The Tower in the Oasis - Part 1

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Dust from the ceiling above Atlas floated down to his head. It was dark and he still could not see, however, the tower continued to tremble until eventually he could hear the sound of crumbling stone. The tower was becoming increasingly unstable, even in his blindness he could tell. The only source of light was the small streak of purple just beyond his cell, the door only still slightly ajar.

What is going on out there?

"Hello?! Is anyone there?"

He tried to struggle out of his chains some more but it was a futile. There was now way in hell he was getting out of these chains.

The tremors suddenly came to a rest.

Just then he heard the sound of a thud, a girlish grunt sounded out as she hit the ground. 

Someone's here?!

"Hello?" He spoke softly.

The woman spoke back to him, "Atlas?"

He recognized the voice immediately.

"Elizabeth! How did you–"

"Atlas!"

A moment later he felt her press up against him, she was close enough that he could even see her in the darkness.

"Elizabeth, how did you find this place so easily?"

She verbally choked up, Elizabeth pulled away from him to answer.

"I... Don't know."

"What?"

"I was with Lena and the others, and then suddenly I was in a timeless space. It felt like– a void. Next thing I knew I came crashing down to the floor here."

Her explanation sounded remotely like a Nexus event, similar to the one that occurred when he was brought here from the alpha world. But something felt different about it.

"Where is Lena?!" He sounded worried.

Elizabeth was fiddling with his chains and eventually decided to step back from him again.

"Let me get you out of these. Give me a moment."

She quickly channeled some energy in the form of ice shards, firing two into each of the chains holding him back against the wall. They shattered just above his hands, though the cuffs would have to remain on him for now.

"Thanks Liz."

Atlas stumbled forward onto the ground but she quickly caught him before he collapsed.

"Are you okay?!"

"Yeah, they just– really did a number on me."

She helped him up to his feet and insisted he lean on her shoulders.

"What the hell is happening out there? How did you even get in here?"

Elizabeth seemed just as confused as him, all she could remember was that after the recruit they saved was shot, they all made it in the building for cover. She seemed visibly shaken when mentioning the unknown recruit. She then explained the final revelation which tied this mess together:

"Lena went berserk and all of sudden black shadows started burning up all around her, creating a sort of mist. It swirled around her until–"

She explained the tremoring being caused by whatever was happening to her and how it felt like Lena's despair had manifested into physical form. She could tell that much just from being a sensor.

"And then it was like she was swallowed hole into an orb, it was black as a starless night. It expanded until we all got caught up in it, then I ended up in that void-like place."

She shivered for moment when she described what it was like.

"It was so cold. I thought I was going to freeze, and yet it was room temperature. I was floating and yet it felt like I was standing, it was all so surreal."

Sounds like the inside of the black room. But that doesn't explain what Lena had to do with that.

"You mean the Nexus did this?" Atlas felt uneasy after hearing her explanation for some reason. "I think it may be safe to assume you all were teleported then."

"Then the others too... We need to find them!" She exclaimed.

It seemed like she was more worried about the others, which was the correct priority. They could theorize on these strange events later, there was no telling where everyone else was taken.

"First things first, we need to get my sword. Then find a way out of this place."

Elizabeth nodded and then she led the way in the dark towards the wooden door at the other end of the room.

"Stay close behind me." She tugged him along until they entered the hallway, the tremors had stopped by now but the purple glow was illuminating most of the outer halls from the windows.

Atlas' eyes quickly adjusted due to the nature of the light.

There were also some glowing gemstones hanging from the walls that provided a moderate amount of light in the hall as well, they were mostly overpowered by the light outside though.

They proceeded down the long hall and checked some of the surrounding rooms, being mindful of any enemies or friends they may come across unexpectedly.

"Do you have any idea where your things might be?" Elizabeth chimed in after a bit of exploring different rooms.

"No clue. They kept me in that chamber all night, I have no idea where to even begin looking."

With no real destination in mind, they eventually they came upon a staircase in the center of a large chamber, it spiraled upwards to a different level. They decided to head up and eventually came upon a dead end room with a door slightly cracked open. There was also some shuffling that could be heard inside.

The two mages approached it slowly and then when they were both ready, Elizabeth burst through the door, Atlas quickly entering the room behind her, prepared to engage the unknown threat.

Just as they entered Atlas saw something dash towards them, it all happened so fast that he could not identify who it was. But he could faintly see that there were sparks flying from the figure.

"Look out!" He cried to Elizabeth as he outstretched his arm top protect her from harm.

Without any time for the figure to react Elizabeth fired a spell towards it, but it quickly did a flip over the projectile, using flames to propel itself in a new direction almost instantly. The shadowy figure landed gracefully and then started to shout frantically.

"Whoa! Chill out with the ice. It's me!"

"Leo!" Atlas and Elizabeth sounded his name off at the same time.

"Atlas!" Leo snapped his fingers and a small flame lit up in the palm of his hand. "Elizabeth too!"

It lit up the medium-sized room they were in well, and he waltzed up to his friend.

"It's good to see you man. Surprised you found us before we found you!"

