Even so, nothing worth noting actually happened. Naturally, I, walking among the central ranks of the group beside my little sister, was so thoroughly ignored by the others that it was almost comical, as if everyone were making a deliberate effort to pretend we simply didn’t exist.
Those walking behind us deliberately looked away, avoiding Tenebrya, and the same went for the groups ahead of us. That seemed to be the rule, with only rare exceptions. To some extent, Rupert, Victor, and Arthur broke that pattern.
They still avoided Tenebrya like the devil avoids the cross, of course, but, well... at least now they were able to get closer. Before, the situation had been almost awkward: they would talk to me while keeping several steps away, as though some invisible barrier prevented them from getting anywhere near where I stood with my little sister.
“Strange... I think we should have arrived by now” commented one of the response team members, the same one who was supposed to guide us toward the possible exit from the garden. He slowed his pace for a moment, looking around as if searching for something. There was clear confusion in his voice, bordering on unease: “I’m pretty sure it took me a lot less time to get there last time” he added, frowning as he studied the path ahead: “The route is exactly the same... and yet it feels like we’ve been walking far longer than I had to before”
Naturally, we had no point of reference, nothing to confirm his words. Still, when previously asked what the passage looked like, he had been vague, saying only that he had found some kind of massive tower.
According to him, the entrance was covered in thick vines, so dense that they prevented him from entering. Even so, he stated with confidence that, with my help, we would be able to get inside without much trouble.
That said, a question kept hammering away at my mind: how had he managed to find a colossal tower, one that, by his own account, was large enough to touch the sky, and yet we couldn’t see it from anywhere?
Rupert seemed to share my thoughts. He let out a soft sigh before speaking: “I still find it hard to believe there’s a tower that big here”
His words trailed off for a moment as his eyes wandered across the horizon, as if trying to confirm the idea. Then he continued, a half-skeptical smile tugging at his lips: “I mean... it’s pretty bizarre to think that, so far, we haven’t seen any tower anywhere near big enough to supposedly reach the sky”
For the most part, everyone seemed to agree with Rupert. Still, a few skeptics murmured among themselves, suggesting that the teammate who claimed to have found the tower might have simply hallucinated.
Oddly enough, that assumption didn’t sound all that unreasonable. Given just how peculiar this garden was, hallucinations felt like a fairly natural consequence.
I was scanning the area as well, using my “Eyes” Up to that point, however, all I could see were vast stretches of garden, neatly kept flowerbeds, and winding stone paths.
There was no structure that even came close to the reaction team member’s description. So I was genuinely caught off guard when startled shouts, thick with disbelief, buzzed through the air and shattered the silence.
“Ah! There it is!” a loud, clear voice shouted, cutting through the surrounding murmurs and drawing everyone’s attention: “It looks... a bit more damaged than when I found it last time” he continued, studying the scene with a mix of surprise and relief: “But still... I think we can use it”
Even with all the explanations in the world, it would be nearly impossible to fully describe that sight. After all, you could never truly understand what it feels like to stare at a space where there was absolutely nothing, and then, in the blink of an eye, turn around and come face to face with a tower of colossal proportions.
The scene was, without a doubt, breathtaking. The tower rose imposingly toward the sky, piercing the pale clouds that hovered over the garden’s seemingly endless expanse.
As mentioned before, the structure had an ancient appearance, entirely covered in cracked and broken stone, entwined with thick vines and a profusion of leaves in countless shapes and shades.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Everyone stood in silence before the sight. Even the members wearing helmets couldn’t hide their reactions, their expressions were perfectly visible. It was pure astonishment, mixed with an almost reverent disbelief.
“I know I’ve said this before...” Rupert began, his voice thick with disbelief. No one turned to look at him, they were all too busy, necks craned and eyes wide, taking in every inch of the tower rising before them. The structure looked like it was tearing through the sky, its shadow swallowing the ground around it: “But how did we not see something this big before?” he went on, letting out a short, nervous laugh: “Seriously... it makes no sense. You should be able to spot something like that from miles away. Like, really far away”
“Let’s not overthink it” Victor replied with a shrug, his tone clearly indifferent: “Normally, it’s the organization’s scientists who deal with this kind of illogical explanation. As long as this thing is our way out of here, I couldn’t care less about its quirks”
Rupert gave a small nod, keeping his eyes fixed on the imposing tower ahead. He let out a brief sigh before speaking again: “Yeah... I guess you’re right. At least we can celebrate the fact that we didn’t get scattered all over the place. Can you imagine? It would’ve sucked having to look for someone in this messed-up garden”
Everyone seemed to agree in a heavy silence with the words Rupert left hanging in the air. My original plan had been simple and straightforward: force our way into the tower and deal with whatever was waiting inside.
