Epilogue
“And so, the President and the Prime Minister signed the Joint Agreement on Climber’s Rights today, at the end of a flurry of legislative and diplomatic activity in the wake of what has come to be known as the Tower Revelation.”
The newscaster gestured behind her, pointing to the greenscreen background where images were flashing up, captions appearing beneath them.
“Credit for the terms of this agreement is being claimed by several different sources, both in and out of the Tower. Jeremy Shiner, American Billionaire and recent founder of the Floor Clearing Association, was an influential voice in arguing for the legality of trade in Tower Items. The Climber known as Pioneer refused all offers to personally participate in Earth-based negotiations, and still has not been sighted outside of the Tower, but given the agreement’s heavy focus on freedom of information regarding the Tower and enshrining the right of people to Climb it is hard to argue that the highly influential founder of Towerfall and his subordinates did not provide some of the inspiration.
Along with the FCA and Towerfall, a number of other large organisations have formed to take advantage of the Tower’s resources and opportunities, which has lead to an unprecedented economic boom in those nations that have sizeable Climber populations.”
Several more logos flashed on screen, listing the dozen or so largest and most influential groups in the Tower. Beneath them were images of their founders, aside from the few who (like Will) had not yet been seen out of the Tower to be photographed.
Brunjar turned off the broadcast, grinning widely above his huge beard and wiggling his eyebrows at Will.
“See! UK and US Governments have both basically agreed not to send the army in, and to let Climbers operate freely. You were worrying about nothing.”
Will shrugged, waving away the man and the large jury-rigged screen. He was still amazed that the engineers he’d recruited had figured out how to get electrical items working in the Tower, even if they hadn’t yet managed to get any kind of wireless capability. He’d had Brunjar send emails to people like Researcher Jen (or at least, Jen Heissman, holder of 8 PhDs and currently looking for initial funding for the New World Foundation, as she was at this point) and try to recruit them, but so far he’d been mainly limited to in-Tower recruitment. Brunjar had taken to the role of Clan Overseer like a fish to water, drawing on the connections he’d built over months spent living in the safe area and doing nothing but talking to everyone he could and filling their ranks with more and more useful Climbers every day. If they were willing to put teams in the outer ring of Floor 1 to press-gang people like some of the other Clans had been accused of, the numbers would grow even faster but Will had made very clear his opposition to such a plan.
“What about the FCA? I don’t trust those slimy fuckers, and they’re still recruiting too fast for us to stop. We’re barely bigger than them. We can’t compete with the benefits they’re offering, even if their contracts are restrictive.”
Now it was Brunjar’s turn to shrug, and he took a cigarette from some hidden pouch inside his armour. He offered one to Will, who considered it but then shook his head.
“Kat hates the smell. I smoked one to calm down after that Roaming Boss nearly wiped out the entire waystation on Floor 1 and I had to dive inside of its’ mouth to kill it, and she didn’t speak to me for two days. I swear she put something in my food too, I was on the toilet the whole night. For a woman who loves making me drink mysterious concoctions with strange magical ingredients, a bit of tobacco is really off limits to her!”
The bigger man laughed, lighting his own smoke and taking a puff.
“How’s she taking to the new arm then? Should be mostly integrated by now right?”
Will shook his head.
“She can’t get used to any of the prosthetics, and the enchantments are still too basic. I know we can do more, but we need to Climb higher. There are a few Bloodlines the scouts reported that might heal her, but none that suit her Class. The Vine Graft helped, and she’s getting more comfortable with using it to manipulate things, but it’s not the same as a hand.”
“Well, maybe next Floor, eh? I mean, once we’re ready to start sending teams in. 5 is a significant number, so maybe there’s something special there?”
They talked about inconsequential things for another hour, before Will had other obligations. He thanked the big man for his continued assistance and stepped out of the Safehouse, nodding to the guards on either side.
They were somewhat redundant given that he was in the top 5 most powerful Climbers alive, while they were both low E Rankers with Soldier as their Subclass, and he didn’t like the militaristic aesthetic that having guards created, but it had been a non-negotiable demand from Dane. The man was determined that Will was at constant risk from assassins, just because of two failed attempts, only one of which even got anyone hurt. The attempt last week had been pitiful, more of a probing gesture from the EJA leadership than a real attack, but he couldn’t explain that to his Head of Security.
Stolen novel; please report.
“Any word from Blanik?”
Will’s words were met with a sad shake of the head by Daphne, who continued focusing on the Spell in front of her and didn’t look up.