"Yeah, actually Elizabeth dropped in out of nowhere."

Elizabeth stepped forward into Leo's light.

"So Atlas was right then, we all were teleported by whatever that light is." She paused for a moment to observe the massive pillar of light flowing into the night sky. "Did you end up in this room initially or something 'else'?"

"No the stairs actually, I came crashing down as soon as I– wait did you also get sent to that strange room too?"

"I did, but somehow we both ended up in the tower at least. I was eventually brought to Atlas' cell and freed him, we came from the floor below this one."

The three of them looked around the room they were in, it was some kind of old study or library. And in the center of it was a large table.

"I was checking this out after I found this room. Then you guys came up shortly after, what do you guys make of it?"

Leo walked over to the table, he began explaining some things as he lit some of the candles that were left on the bookshelves and tables. For some odd reason this place was fairly organized and tidy for how desolate the rest of the rooms seemed to be.

The other two looked over the map on the large table, it outlined the tower and another bunker shaped location on the opposite side of the jungle, relatively close to where they had set up camp at the base of that cliff.

Rendezvous was written in red where the bunker was located on the map. This was obviously used as a room to plan an operation of some kind, likely the one involving Atlas and Lena.

Elizabeth paced around the table and over to the bookshelves, many ancient looking texts littered the shelves. She grabbed one that stood out to her. The faded text was hard to read from a distance in this darkness, Atlas approached her from behind to get a better look.

It was simply titled: 'Babylon'.

Where have I heard that before? Babylon... Like the city?

"This must have been headquarters for whoever these people are." Elizabeth spoke up as she pocketed the book.

Atlas walked over to the window in the back corner as he thought about the title of the book, it was more of an open air cutout than a proper window though. He glanced out of the tower and could see a sandstone village that seemed to be at a slightly off angle.

"Why does it look like the world is crooked?" Atlas commented as he tilted his head.

"Right yeah, the tower is lopsided. It's being held up by some stones that affect gravity." Leo described the tower and the strange stones that caused low gravity littered about the village.

Atlas gazed out at the world before him, there was something else that stood out to him. The pillar of purple light stretched into the sky, almost as if piercing the heavens above. He had never seen anything like it before, it was strangely beautiful to him in a way.

A faint whisper echoed through his mind as he gazed at the base of the purple tower of light, it was almost as if someone was crying.

"Lena."

Elizabeth perked up at the mention of her friend and hurried to the window. Gasping once she witnessed the unnatural phenomenon unfolding before their eyes.

"That's where we were before... I didn't realize that was–" Elizabeth sounded frightened.

"Hey Atlas!"

Leo walked over to him, carrying both Atlas' sword and his field equipment.

"Found this in the stash back in the corner."

Atlas turned to his friend and hastily grabbed his things.

"Lena's there." He pointed towards the light in that stretched into the stars.

"How do you know for sure?" Elizabeth questioned him as she continue to gaze out at the strange phenomenon.

"I feel her. It's like she is calling for me."

"What? Calling? That's absurd!" Elizabeth shouted.

"Must be a Nexus child thing." Leo pointed to himself. "Like with my twin bro!"

Elizabeth and Atlas looked at him with extreme doubt.

"Like telepathy or something?" Elizabeth asked.

"No. No. It's just a feeling you know? Like how I can feel him now. He's definitely in the tower somewhere!"

"We don't have time for this, we need to get Lena quickly. There is no telling what could be going on down there, and if the Nexus is involved we need to get to the bottom of it."

Judging from their position on this upper floor, they had a ways to go before reaching the bottom, the three of them needed to move quickly. If they were all here in the tower, then the enemy must also be scattered around it as well. For some reason it felt likely that everyone was here somehow.

About six floors down they had to catch a breath, these halls were massive. And despite making solid progress on their trek it felt like something was weighing them down.

"Isn't it strange that the gravity here feels heavier? Despite the tower being as it is?" Leo pointed out.

"He's right, it is odd. I would think it would be more 'floaty' like it was outside."

Atlas still didn't fully understand the logic behind the anti-gravity thing, but he had seen more unbelievable things in this world already. They approached an archway at the end of another long hallway. It was the gateway to a large open chamber that went quite a ways down.

Almost as if it were an interlude section of the tower, no rooms as far as the eye could see. Just an empty pit with a single large staircase spiraling down into the abyss. They were on the opposite side of where the pillar was now, and hardly any lights were mounted in this massive central chamber.

"I can't even see the bottom."

Elizabeth peered over the edge, looking into the darkness.

"Let's keep moving." Atlas commanded as he began marching down the stairs.

Once they started up again, almost immediately Atlas suddenly stopped. Which tipped off his teammates that something was wrong about whatever was ahead of them.

"What's wro–"

Atlas hushed Leo quiet as he hunched down, they could all hear the faint sound of approaching footsteps. Just one person.

It was too dark to see who was coming towards them. But it soon did not matter, the large exposed opening to Atlas' left had become flooded with moonlight that hit the angle of the destroyed wall just right. 

