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The test of the tower pt3
🕑 Added 2022-03-31 14:19:47 +0000 UTC##### Author's Note ####
Hey everyone. I apologise for taking so long to post this. My wrists are still being a problem and I'll have to do some physical therapy. Not to mention that this month was a mess.
We are going to have one more chapter for this side story and it will come out in the next couple of weeks.
Now, here is the thing, keeping anyone 'hostage' because of this side story makes me feel really bad. So, if you for any reason whatsoever (and you don't have to explain to me why) are not going to stay as a patreon next month. Let me know via discord and I'll send you the last part of the story either through discord or a pdf file.
This is not something I want to do often, mostly because in the future I intend to complete the side stories in the same month they start. That was the plan with this one but apparently the universe said no XD.
Anyway, I hope you anjoy this and a small heads up. This one gets dark.
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"Becca?!" two voices were calling, but they started to get farther and farther away until nothing could be heard, even if they were yelling. All the while, the screen was still black. The only thing that showed people that the show was still going was the small logo in the corner.
"Well... Now, this is a problem. The show is supposed to be about them, but I guess I'm having a solo moment," Becca sighed as she activated a flashlight mode in her camera. At first, nothing happened. Everything was still black. As the camera turned around, Becca's face came into full sight, "Wow. Too close. I can't see a thing now."
The camera turned around again, and this time, it was like it was reflecting in the water. A pitch-black water, almost like a shallow lake inside a cave. Becca increased the intensity of the light little by little until the liquid reflected the water in the ceiling, which had the same texture as the ground.
"OK… you are not seeing it wrong folks. Apparently, I'm between two bodies of water? Tar? Oil?" Becca focused the camera back on her and kicked the water, splashing it everywhere, "Let's go with water. If it was oil, it would be thicker. And above," Becca pulled a ball bearing from a pouch and tossed it up. The metal sphere traveled for about three meters before it hit the water as if it was following gravity and kept sinking up, "I wanna say water too, but I have no idea."
Becca started walking, and the camera panned to the sides, trying to find something that wasn't just this vast emptiness of black water. As she kept moving, she started speaking to the camera, trying to find a solution to this problem, "How did we get here? It was the second stage of the test, and there was a prophecy-like message. It was…. After skies rip, the…. blind bards? Make…. Something, and behold the return of the ancestors. Let's say the blind bards thing is about the darkness and our singers since I can hardly be considered a bard even in the broader sense of the word," Becca chuckled, trying to show that she was still confident in the situation, but even after much editing, her worry was still clear as day.
"Now, they have to make something before the ancestors' return. If I'm being honest, that part makes me think of zombies, and I really hope that I'm wrong. I was never much of a fan of zombie movies, much less of fighting them in dungeons. Not that I'm scared, but they freak me out. All that exposed bones and rotting flesh gives me the creeps," Becca shivered.
The camera panned to the side, and there was a small montage of Becca walking alone through this black water, with a small timer in the bottom right corner. She was using some spells in the water, running, jumping in the water above her, sitting down, eating more power bars, drinking water, and just trying everything she could think of to get out. She even pulled up her tablet, but it seemed like the device was stuck in the camera feed. She couldn't change what was showing on the screen no matter how much she tried. At the end of the montage, there was a scene of her screaming without a sound and then falling to the ground. For a moment, the camera turned to both sides, showing one more time that Becca was completely alone. Then it returned to her, who was now hugging her knees with tears coming down her face. If it wasn't for her waterproof makeup, her mascara would be running.
"Sorry, everyone, but if my camera is to be believed, I've been here for the last 12 hours. It was one thing if I was just stuck somewhere, but I'm not sure if you noticed," Becca slammed her hand in the water to her side, "How about now? Did you get it?" she slapped the water again and then paused, "I'll give you one last chance. Pay attention," a third slap and she started laughing. A maniacal laugh of desperation, "There is no sound. The only thing that makes any sound here is me. My voice doesn't even echo," Becca grabbed her head with both her hands, "I feel like I'm going crazy down here, and I already tried everything I could think of. I don't even know if Star and Night are still alive. Am I alive? Is anyone going to find this footage?"
Becca started to mumble something under her breath. Her voice overlapped with itself as if five different Beccas were speaking at the same time. The image was also distorted. There were five different images overlapping each other, all of Becca. At first, they were all in the same pose, but little by little, each image changed, almost like that one figure was melting into several others. One looked to the side, another started crying, a third one lagged uncontrollably, a fourth began to bite the air, and the last one got stuck in a silent scream. The image shifted again and showed a wide shot of Becca in the same position, hugging her knees and sitting on the ground. She was a tiny speck of light in the corner of the picture. Then on the opposite side of the screen, a small beam of white light appeared.
