It’s impossible to describe what seeing a structure like The Tower appear from literal nothingness is like. I’ve been surprised by things suddenly appearing before, I’m human after all, but this was different. The sudden imposing presence made me stumble backwards onto my ass before I’d truly registered what I was seeing. It was only after that that the paralysing fear hit and I couldn’t be sure if it was emanating from this tower or from within myself. It was made of the kind of black that suggested the endlessness of a cold eternity. It didn’t feel like a coincidence that it blocked out the sun; the shadow it was casting spreading an eerie chill across the now motionless city. Both teens and adults that had their phones in their hands were seemingly unable to use them, too transfixed by this monolith.
One beat, two beats, three, then four. After four seconds it happened, everyone’s eyes were suddenly drawn to something appearing before them, a blue screen hanging in the air just in front of each of their chests. Inside each of them were the words ‘Co-exist or Challenge?’ and underneath two separate boxes each with one of those two words. Seemed like a yes or no type deal, but which was yes and which was no? At first glance it seemed simple enough, co-exist was yes and challenge was no. So the right answer was to choose co-exist. I reached for it but something stopped me, the stupid idiot part of me that was never satisfied with just getting it right had to butt in and ask, what if no is the right answer? What if you had to choose challenge or you died? The idiot part of my idiot brain didn’t have a point, it didn’t comprehend anything about what was going on so how could it make a rational and reasonable argument? Unfortunately the emotional weight behind possibly dying for reasons unknown and the feeling of impending immediacy forced my hand that extra bit forward and to the right, pressing lightly on the challenge button. Even before reaching it regret was already coursing through my idiot brain and down my idiot body. From my humble perch down on the concrete footpath I was whisked away immediately, knowing that I’d made the biggest mistake in my life. Worse still, it was only eleven in the morning, so I had plenty more time to top it.
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I’m not a smart person. I know that, smart people know they’re smart, that’s what makes them smart. Dumb people don’t know they’re dumb and that’s what makes them dumb. I know I’m not dumb but I know I’m not smart. So I’m average. Being average is good I think. Looking at the extreme ends, the blissful ignorant and the burdened intellent, I’d rather be average. People don’t expect great things from an average person, and they especially don’t expect things from an average girl. I like the things average girls like and to some people that’s a sin; to enjoy Starbucks coffee and posting selfies I took with my friends. They don’t expect me to be anything other than what I am. There’s constraint to that, but also freedom. That’s why I’ll never give up being average, because we’re all shackled by something, this way I feel like I’m at least choosing what colour my cuffs are.
I don’t know what this white space is or why I just thought of all that. I don’t think like that so those can’t be my thoughts and yet...they are. I’ve never said any of that but I’ve felt it, deep down in my bones I’ve felt all of it at some point or another. I think that’s part of what makes me, me. Kinda sad honestly, but I can’t deny it.
“Denying it would only cause more trouble for you, that’s true,” boomed a resonant voice inside my head.
“OWWW TOO LOUD!”
“Sorry about that, haven’t actually used the telepathy function before,” the voice whispered.
“Little too low now.”
“Better?” said the voice at a reasonable volume
“Much.”
“Looking over your internality I’m thinking of giving you a more socially oriented skill. What do you think?”
“Look lady, I get that you’re this God or whatever but you have to start explaining at some point.”
“Well I’m not a God, I’m [REDACTED] but I see your point, sorry. Just give me a moment, I’m getting used to all this too.”
“Why did you make that garbled noise?”
“When I said [REDACTED]?”
“Yeah.”
“Just a function of The Tower I guess, Nerd probably put it in so I would be less casual.”
“okay.”
“Indeed, can I get your name? I’ve got it listed but I want to make sure, you know how it is with red tape.”
“I don’t but it’s Kayla. Kayla Thompson.”
“Sounds good, now obviously you’re confused about what’s going on-”
“Very.”
“But I have put together some introductory information. We have about 30 relative minutes before I need to orient the next person so if you could just skim the document and then ask me any questions we’ll get this done in no time.”
There was a weird nervous vibrancy to the voice as it spoke, I wasn’t quite sure why it was nervous. What did not-Gods have to be nervous about? Suddenly a pamphlet appeared in my hands. On the front the words, ‘The Tower and You’ were printed in a large tacky font. Underneath it read, ‘Helping you understand how to conquer your limits – what you need to know about skills, spells and swords(manship) as well as a short intro to The Tower’.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
“You want me to read this?”
“I can read it for you if you like, but that takes a little longer and you passed English so you should be fine. The Q&A session is the more important part so I’d rather jump to that as quickly as possible.”
“You’re the boss I guess, can I at least get a chair though?”
“Sure.” As I unfolded the accordion paper in my hand a sitting chair appeared behind me. I sat down and began to read.
