It had maybe been many minutes, or hours, yet they were still walking.
"How much longer is it going to take, damnit!"
Said LD huffingly, sweat falling down his chin.
"Well, I'm not too sure."
Mr. Walpurgis had responded with, somehow keeping an upright posture the entire time, in which, LD looked at with pure confusion.
"How... How are you not running out of gas, dude? That lady too, she's walking just fine! Am I the only one who's struggling here?!"
He shouted as he put his hands up to the air.
A small chuckle came out of Mrs. Walpurgis as she followed the two from behind.
As Mr. Walpurgis looked up, his eyebrows were a furrowed.
"No sun huh..? Wonder why it looks mostly clear."
He whispered loudly.
"I know right? What's up with this place? It's so strange!"
He looked to the side, seeing Walpurgis nod.
"So, you think we really just got kidnapped and put into some weird place? Or that we all of a sudden really just got teleported into this weird place... For god's sake, right when I was going to continue my dissertation!"
A windy breeze hit them, as Mr. Walpurgis nodded again, this time, saying,
"Indeed. Although, I question if you really were going to work on your dissertation."
To this, LD was silent for a moment.
Before...
Whistle whistle!
He began to stop talking altogether, and started to whistle instead.
Chuckles came out of Mrs. Walpurgis as she walked closer to the two, whispering, quietly into her husband's ear.
"Isn't he a bit siilllyyy? He acts just his age."
He looked at his right, moving his head and looking at her eyes.
What he saw, a small twitch made the ends of his lips curl ever so slightly.
He had thought, how amusing this woman is.
But before anything else continued, they saw a tower appearing in front of them.
"Oh good, finally!"
LD clapped while shouting.
While he was celebrating, Mr. Walpurgis moved his eyes upwards: towards the tower's sign.
The large, black plaque on the statue read out as "VII."
They walked closer, and closer, eventually entering.
Mr. Walpurgis winced at the sight of this tower.
It was really quite large, the inside interior looking as if it was made of crystalline, rocky.
Unlike the circular walls around them, the floor was smooth rock, marble-like and deep with hues of purple that looked like it sunk endlessly.
"Amethyst."
Mrs. Walpurgis said aloud.
Yet, the two men were focused on that smell.
"No doubt, this is roasted chicken! Man, am I hungry!"
LD said as he started a full on dash towards the purple-crystal table, as if his stamina existed.
But, before he could make it...
Mr. Walpurgis was already looking somewhere else.
"Don't touch it, you damn thief!"
Shouted an unfamiliar voice.
LD quickly looked to the side, as they saw two figures sitting on what seemed to be a couch.
And of course, LD tripped onto the floor out of shock.
One of the heads looked at them, before looking quickly back.
The sound of quick tapping and sounds came from where those two heads were. One with black hair, and one that was ginger, noted Mr. Walpurgis.
His red gleaming eyes only looked at them, before he had scratched his hair, walking slowly towards them.
As he got closer, his jaw slowly fell open.
"No way..."
As if they were ignoring him, they continued tapping, and moving their arms in rapid paces.
"Damnit, take this you bastard! Flaming uppercut!"
"Nice try, but that combo was absolutely green! Never try to hit me with that crummy hitbox again, you fool!"
In front of Mr. Walpurgis, those two men were in front of a screen, holding controllers.
"These guys... Hahaha... Playing games?"
He chuckled to himself lightly before watching the match on the screen.
"This is why I slam you in pelty sludge! I win with this!"
A colorful animation on the box-like tv encrusted with that amethyst-like rock, as a 2d figure seemingly beat up.
"God damnit-!"
The man with black hair said as he threw the controller onto the floor, creating a loud thud.
"Looks like you can't beat me, huh?"
As Mr. Walpurgis chuckled to himself again, he heard a stern whisper,
"How could you be so reckless, you idiot?! What if they attacked us, or something? How did they appear out of nowhere? We literally saw no one in here... Somethings wrong, very wrong!"
Again, Mr. Walpurgis dragged his head down to look at her, whispering back,
"I'm enjoying myself right now. Calm down. Or maybe..."
"Hey Banakin, looks like we got new guys in our tower!"
The orange haired man said, smirking at the two of us, I mean them.
