The story starts off inside of a hospital in California. A stretcher is urgently being rolled into the clinic, on top of it is a young man in his 20s. He has fair skin and auburn hair, which is shaved at the sides.
His face and body are well defined and the boy’s emerald-green eyes have a nice color to them.
He is still wearing a jersey from his team, the California University’s soccer-team.
The man in question is the 21-year-old Elijah Winchester.
The young man was born in Great Britain, London, had decent grades during his school-life and took a scholarship to study abroad in the USA. This was also made possible in large due to Elijah’s passion-sport: Soccer
Elijah started his soccer career when he was still 5 years old, shortly before attending elementary school. It has always been his dream to become a professional striker and to go to the world Championships.
“The tendons on your right ankle are cut through. A surgery can sew the broken parts together but I am afraid it probably won’t ever go back to full mobility.”
He worked day and night on his skills, refining them to high degrees and finally he got acknowledged by the world. Elijah’s acceptance to the university was a huge step in the young man’s life.
A lot of things in his life revolved around soccer: His friends. His girlfriend. His education.
If somebody were to take all that away from him he…
“I am sorry to say this to an aspiring athlete but… your body is in no condition to continue your life career as a professional soccer-player. I recommend a change in career.”
But reality sometimes is crueler than any fiction could ever be.
…
“...18.000$? I am sorry Sir but your insurance does not cover for this type of injury. I recommend a fundraiser campaign…”
“Only 1000$ raised? Well that figures. I guess you will have to shoulder the costs by yourself then.”
It is dark outside. Inside this single-person-room there is a single person.
“You have changed since that day. Let’s break up.”
They are standing on top of a chair. A rope is held inside their hands.
They are standing on one foot and their balance is close to breaking.
Do they want to take this last step? Their hands are shaking like maple leaves.
Suddenly it happens: A quaking tremor throws Elijah off his chair and onto the ground. The entire room he is in started shaking. Not only his room but the entire house, no the entire continent, no!
The entire world is experiencing a massive tremor the magnitude of which nobody has ever experienced. Houses and streets, rivers and beaches. The vibrations cause car crashes and many people fall down on their butts as it happens.
At the epicenter of this quaking a volcano appears: The stone formation akin to a black mountain range is rearing its beautiful head inside the vast Atlantic Ocean.
At the center of it all, at the crater of this obsidian volcano there is a pitch-black hole gaping open like the literal hell on earth.
From this chasm of darkness two winged creatures rise above the clouds and circle the mountain they originated from with even strides.
The first one is clad in black armor with pale-gray skin and a deformed right mouth. Yes, its body is humanoid with the exception of the goat-like horns sprouting from its head and running down to curl around their armpits and their leg-to-toe-length-ratio, which attributes it extremely long and sharp toes with short legs. The two bird-like white wings on its back create a strange contrast to the rest of the body, almost as if a demon was wearing an angel’s wings.
The second one possesses green skin the color of jade and is clothed in silk that is as white as the clouds it is scurrying through. This creature does not seem to have any arms and instead possesses three legs standing apart like a tripod with their crippled ends being hidden underneath blue bandages. Their rear end also possesses a forked black tail making this creature look even more bizarre than the last one like a tattered angel trying to be a devil.
It is unclear how this creature even manages to levitate above the ground with only a pale-blue glimmer underneath its tripod-legs hinting towards an answer.
The green creature dives down to the beautifully blue water surrounding the volcano while the gray one raises its head to look above. The latter makes its first move while the former is doing reconnaissance.
*Flick*
Suddenly everything comes to a halt: The Earth’s quaking, the people’s screaming and hysteria, the wails of pain of those that got injured in various kinds of accidents. Everything muted and froze over like a lake’s surface in the cold winter would.
Then a dark vibrating voice resonated in everyone’s ears, even in those, who were incapable of hearing due to age or disability.
“Welcome people of Earth!”
The voice did not have any language. Everyone could understand its meaning as if an instruction had been engraved into their brains. Nobody would ever forget this voice for the rest of their lives.
The being made sure of that.
“Every. Single. One of you has been given an opportunity!”
“This World you Live In is Rotten!”
“Not every one of you has been given the same rights as any other! The rich remain rich and the poor are robbed to be poorer. This illogical world has given birth to every single one of you!”
“We have come here to Give Everybody a New Possibility!”
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Possibility not opportunity.
“Those of you, that want to escape from this world, I beseech you: Leave your World and Join our Master’s Tower. Join the Draconic Tower of Ascension!”
