A Sorcerer's Journey - Chapter 54

Chapter 54: The Tower of Ruins II

Grimm had made his mind to explore this arcane tower.

The yard reeked of a smell of rotten grass, which had run rampant. The moment Grimm stepped through the gate, he noticed two peculiarities—the noise of the academy was gone and he couldn’t hear a thing, not even the striking bells; the brilliant light was gone as well.

As Grimm was hesitating on whether to enter the Tower of Ruins or not, he heard a rustle of the tall grass behind him. He jerked his head about and found a pair of green eyes staring at him, which then disappeared in no time.

The strange thing about the eyes was that Grimm didn’t feel their existence, neither through his mask’s echolocation nor via his sharp sense of smell.

But Grimm was determined that the tower was just under the control of some fancy sorcery instead of being haunted. So he walked towards it. The sound of his footprints echoed the noise produced when the grass was stamped down.

Again, Grimm could feel that he was being watched by the green eyes by using his peripheral vision. He ignored it and arrived before the tower.

The tower showed signs of many years of history. Its walls had been eroded by wind and rain. There were cracks all over them, as if they had been scratched by sharp claws belonging to some type of animal.

Grimm turned his head up and saw the gray sky over the tower. A spinning swirl in the sky was covering the tower, and the tower was right in the midst of the swirl. Grimm started to suspect that there might be mystical force regulating the tower.

As Grimm took a deep breath and viewed the sky for the second time, he noticed that the swirl had eyes, which were slit. And the swirl returned Grimm’s look.

“Am I under delusion? That’s not possible. If I had been hallucinating, the Gadflies would have reacted. But they’ve not.” Grimm couldn’t help but pinch his thigh to verify if his body could feel pain.

The eye contact between Grimm and the rotating swirl continued for half an hourglass. During the process, Grimm was under the impression that he was like a bug in a glass ware, which was being surveyed by a great sorcerer in his/her laboratory.

“If the one behind this was a sorcerer from our side, why wouldn’t he show himself? If it was someone or something from the Underground World or somewhere else who might be unfriendly to us and who had lurked around on the Sorcerer Continent, it would have caused a sensation among us, and the great sorcerers on our side would have pursued it. The Sorcerer Continent is not a weak lamb waiting to be slaughtered. We invade others!”

Thinking about that, Grimm regained his confidence and pushed the door open. Darkness consumed Grimm. It was as if he had stepped into a monster’s mouth.

The door shut itself with a creaking sound after Grimm went in.

Grimm turned around with a rush. He didn’t see the green eyes that stalked him, but he noticed that wooden door, which was rotten and dilapidated. He thought: ‘With another slam, that door would certainly break.’ Soon, Grimm realized one interesting fact—the sound was back, and he could hear things again after stepping through.

Grimm calmed himself down but kept saying “how did this happen?”.

Grimm took a step forward and kicked over a jar or something, and a crisp voice then filled the air.

Grimm realized the necessity of illumination. He chanted something, trying to produce a flame by using fire element, but nothing happened.

“Eh? Even sorceries couldn’t be pulled out here?” Grimm went nuts.

Making someone lose his sorcery was a top-notch capability. It was the absolute manipulation over natural forces. Grimm was convinced that one’s sorcery could be dampened to produce much lower level of sorcery energy and power, in other words, to deny the sorcery making him unable to have bigger effectiveness through the lever and fulcrum effect. But to cause a complete failure of a sorcery? This was unrealistic.

Grimm’s quest for sorcery was spurred on. He wanted to figure the whole thing out.

Grimm then fumbled around to get to the stairs. He desired to reach the tower top and have a close look at the swirl.

After stubbing his toe on a block of wood, he felt it using his hand knew that it was the stair. He lifted his right foot tentatively and landed it on the first stair. The wood squeaked, yet weirdly enough, the stair squeaked twice.

“Am I being followed? Is there someone else? I only took one step, why were there two sound out of it?” Grimm doubted.

Grimm attempted to produce a fire for illumination but failed again.

As Grimm was taking another step onto the second step, a faint moonlight came from the very dome of the tower, as if it was from the swirl itself.

Grimm took a breath of comfort, yet the next second, he found he was still on the ground floor, as if he had not taken any steps.

“Why am I still in the original point? Haven’t I moved?” Grimm murmured, yet his voice echoed a long distance within the silent tower.

For the second time, Grimm thought that he had been entranced. However, the Gadflies remained inactive in his body!

“Was the time reverted back? Or was I brought back by a force too fast force to feel?” Grimm placated himself by trying to explain this odd phenomenon.

Afterwards, Grimm climbed six or seven stairs at a stretch before he stopped suddenly. The double creaking sound thing appeared again.

Grimm panted for some air while he stayed on full alert. Quietly and slowly, he turned his head, and he was ensured that there was nobody.

Grimm rushed two stories in one breath.

The same thing repeated— Grimm took one step, two creaks would be heard.

Grimm echo located using his mask but found no living thing, neither did his sense of smell. At the time, something spooky occurred: there was someone puffing into his neck. He could feel the movement of the air, which then condensed on the surface of his neck.

A sweat rolled down from Grimm’s forehead.

“If I die tonight, I die for sorceries!” Grimm took a deep breath and made off at a scamper. He ran on until he had to stop for a rest.

The double echo thing finally disappeared. Grimm was thrilled as if he had broken the spell of a sorcery. Meanwhile, a weird thing happened again: the light was lost for another time. He kicked the stair and no noise was produced.

“Was the space of this tower partitioned by something? Am I entering some deep water of something?” Grimm rested his hand on the slippery rail and pondered, “Lefay must have been anxious on not seeing me at her apartment? I have to see Sorcerer Peranos tomorrow. Should I go further?”

Grimm braced himself and climbed another story. As Grimm stepped onto the middle stair, he felt as if his whole body went through a thin film. He received some resistance, but by force of inertia, he just cut through.

The moment Grimm pierced through the film, he was greeted by bright lights.

As Grimm’s vision restored, he found that he was still at the very first stair—he had not moved at all.