Baam lay there, in his pool of blood that stained the rocks, unable to do anything but stare up at the school of fishes that swam in the shinsoo up above. He had not done even that much, had not even sat up, his mind working at a furious pace yet still so hollow. Like a chunk of him had been carved out.
"You know; I'm being very kind by being so patient with you. It's kind of out of character for me."
He tore his eyes away from the swirling mass of shinsoo above to look … to look at Hwa Ryun. The girl sat on one of the rocks, cross-legged, staff balanced on her knees. From her half-masked face, she gave him this smirksmile that he could not even begin to discern – it turned out that there were a great many things that Baam did not know.
He eased himself up to his feet. Baam could still feel the power, so useless to him now, flowing about him, filling him. It didn't heal his wounds, evaporate the blood that clung to his tattered clothes, but it let him take a step. Then another. Baam looked down at Hwa Ryun, a single question piercing through the haze in his mind.
"What now?"
"Now," she said, standing up and dusting herself off, "You come with me."
In silence they walked to one of the rock walls that made up the "wine glass" of the testing arena. Once there, Baam paused and shot a look over to Hwa Ryun.
Who promptly grabbed him by the shoulder and shoved him towards the wall.
"Wha – " Baam started to shout as he raised his arms up in a reflective block, but he felt no contact at all. His body just phased through the wall, popping through it – as if it had just been water, insubstantial and slight. He had fallen through it like –
He cut off that thought violently, just in time for Hwa Ryun to step through the illusion, seeming to emerge out of the rock wall itself. One glance at him was enough to widen her grin. "Such a scary face," she said, "What are you thinking about?"
Baam opened his mouth. "Nothing." He closed it.
Where before they had stood in a rocky, jagged seafloor – each protrusion jutting up into the shinsoo – now they found themselves in a chamber – a large, circular space.
And there, at the top of the chamber, stood Yu Han Sung, hands clasped behind his back, robed in his usual yellow and blue.
"You." Baam didn't even notice Hwa Ryun call out to him, hand outstretched, he didn't even really see the sight of the room around him swim and speed by as he charged. Baam snapped out his hands to grab two fistfuls of his clothes, but suddenly the weight of his arms increased and he nearly fell to the ground then and there – body drawn to the cavern floor like attracting magnets.
"I'll overlook that because you've literally hit rock bottom, but do try to calm yourself."
"You," Baam snarled that conversation flashing about in his head, "You are behind all of this, aren't you? Tell me what's going on!"
"I know you must have many questions but you'll have to be a bit more patient for now. Rest up."
Yu Han Sung left down a side tunnel lit by shimmering torches imbedded in the stone. When he did the pressure on Baam evaporated so it no longer felt as if a giant hand pressed him down. But still he did not budge. All strength had just seeped out of him.
"Alright, enough of that, up you go." Baam saw a brief flash of red before he was lifted to his feet. "Quite a hassle this god is," she muttered.
"What was that?" Baam asked. But even so his voice seemed indistinct, faint and echoing to his ears.
"Nothing. Come on, let's get you to bed before you die on us."
Hwa Ryun guided him down a side pathway, branching off of the hallway that Yu Han Sung vanished into. The corridor opened up into another chamber, this one less cavernous and more like an actual bedroom, complete with furnishings. Baam wasn't sure how far he'd walked from the test arena now.
They weren't alone. By the bed, a woman with fair skin, black sclera and red irises stood, arms crossed, as she looked at Baam as he crossed the doorway. The sudden new face caught Baam off-guard. The woman nodded at the bed. "The name is Jinsu," she said, "I'll be taking a look at your injuries."
Baam eased himself onto the bed, and the newcomer placed a hand on his forehead. She frowned.
"Do you have a fever?"
"Fever?" Baam tested the word out, "Probably not. I'm not even sure I can get one. I've never had a fever be-"
Baam cut himself off, but he was too slow.
"Before you came into the Tower," It shouldn't have surprised him that the woman knew he was an Irregular, but it did. "A piece of advice. You'll be happier if you forget all that."
Before Baam had a chance to respond, blue light poured out of the woman's hand, washing over his body. It felt … odd. As if the technique did more than just heal his cuts and bruises, but imprinted itself into his own baang. Oh! Baam thought, Just like the Fast Skip technique that Quant-ssi – ow!
