The rest of the day progressed without any setbacks or sudden occurrences.
No one disappeared, died, or got hurt. Underneath the roof of the sanctuary, things were peaceful.
Worthy had become quite the sensation, in some ways. People were thrilled to hear about the young man who'd garnered the attention of the local transportation specialist. By the time he left to keep climbing with War, there'd probably be people yearning for more of his spectacles.
In reality, they just enjoyed the idea behind his actions, rather than the actions themselves. A child fighting against a man he had no chance against, and showing his potential to grow if he were to survive in this lethal realm.
The people loved the story of an underdog.
Whatever stories they loved didn't bother Worthy on this night, however.
As he settled into bed and closed his eyes, the only thing that worried him were the thoughts that were blistering from the depths of his memory.
For the first time in a while, the boy had a dream.
>>><<<
He was sitting at a bench. A pristine, wooden bench in front of a lake, a lake he did not recognize.
The lake was as clear as glass, cradled gently by the sun. It was shockingly clean inside. He'd never seen clean water before, but Worthy imagined this was the most clean it could ever be. It was not littered with trash, dirt, or feces. Instead, there was life in the lake.
Fish swam beneath its surface, varying in shapes, colors, and anatomy. Some were too large to fit into the lake and simply stuck to the bottom. Otherwise they were small enough to slip between the cracks in the earth and go into whatever world rested underneath into whatever world was below.
It was a breathtaking display, unlike anything the boy had ever seen. Why… brought with it a unique form of clarity.
Why was he dreaming of something he had never seen before?
Before any of these thoughts could stir longer, Worthy realized that someone was sharing the bench with him.
Slowly, he turned to look at the tall figure beside him, whom he had not noticed until his thoughts settled. How long had this person been here…?
"You…" He searched for the words to say, but instead of allowing them to fester, the person took the initiative to speak.
"I'm sorry. You looked so deep in thought, I didn't want to startle you." It was a soft voice, the voice of a woman. Because of the light beaming down on her face, he could not make out her facial features, but he knew it was a woman. Even if she was wearing a cloak that draped idly over her garments, he knew she was a woman. Yet, he should not have known she was a woman through voice alone.
He opens his mouth to speak, but no words come from his lips. He doesn't know what to say.
Soon enough, words find him. "You… who are you? Where are we?" It was an important question to ask. After all, this woman was not someone he recalled speaking with. She looked like no one he'd ever met, not in recent memories. And because her face was hidden behind a veil of sunlight, he couldn't make out her appearance.
The woman studies him for a while, face remaining unseen. "We're in a dream, of course. You went to sleep, and now you're dreaming."
This information should've left him unsettled. He was aware that he was dreaming, or at least had an inkling of hope that he'd not been transported from his bed in the dungeon to an unknown realm.
However, for the woman in his dream to be aware of her own existence as a dream entity — a sense of horror surrounded this fact.
Sensing the boy's fear, the woman hurriedly alleviates his fear. "Ah! I'm sorry, that sounded far too illusive didn't it? Don't worry, I'm not some dream-eating monster. Well… I'm not a monster, at least." There was a sense of humor in the woman's words.
Worthy didn't think she was joking.
"As for who I am… Huh. I'm hardly aware of myself anymore, to be honest." The woman shrugs her shoulders, turning her head away.
Now, with his curiosity piqued, he asked, "You don't know who you are? Oh boy, I'm getting haunted by a ghost now, aren't I?"
Silence settled again. The woman must've been deep in thought, careful with her answer.
Or perhaps she was just being needlessly dramatic, building suspense. There was no telling, with what little he knew about this strange woman.
"Well, until you remember who you are, Dream Lady… I'm not going to tell you who I am. It's only fair."
The shining head nods. "Well, that is only fair, Dream Child. You won't hold it against me for calling you that for the time being then, will you?"
If not for how peculiar his circumstance was, the boy might've. Fortunately for her, he was beyond such pettiness right now. He still didn't know if he was in danger or not.
How could such a beautiful view be deadly?
After another intermission of silence, Worthy speaks to the woman again. "Do you like water?" He didn't know why he bothered speaking to the woman. Maybe because there'd be nothing but awkward silence between them otherwise. Hell, she may not even be real. Maybe just a figment of his mind, which should've been impacted by the grim reality of his situation by now.
"The water? Goodness, no. I've detested water, as of late. It's full of horrors and abominations that seek only to take and consume. A few greedy gods even sleep in water, ya' know."
Worthy looked at her funnily. This woman's sanity must not be intact either.
"Mhm. Right. For me, this is the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen. Where I'm from, there's not much beauty to be found. Until recently, the most amazing thing I'd ever seen was the tower that killed a few hundred people every year. Poetically enough, I'm now preparing to climb that tower alongside the strongest man in the world."
The woman sounded intrigued when she spoke, "Really? The strongest man in the world? I know you haven't seen much of the world, Dream Child, but aren't you holding a mere man on too high of a pedestal?"
It was a fair question. Giving people impossible expectations to meet was one of the root causes of their inevitable downfall. Cracking beneath pressure had a negative impact, not only on the person who was carrying the weight of all those people's burdens. The impact was also felt by those who pushed their burdens onto that person's shoulder, now met with utter disappointment and dread at their failures.
All things considered, every man and woman putting their faith in War Reaver could fall into the category of the former. It was selfish to expect the man to perform a miracle, but it wasn't lacking sound reasoning.
