《The 7 towers》 The escape The mansion was in flames and I started the fire. To take the test of the first tower I had to find a way to slip out of my master¡¯s grasp and run to the tower. I knew it wouldn¡¯t be easy but I never expected it to be that hard. Setting the fire had not been my first choice of distraction but when my plan to escape through the underground passage had failed, I had to do something. If I¡¯d been caught they would¡¯ve flayed me alive to set an example and quite frankly I look horrendous flayed. I¡¯d been minding my own business, frantically making my way to the underground passage, when a guard spotted me. Through some quick maneuvers I managed to escape their grasp but I ended up in the wine cellar. That¡¯s when inspiration struck. Unfortunately, turns out that wine doesn¡¯t set on fire but luckily there was a stronger section of the alcohol I could try. I never intended to burn the whole mansion down, only to create a distraction so I could slip away into the underground passage. Unfortunately, once I set the alcohol on fire it quickly started spreading and at that point there was no hope in containing it. And that¡¯s where I am now, frantically running for my life to get to the underground passage before I¡¯m burned alive. ¡°Fuck fuck fuck¡± I whispered under my breath. I was out of breath already and I wasn¡¯t even there yet. My breath was jagged and short and I had scraped my knee. I kept running though because if I stopped there was no way I would be left alive. I ran past a group of guards who were gathering water to try and calm the flames. Idiots, the whole cellar was already alite, there was no way they¡¯d be able to stop it now. I took a left into the guards sleeping chambers. The room was fairly plain with bunkbeds lining the room. There was a big hearth in the middle of the room that was aflame for heat. I headed toward the wall where the secret entrance was and started frantically patting it down to look for the trigger to the entrance. ¡°What are you doing!¡± Someone behind me shouted. Shit It was a guard. I slowly turned around and faced him. ¡°What are you doing, don¡¯t you know there¡¯s a fire that needs to be put out¡° I asked the guard back. He looked at me confused for a second and that was all the chance I needed. I charged at him and rammed him into the big hearth. His clothes and hair quickly set on fire and he started frantically screaming. I turned around and kept looking for the trigger to the entrance. I kept tapping in the area I knew the trigger was supposed to be when I heard a click.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Ha, finally¡± I exclaimed. The wall moved up and showed the opening to the entrance of a tunnel. Right as I was about to start running something tackled me to the ground. I struggled frantically against my captor but it¡¯s grip one me was firm. ¡°Where are you headed¡± It softly whispered into my ear. I turned my head to look at it for the first time and I realized just how fucked I was. It was a hollowing. It had a powder white face and it¡¯s thin lips were set into a smile. There was a streak of red going down its face for where Rahul had struck down the face of their deity. What scared me the most about it was it¡¯s eyes though, it had tiny beady eyes and in the eye was the ring of god. It was common knowledge that whenever you see something with the ring of god that you have no other option but to run and hope that its not interested in you. ¡°I asked you a question¡± the hollowing whispered menacingly. ¡°To the first tower for my tribulation¡± I managed to yelp out. ¡°Very ambitious for a man of your class. How about we strike a deal. I let you go off and in exchange you do me a little favor¡± I had no choice, when one is offered a deal with a hollowing. You either accepted the deal of you died. ¡°O-ok, I accept¡± The hollowing disappeared like smoke and I felt a huge burden being taken off me. I didn¡¯t have time to think on what had just happened though because the other guards had heard the screaming of the man on fire and had come to see what had happened. I ran away as fast as I could into the pitch black of the passage. I heard the guards screaming behind me to stop but luckily, I felt reinvigorated an was able to outrun them. I ran in that pitch black passage for what seemed like hours until I found myself coming out of it into a well lit room. I had finally made it into the safehouse that the passage led to. The safehouse was located at the outskirts of the city, about 10 minutes from the tower. I made my way out of the safe house and started running to the tower. The tower was huge, it dwarfed any building I had ever seen. Its tip was so high that it was among clouds. The whole tower was a deep hue of silver and it was hard to look straight at it due to the moonlight that was being reflected off. I started making my way to the entrance of the tower. When I was 100 paces from the entrance, I cut a deep gash into my hand. I slowly let it drip into a strange alien shape to announce to the tower that I was here for the initiation. I walked slowly up to the tower and finally I was looking at the swirling shape of colours that was the entrance. I tentatively reached out and touched it. ¡°Are you sure you would like to participate in this tribulation¡± a deep voice resounded in my head. ¡°Yes¡± I replied resolutely. Then, I was sucked into the entrance. To marry or not to marry I do. That¡¯s all I have to say. Just a simple I do, then my life would be set. No more going to ballroom dances looking for a husband of suitable rank. No more finding a guy I like only for my dad to find out and judge him to not be influential enough. No more sneaking out of the castle to go explore the