CHAPTER 4 : TRUTH AND LIES , PART 1

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The sound of the door opening could be heard from the living room, Laura spent the last few hours figuring out how to disclose the truth to Alex. She had long resolved herself to respect Alex's choices but always wished that he never show interest in Babylon so that she can protect him and the secrets around him.

"Mom you're finally back." Said Alex with a smile on his face.

"I guess it's feel good to be home ".Replied Laura with a complicated look on her face.

"It seems my job here is done, so I'll get going. "Kelvin grabbed his coat in a rush and started to head towards the door.

"No, you are as much involved in this as me, so you should fulfill your part ." Laura seized Kelvin from the back of his coat and then looked at Alex before opening her lips."There much that we haven't told you about yourself, things that Kelvin and I kept for you, so we should get conformable because we're going to have a long talk."

Alex looked confused for a moment, he always knew that he wasn't normal but the reaction from his mother just now, implicated this isn't about his power alone but something much bigger.

"That this has anything to do with how I obtained my power? or about who my father really was?

"Listen to me Alex, forget everything I told you before, right now I'm going to tell you what truly transpired 17 years ago ."

Laura was originally from Exilis, two months after her father received an invitation to Babylon and left, her mother discovered that she was pregnant. Fortunately, before leaving, Laura father used most of his savings to buy a building downtown, over the years her mother body grow weaker, so she had to deal with the tenants who refused to pay the rent, their lives weren't enjoyable but it was better than most citizens of Exilis. Even at death doors, Laura mother believed that her husband will come back for them one day and that Laura must never lose faith in him, even so, Laura never understood why her mother believed in that guy so much and decided to track him down if ever had the chance to enter Babylon.

A few years later, Laura got an invitation and showed great promise and leadership guiding her team through the floors, then she meets Kelvin and Lloyd on the 45 floor, after assisting them on the test, Lloyd decided to repay his debt to Laura by helping her find her father. After reaching the 60 floor they finally managed to locate him, but it was too late by the time they made their way to the 40 floor, Laura's father had already lost his mind.

Just like his daughter, Laura father had a gift for Sinlyeog manipulation, he didn't like leaving his wife behind but was certain that he could make it at least to 41 floor and gain access to Middrift, have a better life, and maybe kids afterward, so when he had reached the 40 floor but failed the trial over and over again until he runs out of points, he couldn't just go back to his wife empty-handed after all these years, so he did what shouldn't be done and took a loan from the scavenger guild, the scavenger guild was known to have the worst reputation among the guilds in Babylon, so when signing a loan contract with them you are practically putting your body as collateral, selling your organs, or even becoming a slave.

Laura's father, falling to pay his debts, was transported to the arena belonging to the scavenger guild where rankers had to fight for their lives, for others' entertainment. Over the years, Laura's father couldn't handle all the violence and his contractor's empty promises to free him and lost his sanity.

When Laura arrived at the arena, her father was already broken beyond repair, he was locked up inside a cage and shivering in the corner while protecting a silver necklace, a necklace that looked the same as the one her mother had, Laura then realized that her father didn't abandon her mother and decided to buy him and take care of him. A thought that didn't last long since he was constantly attacking her and running away while repeating his wife's name, Laura eventually had to put him out of his misery and decided to give up going any further in Babylon.

Lloyd was 6 feet tall, with black hair and brown eyes, and a fire attribute, he was a squad leader in an anti-paradise organization, an organization that existed since 800 years ago, its motivation is still a mystery until today, but it was public knowledge that they were hostile to the residents of Paradise and hunted rankers that were affiliated with the empire.

For unknown reasons, Lloyd deserted the organization and was hunted since then, even so, that didn't stop him from helping Laura find her father, at first he just thought to himself that he was repaying his debt, but he later realized his true feelings when Laura decided to stop climbing up. After coming clean about his identity, he then managed to convince both Laura and Kelvin to form a new team together and reach Paradise. Sadly, after reaching the 75 floor, they were ambushed by soul hunters, a special unit within the organization that specialized in eliminating traitors, spies, and renegades.

Alex listened to his mother's story, it was the first time she ever talks about her past or family, the only information he knew was that she meet his father Lloyd and Kelvin past the middle area and that she failed the 75 floor test after their team was wiped out, and then settled in Adlig after finding out about her pregnancy.

Alex was still confused because even though his mother kept some information from him, the story that he knew aligned with what she was telling, so he didn't understand the reason why his mother asked him to forget everything that she told him before.

"Wait, I don't understand. Are you saying that I will have a target on my back once I enter Babylon ?"

"No, you don't have to worry about that."Laura posed for a moment before opening her lips again. "Just save you questions until I finish telling you the whole story."

"Along the way, we had our fair share of encounters with the organization forces, we usually managed to slip past them until we reached the 75 floor. But we didn't stand a chance against the soul hunters, in a blink of an eye they managed to slaughter our team, Kelvin was gravely injured and Lloyd had to stay behind to stall them while we tried to escape. Fortunately, we managed to find a cave where we thought we could hide until the test duration is over ..."

Kelvin cut Laura's words and started speaking: "Except it wasn't really a cave, just after we went in, the entrance vanished and we had to go deeper to find an exit. But then something that shouldn't be possible happens, we were teleported outside the test area to a sky island on the 77 floor. Even the chairman of the administration bureau or Pandora doesn't have that much authority to extract someone from the test before it's done, let alone teleporting them to other floors, and you know what more crazy than all of this? Is the fact that this particular sky island can move between floors. I left a tracking device while we were there and the last time I checked on it, it was floating on the 90 floor. Do you understand now? that just how special you are ."

On the first 20 floors, climbers are assigned to different groups based on specific standards, all the groups take part in the same tests, but stay in different airships, each airship is a safe zone equipped with multiple facilities: like dormitories, training grounds, cafeterias, weapons shops, malls, etc.

All the groups are then reassembled on the 21 floors, even though airships that offer accommodation are still available, most rankers live in sky islands. A sky island is a piece of land rich with Schweruim, which allows it to float naturally, and unlike airships, sky islands can't travel from floor to floor but follow a certain orbit, sky islands vary by size only the large ones are made into cities.

Alex was confused for a moment before speaking: "Hold on a second, was that you teleporting to another floor have to do with me, you're not making any sense!"

"Just shut up, Kev. It's not the time for you to get all excited." Said Laura with a tired expression on her face.

"Listen to me carefully Alex, I was never pregnant, we were teleported to a temple on the sky island, and I found you there ."