The Death And Rebirth Of Tower 4 (10/16/23)

The blue crescent moon hangs low over New Cleveland Ohio. A low hum carries on the air. In unison, every front door to every house slams open. 

Violet looks up from the book she was reading as she gets up the heads to the door

Violet seems to have gotten a change of clothes and as well as made the mysterious feather into an earring that is placed on her left ear

Violet walks to the door and looks outside, curious about a sudden possible gust of wind

A man dressed in a black business suit steps out from behind your door. He wears a robin's egg blue botton-up and black slacks. His black shoes are freshly polished. His skin is pale with a slight tinge of blue. He wears sunglasses, even though it's night. His black hair is greased and slicked back.

He glares at you silently

Violet looks up to the figure with a confused look but notices the tinge of blue and assumes it’s some Naomi, possibly a Blue

“Can I help you sir?”

She says with a commanding voice, knowing some Naomi can’t be trusted. She looks at him up and down trying to get a vibe of this man

"Please, step outside, Violet."

Violet ready’s to summon a weapon just in case as she walks outside, watching the man and her surroundings carefully

“May I help you?” 

Violet notices that the few remaining neighbors have also stepped outside and each door has a person in a suit standing out front.

"Please, hold still as I begin my scans."

The man removes a black tool, similar to a flashlight, from his pocket.

Violet holds still, readying to run as she looks at the neighbors and their scan results, hoping that it’s not anything to serious

One by one, each is scanned with a bright green beam from the device.

The man in the suit approaches you and presses a button on his device. A bright purple beam blinds you for a moment.

Violet notices the different color beam, assuming it relates to the color. Everyone here is a Green… except her being a Lavender

She blinks away the blindness as she waits for whatever it is for

When Violet's vision returns, she realizes that only she and the man remain outside.

“What? What happened to everyone else?”

Violet looks to the man for answers

"They are being cleansed. They were corrupted during the collapse. All Tower 4 archived units will be transferred to Tower </= after the cleanse." 

He finishes the scan.

"You are also corrupted."

He begins to step closer to Violet.

Violet has heard and seen enough

She runs, booking it into the forest

The man closely follows, but Violet makes it to the woods.  Violet seems to have lost him.

Violet's guard is high, slowing down just a bit to look around to make sure she is not followed

Violet hears his voice nearby.

"Violet, please return. You need to be cleansed or you will corrupt beyond repair."

“And why should I listen to you?! For all I know you could be spilling bull!”

"Spilling...bull?" He's closer.

“Lying. That sums it up for you?!”

Violet hears him closing in on her, twigs snapping.

"Lying is no longer allowed."

Someone reaches down from a nearby tree and grabs Violet's hair.

“Ah-!”

Violet looks to see who it is

It's Angie. She looks extremely worried. She lets go of Violet's hair and signals for her to climb up the tree.

Violet climbs the tree as fast, looking at Angie with a worried face

She whispers to not be heard by the man

“What the hell is going on?!”

"Mother...is gone..." 

“What?! Ashmother… is dead? This can’t be… how?”

"She's not dead... She's gone. Her mind is... quiet."

A needle appears at the end of Angie's index finger. She sticks Violet with her finger. Violet can now hear Angie in her mind.

"Someone removed everyone back at home and they took Mother as well. Home is empty right now. The entire Tower is empty." 

"The world is gone. This isn't what you think it is." 

Angie points in a circular motion. 

“What is this then?”

She looks around

“And what does that man mean corrupted?”

"Someone deleted our world. This is a type of... Purgatory... Or simulation."

"Residual energy from the past world remains on us. Whoever these people are, they don't like the remnants from that world."

"I can see you two up there. Come down. Both of you."

“Got it… so what do we do? Where do we go?”

"On my signal, make a smoke bomb and then we run. Hold my hand and I will lead you to safety."

"We can't instance away. They will follow."

Violet summons a smoke bomb and ready’s to throw it, nodding to Angie

"Do it!"

