Break! Break! Break!
The stone dug into his hands as he fell down. His back exploded with pain as the rocks making up his precarious mountain stabbed him as he tumbled. But the physical pain was nothing compared to the pain in his heart. He looked up through the dust, tears welling in his eyes as he stared at the ceiling.
Break! Break! Break!
But the ceiling remained, ever so firm and indestructible to its captive.
As if a thousand boulders had crushed down on him to incur his cries, he curled into a ball at the base of his tower and wept.
xXx
No one came for him. No light pierced through his darkness.
His tears had run dry, but the pain in his heart remained.
He wanted out. Visions of colors he had never seen, a cool sensation of a breeze he had never felt, flooded his senses. He yearned for what he had never had and never should have identified. Companionship. He wanted a cure to this loneliness.
He did not know where the desire came from. But the gnawing ache consuming his heart was relentless.
Tears cascaded down his face. His throat, sore from his cries, allowed a choked whimper to escape his dry lips.
The cold, where he desired warmth, descended on him.
xXx
A new warmth filled him. A hand reached out to cradle his small frame. A bright light left him blind, but he happily cried out, forgetting for a moment that he should be afraid of this new occurrence.
"Oh my," a voice that pierced through his head caused him to look up.
A creature unlike anything he had ever seen, different from the monsters he used to hide from, stepped towards him.
"I haven't received visitors in a while."
He was still. Was this new being a threat? That was the lingering thought in the back of his mind. But the fascination of seeing someone else, of the ache in his heart subsiding somewhat, faded away, and he could only smile.
xXx
He could not stay. The creature would not let him. To avoid returning back to that cave, and the ache in his heart from reappearing, he had to crush the ball the large monster was guarding.
He would do it. He feared loneliness more than the monster.
So he had rushed forward. His legs nearly tangled in the dirty oversized cloth he wore.
He would have tripped and fallen forward, had it not been for someone leaping in front of him. He ran into them, the dirt and grime on his face instantly staining the pristine white coat. He looked up with wide eyes into a pair of crimson red orbs. Long hair, almost as long as his, was pulled back with a hair tie almost as bright as her eyes.
The woman was speaking rapidly, her voice harsh, but he could only stare at her in awe. Already, he was surrounded by other beings. The ache in his heart began to fade when he realized he was no longer alone.
The smaller man at the bright woman's side offered him something. Unlike the woman, his voice was softer and he spoke slower. The round object he held out floated forward, and his ears began to ring with an unpleasant sensation.
He could put an understanding to what the woman and the small man was saying. She was expressing haughty concern for his well-being, while the short man was merely exasperated with the behavior of his companion.
He could not form the words, but he was filled with a sense of understanding. This woman and her companion...they were communicating with him!
Tears filled his vision as he quickly nodded when the woman asked "can you understand me?"
xXx
"Ugh, I cannot believe that he is forcing you to take such a difficult test," the woman fussed. "Even guys on the 20th floor have a hard time dealing with the White Steel Eel."
He said nothing as the woman continued to fix his hair. She had hurried him over to a corner, away from the large white man with the glowing staff. She had sat him down and for a while, she had started fussing over his hair.
He did not mind. He could feel her fingers, sometimes not-too gently, pull at his long locks. She had once asked him when was the last time he had bathed, to which he had only shrugged. He did not know what she had asked in the first place.
"Evan, don't you have anything to better cloth this boy in your backpack? Surely you have something useful in there!"
The man, Evan, merely sighed from where he stood. "Lady Yuri, I'm not even sure you should be paying so much attention to an Irregular."
The woman, Lady Yuri, exclaimed with an indignant huff. "How could I not? Look at him! He's got such a small baby face and Headon just wants to feed him to that monster! I thought that all the Irregulars were supposed to be intimidating, but this kid looks nothing special. Headon, don't you think you could make an exception for this kid? I don't think he can even speak yet! The Tower will eat him alive."
"The Tower is never fair. If he is meant to survive, handicapes or not, then he will pull through."
"Bullshit! Have you ever seen anyone enter the Tower with no communication skills? Let alone an understanding of the common language?"
Their chatter faded away, and he closed his eyes, content. This calm, fluttering sensation in his heart made him feel happy. Even if he were to stay in these confines with Lady Yuri, Evan, and even intimidating Headon, he would be fine. The noise from their constant babbling and the monster lurking within the cages was significantly better than the quiet darkness of the cave.
Here, he was not alone.
But he had to leave. Lady Yuri had helped him stand up, her expression tight with an emotion he had yet to identify.
"Have you got a name?" she asked. "Something we can call you?"
Something to call him by? Is that what it means to be called a 'Lady Yuri' and an 'Evan'?
He shook his head. He did not have anything to go by. There was no one to call him anything.
"Hm, that's too bad." Lady Yuri sighed. "Listen, I'm going to give you something to help you pass this test. When you pass, you stick with me. After all," she brushed a few strands of hair out of his face. "It'll be a waste to have you die after I worked so hard on fixing your hair."
"Lady Yuri, you just pulled his hair back in a simple ponytail. Even a child could do that."
"Shut-up Evan!" She stared at him, her gaze narrowed, yet the emotion he had yet to identify clouded her features. "Listen, if you break the ball and live, then you're something special. Don't disappoint me."
He only nodded, accepting the weapon she handed to him. It was sleek and darker than the pitch black caves he lived in. He did his best to smile at her to show his gratitude, but he must have done something wrong because she quickly looked away. Still, he heard her last words to him as he made his way towards the Eel.
"We'll have to come up with a name for you."
xXx
His desperation had fueled him. He had shouted out in fear mixed with hopelessness. He could not let Lady Yuri or Evan down, the only two people who had broken through his world and stayed with him. He had to defeat this monster, break the ball, and he would be permitted to stay.
Then his weapon shone, and another light graced him.
She was beautiful, yet her gaze sent shivers down his spine. When she embraced him, he had felt stiff, even as he was taken away from Lady Yuri and Evan, and to another world separate from the dark cave.
When he awoke, he was alone once more. But the ceiling was now bright, so bright that he curled up and squeezed his eyes shut against the bright pain. Still, the image of the ceiling was seared into his brain. He could not forget how beautiful it was, the open air, the tall soft ground that bent with the cool touch of the breeze.
Blearily opening his eyes at the sound of a woman's voice resounding in the air, he clutched the weapon tighter. He had to hold on to it, for Lady Yuri. She said he should come with her should he pass the test. The problem was he did not know what that meant. But what he did know was that he did not want to be alone.
xXx
His world grew brighter. The ache in his heart was nonexistent now, filled with such joy that it nearly hurt. But it was a welcoming pain.
"Hey, can you even understand me?" At his quick nod, the man had grinned. "You look like an interesting kid. Especially with that needle in your hands." The newcomer held out his pale hand. "I'm Khun Aguero Agnis. What do you say we team up?"