The Phoenix [Cultivation, Reincarnation, Tower Climber]

"What's wrong?" asks Timmy, looking back at me.

"I-" I start.

I don't know. Well, I think I do know. I just don't want to think about it, and until now, I haven't been forced to.

I am not ignorant to the oddities surrounding me and my existence in this Tower. I am under no illusions about my choice of nickname and the way I was drawn to it being coincidental. Combine that with the fact that I can't remember my first life and that dream I had when I first entered… Well, denying it would just be stupid. I am connected to this Tower somehow. And more specifically to the Phoenix. The real one.

I've been pushing it to the back of my mind, preventing myself from the existential crisis that would come with the full realization, but now the questions are flooding my mind. Am I from the Tower? If so, how did I get out of the Tower? Why can't I remember my first life? Why was there oum on Earth in my earliest lives, but not my later ones? Why can't I die? How did I become like this? Did I do it to myself? Why can't I remember my first life? Who was I? Was I the Phoenix? Or just related to her? Why can't I remember-?

"B- Bella?" asks Timmy, tugging on my sleeve.

I look at him, eyes wide. Then, I take a deep breath to calm down. What am I doing? Here I am, standing in front of the one place that might be able to give me answers and what am I doing? Panicking because I'm scared of what I might learn? No matter what I find out in this room, it can only be good. If I learn about my origins, maybe I can figure out how to undo it all without even reaching the top of the Tower.

"Let's go," I say, and take a decisive step forward, pushing the stone doors.

Despite their ancient appearance, the stone doors open noiselessly. I can feel their weight as I push, but they move so smoothly it's as though they are regularly oiled. Inside, there's a long stone corridor, and just outside the range of the door's swing, a man is standing.

"Hello!" he says enthusiastically

"Hi!" says Timmy, mirroring his enthusiasm.

"Hello," I say, much more subdued.

"Welcome to the Legacy of the Phoenix!" he says. "Congratulations are in order, as you are the first people to locate it in quite a long time."

"Who are you?" I ask.

"You can call me Sam," he says. "Follow me! Allow me to show you around!"

He turns to walk down the corridor and Timmy and I follow. While we walk, I try to get a feel for Sam with my oum, but I can't tell anything. As far as I can tell, he's an ordinary person, though since all the Administrators feel the same way, it's pretty safe to assume that he is not an ordinary person. He's also not a construct, as far as I can tell, which raises the question of what he's doing down here, how he got here, and why he was waiting for us.

At the end of the corridor is a second set of stone doors, these ones with no words, and through those is a large circular chamber. Most of the space in the chamber is empty, but in the center, there's a ten foot diameter circle, and in the circle are a group of seemingly random rocks with orange mushrooms growing all over them. I have to physically restrain Timmy from rushing forward to get a closer look, though I'm curious as well. These mushrooms are definitely the thing we sensed earlier. Well, the one in the center is. The others are also very good, but not on the same level.

On the far side of the room, there is another set of double doors, and two smaller doors on either side of them. These two doors are labeled, one with "The Phoenix" and the other with "Timothy Swanson." I assume those are rooms meant for us. On the right side, there's a hole in the wall, and I can hear rushing water from within the hole.

"This is the antechamber," says Sam. "Through those far doors is the legacy. You may only enter one at a time to attempt to claim it. You can attempt to claim it as many times as you'd like, even if you fail the first time. Those two rooms are for you to stay in for as long as you're here. You are free to help yourself to the mushrooms. Water is there, and you'll be able to find some simple food in your individual rooms. Unfortunately, should you choose to leave the entire space, you will not be permitted back in, and the location of the Legacy will change, so you will not be able to find it again."

"What is this place, exactly?" I ask.

"The Legacy of the Phoenix!" he replies.

"Right, but what does that mean?"

"Many Ascendants work with the Floor Lords to leave behind their legacies. This is one of them. If you manage to claim it, you will gain enlightenment as though it is directly from the Ascendent herself, which may afford you insight into oum on a level beyond what you can imagine. But I must warn you that many Legacies can be somewhat dangerous. The Ascendants wanted to make certain that whoever inherited their Legacies would be worthy, and would not shame their name, so they put many safeguards to prevent the unworthy from claiming them.

"Fortunately for you, the Phoenix was not so cruel as to inflict any lasting damage on those who fail to claim her legacy. Not physical damage, at least. However, you may leave this place with more regrets than you entered with."

"I see…" I say. "And who are you?"

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"I'm Sam!"

"How are you related to this Legacy?"

He turns to me with a smirk. "As I said, the Ascendants worked with the Floor Lords to leave behind their Legacies."

My eyes widen in realization. Timmy's do not. He is staring at the mushrooms and practically drooling with anticipation. I don't think he's heard a word we said. At least I won't have to worry about him getting hurt challenging the Legacy. I doubt he cares. The only thing I have to worry about is him maybe eating the mushrooms and exploding from the massive quantities of fiery oum.

"Then you're-" I say, turning back to Sam.

He cuts me off with a wink. "If you have any further questions, you can call for me at any time. However, I believe that most of your questions will be answered by exploring on your own. And if they aren't, well, this place was designed to grant power to the worthy. If you're not after power, then I'm afraid you may end up disappointed. This Legacy has not been updated in many years."