At first, Becca wasn't moving, seemingly unable to notice the light. Even when it started to become brighter and brighter.
"Becca!" a pair of voices echoed in the background, but the reporter didn't even flinch.
"Becca!" the voices called again, and this time, Becca moved her head up, finally noticing the light. She quickly got up and started to run.
Anyone paying close attention to the darkness on the screen could see these small shapes moving in the shadows. When Becca got up and started moving, these blurs began to move faster, but the reporter struggled to walk. It didn't take long for the creatures to show themselves. They seemed humanoids and very slim. Unnaturaly slim, and quick. One of the beings appeared in front of a light and standing in front of Becca, there was a pitch-black skeleton with white eye sockets. The moment the eyes came into view, hundreds of other pairs of white eye sockets illuminated the screen. At the same time, skeletal hands reached out from the black water, trying to grab Becca as she ran. The reporter kicked the hands away and started jumping, sprinting at full speed in an odd way that was clearly hindering her acceleration. A few skeletons tried to stop her, but Becca just bulldozed through them, sending the bones flying off in several directions.
The camera shifted again. Instead of a side view, now it was following Becca from behind, almost like it was the perspective of a game. In front of her, there was a white staircase with a light coming from the top.
"Becca, can you hear us?" Night's voice called from beyond the light.
"I can! Please don't leave me!" Becca cried, with tears in her eyes.
"We won't. We got you!" Star yelled back.
Becca continued running, but more skeletons appeared, swarming her and trying to stop her from running away. At first, they seemed to be little more than an annoyance, but the closer she got to the staircase, the more undead emerged from the ground. Each was bigger and stronger than the previous one. Even with all that, Becca was an unstoppable force until she reached the bottom of the staircase. That's when eight gigantic arms reached out from the water both on the ground and in the ceiling and grabbed Becca, stopping her in her tracks. Slowly, more undead reached the reporter and started dragging her back.
"Please! Don't leave me here again!" Becca gasped in a panic. The camera focused on her eyes, allowing the viewers to see the desperation in her face.
"Get the hell away from her!" Night yelled, and a stream of light surrounded Becca, slamming against the skeletons and breaking all the bones into thousands of smaller pieces. She didn't stop there and started creating more waves of light to destroy the undead. Each wave was followed by a trail of golden sparkles that were a telling sign of life mana which was deadly for the undead.
When the larger bones broke, Becca continued running, climbing up the stairs and passing by the light created by the singers. She only stopped when she reached Star's arms, where the reporter started crying in relief.
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Becca was eating some of the power bars that Star had, and she still felt the tears forming in her eyes.
"How are you feeling?" Night asked.
"Honestly? Like shit. And I'm still not sure if you two are real or not," Becca replied.
"We are. I promise. But what happened?" Star placed one hand on Becca's shoulder.
"I was alone there, and there was no sound, nothing. I don't even know how long I was there for, but it must have been days."
"Days?!" the singers gasped at the same time.
"I think so. I don't know. I have footage for it," Becca pulled her camera close and instinctively pulled her tablet, which should be frozen. To her surprise, the screen turned on like usual, and it seemed like it was working just fine. She frowned and tapped the camera feed. There were almost 40 hours of footage already. It was a good thing that she had an absurdly big storage for all of this. Shaking her head, she passed the tablet to Night without saying another word.
After a single glance, the singer understood why Becca was so confused, "What the fuck?"
"What?" Star asked.
"She's not wrong. The footage is already 40 hours long."
"What? That doesn't make any sense!" Star looked at Becca again.
Night played a bit of the footage back, and the first thing she noticed was how quiet everything was. Even when Becca started running, her footsteps didn't make a sound, "Becca… were you in an Anechoic Chamber?"
"What's that?" Becca asked without looking up.
"It's a place where there's no sound. It's made to isolate yourself from the rest of the world."
"I guess so. But that was a version on steroids. I couldn't even clap my hands or make noise with the water in the ground."
"Could you hear your heartbeat?" Star asked.
"Yeah… after a while, it was louder than a scream," Becca placed both her hands on her head again.
Star hugged the reporter, "I'm so, so sorry. People can barely stay in a place like that for an hour. I can't even imagine what it is like to stay for a day."
"What happened to you?" Becca asked, hoping that the distraction could help her go through this.
"Honestly, nothing. We came here, to this place, and we could see you as if you were walking around these mirrors," Night explained.
For the first time since she got here, Becca looked around the area. It was still dark, and the floor was still made out of that weird black liquid, but there were a few light spots on the ceiling and some mirrors spread around the area, "You saw me there?"
