Tower Story -- Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Walking out the open doorway, a blast of sound hit Bax as he passed the threshold, as if there was something keeping the sound out of the room.  Momentarily stunned, he stopped moving as he tried to take in what his ears and eyes were experiencing.

The loud hum of voices nearly overwhelmed him as he looked around, seeing that he had emerged into an enormous square, stone hallway, which he estimated was nearly 500 feet wide and tall, with a plush carpet running its entire length – which extended nearly a half-mile in each direction.  Along the walls of the hallway were doorways, but they weren’t just set along the floor; like a hotel with an open vestibule, there were long balconies indicating multiple floors that were stacked up to the ceiling.  He didn’t even attempt to try counting them, but he suspected that there were at least 30 floors, each with hundreds or thousands of doors similar to the one he just passed through.

And out of those doorways came all manner of people, and all of them seemed to be wanting to talk at the same time to each other.  There were more devils walking along, which immediately put him on the defensive because more devils meant a higher likelihood that this was hell, but all of his suppositions were quickly scrambled when he saw what he could only assume were angels walking right next to them.  The ones he saw were anywhere between 6 and 7 feet tall and the males were built like what he would expect a strong superhero would look like in real life, except for the fact that they had long pure white hair that matched the white, feathery wings extending from their backs.  The females were impossibly beautiful, and while not sporting muscles that bulged out like the males, they were endowed well enough in other areas.  Both genders were wearing what seemed to be a minimum of clothing, as if to show off their bodies, and were also armed.

But not with guns.  Instead, what appeared to be swords were hanging off their hips, attached to their white, studded leather belts.

Tearing his gaze away from the angels, he quickly noted a number of other races of people – almost all of them familiar in one way or another.  There were tall, lithe men and women with multiple shades of blonde to brown hair with pointed ears, which could only be Elves of some sort.  Some of them were wearing robes of different colors, while others were wearing what he would consider to be Earth neutral tones in loose-fitting long shirts and pants.  They, like the angels, seemed to be armed, either with small daggers on their hips or were carrying unstrung bows or staves – he couldn’t tell the difference at a distance.

But that wasn’t all that there were.  Short, stocky Dwarves could be seen, their width making them appear almost square, as they were almost as wide as they were tall.  Even shorter individuals, though much thinner in size, had large, wide eyes on their faces, and if he had to assign a name to them, he would say they were Gnomes; they didn’t look anything like garden gnomes back on Earth, but he suspected they were more like a fantasy Gnome found in popular books and games.  He’d played some of those games but read even more books on the subject, so while he wasn’t an expert, he was at least knowledgeable enough to say that much.

Then there were the tall, green-skinned people that could give the devils a run for their money in their intimidation factor, especially with their pig-like noses and tusks sticking out of their mouths.  Unless he was told otherwise, he was already mentally naming them Orcs. 

The closest to Humans he saw were smaller, flying folk that all appeared to be the size of large children or very short adults, with dusky skin and large eyes, though they were smaller than the Gnomes.  Their wings, while difficult to see, were almost transparent like a dragonfly’s, and they were all wearing a variety of tight clothing that almost looked like bodysuits ranging in color from black to light green.

After that came people who strayed away from being humanoid.  Beastfolk came in a variety of different species, ranging from cats and lions to rabbits and foxes, and their dress was just as varied.  There were other individuals that were nearly 10 feet tall and looked like walking trees, complete with bark covering their body and long, thin branches for arms.  Their heads were crowned with sticks and leaves in a myriad of colors, acting almost like different-colored hair.  He wasn’t sure what to call them, but Treefolk sounded good enough for him.

Lastly, there were others that looked like some sort of small, hybrid dragon.  They were the most wild-looking individuals he saw, as they were covered in numerous shades of red and black scales, nearly walked on all-fours as they were hunched over as they moved, and had long, sinuous necks which supported heads that were more reptilian than anything else.  For all of that, they were wingless and relatively slow as they plodded along, though he figured that they might be able to move faster if they chose to.