Baam winced and shifted out of the woman's touch. He hadn't noticed how much he hurt until some of the pain started to fade. There was not a spec of skin on Baam's body not covered in a cut, and though he had stopped bleeding blood still soaked through his clothes – coating the E13 on his collar.
The light faded and Baam found himself just lying on the bed – whole but sore. Through half-lidded eyes he looked about the room – then bolted up straight.
"Where's Hwa Ryun?" He shouldn't feel so panicked but he did. Being alone, in this sterilized room with only a stranger felt odd to him, gave him an odd sort of nostalgia that he didn't need.
"She left as you were being healed," The woman, Jinsu?, said, "She comes and goes as she pleases."
"You've known her long then."
"As long as anyone knows each other in – I shouldn't have said that."
"In what?"
"In FUG," a new voice suddenly spoke up, Baam glanced up to see almost an identical version of the woman, but male. He was pale faced as well, with black and red eyes, though by one of them three lines with hearts at the end could be seen.
"Jiggu," she said.
"Dear sister. I take it this is our new candidate?"
"Candidate? For what? Who are you people?" Fear began to bubble up in Baam. The whole situation felt off, like some unspoken tension hung about them – waiting to drown him in its implications.
"Look what you've done," the woman said, "You've said too much."
"Well, no going back now," the man said. He dragged a chair away from the wall then sat on it, arms slumped over the back, "So what do you want to know?"
"Who are you people?" Baam repeated.
"We are FUG – the Federation Under Grace."
Grace? But Baam had other things to worry about, "What is it? What do you want from me?"
"FUG is a criminal organization. One that is devoted to one, singular, purpose – to kill Zahard and the Ten Warriors. The ones who will do so are our eleven Slayers. You are a candidate for the position."
No.
Baam jerked up, ready to throw off the covers and bolt, but then he felt it. Like before with Yu Han Sung it felt like a giant invisible hand grasped him by the shoulders and held the boy down to the bed. It felt … different … than before, as if his body had adjusted to it and it's hold had become slack on him. Though Baam was still pressed to the sheets, he wiggled, trying to shove himself off the bed.
"Oh?" He said, smile widening.
The man, Jiggu, leaned over, face above his face. "I know that this must be surprising for you," he began, as if measuring each word, "And your hesitance speaks well of you. But they do not deserve it. We will climb up the Tower, grasp them where they sit on their precious thrones and tear them down."
Before, months ago, eons ago it felt, he had asked her a single question – why do people fight, why do they kill? Hatred she answered. If bad people tried to hurt your friends, you would fight them, you would be angry. Since coming to the Tower Baam had found it filled with hatred, filled with death, but it was not until right then that he saw true fire – burning, fierce hatred that churned in his eyes. This man, whoever he was, had little else in him but hatred.
"It will be done. Either you will rise above and be one of the gods that brings our dearest wish to fruition or you are useless."
With that, the force holding Baam still vanished as the man vanished too out of the room.
"I'm sorry about that."
"It's alright," Baam said, he wasn't sure if it was. "There's a reason, isn't there?"
"Yes," Jinsu sighed. "But we cannot tell you, sorry. Until we are sure of you we cannot tell you more."
Baam sat up, hands raising to his soaked bangs. Through the cracks between his fingers Baam looked down onto the sheets below – the bed, the room, the furnishings – they were all so exquisite, seemed so manmade, like another room up on the Floor of Tests, so much so that he nearly forgot that the outside looked nothing more than a rocky cavern. Sickeningly familiar.
"I still don't understand. Why me?"
"What do you know of contracts?"
Baam raised his head from his hands, looking at her with hollow eyes. "Contracts?"
"Yes, you can use shinsoo so you must have made one."
Baam wracked his mind for the answer. It wasn't too hard to find. "In order to use shinsoo, you need to get permission from the Guardian of the Floor. This is called getting a contract with a Guardian. This must be done on every floor. You contact Guardians through your Pocket. What does this have to do with anything?"
"Those aren't the only contracts that are possible. When Zahard and the Ten Great Warriors first entered the Tower they all made contracts with the Guardians. One such contract gave them immortality, save for Hendo Lok Bloodmadder. He made a unique contract to trade his children and descendants' lifespans to gain immortality."