"Yeah. You only showed up in a few at first. Then you stopped and sat on the floor for a while. The weird part is that even when you were sitting, you kept shifting mirrors. Sometimes you were there, and others, you were over there. But the position you were in didn't change," Night pointed at a few mirrors that were completely empty at the moment.
"I think we should call them screens, not mirrors," Becca mumbled before taking a deep breath, "How did you guys make the staircase?"
Night started explaining what happened, "We were thinking about the test, 'After skies rip, the blind bards forge a union and behold the return of the ancestors.' The skies rip part is what brought us here, and the blind bards forging a union part, we realized that we had to turn off the lights here and harmonize our voices. It took a while to get there. We figured it should be something like holding hands, moving together. It was Star who figured out that bards should sing. That part was easy, but the blind part took us a while. We thought it was more literal, and seeing you running around made us worried. If we had figured that out quicker, we might have been able to get you out sooner. I'm sorry."
Becca nodded, but then she shook her head, "No, don't worry. This is a challenge for all of us. You have nothing to apologize for, "her eyes were filled with tears again, but no one could see as her head was still between her knees, "And thanks for getting me out of there."
"No problem. Sorry, we took so long to get you out. It took us half an hour to decipher the test," Star patted Becca's back.
Becca bit her lip to not start cussing at them, "If you figured it out in half an hour, why did it take you so long to do it?"
"What? No, we did it just as we figured out. Then the staircase appeared, and you were down there," Star looked around, confused.
"What? I stayed for a full day there! There was no sound. I couldn't get tired or hungry. I thought I was dead!" Becca yelled, still refusing to lift her head.
"Wait… are you sure?" Night tried to approach the reporter, but her hand was slapped away.
"Yes, I'm sure! Look!" Becca pulled up her table, showing the current recording and how long it's been since it started. Night and Star looked at it, and it had been around 40 hours since it had started.
"I saw that, and I'm so sorry. But it's been thirty minutes for us," Night explained
Becca held her arms even tighter, "That's not fair."
Her emotions were bubbling up. During the entire time she was inside that pitch-black room, countless possibilities passed through Becca's mind. She believed that she was still in the test, but the lack of any sound brings madness to one's mind. There were times when she thought she was being chased or that she was the one chasing something. Times when she couldn't breathe and felt like she was drowning, only for her survival reflex to kick in and force her to take a deep breath. She thought it was the effect of a skill, but nothing she could do made a difference. In the end, Becca came to the conclusion that this was her grave and she was dead. It was the only explanation, and yet, deep down, she refused to accept it. When the light and the staircase finally appeared, Becca was on the verge of going completely mad. She heard voices and talked back to people who were long dead or that she didn't even know, and her body had disconnected from her mind. It took her actual effort to start moving towards the light, and even now, her movements had to be thought about before being acted.
Night and Star couldn't do much to help with that. They had some spells that could help one heal, but none that could help heal someone's mind. Singing wasn't exactly an option either. As much as they knew that music could help people, they weren't presumptuous enough to believe that their songs could help someone in that state. Instead, the two of them just stood there for another hour, giving water and food to Becca every time she asked for it. The singers also tried to talk or make noises regularly, they had entered places that blocked all outside sound, and they knew the effects that it might cause to someone, even if they never stayed in those places for longer than an hour at a time.
During all that time, Becca was forcing herself to make small movements. Tapping her fingers and shuffling her feet, her goal was to make her body get used to the motions again. When she felt comfortable enough with her body, the reporter raised her head, "What's the next test?"
Night and Star looked at each other.
"Now that you mention it, we don't know. Even after we got you, there was no notification," Star looked back to the place where the staircase appeared from.
"Maybe it's not over then. 'Behold the return of the ancestors,' might be just a way of telling us to kill the skeletons that show up," Night added.
"Or maybe you have to keep singing until one specific shows up," Becca was still holding her legs, but now her voice seemed a bit stronger.
"Could it be like an actual king that is waiting for us back there?" Star mumbled, but she got an angry stare from Becca, "Sorry, it's just that… When people talk about ancestors like that, it sounds important. Or at least that's the feeling I got when I read the notification."
Becca shook her head, "I'm not angry at you, just at that place," she stopped talking and let her head sink behind her knees once again, "I don't want to go back."
"You won't have to," Night grabbed Becca's hand before turning back to Star, "We can take care of this, right?"
"I mean... I guess so, but what if we get split up again? Or what if this place loses all the sound when we go to the other area? Or if the skeletons come here? Or she is sent back there? Maybe the mirrors can trap people or something, " Star started mumbling all the horrible scenarios that were going through her mind.
