jen, more of the potion.
Han obliged.
"No one has ever completed the tower."
Han was confused by that. "Even that Heron person? They were pretty high level."
Nolan's nose wrinkled at the mention of her name. "She's a ranker. The highest level ranker as far as this region of the Apocalypse is concerned," he spat. "And even she has only gotten to the tenth floor of the tower."
Han raised his hand at that. "Ranker?"
"Tower climbers," he replied. "Completing a floor is supposed to grant you additional traits. And on top of that, a rank."
Han mulled over that information for a moment. "Why would the architects create ranks? Are we in some sort of competition?"
"Of course we are," Chul blurted. "A theory I have is that this is a tournament to decide the fate of Earth," he continued, pushing up his glasses. "Those of us who complete the tower will be sent back to Earth to defend it from the real apocalypse."
Han and Nolan stared at Chul for a moment. Before shaking their heads. "Is your friend alright? He got hit on the head or something?"
Han just sighed in response, offering Jen another drop of healing potion.
"Does being a ranker give you anything else besides... You know, being a ranker?"
Nolan nodded. "It allows you to claim a region. A section of Apocalypse where you can build infrastructure, claim quest areas, and set monster levels."
"Like a god," Han whispered.
"Like a god," Nolan replied.
"Then why are there monsters in this section then? If Heron is the ranker in charge of this region, why does it still look so... desolate?"
Nolan scowled. "Because Heron is a crazy piece of shit."
Chul raised his hand to interject. And for a moment, he was ignored, but decided to speak up anyway.
"It's clear why. Two reasons, really. One, she may have already set the monster level to the minimum it can be. And two, if she completely erased monsters from this region, then no one would be able to level up... and perhaps the quests would stop spawning altogether."
Nolan scratched his head at the answer, while Han looked at his teammate with a newfound appreciation. 'I guess there is something in that big head of his.'
Just then, a question came to mind.
"You mentioned regions... I guess they act like hubs of civilisation," he said. "But on our way here, we didn't see a single person."
Nolan shrugged. "Who'd want to live out here?" he asked. "Everyone lives on Central, further up the city."
'Central, huh. Then that's where we're heading first.'
"How many people live there? No... how many people live on this world? Do you know?"
Nolan gesutred for Han to give his sister more of the potion. By this point, there were only a few drops left, and she was mostly healed. Just a few bruises, however, she was still unconscious.
Han poured a little into her mouth.
"Administration says there are about 10,000 living in central. And about 30 million on Apocalypse."
Chul whistled at that. "Must've been the whole of Korea."
However, Han wasn't buying it. First of all, it was clear Nolan, Jen, and even Heron weren't even Korean. From the shape of their eyes, they seemed more European than anything else. And how the hell did they have an 'administration' in the apocalypse? Something wasn't adding up.
While Chul kept asking if Nolan had seen elves or any other fantasy creatures, Han began piecing things together.
And a bothersome question came to mind.
"... How long?" he asked.
Chul stopped talking and turned to Han.
"How long what?"
"How long have people been waking up in Apocalypse?"
Nolan sighed, looking back at his sister.
"Me and my sister have been here a year."
Han sighed in relief.
"But Heron. Heron's been here 100."
Han and Chul froze.
A sad realisation washed through their hearts.
'I'm never getting back home. Am I?'
Just then, the room shook. The group turned to look at it and found that one of the walls was beginning to crack.
"What is that?" Chul whispered, jumping to his feet.
Han could hear the sound of buzzing. "Tea times over," he announced, dropping the last of the healing potion into Jen's mouth.
He summoned his dagger from inventory and quickly retreated to the opposite end of the room.
Chul followed right beside him. And Nolan dragged his sister's body so that she lay behind them.
The cracks on the wall grew denser, until eventually...
BLRMMM!
The wall gave way, and the group stood silent, staring at the horror that flew above the rubble.
"Fucking hell..."