forest. No more mingling with the peasants and getting to know them better. All I had to say was I do and I would finally be ready to face the rest of my life and leave my rebellious faze behind. The rest of my boring life sitting on balconies and bickering with the other ladies. Just have to say I do. I was sitting on a stool getting my makeup done by this woman who was the most expensive makeup artist in the city. I never really liked makeup but on a day like your wedding one has no choice but to put it on. I had on a beautiful wedding gown that everyone said brought out my eyes. I wasn¡¯t sure if that was true or not. Just as the woman finished putting the finishing touches on my face the doors opened, it was my mother. ¡°Linda darling, you look beautiful¡± my mother exclaimed ¡°If you say so mom¡± I replied nonchalantly Mother then dismissed the makeup artist and came up close to me to better examine my face. ¡°tsk, tsk, tsk, for 500 dishnah you would¡¯ve thought she could do a better job than this. No matter, you¡¯re elegance still shines through just fine¡± I looked at my mother and hesitated for a second before I spoke. ¡°Mom, I don¡¯t know if I want to get married. I have so many things that I still want to do and if I get married I won¡¯t be able to do any of them¡± ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous dear, the only thing worth doing in life is finding a nice man to settle down with. Ryan¡¯s a nice boy and your going to love spending the rest of your life with him. Soon, you¡¯ll be laughing at how stupid you were for having such thoughts.¡± She replied dismissively I stayed silent. I knew she wouldn¡¯t budge but I had to give it a try anyway. I slowly got up from my seat and looked at myself in the mirror. I guess I didn¡¯t look too bad, maybe mom¡¯s right and I will end up laughing all about this later. I walked out of the room with my mother to where everyone who was a part of the ceremony was gathering. Mom and I went up to dad and mom gave dad a quick peck on the cheek before drifting off to her assigned place. I heard the music start playing outside and my sister went out. I waited in a few moments of awkward silence with my dad and then I finally heard my cue. My dad and I walked out into the ceremony. We slowly walked down the middle aisle and with each step my heartbeat increased. By the time we got to the front and I split with my dad to go to my place in front of Ryan, I thought I would have a heart attack. The priest gave his speech while I looked into Ryan¡¯s eyes to find any sign that he was having the same kind of doubts as me. He looked resolute.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Do you, Ryan, take Linda to be your lawfully wedded wife¡± ¡°I do¡± spoke Ryan softly but still loud enough for it to be heard by the audience ¡°And do you Linda, take Ryan to be your lawfully wedded husband¡± I hesitated for a second. ¡°I d-¡° Suddenly a skinny pale white creature with a streak of red going down from its eye appeared in front of me. I was shocked and paralyzed with fear. I stared at it until I realized what I was looking at. It was a Hollowling. ¡°Is this really what you want Linda¡± He whispered His voice was raspy and you could heard a faint undertone of nails on a chalkboard in it. I jumped when he spoke and fell. ¡°Don¡¯t be scared, its ok. Nobody will bother you when you¡¯re with me¡± I looked around to try and find someone who could help me. The whole crowd was frozen in place. I looked at Ryan and the priest and they were frozen too. ¡°What do you mean?¡± I asked it ¡°Didn¡¯t you dream of doing grander things. If you get married, you¡¯ll never have the chance to do all those things you dreamed of. You won¡¯t get to take the tribulation¡± it said the last part very faintly and I just barely caught it. I was shocked, nobody knew of my dream to tackle the towers. Even when I was a kid, I knew it was stupid to try and take them on. ¡°No please. Just let me go and unfreeze everyone¡± I asked the thing pleadingly. ¡°Are you sure Linda. Is that really what you want. Just imagine the power you¡¯d have in your hands. You could change so much¡± His voice started sounding like the sweetest nectar. I was entranced. Maybe the tower wasn¡¯t just a dream. Clearly something about me made the creature believe I should take the tribulation. Maybe I should do it. ¡°No. I can¡¯t they¡¯re a death sentence, nobodies been able to conquer one for hundreds of years.¡± ¡°But nobody else had me helping them. With me by your side anything is possible. All you have to do is give me a favour in return¡± A hollowing, helping me. If I had a hollowing helping me the chances of success would skyrocket. And just think of what I could do if I could conquer a tower. Nobody could ever force me to do what they want ever again. I would be free in the truest sense of the word. All my previous dreams would be too small, I would have to imagine new dreams to strive for. ¡°I-I ac-accept your o-ffer¡± I replied ¡°Excellent¡± Suddenly the hollowing disappeared and I found myself standing in an empty field. I looked around confused and then I saw it. The tower. It¡¯s peak was beyond the clouds and the deep silver hue was blinding in the sunlight. I slowly started walking up to it. At 100 pace I suddenly got an image of what I needed to do. I bit down into my arm until I drew blood, with the blood I made a strange alien symbol on the ground and kept walking forward. After every 10 paces I would make the symbol again. Until I was finally at the swirling pool of colours that was the entrance. I hesitantly reached out and touched the entrance. ¡°Are you sure you would like to take the tribulation¡± a deep voice resonated in me ¡°Yes¡± I was then sucked into the entrance.