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Shadow of the Fallen
Chapter 1 Those Who Have Fallen

Chapter 1 Those Who Have Fallen

An enormous tower continues to rise into the distance, the shadow it casts spread across the land, without a light source it spreads over the expanse with nothing giving way. Large buildings crumble in its sight, swaths of birds fly away only to be pulled deeper and deeper into it. The tower, was finished off with an eerily mesmerizing black finish, with windows once every few floors, along with strange holes in the sides.

"Everyone we need to run" A large man shouted, he quickly stifled his shout as tears fell down his face, his cries were lost to the vortex of the tower. The men he yelled at continued to create bricks around him their souls so deeply lost and fallen into the shadow. He knew he had to save himself, he had only brief moments of consciousness where he was able to think like a human and not a shadow of the tower. He rummaged for his belongings looking over the men who continued to mold bricks and proceeded to leave a sad sight, such men he was once close to he could remember them talking

'This tower will bring us all so much closer.'

'It will be the binding for humanity, a beacon to save us all.'

He truly believed it all with them, but by the time they had finished constructing the 6000th layer of bricks, a truth they could not deny became apparent, a large shadow had been cast over there land but not from just on direction but from all. This was their sign this was something evil.

The man collected his brief belongings, he already knew where his wife and children were, mixed into the bricks used to create the tower. Such is the truth for those who could not continue working, an illness they claim to spontaneously have caught after becoming unfit. Deplorable this made the man sick, his hands got cold he felt his piled up emotions flood out of his eyes, tears rolling from the months of touching this deplorable brick. He had no choice he knew he had no choice.

*Sob*

*Sob*

*Sob*

His crying stopped quickly he had an idea to attempt, but his anger never quenched he needed this 5 minutes of sobriety from the control of the tower. He hadnt known the reason behind the sudden freedom, but he was able to achieve this from time to time something he hadnt noticed almost anyone achieve. During his flashes in the light he called them, he devised a plan, not something that may necessarily destroy the tower, but it would put a thorn in it.

He gripped his pickaxe and his chisel and trudged into the tower, passing hundreds of thousands of workers. He was also able to see the wretched furnaces, these furnaces were where they heated the bricks, and burnt those loved ones many had cherished.

He cursed as he passed one of the furnaces, it was a brief flash of light, one of the few he hated seeing but could never regret it happening. Watching them place his family all into one, one at a time seeing them all sober up as they were being pushed in, the sheer look of horror on their faces. A deep blood curdling pain rose from him, but he was only able to stay sober enough to see his daughters, he wasn't able to see his wife being pushed into the furncace, not that it would have been better.

He climbed the steps of the tower, the flights felt almost designed to make it difficult to climb, with large steps and a tight spiral you were forced to look at the stones Infront of you. The

dark muddy black pattern every brick carried made it seem all the more putrid as you climbed. Once he eventually climbed to a reasonable floor, a floor roughly 20 sets of stairs up he made sure there were no workers.

*Mumble*

*Mumble*

There moans and groans were far enough away he knew they wouldn't sprint into action, as they did when anyone messed with the tower. Poor helpless fools, one such group he belonged to not just an hour ago. As he stared out of the window, made from a very thick glass the world outside it cast an even larger shadow of despair over him, he could see the city this had once been, a metropolis of buildings, libraries larger then mankind had ever believed possible all because they had got together to work on it. After they finished the town surrounding it they began the main course, their eventual demise the all imposing tower.

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He thought back to his quaint village life, until they had all heard the voice.

"I am your god, the almighty savior, greatest of the greats, the last being you shall ever bow to and the first true king of this land."

Many had believed themselves to have gone insane when they had heard it until the confined in their neighbours about it and word spread that everyone had heard it.

After enough time had elapsed that people had all started to talk about, a second message was delivered to them.

"As the God of gods, as the greatest being, and as the one that has always been solidify your faith in me and be granted a seat in my halls" His void boomed many had began to become skeptical, with many believing the local faiths.

His voice continued, "Create for me the finest of cities, with people from all over the world, you shall all speak a common tongue, and complete this city with a tower that touches my domain." The voice had stopped talking, and a strange sense of unease had passed many of them with all of them suddenly feeling like they needed to head for a specific country. Cadobra a land many had believed to be some of the most fertile land but, rarely had anyone lived their due to its cursed properties. From its undrinkable water, to its dense clay it was though uninhabitable, along with the rumors of its terrifying curse.

After that, the last few years had been a beutfil haze to him, they had arrived in this land, once thought barren but had been as giving as the trees he grew up with. The water was pristine the clay perfect for packing and making homes, wildlife seemed to have been settled their for years unlike the rumors.

The creation of the town had been tiresome work but worth it, as they could see their goal finishing in front of their eyes, men and women from as far as they could get, including some he was surprised to see due to their skin tone, an extremely pale one he was not used to. But as usual the memory was soured but the disgusting eye sore he was standing inside of, he could even see the building he had helped construct and hoped to call home.

He grabbed his pickaxe and began to swing.... He continued to swinging swinging until he felt it was safe for him to stop and grabbed his chisel. One know with the chisel and hammer then a second, and so on. Until he finally was able to push one brick out of the wall. Then he repeated and repeated. Swing, swing, chisel, chisel, swing, swing, chisel chisel, he was surprised to have stay sober this long, he knew he had even more hours for some reason until he fell again into the shadows. He took this opportunity, to make sure the hole he dug could be big enough, he had to make sure he was a true thorn in this tower, even if it would get plugged up again.

After a few hours more of swinging, he was satisfied, especially as his mind began to grow weary, this was the towers deceitful way of gaining dominance in your mind, a simple tactic it implored on the millions that had been sleeping in this town.

As he put down his, tools he reached in his pocked to grab a small brick, a piece that would be used to fill in broken gaps. A piece he remembered taking, the piece that his wife had been fashioned from. He hadn't recalled how, but he stumbled into a brief moment of clarity, when he saw it and simply knew it was hers.

He took the brick and held it close to his body and stepped to the edge of the tower, this cursed tower would have one less brick to fill in the holes and one less god damned brick layer to lay those bricks.

As the thoughts crept into his mind he he could feel the sticky tendrils grasp onto parts of his thoughts, every little anxiety he had, any piece it felt it could use against, just the smallest crack to slide into. Telling him to become one again with the tower. Join the world in its darkness, such destructive thoughts had almost regained control but then...

He stepped off the edge of the tower and died holding the brick that was his wife. A slight guilt as he watched saw his fellow workers only continue there deep descent into the towers cruel and unrelenting grasp. But a feeling of freedom joined him as he felt weightless in the fall, this towers sick grasp was no more, but he had wished he could have see the dream it had promised.

Such events had happed a few times in the tower, many individuals with strong minds, could grasp brief moments of clarity, with many being even stronger after anchoring to specific objects. During these flashes of light, some had chosen to run and hide but the tower always regained control, its shadow spreading further then the light. Those who had not ran had decided vandalizing the accursed tower was there only method of retribution, so the tower was filled with holes as it continued to rise into the sky. Such holes littered the monstrous faces of the tower, almost appearing like the windows without the same uniformity, along with the emotion each hole held. The tower rose but leaked power from these holes something it desperately needed to continue.

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