Tower - Chapter 1 Tower

BOOM!

The earth rattled, a stunned young boy named Leif frantically swung his head around looking for what was causing the disruption. He was astonished to find his peripheral vision had suddenly become nothing but blackness. Vision that had once been entirely clear and spacious was now consumed by a lofty, looming tower located in what was, just seconds ago, a vast, open grass field. Curious by what he was seeing, Leif decided to make a change in plans and make his way towards the mysterious tower.

Tens of thousands witnessed the towers rise in numerous locations all around the world. Many basked in awe at the sight of these monstrosities, others, feared their purpose. They were a complete mystery. No warning. No explanation, suddenly they were just there, now apart of the world.

As Leif walked toward the tower the world seemed to shrink. The closer he got the more he felt drawn to it. He probably couldn’t walk away even if he wanted to now.

“Holy fuck. Marin must have drugged my coffee this morning. There’s no way this is real,” Leif said to himself as he looked down at the cup of coffee in his hands.

Leif is shoved to the side and his half drank cup of coffee falls to the ground. Leif looks up to see the man who just shoulder checked him out of the way is heading straight for the tower.

Huh? Wait, is he seeing the same thing I’m seeing right now. Is this actually REAL?

Leif looks around and notices that there are now hundreds of people all over the field heading toward the tower.

“Hey, wait up!” Leif shouted at the man as he jogged after him.

The man was a tall, well built, tanned skin man with amber eyes.

“Errg, what is it? I’m trying to get to this tower before the others, I could do without the distractions,” the man snarled impatiently at Leif.

“Did you say… tower? You can see it too?” Leif said in a confused voice.

“Of course I can I’m not blind. Can’t you see how huge the thing is?” the man replied, glaring.

“Uh, yeah, no I can. I just figured no one else was seeing it,” Leif murmured back.

“Ahh, so you think you’re special or something? It doesn’t matter. I’ll be the first to enter the tower, and discover whatever hides behind it’s mysterious walls. There has to be some secrets or treasures in such an ancient looking tower,” the man hissed before he rushed off.

“Uh no I just-…” Leif stammered as he watched the man begin sprinting toward the tower.

Am I missing something? This has to be some sort of elaborate prank right? You can come out now Ashton Kutcher. Wait, never mind, I’m not famous.

In front of him stood a tower more than thousand meters in height. On the ground floor there was a pair of enormous black doors, about 10 meters in height, which had swung open as he walked toward them. Inside, all he could see was pitch-black nothingness. Curious of what was inside and what that man had said, he ventured forward.

What is this thing? How did it get here? Better yet, why was it here? He had hundreds of questions going through his mind all at the same time.

Leif could feel the tower drawing him in and he couldn’t resist his curiosity. He entered into the pitch black. A few steps through the door and the entire scenery changed. Everything was bright and warm. He was in a very large room that could hold probably more than a few thousand people at once with room to spare. When he first entered the room it was only him and the man from earlier standing a few meters in front of him, but slowly people of all ages from all around the world began to emerge from nothingness into the light-filled room. Person after person, the room began to fill up until there were around two thousand people all standing around looking just as confused as Leif was. Then people stopped appearing. There was momentary silence. Then, all at once, the silence was broken and everyone was talking trying to figure out where they were.

What the fuck is going on?! Who are all of these people?

At that moment Leif saw a familiar face. It was his childhood friend, Aryia.

How did she get here? She moved to the other side of the world a few years ago?

She was standing alone near a large crowd of people to the left of him. She didn’t seem to notice him and looked very panicked. He immediately started pushing and shoving his way towards her. She turned and saw him as he was almost to her. She jumped toward him frightened. His face turned red as he held her for a moment.

“Where are we?!” she exclaimed.

“I have no idea… did you go into a massive black tower also and end up here?” Leif asked.

“Yes! I just felt drawn to it. Like I couldn’t resist going in.” she said.

Before Leif could reply a thundering voice rung out and everyone was silenced.

“Welcome! This is the Tower. You all chose to come through the Tower gates and have been transported to the main Tower. What all of you don’t know is that there are towers all over the world, just like the one you entered through that are all linked to this Tower. You now all have begun the Tower, but first I will explain to all of you what the Tower is. The Tower has one thousand floors. After you complete a floor you have the option to leave the Tower and receive rewards based on what you accomplished in the Tower. You may choose to reenter The Tower at a later date if you so choose. Completing a floor is getting from the entrance of the floor to the exit of the floor. After you exit a floor, you end up in a buffer zone where you will be able to choose if you want to leave or continue. You’re rewards are based on the creatures in the Tower that you take on or the feats you accomplish. Everything you do will be recorded on your TowerCards. The monsters you’ve killed, the last floor you visited, titles, affiliations, everything you can think of.

