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

Chapter Fifty

I sat on my lighthouse, my shoes full of sand that rubbed my already sore feet. I took them off and shook them out, watching it fall out like a waterfall, much more than I thought it would be.

I peeked up at the sun, worried about how much farther it would be, as I saw the light was starting to get closer and closer to the western horizon.

I wonder how the floors worked. Each one seemed like a whole new world. It's its own world. They each had a sun, or an ecosystem that was unique to itself.

But it wasn't, right? If Edric flew straight up all the way, he would reach the ceiling. Not an atmosphere. Right?

Or was each of the floors a whole new world that somehow Jahad and the other families linked together?

I felt a shiver run up my spine, feeling as if someone was watching me from behind, but there couldn't have been as I was the back of the group.

Turning to look behind me, I saw nothing but sand and our footsteps that were faintly imprinted on the ever-shifting surface.

"Hey, you ok?" One of the girls asked me, making me jump as I turned to face her.

"Oh. Yeah. Just felt like someone was watching me."

"Wait, watching you? From behind? Could it have been a ghost?"

"No, probably not. But I just still really have a bad gut feeling about all this."

She nodded and went to go run to the front of the group, in order to see ahead on the hill that the group was approaching.
I saw Mercy come to a stop, looking at the valley below the ginormous dune. "There. We can find shelter there for the night."

"Shelter? I thought we were looking for a way out of here!" Some boys protested.

"We are. And it is at least another day walk before we get out of here. So shut your yappers and get in the caves." She glared, still angry at the fact that she had been called a dwarf.

The large group made their way into the cave, fearing the Spearbearer guide who had proved her abilities in combat with the one girl who called her a dwarf, as well as one guy she started sparring with on the way to the caves and nearly stabbed through the neck with her knife.

They settled down and attempted to make small campfires with dead twigs they found when walking.

I settled down next to a small gathering, looking at the stone floor as I knew the sand couldn't swallow us up while we slept. I listened to their conversation.

"We should establish watch periods."

"Who watches when?"

"How about one person from each team per shift?"

"That could work. But then we wouldn't trust each other. Wouldn't that make the sand swallow us up?"

"I don't know, but we have to do something."

They all collectively gave a sigh, and went to tell the other groups the idea.

I heard a chirp and looked as Chrome crawled up onto my shoulder. "Hey you. You wanna take one for the team and also have a shift?" I teased him as I rubbed the under of his chin, as his cooling fans in his system gave a soft purring noise. "Yeah, me too." I gently let him crawl under my hair and rest, as I watched everyone.

Faint growls were heard at the back of the cave, as I turned back to listen, the deepest in the cave. Only a few others with sensitive ears heard.

"Is that a..."

"No. It can't be. Nothing big enough would be able to survive in this desert."

"But it could be... It might be a part of a test..."

"And it might be eating the corpses..."

Another growl was heard, louder this time. I got to my feet and started backing towards the main entrance, as a couple of others did the same.
"Jigu?" Dustin asked, seeing me.

"There's something in here," I whispered. "We need to get out of the cave. Now."

He nodded and got up, motioning the group he was with to do the same quietly.

"What? Why?" They whispered confused to him, having just settled down.

"Just trust me. There's something in these caves." His twin bracelets glowing as he summoned up his scythe.

"Why would there be a..."
A booming roar erupted from the back of the cave, as it forced winds towards us, shoving those with weak footing back to the ground. I tumbled slightly, before sliding to a stop as I grabbed my lighthouse to keep from blowing out of the mouth of the cave.

The other regulars got up, and stood their ground, summoning weapons or going inside their lighthouses to light up whatever beast was in the deep of the cave.

"What is that?..." Many murmurs were heard throughout the testing group, as I climbed into my lighthouse to scan it and compare it to a database of the floor's data, but the floor Administrator had blocked my access.

"I can't find out what it is." I got on coms with my team, as I tried to locate them all in the crowd.

Edric and Ewart were easy to find, Ewart's crystals making him stand out as Edric towered over most of the other regulars.

I saw Kal up front ready to fight, while Noe and Jeonsa were standing on guard towards the mouth of the cave, ready to fight, but evacuate if needed.

I couldn't see Weldon or Mercy, and could spot out Dustin close to my lighthouse.

We watched as the unknown beast came towards the testers. It was clear it was a mythical creature, as there was no way it could have survived in this dry desert. It resembled an octopus and has the legs of a turtle, though its legs are unusually short. As opposed to solid substance, it appears to be made of some gelatinous material. An odd darkness always seems to follow it. A couple of the lighthouses that were closer to the beast started shaking and seemed to be losing power as the darkness got closer to them, before a few were swallowed up by the shadows.

"Get out of the cave! Retreat!" Some regulars shouted, the beast giving another deafening roar as the small figures hurried out.

I stayed floating in my lighthouse, trying to find the two teammates that I had not seen in the crowd, and saw Mercy walking towards the creature. "Mercy, what are you doing?"

"Following the path that is laid out before me."

"Mercy, it's a suicide mission! Get out of there!"

She stopped listening to me, turning off the lights that were coming from her e-rank pocket, as she stopped in front of the beast and the ever-growing darkness.

She turned back to face us, looking at me in my lighthouse. "See you on the next floor Jigu." She saluted, before seeming to glitch and vanish before the darkness could swallow her whole.

"MERCY!"