With that, he disappears. I don't even sense any oum when he does. He simply vanishes, one moment there, and the next not.

A moment later, I finally release Timmy, and he surges forward and falls to his knees next to the mushrooms. He doesn't touch any of them, but he observes them in every other possible way. He brings his eye inches away to get a closer look at the caps, he takes a long sniff, he holds his hands millimeters away to feel the heat they give off. It seems that this chamber has some kind of climate control, since it's only a bit warm in here, instead of broiling hot like it probably should be around spirit herbs this powerful.

"Don't eat any of them," I warn.

"I won't," says Timmy without even looking back.

He crawls around the entire circle, taking a close look at every mushroom possible. Meanwhile, I walk around the chamber, intentionally not looking at the door to the actual Legacy. I stop by the hole in the wall with the water sounds and find a small stream of clear water with a small stack of stone bowls next to it. I fill one up and splash it on my face, then refill it and take a long drink.

After that, I walk around a bit more, taking a look at some of the glowing stones that keep the room illuminated before entering my room. The "room" is actually three rooms with an almost identical layout to the dorms in Phoenix hall, with a kitchen dining room combination, a bedroom, and a bathroom attached to the bedroom. It's much simpler than the dorm though. The closet is empty, the bathroom is much simpler, with unfortunately no possibility of a hot spring waterfall, and there's no convenient golden bell to summon a construct butler to do all my chores for me. Still, the bed is comfortable, and as promised, there's a plate of hot food on the table. Actually, there are two of them, though the second has raw fish, presumably for Trinity.

Trinity appears and immediately runs, not for her raw fish, but for my meal, which is steak and potatoes. I pick her up after she's only taken a single bite and set her down on the ground with her plate of fish. I cut off the section that she bit and toss it to her, then start eating myself.

Trinity has been spending most of her time in her voidspace lately. She seems to like the heat even less than she likes the cold. She came out for a little while as Timmy and I wandered the caves, but with nothing exciting to do, she went back to her voidspace pretty quickly after. Better to nap in there than run around out here, I guess. Now that there's food though, of course she has all the energy in the world.

Once I finish, I lean back in my chair and sigh. I'm avoiding it again. Even after Sam's not-so-subtle warning that I probably wouldn't find the answers to my questions inside, I'm still reluctant to enter. I don't completely understand why I feel so afraid to know. What's the worst that I could learn? That I chose this for myself? That this curse was self-inflicted? It's not like I've never considered that possibility. Is the chance that it will be confirmed scaring me that much?

No matter what I find out, it won't change anything. I'm going to reach the top of the Tower and find a way to end my curse. That's final. Nothing I can learn in there will change my mind. Why am I making things so complicated?

With another sigh, I force myself to my feet and walk out the door. Trinity follows me out, and we find Timmy sitting with his arms around his knees, staring at the mushrooms.

"Timmy," I call.

He doesn't respond. I walk over and put my hand on his shoulder, startling him.

"Timmy," I say again.

"What is it?" he asks, glancing between me and the mushrooms.

"I'm going through those doors," I say, pointing to the doors to the Legacy. "I'll be right back. Don't follow me, and whatever you do, don't go through those doors." I point to the doors we entered through. "If you get hungry, go into the room with your name on it. There's food in there. There's water over there, and you can get it from the bowls."

"Okay," he says with a nod before turning back to the mushrooms.

"Hey!" I say, pulling his attention back to me. "Where are you not supposed to go?"

"That way," he says, pointing to the exit.

"And where else?"

"Uhhhhh…"

"Those doors," I say pointing again. "Don't go through either of the double doors unless I'm with you. No matter what. Got it?"

"Okay!"

"Now where are you not supposed to go?"

"There or there," he says, pointing to the two double doors.

"Good," I say. "I'll be right back."

"Okay."

I walk through the doors to the Legacy, which lead into another corridor with another set of doors at the end. Through those doors, there is another circular chamber, except in the center, rather than mushrooms, there is a person. No, a construct. It's a woman, and she looks similar to me with waist-length orange hair and bright green eyes. She's even wearing the same default robes of the first Floor, though hers are bright white.

"Welcome, challenger!" she says with a smile. "Congratulations on finding my Legacy! I am the Phoenix, the only daughter of the Great Sage, and the most powerful cultivator this Tower ever has seen, or ever will see! Since you've found this place, that means you've earned a chance to learn from me. If you understand even a fraction of my teachings, I'm sure you'll make a fine Ascendant.

"But, of course, I'm not just going to give you my teachings for free. You'll need to prove that you are worthy and that you didn't just find this place by luck, and to do that, I'm going to need you to pass a few challenges, and if you're not a prodigy, I'm afraid you have no hope. Are you ready to begin?"

…Wow.

I sure hope that I wasn't the Phoenix in my first life. That would be embarrassing.

"Well, ready or not, the first challenge starts now!" she says.

The next second, I am assaulted by a wave of oum powerful enough to fling me into the doors behind me.

"Dammit, Sam," I mutter as catch myself against the door and turn to the smiling construct, who now has her fist outstretched. "'No physical damage' my ass."