The vast expanse of azure ocean water sparkled with its innocent calmness bearing no hint of influence from the decaying powers of a fallen God. But it was not just a gut feeling that led me here in a questionable area colored with the hue of peaceful harmony. The key which became a resident in my chest opened the directions for the greatest revelations in Aechean history.

Now even if my feet were cemented to the ground I feel as if the stars of success were within my reach because Kaisen himself lowered them for me. I must grasp those stars and I must claim their sparkles for their glimmer shall be the beacon of light of my world.

"Aecha, I don't see any Necron here," Eleo commented as he kept our ship above the small island where Seven's laboratory was under.

"I know that he is there. He will appear any moment now. He must be timid," I replied while still gazing down in anticipation.

"You know, I was a year close to finishing basic Paragon education. I've installed lots of lectures in my memory storage and I've tortured a hefty amount of people for intelligence about Necron but never in my life have I ever realized that Necron is the 'shy' type," Eleo stated in a humored tone.

I turned to look at Eleo with an apologetic stare. "I apologize if I dragged you into this. I really believe that he is here. Just please give him a moment," I pleaded.

Eleo raised his brows in question. "Oh okay, is he having his final rehearsals on how to finally eradicate planet Aecha? I'm cool with that; I'll give him thirty minutes max."

I let out a soft sigh and stared down on my legs. "I know it must be hard to trust me, but I ask you to have faith in me as Kaisen had given this opportunity to us."

Eleo grinned and gave my head hard pats. "Sure kid, whatever you say. I'm just here to roll with you because what else am I going to do? Hey have I told you how I hate this gut feeling of mine? Honestly, even your brother hates it."

I gave Eleo a confused expression. "Oh I believe you have not told me about it yet. What about it?"

The aechean rubbed his nape. "Ever felt like this ship is going to get pierced into two?"

I abruptly held my chest from such a gruesome gut feeling. "Fortunately, I have not felt that way and I am not sure if I would like to feel what you are feeling. Does your gut feeling ever come true?" I asked him.

Eleo slowly looked up in thought. "Uh yeah most of the time it does come true but who knows maybe this time it will be different?"

That was not reassuring at all. His gut feeling was contagious.

"What's with that look?" he laughed before smacking my back. "Forget about it I'm just joking."

I now understand why my brother loathed that gut feeling but I honestly believe that Eleo had a gift to treasure.

A strong impact coming from below strike our ship upward but such hit was short-lived when our ship was indeed pierced in half but our bodies were saved from being skewed together with our chair.

"Wohoo! I still got it, yeah!" Eleo cheered as his side of the ship started to roll away from the pointed edge of the sturdy, ebony-colored and smooth-textured spike which rose from the oceanic waters.

I climbed out of my side of the ship and use it as a leverage to leap and grab hold onto one of the many smaller spikes of the bigger spike. My ears sensed the huge rising of a much bigger thorn and my eyes caught the systematic structuring of what seemed to be a tower just where Seven's island was. The tower increased in height in a circular manner as it left the middle unoccupied. It was smooth and gem-like and just at it reached its final stage of growth; a visible yet transparent barrier covered the top in an arch.

How in the world will I get up there?

My chest swelled up with warmth and the sound of a scratchy growl sounded from behind me.

One of the creatures which ate Seven came running through midair as if the air itself was its land. It looked at me and then gazed up to the tower causing me to smile.

"Are you sent by my eomma?" I asked it or was it sent by the core of Earth? "Then I ask for your strength."

I do hope it was sent by my eomma. If I leap from where I was and it turned out that it was just passing by I would be falling right into the ocean and if Eleo was watching, it would be very embarrassing.

I jumped from where I was holding onto and I landed on my bum just on top of the creature's back. Relief swelled on my ticker and I called out Eleo's name.

"I'm here!" Eleo replied from behind me. He was already riding one of the creatures with a satisfied grin on his face. "I already made a new friend. I'll call him...Bishwye,"

A strangled and unidentified sound burst out of my throat and I covered my lips. "That's a very...interesting name," I wheezed out. Laughing at people's names was very rude. I shall not fall into the same trap. I must...not...FALL.

"I'm pretty proud myself. The name just naturally came."

I swallowed the remaining unused laugh and cleared my throat. "Let us proceed to the top of this tower," I told him. It was better to divert my attention until I forget that name.

I rubbed the fluffy neck of the creature that I was currently on and then pointed at the top of the tower. I had no idea on how to connect with this creature but I was hoping that it can understand my signing.

The creature did some circling which made me doubt by signing abilities but when it moved its legs into a running motion towards the top of the tower, I petted its head.

"Wait Aechea, don't land yet," Eleo alerted when we finally flew on top of the barrier. He flipped a cred coin and the metal descended towards the barrier. When the coin hit the barrier, it produced a strong electric current and a deep and pained murderous growl sounded from inside the tower which began to agitate the creatures we were riding on.

"That's Necron!" I shouted out. Seven created this tower specifically for Necron. What exactly did he plan on doing?

"I never thought I'll hear that again..." Eleo murmured with narrowed eyes signifying terrifying memories from the past. The screams of Necron continued but the volume started to gradually decrease like he was getting farther away from us.

