Chapter 34: The Tower


The Salvation

Hangar Bay

Cold wind rushed into the Salvation's hangar as the rear bay door slowly lowered to the icy earth, the fierce snowstorm whipping by just outside. The air chilled Darkstalker to his bones, and he instinctively took a step back as the thick metal ramp crunched down on the snow covered ground.

"Why exactly are you doing this again?" Darkstalker asked, watching Hidden, Ricky and Xavier begin making their way down the ramp. The three dragons were wrapped in heaps of blankets from the Salvation's storage bay, though even that didn't seem to be enough to keep their teeth from chattering as they slowly edged into the frozen wasteland.

"I think you mean what exactly we are doing." Hidden corrected, "You're coming too."

"And why exactly would I want to go out there with you, when I could stay nice and warm here instead." Darkstalker replied irritably. He heard the sound of metal talons clanging against the floor, and turned to see the Reggie-tron making a mad dash towards the bay door.

"Hold up guys!" Reggie shouted from within the mecha, skidding to a stop halfway down the hangar door.

"Careful Reggie, you don't wanna break that thing after it's just been fixed, do ya?" Hidden said as the robotic dragon stepped up next to the trio. Parts of its hull were covered in small welded on metal plates, scars from the damage it had taken a week or so prior.

"So Dark, you comin'?" Hidden continued, turning back towards the NightWing.

Darkstalker took another step back, ready to walk back to his bunk without another word, when a sudden force struck him in the back of his neck, sending him reeling down the large steel ramp. The freezing air hit him all at once, his teeth violently chattering as he sent energy cycling through the nodes on his body in a desperate attempt to keep warm.

He barely had enough time to turn back to see who had hit him, when a heavy pile of blankets landed on top of him, their weight nearly sending him to the floor. He quickly began wrapping them around his freezing black scales, turning angrily towards the hangar bay where Lin stood with a knowing grin, Maple standing at her side.

"Would you get going already!" the MudWing shouted, her voice partially drowned out by the howling wind just outside, "I've got some...things...I want to take care of, and it would be nice if you weren't here to get in the way!"

"Does anyone wanna ask what 'things' she's talking about?" Xavier muttered, Hidden and Ricky both shaking their heads in response. Darkstalker let out a low growl. He hated to admit it, but even he was a little intimidated by the EarthWing.

He turned, following the other four down the ramp, and casting one last spiteful glance back at the smug EarthWing.

He carefully set one of his foretalons onto the frozen earth, his claws sinking into the thick snow. Tiny sparks sputtered out of his mouth and talons as his mechanical attachments pulsated with energy to keep him warm beneath the thick cocoon of blankets. A corner of one blanket hung over one of his eyes, hampering his vision; and despite all of the coverings, he still felt uncomfortably cold, the few parts of him not covered feeling ready to freeze off completely.

The blizzard had let up slightly since they had first arrived, the mysterious tower's imposing shadow clearly visible in the distance. The other four had already begun making their way towards the structure, Darkstalker slowly trudging along at a distance behind them, just close enough to keep them in sight.

At some point, Hidden must have noticed that the NightWing wasn't keeping up with them, and to Darkstalker's grave disappointment, turned around and began trudging over next to him.

Darkstalker sighed, turning towards the SandWing. Hidden seemed to have at least twice as many blankets piled on top of him, his tail barb barely poking out of the mountain of coverings.

"Why are we doing this?" Darkstalker grumbled, "You said it yourself, the ship'll be up and running again soon, it's only a matter of time."

"You really think we're gonna find this massive tower in the middle of nowhere and not go check it out?" Hidden replied.

"Then why am I doing this?" Darkstalker clarified. The last place he wanted to be was trudging through the frigid Ice Kingdom to check out some big tower.

"Let's see, you've been bunking with us, eating our food, and received free medical treatment too. It's only fair that you start helping out for once, right?"

Darkstalker groaned. He didn't exactly see how tagging along on a pointless expedition was "helping out". He looked around at the bleak surroundings, and back at the massive tower, growing ever closer.

"We've gotta be far north of the Great Ice Wall, at least…." he mumbled.

"The great what now?" Hidden asked.

"The Great Ice Wall." Darkstalker explained, "It's a magic wall of ice the IceWings built along the border that kills any non-IceWings that try to get past."

Hidden paused, considering Darkstalker's statement. "Moons, I knew the IceWings were isolationist, but not that much!"

Darkstalker briefly chuckled, before remembering a similar barrier that had been erected along the border of the Old Night Kingdom.

The others were already waiting by the time Darkstalker and Hidden arrived at the base of the tower, standing in the freezing weather before two massive metal doors. Their surfaces seemed perfectly polished, despite the ice and snow whipping past, as if they had just left the foundry. They each looked to be at least three times the dragons' height, if not more.

