Ch.3 The Crystal Tower

Ty goes to The Crystal Tower with the four warriors and meets three mysterious figures are they friends or foes?

  Luneth was correct in his saying when they would be back to the airship "Well here we are." Ty looked up and his eyes got as big as dinner plates and pointed up at the airship "That is one big airship" Refia nodded "Of course it is silly. We don't just ride around in it, it also stores all of our equipment and it even has rooms for each of us." Ingus chuckled "Of course when she means by each of us she means the four of us." Ty sighed "Yeah a suspected as much." Arc put his hand on Ty's shoulder "Don't worry about it. I have two beds in my room you can bunk with me." "Thanks Arc." Luneth clapped his hands "Enough chit-chat let's get up to the ship and head for the crystal tower." He then whistled and the chocobo's they were riding ran out of sight.

  They all started to climb the rope that led them up to the airship. About halfway up Ty decided to look down, that was a huge mistake. He started to shake uncontrollably and stopped climbing. Arc was behind Ty on the rope "You alright there Ty?" "I'm not particularly a big fan of heights Arc." Luneth was the first one climbing up on the rope and already almost to the airship "Then you picked the wrong people to tag along with. We travel in this thing a lot." Ty gulped "I'll be fine after I have had a few cans of coke." Ingus called down "What's coke?" Ty sighed "Oh yeah I forgot where I was. Anyway as long as I don't look down again I should be fine." And he didn't for the rest of the climb up, just the thought of looking down made him feel sick to his stomach. When they all finally did get on board the airship Ty fell flat on his stomach "I never want to do that again." Luneth laughed "Just wait until you have to climb back down. Ty groaned "Oh yeah lucky me." 

  They all walked up two floors of the ship and there was a big hallway with two doors on each side. "This is the floor where we sleep. The farthest door on the right is my room, the door on the far left is Arc's room, the door closest to us on the right is Ingus' room and the one closest to us on the left is Refia's room." "Remember you're staying with me Ty." Arc said. Luneth pointed towards Arc's door "You can go ahead and rest up, seeing as how you don't like heights and Arc's room doesn't have a window it might be best if you stay there." Ty nodded "No argument out of me." He opened the door and Arc put his hand on Ty's shoulder I'll be there in a few minutes." Ty nodded entered the room and closed the door behind him. He tossed his bag and his sword on Arc's spare bed and lied down on the bed. He just stared up at the ceiling thinking if he will ever see home again. "I wonder how Kelly is doing. She must be worried sick about me. She hates it when I make her worried sick. I guess when I get back I'll hide out somewhere for a while to avoid her wrath." He turned his head and noticed a mirror on Arc's side of the room "I wonder if I still look the same." He got up and walked over to the mirror and to his surprise he no longer looked the way he did.

  "B-but that's impossible. I look the way I did as a teenager. I haven't had hair this short since I was in high school. And now that I think about it I haven't worn this jacket since I was in high school either. But I always wear jeans and a t-shirt so no surprise with that appearance." He sighed and went back to lie down on the bed "I wonder how I got here and better yet why am I here and why do I look like I'm a teenager again?" Arc walked in just as Ty was down rambling on to himself "Hey Ty you feeling ok? You look pale." Ty nodded "Yeah I'm fine still adjusting to all this is all." Arc sat down on his bed "Where are you from anyway?" "I come from a country called the United States of America. The best country in the world." Arc grinned "Well there's no way it could be so great I have never heard of this country in my entire life." Ty laughed "Well that doesn't surprise me considering you also told me you never heard of an auto repair shop in your life either." "You sure are strange Ty." "No argument out of me Arc. Anyway what time is it do you know?" Arc nodded "It was getting dark when we went topside, Luneth says we'll be at The Crystal Tower by morning." Ty sat up "Works for me. If it's as dark as you say it is I'm gonna go to sleep." "I was going to do the same. Good night Ty." 

  They were the only ones who fell asleep immediately on the airship. Luneth took first shift in piloting the ship and keeping a lookout for any attackers. Ingus kicked back and relaxed in his quarters, and Refia stayed topside with Luneth to assist with lookout. "Hey Luneth." "Yeah whats up Refia?" "Do you think Ty is who he really says he is? What if he's a spy sent by Xande to infiltrate and destroy us and he's just playing dumb?" Luneth shook his head "The thought had entered my brain Refia, but I don't think that's the case. He seemed way to surprised and his story sounded way too strange even for one of Xande's minions." Refia nodded "Yeah I guess you're right." "Pay attention now Refia anything could happen with us being this close to Xande."

