Do you have a dream?
Do you have a goal that you would stake the reminder of your life to achieve?
Do you have a hunger for achievements and power?
These were the taglines that showed up most often in the press. When that tower appeared in the human world, it brought humanity a frontier that they could actually break through, instead of slowly and steadily building up our technology and reaching for the stars.
At first people were mighty apprehensive and even then there were madmen willing to do anything just to get in. A chance to rebuild one's life an another world. A chance to redeem oneself after falling and failing to get back up for ages. There were as many reasons as there were people in the world.
Obviously, the testimonies of those who entered without authorization were not taken into account when planning the first expeditions. Still. Humanity was optimistic in their assumption that they will at least get a stake into that land, but of the first expedition sent by the Americans, none returned alive.
It was the same for the Russians and the Dutch. The only expeditions that actually brought back someone alive were all in Asia. Japan and China to be precise. Still, without some kind of proof of what they described, there was no way for humanity form a plan that would get them even a small base of operations within the tower.
Because every single nation in the world contributed to the expeditions, the name Tower of Babel caught on. It was as if humanity who had been admonished by god gathered once again to create a structure that would reach him. People were poetic like that when it came to the Tower of Babel.
It didn't take long for humanity to discover that it wasn't just chance and madness that the testimonies of those who got out were all extreme opposites of each other. It was simply because each time you would enter the tower, the entire world would change.
It took a good two hundred years for humanity to even break through to the floors above and that was when it was discovered that the key to ascend is completely random. Sometimes they had to kill a certain monster, or there was a condition they had to fulfill first before gaining the right to ascend.
That first generation became legendary and stories of their adventures created a sort of business around creating expeditions. It no longer became something that the United Governing Council had to sponsor. Ways to extract as much money on earth were bound to dry out at some point, so many, many organizations and even rich families organised expeditions, of course going through the UGC.
In that two hundred years, the miasma of the tower, it's juice continued to spill into Earth. It was a boundless and limitless energy called prana. It was only eighty years ago that children began to be born with prana gathering capabilities, in the form of an organ situated right next to the heart called a prana orb.
It was the form of progressive evolution that humanity always lusted after.
On that day, september twenty-eight another expedition was to take place. This time one of the largest history had ever seen. Three thousand people were to go inside the tower and of course, it was just a one way ticket.
The heir of the Runcard family, Reinhardt was to lead a squad made up of his siblings and the most powerful warriors the Runcard had. At least that was what Reinhardt thought.
"You never told me about this! Why would you do such a thing?!" Reinhardt shouted, smashing his clenched fist into his father's desk.
"I've been trying to get you to understand, but it seems like I'm still not getting through to you... I am not hiring another to join your squad just because of my opinion on your combat capabilities. You are strong. One of the strongest in your generation and you have the brains to back up that strength... which is baffling me as to why you don't understand this. That man is a different kind of beast." Maelet Runcard said, his tone as steady as his olden voice.
"What do you want me to understand, Father?! You are making a comparison between us already.
Reinhardt took a couple steps back, gently falling onto the one of the couches situated inside Maelet's study.
"I'm sorry." Reinhardt said as he let his body loose into the couch. "It's just... not what I imagined. That's all."
"What you imagined?" Maelet inquired, one brow raised up. Even though the man's golden eyes now became nothing more than gray pearls, his gaze was as focused as piercing as ever.
"Don't worry about it. I understand. There must be a reason you thought it was worth to bring that outsider in... I'm not doubting your decision, but..."
"Stop right there." Maelet said, holding his hand forward. "It's partly my fault that I didn't tell you from the very beginning... I'm sorry, son."
In that split second, Reinhardt felt a tug in his heart.
"Alright then. I'll go grab Reina and the others and we're heading to the warp gate."
Reinhardt said as he got up, devoid of the passion he so ardently showcased before.
All of a sudden a chair fell over, the sharp sound bringing Reinhardt out of his thoughts.
"Just one second!" Maelet shouted as he tightly gripped Reinhardt's arm.
For the longest second, the two stared into each other's eyes. One's once shiny and full of live eyes and the young eyes of a hopeful youth had met for what Reinhardt assumed to be his father's last message to him.
"Go make your mark." Maelet said with a devilish grin strangely fit for his old age.
Reinhardt was incredibly close to shedding a tear in that moment.
"Of course!" Reinhardt shouted with a happier rather than excited smile.
Reinhardt closed the door behind him, taking a big breath in before finally noticing the presence next to him.
"F-Fuck! What the hell are you doing here Reina?!" Reinhardt said as he had flinched with his entire body, taking a defensive position.
"Go make your mark, huh?" Her voice betrayed the elegant beauty she held. It was the voice of a young maiden, even though she was well into her twenties.
"Yeah..." Reinhardt said in a whisper, smiling. "Putting aside the issue of an outsider joining us, I'm glad we could patch things up before I left!"
"You mean father did." Reina said with a mocking tone.
Her golden eyes shined as thin rays of sunlight hit her face, illuminating her brilliant red hair.
"Let's get moving!" Reinhardt shouted in a desperate attempt to talk about literally anything else.
❖═══════⛰ Heir of the Heights ⛰═══════❖
The venue was the same as last time Reinhardt saw it, only this time... it was his turn to brave Babel!
