“7 left,” Alex muttered under his breath. They were so close.

“It is a shame,” said a man next to him. “I was hoping I would be able to enter right away. Of course, it wasn’t that easy. At least it has jumped up rather quickly. I suspect it has something to do with the announcements by the police. Still, it is rather exciting.”

“How fast has it been going up?” asked Alex. “A video from an hour ago showed a man at a tower and he said he was at 77 out of 100.”

“Pretty fast now that the police have mobilized. It went up by 20 in the past hour though I expect it will take another hour or so until we can enter the tower. I have been checking my phone regularly, but I don’t think any group has opened their tower beacon yet. Though I could be mistaken. Several groups are insistent on being the first to enter the tower.”

“That's interesting. They are trying for a world’s first like in games,” said Alex, nodding his head. “I wonder what's causing these towers to appear all of a sudden. It's not like they could have just shown up out of nowhere. There has to be a reason for this.”

The man shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe it's some kind of experiment gone wrong. Or maybe it's some kind of alien tech that's spreading. Either way, we have to deal with it now. And following the rules of the tower is our best bet for survival.”

Alex nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I hear you. I just hope that we can get inside soon. I don't like being out in the open with a few more of the wolves roaming around.”

The man chuckled. “Don't worry, my friend. We'll get inside soon enough. And when we do, we'll gain access to it. Well, I don’t know. Something good I guess. Until then, we just have to be patient.”

Alex smiled, feeling a sense of camaraderie with the man. “Thanks for the encouragement. It's good to know that we're all in this together. I am Alex.”

The man nodded, looking out at the tower again. “Yes, we are. I’m Rich. And we'll come out of it together, too. Just wait and see.”

Rich’s phone buzzed repeatedly, and he pulled up a social media post.

“Oh shit. Someone’s entered already.”

The people around them pulled out their phones and scrolled to see the new post that had just come out. The sound was jumbled as the same video played side by side slightly out of sync, but Alex got the idea.

He watched on Rich’s phone and understood the video even without good sound.

The clip was from a live-streaming platform, and someone had put a camera a little ways away from the base. Suddenly out of nowhere, a blast of energy was released from the tower pushing back everyone from it. People tumbled back and were pushed aside by the magical energy. And then the portal appeared. The stone melted away into an archway that could be entered from all four sides.

With its appearance, the watchers stayed still as the portal opened up and stayed in place. Nothing stepped through. Things stayed like that for a few minutes and then everyone rushed forward to be the first to enter. They all pushed past each other, and a few people were trampled. In only a minute the majority were gone with only a few people staying back and watching. The video ended there.

“It has hit 94!” said someone from the other side of the tower.

Rich and Alex went to check it and so did many others. Sure, enough the number had jumped up by one.

“We should probably back up.” Caleb realized. People had crowded around them.

“That is probably a good idea.”

Alex sat down on one of the benches around the park and waited. He tapped his foot and fidgeted with his hands as he anxiously waited for the end of the countdown. The minutes passed by and people in the crowd shouted about the number going up. He checked his phone and saw messages about people entering the tower. More had gone in, but none had stepped out yet. Given that it had only been a few minutes since someone entered it wasn’t a cause for concern yet.

To pass the time he sent out a text message to Caleb and confirmed where he was and that he had succeeded in slaying the wolves. It took a minute for Caleb to confirm that he was at work and was from his tone passively interested in the tower, but in no way was he going to enter on the first day or at least until people’s reports came in from what was inside. He was not interested in being one of the forerunners of humanity to enter the tower.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Alex had been waiting for almost 30 minutes when calls for the 95th monster were made. He clenched his fist and wanted to get up but just did not yet. He checked his phone and saw that more people from around the world had entered the tower not returning yet. There were now groups from almost every large country that had entered the tower.

A few people had tried to blockade the entry. Some of them had been more successful than others. Now that a few hours had passed since the tower’s entry into Earth all of the tower beacons had been mapped and known by all. Each of the towers was around population centers or close to one. This seemed to give the more populous countries an advantage. Though how those advantages were presented no one knew quite yet. Even those that had been barred entry to the towers still could find a way to nearby towers elsewhere.

