Tower of Avarice: A LitRPG story

Emily stepped out of the elevator and into another world. The doors closed behind her with a faint hiss, sealing her into this new place with no hope of escape until she achieved her goal. The silence of this new land was immediate and so profound that it pressed against her ears with weight.

Smoke hung in the air in thick tendrils that slowly reached the sky as it swirled in the dim light from the sun obscured by thick, dark grey clouds. The horizon seemed endless, and the clouds were unbroken in all directions, not even hinting at the sun's location.

The elevator had deposited her in the middle of a battlefield that stretched for miles in every direction. It was a desolate expanse of carnage, with ground drenched in blood and mud. Towering carcasses lay all around her, twisted and still.

They were creatures that defied nature and biology; each was unique from the other. One had eight limbs that ended in barbed hooks, while others had eyeless faces. Emily saw one in the distance that was bigger than a transport truck, its body covered in cracked plates that had been carved through violently.

Emily walked forward slowly and carefully, her footsteps muffled by the layer of viscera coating the ground. She weaved her way around the larger bodies while her shoes sank into the mud with every step.

This type of carnage barely bothered her anymore. She had been on countless battlefields and had participated in wars against monsters and humans in the past. Still, to say she was completely unaffected would have been a lie. The air had a copper smell to it, and she felt her stomach turn despite her best efforts.

She had walked about half a mile when a flicker of movement caught her eye. She froze; her instincts immediately caused her to crouch slightly and pull her staff from her inventory while her mana cycled inside her body. The words of a spell were on her lips as she tentatively approached whatever had moved.

Emily surveyed the remains of the monsters around her to ensure that they were dead. Her body was tense with nervous energy and caution as she navigated her way closer to where she had seen movement.

She spotted something just ahead through the curtain of smoke and dim light. Something moved again, but even with its bulk, she couldn't pick out what it was. It was taller than her, but the haze distorted everything.

Then it screamed.

A monstrous, earsplitting howl ripped through the silence. It was jagged and raw, like metal tearing and it echoed across the battlefield.

Emily dropped to one knee instinctively and held her staff in front of her. She was just about to unleash her magic when a brilliant, searing line of white-hot energy tore across the ground like a lightning bolt dragged sideways.

The energy carved a trench through the battlefield, sending blood and earth flying. The beam arched upwards as it travelled, cleaving through a massive dead beast before bisecting the hulking, hazy shadow that Emily had spotted.

So powerful was the blast that the clouds above it split cleanly down the middle, spilling light down below like a wound in the sky.

Blinking her eyes against the sudden brightness, Emily turned away from the devastation that had killed the shadowy monster and moved toward the source of the attack.

At first glance, he was only a shape through the lifting smoke. He was half-turned in her direction but standing still like a statue. But as the haze peeled away, the details came into focus, and everything seemed to calm around him, as if he were the center of a storm or the eye of a hurricane.

He was a young man, no older than her, and he stood in the midst of the ruined battlefield like he belonged there. His black hair was tousled and matted with blood and sweat. His face and clothing were covered in soot and mud, making his blue eyes stand out even more. They were brilliant and impossibly bright, almost glowing even in the light of day.

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His white shirt clung to him in tatters and was stained crimson with blood. The fabric was half-shredded across his chest and arms, and even the edges were singed in places. His torn blue jeans were in an equally ragged state. He looked like he'd been through hell and back while fighting the entire way.

Emily's eyes were drawn to the sword he held in his right hand, although calling it a mere 'sword' felt like a disservice.

The blade was long and heavy, shaped with a sharp edge but ending in a thick, square and blunt tip like an executioner's weapon. It pulsed with white fire that shimmered like the surface of a star. The flames licked along the metal without consuming it, and it illuminated the young man's silhouette with a cold, supernatural glow.

Emily felt the 'Buzz' immediately. It came crashing down on her like a wave, threatening to drown her. The pain went beyond a headache until it felt like her entire skull would explode. The young man in front of her was powerful and dangerous, and the 'Buzz' urged her to run away as quickly as possible.

But what the 'Buzz' didn't know was that she recognized the young man in front of her. She knew that he would never dream of hurting her, that he would sooner cut off his own hand than to see anything bad happen to her.

It was Mathew. Her Mathew. The Mathew that she had left in New York all those years before without giving him the opportunity to follow her.

She felt a surge of guilt as she looked at him, knowing that she had hurt him. But she had felt that it was for the best at the time. She had to leave the city to look after her mother, and she knew that he would have followed if she asked. But it would have made him miserable, and she had never wanted that.

And now she was here to convince him to become an Apostle to a god.

"Mathew." Emily whispered. Her voice cracked as she said his name, the emotion weighing down her words.

He turned fully toward her; the white fire along his blade dimmed just slightly as recognition took hold. His expression, hard and grim, didn't change shift much, but those impossibly bright eyes widened with emotion. Surprise, disbelief, pain and a fair amount of guilt as well.

"Emily." Mathew said, and her name landed between them with a heaviness that stifled conversation. Everything around them faded into the background. The blood, smoke and the bodies of monsters were reduced to inconsequential nothing during their reunion.

She had to admit to herself that she had dreamed of seeing him again when she could afford the luxury of dreams. She had imagined a thousand different versions of this reunion, always in the real world of their earth. With her wish having come true, her mother alive and healthy.

But it was never on a field of death and monsters and the smell of smoke and blood.

She took a tentative step toward him, her hands tight on her magical staff in nervousness. The fear of rejection was overpowering, and she had to force herself forward.

"I didn't know…I didn't think I'd ever see you again. I didn't know that you had entered the Tower…" Emily trailed off nervously as she waited for Mathew to respond. He opened his mouth to speak, only to close it again and shake his head slightly before trying again. But he didn't step toward her; he didn't run into her arms like she had always dreamed that he would.

His fingers tightened around the hilt of his sword, and for a second, she feared he might walk away and vanish into the smoke and fog, leaving her here alone.

But instead, he smiled. The grim expression was wiped away, and he seemed to age in reverse before her eyes. The hard and terrifying warrior was replaced by a version of him that she remembered. He looked to be the same age as when they met in college, but there were differences as well.

His smile wasn't the same as she remembered. It was older and sharper around the edges. It was as if something had been carved out of him in the time they'd spent apart, and the hollow space had been filled with violence and pain.

"Yeah." He finally said, his voice low and rough with emotion. She knew he was trying to process what was happening.

'Had he entered the Tower for her, or did he have another reason?' Emily wondered to herself. Time was strange in the Tower, and it could have been years since she had entered compared to Mathew.

"I got your text, Em. I ran to Central Park to stop you, or at least to let me enter with you. But I was too late. I was right behind you, but I was too late." Mathew repeated, shaking his head sadly, and Emily's heart broke in half at his words.

'He entered for me.' She thought. Even though she had left him for all those months, she had only texted him for fear that a phone call would be too hard.

"I never wanted you pulled into this." She said, her voice cracking on the last word.

"I would have gone with you, Em. You didn't need to do this alone. I'd follow you to the edge of the world." Mathew admitted.

That broke something in her. A tremor passed through her shoulders, but she stayed upright. The staff clutched in her hands, which was the only thing keeping her from falling apart. She wanted to close the space between them, to reach out and touch him, but something held her back.

She was here for a reason, and she couldn't break now.

"I….We need to talk, Mathew." Emily whispered. The elevator rose silently behind them, spilling white light onto the ground. Mathew looked at it questioningly before turning his head back to her.

"Let's go inside. They've arranged a space for us on the next Floor."