《The Black Tower》 Chapter 1-The door of the damned In a city there was a large commotion. All the civilians were gathered and were watching. They watched as several knights clad in silver-colored armor were leading a group behind them. This group consisted of criminals. Some of the had scars over their bodies. Others had entire limbs missing. Others were so old that they looked like walking corpses. Others were extremely young and resembled children and that''s because they were children. In this group was also a young man. He was wearing extremely dirty black clothes. He had short blond hair and black eyes that resembled the nigh sky. His name was Julius. He was a petty thief who was captured several years ago. He and the other criminals were all forced to walk towards the same location. The Black Tower. Across this world there were countless towers that reached the clouds. They were made out of a black and unbreakable material and their origins were unknown. They simply were. The doors of these towers opened once every 100 years before closing after a few minutes. It is believed that anything that enters the tower but doesn''t leave before the doors close simply vanishes and leaves no trace behind. Due to this the kingdom has started using these towers to get rid of criminals. By putting them inside the tower when the door opens and preventing them from leaving they effectively get rid of them in every sense of the word. This event was called the "Black Tower Festival" and whenever it happened all the civilians would gather and watch the criminals go inside. Some had accepted their fate. Some were shivering in fear. Some were crying. Some were screaming and pleading that they were innocent. Julius accepted his fate. He knew this day would come the moment he was captured. He knew he was going to die today. As they finally reached the foot of the tower the civilians and criminals gazed at the strange structure. Julius shifted his gaze upwards. The tower extended far into the sky. Touching the clouds. It''s shadow covered entire city blocks and it''s deep black coloration brough about a feeling of pure terror. One of the silver clad knight stood in front of the group of criminals. This knight not only had a silver armor but the armor was adorned with golden accents. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The figure took of it''s helmet and revealed it''s face. It was a bald man with a scar on his right eye. He raised his voice so that every single person could hear him. "This day is a very special day. It''s the Black Tower Festival and the criminals who bring fear and terror will be brought to JUSTICE" he screamed his heart out on the last word of his sentence The crowd cheered and then started cursing the criminals. Some even started throwing tomatoes at them. After the crown ran out of things to throw at the criminals they started listening to the bald man again. "Once this door opens we will send them inside and then they will die. DEATH TO THE DAMNED" The bald man was once again being overly dramatic. But the crowd once again cheered and celebrated. Julius wasn''t bothered by any of this. He knew this kingdom despised criminals. He knew he would be ridiculed and treated like trash. He just let it happen. There was no point in trying to change it now. Finally the time arrived. The door of the tower opened. The air itself seemed to grow still and fear overcame the criminals. The fear they felt came from the deepest parts of their mind. It was telling them to run away. It didn''t matter what the circumstances were or what the potential risks were. They had to run. If they didn''t run they would die. RUN! RUN! RUN! The knights forced the criminals to walk forward towards the door. Julius took a step forward, then another, then another and another. With each step he was walking closer to what everyone believed to be certain death. Even he believed it was certain death and yet he kept on walking. The criminals entered the room one by one and they had to stay there. The room was empty and made from the same material as the outside of the tower. The barefooted criminals felt the cold surface of the floor beneath them. the room was extremely large and could hold up to 500 criminals inside but right now there was only around 250 criminals. Some of them fell to the floor and started crying and praying. Knowing no god would answer. Others grabbed at their hair in frustration. Becoming mad at the world itself. Others tried to run out of the room only to be thrown back in by the guards. Others like Julius observed everything with a blank expression. The crowd outside was celebrating and singing. To them this was a moment of joy. If you followed the rules of the kingdom then this they would bring you happiness instead of fear. It was simple. "I truly am one of the damned." Julius though to himself. Then the door started to slowly close. The light that entered the room growing dimmer and dimmer. Then there was no light. The criminals could still sense their basic surroundings through their other senses but suddenly a strange feeling overcame all of them. They started feeling nauseas and slowly started to lose their other senses. The sounds they heard became weaker and weaker until there were no more sounds. The smells that filled the room slowly faded until there were no more smells. The taste of the air around them disappeared until there were no more tastes. The touch they felt with the ground vanished until there was no more touching. They had no senses. They couldn''t feel anything. It felt like a very long and dark dream. Then suddenly all their senses slowly came back to them but they weren''t feeling the same things as before. Different sounds, smells and tastes could be felt and they could sense they were touching