Bzzzzz. Bzzzzz.
An errie and irritated TV static plagued the room, though a box would be a fitter name. A purple light, the only light source, glowed dimly over. The wall and floor were so downgraded that one would trip if careless. Everything seemed like an uneasy experience for anyone to stay. Yet, Mono sat in the center of the place, surrounded by numerous box TVs. Each was in a position for him to see the screen clearly.
The boy wore a brown shirt under a trenchcoat and brown pants. Though several adjustments or damage had been made, the end of the coat and shirt were shredded, and his shirt had scratches all over the surface. He looked young, about the age of a teenager. This would be the time for every youth to have the freedom to make good memories before adulthood.
This teenager, however, didn't.
Bzzzzz. Bzzzzz.
The TV before the boy emitted a static screen, which then turned to footage of a little boy in a trenchcoat and his best friend, a girl in a yellow raincoat, traveling through the ruins of the mangled old world. They traveled hand-in-hand through the wild forest and the distorted city. They ran from the monsters and had their life on a string, but eventually, they got through.
They showed friendship and trust as they helped each other through life-or-death situations. A great friendship Mono once had. Once...
Mono stepped out of the chair and moved closer to the TV, staring with fatigued eyes. As he lightly touched the screen, nothing happened except for the disappointment of repeated failures. He didn't know why he kept trying. Perhaps he was afraid to die without making one last attempt to escape - not that he could here. Or was it the little hope inside him still waiting for her?
Mono's oceanic eyes stared at the two figures on the TV once again, reminiscing about an unforgettable past. The little duo jumped and played on the mildly flooded street, splashing water at each other while giggling with joy. It was such a wholesome moment that many would cherish.
Mono, however, didn't.
Suddenly, space bent around his hand so much that it appeared so empowered. Mono winded his hand away before punching the screen with such force that the TV busted into pieces. The action left sharps piercing his bleeding hand. Yet, Mono did not show any painful expressions or regrets. Anger and frustration were.
Why did she do that?
Why did she drop me after all those moments together?
Why did she betray me?!
Why?
...
Was it her disappointment when I failed to save her twice?
Was it my naive delusion to 'save the world' led to more danger?
Or was it the moment I destroyed the music box to release her from the illusion?
That was what he had thought for the first 4 years stuck here. For a while after, he wondered if he had done anything to lead to her action. Now, Mono didn't care anymore.
"..."
Yet, tears still dropped from his exhausted eyes, which he tried to wipe away, leaving a fainted trait. How many times he had done this? He wanted a life without danger. A life without much concern for survival.
He wanted a safe place where he could enjoy time with his friends.
He only wanted - a home.
Suddenly, every TV behind him turned on by itself, displaying footage of his journey through the Pale City and the Wilderness with her. Laughing hysterically at this attempt to mock his existence, Mono's anger quickly manifested in his hands, bending the space around him.
*SMASH*
*SMASH*
*SMASH*
One by one, Mono continued breaking every single TV in his sight that dared to show what the first one displayed. Mono glared up at the joyful giant eye on the ceiling with vengeful eyes. In the final year of the ten he had been trapped here, Mono had come to a realization: If he couldn't explain Six's actions, something else must have interfered with their journey.
Yesterday, he inspected the traits of the strange substances linked to the wireless TV boxes and found them to be the same as his power, where memories and emotions manifested. However, what he discovered within them were not pleasant memories but devious thoughts and insufferable plans for his suffering.
This entity. This cursed tower. It was the reason that he was trapped here!
It planted a naive thought of defeating it in his mind and paved the way for his journey to lead to this!
ItchangedSix!
The pulsing energy in his hands grew stronger and stronger. His oceanic eyes turned into swirling TV static, reflecting the rage of what this entity had stolen from his life. Eventually, Mono unleashed a surge of energy that shot toward the eye, bending space so drastically that part of the floor and wall revealed their true form—a disgustingly pulsing, fleshy mass. However, the eye didn't flinch; instead, it mocked his attempt.
The boy sighed, knowing this would happen just like it had many times before. Trapped here for ten years, he didn't know how much longer he could hold onto his sanity before giving up. He turned away and sat down to catch his breath. Looking at his bleeding hands, impaled by the screens' shards, Mono slowly picked them out one by one. A blank stare filled his eyes as silence took over the room. Looking up, he saw that even the mocking eye above had closed.
I was truly alone here - again...
Bzzzzz. Bzzzzz.
Suddenly, the teen heard the static, turning to see a TV in the corner of the room.
How did I not notice it?
It faced away, so Mono couldn't see what it displayed. He stepped towards it, expecting the same footage of his journey with his unforgivable friend. Yet, he couldn't deny the joy and relief of being with her, even if he wouldn't forget or forgive anything soon.
Bzzzzz. Bzzzzz.
Mono shook his head, pushing the thought away. That didn't matter now. What mattered was destroying that cursed TV before finally resting in silence. However, as he moved around it, the screen slowly shifted from static to something more colorful.
Then, music replaced the annoying static. The boy narrowed his eyes at the TV with a curiosity he hadn't felt in a long time. Glancing up at the sleeping eye, Mono wondered if this was another attempt to break his sanity. The TVs had always shown either unsettling static or replays of his past. This, however, was something new.