Asia alone held more than half of the towers at a bit over 590 towers split between India, China, and Japan. The next largest is held by the African continent with 175 tower beacons or so. The number of towers only went down from there with Europe holding 100, and North America holding 76. The rest of the towers were scattered throughout the rest of the world.

Now that people had entered the towers speculations and theories had redoubled. A few people claimed to have entered and come back out but no video or pictures accompanied the claims.

Different organizations put out reports and suggestions for how to act. Some were more active than others. One tower, in particular, stood out to Alex. He watched a video of a tower beacon found in the Indonesian islands. The area had been evacuated and then mortar bombs had been dropped and bombarded the pillar. The tower looked unaffected by the explosions. Others had tried digging around and under it to no effect either. Whatever people did, the towers seemed like they were here to stay.

“What are you doing now?” asked Rich who walked over toward Alex.

“Currently I am looking at where the nearest towers are. It seems like the answer is two hours away. The rest has pretty much been the same. Just waiting.”

“Yeah, I think I saw those posts. I wanted to discuss something with you though. I have been talking to a few others about this as well. We are under the general assumption that once we are in the tower we should be able to see each other. Or at least we hope that is the case. If it is true then it would be best to group up together to fight the wolves and whatever else is in there together. So, what do you think?”

Alex listened to Rich's proposal and nodded in agreement. "That's a great idea, Rich. I think we should definitely try to stick together if we can. It will increase our chances of survival. It will also be better in the beginning to stick together because I am unsure what kind of unsavory people might appear and I would like to avoid them until I am capable of defending myself. I also suspect that with the rewards I have already seen so far people will start fighting over those resources soon after entering."

Rich nodded in agreement. "Yes, that's a good point. It's better to have a group to rely on in case we run into any hostile individuals. And you're right, with the rewards I have seen already, there's bound to be competition for resources."

He paused for a moment before continuing, "But we also need to be cautious. We don't know what we'll face inside the tower, and we don't want to become overconfident just because we're in a group. We need to have a plan and stick to it and be ready to adapt if things don't go as expected. I’m glad you will be joining me when we enter. I don’t know what I would do if I was to enter on my own. I never asked you. Why are you entering the tower?"

“Part of me wants power. I mean who doesn’t want to use magic? And when I saw the ending message about killing the monsters for better resources I knew I wanted that. With the introduction of the ‘Tower Era’ or whatever people decide to name it I want to be at the forefront. The tower changes everything now that we have to fight for survival. I mean it was all but confirmed that alien life exists in the world today and they have contacted us through this thing,” Alex waved toward the tower. “I want to take this chance today and become something great.”

“That was a decent speech man,” Rich chuckled. “I just hate my job. Can you imagine the rewards? I saw a friend drink a healing potion. It healed his bones in about a minute. Can you imagine the price we could sell those if we can find more in the tower and sell it out here? Pretty soon tower climbing could become a real profession.”

“I do hope that is the case. There are still a few too many unknowns right now. I can only imagine what the first group of people in the tower are experiencing right now.”

“96! We’ve got 97!” shouted someone in the crowd.

Alex turned to look at the tower. Rich did the same. The looks of nervousness and anticipation were palpable.

“That is taking a bit longer than I expected,” said Alex.

“We aren’t in one of the bigger cities, so the police and other groups probably won’t have been mobilized as fast. I also would have thought that with the city being a bit smaller than the tower would have been opened sooner. Regardless someone will find the last of them and they will be killed. If the rush of wolves was any indication of what is to come then we will be fighting and attacking things for most of our time in the tower.”

“99!” someone shouted. The air was electric at this point. The crowd was constantly moving and shifting. No one person could stand still anymore as the countdown neared its end.

The crowded spaced apart someone but a few insisted on staying right next to the tower as it opened. Alex stayed back but got up from his seat on the bench. The scene played out just like he had seen on the videos online. Some unknown force pushed everyone back and then the doorway opened. The crowd had grown since Alex had entered the park. People pushed each other and force their way through until they could enter and vanish.

“Ready to go?” asked Rich. He held his makeshift weapon and a bag of various supplies.

“Yeah, I am ready.” Alex took a few steadying breaths as he walked forward and joined the crowd. It took only a minute or two and then Alex entered the tower.