An invitation
“This is Not an easy decision to make! If you do not wish to change your life as it is! If you have something worth living for in this place! Then I will not persuade you any further!”
No urgency, no catch?
“We will Give you One Thing and One Thing Only! Information! See For Yourselves if you are Ready To Accept This New Life!”
*Clap*
…
A tower stretching endlessly into the sky. An Obsidian Dragon coiling around it and protecting it.
A creature enters the tower. The creature is from a world different from Earth. The creature is heavily injured. The creature is weak. The creature desires more.
The Tower responds to the creature’s desire. It gives the creature a new body. A young one without any injuries. A body made to conquer!
The tower places enemies in front of the creature and tells it to run.
*Slash* *Bam* *Bam*
The creature never stops, no matter what creature is thrown in their way. They get stronger and stronger as they go up the stages of the tower.
‘You have done well up until now. From now on you will need to take your fate in your own hands. In honor of having made it this far you will be given a name. You shall now be known as ‘Helios, The first Sun’! ’
The tower acknowledged Helios for his achievements and his struggles. And it truly decided to open its gates to the new challenger: The true tower opened in front of Helios!
Helios accepted the tower’s grace and marched forward. And he died. He died nearly the second that the tower gave him his name. Helios died a tragic end the same day he had truly been born.
“Will you try to be like Helios? Will you become the true Sun that he was unable to be? If you have the desire in you to overcome the adversities the tower throws at you, Then Enter The Draconic Tower!”
…
The world started moving again as the Jade Creature moved its arms up above their heads.
Eight Giant Rock Pathways rose above ground from the deepest depths of the sea. They were supported by giant translucent pillars of light as if a divine intervention had created them. These Pathways branched out and they branched out again. They branched out so many times that the end result could looked like an elaborate painting from a bird’s-eye view.
Naturally this sight was being transmitted into the people’s minds as well as the next words uttered from the two creatures.
“All the roads lead to the Tower! If you wish enter, then you should at least make your way to this place by yourselves!”
“There are those of you, who are incapable of undertaking this road. If your deepest heart thinks that they cannot take this road and if you wish for it hard enough, then a new road will open itself for you to walk upon.”
“Do not throw away your lives recklessly if you can’t truly separate from them! Only the valiant should continue!”
Valor and resolve.
“Remember to listen to your hearts above all else. Your hearts will form the pavement for you to walk upon. Weakness and valor do not matter for you. May the ones full of heart continue!”
Heart and conviction.
“The choice is up to you!”
A final message was transmitted to the populus’ brains before the two creatures dived back into the hole they came out of.
The choice is up to you…
Inside a small room a young man sat down on the ground. He was leaning against a chair, a rope in his hands. His hands stopped trembling. Inside his eyes a fire burned.
“I will do it.”
The man’s silent words echoed inside the empty room.
One year Later…
One year has passed since the surfacing of Earth’s largest volcano and the accompanied message to any and every person on this sphere that we were born to call our home.
Due to the nature of the message the backlash coming from the public was very minimal.
A bunch of researchers tried to extract the material holding up and supporting the newly constructed pathways reaching above Earth, needless to say without success.
Initially the being transmitting the message made it seem as if the entrance to the tower would just stand there on its own but apparently that was not the case.
Out of nowhere a mysterious company appeared and spread into this world with the name ‘Seelenfrieden’, which is German for ‘Peace of the Soul’(Called PotS by the public)
The company’s roots were shrouded in mystery and its original founding place was designated to be the Atlantic Ocean. Later on PotS would function as a way to redistribute the Tower Ascenders’ assets to public welfare, which in hindsight was an ingenious way of giving the ascenders a maximum of freedom while stabilizing the global economy in the process of it.
They were also the ones responsible for creating a catalogue of players for public viewing.
If person A enters the tower, then their name as well as their so called ‘job’ are listed on this list as well as the information on whether they are still alive or not.
It is clear that the person or thing behind creating the tower had the public in mind when designing it.
Otherwise there might have been a noticeable surge of missing people being reported to the government. This solution of creating an external and neutral governmental organ was ingenious to that cause.
After an initial gap of acclimation to the new environment humanity started to adapt in interesting ways:
Due to some testing from some stricter governments the higher-ups quickly realized that preventing the people from entering the tower through physical blockage was simply impossible.
Some communist parties tried their best to prevent the tower from becoming a main topic in their society but they ultimately failed and eventually instead focused on the tower’s dangers hoping to deter more people from going by appealing to their rationale.