The strangest part of the entire scene, at least to Bax, was that no one seemed scared or worried after ending up in hell – which made him suspect that this wasn’t the case.  Especially as most of them seemed eager and happy to be there – as far as he could tell, at least.  He wasn’t an expert on deciphering the emotions of other species, after all.

“What—?”

“All your questions will be answered soon,” the devil next to him interrupted.  Bax jumped in surprise, as he had somehow forgotten about the scary denizen from hell next to him.  Or wherever he was from, as his previous assumptions could be completely wrong based on what he was seeing.  “Come along; we don’t want to be late, and we have a bit of walk.”

The devil took off without waiting to see if he would follow, and he hurried to catch up.  Bax’s questions about his situation had only increased the longer he was there, and while the devil was scary-looking and had slapped him hard earlier, it seemed as though actually harming him hadn’t been intentional; because of that, he was hoping to get some answers sooner rather than later.

Bax wasn’t necessarily out of shape, but it still took some effort to keep up with the strides of the 8-foot tall guide; once he matched the pace, he took a risk and started asking questions.  “I’m Bax. Who are you and… what are you, if you don’t mind me asking?”  He thought that asking some relatively easy questions at first might work out better rather than diving straight into why he was there.

A grunt was his only answer at first, and while he waited to see if any more would come after that, he looked around at the groups of people all heading in the same direction that they were.  The first thing he noticed was that there were no other Humans there, but more than that, there were no others by themselves like he was.  Instead, it seemed as though each group had a variety of races included in them, so they weren’t segregated by race like he thought might be the case, and each group had exactly 12 people.  Each of these groups were led by what appeared to be an older or at least more mature-looking individual that reminded Bax of the devil who was guiding him somewhere – which he supposed was exactly who the others were: Guides.

“That is extremely rude to ask, but I suppose by your question that you don’t have any Veneshta in your world.  It’s been millions of years since a world was added to the Retrogression System that didn’t already have my people among their population, so I guess I can forgive your tact, or lack of it, as it were.”  The answer to Bax’s question seemed to come out of nowhere, startling him, but he also didn’t apologize as he waited for the devil—Vaneshta—to go on.  “As for who I am, I’m one of the Keeper Guides here as the Keeper Recruit Cooperative, which for simplicity’s sake, we call the Co-op.  You may call me Guide Azilla.”

There was a lot to unpack from what Guide Azilla told him.  “What is a Keeper?” he asked after a moment of digesting the information.

There was a brief look by the Guide that made him think he asked a stupid question, before Azilla grunted again. “I keep forgetting that your world wasn’t part of the System yet.  This is actually the first time that I’ve been the lead Guide for new arrivals, so I apologize if I’m a little short with you.”  Another pause preceded a very brief and incomplete explanation.  “A Keeper is one who protects and keeps safe the worlds that they are assigned.  And that’s enough for now; more information on Keepers will be imparted shortly – because we’re here.”

They had been moving so quickly that Bax hadn’t realized they had managed to arrive at their destination.  A set of massive doors at least 50 feet tall were open along the side of the hallway ahead, and he could see the other groups – who were moving faster than they were – already entering.  A glance around him showed that they weren’t the last to arrive, but if they had delayed another minute or so, they certainly would’ve been.

Walking inside, Bax was struck with the immense size of the auditorium that lay before him.  He was reminded of a massive sports stadium, as there were hundreds of rows all arranged around a central stage, and almost all of the seats had been filled with all the different races he’d seen arriving. The scale of the entire thing was overwhelming, and it was only when he was firmly pushed from behind by a large, hot hand that he realized he’d stopped.  “Sit here,” Guide Azilla ordered, pushing him toward an empty space on the stone bench near the top of the auditorium.  There was no arguing with him, as most of the other benches within range were already filled, so he quickly sat down with a bit a trepidation and anticipation; he still didn’t know what he was doing there, but he supposed that he was just about to find out.

“I’ll pick you up after this orientation, where we’ll be meeting with the leadership team.  For now, listen and learn.”  A second later, his Guide disappeared, moving so quickly that all he could see was a blur; from what he could tell, at least from this distance, Azilla had joined what appeared to be thousands of other Guides all stationed around the perimeter of the stage down below. 

