The sun glowed as it drew above the horizon, the light creeping through the abandoned city of empty streets and silent buildings, which stretched endlessly in every direction. The almost clean breeze wiping past Xaden's face carried the scent of steel rust and something like decay.
He shivered a bit; he had idiotically torn up his shirt to use as a bandage for the wound at his side, now he had not even the simple piece of clothing to protect his skinny ass against the elements.
After he had escaped the Spider Beast's nest, he had gotten a little precarious rest, deeply hidden along the ruins. He had spent longer than he planned to awake, but when he did, the sun was just about to rise. Xade was running out of time.
One line stood out to him most in the message: ascend or remain forever.
Where was heaven most likely to be located?
Sky high. Above, obviously. So why not the tallest building?
He stood at the edge of a broken road, staring ahead in silence. It had taken him longer than he wanted to admit to find it. Going through the endless labyrinthine city till he finally found it, one building rising above the rest around somewhere with a faded sign that read State of Emperor Building or Emperor's State or whatever. Although it wasn't really intact, it still stood almost tall and proud despite the ruins that surrounded it.
Absolutely nothing like the buildings in Sector 45, most broad in width, designed to fit as many people as possible without being at all luxurious.
Xaden narrowed his eyes slightly, spotting something at the top of the entrance. It was a dirty, rusty sign. He used his palms to wipe it clean.
Heaven, the sign read.
He stared at it for a few seconds, then let out a quiet breath that sounded more tired than relieved.
"It's here," he muttered. It had to be.
The key to heaven. Heaven's door, the stupid challenge. All of it had led to this place.
He stepped towards it. The closer he got, the bigger it seemed, till he was only a few steps away from the entrance. He hadn't seen the shadow-like beasts since he had gotten above ground. Something told him that it wasn't a good sign.
He crossed the threshold, and for a moment, nothing happened. All of a sudden, golden lights began to flicker on floor after floor above him, one after another in rapid succession, climbing toward the top like the entire building had just come alive. The sudden brightness made him flinch slightly, his eyes narrowing as the darkness inside the skyscraper vanished almost instantly.
Xaden stared up at the glowing floors in silence for a second.
"…Well," he said dryly, rubbing the back of his neck, "that's reassuring, I guess."
He marveled at the sight around him; everything was suspiciously perfect, too perfect. The floor was polished marble, pale and smooth, reflecting the golden artificial lights from above in long, perfect lines. The walls rose high around him, elegant and in an old-fashioned style that was no doubt modern back when this city was everything but ruins. Even the tall glass doors behind him looked untouched — not cracked, not dirty, not even scratched.
Even the air here was cooler than outside, in an artificial sort of way.
'Ding.' The sound of the crucible message popped up in his head.
Congratulations.
Xaden paused as the golden lines shifted to form another set of words.
You have reached the tower of Heaven.
Past the test to move on to the next crucible and collect rewards.
You have 2 hours remaining.
Xaden waited for a bit after the last message was read, but to his disappointment, nothing else came. It just hovered there for a bit before dissolving into thin lines of golden light.
"So that's it, huh." He mumbled.
No instructions. No helpful little maps to show him what he's supposed to be looking for. Nothing.
He rubbed the back of his neck, glancing around the empty reception hall again. The polished floor stretched in every direction. The place was perfect in an eerie, unsettling way that made the hair at the back of his neck stand up.
The system had simply told him to pass the test, not to fight something or kill it. Just pass.
He exhaled slowly, the sound coming out sharper than he meant it to. If it were a trial, then the answer wouldn't be complicated. Trials didn't usually hide the objective — they hid the cost.
Up.
If there were something called Heaven's door, it wouldn't be buried underground. It would be at the top of this tower
The lights overhead flickered again, faint and uneven this time, throwing long shadows across the marble. The glow slid across the walls and revealed details he hadn't noticed before.
The walls weren't plain. They were carved — long vertical lines running upward like someone had tried to force the stone itself to stretch toward the ceiling. Golden panels sat between them, smooth and polished, catching the light in a way that made the entire hall feel taller than it should have been. Even the ceiling wasn't flat. It curved slightly, rising higher at the centre, like the place had been built for people who wanted to feel small the moment they stepped inside.
Xaden tightened his grip on the jagged piece of metal in his hand and slowly turned in a circle, watching the reflections move across the floor. The elevators stood silent at the far end, their doors closed so perfectly they almost looked painted on. No buttons lit up. No sound came from behind them.
The building felt less like a ruin and more like something that had been preserved, kept waiting for someone to walk in. He swallowed, trying to ignore the way his chest felt tighter the longer he stood still.
The message had said to pass the test. That meant standing here doing nothing was probably already a mistake.
"…Alright," he muttered quietly, more to stop the silence than anything else. "Door to Heaven. Top of the tower. Finish the test. Shouldn't be too hard ."
The lights above him began to flicker faster, the glow snapping on and off in sharp bursts that made the shadows jump across the hall like something was moving between them. He raised the piece of shrapnel higher, his eyes narrowing, waiting for something to rush him.
Nothing did.
The lights stopped flickering. The silence broke, and Xaden could've sworn he heard something. He turned slowly.
And froze.
A staircase stood behind him.
It hadn't been there a second ago. He was sure of it. The marble floor where it now rose had been empty when he walked in. Now, a wide flight of steps climbed upward along the wall, clean and perfectly intact, the railings gleaming faintly under the golden light.
He shifted his weight between each foot, every instinct screaming that the moment he stepped onto those stairs, something was going to happen.
"Well, that definitely hadn't been there before!"
The air felt colder near the first step. Quieter. Like the sound of the entire building had been pulled away from that one spot.
Xaden let out a slow breath, tightening his grip on the metal shard.
"If the only way out is up," he said under his breath, voice steady despite the way his pulse had started to quicken, "then I guess we're going up."
The lights flicker on and off repeatedly. Who knows just what the place had in store?
He began another climb, to the top of the tower, trying to forget the sound he could have sworn he had heard.
The sound of deep, unsettling laughter.