Chapter 6 – Life. Metaphysical and filled with cows.

“It's a pleasure to introduce myself again, as you seem to have partially forgotten our previous encounter. One calls himself Rick. Rick Stone, for those unassociated.”

Elliot, still staring confused at the two men, blinked furiously before rubbing his eyes. A look of both amazement and bewilderment fills his eyes, as he opens his mouth to voice his questions yet again.

“Well, nice to meet you, Rick, but why do you speak like that, when you look so..”

Tentatively, his eyes glance over the man's dirty and unsophisticated body whilst speaking. An expression of embarrassment for the rudeness of his inquiry emerges on his face. The one reaction he did not expect, however, came from the man he basically called a hobo with an odd accent.

Laughter filled the tent, making Elliot laugh softly as well, still embarrassed.

“That was the most pressing matter on your mind, old chap? I do say, how amusing. One has no need for materialistic properties or qualities, due to the mental and spiritual nature of one's own enlightenment.”

The well-dressed man nods in agreement, as he looks proudly at his, what Elliot could only assume, friend.

“Yeah dude, he's like, enlightened. He sees everything now, man. The stone develops like, your mental abilities. You become, like, a new person, dude.”

Raising his left eyebrow, Elliot turns his head towards the second man and exclaims in utter confusion:

“And you! You are dressed the way he speaks, and vice versa! Why do you speak like a typical stoner and dress like an important businessman? It just doesn't make sense! Also, what do you mean by stone, are you talking about the spires?”

“Archibald, would you allow me to answer the good man's inquiries? I feel strongly that I could assist him better in this endeavor than you are currently capable of.”

“Go ahead, dude. I don't mind, as long as you ask him about his powers, man.”

A smile appeared on Rick's face, as he turns towards Elliot.

“Good sir, the way one dresses does not maketh the man. It does, however, obliterate any and all preconceived ideas and conceptions about oneself. One can only imagine what effect this could have on less open-minded individuals and does not think this negative characteristic can be attributed to one such as yourself, our good friend.”

Flustered by this seemingly honest thought, Elliot quickly crawled back verbally,

“Of course I do not mind, it only creates an odd first impression. Please continue.”

“One is quite grateful for this understanding statement. This is my partner, Archibald. We traverse this lovely planet and have been trying to find enlightenment for the past ten years. Finally, we have achieved our goal. Here, at this watery lake. In the middle of nowhere, in the country of old, of legend and myth. We have surpassed humanity and become something more.

Something greater.”

Now, smiling happily, the two men look at each other.

“Dude, we finally found it. We did it, man.”

Grinning fervently, they reminded Elliot of a couple of children, not caring about anything other than their own enjoyment of the universe. This thought also made him smile, which resulted in the three of them grinning simultaneously. This went on for some time, which ultimately lead to all of them feeling rather uncomfortable.

“That is quite enough of that. Our dear friend, you wanted to know about the Towers? The only facts that we are sure of, are those that we have already told you, either explicitly or implicitly.”

“Eeehm, well, I have not been focused that much these last days. It'd be really nice if you could repeat whatever you've tried to tell me.”

Archibald eagerly glances over at his well bespoken friend, as he quietly sits down on his chair.

“One does not mind whatsoever, good sir. The things that we know for sure, that we are completely and entirely aware of, are actually very little. We know that the Towers can, when touched directly, send the body into stasis, meaning that the body is unable to move until the process is complete. This process consists of physical or mental alteration of the body, We have seen someone transform into a cow!”

“We did have some Master-Shrooms that time, though, dude.”

Archibald excitedly interjects. Acknowledging this, Rick nods.

“That's true, Arch, but we both saw it, therefore eliminating the possibility of it being a hallucination. However, returning to the initial topic: we also know for certain that the alteration process involves a form of pain if the bestowed ability is powerful enough. Oddly, the cow did seem to have a lot of pain, as it mooed quite a lot afterwards.”

“Dude, that cow was magnificent. It was definitely enlightened, man.”

A look of annoyance crossed Elliot's face as he spoke up.

“Stop talking about cows, carry on with your findings!”

Seemingly surprised and startled by this sudden outburst of their new 'companion', the couple looked quite shocked.

“There was no need for such unpleasantries, old chap. Anyway, continuing our previous conversation; people do not always gain 'abilities', as they sometimes only gain slight improvements in their current situation, such as better memory or such. Therefore, the actual abilities are quite rare, seeing as though we have only witnessed about five cases in all the time we’ve been here.”

“So, who were these people?”

Quickly looking at eachother, the pair nod once before Rick continues.

“Well, good sir, the first was Archibald here. When we realised some people were hearing him in their minds, I theorized the whole camp either being drugged or something else was afoot. It’s not very surprising that I was the second one to touch the Tower. I also gained an ability, which can be oddly intertwined with Arch’s ability. The third was a teenage girl that left immediately after she had been through the process. The fourth was the man that turned into the cow, which is odd because cows are always female. The fifth was you, old chap.”

Furrowing his brow, Elliot tried desperately to take in all the information that was being given to him.

“Wait, wait, wait. So you are telling me, people are actually gaining abilities from these Towers? Why? How? And why do some people gain rare things, while others don’t? Who or what makes that distinction?”

A sad look flashed across Rick’s face, as he shook his head slowly.

“I fear we do not know, old chap. We simply have no idea on the origin or purpose of these events. All we know is that we were about to embark on another swimming trip to the Tower, to check whether something similar would happen, when you barged into our tent last night. We simply do not know.”