Before I could put it into action, though, Victor interrupted me. He suggested a more cautious approach, an initial survey of the outside of the structure. Maybe there were signs, markings, or clues that could reveal the tower’s true nature and, by extension, whether it was... potentially deadly.
As the others spread out and began circling the tower, I stayed near the entrance, standing beside my little sister. She seemed completely oblivious to what was happening around her, absorbed by anything that could be considered even mildly interesting.
Maybe it was a small, colorful insect fluttering past? Whatever it was, it had captured her full attention. Not even the surrounding flowers, delicate petals inlaid with precious gems that sparkled in the light, were eye-catching enough to pull her away from that fleeting fascination.
Moments later, when everyone regrouped at the tower’s entrance, still completely engulfed by thick, twisted vines, it became clear there wasn’t much to observe in the surrounding area. No alternative passageways were discovered, let alone any obvious signs of danger.
Obvious, of course, in the most literal sense of the word, not that anyone had expected to find a sign planted in the ground reading “Danger” In short, there were no shortcuts and no guarantees. If we wanted to explore the inside of the tower, we’d have to go in ourselves.
Most of them didn’t look thrilled by the news. Considering everything we’d had to face just to finally reach Tenebrya, that was easy to understand.
After everything we’d been through, the idea of entering yet another completely unknown place, with no clue what awaited us, was far from appealing. To them, it probably sounded less like a new opportunity and more like a promise of even more danger ahead.
Victor gestured toward me, pointing at the vine-choked entrance. I nodded silently and walked up to the sealed passage. Without rushing, I raised my free hand, the only one not holding Tenebrya’s, and lazily touched one of the vines blocking the way.
Heat surged instantly through my palm. It was intense, growing stronger by the second, yet strangely harmless, there was no pain, not even discomfort. My hand continued to heat up, more and more, until the vines began to blacken, crackle, and finally burn away right before my eyes.
We took a few steps back, Tenebrya still clinging firmly to my arm, as I watched the result. One by one, the vines sealing the passage crumbled into ash, slowly falling to the ground and finally clearing the path into the tower.
“Are you sure this is safe?” Rupert asked, casting a wary look at the entrance ahead of him: “Because, honestly... this looks like a terrible idea”
Victor shrugged: “Got a better one?” He brought a hand to his chin, striking a thoughtful pose for a moment: “We could wander around the garden, sure” A crooked smile tugged at his lips: “Whether we’d ever make it out or not... well, that’s a completely different story”
Rupert flinched slightly, betraying the thoughts running through his head. He swallowed before speaking: “I guess the giant, creepy tower isn’t such a bad choice after all...”
His words trailed off as he lifted his gaze, following the tower’s silhouette as it rose against the sky. There was anxiety in his eyes, maybe even a thin strand of barely concealed hope: “I mean... it’s not like the tower itself is alive or anything... right?”
No one answered Rupert. I chose to remain silent as well. When I observed the structure through my “special” eyes, I saw that it glowed entirely, pulsing in different shades of the rainbow.
I’m not sure the tower could be considered a living organism. But alive or not, one thing was undeniable: it fit squarely, without any doubt, into the category of an anomalous object.
Victor let out a heavy sigh, thick with exasperation, and ran a hand through his hair as if trying to shake off the growing unease. Then he straightened up and spoke in a firm tone: “Let’s get moving. The more we think about this, the less we’ll want to climb”
At Victor’s final command, we picked up the pace and began entering the tower, one by one. For the most part, the expressions on the reaction team’s faces hovered somewhere between discomfort and anxiety. Still, there was determination in their eyes.
Tense shoulders, hands hovering near their weapons, measured breathing, every gesture betrayed their anticipation of what might be waiting for us inside. To them, the tower felt like the final obstacle, the last line to cross before they could finally make it back home.
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