Mono leaned closer to the colorful screen, starting to pick out the details. People danced on the stage while others cheered. A band performed behind the dancers, who moved in sync with the music. The boy found the melody upbeat and pleasant - far more enjoyable than anything he had heard before
Bass. Drums. Electric Piano.
These were instruments he had never heard, despite knowing they existed. The blend of sounds stirred something vibrant in his heart. It was so lively that Mono suddenly felt something both familiar and alien growing inside him.
What is this feeling?
The exhaustion in his mind and the pain in his body faded away. A deep yearning for better days and a brighter future reminded him of what he once had. Suddenly, the screen flickered, startling Mono. He noticed waves vibrating from the spot where his hand touched. Then, a familiar feeling returned.
This...Can I...
Mono focused on the screen, channeling his remaining power. The waves grew larger and vibrated more frequently as he thought,Could this be my chance to escape?
Suddenly, the floor trembled so violently that his hand was forced away from the screen. Mono looked up to see the enraged eye glaring down at him as the wall began revealing its true form. Pulsing flesh and additional eyes emerged through the cracks, tearing their way out as the sluggish, wet sound of shifting meat filled the air, making Mono's ears tense. He leaned forward, desperately reaching for the screen, hoping for a way to escape.
However, the boy suddenly felt something pull at his legs. Looking back, his desperation grew as he realized he had no idea what the Signal Tower would do to him once it consumed him.
Would I become like those whose empty clothes littered the streets, or a mindless Watcher endlessly yearning for the TV screens?
Mono froze at the thought. Why did he want to live so desperately?
Looking up at the TV, he fixated on the colorful screen as the flesh began wrapping around his torso and injured arm. He started to lose sensation in his body, regret sinking in.
If he had never seen that, would he still meet this fate?
*BOOM*
Suddenly, an explosion, followed by music, reached his ears like an alarm to his fading mind, jolting him back to reality. After spending too long lingering and grieving here, Mono realized that his mind was still yearning for a way out—or for something else.
He didn't want either end.
He couldn't die like this.
Hehadto live.
There had to be something he could do.
Something that would make him feel alive again.
Something that would bring him the happiness so absent from this world.
Something...
The flesh gripped his arm harder and more forcefully, desperate to consume him.
Mono watched as the TV was consumed by the fleshy wall, its chromatic screen cracking under the pressure. His eyes turned into violent static as glitching particles swirled around his left arm, bending the space around his limbs and...
BOOM!
Two waves of energy pulsed through the flesh and eyes restraining him, eliciting a painful roar as they faintly released their grip. The eye above widened in surprise at Mono's drastic method.
"AHH!..."
Chunks of his limbs remained trapped inside the flesh, torn away by the collateral damage of his power. Mono screamed in agony but gritted his teeth, forcing himself forward toward the TV. Adrenaline surged through his veins.
He had to escape.
He had to live.
He wanted a home.
The desire burned inside him as Mono reached out for the screen. The screen flickered, and hefelthimself being pulled in.
A moment of bliss washed over Mono as he thought he could finally escape - somewhere, anywhere but here. As he submerged into the static screen, distorted images and sounds blurred together around him.
This was different from when he used the TVs to travel through the Pale City, where he was merely pulled through fleshy tunnels leading to another unknown screen. This time, it felt as though he was drifting in an everchanging stream, carried toward the unknown with no clear destination.
Glancing back, he saw the pulsing flesh desperately trying to reach him through the shrinking window, but he only drifted further away. A sigh of relief escaped his lips - his attempt to escape had worked...
Suddenly, the sluggish sound of shifting flesh echoed around him. Mono hastily looked back, his heart pounding, only to see remnants of the fleshy mass still clinging to the wounds where his escape had torn pieces from his legs. Panic surged through him as he desperately tried to shake it off, but his efforts were in vain—the flesh slowly assimilated into the missing parts, creeping like a parasite. Then, he felt a powerful force pulling him back toward the looming mass of the Signal Tower.
Mono's eyes darted around, searching for an escape route—but there was nothing beneath his feet. He was floating in a chaotic void of blurring images and distorted sounds, like being trapped inside a broken TV.
Is this the end?
...
Wait.
He had entered through a TV, but he hadn't exited one yet. That meant there had to be a way out.
A familiar melody drifted through the void, and Mono's eyes widened. He turned sharply, straining to locate the source of the sound. With a surge of desperation, he reached toward it, his hands pulsing with glitching, space-bending energy. But no matter how hard he tried, he grasped nothing but empty air. Meanwhile, the flesh on his leg stretched hungrily, inching closer to reunite with the approaching mass.
Mono clenched his teeth. One arm still flailing for something—anything—to hold onto, he turned his injured arm toward his infected leg. He had come too far. There was nothing but doom waiting for him in the ever-consuming flesh. If the price of his freedom was his disobedient leg, then so be it.
After all, if he had endured the pain before... how much worse could this possibly be?
Bracing himself, Mono channeled all his remaining power, pouring his desperate desire for freedom into one final act. He could already feel the searing pain about to rip through him.
Suddenly, his other hand caught onto something solid.
A screen. A static-filled TV.
Relief and triumph flooded him at once - he had found a way outwithoutlosing his limb. Without hesitation, Mono pressed his injured arm against the screen and focused, just as he had done before.
And then - He was free.