Chapter 7: Chapter 7

• 3^rd Person POV

*BLINK* *BLINK* *BLINK*

That man who’s currently laid on the floor blinked few times before finally opened his eyes, revealing the view of the night sky filled with twinkling stars atop the open ceiling of the tower above him.

Although it is a remarkable view, he couldn’t find the time to appreciate as he languidly stands up with his body creaks as if he’s been sleeping for quite some time.

(“Guh...”)

That man internally groans as he stretches his body with the familiar satisfying & refreshing feeling enveloping him.

(“How long have I been asleep? 3 hours? It’s still dark outside…”)

While thinking about that, he unconsciously rubbed his stomach and starts to ponder on what has happened to him. For all he knew & remembered, he touched a beautiful looking gem and sudden drowsiness engulfed him.

(“AH! That’s right, any injuries?”)

Upon just realizing that, he touched the back of his head and feel the soft silken hair of his.

(“Oh... My hair must have acted as a cushion when I fell.”)

Nodding to himself, he stands up to check for more injuries or bruises on his body, after confirming that there are none. He lightly brushed his hair using his fingers trying to separate it into sets of three. Reminiscing on what he learned long time ago through videos, he began to braid his hair.

(“I guess I have time to do this now rather than doing it in the open desert”)

At the end, since he doesn’t have a hairband. He tied the end of the braid using his own hair thankfully it is long enough for him to do so.

(“Alright, this looks good enough though I’m not sure if its strong enough.”)

He already estimated the length of his hair is nearly twice of his own height but upon braiding it. The length shortened to almost half of his height making it easier for him to manoeuvre around.

Satisfied by his doing, he began assessing what’s going on by looking around the glass platform. He found that the etchings on the tower’s walls have glowed in faint silver light giving off some kind of tranquil light that illuminated the dark corners of this place.

After several seconds watching the trail of those silver lights making unknown constellations to him. He landed his gaze upon the familiar pedestal that knock him unconscious.

Upon seeing that pedestal, he squinted his eyes scrutinizing it. Wondering what causes him to fell into slumber when he touched it.

(“Are there traps? needles? sleeping gas?”)

After spending several minutes in analysing the pedestal, he couldn’t feel or see any mechanisms that unleash sleeping gas or holes to where injection will come out.

(“What causes me to fall asleep then? Hmm… then it must’ve been exhaustion that makes me fall asleep finally encountering a shelter after all…”)

He thought but then something caught his interest as his eyes landed on top of the pedestal. The four protrusion that mimics talon holding the gem aren’t there anymore.

Rather on the top of the spiralling pedestal is now a flat square surface. With the gem itself aren’t being held in place instead it is quietly rest on top of that surface.

(“Hmm…? What’s this?”)

He curiously pinch his underlip while looking at the gem. It seems like the shape of the gem have been changed too.

At first, it was an eight-pointed star and as big as an almond. But now, the gem’s size turns larger around a tennis ball size. In addition, the gem have some kind of crystalline ring outside and surrounding the eight pointed star.

On top of that eight pointed star gem, there are two raised hands that looks similar to a clock or compass’ hand but both pointing at a particular direction.

There’s also decorations on that orbiting ring resembling the shape of moons and sun and at this moment, the moons on that gem seems to be the one that currently on the topmost part of the orbiting ring while the sun rests on the side.

It looks beautiful and fascinating, but wariness still linger in that man’s mind as he did a second round of checking. Finally after several minutes, he deemed that the pedestal is indeed safe to touch.

He picked up the gem in a hurry and move away from the pedestal while making sure to keep an eye on that. Holding his breath anticipating what kind of disaster it would cause when he did it.

After a few seconds have passed though nothing seemed to happen…

(“Fiuf…”)

He sigh in relief and looked at the gem in his hand. The raised hands seemed to have change direction. Which piqued something in his head.

(“Is this a compass? Or a clock?”)

That is the first question that popped in his mind upon looking at the strangely shaped gem.

He was hoping for this to be a compass instead although the circumstances would be absurd . After all, what kind of person would make a beautiful looking gem into an expensive compass or clock? Nevertheless, he still hopes for this gem in his hand turns out to be a compass.

Certainly a presence of a compass would be an incredible luck for him to traverse in this unknown world. Especially if its working in perfect condition.

(“I’ll treat you like a compass then but i wonder... How did the gem change its shape?”)

That man stare at the mysterious shaped gem and couldn’t find a proper answer. So, he opted to find the purpose of this item first as he turned his body around holding that gem. While constantly observing where the hands point.

Clearly one of the hand always point to the direction of the pedestal. In his mind, he thought that it would point to a direction such as north but knowing he’s not in the same ‘Earth’. It would be different type of compass which makes sense in his head.

The other hand though, it pointed to northwest direction when he aimed the compass right in front of the pedestal.

(“I wonder where the other hand leads?”)

That question perked up in his mind and continues to linger for seconds until a momentary surprise broke that train of thought.

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That man felt something different on the surface of his skin. Some kind of stickiness which he’s hugely familiar with. It is ‘Humidity’ the area inside this tower feel more humid than what he remembered before he fell asleep.