Violet throws it!

She grabs onto Angie’s hand

Angie darts off, running much faster than you. She pulls you in tow, forcing you to struggle to keep up.

Violet speeds up as fast as she can, not looking behind

"Keep your footing. If you fall, I can't go back now."

Violet nods, keeping her focus on running than anything around her. Making sure that she is keeping up and sicking with Angie

Everything begins to have a slight blue tinge to it as you run.

Violet hears a voice from the sky. It sounds like M0TH3R

"Legs of the abandoned, lead our bodies to glory." 

“Mother?”

Violet keeps running, worried about the blue tinge

"That's not mother!"

"Happiness, peace and cooperation over all."

Everything is now various shades of blue.

"Hatred and bigotry die today."

Violet keeps running, heeding Angie’s words

The details around you begin to fade. Trees are just vague, tall spires. The grass is a mess of tangled noodles and all sensations have ceased, including taste, hearing and smell.

"We will all serve the greater good. We are the greater good."

A solid white wall appears just a few dozen feet ahead. A lone man in a suit stands guard.

Violet try’s her best to stay focused, looking to Angie for assistance of the up-and-coming wall, as she keep running 

Violet is closing in fast. The man takes a step forward.

Angie lets go of your hand and lunges at the man, just before you get to him.

She spreads into a sheet and wraps around him, forming over his skin as she had done before with you... but instead of giving him control, she constricts and a blood-curdling scream comes from her mouth. It's the man's voice. Blue liquid gushed from all over her body as she completely flattens.

She removes herself from him and ushers Violet to follow her into the wall of light.

Dozens of footsteps can now be heard behind you, quickly closing in 

Violet sprints into the light

Violet is temporarily blinded. A cold sensation replaced all of her senses.

Warmth returns to her hand, followed by feeling. She can feel Angie tugging at you.

Violet holds out her hand out to the tugging, reaching for Angie

The inability to breathe starts to overwhelm her. Angie is still pulling. Violet can... sense it is her. 

Warmth returns to Violet's whole arm now and the leg on the same side.

Then you feel the world tilt as you fall. Slowly, all of your senses return. When they do, you are seemingly out in space, but there is a foggy glass underneath you that seems to be holding you down like gravity. 

“Angie? Where are we?”

Violet looks around, catching her breath

In the direction of the area you just came from is a colossal white dome. You can barely see the top and you are unable to see how far it compasses. Behind you are several spacial distortions. Millions of massive mechanical spiders float around these distortions, wiggling their arms so quickly that you can't see them, in intervals, as they weave at the anomalies. Every second or two the anomalies noticeably shrink. When they do, you feel a heavy pull toward them. 

"We are outside of... Where they are keeping everyone. There isn't time to explain before this world is reborn. We have to instance to the Tower and enter Mother's panic room. It doesn't exist here and will be safe during the big bang." 

“So… we are the only ones who are going to survive?”

"No. Everyone in there is safe as well... but they will be altered."

"They will be used to recruit and convert the others."

“I… I understand. Let’s get to that panic room.”

"I... learned all of this just before Mother's mind vanished from reality."

Angie takes your hand, and you both distort. The world around you swirls, slowly stopping inside of Ashmother's office. Angie lets go of your hand and rushes for the keypad. She types in the code and a nearby bookcase swings open to reveal a small metal door.

“And this will keep us safe?”

Violet looked at Angie a bit worried

Angie shrugs. 

"It's our best chance."

“Let’s head in.”

"Wait! We are technically between Towers 3 and 4 right now. The Veils touch but don't overlap." 

"When we enter that room, we will be inside Tower 3"

"If this world exists after... or we live... We can try the door. If it opens, we're good... If not... Well... We won't be able to leave the panic room... ever. We could take chances elsewhere, I suppose. We have about an hour." 

She looks Violet's in the eye questioningly

“I’d say we take the panic room chance. This this the best shot we got. And if we are unable to open the door… at least we will have each other? That’s a plus I guess?”

