Tower of Babel

When I opened the envelope with the Golden Halo Church symbol on it, there was a letter inside. Fumiko eagerly looked at me, clearly wanting me to read it right away.

"Dear Mr. Brandon S. Oneal..." I began reading aloud, standing in the middle of the dining room.

"It is with great joy that we received the news that you have received your Blessing and wish to become a Climber. The information we have received is that your blessing is of the Summoner class and your rank is D. Knowing this, we wish to assign you to a small initiation team with other novice Climbers like yourself. As this will be the first time inside the Tower of Babel for most of you, it is extremely important that you are not alone."

"A more experienced Rank-C Climber will accompany you at the beginning of this new journey, and you will have a goal to accomplish. If you are unable to accomplish the goal or the veteran judges that some of you do not have the ability to continue in the profession of Climber, we will revoke your title and recommend you for other areas where your Blessings can be better utilized."

"Please, Mr. Oneal, report to the Tower of Babel in Lovikalen and look for Mr. Hawklight for further instructions before noon on July 22. If you have withdrawn your application, please disregard this message... With great pleasure, Priest John of the Cathedral of the Golden Halo in Lovikalen."

I raised my eyes from the rough paper and found my mother's tear-filled eyes.

"Son... you're going, aren't you?" Fumiko asked.

I dropped the paper on the dining room table and quickly hugged my mother. Holding her tightly to me, I replied:

"I have to go, Mom. Our financial situation won't improve if I keep working at the port, and things will only get worse when I go to college. Soon, Marceline will also graduate, and I want to be a good older brother to her and help her pay for her studies and a life in the capital. Lovikalen is slowly sinking into mud and smoke. It's not a good place for her to find a husband or start her adult life."

My mother's thin hands clutched the fabric of my shirt as she sobbed on my chest. I tried to use reason to comfort her, but I forgot that a mother's love cannot be measured by such a volatile yardstick.

"Besides, I'll be strong, Mom... I'll be strong to protect all of you and not let you worry too much about me." I promised, stroking her black hair with my right hand. 'And I'll also find whoever killed Nathan that day!'

Most of the time, I didn't feel like Brandon and I were the same person. Somehow, I felt like the real Brandon died the moment I took over this body. But in moments like this, when my motivations as a transmigrated person collided with Brandon's motivations, I felt like we were one.

As a transmigrated person, I would go to the Tower of Babel to have fun, get stronger, meet the characters I loved so much from Journey to the Beyond, and have the ability to change various things in history.

As Brandon, I would go to change my reality and that of my family in this world. I was two different people, with different memories, living the same story and life, and it didn't matter if I wasn't the original protagonist of this world, I would earn my place.

…

After a few minutes and a longer conversation about duties and responsibilities, my mother managed to calm down and finally come to terms with the idea that her son had become a Climber.

So I started getting ready to go to the meeting place mentioned in the letter. I would only be facing the second floor, but tens of thousands of people had already died on the first floor, so I couldn't underestimate this place.

I packed a backpack with two water canteens, protein bars, an old rope that my father no longer used, and a compass that belonged to Marceline. Bringing more than that might lead to weight problems during battles. For that reason, I also needed to make sure I wore comfortable clothes that would suit most adverse situations.

Unfortunately, my wardrobe didn't have a wide variety of clothes. At the time, formal clothing such as suits, jackets, tailcoats, and shirts were in fashion, so I had a hard time finding something that seemed ideal.

After rummaging through my wardrobe, I found a black T-shirt and a brown jacket that I wore on colder autumn days. Now I needed pants that would allow me to move around.

That's when Fumiko appeared at my bedroom door with the perfect pair of pants. They had several pockets, were loose-fitting, and seemed to be made of durable material.

When I put on the pants and the rest of the clothes, I looked in the mirror and liked what I saw.

"It looks perfect," I said to my mother when I told her she could take a look.

She smiled with her eyes and her mouth. "You look just like him."

Thus, my question about whose pants they were was answered. My brother was a police officer, and he probably wore those pants during his days at the Police Academy.

The pants were so well preserved that I hadn't even thought about it at first.

Once I was ready, I said goodbye to my mother and Marceline. As I descended the stairs, I heard a jingling noise and felt something rattling in the right pocket of my jacket.

I put my right hand in and felt something cold, but I took it out and saw that it was three silver coins. My mother had put them in my pocket while she was hugging me.

"Okay. I'll use one silver coin to go, another to come back, and... one will be for emergencies." I thought aloud and put the coins in the side pocket of my pants, as it had a zipper so I wouldn't lose them.

After taking the tram, it took about half an hour to reach the center of Lovikalen. The place was very busy, with several carriages and carts going up and down the streets.

The streets were much more crowded too, and the people in them were very well dressed. The men wore frock coats or overcoats with hats ranging from berets to top hats. The women wore long dresses that covered their legs, satin gloves down to their elbows, and had elegant hairstyles in their well-groomed hair. Everyone's clothes looked clean, contrasting with the dirt on the edges of the sidewalks.

An older man sat down next to me on the tram. He seemed in a hurry, because he kept looking at his pocket watch. A briefcase rested on his lap, which he held tightly whenever the tram turned sharply around a corner.

"Driver, you could go a little faster," the man next to me asked. "There are people in the back who are in a hurry."

The old driver looked at my seatmate, put a hand on the tip of his hat, and nodded in agreement. From then on, the tram began to go faster.

I wondered who this man was and why the tram driver complied with his request so easily.

The man wasn't an important character in the Journey to the Beyond, yet he didn't seem like an ordinary citizen either.

It wasn't long before we caught sight of the Tower of Babel through the tram windows.

It was truly colossal — taller than any skyscraper I'd ever seen.

The Tower of Babel stretched out until it was lost in the immensity of the gray sky, and the mere fact that something so large existed was reason enough for even atheists to believe in the existence of the divine at that time.

Impressively, the structure lacked windows and featured only minimal detailing. It was like a massive cylinder made of concrete-like material, yet completely indestructible.

In most cities, the Towers of Babel dominated the skyline, visible for miles around.

However, in large cities like Lovikalen, where four- and five-story buildings were common, most people barely noticed the tower's looming presence in the southern streets.

The tram made several stops throughout the city, gradually emptying out.

I watched, waiting to see when my seatmate would leave, because I was curious if he worked somewhere important or was late for a café meeting.

Without a phone to pass the time reading novels, observing him was my only distraction. However, he didn't leave at any of the stops along the route. Before I knew it, we were just a street away.

The tram driver stood up from his seat and pulled a small rope on the left. This dimmed the lights, and the tram began to slow down.

When the tram came to a complete stop, we were already under the looming shadow of the Tower of Babel.