As a man who is in a white coat and seemingly in work attire you can tell he is a doctor by the badge on his chest. As he walks through the hall he finally reaches a room with the number 12 on it.
As he took a deep breath he knocked on the door. After knocking on the door, he heard a small frail voice call out to him.
"Come in"
Hearing the frail voice he quickly opened the door to walk into a small room. This small room looks like just a regular hospital room beside a large number of machines around the small boy in front of him.
After showing the small boy a smile he quickly says "How are you feeling?"
Hearing that question the small boy whose attention was originally focused on the tv turned to look at the doctor. This small boy was frail and skinny like he hasn't eaten in months and his height was a short 4'11.
"I'm feeling fine but it still hurts"
The doctor couldn't help but clench his fist looking at the boy. The boy had beautiful brown curly hair, but it seems to be falling out in places because of his frail body. What really made you shocked looking at the boy was his eyes. A kid who's supposed to be living a life filled with happiness has such empty eyes like he's waiting for death.
"Are you ready? It's going to start soon."
Hearing that the kid shivered like he was afraid but he calmed down and nodded.
"Yeah, I will be fine and make it through."
Hearing that the doctor tried to calm down his stress but his inner thoughts were still in turmoil.
The doctor soon sat down and talked with the boy for an hour before leaving.
"Goodbye Chang-min"
"Goodbye Doctor Simons"
As the doctor left the boy he looked up and saw a giant tower in the air that seems to be faded and illusionary but it is there.
'When the tower came down it brought down this damn disease.'
5 years ago a faded silhouette of a tower soon appeared in the sky. While this was something that only one part of the world would have seen, it seemed like all of the world could see the tower at all times. Alongside this faded silhouette as time passed the silhouette of the tower kept getting larger and it kept turning more into a solid than a faded silhouette. Seeing this brought fear into the world of what would happen when it fully came into the world. 2 years later the tower released a blinding light that covered the world before disappearing. The tower was still in a form of a faded silhouette but the light didn't bring change to the world or so they thought. The fear that was brought from the light appearing didn't subside but only brought more unanswered questions. After a week of going without answers on what the light did a disease started spreading. This disease was weird it was something that never appeared before. Why did the disease attack or how it entered the body was unknown? They only knew the disease attacked the younger side of children and every 2 years they will experience never-ending pain. This pain slowly increases as time passed and most children die as the disease attacks the young tender age of 4. Most kids don't live past their 6 birthday alone. and a small number of kids live past 8. No kid has passed the age of 10 and lived well except Chang-min who's turning 14 this year. The disease was shown to completely make the body of the person clean without a single impurity or dirt in the body. Every 2 years it completely reforms the body of the user and makes it stronger and better. To put it in a logical way easy to explain it would be said that if someone lived up to 20 with the disease they would be able to lift cars with their muscles alone without any form of exercise. But after they pass the age of 10 the pain is constant and the patient goes through a neverending hunger. After eating food the body will completely dissolve the impurities into it making the human be on the frail side because he has to eat hundreds of kilograms a day just to feel a form of satisfaction. This disease hasn't had a cure or any forms of clues on how to make a cure.
Thinking about the disease the doctor couldn't help but furrow his brows and feel bad for the small boy he saw.
"Damn it"
Chang-min was turning 14 soon and he felt fear. He knew he was going to die soon and it was inevitable but he still wanted to fight. The pain he was going through kept increasing and he didn't know how much longer he had to fight. He's lived most of his life in a hospital learning about how good the world was and how good people were. He believed those claims because everyone he has met showed him that they weren't lying. As Chang-min is thinking, he looks up to see a hero saving people while praising the civilians.
"A hero I want to survive this and become a hero who can save people!"
A childish dream but a dream that was recognized because of his sheltered life. Thinking of saving the good people in this world he felt happy.
His thoughts were soon interrupted as he felt a pain so bad he never felt worse.
As he let out a blood-curdling scream that shocked everyone in the hospital, doctors and nurses soon started running to his room.
He kept screaming and his body kept thrashing. The machines that were giving him the nutrients and supplements were destroyed in this thrashing.
He felt like his body was completely getting destroyed and being remade alongside his brain. It was like worms that were eating him and someone was building him back together. This pain kept increasing as the "worms" started to even eat his soul while rebuilding it.