"Star. Can you shut up!" Night stared at her partner with an angry expression.
"Sorry, I was just thinking out loud," Star looked at Becca, who didn't seem to be affected by any of her comments.
"No, she's right. I have to go too. Even if just so I can break some of those fucking bones," Becca wiped the tears forming in her eyes and got up. Her hands were trembling, but Despite that, she knew that staying here alone would be a worse option.
"OK, but if anything happens, I want you to tell us. Don't suffer on your own. We are here for you," Night held Becca's hand.
Star walked over to Becca and grabbed her other hand, "We got this, and we got you."
"Thanks, but I kinda need my hands to fight."
"I'll let go when the monsters show up. Until then, I'm staying right here," Night gave Becca a comforting smile.
Becca nodded, and the singers understood that this was the sign for them to start. With just a small acapella beat, Night and Star begin to sing one of their favorite songs as all their buffs flared up. The lyrics weren't special in any way, but they talked about dreams and hope and the possibilities in the universe. What Becca needed right now wasn't something profound. She just needed something upbeat to make her forget this torture she went through. As the duo sang, the ground opened once more, revealing the black staircase leading back to that soundless prison. Becca held her hands tighter while they walked down the steps, praying that she wouldn't be alone this time.
Hidden in the darkness, small skeletal hands begin to appear from both the ground and the ceiling, breaking through the water-like barrier that trapped those who entered this place. Now that the group was aware of the presence of the undead, they were able to detect even the first group of skeletons that rose from the black water. Becca let go of their hands and prepared a spell to attack the incoming horde. It was a simple light spear spell that could pierce up to three targets. Nothing grandiose or too exciting, but Becca wasn't someone well versed in ranged attacks.
On the other hand, the singers could do some considerable damage with just their initial flurry. Night clapped her hands together and turned both arms to the side, before swiping one hand to the group's left flank. Doing so created a blade of light that would not only impact the skeletons but was able to burn them when they touched this spell. On the right side, Star created ten small motes of light dancing around her. She then snapped her fingers, and the light that she created was swallowed by ten miniature black holes formed by the collapsing stars. However, the light from her spell didn't vanish. Instead, it created an event horizon around each of her orbiting spheres of destruction. Her final command to the spell was to send her black holes towards the skeletons, who were captured by the gravity created by the spell before being turned to dust by the pressure inside each of these spheres. Even more impressive was the fact that both singers were attacking and using those big spells without missing a beat in their song.
The first wave of skeletons was quickly dispatched. Becca barely had to do anything to help, which was something she was happy about. If it was up to her, she would have left the test. Unfortunately for the reporter, she felt responsible for the singers. They were here because they wanted to change their roles, and if Becca wanted out, they would lose that opportunity for at least one year. Another thing that changed how she felt about coming back was the noise. She could hear the skeletons' sounds, the magic, and the spells clashing against their enemies, even their steps splashing against the water. Everything made some sort of noise. That deathly silence was gone.
Thinking that it was better for her to keep herself busy with something, Becca used her camera as a way to find whatever they were looking for here. She sent the device flying while avoiding the attacks to scan the area. Night changed her approach to defeating the skeletons to avoid hitting the camera. Instead of the light blade, she was using beams of light that were coming from her hair. Star also realized that her current attack was too mana inefficient and changed it to a star shower spell, which could also be called a falling star since it would create small specks of dust that could hit with the force of a meteorite. In reality, the singers realize that even those spells seem to be too much. The skeletons were extremely weak, and this hinted that if they managed to grab them, they would do a lot of damage, or, at least, this was the pattern that one could see inside the MAZE. Because of that, even though it was overkill, they decided to keep using those spells. It was proof that after long years of working together, both of them had the kind of idea without having to communicate with each other.
While the duo ravaged the undead, Becca kept searching for something. She wasn't completely aware of what she was looking for since, during their discussion, her mind wasn't quite there, but in a place where there is nothing around, anything different would stick out like a sore thumb. After about 10 minutes since they arrived in this black space, larger skeletons began to appear. They started off just somewhat bigger, but it didn't take long for truly gigantic bones to begin to emerge from the water. The arms that grabbed Becca and stopped her from coming out of the staircase paled compared to some of the bigger hands emerging from the dark liquid. A couple of them should be hundreds of meters away, and yet with a swipe, they forced the group to dodge or be hit by the long bony claw. Becca was looking at the camera, but all she could see were hundreds and hundreds of skeletons, until far in the distance to the right, she noticed something a bit different. There was what looked like a large chair and someone sitting on it. Trying to get a better look, she sent her camera closer, and when it was close enough, she turned on the camera lights. As she expected, there was something there, it was a skeletal figure, but instead of the black bones their attackers had, it had a navy blue coloration. And on top of its head was an obsidian crown with just a single white gemstone between its eyes.
