Reminisce | Tower of God

Chapter 7

“Ah, so I’ve … or perhaps I should say you’ve done it again.”

Elyse glanced around the darkness that surrounded her. It was like she was in some sort of hallway, and at its end was a faint golden light. And from where that light shone its way down the hall, the voice of a young woman called to her. It was a voice whose owner was overwhelmingly, painfully familiar, but who she couldn’t quite put a name or face to.

“I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising at this point,” the young woman laughed, “you know, me … you pushing yourself until you collapse. Although, you have set a new record. Four days, huh? Then again, it might be partly my fault that you haven’t been able to wake up. I’ve been trying to reach you for a while.”

Elyse frowned at the baffling words. “Who are you?”

There was a small pause. “I’m you. Or, I was you … a long time ago.”

“That’s not possible,” she protested, shaking her head. “How come I’ve never heard you speak to me before?”

The answer this time was immediate. “Because I’ve only just become a part of you again. I was waiting for quite some time in that blade, you know. Also, the only reason I can talk to you like this now, as though I’m a separate person, is probably because we haven’t completely become one again just yet.” The voice sighed before muttering, “I’m really not a fan of any soul-related spells, or curses, or whatever I should be calling it. And I apologize for not being able to give you any definite answers. This was always … his strong suit, after all. Not mine.”

Elyse tried to keep up with what the woman was saying. Except the more she tried to decipher what it all meant, the more lost she became. Was this woman trying to say that they had once been one person, but that something, maybe the soul stuff that she’d mentioned, had split them apart, made them two parts of a whole? And that, somehow, Elyse had regained that part of her old self through Psyathí … the soul sword? At the very least, it would explain the ‘awakening’ she’d gone through when she’d first touched it. Maybe it would even explain why she’d never felt complete, why she wasn’t fully alive, before.

Elyse shook her head for a second time. “Hey, um, other me,” she stuttered, unsure how to address the voice, “do you remember who we were, what we did, when we were still one person?”

“Yes, I do.”

She gulped, her nerves taking over her. “Did we come into the tower … as an irregular? And did we … did we know a man with white hair and red markings?”

“You really don’t remember?” the voice asked, suddenly sounding sad, almost to the point of breaking. “That man you just referred to, he … Oh, hold on, I think you’re starting to wake up.”

It was then that Elyse noticed the blinding white light that began to take over the once dark hallway. Panicked, she tried to rush forward, to reach out to the distant golden glow. Except she found that she couldn’t move a muscle.

“I’m not sure when or if I’ll ever be able to talk to you like this again,” the other her revealed. “So, I suppose this is farewell for now.”

“WAIT! You didn’t—!” The white light swallowed her whole, and when Elyse opened her eyes, she found herself laying on a bed in an unfamiliar room, reaching up towards the ceiling. “… Answer my questions.”

Slowly, she sat up, pushing off the grey blanket that had covered her. As she did, she noticed the simple knee-length dress, made from a soft black material, that she was wearing. Perhaps her old clothes had become rather dirty after all that she’d gone through.