Baam's eyes became half-lidded, eyes glancing down at the sheets. "I see."
"However, the most important contract is the one Zahard made on the 134th Floor. He cannot be killed by any of the residents of the Tower, thus only an Irregular can do the deed."
Realization snapped into place for him, causing Baam to jump to his feet, covers hitting the floor. "That's!" His throat constricted, tightening on itself. He had to swallow before he could force the words out, had to calm himself. "That's why it happened! That's why you want me! And you forced Rachel to betray me to get – "
"No. Believe what you want about FUG, but we did not force her. Her reasons were her own."
"That is. But that's!"
Jinsu sighed, shoulders slumping, before standing up. "It's a lot to take in," she started, "I understand if you need time. I'll get you something to eat." She left.
Baam went to the door and twisted the doorknob.
Locked.
….
The next morning Baam found his door unlocked.
He stepped outside to find a long open tunnel, the same as before, but now completely empty. 25th Baam followed along it regardless, taking slow, measured steps, glancing around, then dashing. His feet padded against the rock ground as he entered into the circular chamber. He scanned the walls and found the one he had slipped through before. Baam rushed up to it, pressed his hands against it.
Solid.
"You lost your chance."
Baam turned around to see the red-headed Hwa Ryun smiling at him, the staff she used to fight with the they first met in her hand being dragged behind her. It created a groove in the dirt. She really does go where she wants.
"What do you mean?"
"Last night the water from the testing chamber was drained in the search for your body. Obviously, it wasn't found, but the fact you didn't escape before then set your path."
The blood in his body ran cold. "Wait. What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that 25th Baam is officially dead."
"If I just go out and let them know – "
"And nearly be assassinated again?"
"What?"
She sighed, her smile shifting into a smirk. "That Wave Controller instructor we had? Yuga? His real name was Lo Po Bia Ren – he was part of RED, the Royal Enforcement Division. The moment he found out that you were an Irregular he decided to send the Bull after you. That is what you can expect if they find out that 25th Baam, the Irregular, is alive."
A new silence was born as Baam found his words dying at that. He had nothing to say, he had nothing to think. He just stared, out over her shoulder, at one of the stalagmite that formed a pillar up into the ceiling. He saw the grooves and edges and sought words.
Hwa Ryun found them.
"Viole."
"What?"
"Your new name. Viole. Do you like it?"
"Does it mean anything?"
"Who knows?"
"I … I don't know. I don't know anything."
He glanced over to the side again, his eyes scanning that stalagmite. He did not think of that cave, did not think of her, at that moment, but rather of different faces – so smiling, so happy, so different from where he was now and where he had been. A face with blue hair and a towering giant looking for prey, yet still breaking out into a smile.
Hwa Ryun did not keep him to his thoughts long.
"Is it so bad, I wonder?"
"What?"
"You were discovered by her on the 25th night of a certain month," Hwa Ryun began, stepping closer, eyes honed on his, tearing Baam's gaze away from his surroundings. "That day became your birthday of sorts. She likely named you before she left you all alone again."
"What are you saying?"
"Rachel didn't put much thought into that name, did she?"
He didn't even consciously think it, decide to act. One moment Baam's hand was at his side, the next it swept to her face and smacked against her cheek with a resounding thwack that resounded in the empty cavern. He stumbled a step back, eyes wide, voice trembling. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to – "
"I reject your identity and you apologize? It's fine."
He looked at her. She looked at him. That smirksmile had never left her face.
"Why didn't you block it?"
"I would never raise a hand against you."
…..
The next couple days were a test of patience. Hwa Ryun had vanished once more, and Jiggu, whenever Baam saw him, just glared, which left only Jinsu to talk with when she showed up to check his pulse and other vitals.
"He's going to ask for an answer, you know," she said, the afternoon of the second day.
"Who?"
"The director of this Floor. Yu Han Sung."
Baam's face scrunched up in a scowl, his mind clouding in a haze of red. "It's still no. It'll always be no."
"I never got around to telling you why Jiggu and I are in FUG, did I?"
That pierced his haze of anger. "I thought you were going to wait until you trusted me."
