Entering the Tower

The Tower of Life was magical. It was true it was a terribly dangerous place that had a serious lack of information, but it was also true that the tower would heal you the first time you entered. Healed in this case could be considered 'good as new'. Anything wrong with you would be completely healed.

The Tower wouldn't heal you because it was generous, though. You were healed because there was a test before you could enter the main part of the Tower of Life's First Floor.

Information about the 'test' was sparse due to many people dying either during the test or before making it back to Earth. The tests that had been publicized were all different and there were multiple sections to the test. But one factor eventually popped up during every test, and that was a combat section.

As Kai slipped into the building, melding with the crowd, he saw many security officers standing before the portal, not allowing people to enter it. The amount of people in the lobby was at max capacity and everyone was being shoved further together like sardines.

"Let us in!"

"My company pays me to work in the Tower! Get out of the way of my money!"

"My family has already entered, I have to go in!"

"Move out of the way!"

People were yelling and frantic as they tried getting to the portal on the other side of the room, about 50 feet away. Half the room had already been barricaded off and guards stood in front of the only opening.

"Everyone please calm down! We will allow people to resume entering the Tower shortly!," One of the security officers shouted above the noise of the crowd with a megaphone, it seemed he was prepared to have to be loud.

As the man continued his shouting, the people near the back of the line finally heard him as people began calming down.

"Many of you must have heard about the law being signed today. That law was passed and so we must enforce it. However, we know that many of you have affairs you need to straighten out before access becomes limited, so today will be the last day for the portal to be open to the public!"

Many people began shouting again as the man finished his speech. People no longer seemed to be wanting to get to the portal, but to get to the guy who brought them this news. They wanted to beat him to a pulp for what he'd said.

"Please, everyone remain calm. You can yell at me all you want, but I am just a lowly officer. I have no sway, no any say in these matters. Please be kind to me, I am just the messenger." The officer pleaded to the raving crowd.

The crowd calmed as they were issued access to the portal following the announcement. People were let through one at a time and while Kai was waiting he couldn't help but complain, 'Can we just hurry the hell up?! I'm gonna bleed out at this rate!'

His left side felt like slop. The makeshift bandages he'd applied were giving his side support, but he could only take shallow breaths. He was less worried about the pain than he was the uncomfortable feeling he felt in his side, it was a pressure he didn't like.

'Thank the Tower Goddess herself for letting it finally be my turn,'

As Kai was let past the check point, he keenly checked out the portal. The portal itself was a shimmering landscape of colors, it looked like the surface of a soap bubble and was wavering like the top of a lake. It was surrounded by a beautifully clean marble archway that lightly reflected the rainbow luminescence of the portal.

Kai hurried through the portal and felt a slight resistance before popping through the surface. It felt like a rubber band snapping after being pulled taught. As he stumbled forward, he felt like his body was being tossed around the spin cycle of a washing machine.

He slowly felt normal and eventually straightened up; Seeing he was in a tunnel he frowned.

"The Tower of Life is healing my ass! I just tumbled through the galaxy itself and my side is still on fire," Kai groaned as he felt the grinding and sharp pain return.

"The Tower of Life is able to heal, yes," a soft feminine voice sounded from further in the tunnel.

Kai immediately squinted his eyes into the gloom ahead. He was shocked to hear a reply and began to walk forward.

"Hello? You got any healing or anything?" Kai didn't really care who the voice belonged to at this point, he just wanted some healing or to be killed, the discomfort of earlier had become a gnawing pain in his side from his broken ribs.

Many people knew you would speak with the Goddess once you entered the Tower of Life. She was the one who conducted the tests to enter and was the reason every test was different. No one knew if she was just some advanced alien AI or magic, or maybe an actual Goddess, but they all knew you saw her only in the test to enter the First Floor.

Kai on the other hand was just a basic street urchin. He didn't usually keep up with any type of news as he was usually hunting for scraps or scheming for some money to get food. Even if he knew she was the Goddess, he'd just try to scheme up something to get some goodies from her.

The tunnel was pretty gloomy, only the entrance was lit by the portal from what he could see so far. He'd walked about 30 feet and the light from the portal was waning as he searched for any sign of movement ahead.

'How's she gonna reply to me and then go silent...' Kai thought as he trudged on. He was annoyed and wanted to get some help already.

