"What do you mean by that?" Aksibilian asked, his eyebrows drawing together. "Didn’t you also get trained?" he added.
Macarius stared at him with a blank expression, then gave a small shake of his head.
"No. I didn’t get anything like training," he answered.
Upon hearing that, Aksibilian’s cheerful expression faltered. His eyes widened slightly, and he paused with the piece of meat still in his hand, as though he hadn’t expected such an answer.
"How? Aren’t new awakeners supposed to be trained for at least a week before coming to the Tower?" he asked, looking genuinely surprised.
"I don’t know anything about it. All I know is that I woke up in some trash, and then I saw that thing saying I had been chosen as an awakener. Then a woman named Anna said she would help me. But I don’t know how, or why, but I ended up here after losing consciousness."
Macarius spoke slowly, occasionally pausing as he tried to recall the few things he actually remembered. His gaze drifted toward the fire, and his fingers tightened slightly around the piece of meat in his hand.
Even now, explaining his situation felt strange. He had so little information about himself that recounting his own experience sounded more like describing the life of a complete stranger.
Aksibilian didn’t respond immediately.
He lowered the meat in his hand and stared at the fire, his cheerful expression gradually giving way to a more thoughtful one. The flames flickered across his face as he seemed to consider Macarius’s words, his eyebrows slightly furrowed.
"Hmm... That’s strange," he muttered.
Macarius turned toward him.
"What’s strange? What do you mean by that?"
Aksibilian lifted his gaze from the fire and looked directly at him.
"Like, it’s really strange if you awakened this morning and ended up here after losing consciousness. We’ve been told that awakeners have a one-month limit during their first entry before being forcibly pulled out of the Tower."
He paused, seemingly reconsidering something. His eyes moved over Macarius’s face, as if searching for a clue that might explain the situation.
"Does that mean you really don’t know anything? Like, what you were doing in the trash in the first place?"
Macarius lowered his eyes.
"I don’t know. When I woke up, I found myself in the trash, and I couldn’t remember anything. Not even my name or anything like that. Then that thing appeared and called me Macarius."
His voice carried a faint trace of frustration. He frowned slightly as he spoke, trying to grasp at memories that simply weren’t there. For a brief moment, his expression seemed to darken, but the feeling passed before he could fully understand it himself.
Aksibilian tilted his head.
"Did you mean the System Window by that thing?"
"Yeah. System Window or whatever it is."
Macarius shrugged slightly, his expression returning to its usual blankness.
"Oho, so you really don’t have any memories, right?" Aksibilian asked, although the answer seemed obvious by then.
He leaned forward a little, resting his forearms on his knees. His earlier surprise had softened into curiosity, and he studied Macarius for another moment before continuing.
"Then you must be feeling sad, right?"
Macarius fell silent for a moment.
He looked down at the half-eaten piece of meat in his hand, watching the firelight dance across its surface. He understood why Aksibilian would ask such a question. Most people would probably feel frightened or devastated if they woke up without knowing who they were.
But when Macarius tried to examine his own feelings, he found nothing that resembled either emotion.
"Yes, I don’t have any memories, and all I know is that the System Window thing calls me Macarius. Somehow, I ended up here in such a shitty place."
He paused, his gaze lingering on the flames.
"And actually... I don’t think I’m feeling anything about my memories."
His voice remained quiet and matter-of-fact. There was no attempt to hide his feelings or make his situation sound less miserable. He simply couldn’t find anything inside himself that he could honestly describe as sadness over a past he didn’t remember.
Aksibilian watched him for a few seconds before giving a small nod.
"Understood. Then you don’t know anything about the Tower, right?"
He tilted his head slightly, as another thought seemed to occur to him.
"And you don’t know how to use the System Window either, right?"
"Yeah, nothing. All I know is that this place looks like some dangerous place."
Macarius answered plainly, then took another bite of his meat.
He had no reason to pretend otherwise. He didn’t understand the Tower, had no idea what an awakener was supposed to do, and couldn’t even make sense of the strange power that had kept him alive through the nightmare in the forest.
For now, the only thing he knew for certain was that this world was dangerous. And judging by what had happened to him so far, it was probably going to get worse.
After a brief silence, Aksibilian began speaking again.
