"Tch… what was I even expecting?"
For a brief moment, Ravin had truly believed something would happen.
The ground cracking.
The tower shaking.
The sky splitting open.
Instead, nothing.
No rumble.
No light.
No miracle.
Except for one thing. His blood, dripping down from his wounded palm, didn't pool on the ground. The moment it touched the white marble slate, it vanished.
Ravin frowned faintly, eyes narrowing. The slate pulsed once. Just once. A subtle ripple, like something deep beneath its surface had stirred and gone back to sleep.
"…Huh."
He stood there with his mouth open, nothing happened even after waiting for a long while.
No doors opening. No response. Nothing else.
His shoulders slumped.
"So that's it," he muttered. "Figures, what did I even expect."
Ravin went back to sitting with his back leaned on the gates, reminiscing his life on Earth. Even though some might say it wasn't a good life, for him—whatever it was—it had been his life. He was grateful. Just being able to live had been a blessing.
Thinking back to how he always believed someone had it tougher than him gave him the strength to keep going. Closing his eyes, he thought of the thing he missed more than anything—his obsession.
The piano.
Oh, how he wished he could play it again.
He smiled faintly.
"If I could just play once more…"
And then—
The world tilted.
Ravin fell backward.
He hit the floor, eyes snapping open, breath catching in his throat, and he saw a white ceiling.
"…What?"
He shot to his feet and spun around, he looked at the sky outside, and then looked inside the white room again. Repeating it a few more times, his mouth twitched had, he truly had words.
"I thought it will take me to like another world, not a...hospital room."
He was shocked, infact this room looked frighteningly similar to the room he was in for many years. Except there was nothing on the bed except a diary.
Cautiously, he approached and picked it up.
The moment he opened it, words began to appear on the pages, ink bleeding into existence as if written by an unseen hand. The language was foreign, yet the meaning slid effortlessly into his mind.
'The wheel of time continue to spin. How many eons has it been since someone came to visit this prison, no home of mine.
Oh you poor soul, forced by fate. I have a proposal for you.
Entertain me.
If you manage to come to the top of this tower and find me, I'll fulfill one wish of yours, no matter what it is.
Will you be like the last person who failed, or will you surprise me, I'm interested.
Oh mortal, I enjoyed really enjoyed your life especially the music in your past life, I am a fair being so I shall grant you a small gift for entertaining me, if you manage to adapt to this power, it'll help you.'
The diary snapped shut.
Before Ravin could even react, something flooded him.
A colorless energy poured into his body all at once.
His veins burned.
His bones screamed.
Every cell in his body felt like it was swelling beyond its limit, about to explode, but before it could he died of the unimaginable pain.
---
"..."
Ravin was laying motionless on the ground, looking at the sky, thinking how he was in a situation which was both hopeless and hopeful.
At first, after reading the diary and dying because of that pain, he was afraid to even step foot in the tower. But life...it was cruel, if he didn't go inside that creature would kill him, if he went inside that diary would kill him.
He'd tried staying in the room and to his surprise he was able to stay inside without any problem except the gates vanishing.
He died of dehydration that time, it was quite a subtle experience too.
The way his throat scorched up, how his body begging for any liquid, how—
"Status" His voice hoarse, as he finally decided to check his death count after a long time—though to anyone else, it might have only seemed like a few hours.
———
Name: Ravin
Age: 16
Race: Human
Condition: Peak body condition, mentally unstable.
Strength: 25
Agility: 43
Vitality: 21
Mind: 110
Soul: 89
???: 0.0018
...
Skills:
— Checkpoint. Death Count:1695.
———
[A/N: hello guys, newbie author here. Anyways I'm writing this story because I want to witness the story of Ravin. I'll make a lot of mistakes. I've made a lot of mistakes before but I'll continue improving and I hope you'll help me by pointing them out.
Also, I've added some subtle hints for the future plot in the past chapters, can anyone guess it? 🫢
I'm not good at explaining stuff so bear with me, well thanks for reading this far, have a good day.]