Stepping onto the white bridge that connected the lake to the tower, his body began to feel… weird?
The further he walked, the stranger his body began to feel.
Heavy.
Yet full.
As if something unseen was pressing down on him while simultaneously flooding him from within.
Ravin frowned slightly. "What's the worst that could happen?" he muttered, brushing off the sensation as he continued forward.
By the time he reached the entrance of the tower, the pressure had grown unbearable. The massive doors loomed before him, their surface embedded with gemstones and jewels that looked priceless beyond measure. Even from nearly thirty feet away, the shadow they cast swallowed him whole.
Ravin's body could no longer stand straight.
His back bent involuntarily, his posture forced into a deep bow, as if he were kneeling before something far greater than himself.
"Every time I try to straighten my back, it snaps back down. Argh, I hate it so much… bowing towards a fucking tower," he muttered, with quiet anger in his eyes.
Still, he stubbornly kept trying to defy the pressure, failing each time. Every step toward the door felt heavier than the last. His legs trembled violently as he raised his hand, intent on pushing the doors open.
But the moment his fingers came close—his instincts screamed.
The warning was so violent, so absolute, that his body reacted before his mind could.
He collapsed backward, slamming into the ground, his back pressed tightly against the cold stone. Goosebumps erupted across his skin, his heart pounding wildly as his breath came in ragged gasps.
"…It's fine," he whispered shakily, out of habit. "Everything's fine…"
He took a deep breath.
Then another.
Slowly, he forced himself upright, plastering a wide smile across his face despite the uncontrollable tremor running through his body.
"Yeah… I've had worse days than this."
Step by step, hunched and trembling, he approached the doors once more, placing both hands against them.
It was cold.
Abnormally cold. Yet at the same time, unbearably hot.
The contradiction sent a sharp shiver through his body. Gritting his teeth, Ravin pushed with everything he had, yet the door didn't budge.
Again.
And again.
Eventually, his strength gave out. He collapsed onto the ground, fingers digging into the dirt as the pressure multiplied with each breath.
"Huff… huff… why am I even trying…?" he muttered weakly. "Eating the fruits was better than… this."
Looking towards his side, his eyes fell once again on the text written on a white marble slate. He didn't know the language, so unfortunately, he couldn't understand what was written on it.
"It's pissing me off, that slate… I can't even understand why," he said. Slowly standing up, he walked toward the slate, kicking it to vent his frustration. But as soon as his foot touched the slate, his body… got erased.
---
Waking up again at the same point, he was dumbfounded. He felt no pain, or anything, in fact, yet…
Gathering his thoughts, he made the journey back toward the massive gates.
"Hmm, I'm quite curious. What is this slate? I really wanna touch it again, but…" Waiting a few seconds, as if making an internal decision, he sighed. "Sigh… I guess you're right. I shouldn't do this, but I wanna do this."
Saying nothing further, he walked toward the slate and started looking at it curiously. His body was still in a bowing position, much to his dislike, but it did help him perfectly put his eyes at the slate's level.
He kept staring at it, as if mesmerized, unconsciously touching it with his fingers to feel it, but…
"Interesting. Now I'm even more curious!" he exclaimed with a smile, yet unable to control his trembling body.
---
"How many times has it been? Why can't I find a way to enter that damn tower? WHY? WHY? WHYYYY??" Ravin's shouts echoed throughout the forest, his mind filled with anger and frustration.
Curiosity.
At first, it was curiosity that led him to try and understand, to feel the slate. But after dying countless times, he put it aside, focusing on the tower.
Ravin prided himself on his patience, yet being unable to enter the tower no matter what he did made him frustrated. At first, it was just frustration, which later grew into uncontrollable anger. He thought he'd have enough control over his emotions, yet it seemed that wasn't the case.
"Fuck it, I'll just eat fruits. I'm hungry anyway." Saying so, he picked up a square-shaped gold fruit unhesitantly, biting into it viciously, as if taking his anger out on it.
"Hmm, is it me, or can I actually eat more fruits than before?" Noticing how he hadn't exploded even after eating all the fruits on the tree he mused, genuinely curious. "I guess exploding enough times comes with benefits." Sighing, he continued satiating his non-existent hunger.
---
Ravin was leaning against a tree, looking at the red sky, which seemed to have gotten a bit darker—nighttime, perhaps.
He had stopped checking his status after… after when? He didn't seem to remember. Right now, he was taking a break, admiring the beautiful scenery.
"*Yawn*… How peaceful."
He mused. Feeling sleepy, he closed his eyes, sleeping with a peaceful look on his face.
"ARGHHHHHHHHHHH—"
Ravin jolted awake as he felt white hot agony. It felt like someone was cutting open his skull. He struggled, thrashing his body while screaming. Soon he couldn't even scream anymore as more pain flooded his mind. No longer feeling his throat he barely managed to open his eyes, and what he saw... made him struggle even more—a bad idea, as the very next second that creature tore his limbs away.
The last thing he remembered was the unimaginable pain of his brain getting torn out.