A loud rumbling could be heard in the distance, as the skies darkened. The past few days had not been very welcoming, but the incoming promise of storm shook the camp. Fastening tents, retrieving all loose equiptment still outside, the residents of the tent camp all prepared for the worst. On the other side of town, a group of three teenagers approached. A guy, about seventeen, with no extraordinary features, was being followed by two beautiful girls. The first was of Hispanic descent, as her lushious black hair curled in the most fantastic ways. The other was a lovely blonde, with blue eyes and an innocent smile. Both the girls were practically hanging on the guy’s shoulders, as they entered the village.

“Please, let me hold your hand, James. You’ve held her hand for long enough now.”

With blown up cheeks, the blonde girl was berating her companion. A slight blush on her puffed up cheeks created a lovely image.

“Now, now, Alicia. No need to be selfish here. There’s enough to share for both of you.”

The guy spoke, with an air of detachment. No real emotion could be seen on his face, as they made their way towards the lake. The two pretty girls kept bickering, trying to get the guy’s attention. When they finally arrived at the lake, the other girl spoke up.

“If we are swimming to the Tower, I don’t mind if you look at me in my swimsuit, James. Only if it’s you though.”

A smile appeared on James’ face, as he looked at her.

“You will always be pretty, no matter what you wear!”

As her face turned bright red, the girl followed suit and quickly undressed, to reveal a swimming outfit. The difference between swimming costumes between the two girls was massive, as one had a ‘school’ swimming suit, while the other had a rather revealing bikini. Staring at eachother’s chest, a silent battle was being fought.

James had no idea this was happening, as he was too busy appreciating his luck. Only a week ago had he suddenly stumbled upon these two beauties that, for some reason, decided to follow him. He literally had no redeeming qualities, as he was just a normal bloke from around the block. No use in not being appreciative though, so he took great advantage of this situation. He had heard a voice in his head, speaking about the spires giving out magic powers, so it was only natural to follow up on that.

“Come now, girls. Let’s get this over and done, so we can return to our previous ‘activities’..”

He spoke, making the two girls blush even more, before they both nod.

“Uhn!”

The weather seemed to become worse and worse, but Elliot was not done yet. He needed some time alone to think about all the recent events and information that had sprung up. Promising the duo that he’d be back before the storm hit, he strolled out of the camp, towards the lake. There had been some nice spots that he’d be able to sit down nicely.

In the distance, he could already spot the lightning in the clouds, assuring massive downpour and gusts. Most people had already gone inside, to protect themselves from what was to come, but he quickly spotted some bags and clothes on the shore of the lake.

You are kidding me. Who would go swimming now?

Searching the lake for the idiots, he swiftly spotted three people in the distance, floating next to the Tower. He couldn’t be completely sure, but he thought he could spot expressions of pain on their faces. Three people, all with special abilities? That would definitely be a record. The only problem, is the fact that they’d gone out swimming just before a giant storm.

Then, they all began to move. First slowly, but then they picked up speed. Very wise, because the storm was now approaching rapidly. Clouds turned black, rumbling increased and shivers of lightning flew through the skies, as the trio made its way to the shore. Still staring at the group of major idiots, he could not help but wonder about their motives and future. If three people that already knew eachother would gain powers, that could be a massive influence on the country, if said powers would be on par with that of Archibald. Shit! I forgot to ask what ability Rick had gotten! How stupid, how could you possibly forget that...

Oh well, I’ll ask him when I return, just gotta make sure these people don’t continue doing stupid stuff.

With the storm now basically above them, the rain also made its debut. In a matter of seconds, Elliot’s whole body became utterly soaked and his mood dropped similarly. Luckily, the group had made it to shore and was now gathering their stuff.

“James, we need to find some shelter and warm ourselves with the heat of our bo...”

Blushing fervently, the blonde girl did not finish her sentence. The Hispanic girl also sported a blush as she picked up the bags.

“Wait a second, I need to try some stuff!”

The guy, James apparently, yelled in an excited manner. I understand you are eager to find out more about what happpend to you, boy, but it’s a very bad idea to stand in the middle of nowhere with no tall structures when a storm is raging. Elliot was about the yell at them to move, when he was startled by the boy’s strange behavior.

Grinning like a madman, he boy spoke to himself loudly.

“This is definitely a game-like world now! An RPG I used to play a lot, so there should be stats and titles and all that cool stuff!”

The rumblind in the sky increased as he exclaimed these odd words. Game? RPG? Why would the world EVER turn into something like that. That’s a ridiculous idea. There is literally no reason whatsoever that this would happen. Even if we were being experimented on by aliens, why would they base their system on a game..?

Even more excited, the boy yelled out:

“If this is all true, then that means that there is only one way to know for sure!”

In the the most confident and self-assured way Elliot had ever seen, the boy shouted with a look of determination.

“Status!”

For a moment, there was nothing. No sound, no light and it seemed as though the world had stopped in its tracks for just a mere second. A moment of silence for the idiocy that was occuring, probably. Then, from the clouds a light came down. Directly heading towards the group that was now huddled together, a beam of feathery light came down.

Just a miniscule moment before this ray of light hit, the universe seemed to realise its mistake and the ray of light turned back into the string electricity that it had been.

Roaring thunder and rolling clouds of darkness swam through the heavens, as a single lightning strike came down and hit the group. Turning all it touched into ash, in not more than a single moment, before disappearing into oblivion, the lightning came and left.

All that was left, was a small puddle of black ash, swiftly being spread across the land by the ever rolling winds.

*

I hope you like the chapter, as I had to throw up multiple times in order to write that stuff in the end. Man, I will never do that again. Shakespeare definitely turned in his grave over that one. I just really felt I had to include this bit into the story :D

Do let me know what you think, or leave a rating, those never hurt.