"O great Tower of Life, bless me with your gracious healing that's world renowned, shine your light on me! I beg of you!" Kai wasn't below pretending to beg for something that would benefit him. He had made it over 200 feet into the tunnel and could still feel walls on both sides in the dark, so he knew it hadn't opened into a room yet.

As he began grumbling to himself he smacked his head on something directly ahead of him. "Ow!" he cried out.

He reached his hands forward and felt some type of wooden surface, he searched around it for any type of knob or lever to open it.

The door had a basic door knob and he tried opening the door. The knob turned easily and opened right up. He was almost blinded by the light that appeared behind the door, shining directly into his unprepared eyes.

"Ow! Again! Why don't you guys put some of this light down that hallway?! It's pitch black out there and now you're trying to blind me? I would think management would be better when it came to this whole Tower business, this is awful!" Kai burst into a tirade as his furiously rubbed his eyes, gritting his teeth from bending over to try and get more cover from the light.

A giggle sounded and he looked back ahead. The room wasn't as bright as he had first assumed, it was just the contrast from the pitch black to this.

An outline of a woman floated in the air before him; He couldn't take his eyes off of her, trying to figure out what in the world he was seeing. She wasn't a human, that much was sure.

The woman? He didn't even know if it was a woman, but he was going with that because of the long flowing light he assumed was her? Her hair. It flowed as if there was a breeze in the room.

The being's body glowed with a soft cyan blue light. There wasn't really a body, the body itself was actually the light or substance that generated the light, but it didn't seem solid. There was no face and the head seemed to morph into different shapes every so often, as if imitating alien shapes.

The rest of the room was empty besides a table with a chair on either side.

'I knew there was gonna be some kind of test coming in here, but I didn't know it'd be a written one...' Kai sighed as he saw the table and assumed there'd be some type of written test he had to take. He wasn't the best at writing since he hadn't been to school in years and he dreaded even the thought of a written test.

Kai was depressed at this point. He just wanted to get some quick healing and a new life off the streets. He didn't know the test would be this way. He sank to his knees with his chin resting on his chest as the dread filled his body, no longer caring for his injury... He was ready for the end.

"Oh, please stand, no need for formalities like kneeling. Though I'm a Goddess, I like to be a little more informal to those venturing into my Tower," the Goddess said in a kind voice, tinged with friendliness and care.

"You're the Goddess? As in the Goddess of the Tower of Life kind of Goddess?" Kai raised his head and squinted his eyes at the Goddess as he tried to process this. 'I mean, I guess she could be a Goddess... I've never seen anyone glowing like that before, so she could say she's anyone and I'd have no way to contradict her.'

"I'm not kneeling out of respect, lady. I entered this tower for free healing. They spoke highly of the great healing here. I've entered and done nothing but flip flop around and walk for a bit, yet I've seen no healing. I finally WALK INTO A WALL at the end of your PITCH BLACK TUNNEL that had no instructions or information, and then I finally make it here," Kai was losing his composure, he didn't feel completely there right now.

His injury was making his head fuzzy and he just continued before the Goddess could reply, "I make it to you. And you know what I get as a reward? I see a table and chairs. It looks like a written exam... I just want it all to end, go ahead and smite me so I can avoid that torture."

The Goddess stayed silent for a long moment before bursting into laughter.

"You're the most interesting human I've met yet. Thank you for your performance. As a reward for passing the trial of fear, I shall grant you one boon. I shall heal your wound and allow you to skip the written portion. It was only filling out basic information to see how you perceived yourself, so I'll just ask you verbally instead."

The Goddess continued speaking in her kind voice that seemed to echo directly into your soul once you heard it. A soft cyan light enveloped Kai's side and a warm feeling suffused his body.

His pain was instantly replaced with a warmth of a nice fire. It slowly faded into a cool sensation and once that passed, the injury was completely erased. Kai felt his side and was relieved that he was healed.

"Thanks, that's just the kind of stuff I was looking for. Now what's this about questions?" Kai felt completely reinvigorated. He was no longer tired from his earlier fight and flight, so he thought he'd go ahead and finish up this test since there was no longer any writing involved.

The Goddess morphed into a human visage as she led him to sit at the table, she now looked like a flesh and blood human woman. It was the exact lady from the morning's broadcast!

