Reminisce | Tower of God

Prologue

She felt herself running through the woods, faster than she could comprehend. There were times her feet barely even scraped the ground as she propelled herself forward, and there were times she was sure she was soaring through the air with some sort of inconceivable ability.

As she went, the prickly branches of the trees around her scratched and pulled at her skin and hair. Though she didn't feel any of the pain it should have caused her. She never did. She never even knew where she was trying to go. And she wasn't sure how much time had passed before that irritably familiar flash of white light filled her surroundings. When her eyes adjusted at last, she found herself within a clearing, her original path blocked by the fallen evergreens before her.

Slowly, hesitantly, her body turned to face the source of the light, and her gaze fell upon an otherworldly looking man who struck an inexplicable amount of terror within her, right alongside countless other complicated and overwhelming emotions she couldn't begin to understand. She didn't know how she knew, but this man was a king … a monster … a murderer. Over and over the titles echoed in her head, as though they'd slipped through the strange blockage she was ever so aware occupied the back of her mind.

His steps toward her could easily be described as deliberate, relaxed, unhurried in his advance. And as always, her attention was drawn toward his flowing white hair, which almost seemed to glow under the shadows of the trees, then toward the blood red streaks by his eyes. Words spilled from his mouth, but they went unheard by her. No matter how much she strained to, she couldn't make out what he'd been saying. She only watched as he took another step forward, an unnerving glint in his stare. 

Then, without any sort of conscious approval from her, against her will, her eyes darted to the sword the monster held in his hand. To the crimson liquid dripping down it. And she felt an unfathomable anger surge within her. It was strong enough to drown out any other emotions, including the fear she had felt just seconds ago.

She never got the chance to witness what occurred next as the world went dark, and she woke up to the familiar sight of the three-eyed symbol and sword-looking-cross beneath it, both engraved into the wall of the cave. To her left, she could hear the sound of arguing. It was usually so quiet. Then again, what would she know about what ‘usually’ went on around her?

As she pressed her palms to the rocky floor, pushing herself onto her knees, her eyes lingered on the names engraved beside her. The letters scrawled down were some of the first that her … friend had taught her and her brother to write. 

At the top of the list of names was ‘Rachel,’ her friend. Below it, ‘The 25th Bam,’ her brother. And finally, there was ‘The Eternal Elysium,’ the name given to her by Rachel. It was an odd name, really. Her friend had told her ‘Elysium’ was a resting place for the souls of the heroic and pure, the home of the blessed after death. Though she'd never fully understood why Rachel would name her after such a place. Once before, she'd asked the blonde girl if it had anything to do with her ‘condition.’

Her friend hadn't given her an answer.

She wasn't given another second to ponder it as she heard a voice she'd grown all but used to call out to her, addressing her by her nickname.

“Oh, are you awake now, Elyse?” It seemed they'd finally noticed her presence. “Perfect. I was just telling your brother I had to leave early since I have something important to do today. I can't finish my game with him, so you can fill in for me now that you've woken up. I think I've told you the rules of this game before.”

Elyse shifted her gaze onto the joint trail of squares hastily drawn on the ground, and the stone game pieces scattered across the makeshift board. With one glance at the positions of each piece, she picked up on the reason why the game had taken so long. Searching through what little memories of reality that she had, she realized her brother had always had such a peculiar rhythm of playing. He always chose to go with the options that would drag things out. At least, with Rachel he did. The joy he found while playing against Elyse never seemed to compare to the joy he'd seemed to find in playing against their friend.

Frowning, she murmured, “Yes, you taught me how to play this before.”

She didn't miss the disappointment on her brother's face as he realized there was no way for him to convince Rachel to finish the game. She wanted to think it didn't affect her … but it did. It hurt to know she wouldn't ever compare to her brother's ‘star.’ And yet she knew it was her own fault. Because as her brother almost always remained in the waking world, alone but for that single blonde companion of theirs, she unwillingly left him for unconsciousness for days, sometimes even weeks, at a time, with that same dream on loop.

Only occasionally would the dream change, going past what she usually experienced. Only occasionally would a new event play out before her, almost like a distant memory that'd been locked away for too long. Though it was always that same man who took centre stage, whose words she could never make out. She'd grown to be both mesmerized and horrified by him. After all, he was the symbol of how little she got to experience her own life in her own trapped world. He was the biggest reminder that she could never live more than half a life in either her sleep or in the waking world. He was the biggest reminder of her ‘condition.’

Rachel seemed to catch on to her sullen mood. “Was it the same this time too?”

Elyse nodded, sluggishly moving to sit beside her brother. “Yeah. It was the forest and the man with white hair again.”

“I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually,” her friend sighed before turning away from the game at her feet. “Well, I'd better get going.”

In response to the words, Bam, unable to hide his desperacy, blurted, “Can't we go with you?”

She already knew the answer her brother would receive before Rachel even opened her mouth. Their friend had made it clear before. Only chosen people could live ‘up there.’ She wouldn't ever be able to take either of the twins from their cave. As much as that fact hadn't suffocated her like it'd suffocated her brother, she found herself needing to tune out what Rachel was saying to Bam. Their entire exchange was simply further proof that she would never be enough. 

Her brother would never be satisfied with her company alone. And she wished she knew that that fact would nearly get her killed time and time again. She wished she knew it would bring her right back to the man who'd taken her life years ago.

---

A/N: Hey, I'm back (to those of you who read my previous story). For new readers of mine, I'm gonna let you know that this story has a prequel. However, you'll be able to read this book regardless of whether you read the prequel as it's more or less a very ... detailed backstory for one of my OCs. (Though this story will likely reach a point where it may be highly beneficial for you to have read my previous one, but that's sort of in the far-ish future.) And yes, my previous work focuses on a certain Slayer who you may or may not despise. If that's not your style, you can still continue on with this story as Elyse will be forming some notable connections with many of the characters you do love.

For my lovely readers from my prequel, I promise to make things as interesting as possible leading up to a certain, sort of far away, reunion.

Anyways, let's get on with the story!