Running down the forest gravel path, the scorching sun was evidently affecting Luna, the sweat pouring down her like rain on a spring day.
It's really hot here, but that's all. The tower is slowly growing bigger.
I wish I could use magic, but I don't think I should. I don't want to throw up blood and feel terrible like last time.
Luna squeezed her hand tight and pressed on forward as the gravel path slowly grew darker under the shade of the leaves from above.
The wind was blowing hard. Luna looked up at the leaves and wondered, *The wind was never this strong at home. Where am I really?*
But that smell… it was the same as it was in Luna's garden, that old oak's fragrance. It was really calming.
Compared to how the various bird species looked from the trees at her as she passed by, Luna raised an eyebrow at the situation but chuckled afterwards.
Having such companions by her wasn't bad to Luna; it was really peaceful having birds to look at her.
Even though it was hot and hard to run, Luna was excited that she was getting closer to the black tower, an eyesore on the horizon sticking out evidently.
It's like an exercise at home, running round and around the garden, but in a straight line! I feel like I can run for a few more hours. Maybe I won't collapse, hehe.
We'll see, we'll see.
With that, Luna pressed on towards the tower.
...
Arriving at the foot of the tower, she looked up at such an enormous tower; its width and height were incomparable to any building she had ever seen.
Maybe the palace was wider, but not so tall? How is this even possible? Oh, I keep repeating myself, hehe
Even the layout of the palace is stupid, as if the one building it had no idea how to fill space. There is a lot of empty space in between.
Luna walked around the tower, but with such sheer size, it took her ten minutes to get back to where she started.
But to Luna's surprise, there was no entry to the tower. Luna placed her forehead onto the black brick and sighed as the exhaustion seeped from her body.
*Was that all for nothing? It was such a long run that my legs are shaking! Sigh… I wanna go in...*
But just as such a thought crossed Luna's mind, the bricks she was near rumbled and slowly started rearranging themselves. A few flew out of their place into the tower, creating an opening like a door.
Luna's mouth grew agape with a cheerful smile, revealing her white teeth. She rushed through the door as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, but the second they did, the whole place lit up with lamps, revealing a library of countless books.
The tower is hollow inside! I can't believe it!
She looked up, mesmerised by the location. The bookshelves by the wall, their curved build, allowed for the books to be all around the wall. A rainbow of books was shining to her eye; each book was a different colour from the other. The inside of the tower was strikingly different from what was on the outside.
Just as Luna stepped further inside, the bricks floating around started arranging themselves back into the wall and closed up. But just as they did, a shelf that was missing from where she came from floated into place with stacks of books inside.
Every shelf was filled to the brim with books. The silence that followed was eerily peaceful; it really reflected the serenity of the forest.
In the middle of the tower, there was a contraption that struck Luna as really weird. She walked up slowly to it and took a good look.
It was made out of wood, like a cage but without any bars, just four wooden poles holding a flat wooden roof. A sturdy-looking chain connected to it was wrapped around a cylinder leading up high above, disappearing into the darkness.
She walked up to it, stepping onto the wood inside. Her legs shook as the whole contraption shook, as if it was floating in the air off the ground.
But there was a lever placed near the middle. Luna swallowed her saliva and pulled on the lever. As she did, cogs started sounding from above the roof, and the whole platform flew into the air by the chain, going up and up without a stop. Somehow, the platform was not shaking.
Her legs trembling from the sudden movement, Luna sat down to make sure she was alright.
The platform steadily kept climbing further up the tower. As it climbed, the air became harder and harder to breathe, slowly.
But as the monotony of the sound of chains wrapping around the cylinder became familiar, the sound became sharper and faster. So she crawled up to the edge and glanced upwards, she saw that she was coming close to the roof of the tower.
Suddenly, she had arrived at the top, far past the clouds. The platform came to a stop at the top, where it wasn't how Luna imagined it would look.
There was a garden on top: a peaceful cherry tree, and underneath it was a metal table with white lilies and four chairs around it with the same design.
The garden was filled with white lilies. It was as if it was made for the roof to blend the tower into the environment, to hide it.
Luna came off the platform, walking towards the table where she had noticed something interesting.
Standing over it, she saw a sheet of paper! With a cup with the same design as she saw in the kitchen—a design of white lilies.
She picked up the sheet but didn't read it. She folded it and placed it into her pocket, thinking, Let's leave it for later. I'll explore the other four doors, and after that, I'll read the found pages, if there are more!
With a heartwarming smile, she walked back to the platform and stood near it, but she looked back once again. The whole environment of this place screamed a peaceful serenity.
So she sat down while chuckling and pulled on the lever, starting her descent down without any trouble.
To Luna's relief, as she passed a certain height, the difficulty breathing disappeared and became normal again.
As the platform stopped, Luna jumped out of it and walked up to the shelves. I was curious before, but the platform won me over. So now I want to check it, and the books' content.
Opening the book, she was met with a wall of gibberish, a wall of unrecognisable text. So she closed the book and placed it back onto the shelf. She sighed that it was what it was, and the book wasn't really a book but a wall of mismatched text.
So Luna decided to look at a few more books, but it was the same for them, too. She let go of the idea of reading the books and placed them back onto the shelves.
Now, how can I get out? Luna thought, but remembered what she did before coming into the tower.
She touched the shelf and thought, I want to go out.
And the tower listened, moving the shelf out of the way. The black bricks arranged themselves in a way that made a warm exit. Luna smiled from ear to ear and ran past the frame towards the exit from this realm.