CHAPTER 23: MAN IN THE SKY

The guilt weighed heavier than his thought, that his heart curshed reason. It ate him up deeper, looking down at the body of his protector left him speechless. Just what use was she to herself without her legs?

"What use is crying, at least she’s still alive." The white prince said, his gaze still looking away.

His words sunk deep into Aerith filling him with deep seethed rage. "At least she’s alive, what sort of consolation is that supposed to be you glorified bastard? How’s she expected to let ve without her legs?"

Hizan turned his gaze back to Aerith, in his eyes he saw a very angry young man. His eyes had grown wider, his face had contorted, huge veins had bulged at the sides of his head, growing like vines. Hizan shrugged and then looked up to the sky and spoke in a distant voice. "He’s back, things are about to get very ugly."

"What is he talking about?" Aerith asked himself as he clutched tighter to Nasha’s unmoving form, his gaze followed the white Prince’s and turned to what was nestled above their head.

There was a blanket of blue that made up the sky, it was vast and endless. It seemed totally normal, but there was one odd thing about the ordeal itself and that was the fact that there was not a single white fluffy in the air. Just a clear sky. But that was also normal— right?

The longer he stared at it the more it became harder to miss one oddity in the sky, it was a blue object suspended a few hundred feet in the air. At first he thought is was a bird, or a kite but after a long careful state at the object he was taken back to see a man in the sky.

"What in the world is that?" He objected unable to believe his very own eyes.

He blinked twice, then a third time before looking back up into the sky hoping he was hallucinating but sadly he was not. The man was real, in fact he was moving. There did not look to be a path in the sky, not from where he was looking from. The man in the sky seemed to be walking on thin air.

"I must be running mad right?" That was the only logical answer he could think of, the tower was messing with his senses.

But he wasn’t the only one think this, everyone in the endless grassland were all witnessing the same sight. They saw a man walking in the sky and they were battling with their sanity.

The man in the sky walked for a few more metres, forward and back as if trying to confirm something which made no sense in itself. After a while the man in the sky stopped in what they presumed to be the center of the endless grassland.

He then spoke.

His voice was soft and comforting like the wind, it sounded like that a musician right before a concert.

"Hello crossers, I welcome you all to the first level of the tower. The path of beginnings starts here, the future you will hope to achieve in the tower from now will be determined by how well you begin your climb." It was hard for anyone to make out his feature from the distance, so most of them were forced to make a mental depiction of how they presumed the man in the sky to look.

In Aerith’s head he imagined a tall thin man, with the head of an eagle. Because why not, he had already seen a talking tuna, why would a talking bird not be the next best thing.

The man in the sky continued his rather grand speech, oblivious to the many horrific mental images he was being depicted by. "My name is Testmaster Varrick and I will be in charge of your entrance test, this is the Forest of Calquin, an endless forest field on the first floor. It is where all great crossers began their journey."

As if he had not tortured the people enough with his mere presence, he started to walk in the sky above. Pacing back and forth. "From whatever realm you have come from, it does not matter because you have been called by the tower. To all you hungry hearts who want to have their desires filled, your wish remains at the top. Whatever questions you have will be answered if you survive after the first trial."

This sparked a lot of disjointed grunts.

The man in the sky did not seem to care, "The trial of the first floor will be a Batoru Rowaianu, as it has been for centuries. In simple terms, it is a battle royal, everyone is expected to form teams of three and fight other teams for survival."

This sparked an even bigger rush of chaos in the endless forest.

"You are not all expected to participate in this activity and are free to be excluded from it entirely but that will be the combined decision of the three members comprising your team." The man in the sky stopped pacing, his attention drawn to the noise from the earth below. He snapped his fingers and instantly all the air in their lungs went on a reverse, they could all feel the air sucked our of them. "Even dogs that bark have a sense of obedience in them."

Aerith’s brain sparked like wildfire as he started to choke. "Shit, he’s strong. How is he doing this?" He wondered if the man in the sky had an enchantment just like his that enabled him to affect the very air.

After a few gruesome seconds of mass choking the air flooded their lungs once more with the snap of a finger. The world was filled with loud coughing and wheezing.

The man in the sky continued talking like he had not just successfully had the lives of a large number of people on a thin thread. "The theme for this test is, predators and preys. The hunt never ends with just the prey and hunter, the cycle repeats itself, we can only hope we end up on the greater end. If you believe your desire is worth fighting for, you will survive."

A massive holographic screen several feet wide and long appeared in the air in blue text and filter. There were strange indescribable runes on it which later filter to actual words.

It read:

[4000 CROSSERS REMAINING]

The man in the sky spoke without hesitation in his voice. "That’s how many of you actually remain here, I need 400 of you alive in the forest of Calquin to progress to the next level."

Aerith’s eyes went wide with dread. "My god, does he want us to kill others who were dragged innocently into this place?"

"To make matters fair, you can conjour one weapon of your choosing from your home realms. The actual weapon and not a replica, it could be your favourite weapon, a family heirloom. Whatever it is, choose wisely."

A white mist enveloped all four thousand of the crossers and soon weapons started to manifest around them. Aerith was still in a state of confusion to even think to conjour up anything, and if he could conjour anything, what would it be?

His mind thought hard and long, but there was nothing. If he was going to die in a few moments, what would he summon to die with him, to give him a semblance of comfort?

And his thoughts caused the mist to vanish leaving behind something in his hand.

The man in the sky spoke again, this time his voice much colder. "It almost slipped my mind. You have two hours to meet the trial requirements, and you don’t want to find out what happens if you do fail do you?"

Aerith’s face grew contorted as he stared at what he had summoned. He groaned inwardly and said, "I am such a fool, just why did I summon this. I should have summoned a sword, at least that would be useful."

In his hand was not a shield or a bow and quicker full of arrows, neither was is any thing that could actually be used for combat. In his hand was a small rectangular device, his smartphone. He knew he was already ruined.

Then the battle royal started and figures started to fall, he just stayed there unsure of what to do and praying silently that he would live. But life itself was abstract.