Endless Tower

A fantasy short story

A booming roar erupted from the massive, pink, gelatinous monster ahead of me. Seriously, it looked like an eight-foot-tall gummy bear. I tightened my grip on the new sword I found on the level below and readied myself for the incoming attack. I didn’t have my shield anymore. I thought the splintered, rotting thing would be useless, but it saved my life several times before it shattered into toothpicks.

Smaller pink monsters pulled themselves apart from the bigger one. It was like the big guy was made of hundreds of smaller guys. I wrinkled my nose. Gross. The guy had turned himself into a small army. But that didn’t matter. No one would stand in the way between me and my brother.

The first of the tiny monsters—no bigger than my fist—leaped at me across the dark, stone hallway. I didn’t expect it to have so much agility. I swatted at it with my sword, catching it midair with the flat part of my blade. The thing slammed into the ground and got back up like it was nothing.

A second one jumped toward me. I dodged this one, letting it land before I sliced it in half. Another one grabbed onto my right leg before I noticed its approach. A sizzling, burning pain spread along my calf. I groaned, slicing the slimy monster and watching it drop to the stone floor. My pant leg where the thing had stuck had a massive hole in it, my calf underneath red and still stinging. What were these gummy bears made of? It wasn’t sugar, I could tell that much. I considered drinking my healing potion but decided against it. The damage wasn’t that bad. I could live with it.

I counted seven of them left—no big deal. I’d take care of these guys and move on to the big one. Assuming he didn’t make any more baby gummy bears, that is.

I charged down the hall, swinging at the monsters as I went. I sliced one in half, dodged one leaping at my face, turned, and stabbed the one that attacked while it was on the ground. Five left. This wouldn’t be too hard.

One of the little pests leaped onto my back, clinging tight as whatever it was made of burned into my flesh. I yelped and grabbed at it with my hands. But it sat at that one spot of your back that you can’t quite reach. You know that spot? I hate that spot.

Another one of them jumped toward me. I kicked at it, but it just stuck to the bottom of my boot, eating away at the sole. I stomped on the floor, turning the baby gummy bear into a pink splat on the stone.

The other three advanced, but I still had the one on my back to deal with. The stinging was really starting to hurt. I gritted my teeth, my eyes watering with the pain as I flailed my arms, trying desperately to reach the thing on my back. With a gasp, I realized I didn’t need to reach it. If stomping the last one killed it, would squishing this one do the same?

Racing to the nearest wall, I slammed my back into the stone. With a faint squeak, my adversary was no more.

“Ha!” I said, pointing at the ugly pink splat on the otherwise dark wall. “Not so tough now, huh?”

I turned back to the hallway, facing another one of the pink devils jumping toward my face. I punched at the monster, which, of course, meant that it only stuck to my hand, burning the skin off. I tried shaking it off. Nothing. I sliced off part of it with my sword. The rest of it stayed on my fist. I sighed. Only one thing left to do.

I punched the stone wall.

The pink bugger splattered everywhere. I would have celebrated if it weren’t for the incredible pain that came with the crunching sound my hand made when it hit the wall. One, if not all, of the bones in my hand were definitely broken. Why is it that every level of this stupid tower brought new ways of making me feel pain?

Only two more little things left. I sliced one in half as it flew toward me and stabbed the other before it had a chance to get off the ground. Now, my calf stinging, my back burning, and my hand shattered, it was time to face the real challenge—the big pink guy who stepped out of the shadows and bellowed at me once again.

I stretched my sore muscles, readying myself for the fight. It was just one guy, right? Easy. No problem. Piece of cake. I could do this. Probably.

Taking off down the hallway, I gave my best battle cry, which probably sounded more like screaming than anything else. I swung my sword at the hulking giant, throwing every muscle in my body into the act. But the big gummy bear caught the blade and pulled it out of my hand.

I couldn’t do anything but watch as the sword flowed through the monster’s arm, traveling into his torso, where the steel quickly dissolved into nothing.

“Huh,” I said. “Didn’t expect that. Well, it was nice meeting ya, but I’ve got places to be.”

The giant pink thing roared again, rumbling my eardrums. I turned and ran the other way, desperate to escape the beast. Maybe I could return to the level below, find another sword, and return here. Yeah. That could work. Or perhaps I would find a better weapon. There could be a bow, so I didn’t have to get too close. Or maybe a magic staff that lets me do cool stuff, like shoot fireballs or something. That would be pretty awesome.