"Guys, there's something there!" Becca pointed in the direction she saw the figure.
"Are you sure?" Star tried to see what she was talking about, but aside from the camera's light, there was nothing she could see beyond the army of skeletons.
"I'm positive."
"I think she's right. There is a weird echo coming from there," Night added.
"It's coming from there? I keep hearing that, but I couldn't find the direction," Star turned to where Becca pointed. She created a large star in her hands and tossed it like a baseball making all the skeletons in the path be dragged by the projectile.
Following that attack, Night held an invisible ball in both hands while pointing her arms forward, and darkness began to swallow her limbs. Bright Night almost disappeared in the background, her entire body becoming as dark as the water they were standing on. She was still singing and using the same rhythm. However, the lyrics changed to one of the songs she sang alone. It was a ballad that talked about the pain and anger that came with loss, how one would feel frustrated when there was nothing they could do, and how those feelings sometimes devolved into a rage. Night sang the chorus twice, and when the last word after the second passage came out of her lips, she stomped her feet on the ground, making hundreds and hundreds of pitch-black vines filled with thorns unravel around them, spreading in all directions and destroying the skeletons.
Becca watched it happen, and she watched as Night controlled the vines to focus in the same direction that Star had tossed her gravity well. Almost all skeletons in the way, including those giants that could attack them from hundreds of meters away, were wrapped with the ivy that crushed them to pieces. It was an amazing attack, but the moment Becca turned to Night, she could see that this wasn't something the singer could often do. Night was breathing heavily, and the spells that covered her body seemed weaker than before. However, that wasn't enough to put the singer out of commission. That spell took a toll, yes, but Night could still use her magic without an issue, just not the same attack again.
Those attacks created a large cloud of bone dust around the area. The trio dashed through it, ignoring the potential danger that could be hiding in the smoke. If whatever Becca saw was truly the objective, they wanted to get there as soon as possible. Star was also taking care of the dust directly in front of them. Her gravity wells pulled some of the particles away, clearing up a path. Even so, a couple of skeletons got too close, and Becca was the one who returned those beings to the underworld by punching through their skulls. They were still singing during all this time, worried that if they stopped, the skeletons would vanish like they did when Becca arrived on the other floor.
Less than a minute after Becca warned them of this being sitting on a chair, they arrived in front of it. As Becca described, it was a navy blue skeleton with an obsidian crown and a single white gemstone on its forehead. But the weirdest part was that no other skeleton seemed to be willing to get closer to it. There was a radius of about 10 meters with the skeleton in its center, where all other undead kept their distance.
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Second Test - complete
The blind bards forged a union and beheld the return of the ancestors.
You can leave the test and receive the participation reward.
If you choose to move to the next test, you can receive increased rewards.
Your performance has been graded. Only by leaving the test, you will know the grade you received.
[Return] [Continue]
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"Oh? Is that really it? Did we pass the test?" Star asked.
"It seems so," Becca sighed, "And we still need to do at least one more."
"If you are not up for it, we can get out of here. We want the role, but not to the point of hurting anyone," Night looked deep into Becca's eyes.
"Yeah, we don't mind waiting another year. Maybe someone will find a less dangerous way to change our role," Star nodded.
Becca smiled, "Thank you, but this is what we are here for. If you just wanted to get a better grade or pass more tests, I would've said no. But we still haven't completed our goal, and as long as I get out of this place, I'll be fine."
"Are you sure?" Night pressed.
"Positive."
"OK then… on three?" Star asked, gesturing to the notification.
As far as Becca was aware, if any group member pressed the return button, the entire party would leave the test. Even if she was understandably afraid, she wouldn't let herself be dead weight for the singers to carry. She pressed continue and waited. Night and Star stared at Becca for a moment to make sure the reporter had pressed yes. If Becca had chosen to leave, they wouldn't hold against her, even after all their discussions. However, they wouldn't press the button to continue before being sure of Becca's decision. With a reporter still there and already looking away from the notification, it was clear that she decided to continue with the next part of their challenge. The singers touched the continue button and got ready for the next test.
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Third Test
Defeat all enemies
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"Well, this seems simple enough," Star nodded.
"Yeah. I just hope we get out of here," Night was looking around, trying to find a sign that the environment would change again. She couldn't find anything, but she noticed the reporter's expression just before she spoke.
"What the hell is that!" Becca screamed in desperation pointing behind the skeleton king.
The test of the tower pt4