  After Luneth and Refia were done with their shift it was Arc and Ingus' turn to pilot and keep watch. Arc left the room quietly so he didn't wake Ty up. "You're turn Ingus and Arc." Luneth said with a smile as he and Refia passed "How's our guest by the way?" "Still sleeping" Arc responded swiftly. Luneth smiled "Alright then. Keep a good watch you two I would like to reach the tower in one piece. Can't speak for you guys though."

  By sunrise there was a loud knock on all the doors of the rooms that people were still sleeping in. It was Arc "Crystal Tower just ahead everyone get your lazy butt's out of bed." Ty groaned "You're going to have to come in here and drag me out of this bed." Luneth heard this as he walked by the door and busted it down "Wish granted pal." Ty immediately sprang out of bed "I was just kidding. Take a joke man I'm just tired is all. I'll grab my bag and my sword and I'll be right out." "Good answer" And with that Luneth left the room. Ty grabbed his sword and his bag "I have to be prepared for whatever danger I may face. There's no telling what lies in wait in the tower and lord knows what Xande is like." He left the room and headed down to the bottom of the airship where everyone was waiting. Luneth smiled and pointed down below "Let's go."

  Ty looked up and marveled at the size of the tower "Holy crap that is one big a*s tower." Luneth chuckled "I'm sure it looks bigger on the inside. Let's go in everyone." They entered the tower and Luneth was right it definitely looked bigger on the inside. Ty sighed "Well this is going to be a fun climb." Refia pointed to the right "There are stairs over there let's start going up." They all started their climb up the stairs and when they got to the top of the flight of stairs and they were in a round room and there are multiple paths in the room. Luneth sighed "Great multiple paths this will be fun." Ty stepped forward "I'll take one on my own. I'll take this path on the right." Luneth stopped him "No it's too dangerous." "I know how to take care of myself Luneth I can fight with my sword." "Alright fine but the first sign of you struggling and near death you call one of us immediately understand?" Ty nodded in agreement "Yes I understand." Luneth lowered his arm "Alright then Arc and I will take the middle path and Ingus and Refia will take left. Meet back here if any of you found the way forward."

  They all went their separate paths. Ty took the one on the right like he said he would. It wasn't long before he went down two more hallways and came to a dead end. "Well I guess my way isn't the way forward I'll head back and wait for the others." He turned around and saw three dark abyss' "What the hell?" He saw three dark figures in black coats emerged, one from each abyss and he readied his sword. One of the figures raised his hand "At ease boy we are not here to hurt you. For now." Ty started to breath nervously "Who are you?" The figure on the right lowered his hood and there was the face of a young man with long black hair and his face looked like it was corrupt "I'm the Lord of Darkness. It's a shame really, there's no darkness in your heart, it would look so much better to me if there was some darkness in there." The figure in the middle pointed to the Lord of Darkness' abyss "Leave us." The Lord of Darkness grinned menacingly and left the room through his abyss. The figure in the middle lowered his hood next and there was a face that was half flesh and half skull "I'm Death. I'm the one who brought you here into this world." Ty was getting angry "Why did you bring me here?" Death started to pace back and forth "There are some of my victims that I like to play games with particularly those of the souls that haven't lived all that long." 

   Ty made his hands into fists "You brought me away from my family and friends just to play some sick game with my soul? You have spoken your last!" Ty drew his sword from its sheathe and lunged at Death, but alas Death was too quick and immediately dodged his attack. "You're too slow boy. Do not be hesitant to strike at me now. We will have our battle soon enough." And with these words Death went through his abyss. Ty looked at the final figure "And who are you? Another one of Death's pawns?" The last figure made no response but only walked through his abyss and left without a trace. Ty looked around "Was it all just a dream? An hallucination maybe?" He shook his head "Might as well head back now. My way wasn't the way forward." He made his way back to the circular room to find the entire group waiting for him. Arc smiled "Our path was the way forward. Let's go after Xande!"

Author's Note

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