But as I imagined all the cool loot I might find, I didn’t notice the chain draped across the floor that my foot snagged on. I tripped over it, my chin slamming into the stone floor. I groaned, turning over to push myself back up.

The monster was right on top of me. I scrambled to get to my feet, but the giant gummy bear grabbed me and pulled me into the biggest, tightest hug I’ve ever experienced. But given that his skin was made of acid or something that burned and would surely dissolve my body as quickly as it had my sword, I had difficulty feeling affection from this hug. I burned. It was like my skin was on fire, slowly burning away. Of all the ways to die, this had to be the worst. I hoped I dissolved faster than the sword did.

Something moved in the shadows behind the giant gummy bear. The monster screamed, the sound earsplitting. I would have grimaced from the sound if I wasn’t already grimacing and crying out from the vast amount of pain of my body slowly melting away. The pink monster dropped me, and I stumbled, falling to the stone floor. Lightning pierced the darkness, zapping the beast. It trembled as electricity flowed across it, screaming louder and louder.

The giant gummy bear burst with a pop, spreading its gross pink body everywhere. I brushed off the big spots that fell on me as quickly as I could before they burned away any more of my skin.

Out of the shadows stepped a cloaked figure holding a staff that glowed electric blue at the top. I gasped, staring in awe at the magic staff that I had only half-hoped existed. All I needed was one of those. Then, I wouldn’t have any more problems with giant gummy bears.

After all that, I deserved that healing potion. I pulled the bottle out of my pack, unstopping it and chugging it as quickly as possible. Almost instantly, my wounds began to heal, and the stinging faded. I sighed—finally, something relaxing.

The cloaked figure stepped toward me. I stood, brushing the dirt off my clothes. I smiled at the figure and gave him a wave. “Thanks for your help! I would’ve been a goner if it wasn’t for you.”

“Why are you here?” asked the figure.

I chuckled. “Well, kind of a long story. See, my brother and I—“

“No!” the figure shouted. “Why are you here?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Sorry, I don’t understand.”

The figure stepped closer. “Do you really think you have what it takes to ascend the Tower? You couldn’t even kill one simple gell gollum and you think you can reach the top? You’re nothing. Nothing but an easy target for people with talent, like me.”

I took a step back, raising my hands in front of me. “Whoa. Hold on a sec. What do you mean, ‘target’? Aren’t we all trying to ascend the tower?”

“Yes, and you have loot that I could use. So, since you’re not using it correctly anyway, I think I’ll just take it.”

The figure gripped his staff with both hands. He pointed one end my way, which crackled with electricity.

I raised my hands high above my head in surrender. “Wait a minute! I’m trying to save my brother!”

The figure didn’t lower his staff by much, but it stopped sparkling, so that was good. “Your brother?”

“Yes. He’s been captured and I need to find him. Do you know where I can find the Keeper of the Keys?”

The figure laughed. “Custos? You think you can reach level 10? You can’t even handle level 3!”

I nodded. “Level 10. Got it.”

“Why do you care? You know what happens when your brother dies.”

“He’s not going to die,” I said. “Someone hired Custos to trap challengers like you and me so he can steal their souls. I don’t know why, and I don’t care. But if I leave my brother with Custos, I leave him to a fate worse than death. Please, let me go.”

The figure sighed. “I’m sorry for you, but I need this loot.”

He raised his staff. Electricity sparked and shot through the dark hallway, slamming into my chest. It was quick. Quicker than most deaths. In a moment, I drifted through darkness.

I opened my eyes, finding myself back in that stupid, shallow pool of water, gazing up at the tower. The impossibly massive stone structure reached all the way up into the clouds and kept going. No one knew how tall it was. Some said it was infinite. Some claimed to have reached the top. I didn’t care. I just wanted to find my brother and bring him home.

Pushing myself back to my feet with no more gear, loot, or equipment weighing me down, I strode under the dim golden light of the sun that always seemed to be at dusk, hurrying back to the tower. I had to find my brother before I lost him for good. At least this last run wasn’t a total loss. I now knew that the Keeper of the Keys was on the 10th level. If I was going to free my brother, I needed to unlock his cell. Custos would be the one to look for.

Cracking my knuckles and taking a deep breath, I stepped into the tower once again.

***

This is a concept that I’ve had in my head recently that I think could make for an interesting book series. This story is more of an experiment with the idea to see how it might work. I think it’s a really interesting concept that has a lot of potential.

What do you think? Is this something you’d like to see turned into a book series? Let me know!