Tower of God: The Flower of Earth (Slow Updates)

Chapter Nine

"Didn't Zelpha, Arnic, and Henry come up here before us?"  Noe spoke up after a second of silence. "They must still be trapped in their nightmares. We need to go help them."

"While I have no love for her, I did cut off her arm, so I believe it's only right to do so." Kal sighed, annoyed that they had to deal with the trio again. The evil queen and her henchmen.

"Fine. We will split into groups of three to get each of them out. I'll go with Edric and Noe." Mercy took charge. "Kal will go with Jeonsa and Ewart. Weldon, you, Jigu, and Dustin will be together. Now go."

I looked at Weldon and Dustin as Kal fawned over something, as all I heard was that Mercy was making Kal's ships happen.

"I think that is Arnic." Dustin spoke up, looking at the pointed ear redhead teenager.

"Mazephobia. Fear of mazes." Arnic looked as the hedges that seemed to raise above his head loomed higher and higher, and the never ending twists and turns and dead ends made him lose his mind.

He had been running for hours, reaching exhaustion. He collspded to his knees in tears.

"Make it stop, please... Let me stop..."

"Arnic! It's Weldon, from the last floor. We are stuck in this test forever! Come on! You need to break free, you can do it!"  Weldon banged on the glass.

Arnic looked around, faintly hearing it. "W-Weldon?"

"Yes! It is me! You need to break free of the nightmare. Or you could die."

"At least my oth... AH CRAP!!!!" We couldn't hear him, but we could read his lips and see the look of terror on his face. His eyes bulged out of his sockets, scared out of his mind.

"Thalassophobia. Fear of the ocean."
Salty water started flowing under Arnic's feet, as he tried to run again, all sorts of ocean creatures, even a few shinheuh such as the Mangdol whales, white steel eels, and striped ground pigs.

He raced for his life, "If he is right and it's a dream, why can't I wake up?!"

"Cause you have to face your fears!" I shouted, trying to help.

Arnic looked at the  water and at the hedge. "Ok..." He looked scared, but dived through the hedge, shattering the scenery.

Dustin and I helped him up, as Weldon brushed off the glass.

We heard two other shattering sounds, as the darkness grew back to light.

"Welcome back!" Sun grinned, as Shadow nodded from next to him. "I hope it wasn't too traumatizing!"

"We almost died, some of us..." I faintly heard Henry whisper from next to Kal, rubbing his bald head.

"That was no fun." Dustin was rubbing his mohawk again, still feeling the ghostly crawls along his skin and scalp.

"Ah, lighten up a little!" Sun clapped his hand on both of their shoulders, making both boys shriek in surprise. "Hey, you guys, get some rest tonight, part two commences tomorrow!"

"I'd rather do it now!" Kal punched her fist before a single one of us could protest.

"ALRIGHTY THEN!" Sun grinned, and waved his hand, a yellow light flowing through us all.

I blinked my eyes to get used to the new, bright light. I looked around and saw it was like the area I grew  up in. But cleaner, and with more green.

"What is this place..." I looked around.
"Jigu!" I heard a shout, and turned to see the kids I had always tried to make friends with growing up. "Come on! Let's go play!" I looked at my hands, seeing them small, and not as dirty as they were in the past.

"Coming!" I raced after them, having the innocence of a child.

For hours, we played under the sun. I heard faint shouts of my name.

"Huh? Did you hear that?" I asked one of the kids next to me.

"Probably just the wind. Come on! Let's go play ball!" They held up a toy ball, and I grinned, never having been able to play it with them before.

"COME ON JIGU! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME!" Kal shouted, banging on the glass.

Mercy put her hand on her shoulder. "She is pulled in too deep. We have to get the others and come back."

"No! We aren't leaving Grassy behind to be pulled in deeper!"

"Kal what is up with you!?"

"She's our friend Mercy! We gotta get her out!" Kal was shaking, tears welling up. "I... I can't leave her behind. She helped me when I needed it."

"Kal, we will get her out. But we need to go get more help first. You can stay here if you want, but I am going to go get others out, before it's too late." Mercy turned away.

"Mer? What was it like, in yours? In your fantasy?" Kal whispered, scared not only for herself, but for everyone else around here.

She sighed. "It.. it was home. But too good to be true. I had climbed to the top of the tower, and wished I was home. Home, was perfect." She smiled, then frowned. "That's when I knew it was fake."

"Sorry dwarf. Go and get the others. I'll stay and try to get Grassy out." Kal sighed, and looked back towards me, as I was in my dream that was too good to be true.

The sun was setting in my sight, and I watched as the other kids went home. I turned to my home, and walked there, seeing it brighter and better  than it was when I was the age I appeared to be.

"Hey! Kiddo!" I heard a shout, and saw the man from my dreams, the one who was supposingly my uncle, standing next to my mom, waving for me to come over.

"Uncle Bul?" I blinked. "B-But... You were climbing the tower."

"Yeah, it was too hard, so I figured I would come back down and be with my favorite niece!" He held open his arms for me.

I blinked. "But... You always wanted to climb the tower... You aren't my uncle..." I backed up, feeling the ground shake.  I looked around, the scene starting to shake and shatter around me, before I was in a bright white area.

I heard a screech, and felt a heavyweight hit me. "You. IDIOT! It was a dream! Don't get drawn into the fantasy!" Kal was shaking me, her tight grip on my shoulders leaving sharp nail marks through the fabric.

"Kal! Stop it!" I tried to get her to stop. "I am fine!"

"No you aren't! You were stuck in there for so long!"

"KAL! I am here, fine. Trust me." I smiled, holding her close, hugging tightly.

I looked over and saw that Mercy and the others were on their way over. "Am I the last one out?"

She nodded, "I think we all have to be together to end it however." She was right. The second the group reached up, the bright light exploded around us, taking us back to Sun and Shadow.