Overwhelmed but feeling a little better now that he was sitting down and had a chance to think things over, he didn’t even notice right away when other people started sitting to his left and right.  Lost in his thoughts and simply watching the crowd settling down, a voice near him suddenly pierced the loud murmur that filled the auditorium. 

“Ooh, who are you?  You look like a short Elf, but why aren’t your ears all pointy?”

The perky voice caught his attention and he whipped his head around, wrenching his neck a little in the process.  His jaw also hurt slightly, as if it hadn’t been healed completely but was almost fully fixed, but it was easy enough to ignore as he stared at the statuesque beauty sitting next to him.  It was one of the female angels he’d seen earlier, and she smiled down at him with a mouth filled with gleaming white teeth, which he could now see were sharp and pointed like a predator.  That didn’t detract from the unearthly beauty of the rest of her face, though the more he stared at it, the more wrong it seemed; it was almost as if it was too perfect, framed by waves of pure white hair flowing over her shoulders and down her back – where they stopped just before getting mixed up with her wings. 

“Quit messing with him, Serra; can’t you see he’s not a short Elf?  More like a tall, pale Fae – but he’s missing his wings.” Another voice managed to tear his gaze away from the angel, and he looked to his other side – careful to keep from hurting his neck further – to see one of the smaller individuals with their transparent wings.  Now that he could see one of them closer, he could tell the woman was about 4 feet tall and had a double set of wings along her back, though they were positioned in a different place than the angel.  Her skin tone was like an exotic blend of pale mahogany and cherrywood, and her too large eyes were a little unnerving when they stared at him.

“Uh, I—” he started to say, almost completely tongue-tied at the proximity of these two people.  Somehow, despite the devil being scarier, Guide Azilla’s appearance had at least been a known quantity; these individuals – despite not giving off hellish vibes – were alien enough that it made him uncomfortable.  He pushed through that feeling, however, as he got ahold of himself.  Clearing his throat, he tried again.  “I’m not an Elf or a, uh, Fae; I’m Human.”

“Human?  I’ve never heard of you before,” the angel stated in confusion, before she gasped.  “Wait!  Does that mean you’re a new race?!  Ooh, this is exciting!” she exclaimed, bouncing up and down in a clear show of her excitement. 

Bax had to look away.

“Tell me, where are you fr—” the angel began to ask, but was cut off from a voice echoing around the auditorium.

“WELCOME, KEEPERS!” the voice practically yelled out in joy, and he looked down at the stage to see what appeared to be a male Elf standing in the middle, looking up at everyone with his hands raised.  There was a loud cheer that nearly deafened him as the crowd seemed to be as excited at the Elf down below.

When the crowd settled down after almost a minute, the Elf continued in a more measured tone, but it was still easily audible even up at the very top where Bax was sitting.  “As you no doubt know by now, you all were chosen to be the Keepers for the 979th Retrogression cycle!  For the next 4,444 years, you have the honor to protect your assigned worlds with your strength and wits, keeping the common people safe from the monsters that threaten to kill us all.  By facing the Tasks assigned to you and your teams, you will tackle the towers and dungeons that spawn throughout the various lands of your worlds, leading your residents in the defense of their way of life. 

“To do that, you have been brought to the Keeper Recruit Cooperative and the Keeper’s Tower, where you will learn everything that you need to know about the history of the Retrogression System, what it means to be a Keeper, and how best to apply your knowledge and strengths to best protect your worlds.  Some of it will likely be already known to you, as it is common information that is available to everyone, but there are things that you will learn here that are unknown within the greater universe.

“Furthermore, your training will only complete once you tackle and complete the Keeper’s Tower, where you will learn how to operate within your teams and apply your Classes appropriately – especially at a high Level.  Many of you who were chosen for this responsibility already have experience with being part of monster-hunting teams or have even lead them before, but you’ll find that there is so much more to learn before you graduate from the Co-op.”

