Tower of Endless: Death Granted Entry

Ed had been waiting for Moon to wake up for an entire day; he delayed the round reward announcement for him to wake up.

When he didn’t wake up on time, he checked on him every once in a while.

But this morning, he decided to fix something to eat for him and wake him up before the round started. Moon’s Echo was residing within his body as a solid unit, expanding slightly once it was outside, but it was still a whole unit on the inside.

Which meant it didn’t flow; thus, it didn’t help sustain his body’s needs.

As skinny as he was, Ed was concerned things would get even worse and his fattening plan would fail completely after his chicken popcorn attempt.

He couldn’t check inside Samuel’s hall unless he went inside, and he had no idea where Samuel even was.

Even so, he had not the slightest idea he would find Moon like this the moment he went in.

He was even thankful he came in time; any later it would have been critical or even... too late.

Ed was troubled, but he also knew this: whatever Moon was going through needed some calmness to deal with.

"Are you okay?" he asked, an obvious yes or no question to Moon, just one that would allow him to talk further, expecting ’yes’ for an answer.

Instead, Moon, who avoided his gaze, finally looked back and answered, "No."

"Well, that’s unexpected," Ed exclaimed. "But it’s good that you can admit not being okay," he complimented.

Moon didn’t react; his hollow eyes looked the same.

"What are you going through?" Ed asked.

Moon squeezed the bottle; it took a couple of seconds. "I really don’t know," he shook his head.

Seeing this, Ed pursed his lips. "I won’t act like I understand everything you went through or suffered, but-" he paused for a moment, grasping Moon’s attention while rubbing his neck. "I want you to know that we- I mean, Samuel and I- did go through similar phases many times."

Moon’s eyes went back on Ed, surprise written all over. "You too..." He shook his head. "Why?"

For Moon, it was unbelievable for someone as strong as they were to find himself trapped by anything, not even the past.

Ed’s eyes fell to the ground. "We, you see... we gave up so many things, ditched loved ones for a dream that never came true." He looked back into Moon’s eyes and smiled. "Some of them we can never see again."

Hooooooooooo~

Ed exhaled loudly. "Some other times it’s just our minds playing tricks, romanticizing the most maddening times of our lives as the best we ever had."

Moon found his neck stiffening; he swallowed a mouthful of saliva, but he failed to answer or react.

His reaction didn’t go unnoticed; Ed knew what he was going through to an extent. Though Moon already had the barrier between life and death ruptured many times, Ed had no way of knowing this. Thus, he took the logical path, the one he knew best and had walked many times.

"For you, who lived years on battlefields, peace is a dream that’s poisonous to your heart and mind," Ed sternly said. "Usually on days where things are chaotic you do just fine. Once you gain some rest and start thinking, or leaving your mind to run wild, that’s when you start to suffer, right?"

Moon heard every word carefully, and couldn’t help nodding.

"It’s common, you’re not alone. Almost all of those who were once on a battlefield and left, had the battlefield follow them, living within their minds overglorifying the times as the greatest, than they were in reality." Ed stood up and placed his hand on Moon’s head.

"These were the shittiest times of their lives," he said last, rubbing Moon’s head before turning back.

"The new round starts in an hour, you don’t have to go early, and if you don’t feel like going at all that’s fine as well... Just make sure to eat and finish that bottle of water for now."

Ed walked out and closed the door behind him, leaving Moon alone to digest everything he’d just heard.

But of everything Ed said, Moon was soothed by one of them most.

He wasn’t alone.

That alone gave him unspeakable solace; everything Ed said after that was just confirmation of that fact.

Though he wasn’t given a way to fight this feeling, he was given someone who could understand what he was going through.

He followed Ed’s instructions and kept drinking his water slowly. He reached out to the food, which looked like long bread with meat filling.

Moon was seeing it for the first time.

Once his hand came in contact with the red bubble-like Echo.

Pa~

Once his hands touched the food, he found it was still perfectly warm and fresh.

He ate slowly as hunger started to return to him.

Time passed; on the arena, many were watching, waiting for Moon.

"Sister, why didn’t Sir Savior arrive yet?" Nola asked Lexie by her side.

"Guess our favorite starved skeleton has more important things to do than play around with these idiots," Lexie commented.

"Why don’t you say he’s just afraid of suffering defeat? They planned hard to take him down this round." Behind them, Boa’s voice came.

Lexie rolled her eyes, not bothering herself with whatever Boa was saying. She was anticipating another win from Moon today; his absence was already as disappointing as it gets.

"Sir Savior doesn’t care for these pitiful plans." Nola turned around, giving Boa a sharp look, unlike how timidly she used to act.

Boa raised an eyebrow. "You look better than the last time I saw you." She seemed surprised.

Even Lexie was just as surprised. "You got a like from me, Nola," she said as she raised a thumb.

"Your beloved savior is nowhere to be seen, though," Boa taunted again. "Why doesn’t he come and admit defeat instead of having everyone wait for him?"

Nola this time didn’t back down either. "You seem too confident. Why didn’t you join last round?"

Boa smirked. "Would a lady like myself join such a crude event?"

Nola squinted. "Then arrange a duel with him, if you’re confident in winning."

"I-"

"Boa, stop teasing them." Behind them, Talia approached and overheard the conversation.

Boa pursed her lips but didn’t say anything. As for Talia, she made her way and sat next to Lexie.

"Thankfully I wasn’t late," she said as she greeted the other two girls.

"Ah, he’s late, and these idiots didn’t show up either," Lexie said, resting both her arms at the farthest hind point of the armrest.

"They won’t appear; someone is keeping an eye on things here and reporting to them," Boa commented. "They won’t burn their cards early on."

Talia wasn’t surprised. "Does he not know about their plans yet?" she inquired instead.

"He might have; they tried to recruit almost everyone in the facility," Lexie replied.

Silence settled on the group; everyone was waiting now for the star to take the stage.

At the back, Samuel walked into the arena to where Ed was seated. "Why didn’t the kid come? Why didn’t you announce the reward yet?" he asked.

Ed turned to face Samuel. "He might not join this round."

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