Hello,

I am Kellan, this is my story. I will start at the beginning as that is where all great stories start, am I right. The fist thing you need to know about me is I am an orphan, I was left at the orphanage when I was 10 years old, and I don’t really remember anything before being at the orphanage. I wish I did because then maybe I would remember something about my parents. A little about me is I am now almost 16 summers old, but I am different than most of the people in my hometown of Zebrun. Where most naturals of Zebrun are brown hair with brown eyes and of average height. I have brown hair, crystal silver blue eyes, and stand a head taller than most men, even though I am not done growing. I am tall and lanky as my muscles have not filled in yet, since the orphanage cannot feed me as much as I need to grow fully. I say naturals of Zebrun because my city has a Tower, it is also a port city on the Endless Storm Sea and the great river Cutthroat runs through the city. The only city that is larger than Zebrun in the kingdom of Zirin is the capitol Zirin City.

I know my time at the orphanage is coming to a close and the Master Tam, has been asking me what I plan on doing, when I turn 16 and receive my 2 gold as that is when I must leave the orphanage. Master Tam knows that I want to go to the Tower but worries about me as I have no training to enter the Tower, and he is afraid that I will be one of the hundreds of poor who go into the tower and die. The thing about the Towers is that those that have been in the Tower don’t talk about it but also are different than those who choose not to go through the Towers. The ones who do the best in the Towers always seem to be the ones who were able to prepare to go in, or had a climber getting them ready even though the climbers can not talk about what happens in the Towers. As always it seems the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

I did not want to tell Master Tam, because I believe he would try and talk me out of it but I planned on going to the Tower as soon as my 2 gold showed up. I know he would try to talk me out of it because 2 gold was enough to get set set up with an apprenticeship for a normal trade in the poorer area of the city, but I wanted to be something more, I wanted to tempt fate and let the Towers decide my course. I knew I may end up getting killed in the Tower or getting killed. The only real thing we know about the Towers besides their rules is that the Towers adapted the floors to the climber, and that no matter what the Towers decided your fate was the higher you climbed in the Tower the better you would be at the fate assigned to you by the Towers. Which means if I can be fated to be a blacksmith and climb to and compete the 5th level, then I would be a better blacksmith, than someone who never entered the Tower or who only completed up to level 4. It also means that I could go back in for resources or continue climbing if I ever decided to, and I would start at the 6th level or could redo lower levels if I wanted. But I would have to get to level 10, if I ever wanted to be able to leave and return again.

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The week we believed I would turn 16 summers old, Master Tam started pushing harder for me to look for an apprenticeship, but I refused. On the 4th day of our 8 day week, woke up with 2 gold coin stuck to my chest. I knew then I was old enough to go to the Tower. I put on my clothes and packed everything I owned which is not much, into my extra shirt and went to see Master Tam and tell him I was leaving for the Tower. And that I would send money or resources back to him from the Tower if I could to help him with the orphanage since he had raised me.

Master Tam must have knew I was coming as he was sitting in his office at his desk. On his desk lay a package and a letter. But he sat behind the desk looking forlorn and resined to his fate. As I walked in he told me to sit down across from him. As I sat down he told me to let him tell me the story as best as he knew it of who I was before he gave me the letter and the package.

“The day that you were brought to the orphanage and left on our door step, you had this package with you and two letters with you. One was address to “Caretaker” the other was this one setting in front of me. The letter address to Caretaker I took as I was going to be your caretaker. It told me that you were the only child of a Tower Climber that had disappeared and that your mother had died from complications of a sickness. Your mother sent this package and letter to explain who your father was and the package was to help you on your way into manhood. That is all I can tell you Kellan, besides give you what now belongs to you on your first day of manhood. Please forgive me from hiding all this from you but I was trying to honor your mothers wishes.” Explained Master Tam as he got up and left his office, so that I may read my letter and open my package in privacy.