Bax was reeling by that point, as he took in the information being fed to him.  Fight and defend against monsters?  What exactly does that mean?  Fortunately, it seemed as though the Elf that was speaking wasn’t done yet.

“While you toil away here, learning to become Keepers in truth, those you left back home have gone through the Retrogression cycle just as you have, as all of the energy within the known universe has been absorbed by the System.  That means, just like you, they have been reset back to Level 1 and almost all of the energy that had powered our societies have been drained and their components destroyed to fuel the process.  You may ask if this is necessary, and while there have been cycles in the past where our people have managed to keep and maintain an upper hand over the monster scourge threatening us, the majority of the cycles have ended up with us barely being able to hold them back by the end. 

“In short, if the Retrogression cycle does not occur, the monsters that threaten us will eventually succeed.  It may not be for centuries, but it will occur.  I’ve been informed that this latest cycle was particularly rough, with monster hordes emerging from abandoned towers in more than a few worlds, but thankfully the previous Keepers were able to prevent outright disaster from befalling their people. 

“This is what you are here for.  The best and brightest among you have been chosen to be the shining force that fights against the inevitable darkness, and us Guides are honored to be able to teach you all that you need to know to be that force of good.  Thankfully, as the Co-op and the Keeper’s Tower are located within an external dimension powered and maintained by the System for specifically this purpose, we have the means to let you reach a much higher Level than you normally would be able to on your worlds at this point in time, because as you know, as the energy gradually returns, the monsters will grow stronger as a result. 

“We don’t have the limitation of nearly ever monster being only Level 1 here, fortunately.  The Keeper’s Tower will be a test of your abilities, and by the time you finish your stint here, you will be more than equipped to handle any Tasks, Remnants, dungeons, or towers that appear upon your world during your time of service to your people.”  The Elf paused for a moment, before he shouted, “Now, are you READY TO GET STARTED?”

Another cheer answered him, and when it began to fade, the one in the middle of the stage raised his hands again for quiet.  “That’s what I like to hear!  Now, on to your Class schedules.”  At more than a couple of groans from the crowd, the Elf chuckled.  “I know, I know – but it is important that you all have a firm foundation in what a Keeper means before you even step a foot into the Tower.  This classroom-based training should only take a couple of months, but parts of it will be ongoing as you begin to tackle the tower.  To that effect, your Class schedules have been sent to you already, so look them over and get some rest tonight.  Tomorrow, your training begins!”

Bax had to cover his ears as everyone shouted even louder than before, as it was actually hurting them.  Even as the shouting continued, people all around him began to leave, including the two near him who had spoken with him; instead of going anywhere, he closed his eyes and considered what the Elf had said, and he found that there was a lot in there that hadn’t been touched upon – and he hoped it all would be further explained later. 

All of the activity and the excitement had apparently also aggravated his throat, because it was starting to itch again.  It was probably also due to him being extremely thirsty and the air being dry in this environment, but whatever it was, his throat was feeling worse than ever.  More than that, he started to feel like he was a little chilled, but it could also be because the stone under him was cold. 

Before he could stop himself, a coughing fit hit him and he let loose at least two dozen heavy coughs, straining his throat further; he was unable to cover his mouth too much because he was still trying to block his ears, which were ringing at this point from the volume level of the noise, but he did his best to point his face downward, hopefully reducing the chance that he coughed on someone. 

At some point later, and another coughing fit that thankfully seemed to satiate his body’s need to bring up a lung, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Let’s go.  It’s time to see the leadership team.”

Getting up, he followed Azilla out of the auditorium, feeling slightly better now that there weren’t so many people around yelling at the top of their lungs and having cleared his throat a few times.  Perhaps these people have some way to get rid of this bug; they seem to be able to heal a dislocated jaw with what appeared to be magic, so I’m sure it’ll be easy.

With even more anticipation of getting his questions answered, he caught up with Guide Azilla as they cut through numerous groups of various races, many of whom looked at him in confusion.  Thankfully, no one appeared to be looking at him with hostile intentions, but more of a curiosity.

They seem friendly enough, at least.

Now he just had to see if this “leadership team” was the same.