Moments later a man with a large rifle approached the moonlit portion. He fully exposed himself, revealing the white cloak of a vanguard mage, though his emblems and identifying insignia had been removed. His hood covered his eyes and he wore a black mask concealing the lower portion of his face.

Atlas could distinctly see that he had a tattoo on his right hand, it looked like some kind of bird but he was still too far to see it clearly.

"Who are you?" He asked.

The man did not speak for a moment. But then he suddenly responded with a question of his own.

"You're out of your cell." He seemed intrigued by that fact. As his head turned slightly to face Elizabeth.

"Atlas, get ready..." Elizabeth chimed in as she readied her staff.

"Atlas Castell!" The man shouted at Atlas menacingly.

Atlas ignored his call, he had his hand on his sword, ready to unleash an attack the moment the man before him made any sudden moves.

The other two readied themselves as well.

"Don't come any closer!" Elizabeth yelled down at the mysterious figure.

"You two– would go so far as to help him?! Do you even know what he is?" The stranger began to laugh manically at the three of them.

Atlas was shocked to hear the man say those words. He glanced back towards his friends, their determined faces remained unshaken.

Leo stepped forward in front of his friend before declaring himself before the seemingly deranged man. The flames on his shins ignited once he took to his typical martial arts stance.

"We do."

The stranger instantly ceased his laughter and then grunted softly.

"So you condemn yourselves to the void." He voice was sharp and intense, almost as if he was gravely disappointed in Leo's response.

In an instant it felt as if the wind flooded towards them, the mage was trying to push them all over the edge.

It blew out Leo's flames as well, and he could only focused on bracing himself from the gust.

The man raised his rifle towards Elizabeth, pressing back on the trigger as she stood defenseless, she was doing everything she could just to keep balance. There was nothing she could do about the looming danger of being shot.

Atlas took a deep breath and then in an instant, he unsheathed his sword with the forceful push of a spell. White lightning sprouted from his blade which then channeled into his arm and then throughout his whole body. It felt like he was supercharged the moment he drew his sword.

Atlas dashed forward, cutting a path through the gushing wind. He struck the mans rifle with his blade, redirecting the barrel in a split-second. Almost all at once Atlas had moved before the rouge soldier could even get his shot completely off. It was as if everything had occurred in slow motion for him.

Once it felt as if everything returned to normal speed the gunshot echoed through the massive tower chamber. Striking the staircase mere inches from Elizabeth. She gasped in surprise as she saw that Atlas had used his skill to redirect the line of fire. The gust of wind was no longer and issue.

Atlas was inches away from his foe, who was now grinding his rifle against the sharp edge of his sword. The sparks from the metal clashing shot up into Atlas' face. For a split-second he could see the tattoo clearly on the mans hand. It was a vulture standing atop a pile of skulls.

The man chuckled as he landed a punch in Atlas' gut. The wind swirled around his fist and propelled Atlas back into the carved stone staircase. It knocked the wind out of his lungs on impact, he began to wheeze while clutching his shirt near the chest area.

Leo lunged forward and kicked the man who quickly guarded.

The stranger began to laugh again, it was as if he were enjoying himself.

"You kids really like to kick and fidget around don'tcha!"

He began to brawl with Leo, quickly tossing his gun to into the void below so they could trad blows like boxers in a ring.

Elizabeth was channeling a spell from her staff but held it back so she did not hit Leo in the by mistake.

"Leo get ready!" She warned.

The man noticed her and then he elbowed Leo in face, dropping him down to the ground. Then the man gathered a swirl of wind in the palms of his hands and shot it out towards Elizabeth.

Condensed airflow struck her violently in the gut, she grunted in pain from the impact. The pulse of air sent her flying over the edge of the stairs.

Atlas could only observe in horror as he saw his friend fly over the edge. In a fit of desperation he lunged out towards the edge reaching out to her. Tumbling just before the edge of the steps as she stared back into his eyes before finally falling down.

"NO!"

She plunged down into the darkness, her screams trailing off as she dove into the abyss. Eventually it was completely silent as Atlas stared into the void. He was far too late, she was already gone.

"ELIZABETH!!" Atlas' voice cracked as he hung over the edge, his hand limply stretched down into the darkness.

"You bastard!"

Leo sprung back up and tried to land a few more blows on the wind mage. He blocked them all and then he right hooked Leo in the jaw, knocking him out cold.

Atlas stood up and turned to the man. Tears fell down his face silently as he stared down the man who had just killed his friend.

A bloodcurdling scream erupted from Atlas' lungs. Without even wielding his catalyst, electricity zapped and crackled all around him. It had distinctly gone from a white color to a deep abyssal black.

The tattooed mage laughed once again as he pulled down his face mask. Revealing his twisted smile and foggy grey eyes which glistened with delight.

"Mages of the void must be punished for their sins against this world! And double so for the filth that would dare walk beside a demon of the Nexus!"

He grinned at Atlas who was surging with power.

"Prove to me here and now what a monster you truly are!"

"Shut up..."

Atlas began walking forward, as his lightning protruded in different directions around his body. His heart was filled with rage, and with every step closer to his enemy it began to boil inside of him more.

"I'll fucking kill you."