As the doctors opened the door they were shocked by the sight.
On the bed, there was the boy who was once screaming was laying down. His eyes still open were completely black without a hint of emotion. Life was gone as his heart stopped beating.
Doctor Simons was first to get out of his stupor as he walked up to the bed with slow and heavy steps. His expression was completely dark as he knelt and cried. "I'm so sorry I failed you."
The other doctors and nurses soon left and started to get ready the paperwork and things necessary to handle the death of the patient. And they wanted to give this man some alone time.
Doctor Simons first saw Chang-min when he first turned 4 and was confirmed with the disease. At first, he noticed that Chang-min fought so hard to continue living but he never knew why. So one day he asked this question.
"Why do you fight so much to live?"
Even tho this question was something not needed to be asked to someone as young as him the answer he received back startled him. Without a hint of hesitation or even thought into it he simply said "Because once I survive through this disease I can become a hero who helps people with this disease."
After that Doctor Simons's impression of Chang-min was higher. Doctor Simons was Chang-mins personal doctor and his only parental figure that took care of them. Doctor Simons without a kid himself felt like Chang-min was his kid and did his best to figure a way to stop the disease from continuing inside Chang-mins's body. He knew that Chang-mins parents left him because of the disease so he thought that maybe curing it will let someone really take care of Chang-min. But his research all prevailed uselessly and he couldn't find any other solution to cure the disease.
As he cried and thought of his uselessness and failure to save Chang-min he said a few words before leaving.
"I'm sorry son"
Even tho Chang-min was dead his soul remained and was still getting reformed as his consciousness was fading he heard the last words of the doctor who took care of him his whole life.
"Don't worry father I won't die here!"
As he pushed through he didn't care how much pain he was going through he just kept pushing forward until he reached an area of complete darkness. The pain was so much he felt like hundreds of years has passed but only minutes have but he didn't care. He kept going repeatedly thinking of the memories of him and Doctor Simons.
As he pushed forward a light appeared but he was too lost in his thoughts to even see it. In his head, he kept repeating the lines "I'll live I have to become the hero I promised to become"
As he finally reached the end of the light he felt his footstep solid ground as his thoughts that were in turmoil soon calmed as he looked around. He was standing on a white floor that seemed to be like quartz but it seemed prettier like crystal alongside its smoothness and hardness it was an ore that he has never seen before.
After walking 2 steps he realizes something. As he looked down his eyes that were empty waiting for death finally had a hint of sparkle in them. Tears started to swell up in his eyes.
"I'm walking! I'm really walking!"
As he looked at his body he noticed that his frail body was gone with a body that was toned with muscles that seemingly came out of nowhere but seemed to have been trained for years. He felt taller and felt he reached the height of 5'6. His hair which was falling out was completely grown out while he had natural curly brown hair alongside beautiful hazel eyes. As he was looking around he finally felt a blinding light.
Looking up he quickly wiped the tears in his eyes as he looked towards the blinding light. As the light finally subsided after a few minutes a man appeared in front of him. This man can be considered a giant more than a man. He was standing at 10 meters tall wearing a white robe covering his face and body only the bottom part of his face showing. His body was covered in this radiance and light that seemed to shine brighter than any other light. But for some reason, it didn't seem to blind whoever looked at it.
The man seemed to say words that were inaudible words that I couldn't understand but at the same time could.
"You have been chosen"
After those words were said I felt my world shifting till I appeared in plains where the grass was everywhere you can see.
Soon a man who was shirtless appeared and started to walk to me.
He had a mask that covered his face but I could still see his deep dark brown hair that was long and into a ponytail. His muscles were toned and seemingly perfect as if he trained his whole life. He wore black pants that seemed to fit perfectly on him like it was made for combat and boots that dug into the ground with every step. His hair fluttered in the wind and a number of weapons appeared near him floating there seemingly waiting to be picked up.
"Pick your weapon"
The voice was soft and low but for some reason, it was loud and filled with indifference entering my ears. Noticing he was waiting I picked up a short sword that seemed to match my stature.
Noticing his pick the man nodded before the other weapons disappeared. The sword in my hand quickly flew to me before stabbing into the ground.
"You may wield your sword when I deem you ready to."
Hearing his words I felt confused. "Ready, how will I know when I'm ready?"