A holographic countdown was projected above the door, though it didn't seem to have any source, and appeared completely unphased by the violent weather. Just over five minutes remained, the seconds ticking down one by one.

"S-S-So wh-what now?" Xavier asked, teeth violently chattering beneath his heap of blankets. The group stared at the timer for a moment, watching it slowly tick down, before Hidden spoke up.

"I guess we just wait." he stated.

"Wait?! Out here?!" Darkstalker hissed, feeling the cold creeping its way up his scales. "We'll freeze to death!"

"It's only a few minutes." Reggie commented from within the Reggie-tron. Darkstalker hated that name.

"E-Easy for y-y-you to s-say…." Xavier mumbled through his chattering teeth.

"Hey, it'll take us longer to walk back to the Salvation anyway, and once these doors open, it'll likely be warmer inside." Hidden casually explained, though even he was struggling to bear the cold.

"We don't know what will happen when that timer runs out! For all we know, it could just kill us!" Darkstalker retorted through gritted teeth.

"Yeah...well, that is a possibility. But I've got a pretty strong hunch that's not the case." Hidden said, gesturing to the doors, "I mean, come on."

Darkstalker growled in the back of his throat. These dragons were going to kill him, and all because of some random tower they'd just happened to come across. He sighed, at the very least, if he was dead, he wouldn't have to carry the heavy burden of his past any longer.

And what a fitting way to go out, too.

Ten seconds remained on the timer, the cold creeping up ever closer with each one lost. The blizzard began to pick up again, and one of the blankets wrapped around Darkstalker was ripped off, flying away into the white abyss.

The final second ticked by, the timer fading away, the doors firmly shut.

"See, I told you. Now can we go ba…."

A blinding light flashed before Darkstalker's eyes, and he instinctively recoiled, lifting his talons to shield his vision. The blankets covering his body began to fall to the ground, but strangely, Darkstalker felt no freezing wind slamming into his scales. He slowly lowered his talons, his eyes gradually adjusting to the shadowy darkness that now surrounded him.

At first, Darkstalker thought he had been blinded, the bleak white wasteland from before replaced by a seemingly endless void, though he quickly spotted the other four, looking just about as confused and bewildered as he was.

"What the moons…." Hidden mumbled, looking around, "Where are we?"

Darkstalker huffed out a small puff of smoke, ripping the blankets off of his body and tossing them to the cold stone brick floor that spread out beneath them. A slight chill was flowing through the air, though it was nothing compared to the frozen purgatory they had been standing in moments before. Still, something about this place unnerved Darkstalker, even more than the Ice Kingdom.

"A-Are we...inside the tower?" Ricky asked, stretching his neck up to look around.

"Probably?" Hidden replied, "I have to say, I wasn't expecting that."

"Of course you weren't…." Darkstalker grumbled, turning around to peer into the endless void that surrounded them.

"What're you lookin' at, Dark?" Reggie asked, still safe within the Reggie-tron.

"Isn't it obvious? Someone could be watching us!" Darkstalker explained through gritted teeth.

Hidden chuckled. "I thought you had that covered." he said with a smirk.

It took Darkstalker a moment to realize what Hidden had meat. He groaned, shifting his focus back to the void. He needed to be ready in case someone….

"Hello there."

"Yeaugh!" Darkstalker shouted, startled. He whirled around and leapt away, firing a bolt of white electricity out of his mouth towards the source of the voice. The speaker, rather than diving out of the way, casually deflected it with one of their foretalons, sending it flying off into the darkness.

"Oh, terribly sorry!" they said semi-apologetically, "I do have a bit of a habit of sneaking up on people. Though I'll admit that it was a bit rude of you to jump right to violence like that."

Darkstalker stared at the newcomer for a long moment. He was a NightWing, somewhere between twenty to thirty years of age. He looked rather ordinary, save for a bright red bow tie stuck to his chest, and a pair of small round spectacles over his snout.

"Woah, who are you." Hidden asked, walking up to the strange NightWing. "Are you like...one of those 'animus' things, or something?"

"Oh no, not at all." the stranger assured. They paused, inspecting their foretalons curiously, as if they were some sort of foreign object. "Goodness, what's it been, sixteen, seventeen years since we've last come to this multiverse?" they muttered to themselves.

Darkstalker began to approach the stranger, cautiously. No normal dragon could deflect a bolt of lightning with the swipe of a talon. But if he wasn't an animus, then what was he?

"Well, I do believe that I must introduce myself." the stranger said, clearing his throat. "I am Winnifred, and I would like to welcome you to the Tower of Doom!"

Silence followed the strange NightWing's introduction, the group collectively taking a moment to process the information that had just been fed to them.