“No, and Unk’s not due back for another two days. Okembe came by earlier though, apparently Brunjar’s got him teaching a bunch of other Psions how to use their Telepathy to track monsters.”
He nodded, smiling at mention of the man. He’d taken well to the role of teacher, with around a dozen people who were struggling to use the Subclass now being whipped into shape under his ex-police training regime.
“Why you come out here anyway, you thinking of hitting the Bloodline Dungeon before we open it to the public?”
In front of Will, 20 feet tall and half that width, stood a pair of heavy stone doors. He’d had two of Brunjar’s best Clearing Teams wipe out the spawns in this area over the past week, determined to get access to the Dungeon for his Clan. Much like his order for Okembe to train up more telepathic scouts, it was designed to give them access to resources that would make Climbing safer and quicker permanently.
“Nah, my Bloodline’s higher up. Nothing else worth taking from this one. Just came to make sure there weren’t any problems setting up the outpost.”
As Daphne gave him the report, he suppressed a sigh. He hadn’t had a chance to really Climb for two months, getting barely a few days of actual exploration in the 62 days since the Tower was publicly announced and every Clan saw an up-swell in recruitment.
Aside from a brief jaunt with Okembe and Kat to get the man his Bloodline and celebrate reaching Floor 4, it had basically just been meetings and negotiations and dictating long reports to be released to the public about Tower mechanics. He’d known that leading Humanity to the 51st within a decade would be tough, and he was happy to bear the risk and do the work, but he wished he could get back to those first few months – just him and the Chancers, trying to get to Floor 4 before anyone else.
“I’ve got a meeting with the other Clan Heads in a week, but when Unk’s back I’m going to hold a meeting. We’ve stabilised, we’ve recruited, and Towerfall can run itself for now. Brunjar and Dane will handle things on 5 and below, but I want us to Climb again. We’re heading for 10, and we’re getting that Ascended Clan Token.”
He didn’t even need to persuade the Summoner, as she leapt to her feet in excitement.
“Finally! I’ll send Blanik a message when I go back to Earth to grab Unk!”
Will nodded sadly, and turned around to head back for the headquarters. He wasn’t sure if Blanik would come back, but he couldn’t wait for the teen any longer. If he had to fill the spot with one of Dane’s boys, he’d do it.
As he passed through the back door of HQ, entering straight into his bedroom, he sent a warm smile at Kat, who had abandoned the latest prosthetic in the fireplace and was currently sat with her hair in a strange afro with her face buried in a cauldron. The Bog King’s Vine poked from the neckline of her light robe, the pseudopod at the end of the tentacle grasping vials and bringing them over without the Alchemist needing to look. She didn’t see, as her head was inside the huge iron pot, but as he walked over and placed a hand on her back she jerked up in surprise.
“Oh, it’s you!”
She kissed him gently and then gave him a mock push.
“You’re supposed to be meeting with that Secret Hunter guy you’re always raving about, and I’m busy. Did you tell Daph that we’re getting the band back together?”
He wrapped his girlfriend in his arms as he replied.
“She was nearly as excited as you were when I told you!”
She laughed and pushed him away again, and he gave her another grin before heading through to the office area.
Marco was one of Will’s absolute idols in the first timeline. Possibly the coolest Climber, he’d made a living of exploring the Floors to a depth no other person could match. Will himself had used multiple of the man’s discoveries in the past few months, and had shared more to the wider community, but he had been confident Marco would still find more. So, when the man had sent word to Brunjar that he was interested in meeting and possibly swapping some information with Will, it had been a no brainer to accept the meeting immediately.
The foundation was laid, and Humanity was progressing further and faster than it had been in the first timeline. He was D Rank, already approaching C, with the 3rd largest Clan on the planet. Things may not be perfect, but as he waved to one of Dane’s guards and saw the man smile with pride and rush out to fetch a man that, in the first timeline, Will would have cut off his arm to get a meeting with, but in this timeline was sat waiting on him, he felt a deep warmth in his chest.
“Coin of Second Chances, eh? Yeah, that’s definitely accurate.”
WILL AND THE CHANCERS WILL RETURN IN 10 YEAR TOWER BOOK TWO: CLAN WAR
AS THE COMPETITION TO REACH FLOOR 10 AND ACQUIRE ONE OF THE ASCENDED CLAN TOKENS BUILDS, HE MUST CONTEND WITH ENEMIES NEW AND OLD TO PRESERVE HIS ORGANISATION AND KEEP HUMANITY FROM SPLINTERING IN THEIR CLIMB.