"Make sure you don't fall into the water..." Eleo warned me. I didn't question Eleo's warning instead; I looked at the ocean and saw that all of the creatures in the sea presented their corpse in a floating manner of inactivity sending shivers of terror throughout my body.

This was...terrible. My eyes began to water from seeing such cruelty and this wasn't even caused by Tom-Ak-Ta at all. The electric current spread across a wide expanse of the ocean which led to a massacre of innocent animalias.

"Wear this," he told me before handing me four bangles. "That's a new armor made by Seven which is highly resistant to fire, impact and electricity. So even if you decide to dive and take a swim, you won't get electrified."

Eleo's armor shifted into a red one and once I attached the bangles to my ankles and wrists, I activated the armor.

"Did Seven give this to you?" I asked.

Eleo snorted. "Nah, I stole it."

Our attention was stolen by the abrupt rise of more towers surrounding the main one in a circular pattern with bridges connecting them at the bottom of the main tower. I used my scanner to see if there was anyone inside those towers including this one and found it disappointing that the main tower was empty. There was no Necron at all.

"There's someone there," Eleo stated and pointed at one of the towers. The blue figure in my scanner was merely waiting at the base of one of the towers. I rubbed the neck of the creature I was riding on and realized that I can't continue to call it "The Creature" all the time.

"I'll name you...KiKi," I said. I hope Ki did not mind but knowing Ki, he will probably starve me to death. That was the easiest name I can think of.

KiKi and Bishwye seemed to be in a daze earlier probably from having sensed the presence of Necron. But since Necron was no longer near, they were able to follow my directions to take us to the bridge leading to one of the towers. Before KiKi and Bishwye could land, Eleo and I jumped from their backs. They will get electrified if they landed.

"Stay KiKi...stay up there," I gently commanded it.

KiKi and Bishwye tilted their heads at us in confusion before letting out a feline-like "meow" that had a strong vibration to it. Bishwye was the first to disobey as it decided to take its landing but Eleo caught the bundle of white fluff.

"You guys are hard-headed aren't you? Here, feel the zap," Eleo muttered and held the paw of Bishwye and mildly placing a part of it to the floor causing an electric current to flow to the creature. Bishwye growled and kicked Eleo down before flying off signaling KiKi that it wasn't safe to land.

"Thanks for the ride!" Eleo waved at them before suddenly scampering in a hurry when he took notice of something.

"He's getting away!" he snarled. I chased after Eleo and we began to climb the tall tower in attempt to capture the only person here which I suspect was Seven.

The person running was indeed fast and the stairs we were climbing on was indeed endless. The interior of the building was nothing out of the ordinary but the exterior was just the same as the interior. Once we have reached the top of the tower where a silver pedestal stood in the middle of the room having a green glass surface with encryption marks on them, the one we were chasing was nowhere to be seen. Even my scanner couldn't detect him.

"Where is he?" Eleo asked. "He can't just disappear like that!"

I walked towards the pedestal and placed my hand on top of the green glass. The surface of the pedestal glowed and lit an unseen wiring which led to the arched window facing the main building. The mechanical sound of something rising made the both of us walked towards the window only for our view to be gradually blocked by what seemed to be a cannon with a long barrel.

A few minutes passed and no further activity occurred.

"I guess we're facing a puzzle," Eleo muttered. "Your brother hated puzzles. He hated using his brain so you're lucky to have me by your side," he boasted.

"It is a pleasure to have you then," I genuinely replied. "But do you think we should even solve this? It is quite obvious that Seven wants us to uncover what he had laid out for us. This might be a trap."

Eleo shrugged. "We don't have any options left. That barrier is going to hold for a long time and don't worry, his plans have a one percent success rate."

One percent?

"You underestimate his mind." Having to know Seven's...dark way of thinking, I believe we should be more cautious around him.

"Oh I'm not...I'm also warning you to not let your guard down. Despite the low success rate, that one percent can really bite you hard if it succeeds. He's a risk taker."

He was able to falsify Gilmos and the others despite knowing their skills. He was a risk taker and a genius.

Eleo and I went back down to the bridges and we rescanned the place. The same blue figure appeared in a different tower and we decided to bite on the bait despite not knowing the poison it might bear. The same looking pedestal was at the very top of the tower and I placed my hand on it earning the appearance of the same canon. The figure we followed here was nowhere to be found.

"I assessed each floor of the tower and there were no devices which could make us see that figure and follow it all the way up to here," Eleo spoke. A smile slowly made its way to his lips and I questioned him about the sudden amusement on his face.

"What's causing that smile?" I asked him.

Was he losing his mind in such a dire situation? I heard mental breakdown can happen during stressful times. We did climb twenty thousand stairs in total and if we include the other four towers left that will be 60,000 in total

"Did you know that your brother can mess with your scanner?"

"I...No, I do not," I replied. Was he implying what I think he was implying?

Eleo chuckled and placed his hand on my shoulder. "It was just a silly thought but knowing Seven...he knows how to push someone's button." 

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A/N: I managed 2200 words. Updates might become slower.  But we're nearing the end.