something different. Their sight was the only thing they were missing and so they opened their eyes. What they saw was something they couldn''t believe. They were in a field. An open grass field. Chapter 2-The field All the prisoners looked around in a dazed manner. They couldn''t believe what they were seeing. A few dozen seconds age they were in a dark room and now they were in an open grass field. The field extended into the horizon. Nothing except grass could be seen in any direction. The criminals were still shocked and started talking about how this was even possible. However Julius wasn''t worried about the method by which they were brought here. He was thinking of something way more important. Food. There were no animals to be seen and the grass obviously couldn''t provide enough nutrients for them and there was no visible body of water nearby. "Wondering around in search of food and water will just tire us out. The lack of nutrients, the exhaustion and the fear of suddenly appearing in such a place are all things that once put together would lead to one outcome and that was cannibalism." Julius concluded inwardly. He wasn''t too worried about this. He could defend himself just fine and was perfectly comfortable eating humans for the first time. He knew something had to happen. If someone or something built this tower then why would they "create" this field that seemed to serve no purpose. So Julius held onto the belief that something would happen, for better or for worse. Suddenly the entire sky darkened and dark clouds now filled the sky that was a beautiful blue just a moment ago. Then a massive bolt of lightning hit the ground a few dozen meters away from the group of criminals. Dirt was sent flying in each direction which created a cloud of dust. This dust cloud slowly cleared away and a figure was standing in the exact spot the lightning hit. The figure looked like an old man. With flowing, grey robes and a white beard. The figure had blue eyes which observed the criminals for a moment. Then the dark clouds cleared away the same way they appeared. Now only the group of criminals and the elderly man remained. The elderly man opened his mouth and spoke. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Hummin the Storm. I am a god. The god of storms to be exact. I will serve as your guide through the tower. If you have any questions then you can ask me and I''ll answer them if I decide you''re worthy of the answer. Now before you stop throwing countless questions at me right at the start I''ll make a rule. All of you as a whole can only ask me 3 questions." This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The criminals started discussing what this man was saying and if it was true or not. Then they started discussing what kind of questions they should ask Hummin. Suddenly Julius walked forward and was now near Hummin. Julius and Hummin made eye contact and Julius opened his mouth and spoke to Hummin. "Is this open field the only part of the tower?" Julius asked a question. "No." replied Hummin. "What is it''s purpose?" Julius asked another question. "To serve as a resting spot between rounds." Hummin answered. "What are these rounds you just mentioned?" Julius asked the last question. " Every couple of hours I will take you all to a special location within the tower. In that special location an event will be held. If you survive the event you live and move onto the next round while those who lost will die," Hummin explained in a calm voice. Julius smiled. After he gathered all this information he knew what this tower was. It was a test. A competition. A competition for what? He didn''t know but he did know that if he successfully completed all the rounds he will most likely live. So he was determined. Before when he didn''t know if entering the tower meant death he accepted death as his fate. But now that there was a chance to live he had to take it. It didn''t matter if others died along the way. His survival was the most important. Julius turned around to look at the other criminals. They were all looking at him with bloodshot eyes. He had just used the 3 questions without even discussing it with anybody. They wanted to kill him. Julius spread his arms and screamed at the top of his lungs so that everybody could hear him. "Why are all you little worms looking at me with such wrath? Do you want to kill me? If so then these rounds will be your best opportunity to do so. It''s me against all of you. That seems fair to me. So how about it? Why don''t we compete? The prize for all of you if you win will be the sight of my dead body and if I win then I will walk atop a hill made from your corpses." The group became even more agitated after Julius''s provocation. Julius''s smile grew even wider and he continued with his speech. "It doesn''t matter what either of us does in order to clinch victory. No matter the magnitude of immoral acts or the quantity of evil acts. As long as one of us wins it is all forgiven. So I ask you again. Why don''t we compete? It will be a race to the end. A competition filled with sin. But in the end the last and greatest sinner inside this place will be the one to clinch victory. So who will it be? Me or you? Why don''t we find out?" Hummin observer all of this with interest. He had never seen someone so honest about their sinful nature. He was assured that this will be something very special. The entire group of criminals were bursting with rage. The very air around them seemed tense. Their minds were filled with nothing but though on how to kill Julius. Despite all of this anger and bloodlust being directed at him Julius had nothing but a wide grin on his face. To him this was entertaining. He felt like he had found his paradise. Chapter 3-A Union of hatred Julius was