"Th-The...the Tower of...Doom?" Xavier asked.

Winnifred nodded, stepping aside to address all five of them. "Yes, it's a little...on the nose...perhaps. Though I wasn't the one to come up with it." he explained, "I simply work here as a...guide, if you will." He straightened out his back a little, gesturing to the endless void that encompassed them. "Here in the Tower, you will…."

"We'll take on various challenges as we ascend towards a reward at the top? Like a treasure dungeon?" Hidden interrupted, already growing giddier by the second.

"Er, yes, that's what I was about to explain." Winnifred replied, visibly irritated. "You will face a random number of random challenges on the path towards a random reward at the top of the Tower."

Hidden seemed to be just barely containing his excitement, and Darkstalker swore he heard him squealing with glee for a brief moment. Ricky seemed to be excited as well, and Darkstalker figured Reggie was feeling the same from within the Reggie-tron.

"That sounds like a lot of random." Xavier stated skeptically, though even he seemed to be growing excited at the prospect of ascending the tower. "And uh, what happens to us if we fail any of these challenges?"

"Oh, you have no need to worry." Winnifred reassured, "You will simply be removed from the Tower. No harm can come to you here."

The other four turned to each other, silently deliberating for a moment, before they nodded in affirmation. Darkstalker frowned.

"Now hold on." he began, taking a step towards Winnifred, who promptly took a warry step back. "What if we didn't want to partake in your…'challenges'?"

"If you're really not up for it, you can leave." Winnifred explained, eyeing Darkstalker cautiously, "Though, you may not have another chance to climb the Tower for quite some time."

The NightWing turned back to the rest of the group, gesturing towards a large metal box descending from the void above. "Now, if you please…." he said, stepping aside as the elevator touched down upon the stone floor. Its sliding metal doors opened, revealing a small compartment with light brown wood paneled walls, and a white and grey tiled floor.

Darkstalker turned, a large metal door similar to the one they had seen outside of the Tower having materialized behind them. The other four each cast it a cursory glance, before making their way towards the elevator. They all squeezed themselves in, one by one, Hidden pausing halfway to turn back to Darkstalker.

"Hey, Dark!" he shouted, "Come on!"

Darkstalker shook his head. "This seems like a complete waste of time." he grumbled.

"Come on! It'll be fun!" Hidden replied.

"Well I don't have time for fun."

Darkstalker made his way over to the towering metal doors, and was mere moments from touching it when Hidden replied once again.

"Alright, have fun in the Ice Kingdom then!" the SandWing shouted.

Darkstalker froze, remembering the icy wasteland they had just escaped from. He shivered just at the thought of it, and while climbing the 'Tower of Doom' seemed utterly ridiculous, was it really all that worse than stepping out into that bitter cold again.

Darkstalker roared in frustration, punching the stone floor. He slowly turned around, striding over towards the crowded elevator, Hidden casting him a knowing grin. "This reward had better be worth it." he hissed, as he squeezed himself into the packed chamber.

"Hey Winnie, you think you could…." Hidden started, gesturing towards the mess of blankets they had left on the floor.

Winnifred frowned at Hidden disapprovingly, and then at the piles of blankets. "Yes, your things will be taken care of." he sighed.

"Thanks!" Hidden shouted, squeezing himself into the elevator as its metal doors slid shut. Darkstalker winced, feeling rather uncomfortable packed into a room that seemed designed to hold three dragons at most, not five.

The elevator jerked, rising up into the void as it carried its occupants towards their first challenge, Darkstalker regretting his decision the whole way up.


AN:

One of the challenges I face in writing these chapters is juggling so many characters at the same time. Some characters can often be left with few lines as the story focuses on the interactions of a couple throughout the chapter, and especially in this episode, there will be a lot of large group moments all throughout. Hopefully you're all enjoying Darkstalker's POV, I've been trying to seed in details about his past without giving away too much. I actually originally planned to have them visit the Tower of Doom way back in Lin's timeline, in the old version of this story before I rewrote the early chapters. They were going to get a user manual for the Salvation at the end, and that was how they were going to figure out how to pilot it. It's crazy to think about how much this story has changed in my mind over time, like how the original version's chaos timeline chapter was reworked into Episode 3's cyberpunk storyline and brought back for the end of Episode 4. Even long before I ever started writing, this story had gone through many iterations. In one of the original ones, Hidden at one point fights Shaggy in the SkyWing arena in an attempt to prevent the "Memepocolypse" from destroying all of Pyrrhia! It was some crazy, and utterly ridiculous stuff, and the Tower of Doom is actually a remnant of those early iterations of the story! It's just crazy to see how far this story has come, and how much further there still is to go!

Stay tuned!