Tower of Endless: Death Granted Entry

Moon thought everything through; there were certain aspects he despised to the core in any person, and having gone through them or been a victim to them didn’t mean he would enforce them on others, or even allow them to happen if by mistake.

He was someone who had stood responsible for lives deemed worthless once, thus he refused to be irresponsible as a free man now. Wordlessly, both he and Dorbish stared into nothing.

”Wanna stay in my room till yours gets fixed?” Moon offered, his tone firm and unwavering.

Dorbish’s droopy eyes opened wider than usual, as his eyebrows climbed a few notes on his forehead. ”What did you say?”

Moon didn’t seem pleased by the reaction. ”I, the greatest fighter, Moon, am offering your deaf ass a place to fucking stay in my room.”

Dorbish blinked, before chuckling. ”That’s an unreasonable escalation. Don’t worry though, I also don’t like to burden others, nor do I like casual invitations.”

Moon frowned, rubbing his forehead. ”You got two things wrong, fellow ascender.”

He raised a finger. ”One, there’s no way someone weaker than me could become a burden.”

The second finger came up. ”Two, I’m the most serious person to ever walk this damn Tower.”

Dorbish laughed again, shaking his head in disbelief. ”Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you.”

The word ’sorry’ came across weird to Moon, but he didn’t interrupt Dorbish. ”Alright, fine then, but stop calling me fellow ascender. I have a name.”

Moon squinted; he obviously knew Dorbish had a name that he couldn’t remember.

Dorbish extended his right hand. ”Call me Dorbish.”

Moon looked at the hand for a moment before extending his own. ”Moon.”

Both nodded in recognition.

After staying for a little longer, Moon said, ”Let’s get moving.”

”Aight,” Dorbish agreed.

They walked toward where Moon was staying, Hall 1.

”W-where are we going?” Dorbish asked, stuttering as he spoke.

Moon fished an item from his pocket, similar to the one Uon opened the door with. ”My room,” he said, answering the obvious question.

”Isn’t that where Teacher Samuel stays?” Dorbish asked.

The gate clicked open. Inside, Uon was sitting further away, seemingly busy in a mountain of papers and notes.

”Big brother Uon.” Moon waved confidently at him under the stunned gaze of Dorbish.

Dorbish reluctantly followed with heavy feet refusing to leave the ground; he felt like he was making a mistake.

A grave mistake.

”Little brother, oh, you brought someone?” Uon asked, finally noticing Dorbish.

Dorbish wasn’t unfamiliar with Uon; he’d seen the yellow giant a few times. Yet he wasn’t exactly familiar with Moon and Uon calling each other—

”Brother?” Dorbish exclaimed.

”Big brother, can I let him sleep in my room till his gets fixed? Mishu punched a hole through his,” Moon said, pointing his finger at Dorbish.

Dorbish pursed his lips. ’What’s going on?’ He had no idea Moon was staying there.

He had never seen him in the dorms, but had never expected that was the reason; he thought the dorms were just that huge.

”Not sure, Teacher Samuel isn’t here yet, but you can sleep for now. If he disagrees or dislikes his stay, you both will get kicked out later,” Uon said with a smile.

Moon nodded. ”Sure thing.” He turned around to Dorbish, oblivious to his perplexed face. ”Let’s go.”

Dorbish leaned forward and whispered into Moon’s ear, ”What did he mean, kick us out?”

”Don’t worry, we might be homeless, no big deal,” Moon said nonchalantly. ”Though it sure is better to sleep on a bed than on rock.” His tone sounded different to Dorbish, but that didn’t mean much.

Upstairs, they finally arrived at the room. ”Here we are, find a corner to sleep,” Moon welcomed, before turning to Dorbish again. ”Get near the bed and lose an arm, these are the rules,” he warned, squinting his still swollen eyes.

Dorbish wasn’t offended; he understood Moon’s character to an extent.

He looked around: an envelope on the desk lying next to the helmet he took off the beheaded Dave.

Between the desk and the bed stood the sword Dave had.

On the bed was nothing much but a slightly visible leather strap. Dorbish guessed it was probably the knife he won in the first skirmish.

He had many questions, but he didn’t word any of them.

Instead, he looked at the bathroom while Moon was taking off his shoes. ”Can I use the bathroom?” he asked for permission.

”Sure,” Moon agreed instantly.

A moment later, Dorbish reappeared in a black shirt and pants, his armor gone.

”You’re not gonna change?” he asked, seeing Moon lying on the bed in his same clothes.

”These are the only clothes I have anyway.” He paused before adding, ”Don’t worry, they are actually rewards; they can’t get dirty.”

”Oh, no wonder...” Dorbish exclaimed. ”This style is not very common on the lower floors.”

”Yeah, they feel awesome and look dashing,” Moon agreed.

Dorbish waved his hand and the blanket appeared again. He took a few steps away from the bed so he wouldn’t disturb Moon and placed it on the floor.

”Here is a good spot, I guess,” Dorbish said before adding, ”Right, why do you keep everything out and not use the inventory?”

Moon pursed his lips. ”I’d rather not,” he answered briefly without explaining anything.

For Moon, the inventory was something he’d seen in action a few times but never got to use himself. Yet, he couldn’t help lamenting not having one whenever he was reminded such a thing existed.

He watched Dorbish lie down on the blanket, smacked the light switch, and it was finally sleep time.

”Only one day before the next skirmish event,” Dorbish said.

”Is it?” Moon asked.

He didn’t get to check his quest window, or anything else.

He exhaled heavily.

”Did you hear of the plan they arranged to take you down?” Dorbish asked.

”Basil, one of my men, heard of it.”

”So, you knew.”

”I don’t.”

”What do you—”

”I don’t want to know. It’s a battle, and warriors never get to pick their battlefields nor opponents.”

”Though I disagree, I can’t say you’re wrong.”

”Strong warriors don’t need to know their opponents.”

Dorbish didn’t answer right away. ”The first floor was a hell-like place from what I heard, but still... the Tower is not merciful, so take good care of yourself,” he advised.

”It’s fine if you’re working independently, but if you want to have your own group and underlings, you better think this through.”

Moon went silent for a moment and closed his eyes.

’We were all sent to our death.’ He remembered that day that ended life as he knew it. ’Would it have been different if we knew?’ he wondered.

The more he thought, the more the outcome changed.

Before long, he found himself nodding. ”Yeah, I will.”

He turned to face where Dorbish was sleeping. ”How do you know, though?”

”They tried to recruit me.”

”Oh?”

”Don’t worry, I only joined the last skirmish since it might have been offensive to you if I didn’t.”

Moon nodded. ”It would have, not gonna lie.”

”So, should I tell you their plan?”

”Nope, maybe next time.”

”You sure?”

”Basil worked hard to get this intel.” He also remembered his line: intel is for the weak. He couldn’t go back on his word so fast... It hadn’t even been a day.

”I guess you’re right,” Dorbish agreed.

”Haaaaa, what a damn long day.”