"No. Out of everyone I think could do it, it's him. Before entering, he was a Holy Knight. That means he carried our burdens long before we met him or entered this place. The number of people tougher than him… I can count them on one hand. Right now, I don't have to lift a finger."
Nobody he'd met thus far could compare to War Reaver. He was a monster, the closest thing mankind had gotten to a demigod.
There were other knights in the tower, but he didn't know if they were dead or not. Given how quickly people could die in this place, there was no telling what their fate was until he found them. Everyone was in the same situation — trapped.
"If you're so confident in him, he must be amazing. You wouldn't be lying to a sweet lady like me, would you?"
He thought he saw her batting her eyes, but that couldn't have been possible. "What would be the point in lying to you? It isn't like it matters."
"Oh, really? It should matter a lot, shouldn't it? One moment, you were sleeping comfortably in your bed. The next moment, you were at a dream lake talking to a mysterious lady. What if I actually kidnapped you? Well? What would your father think? Didn't he teach you to be mindful of dangerous women?"
That was a thought that crossed his mind once. It was still a possibility, in fact. Nevertheless, it seemed too farfetched now for him to be certain in it.
"I doubt you have any intention of kidnapping me. You would've done it already. That whole time, you were sitting beside me and I hadn't noticed."
"You're pretty observant for a kid your age… Life must not have been kind to you."
This time, Worthy laughed. No. Life had not been kind to him in the slightest, it'd been his mortal enemy. "Nope. Me, my dad, and my sister. All of us have been fighting against life for a long time. That's why I went into a tower. To win."
It'd become a habit of his to constantly reiterate his goal, to not lose himself in his climb. Forgetting the reason he came in here would bring him to great despair when he remembered the people waiting for him on his way out.
"At the same time, it's because life has given me a beating that I could come in here. I wouldn't have survived longer than a few minutes if I hadn't already endured challenges. So, maybe it's not all that bad…"
The woman leaned back on the bench a little. "True. Challenges make you grow stronger, one way or another. Children shouldn't be forced to endure the coldness of the world, but the ones who do always end up with thicker skin. Still, it isn't something a child like you should shoulder… Well, evidently, it's too late to say that now."
Yes. Far too late. He'd already received a Reward from the tower. Now, he was trapped on Floor 1 and needed to find a gateway.
"Don't lose sleep over it or anything. It isn't like I was ignorant when I came here, though it's only been a few days. I knew what I was getting into… I know the impact it'll leave if I don't make it hope, and I'm not willing to make my sister suffer through it. I don't want my dad to suffer either, I guess." Although, Coward's mistake did end up putting them in this troublesome circumstance.
"The Reward I received will be beneficial. Actually, I think it's kind of special."
This made the woman hum. "Special? Everyone thinks their Reward is special, which is the key component in the existence of Rule Breakers. I hope you aren't getting any ambitious ideas, Dream Child."
Of course he wasn't. His only ambition was to make it to the top floor, somehow. It was a tall task, but it did not feel impossible because of his Reward.
"I'm not that childish, Dream Hag. The reason I say my Reward is special is because it grew. After I reached a milestone — or a place of importance — it became better."
"Wh…?! D—Dream Hag?! No. Wait. Evolved?!" The woman didn't know whether to focus on the insult that'd been sent her way or the fact that the child had a Reward that grew more impressive.
Rewards were fixed. This fact was accepted by society. A person whose Reward let them spit fire would never have the ability to manipulate surrounding flames, unless they received a Reward for just that.
What Worthy was explaining to the woman was that his Reward was truly unique. Of course, she could assume he was lying, but there was no reason for him to lie about something like that to a woman he didn't know, or doubted the existence of.
"...That's amazing. If that's true, you should already be on Floor 2 by now. I can't imagine a Reward with so much potential being needed on Floor 1."
Worthy thought for a moment. He hadn't told the woman what floor he was on, or at least did not recall doing so. He admitted he entered the tower a few days ago and was climbing with a powerful man, but that was not a give away for his precise location.
It could've just been a guess, though. With the information he'd given, it wouldn't be hard to guess.
Additionally, this was a dream. The woman sitting beside him could know everything about him, because she was a fragment of his mind given shape.
'I'm overthinking this a little. Of course it'll take a few days to rise from the First Floor.'
Something in the water ripples, sending the fish swimming in it into disarray. A few bubbles reach the surface shortly after the ripples.
"Oh. I think we're out of time to talk, it seems. Whatever's in that lake is waking up." If fish could occupy the lake, and there was a space deeper within it that the smaller ones could reach, that meant there was much more to be seen in this dream world than what they were seeing now.
Sighing, Worthy stared on for a little while longer. It isn't like he could force himself awake. "It's probably something straight from a nightmare. Why would something dangerous be in such a beautiful dream?"
As the water began bubbling more, the sky broke into a web of cracks. The dream was crumbling, yet Dream Lady pondered his words before answering. "There must be horror for there to be beauty, right? Otherwise, all things would be beautiful in the world. Is something really beautiful if it's the same as everything else?"
If not for the fact that the world was collapsing, Worthy might've thought of an answer. Philosophy was far from his strong suit, sadly.
"The dream is ending. It was nice meeting you, Dream Lady." There was no time left.
"Likewise, Dream Child. Say, maybe you should try crossing a lake. I have the feeling this bubbling isn't related to me at all."
'Hm? Why would it be related to—'
Before he can finish that thought, the world crumbled into fragments, and the dream ended.