"Where is that guy?!" Reinhardt's foot shook relentlessly as he waited seated at a table right outside the venue.
"Right. He is supposed to have long hair tied up in a tail at the back. Eyes as blue as sapphires. Dressed in normal attire." Reina said as she read off the itinerary paper.
"If that's all we have to go off our logistics department really needs a shake-up!" Reinhardt said, pouting almost.
"You shouldn't pin the blame on those people, you know?" A soft yet suave voice resounded from behind the group.
What greeted them was a tall man in his twenties. His body looked like he was into body building. His head was silky smooth with a hint of blue at the tips of his hair, accompanied by black hair all the way up to the scalp.
"Oh ho!" Reina said.
"So this is the Enkidu father so insistently brought to this expedition?"
"I'm right here, you know?" Enkidu said with a smile on his face, lightly amused by Reinhardt.
Reinhardt clicked his tongue.
"Okay. I'm sorry. I'm just in a bad mood... It wasn't my intention to go off on you like that." Reinhardt said as he meekly extended his hand for handshake.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Enkidu." He said in a very polite, business-like tone.
"He's pretty!" One of the two scamps Runcard sent along with the rest of the squad, Luna, shouted.
"Hey, you shouldn't say these kinds of things to other people's faces." Luca, the second of the two scamps said as he hit his sister on the head gently.
"Well... that's Luca and Luna. They may look small, but they are... well, I guess you'll see. All I'm saying is you are safe putting your life in their hands, along with ours."
"Hmm... well isn't that reassuring..." Enkidu said with an awkward, manufactured laugh. "It's nice to meet you two!" Enkidu said as he lowered himself to their height.
The two burst into laughter as they jumped into Enkidu's arms as if he was some uncle they hadn't seen in a long time.
"Runcard! Your time slot has arrived!" A stout, loud voice came from inside the garish venue.
The five wasted no time heading inside, picking up the lower circle warriors the Runcard sent along with the five super-stars.
It wasn't long before the squad of nine people entered through the gate. Their visions went all white for what seemed like the longest minute of their lives. What they saw was even more curious than the process of which they entered the tower.
They found themselves in a dense forest, teeming with all kinds of life, from serpents to insects.
"This is like the amazon." Reinhardt said, pressing forward fearlessly.
Enkidu's eyes widened and in a single rapid stride he grabbed a hold of Reinhardt's shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. "Enkid--"
A large creature the size of a crocodile dashed out of the streaming river on their left. It had razor sharp teeth that didn't seem to be made of just enamel, dentin and cementum. It almost looked like they were made out of pure titanium.
Reinhardt's heart nearly beat out of his chest before he turned to face Enkidu, clearly rattled. "How could you tell?"
Enkidu brought Reinhardt close to his chest, completely avoiding the downward slash of a tall, slim but powerful creature.
It looked like it was made out of porcelain, but it was clear at a glance that it could ward off against any normal attacks and return them twice harder.
"I'm assuming command!" Enkidu shouted as he gently pushed Reinhardt towards the group behind him.
Through his insanely acute prana sense, he saved the positions of every living being in the vicinity in his mind.
Enkidu's pupils shifted from that regular black dot you see everyone to slitted eyes and an iris so roughly pigmented, it almost looked like the eye of a dragon.
Four orbs of prana materialized around the tall creature.
From them burst a current of wind so sharp it could cut any one of the people behind him in two as easily as slicing into butter. The wind took the shape of chains tightly wrapping themselves around the oblong body of the creature.
It was strange though... how could the creature even move like that if his limbs were no more than sharp pointy ends with a lot of volume at the base? In the middle of what should have been it's face was a crimson orb, floating and emanating a sinister energy.
Aura sloshed off the creature like mud, corrupting and destroying everything alive in a short radius around it. It began to move erratically, dashing rapidly left. It was almost too fast for even Enkidu to follow with his eyes!
The chains of wind chased relentlessly even after the large body of the creature turned into nothing more than a speedy blur. Five more orbs of prana appeared from which chains spewed forth, joining the chase. It looked like Enkidu was playing Snake in the air but at some point, the creature had to stop to recoup it's energy.
Using the last of it's strength, it dashed furiously towards Enkidu, it's right arm outstretched at the back. Because he couldn't follow it's movements with his eyes, all he had to base his hope on was the incredible prana sense he had.
Right before the blade-like appendage of the creature cleaved Enkidu, it got stopped in it's tracks by twenty five chains of blue wind. But that couldn't have been wind... wind is not visible after all.
The creature's body shook in place as it attempted to swing down. Enkidu added fire into the mix, turning the chains into burning chains, completely holding it in place.
Enkidu gave the creature a long, analytical look before lightning passed through the flaming chains of wind, all of it flowing inside the colossus he had just captured. The more it resisted the more lightning Enkidu generated, creating a storm of blue lightning around the creature, shooting off into the forest, strangely not setting anything on fire...
The electricity was the first to fade as cracks began to appear on the creature's chest. The chains dissipated not long after, the body of the creature crumbling like a broken vase. The glowing crimson orb was nothing more than a black coal, hitting the ground like a hollow rock.
"Well then... let's go find a spot to camp." Enkidu said as he turned to face his squadmates.
All of them but Reinhardt had their chins hit the ground in shock.
"Guys...?"