Eons and ages passed during the time Delarus spent traveling through the gate.
For him– he couldn't feel the passage of time, it was all numb– blank. Time passed, days? Weeks? He didn't know and he didn't care, but for the time that passed outside the gate– It was years.
As he spent each passing moment in the warp gate, he cried with tears of blood.
He cursed the world, he cursed the gods, and in that gate, under the witness of the eternal universe– he swore to destroy all the gods who ruined his world.
Nigh– not only the ones that ruined his world, he vowed to rid the universe of every transcendental being. The very existence of those beings was muddled with chaos and misery.
They were beings with great power. These beings treated mortals as nothing more than ants– they used them, killed them and did with them as they saw fit.
But Delarus– he was going to destroy them all. With his sword– he was going to cut them and rid the universe of them.
Or at least that's what he thought.
With each passing second in what seemed like an endless void, he felt his memories slowly eroding.
He could barely hold onto the memories of his life in Cryst. It was a side effect of traveling via the warp gate. Beings that were strong enough to withstand the pressure of the gate and not die had to lose something else. So the 50 survivors apart from Alphonso would have never made it even if the gate could contain more than one person anyway.
But as his memories slowly eroded, the only thing that was etched into his very soul and never faded, was the seething rage that clamped his heart tightly.
His hatred for the gods became his fuel and his only reason for survival and the rage kept him alive as he passed through the dark expanse of the space-like warp gate, a void that carried gravity that seemed to have a mind of its own– pulling him from all sides.
"I– Delarus Matir Kafer.. I.. I swear on my life! And on the life of my deceased family... that every being that calls themselves a 'god'..."
He cleaned the tears of blood on his face. "will die by my sword!"
He clenched his teeth and wrapped his fingers around his sword tightly.
Eventually, the sword liquified, and the liquid essence of the sword transfused into his chest and shot like a cannon straight into his heart.
He immediately closed his eyes to etch the rage deep into his soul and he freed his body, allowing it to be at peace.
And...
Whoosh!
He was warped from the dark void with a speed far greater than light. He had reached his co-ordinate– a world far from his dimension– Earth.
***
Ding!
The sound of a doorbell rang as a door was opened.
"Ah, Delar, you here my boy?"
I can see an old man in his fifties. He's short, he has gray hair that's covered by a blue, snapback cap. He's big, his chest stretching and his broad shoulders expanding his brown tank top, his pot belly protruding from his top. He wore blue jeans and had green, fierce eyes that showed no weakness. He was the owner of the convenience store– the only store on the street.
"Ah, yes sir. I decided to come early today."
A young man with a youthful and vibrant energy around him said with a bright smile on his face. The boy's golden eyes shone with determination, he had the type of energy that only a young man with big dreams could have.
The old man chuckled softly, "You workaholic. Alright come in, we have to arrange the store quickly before we open up."
"Yes sir." The young man playfully saluted as he walked into the store to help with arranging.
***
These days... I can't help but question my existence...
The boy thought to himself.
Who am I? What am I? Where did I come from? Where and when was I born?
And I always have these strange dreams– dreams of a man that looks like me, but he looks older and more... Experienced in life. In my dreams, he always looks sad and he always holds a sword, alone in a cold, ruined palace reciting strange lines:
Snap! He lightly flicked his fingers.
"Te..."
Snap!
"Ta..."
Snap!
"To..."
The young man, with brown hair and golden eyes, sat on a plastic chair outside the convenience store, questioning his existence. Whenever he tried to rummage his brain for answers to his questions, he felt as if there was a wall blocking his mind from peering deep into his memories. When he dug deeper, the farthest thing he could remember was waking up inside the house of Old Man Cralfold.
When Cralfold realized that the boy suffered from amnesia, he tried to find his family. But Delarus was naked in a dark alley in the streets without any belongings, no phone, no ID, or anything he could use to identify him when he found him.
When the boy had woken up, he asked the boy for his name, the boy rummaged through his brain and searched deeply in his mind, he felt a pang, it was like a jolt of electricity struck his brain and he let out a low sound. "Ah." Then the pain stopped.
And he looked at the old man who was waiting expectantly for him to say something. And he said;
"Delar."
The old man Cralfold frowned his face.
"Delar... What? No surname or middle name? Who are you, boy?"
"I... I." The boy shut his eyes tightly, trying to remember, and then he snapped his eyes open."...I don't know."
The old man's heart melted, he saw that the boy looked sincerely and utterly confused. The boy reminded him of his grandson who went missing 6 years before then.
"Amnesia..." The old man muttered to himself.
And from that day, he took the boy in. Of course, he made attempts to find the boy's family, but no matter how hard he searched, he couldn't find them so... he gave up. He took the boy to the hospital and the doctors confirmed that nothing was wrong with the boy, he was, in fact, abnormally healthy and he was told that with time, his memories would come back to him.
Old man Cralfold taught the boy everything about life, society, the economy and other basic things about the world and the boy adapted quickly, he was sharp and quick at learning things– so quick that sometimes it scared the old man.
The boy looked to be in his early to mid-20s, way too old to go to high school, so he didn't bother about taking him to school and started teaching him how to handle things in his convenience store.
And like that, two years passed.
Snap!
"Te..."
Snap!
"Ta..."
Snap!
"T– who am I?"
He asked, with his voice low, barely audible and dripping with sadness.
"I... Am I really Delar?"
He drooped his head and rested his face on his palms.
"Where did I come from? Even the DNA tests show nothing. I have no ancestors. Just what am I?"
Tears poured on his palms.
"I have just one wish. To know who I am."
His voice was shaky, low and littered with sadness.
"To know my roots, to know if I'm really a human being. But h–"
Ding!
He got a notification on his phone.
He sniffled his nose, cleaned his tears and brought his phone out of his pocket.
"Tch. It's this stupid spam message again!"
He said in a fit of rage. He had been getting the same spam message almost every day since the old man got him a cellphone. He had asked him what the message was but the old man told him not to pay it any mind and said that it was just a spam message.
But this time, when the boy was having an existential crisis, he didn't want to see the message at all.
And he was about to smash the phone on the ground when one thing drew his attention.
[Do you have a wish?]
He looked at the message for a while.
[Do you have something you desire? The thing that you cannot obtain no matter how much effort you put in?]
My memory. Who I am.
He continued reading, he was intrigued this time around. He had never read the message completely before and just dismissed it as spam, but now, it was as if the message was calling out to him, speaking to him and drawing him in.
[Then come to the Tower of Caelum. Whatever you wish for will be granted if you reach the 100th floor.]
He raised his eyebrows.
A wish? But wait–
"Is this some kind of game? I mean I've played some games before, but I've never heard of this type of game. 'Tower of Caelum'? Hmm, that's new." He muttered under his breath.
[Will you accept the chance to make your wish come true?]
[-YES- -NO-]
It doesn't look like an invitation to a game though. It looks... Like a spam message.
He sighed loudly, about to slide his phone back into his pocket, then he had a thought.
Why don't I click yes? It wouldn't hurt to try it out, it doesn't matter if it's fake or not, it's not like it's gonna kill me.
Was it out of mere curiosity? Or did he really believe it? No one can tell, but he clicked yes.
And–
He vanished from where he sat, his cellphone that fell on the ground was the only proof that he was ever there.