A surprisingly high percentage of single men in employed in large corporations quit their job and made their way to the tower, large enough in numbers to significantly change the global economy.
As a result the companies prepared better deals for their employees and explicitly promoted social ties between employees as well as relationship between them.
The education-system on Earth only adapted very slowly to the changes. Only a decade later would they actually start properly educating the children about the tower and what stance they should take in response to it.
These ten years worth of children and aspiring adults would later on contribute to the statistical surge in young people entering the tower. They would also drastically increase the mortality rates for people their age.
Speaking of Mortality rates, here are some facts about the first year after the tower’s emergence:
Out of 100.000.000 people(rounded up) only about 2.000.000 people still remained alive. This means a mortality rate of roundabout 98%
About 30% of all people entering the tower died within two weeks after entering the tower, which later became known as the 2-week-trial-period in the public mouth.
Here is a simple question: Why the hell would the people still rush to their deaths and how the hell could the number of people dying climb up this high?
The answer is hard to give by one person alone but most experts suspect a variety of reasons for that trend:
‘This world is messed up!’ It is the social inequality and capitalistic pressure that is wearing down the people’s mentality. That gap between their wishes and their reality has created massive amounts of stress within the people resulting in a drive to escape. For similar reasons there has been a trend in the Japanese-Animation-industry, where stories of escapism into another world surged in popularity.
Ascending the tower could just be a means to escape reality.
‘That stuff seems so cool!’ The natural structure of the tower is meant to allure the crowds:
Suppose you played a basic RPG-game. You chose a class and built yourself a team. You tried grinding out resources to beat the game and over the course of the entire journey the game would reward your efforts with an equal amount of benevolence.
Next, imagine you could be a character inside of this game. The catch being that you only have a single life and if you die it is all over. What would you do?
There are certainly those that would jump at a chance like this but due to various factors this decision would be tremendously difficult to make. Some basic criteria could be the degree of difficulty, the initial degree of immersion, the amount of information on the game or the amount of fun that represents playing the game. Especially in this case, where the tower should not feel like a game but rather like a black box, the people’s apprehensiveness towards that frightening place should soar to the highest heights.
But any of the aforementioned factors are basically nonexistent:
PotS have started using Social Media to their advantage in order to quickly and effectively cover information on the place and strategies for the tower up to floor 10, which they call ‘Last Tutorial Level’. Surprisingly, the area up to this point is mapped in incredible detail, meaning that knowledge about DToA(Draconic Tower of Ascendance) is widely spread.
Not only that, in opposition to the numbers, DToA’s difficulty-curve is unexpectedly flat and provides an incredible amount of leeway. Especially on the first three floors of the game there is a bunch of mechanisms in place to guarantee the ascender’s survival.
It is fascinating that the 98% mortality rate seems not to correspond to the tower’s difficulty.
Additionally the tower provides various tools for the ascenders to send one-way-messages to the surface and even some to exchange two-way-messages. Using this feature the general populus has noted that for a test group with sample-size of 5000 people the mortality rate until and immediately after the last tutorial only amounted to 0.06%(three deaths, one through injury, two due to angering the tower’s residents).
They simply couldn’t explain this vast difference in mortality rates with anything other than a ‘skill issue’.
‘If they can do it then surely I can too.’
As such the motivation of the masses increased exponentially and the tower’s attraction force grew with each passing minute.
‘This looks really fun!’
Going back a few steps the most interesting part about the tower would be its inner layout.
The tower’s ability to make the people stronger is based around Earth’s population and their sense of understanding. This means that due to the massive social power of the videogame-market the system has taken on the form of a comprehensive game-interface. That includes everything from stats, levels, skills, equipment and occupation.
Even customizing your character and visibly distorting your body has become possible contributing greatly to the immersion of those researching about the tower and the dissociation from reality of those being inside of it.
This gap between the two groups is speculated to have created an effect based on the normal person’s fear of missing out on something better than what they have and it steadily cultivated into this massive stream of humans migrating inside the tower.
All this hasn’t even touched upon the things the tower does for minorities, both due to physical disabilities and social reasons. Anyway a large stream of people constantly travels to the volcano representing the entrance to another world. And today, there is a special one standing at the volcano’s rim:
*Step*
With a single step Elijah has decided to throw himself into this adventure as the man is currently falling into an endless black void. This single last year represents every bit of effort he put into this life.
His adventure is about to start!