*Sniff*

He inhale large amount of air in response. Upon doing so, his eyes goes wide, and his lips curved upward seemingly joyful with the change. This sensation! the air is indeed humid. That could only lead to one thing in his mind.

(“A source of water is nearby!!!”)

His eyes darted around upon understanding that what he did previously, worked! The ‘generator’ of the tower seemed to be turned on. Immediately, he went to the spiralling staircases and looked down. Even from this far high up, he can see in far down below.

There’s a bluish dot that contradict the pure white marble and silvery light coming from the walls of this tower.

(“WATER!!”)

He exclaimed in his heart with joy, and in a hurry,  he began climbing down the staircase making sure to not trip. After several minutes that felt like an hour have gone by, he landed himself on the bottom floor of the tower.

Strangely, even with that hurried tone. That man didn’t feel exhaustion creeping in nor his body begun to sweat from that exercise. Though, the thought of clean water source is much more important in his mind.

Upon arrival, as he hope to be the once dried pond now filled with beautiful azure coloured water. Coming from the elaborate fountain and keeping the water level steady.

He crouched down and lightly tap his hand on top of the pool. The cold and wet feeling in his hand almost makes everything feels like a dream as he scooped a handful of that water.

*GULP*

Then he drank it, the cold and refreshing feeling of that liquid quenched something in him even though he did not realize that at first when he’s wanders through the desert land.

 “Pwahh…. Delicious”

He took another scoopful of water until he finally deem himself satisfied. The compass lies forgotten on a floor next to him as he brought out a silver coloured canteen and dipped it into the pond taking as much water as the canteen allows after rinsing it for a few times.

(“Aright! Water issue have been solved, now it is food.”)

His heart leapt in small joy seeing this development. As the moments of happiness have passed, he starts to collect his thoughts again and he begun to realize something is odd with the reflection of him on the surface of the water.

(“Hm!!??”)

In closer look, the facial features of his eastern origins are still there but there’s something odd regarding his eyes.

“Haa?”

Instead of dark brown eyes that he vividly remembered. His eyes are completely engulfed by complete darkness and amidst those black sclera. There are faint twinkling glint of light that slowly moves.

Looking at that, that man spine shivers as he blinked multiple times to make sure that it is indeed his reflection.

His mind begins to panic as he continues to move his head to the side trying to confirm that it isn’t an illusion at all. A flash of idea hit his head and on doing so, he scooped large amount of water then splashes it on his face while making sure to try opening his eyes in the process.

The reason why he did this, is because he hoped that in his current situation the contact lens has been given without him knowing would be washed away. Although, no matter how many times he splashes himself his eyes still the same as his effort is for naught.

Slowly and surely, the reality sinks in that man took a large amount of breath with the familiar cold & calming feeling rushes over him near instantaneously.

(“Its indeed my reflection and my eyes”)

Thinking logically, he should’ve been blind if he has this type of sclera since he remembers reading this type of blindness from a famous owl on the internet.

(“But why I’m still able to see then?”)

Before he can answer that though myriad of other thoughts begin to enter his mind. ‘What happened if I met anyone in this place? Would I get treated as an alien? Are they going to experiment on me?’

The familiar feeling of calmness surges within him and washes away the seed of panic before it can grow as his mind settles into what’s currently his priority.

 (“Okay focus…focus… since the generator has turned on. This tower has undergone some changes, there might be something I can discover such as food. For now there’s no other people at the moment I don’t need to worry about it, I need to survive first.”)

The canteen that has been forgotten for few moments is now being taken to his hand. He then stands up and put the gem that’s on the floor into his pyjama’s chest pocket with the silver canteen still held on his left hand. He tilted his head to look up scouting the walls of this massive marble tower. As he began climbing the helical staircase.

He noticed something off, the grooves that act as ‘shelves’ have something in them that reflected the light coming from the silvery glow of the etchings. Growing more curious about it he climbed further towards one of those shelves

In the meantime, he did not notice that the silver canteen on his left hand have begun to glow in faint silvery light for a split second then fades away.

He reaches to a point near the shelves as he sees the thing that caught his interest.

(“Hmm? What’s this?”)

Upon closer look, within that shelf there are sets of rectangular slates seemingly made from metallic material. The metal itself have dark greenish colour and surprisingly pristine & glossy. No wonder, that it caught his attention since the colour is contrasting the tower and slightly glint when shone underneath the silver light coming from the etchings.

The silver canteen on his left hand is placed on the shelves as he picked up a slate, it is a bit heavy requiring both of his hand to hold. In more detail, the surface of that slate is smooth, and he can identify that it is cut or made with extreme precision as it is a perfect square.

There are many of those slates in a single shelf arrange in orderly fashion as he peeked the other shelves & found out that they are the same thing located everywhere. It seems upon activating the tower's ‘power' back on. It reveals hidden things in the shelves.

(“I don’t know what they are”)

Utterly confused by those and unable to figure out what their uses, he returned the slate back to where it belongs and grab the canteen he had left. He then begins to search for any kind of food or resources in the vast tower.

Minutes that felt like hours to him have gone by and at last he found things that he deemed interesting enough as he goes downstairs near the fountain to check on them.

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