"It's not a story I like to tell but it could help you decide."
"Alright."
"My last name is Reinu-Eurasia. Jiggu and I were born into a branch family of the Eurasias. Eurasias as a whole have an exceptional capability for shinsoo. Our branch in particular excelled in healing. We had a code of sorts, we would heal anyone who needed it, who would die without our aid. One day, we found a member of the Bidau family. We knew of the feud between the Eurasia and Bidau families – who didn't? But we healed him anyway."
"What happened?"
"At first? Nothing. The man got up and went on his way." Then she sighed, her eyes unfocused – staring off to some even that Baam could not reach. "Then we heard the news. That man, Po Bidau Hayong, was the head of a splinter cell of the Bidau family that did not make it into the Research Society – "Gustang's Rejects" they were called. They terrorized many, specifically the main branch of the Eurasia family. After he was healed he led an assault on one of their compounds and wiped it out. When the main family heard they were furious, even more so when they found out that we saved his life and inadvertently caused it to happen. That's when they decided to make an example out of us."
At that moment, Baam remember how he reacted to Androssi's story, how he just assumed that at that kitchen table that her sisters shared their food with her. Something similar was on the tips of his lips then, it would be so easy to imagine that the main branch fined them, wrote a new law forbidding healing strangers or requiring background checks, but Baam was many things, but he was no fool. He knew a pattern when he saw it, he knew what could have pushed them into FUG.
"They attacked, didn't they?"
"Yes. The entire branch family was wiped out, man, woman and child."
Baam rose his head at that, eyes widening despite himself.
"Well, I'm sure that's given you a lot to think about, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave you alone for now."
"What?"
"Jiggu is heading off on a mission, and I'm going to take some Regular brat as an apprentice."
"I … I guess I hope you'll have a good time."
She frowned at that, crossing her arms and tilting her head. "I'm not sure about that, honestly. From what I hear the kid's a bit … odd. Never stops smiling."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
"Not the sort of smiling you're thinking of Baam. Come on."
They stepped outside of the room, and before Baam even fully crossed the threshold, Jinsu shut the door closed. She locked it with a click.
"What are you doing?"
"Sorry, but we can't leave you alone in the room unsupervised. You're going to have to wait out here for Yu Han Sung."
Why? But instead he said, "I thought he wasn't returning for a couple more days."
"He isn't."
….
With the sole door in the area closed and locked, Baam found himself in the circular rock cavern, the jagged ground digging into the soles of his feet. Despite himself, Baam began to pace, moving back and forth in front of the wall he entered through.
Other than his footsteps silence reigned.
Silence reigned because he was alone.
Is this part of their strategy? Talk to him, display the situation in the Tower and their motives and then just let Baam stew in his own thoughts? Well, it wasn't working. As the minutes drained on, Baam felt his anger mounting moment by moment, he slammed his hands against the rock wall, as if he pushed hard enough he could just slip through and into the Guardian's test arena. How did that work, by the way? How did they get that, demon or whatever, onto this floor? Was the Guardian in on it?
Baam spent some time leaving the chamber to explore the other tunnels. While the left one dead ended at the locked room there was another corridor that Yu Han Sung went down. He had more luck there. Seven different doors awaited him at the end of the hallway, three on each wall and one on the end in the middle. All locked.
Of course.
All the standing up and walking about, all the pressing on that sliver of rock wall that Baam knew had passed through before, tired him out. After losing strength in his legs, he just sat on the ground, curled up on himself, just staring and staring at the sickeningly familiar sight before him.
Because it had always been like that before, alone, by himself, in that dusty, rocky place, where the only sounds that could be heard were the haggard breaths of his own breathing, where all the effort he put in, all the striving to build that stupid tower of rocks – all of it had been meaningless. The empty space around him of the cavern closed in, and choked him, and pushed and pulled against his mind, made it shrink on itself.
How he wished for Hwa Ryun to appear. Anyone just so he was no longer alone, alone with his thoughts and the whispering of his mind of Sorry Baam. The way the water swam up, and sped up all about him, how he drowned – the shinsoo filling his lungs and pain spread through his chest and –
"Haven't you made up your mind yet? It's been four days now. I think it's time."
That one meeting would set everything in motion.