"So, do you want me to explain it to you? Then you’ll have an easier time dealing with that thing," he asked with a smile.
Macarius didn’t answer immediately. He simply stared at Aksibilian, his expression as unreadable as ever. The young man seemed perfectly comfortable offering help to someone he had met only a short while ago, as though there were nothing unusual about it.
After a few seconds, Macarius finally opened his mouth.
"Why?"
Aksibilian blinked.
"What do you mean, why?" he asked, tilting his head slightly.
"Why are you trying to help me? You don’t even know who I am."
Macarius looked directly into his eyes as he spoke. There was no hostility in his voice, but his question carried a certain weight. He genuinely couldn’t understand the reason behind Aksibilian’s kindness.
He had no memories, no belongings worth mentioning, and no apparent value to someone he had just met. As far as he knew, he was nothing more than a stranger who had collapsed in the forest.
So why bother helping him?
"Do I really need a reason to help another human being?" Aksibilian replied.
His smile remained, and he answered so naturally that it almost seemed as though the question itself had never occurred to him.
Macarius continued looking at him.
"Is that all?"
"Yes, it is."
Aksibilian nodded, apparently satisfied with his own answer. He then shifted his position beside the bonfire, resting one hand on his knee.
"Then let me explain some simple things. But I can’t explain everything at once. You see, it’s pretty complicated, so it’ll be hard for you to understand."
Macarius gave no particular response, waiting for him to continue.
Aksibilian leaned forward slightly.
"So, first, do you know what this place is called?"
Macarius glanced around the cave, his eyes briefly passing over the stone walls before returning to Aksibilian.
"What do you mean by that? You mean this place we’re sitting in? Is it a cave?"
"No, no, no. Not this place."
Aksibilian waved his hand dismissively, shaking his head at the misunderstanding.
"I mean this whole thing."
He gestured vaguely around them, as though the answer should have been obvious.
Macarius stared at him for another moment.
"No."
His answer was short and straightforward.
Aksibilian nodded.
"Then listen to me. This place is called the Tower, and we’re on one of its floors."
He picked up a small piece of wood and absentmindedly rolled it between his fingers as he continued explaining.
"Usually, most people think the floors are going to be small. But, you see, each floor is actually very big, and it takes a lot of time to get through them. We don’t even know how many floors there are in total."
His explanation was simple, and he spoke at a steady pace, occasionally glancing at Macarius to see whether he was following along.
Macarius listened quietly, his attention fixed on the young man.
The Tower.
The name brought little understanding. If anything, it only gave him another unfamiliar concept to add to the growing pile of things he didn’t know.
"Then what’s our purpose here? I mean, why are we here?" Macarius asked.
"I was going to explain that, man."
Aksibilian gave a small laugh before continuing.
"Like you see, this Tower has floors, and we’re supposed to climb them and beat it. But because the floors are so wide, finding the gates that lead to the next floor is difficult and takes a lot of time."
He spread his hands slightly, emphasizing the scale of the problem.
Macarius frowned.
"Why do we need to climb it?"
Aksibilian looked at him as though the answer were self-evident.
"Isn’t it obvious? If we don’t climb it, the monsters from the Tower are going to get outside, attack us, and destroy the Earth."
He spoke with more emphasis this time, his expression turning serious as he explained the danger.
But before he could continue, Macarius interrupted him.
"No, what I mean is, why do we actually need to climb it? Does it have something at the top, or is there someone...?"
His voice trailed off slightly as he searched for the right way to phrase the question.
He wasn’t asking how to survive or why the monsters needed to be stopped. Those things were understandable enough, even to someone with no memories.
What he wanted to know was something else.
Why was the Tower there in the first place?
What awaited them at its summit?
Was there an answer waiting at the end of the climb, or was everyone simply moving forward because they had no other choice?
Macarius looked at Aksibilian, waiting for an answer.
For the first time since their conversation began, the young man’s cheerful expression faltered completely.
He opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
His fingers stopped rolling the small piece of wood, and his gaze drifted toward the bonfire. For several seconds, the only sound between them was the quiet crackling of the flames.
"Actually..."
Aksibilian lowered his head slightly.
"Actually, I don’t know."
His voice was quieter than before.