happy. His plan had worked. He had allied everyone else against himself. The reason he did this is because Hummin just said that there will only be one winner. This means people who become close with others will have to make difficult decisions which will likely lead to betrayals. Betrayal was most devastating when it happened inside of an established group. So Julius united the people against him so that their internal conflict will be more severe when those betrayals do happen which will improve his chances of winning. Julius also believed that these rounds will most likely not involve any teams and stuff like that. He believed this was the case because there will only be one winner at the end which wouldn''t make sense if it involved teams. He also believed it wouldn''t involve physical strength since that would give certain people an unfair advantage and judging by Hummin''s behavior the individuals in charge of this tower seemed wise enough so they will seek to make these rounds as fair as possible. So the only option left would be strategic competitions or some form of mind-games. Julius was happy because he excelled at that. Then all of a sudden Hummin opened his mouth. "The first round will believe in 3 hours but before that I would like to establish two rules." Everyone listened to him. "Rule number 1. Any physical harm towards other people while in this field is prohibited." "Rule number 2. You must follow the rules of the rounds. Any cheating is prohibited." "Is all of this clear?" Hummin asked. All of them nodded but then one person asked a question. "What is the punishment for breaking these rules?" Hummin''s eyes drifted towards the man who asked the question. He then opened his mouth once again. "As I have said before you are only allowed 3 questions as of this moment." Julius rejoiced in his heart. Because the punishment remained unknown less people were likely to try and break the rules which will make it so there''s a lower chance of the other people going out of their way to kill him. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Hummin''s body then started taking on an heavenly white glow. The glow intensified until his body had become a source of pure light that illuminated the field akin to a second sun. Then this light flew high into the sky and took on the shape of lightning. Hummin had now left. Julius looked at everyone else with his deep black eyes which resembled the night sky. They were all looking at him with hate-filled eyes. Then they calmed down slightly after remembering they couldn''t harm him in any way. They then started talking amongst each other. While Julius couldn''t hear their conversations clearly he concluded that they were either talking about him or what the first round might be. Suddenly a person pushed through the large group of people and made his way to Julius. Julius looked at him and took in his appearance. He was a man in his late 20''s or early 30''s. He had short black hair and wore rugged prisoner clothes. His eyes were a light green color which resembled the grass of the very field they were standing on. "Hello there. May I know your name?" The black haired man asked. His voice was gentle like the wind. "My name is Julius. Who are you?" Julius replied. "You can call me Henry Grimmer. I consider myself an explorer of the human mind." The man responded. "A psychologist?" Julius asked. "In a way yes. Also just to let you know I am aware of what you did just now. Uniting everyone against you is a really bold strategy but It has the potential to work" Henry responded. "What? He saw through my plan so quick?" Julius panicked inwardly. "Yes I did." Henry said. "What? I didn''t say that out loud. Can he read my mind or something?" Julius started becoming extremely fearful in his head. "No I can''t." Henry once again spoke out loud. Julius stared at him with a blank expression. He couldn''t believe what had just happened. His fear of Henry increased significantly after just one short conversation. Henry then gave him a smile. The smile wasn''t a fake one. It was a genuine smile that was filled with joy. Henry then turned around and walked back to the group. Julius just continued to stand there in shock. His mind was already busy working on making plans to deal with Henry but no matter how hard he though about it he couldn''t devise a plan. "He still doesn''t know what the first round will be so unless he can adapt quickly to a situation he won''t make it. But the same goes for me. I don''t know anything and neither does anybody else." Julius contemplated his situation. Julius just decided to wait patiently since Hummin said there was a break of a few hours between each round. However he was planning on winning. He couldn''t give up. He had to win because that was the only way to get out of this place alive. ... A few hours passed. The people have formed many small groups. However neither Julius nor Henry were a part of any group. Suddenly the sky became shrouded in dark, stormy clouds. A lightning bolt struck the ground and Hummin appeared on the point of impact. Everyone turned their heads to look at him. They were all silent and listened closely to his words. "The first round will now begin." Hummin said with a bit of excitement in his voice. Chapter 4-First round Suddenly Hummin waved his hand and all the people felt their surroundings become unclear and they became somewhat dizzy. Once they could properly think again they assessed their surroundings. They were now in a completely new environment. They were in a large room whose walls, ceiling and floor were made out of black stone. There were many lanterns connected to the ceiling by chains and that was the only source of light in the room. There was a small pedestal on one side of the room. On it were many small