Levels

The Tower

The ground was covered with bare earth and everything surrounding the tower was withered. Not even a single patch of green could be sighted to improve the wretched scene. All of it enclosed by a rusty barbed fence. The top of the tower was hidden by a coat of grey heavy clouds. Almost every of the few windows were shattered from the inside.

Allessa and Dayl were standing directly in front the opening gate of the decayed metal fence. A sign dangling loose at one corner with the inscription "Restricted Access" was linked to it.

"This place is giving me the creeps, looks just like a test area. And the cause responsible for this desolation probably used to be the people working in that tower."

Allessa looked worried and somehow immersed in her own memories.

Dayl walked to her side and placed his arm around her hip to comfort her. "Allessa, I know all of this looks real and it's hard to believe that it isn't, but you have to snap out of it, we don't have much time left."

"Yeah you are right, I'm sorry..."

Frustrated and with the doleful scene surrounding the place, they made their way to the entrance. With a quick slash, at the rusty lock blocking the two door leafs coming from Allessas glass sword the way to the tower was unlocked.

The main entrance to the inside of the tower was wide open, the doors had been ripped apart and were laying a few feet away.

They stood at the doorway, still outside the tower. Allessa looked at the ground, still discouraged by the poor scenery.

Something was carved into the concrete floor. She flicked the dust away, revealing some words of wisdom.

"True champions seek their goal at the heart of things."

"Let's get inside."

Dayl went along inside the building leaving Allessa standing behind for a few moments, still staring at the letters carved into the ground.

"Yeah, fine" she mumble, more to herself than to Dayl.

"Guess we have to walk all the way to the top..."

"Look Dayl" Allessa pointed at her wrist, where her displayed showed the time left to complete Level 1.

"We barely have 3 hours left, we won't make it in time all the way to the top."

"I know...but at least have to try, don't you think?"

So they headed on, climbing hundreds of stairs, walking through dozens of corridors, always enclosed by the sadness of dilapidated offices, burned down equipment and water dripping from holey, rusty tubes above. Many paths were blocked so they had to look for another route to get higher up.

The further they went, the more Allessa came to think of the quote carved into the ground outside the building.

...at the heart of things...

Allessa stopped dead. Dayl turned around, looking at Allessa. Than he too stopped.

"Whats—"

"This is pointless. We've been walking for at least one hour, and we are hardly through the first dozen floors. We won't make it."

Allessa sat down on the floor, her back facing the wall, resting her head between her knees.

Dayl just studied her for a few moments.

I didn't know she could be that fragile...

Dayl settled down next to her. She rested her head on Dayls shoulder and closed her eyes.

Suddenly her voice raised: "You know, this place reminds me. One day, soldiers destroyed the village near my home town, because the people there couldn't afford the taxes anymore. They marched right through it, slaughtered everyone who put up a fight, burned every house down, and smashed every window in. The soldiers were Sapiens. "

Tears started to run down Allessas face. Dayl turned his head to her, looking at her, worried.

Sobbing, she went on talking: "You want to know what the worst part is? I was amongst the soldiers. They dragged me into it, it was supposed to be a training mission for the Levels, but I just stood there, watching as my own people slaughtered hundreds of innocents."

Dayls shoulder was already soaked from her tears, but it didn't bother him at all, he merely felt bad for Alessa.

"Three years later, I came back to the demolished village, it looked just as bad as this godforsaken place."

A few minutes they just sat in silence, no word was spoken.

Allessa looked up, staring at a closed door opposite of her, when she realized, that a heart was carved into the thick metallic door.

"Hey Dayl, if I asked you, what the heart of this building would be, what'd your answer be?"

"Well, that's an odd question how come? Perhaps the control room or something similar, why'd you ask?"

"Yeah...right..." with those words, Allessa stood up and put a head to the door handle ahead of her. She opened the door.

The room was equipped with all sorts of cables, buttons and turned off lights. It really did seem like a control room. It the middle of the room, a huge switch was mounted to one of the panels.

Allessa turned to it, placing both hands on the switch, ready to pull it downwards.

"What are you doing Allessa?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Allessa answered sarcastically.

"Good to see you are the same Allessa that I got to know again." Dayl gave her a funny smile as she pulled the switch.

A moment, nothing happened. But than many lights started to activate and blink all around Allessa and Dayl.

Instinctively, Allessa ran out of the room and to a whole in the wall that they had passed earlier on, to look outside if something might have happened as she turned the switch.

The grey clouds above started to ease and water was now flowing over the withered landscape below, watering the grounds so new plants were able to grow from it.

Dayl got to her sight, gazing outside, and his eyes wide open.

"Look the tower was here to spread the water amongst the people, I was wrong this tower is the cause of the city's emptiness, but not in the way we thought..."

"You never seize to amaze me Allessa, but how did you know that thing about the control room?!"

"Oh, it's easy, you only have to seek your goal at the heart of things, I guess not every of the Levels is about proving your strengths..." Allessa gave him a wink and smiled all over her face.

Besides the giant mantis... Dayl thought and rolled his eyes, but smiled back.

The familiar sound of the roaring turbines appeared and the airship was now hovering next to the tower, building a tunnel of wind from the whole in the tower directly into the ship.

Once they were inside, Allessa dropped to her knees and a tear of relive ran down her face.

"Attenders you have managed to complete Level 1. Time left, 10 minutes 43 seconds. You have proven your gumption to this Level. You mastered one of the ways to complete Level 1. Congratulation.

Level 2 is about to begin, you have 23 hours 34 minutes and 56 seconds left, until than get ready."

There is more than one way to complete a Level, wait WHAT?!