Angie doesn't say anything. She walks to the door and struggles to pull it open. It's only budging about an inch.

"Will...The crown... To help..."

Violet uses the crown to imagine herself and Angie opening the door easily, hoping it will work as Violet helps opening the door

Vines slither down the sides of the crown and wedge themselves in the door crack. The two of you together pry the 4 feet deep metal door open after a lot of effort. Angie is now pouring sweat. 

Luckily, once you two are inside, you see a red button that Angie promptly pushes. It closes the door back for you. A cheery, robotic voice accompanies the doors closing.

"Oh, wow! You did it! I bet that was hard! The world must be ending or something if you put up with all that. Whew! Well, get some rest and feel free to press the button when you feel the danger is over!" 

Angie stumbles to the left side of the room and sits down against the wall.

The room is empty, aside from the bar lights on the wall, a small refrigerator and a toilet. The walls are all chrome colored and allow one to see their reflections all around. 

"Mom picked the colors for this room. She said if it ever came to just one of us surviving that they could talk to themselves for the rest of their life." She laughs at that.

"Guess I won't be completely alone though." She looks at you. 

“I guess so!”

Violet giggles

“Never guessed I would be spending the end of the world with you but here we are!”

Violet looks to Angie

“So what now?”

"Umm... I don't know... You like guessing games?"

“Oh? Sure! What we guessing?”

"Umm... Can you guess what color my underwear is?"

She realizes how weird that sounded.

"I... I... Won't show you or... Anything... I'll just tell you."

"It's also my favorite color..."

She looks frustrated. She was trying to get you to ask her what her favorite color was without being weird and making it weirder.

Violet blushes at the awkward question

“Well um… is it… yellow?”

“Oh wait… maybe orange?”

"Bingo! I... I mean... Yeah, it's orange. Yours?"

She blushes.

"YOUR FAVORITE COLOR!"

“Hehe… of course. My favorite color is green funny enough. Or sometimes a brown. Kind of a nature kind of color pallet.”

She can't think of another question and takes a break to ask about something different.

"Cool... So, what have you been up to since Raga was erased? I've taken up painting rocks." 

“Oh that sounds lovey! I have looking into the supernatural. Seemed interesting enough to look into. I would love to see one of your rocks one day!”

"Maybe I could show you the one I did of... not... you... umm... Back to the guessing game! You ask me something now."

Violet’s eyebrow perks up but plays along

“Ok… here's a random question, favorite sound to hear.”

"Tesla coil bolts for sure! I made music with one once."

"Yours?-"

Violet notices that her memories are becoming harder and harder to recall. Names are fading, places... Feelings... Shapes and colors cease to make sense or have any meaning. All grows dark as she feels her mind emptying...

Then, suddenly, all of the knowledge and information in all of existence crosses Violet's mind. It's enough to knock both her and Angie out cold.

When Violet wakes up, Angie opens the door, and both re-enter Ashmother's office. From there, Angie attempts to instance Violet home. Violet warps into a ball of light. Angie screams.

Violet wakes up in a field. The air is cool and crisp. It's chilly but not cold. A nice autumn night. A crescent moon shines brightly overhead.

Angie chuckles nervously.

"Well, Violet, we made it. Welcome to the new Tower 4." 

They are both in the woods, close to where they exited through the wall of light before.

Angie leads Violet home, and along the way, everything seems back to normal... Although, with a lot more bluegrass than Violet remembers.

Vioelt and Angie enter Violet's house, where Angie tells her that she can't hear or feel her mother or sister's presence. She asks if she can stay on Vioelt's couch for the night. She will try to figure things out in the morning. 

Angie is sweating again, although it is cool in the house.

She strips down to her bright orange underwear and passes out on Violet's couch as she hits it.

Violet does the same in the upstairs bedroom, passing out as soon as she comes in contact with the pillow