The Tower is constructed of 100 floors. Its purpose is to push humanity to its limit so they might evolve and be ready to face the greater challenges coming their way. In this way The Tower is a mercy. All of humanity will be offered a choice, face The Tower, or be content to live in its imposing presence. As you are reading this pamphlet you have chosen to challenge The Tower. You likely made this choice not knowing the full ramifications of your actions, but do not despair. All of humanity has the power within themselves to conquer The Tower, not only that, but you will be granted special powers so as to better facilitate your ascent. These will take the form of special skills granted to you by The Administrator. It is each Administrators discretion as to the extent of the granted powers, but any powers granted by the Administrator and not earned through conquering The Tower will be rescinded upon clearing the final floor. Compatibility with general skills is hard to determine so it is advisable to grant each Ascendant a custom skill based on their disposition. Skills granted by the Administrator may carry with them other perks, such as the ability to cast magic, or an increased affinity for a particular weapon. These are common, but not given. To cast a spell you must first bring up your user interface, which you access by simply thinking of your user interface, and set a trigger word or phrase. Failure to do so beforehand will result in the spell not casting. Also take note of your mana capacity, current mana and the spell cost. A spell will not cast if your current mana is lower than the spell cost, but will drain your mana if a trigger word or phrase is used. It is important to note that mana deficiency may cause the user to black out. Also take note of your health and status. Health denotes how much more damage you can withstand before blacking out and possibly dying, and your status denotes any buffs or debuffs you are current affected by. As an Ascendant you have a responsibility to yourself and the others you find yourself in contact with. For any given floor you may be matched with other Ascendants due to a variety of factors including but not limited to: Difficulty, Disposition, Skills, and Rewards. It is important to note that you are not competing with other Ascendants to conquer The Tower. You are all on this journey together. Cooperation is of paramount importance if you want to survive in The Tower. If you have any questions your Administrator will answer them to the best of their ability, but they both cannot and will not answer some questions. Good luck Ascendant.
“What’s with this video game ass terminology?” I rubbed my temple as I tried to grasp any of what this piece of paper convey.
“It conveys the meaning most effectively.”
“The meaning being?”
“You are made up of your body and your mind, both very complex things. Finding a way to condense down that complexity and display it as simply as possible is difficult. Luckily video games have done a lot of the hard work already on that front.”
“So this is how you see me, as a red bar and a blue bar?”
“I see you as Kayla. The system sees you as skills, a red bar and a blue one.”
“That’s not all that reassuring,” I sighed, “It says you’re supposed to give me a special skill suited for me.”
“I am, I’m thinking about making it a socially oriented skill, but what do you think?”
“I don’t really get it but what about magic and shit?”
“If you really want a magic skill we can work one out for you, but I’m not sure you can handle the strain.”
“Strain?”
“Mana is a part of you, like your blood, you expend it and the spell casts but you lose that mana in the process. You replenish it naturally like blood, quicker too, but just like anaemia, there’s consequences to being low on mana.”
“So because of my anaemia you think I’m not going to be able to cast spells? How do you even know about that?”
“It’s unlikely, but not improbable. Bit of an oversight but you can’t actually test the ability before I give you the skill so the decision is yours. As to how I know, well I know pretty much everything there is to know about you because I’m an Administrator, that answer is going to have to suffice for now.”
“Fine fine, but what happened to compatibility talk in here?” I gestured with the pamphlet.
“Yeah well that’s just how it is. The compatibility part is my discretion, including you in the process isn’t usually part of the deal but I’m trying to be a little more hands-on, I think it’ll have better outcomes.”
“Like me not dying?”
“Exactly, that’s the goal after all.”
“So what do you mean by social skill?”
“Well you’re pretty well-liked already, sizeable friend circle, meaningful relationships. I’m thinking of a skill that augments that aspect and helps you fight without fighting. The ability to summon minions to fight for you or the ability to tag along with other Ascendants and buff them would both work I think, any thoughts?”
“What kind of things would I be summoning?”
“That’s more a personality thing, Nerd will take care of the finer details and adjust if you’re comfortable with that, got a favourite animal?”
“Penguins.”
“Not exactly a fighting type but we can work with that, maybe some sort of penguin military.”
“Wait there’s fighting right? I don’t want them getting hurt. Give me the other one.”
“Mmm, yeah that one will probably be better for your mental health. Nerd will grind out a V1 for you in no time, but due to the likely effects you’ll probably have to spend a bit more time in this waiting room. I’ll keep your situation in mind and get you a partner you can Ascend with, possibly even a team if you’re okay waiting for longer.”
“I guess I’m okay with that.”
“Cool, I’ll give you basic access to my library while you wait so you shouldn’t be too bored. Just think of a book, genre or author and you should be able to summon the right shelf. I’ll talk to you in a bit Kayla.”
“Uh yeah I guess I’ll see you then,” I said a bit awkwardly, “Actually I have one last question for you.”
“Shoot.”
“Why am I so calm right now, like I should be freaking out right?”
“The room you’re in sort of suppresses negative emotions, you can still feel them if you really try, but to help you come to terms with your decision its best to filter out all that.”
“So you’re like brainwashing me into thinking this whole thing is cool?”
“Well you’re welcome to think that, but it is in your best interest to accept your situation for what it is, if you don’t you’ll never be able to ascend The Tower. See you soon Kayla.”
I guess I’m alone in this white expanse with only this pamphlet and this chair. Which is what the situation had been for the past 30 minutes but now it was different because the voice of the Administrator wasn’t in my head. I don’t think. I felt like she’d probably moved on already. The space in front of me warped and where once was nothing now stood a bookcase. It was modest in size but the books themselves seemed to ripple, not quite willing to display what they were. Beside the bookcase was a comfy reading chair. I did as was told and tried to think of a book, but apparently I’ve never read a book before in my life since I couldn’t remember the name of a single one. I couldn’t even think of an author. Maybe I was more stressed than this weird filter could handle. For some reason my thoughts drifted towards penguins and the rippling books solidified, displaying the spines of various childrens books about penguins. It was better than nothing I guess so I picked out one that used photographic examples, losing myself as hard as I could in how utterly adorable they were. Future Kayla could worry about all that stupid shit, present Kayla had a feeling she wasn’t going to be able to see a penguin for a very long time.”