The one with black hair turned back, saying in a low voice,
"Well welcome I guess. There's fun stuff where me and Halae hang out. It's pretty chill in here."
"Oh yeah?"
LD said with a chicken leg in his mouth.
"I clearly told you to not touch that, fucking idiot!"
Banakin angrily stated, putting his fist up right towards LD's face.
"Well, since you guys were playing games from over there, I must assume this is some sort of safe zone like in the games?"
"Maybe so."
Mr. Walpurgis nodded.
Yet, yet, yet... The analytical looks in the two men suggested that it wasn't as simple as someone like LD would see.
She tilted her head in confusion, her pale, short hair tilting along with it.
"Howlite."
After hearing that, she slowly put a piece of her hair behind her ear, and smiled at him.
"Certainly it could be said as such. Fuhu."
He looked at her for a moment, before looking back at the black couch, and for some reason, LD somehow already scooched in, fighting against the man with black hair.
Mr. Walpurgis mused how they were both something close to plague doctor outfits without the masks or hood on, ones he had seen in his story-books when he was younger.
For a moment, he felt his heart being tugged.
He looked back towards the girl, still staring at him, quietly saying,
"How nostalgic, huh..."
But Mr. Walpurgis' eyebrow raised. He blurted it out, perhaps, or maybe she could see something in his eyes.
He breathed out a sigh for a moment.
Clear mind. Clean slate.
She simply chuckled, and looked back at him.
"Who knew they would just be gamers? Isn't that so absurd, honey?"
"...Sure. It is quite. Ahh, I had almost forgot."
He looked back towards the tv-screen, enjoying the game for a while.
"I've never seen you around here, but man, your good!"
Halae said, his hair swaying as if it was just as content as his face.
"Well, I suppose its good to have new people around... Damn chicken-thief..."
Banakin said, dejected after seeing his 6th loss in Pelty Sludge.
Mr. Walpurgis' stomach grumbled as they spoke, loudly enough to make all three of them in the couch look at him.
"..."
"Buahahahha!"
"Hahahaaaa!"
"Kekekekahahaha!"
The three of the bastards laughed at him, yet Mr. Walpurgis looked stone-cold.
"Dude said, "I'm ready to eat! Who's cheffin it up?"
LD said while laughing, his left arm over Banakin's shoulder.
"Nuke the entire generation! This guy is just saying stuff, man!"
In this cheery attitude, a female voice chimed in.
"So... Is there any food? I'm quite hungry as well."
"She hungry too! Hungry little couple! Bwaahaahaha!"
Banakin started guffawing at the hungry couple behind them.
Halae looked timidly, before saying,
"Well it's weird, but the tower provides. No matter where you are, you cannot die. And so, food simply comes to you in a way or another. It's just how it works here."
He pointed at the table from a pace away, showing that the table that held chicken now had a lot more food.
Gulping his saliva, Mr. Walpurgis whispered to himself,
"Smells nice."
LD got up after laughing to his heart's content before pushing his glasses up.
"Well, isn't it time to eat guys?! I've had enough of winning in this game anyways!"
And so, the hungry couple, and the three guys walked slowly to the circle table, sitting in the 6 of the 7 chairs there.
They all had taken a seat, and the first one to go at it was LD.
"Thank you for the meal, tower!"
Mr. Walpurgis grabbed the glass cup of water, and began to drink.
Everybody else already began eating moments before, yet he had been looking at everyone's movements with careful precision.
LD's biting into the chicken, and stuffing two nuggets into his mouth, how truly gluttonous, he thought.
Banakin and Halae toasting with orange juice for some reason, before jugging it like it was beer, or something mused Walpurgis.
Then he looked to his side, where his fiancée had been sitting. He looked at her eating before smiling to himself, very quickly, very quietly.
When he looked out to the 4 exits of the tower, those 4 large exits without doors like the last, he saw a dark sky.
In the corner of his eyes, the darkest gleams of purple, and the bright stars popped up in his vision one by one.
Yet, a shining white light came in from the exits, creating what seemed to be a lighting effect for the place.
He looked once more, to Mrs. Walpurgis, and the exit behind her.
To him, it was as if the stars circled around her.
Once again, he smiled.