Suddenly a tablet of stone appeared in front of everyone. Leif reached out and plucked the tablet from the air. It was incredibly light, almost weightless. On the front of the card it had Leif’s full name, his age, weight, height, gender, level, HP, and MP.

Name: Leif Ryner

Level: 1

Age: 17

Weight: 170lbs

Height: 5’11”

Gender: Male

HP:10/10

AP:5/5

How does this card know all of this? My level? My HP and MP? Is this a video game or something? I must be dreaming.

Underneath all of that information it had a list of stats.

VIT:3 END:5

AGI:5 STR:4

DEX:4 INT:3

WIS:2 RES:2

DEF:3 LUC:6

Active Skills:

Passive Skills:

A TowerCard is a record of your stats. Once you kill your first monster a new page of your TowerCard will be available to access, which has all monsters you’ve killed along with some information on them. The same goes for when you perform your first feat. A new page will show you all the feats you’ve accomplished, along with the titles granted with them. The TowerCard is part of you. When not in use the TowerCard is etched into your skin on your chest. If want to pull it out, touch your chest and call it out. If it leaves your hands it will immediately return to the center of your chest.

Leif dropped his tablet, but before it could even touch the ground it exploded into a flash white light and vanished. He looked to his chest and saw that there were strange symbols tattooed onto him, but he couldn’t make out what language it was, although somehow he understood it.

“TowerCard,” He put his left hand to his chest and spoke.

The tattoo on his chest began to glow white and the tablet appeared where his hand was near his chest.

“Weird…”, Ayria startled him as she copied what Leif had just done.

The booming voice spoke again.

“The first five floors of the Tower are all to be done by yourselves. If you make it past the first five floors you may work together in guilds or parties that you can set up through your TowerCard. You will fight to survive and make it to the exit of the floor. Everything in the Tower is built to kill you. You will encounter terrifying monsters you couldn’t even dream of. Many of you will die, but the few who make it out will be rewarded based on what you accomplished in the Tower. You will keep all of your stat upgrades, items, weapons, and armor, if you make it out alive. Keep in mind that only things originating in the Tower can be brought into the Tower. Those who survive may return back to your world extremely powerful as the power of the TowerCard will always be with you now. You will now all be transported to rooms. In the rooms you will put on the clothes laid out for you. You will place all of your belongings on the table in the room and take the Tower kit provided. Once that is done you will be transported to first floor. Fortune awaits.”

His last words echoed throughout the room for a few moments before everyone realized the voice was gone.

“What should we do, Leif?” Ayria asked almost in tears.

“It’s okay, Ayria. We’ll figure something out.” said Leif.

“I’m scared! I don’t wanna do this, Leif! I just wanna go ho-” Ayria’s voice was cut short as she vanished in a flash of light.

A few seconds later Leif found himself in a small, well lit, stone room. In the room, there was a table in the center with a set of clothes on it. Leif held up the clothes. They were a thin form fitting black shirt and thin form fitting black shorts.

What the fuck. You’ve got to be kidding me?! This is all I get?! Some thin, shitty pieces of cloth. FUCK.

Leif knew he had no choice but to strip and put on his new clothes. He laid his old clothes and belongings on the table.

“At least it’s pretty warm in here.” Leif whispered to himself.

The table opened up and all of his belongings fell into a black abyss. As quickly as the hole opened up and devoured his stuff, it closed. Leif began looking around the room not knowing what to do next. He studied the walls of the room, but they were just plain rock. Same with the ceiling and floor. The now empty table sat in the middle of the room.

What the hell do I do now?

Leif flung is hands down on the table in anger. As soon as they both touched the table his vision blurred and he could only see white. As his sight began to clear, he could see he was in a large stone room with three long halls branching out on 3 sides of the room. The last side of the room was to his back. He turned around to see a pedestal with an old wooden chest on it. He walked over to the chest hoping that whatever was inside could possibly help him. He didn’t have much faith in the old, rotten looking chest. After struggling with the rusted latch, he managed to lift the wooden trunk’s top open. Inside was: a dull dagger, a small cracked wooden shield, two odd looking bottles, a small satchel containing random supplies, and an unnamed, old dark red book.

Great! I’m thrown into a dungeon with a fucking butter knife, a wooden plate, some weird liquids, and a book! I’m definitely going to be able to survive with this great loot! Thanks Tower God!

Leif rolled his eyes and threw himself to the ground. He opened up the book in hopes that it would have some amazing content that would help him survive. The book described how to focus the anima in your body into a concentrated stream and emit it out of your hand as a lightning bolt.

“MAGIC?!” Leif said out loud as he jumped to his feet in excitement.

Maybe I didn’t get too fucked in the supply department.