A gust of wind buffeted my face as I watched the winged woman take to the skies. She flew over the vast bone plains, over the roaming skeletal amalgamations, and eventually landed on the distant pillar.
As with before, I could more or less hear their words, echoing from the distance.
"Mother!"
"Mom!"
The two familiar voices reacted in tandem. It seemed like the man and woman weren't lying.
So, I turned to the man.
"If it's alright, can I get your name?"
The man raised a brow. "For a human, you're quite respectful. Call me Irmak."
"…That's an interesting sentence to mention… I'm Zöe. Is it alright if I ask what you are?"
"Oh? You don't know what I am? Does your world have a name?"
I blinked.
Worlds were supposed to have names?
"I'm not sure," I admitted, "Why?"
"Well, it explains why you don't know what I am. I am a Higher Golem from the world of Harmicse. We're one of the more famous worlds out there, serving as the thirty-sixth floor of the [Tower]."
I nodded, "Thank you for that information. It seems like the world I come from isn't too informed on matters of the [Tower]."
In fact, only Eve had the memories that barely scratched the surface of the existence of other worlds. The place I was born in might be a minor world, unknown to others.
After all, Eve, despite travelling back in time, is classified as a Lesser Human. If I judged worlds based on the quality of those living within, then I might just be right.
Anyways.
I went on a tangent there. The real reason I spoke was to ask about the trial.
"Irmak, sir, is it alright if I ask about the First Trial that I am facing?"
Irmak shook his head. "I know what you're going to ask. In short, no, I have not completed this impossible trial. The timer you most likely saw when you were given this trial is a lie."
"None of us have been able to fully cultivate a Suiroi Sentient Tree."
My frown grew.
"But, didn't you say that my sapling could grow at the Oasis?"
Irmak chuckled, "I didn't say that."
The words I wished to speak never left my mouth as I reviewed the recent memory.
"You only mentioned survival… but not growth..?" I realized.
Oh no.
My expression fell.
"Smart lad." Irmak could only smile wryly when I arrived at the correct answer.
"The Suiroi Sentient Tree refuses to grow in bad conditions. Literally. That means that as long as the world isn't vibrant and full of vitality, they will forever be in the sapling state. Unfortunately, if they die, our lives would also end because the Trial will judge us to be failures. We can only plant them near the oasis to keep them alive."
I found that hard to believe. Wasn't the [Tower] supposed to be fair? Just like the time he was told to kill the Suiroican Spider, it was difficult but completely within the bounds of my strength.
And it seemed like Irmak saw through me.
"I know what you're thinking. Check your timer again."
Despite my doubts, I complied. Summoning the screen that I had swiped to the side of my vision, I finally saw what Irmak meant.
[Time until completion: 83 Days, 21 Hours, 43 Minutes, 59 Seconds]
The timer hadn't changed.
****
The journey back to the oasis was straight forward.
We would always circle around the distracted, uncaring skeleton amalgamations to avoid provoking them.
By doing so, we safely hiked across a giant, rubbery skeleton frame, following its structure until we reached its head. Although this was arduous, like climbing up a steep, slippery, and bouncy mountain, earlier Ascenders had already carved out a path.
I just had to follow along, chatting with the family as we went. I learned a little bit more about them, and learned that the kids were twins! It was just that the genes of Golems and Winged-Borns weren't perfectly compatible, hence one would always take a step back as the recessive gene template.
I was learning a lot about the world from our chats… As well as a lot of figures of insulting speech from the two bickering twins.
But the hike lasted for four days. If not for Irmak and his wife, Hina, and the rations they brought, Zöe couldn't have imagined how he would have survived.
At a certain point, I had to conserve my energy, limiting the amount of times I opened my mouth to speak.
After all, this place was as lifeless as a concrete room. There was only silence and dead bones.
"We're here,"
Irmak finally said, standing at the edge of a circular chasm. I looked around to figure out where we were.
On this head, which was likely a dozen kilometers wide, I guessed that this chasm was one of the skull's eye sockets. We passed its teeth earlier, so it was only logical that this part used to be where the giant's eyes could've been.
There were three such circular chasms, and each one had a rickety staircase made out of interlocked bones spiralling down into the darkness.
A three-eyed giant, whose eyes were set in a straight, horizontal line across its face, thus giving us a series of three black circles where the oasis lies beneath.
Perhaps I wasn't particularly surprised by the fact that the oasis is situated in the giant's skull. In a way, it made some macabre kind of sense.
"Finally!"
Averie, the family's daughter, stretched her wings, ready to fly down with Hina. Irmak and Varak, however, could only droop their shoulders, preparing for a long walk down.
They were already thankful that Averie and Hina were around during the hike, helping out in particularly steep locations with short, aerial boosts.
To ask to be carried down just because they refused to use the stairs…
It seemed like a blow to their pride.
I, on the other hand, would have to go with them, so I kept my mouth shut.
Unlike Averie who was opening her mouth to mock Varak.
"See? I told you. Wings are supreme."
Hearing that, Irmak and Hina shook their heads in resignation, already used to it. In fact, the siblings' banter contained a lot of their own previous youthful jabs.
I was starting to appreciate their banter as well. It was quite funny to watch Varak sulking when Averie roasted him alive with verbal finesse and vice versa.
The young man and woman were trash-talkers through and through.
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