The man shook his head "I will tell you when you're ready"
"Besides the whole sword thing where am I? How did I get here? No better yet why am I here!?"
These questions kept plaguing his mind but he couldn't ask them until this man appeared.
"I guess they never told you anything"
The man sighed as he murmured "I have to explain this thing again"
The man shook his head as he snaps his finger and we teleported onto a hill with a giant tower in front of us. Instead of the tower being faded this large tower was completely solid.
As the man sat down he motioned for me to join him. I felt fear and I was nervous but I did what was told. 'If they can bring me here they can obviously take me out and kill me' Thinking this I shivered but quickly calmed down. 'I almost died every day I have to live this time to the fullest'
Before he could get deeper into his thoughts he was interrupted by the man as he started to speak.
"The tower is a being that has existed since the beginning of everything."
"When everything was nothing but an empty void an occurrence happened. "
"In that void, it started to evolve. Even tho it was a natural object something without consciousness it seemed to grow one. It kept expanding its growth further and further. It soon started to radiate a form of energy. That energy was the first matter to exist. As supereons passed universes became a thing. Time for this void was simple it went through being without consciousness long enough to forget about the word time. As these universes were made the void realized something. The universes needed rules. So he made them, as he made time, space, life, death, he made the world's rules and the things that shouldn't have existed. But there is a problem he's too strong. Like a beast, he realized that he was too strong and over time his powers started to deteriorate. That energy of he made was his powers. It wasn't some form of random matter. The tower realized that his consciousness would disappear as more time pass. So he did what he had to."
"Destroy the universes and get back his power?" This question plagued me why didn't it just destroy the universes to save their power.
Hearing his words the man was silent before continuing.
"No, he didn't want to destroy something he found so beautiful."
Hearing his words I was shocked but I didn't interrupt any further.
"He found the universes beautiful. So instead of destroying them, he watched them grow. At first, it was a small pebble but then it became larger and larger. Soon he started to implement his laws on the universes and completely integrate them. These laws were able to make life itself. As more time passed the conscious started to feel anxious. He watched the different races grow and he saw so much stuff that they invented. He felt his time approaching. So as someone who wanted to watch the lives one more time he made up a plan. A tower that will only have beings that will get only stronger by fighting in it. His powers were still immeasurable but he noticed there were billions of waste universes. He had only 365 universes with complete life without any defects. He destroyed those useless universes and started to use all the energy to make a tower even using his own energy. The energy quickly shaped into the building after building but he hated those designs. The tower had to be perfectly flawless even. As time passed the tower was finished but the consciousness was starting to fade out. He used too much energy he was going to die soon. As he put his remaining consciousness into the tower to be able to watch everything he made a single rule on his last day in the outside world."
Hearing that story I was shocked to my core. Knowing such an impacting thing happened on our world no better to say universe itself was mind boggling.
The man slowly sat up and left.
Seeing him walk away I get up and ask "Where are you going!"
As he turns his head to look at me he ignores me and starts to continue walking. His body starts turning blue and he starts to seemingly teleport.
"I'll be back soon catch up on your thoughts in the meantime"
After he left I sat down. As I start thinking of the recent events I really start to realize how insane everything really is. But noticing that overthinking it would give me no effort at all I quickly discard it.
'How do I survive'
That was a thought constantly in my head as I constantly tried to think of different possibilities. No matter how much I thought all my answers lead back to listening to what the man as to say.
As I ponder I start to lay down on my head and closeout those thoughts. I started to really feel free.
Growing up he was never able to walk nor go outside. But feeling the bright sun on his skin with a nice breeze he starts to feel good. Knowing he has a second shot at life he wanted to make sure this one counts.
While thinking he soon stopped 'Sun?' as he looks up he sees a bright sun glaring down at him.
Is this a different reality or something?
With the teleporting, I wouldn't be surprised if this was a form of pocket dimension. Seemingly running around he made multiple theories on how this came to be. But he couldn't figure out a logical conclusion. The story he heard was insane but he couldn't believe it at all.
As he looked at the sword that's jammed into the ground his fist start to clench till blood draws. It doesn't matter what's logical or not. You have to live this life free and complete your promise.
As he closes his eyes he doesn't know hellish training awaits him the time he ways up.