The Tower

Chapter 3

     When Stephen and Rose woke up they thought it was morning, but something was odd. It was still pitch black outside. Instead of the blue light in the sky, there was blue light emanating from the decomposing skeletons.  

"Rose, what's that blue light coming from?"

 "I don't know but I think they might be spirits of the dead.". The blue lights seemed to be forming something... it was forming a giant wolf. The wolf had a terrifying smirk painted on its face, and it was staring right at Stephen, who was terrified out of his mind. 

"ROSE WHAT IS THAT IS IT GOING TO EAT US???" 

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT IS EITHER HOW SHOULD I KNOW?!"

     Then the wolf spoke in a calm voice. "Do not be alarmed, I will not eat you. But isn't it foolish thinking about reaching the Tower? Don't you know how many died trying to reach the Tower? What makes you think you'll be any different? Betiko is a beautiful planet, and you intend on leaving it? You've already made a friend and there's no doubt you could make friends with everybody that's left here." 

"I wasn't even supposed to be here! I'm supposed to be on another planet completely! It's a hard choice for me too! Just because I'm here now doesn't mean I don't have a life somewhere else!" 

"Okay, fine. if you don't want to listen, I'm not going to stop you, but you're going to be a real threat, so I will join to protect you." Stephen got chills at the wolf's last remark, "A... threat? How am I a threat?" "You'll find out later. Call me Salutem.".

  So Stephen, Rose, and Salutem proceeded out of the forest. Outside of the forest was just wandering the wilderness in the dark. This was the first time Stephen was out at night. The night was cool but not as cold as nights on earth are. It felt like a cool, empty breeze passing by Stephen. They finally started to see morning light after who knows how long. Stephen and Rose were tired, so they rested on Salutem's back. Rose decided to break the silence with a conversation, 

"Stephen, up ahead is a laarge city, you know? It's a pretty nice place if you go there, and an interesting city seeing how it was built who knows how long ago, plus everyone's there! It's a fun place to hang out, even if we're at war. In a way, it's a symbol of respect that we meet up before we go and fight. We show that we still care for our enemies and that they're dying for a better cause."

 "Wow! That must be nice. Only if I could experience that kind of friendship. I take it you lost a lot of friends, huh? War is pretty bad, even if I've never experienced it. Earth hasn't had a war in a long time..."

 Salutem finally spoke after keeping quiet, "Humans have learned peace, have they? That's pleasant. The only thing that fuels this useless war is greed for The Tower, and we don't even know what would happen afterward. Would the war be over? Would we live in peace? Would we finally be able to produce more, and bring back these innocent souls we've taken hostage? I wish we could learn so fast, or learn from our mistakes period. Only so many of us know how useless it is, but we are still forced to fight, due to those consumed by greed, blinded the impossibility of reaching the Tower. They think they are different than the others and fight without mercy or experience. Remember, I am made out of several dead spirits, so I know that these people are incorrect in thinking that they are indifferent than everyone else." Both Rose and Stephen were surprised. After a long pause, Stephen commented "I guess you're right. Except not every human has learned from past mistakes. There's still violence of all kinds and deforestation, and fires and even more, so we all have our issues I guess."

"Hey...What's that?" Something caught Stephen's eye. There was a strangely shaped cave, its opening resembled that of a tiger's mouth.

 "Salutem, do you see that cave over there? Something must have made that, so there are probably people and maybe a place to sleep there. We could probably get some rest if we just avoid eye contact. Can we go there?"

 "Of course we can, Stephen. If there are people there I don't want people seeing me like this, so I'll turn into a blue aura emanating over you." 

Reaching the cave wasn't a big deal. Stephen and Salutem sent Rose in to see if anybody was there, but nobody was there. Everyone was exhausted because of their long walk, but they had finally reached the cave. Inside this cave there were beds... But there was something else.

END OF CHAPTER 3