pieces of paper, small enough to fit into a person''s palm. Hummin stood in front of the pedestal. He addressed the entire group. "The first game will be very short and very simple. You will each have 1 completely random opponent each. You will ask that opponent a yes or no question and they must answer it. It doesn''t have to be the truth. It just has to be a yes or a no. Before the game begins you will all write your prediction of your opponents answer, keep in mind that you won''t know who your opponent will be when you write your prediction." "If your prediction was wrong you lose. If it was correct you win. Simple isn''t it?" Then a person asked a question. "How will we decide who asks the question between us and the opponent?" Hummin smiled with excitement. "Great question. Before the question is asked the person who asks it will be decided by a game of rock, paper, scissors. It will be played till one player wins. If it''s a tie you play again till one of you wins.. Does everybody understand?" All of them nodded in unison. Hummin had a satisfied look on his face. "You will all be called out and write your prediction on the paper. You will then fold this paper and carry it with you." Julius was satisfied with how the game was designed. It was the right combination of luck, foresight and misdirection. Perfect for him. But he soon realized that Henry would also find this game extremely easy. "The chances of us being opponents in the very first round is very small so we will both most likely win and move onto the next round so I need to focus on more important stuff. Since everyone will have 1 opponent that means that half of the people here will lose and die. This makes it a high-stakes round. People will not make dumb mistakes here. Everyone will try to pull clever tricks." Julius took in his situation. Then Hummin started calling out different names. Whenever a name was called a person would walk forward and write their prediction on the paper. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Finally Julius''s name was called out and he walked to the pedestal, picked up the small ink quill on the pedestal and wrote on the piece of paper. "Predicted answer: No" He then folded this piece of paper and took it with him. He walked back into the crowd. Other people''s names were called out. Among them was Henry Grimmer who wrote his prediction on the piece of paper. "Predicted answer: Yes" Finally once all the people wrote their predictions they all stood still while Hummin was standing at the pedestal. He opened his mouth and spoke. "Now that all of you have written your prediction the first round can truly begin. Good luck." He then raised his hand and everyone once again felt disoriented. When Julius gained his awareness back he realized he was now in a small room with a wooden table in the middle. Above it was a lantern which illuminated the room. There was another person on the other side of the room. Julius''s opponent. He was a burly bald man They both looked at each other with intensity before sitting down on the chairs on each side of the table. They looked at each other once again. "Shall we begin?" Julius asked. "Alright brat let''s do it." the burly man said. Then they spoke at the same time. "Rock" "Paper" "Scissors" "Shoot" then they both extended their right hand. The burly man had his entire fist clenched. Rock! Julius had all his fingers extended. Paper! Julius''s face now had an evil smile while the burly man''s face was filled with fear. The burly man tried to calm himself down by reassuring himself. "You can do this. You haven''t lost yet. As long as his prediction is wrong you will be able to win and move on to the next round. You have to win. Don''t fall for any tricks." The burly man looked at Julius whose smile was growing wider and wider with every passing second. Julius remained silent for a few seconds in order to make the burly man more nervous and then he opened his mouth and asked the question. "Are you a man?" The burly man''s mind was now fully active. "I am a man but I can''t answer the question with honesty. I should say no. Wait what if he predicted I would say no? Then in that case I should say yes. But for some reason it still feels like that answer was predicted by him. He seems really confident. Even now he has a smile on his face. Did he predict my thoughts till now. That means he now believes my answer will be yes." The burly man was beginning to contemplate Julius''s capabilities and how he should answer the question. Meanwhile Julius had the same wide smile on his face. Finally the burly man made up his mind and opened his mouth to answer. "No. My answer is no." Julius''s smile then grew even wider before his smile turned into a chuckle and then into a full-blown laugh. He took out the folded piece of paper and unfolded it before showing it to the burly man across from him. "Predicted answer: No" The burly man''s face froze. His breathing started becoming faster and faster. He tired to form a sentence but all that could be heard was mumbling. After a few seconds a single word was heard coming from his mouth in a weak voice. "Help" Suddenly the burly man started convulsing wildly and he then fell out of the chair and onto the floor. Julius had won. ... Meanwhile in another room. Henry Grimmer was playing against a young women. "Yes. My answer is yes." He said. He lost at rock, paper, scissors and now had to answer the women''s question. The women''s face froze with fear and she took out the folded paper and unfolded it to look at what was written on it. "Predicted answer: No" She was wrong about her prediction. She started crying before her body suddenly started convulsing and she fell off the chair and onto the ground motionless. Henry watched this scene with a smile on his face.