"Hey, I saw you this morning on the news! Nice to meet ya," Kai exclaimed seeing the familiar face. 'Wow, who woulda that a Goddess would be up on the news sharing her own good word, haha!' Kai thought.

"Sorry, but I just took this form because it seemed to be the most familiar female that you knew," the Goddess explained.

"Oh, I just saw her on the TV, don't really know her, but anyways... Nice to meet you, Goddess. And thanks for the healing, again." This time Kai was being sincere since the Goddess was continuing to be so friendly.

"You've passed one trial already, the dark tunnel, as you put it. So now I must ask you a few questions to get an idea of how you view yourself. I do this with everyone who enters the Tower of Life and it is for my own benefit, nothing more."

Kai thought the Goddess was a pretty straight forward lady and he appreciated that. He listened intently and answered to the best of his knowledge. Wouldn't hurt to have a Goddess know who he was in case he might find some benefit from it later.

"What is your full name, how old are you, and why do you wish to enter my tower?"

"Well, my name's Kai. I don't really remember how old I am since I've been living on my own for so long, but I think I'm around 15 or 16 at this point. Sorry I can't be more exact. I wanted to enter the Tower of Life, first of all because I have nothing on Earth, and I think a life in here would be better no matter how ya slice it." Kai answered the best he could, he didn't see a reason to beat around the bush.

"My tower can provide you many boons if you are able to survive, but from your race, I have seen very few who are capable of adapting to new situations. Many of your race panic and allow fear to rule them, losing any chance of bettering themselves because they quickly lose their life." The Goddess news lady had a serious face and he kind tone now held a gravity to it that weighed on Kai.

"Should you enter this tower, you will face death daily and that is almost guaranteed. Not a single person in your entire race has even entered the Second Floor in an entire year. Many races would be trudging through the Fifth Floor by now. You are also one of the youngest to attempt to enter my tower and I have refused others as young as you. Why should you be allowed in?" The pressure the Goddess emitted was continuing to increase and Kai wanted to slouch his shoulders.

Kai continued to sit straight and stared the Goddess in her eyes, "If you've kicked others out I can't expect you to let me stay, but if you don't I'm dead. My injury was caused by some mad lad running around calling himself a boss king. He has some infatuation with me and wants me dead for whatever reason his sick mind has concocted." Kai began to explain his situation.

"I don't know if you understand the concept of family, being a Goddess and all. But, I don't. I've never had a family to look after me and I've always been on my own. I had a nice snack of rat jerky on my way over here and that'll have to hold me over until I can find another rat."

If the Goddess wanted to know why he wanted in, he was gonna tell her how it was. 'Fine, fine... You win, Goddess, let me go ahead and just spill it all for you,' he thought as he continued.

"I don't own a single thing in this world besides what I've got with me. I don't know why you're doing this whole tower thing and I don't truly care. I don't have a life out there, so if I can make one in this tower, then that's what I'm gonna do."

The Goddess seemed to be pondering what he was saying, but she was staring into his eyes intently, not saying a word. He believed she had to be reading his mind with a stare like that.

"And have you heard what you would receive, should you enter my tower and complete the trials of all 100 floors?" The Goddess asked after she finished contemplating something.

"A wish is what it sounds like, anything I want, is it?"

"Yes, a wish. And if you were granted anything you wanted, what would you wish for?" She asked with a curious tone.

Kai thought about it for a moment. He had quite literally nothing, so he wasn't missing anything in particular.

"Honestly, I don't know what I'd wish for. I heard there were other prizes and boons along the way, climbing up each floor. So I guess after clearing all 100 floors I'll take a look at everything I got, and wish for whatever I'm missing," Kai replied with a cheeky grin.

The Goddess continued staring intently into his eyes, searching his mind and trying to see what this kid was all about. She saw his oldest memories and his darkest deeds. She continued perusing Kai's mind like a movie she quite enjoyed.

Kai didn't know if it'd been a moment or an eternity since he'd replied to the Goddess, but he was staring back at her just as intently, trying to read every micro tick to get as much information as he could before heading through this tower. His shit eating grin stayed plastered on his face, unchanging.

"Definitely the most interesting human so far. Please, follow me to the next portion of the test," As her kind voice and a light smile appeared on the news lady face, she led Kai into a door that appeared from nowhere.