Chapter 1 — The Tower That Reached Heavens
The universe…
Such a vast, mysterious, and marvelous existence.
Scientists claim it was born from coincidence — a great explosion called the Big Bang — the beginning of everything. Yet deep down, no one truly knows. Not even them.
I was just one of the many unfortunate souls born on this fragile planet called Earth. There was nothing special about me. My life was plain, small, insignificant. My family was poor — the kind of poor that never leaves you, born from my father's careless mistakes.
But despite my miserable circumstances, I was always fascinated by the universe.
Even as a child, I'd lie on rooftops, staring at the stars until my eyes ached, imagining what it would be like to drift among them.
How was it all created? What came before everything began? Why do we even exist?
As I grew older, those questions only hurt more.
Because I realized — I would die without ever learning the answers. I'd never see the age of interplanetary travel. Never witness humanity touch the stars.
And that thought broke something inside me.
My heart raced whenever I imagined time travel, the multiverse, infinite realities branching out endlessly. Yet that same imagination left me hollow.
Because no matter what greatness humans achieve, we are still insignificant before the vastness of the cosmos.
Maybe that's why I've always wanted to matter.
To be remembered.
To be part of something greater than this fleeting life.
If someone offered me immortality, I'd accept it without hesitation — not for power, but for curiosity. I want to see, to know, to understand.
But sometimes I wonder… is there really a God?
A higher power that guides everything? A heaven, a hell, a purpose?
People say, "Have faith in God and all will be well."
But how can it be?
How can you trust a being that watches from above yet never interferes?
Faith feels like comfort built from fear — a story we tell ourselves so the darkness doesn't swallow us whole.
I used to read stories, mostly comics. In them, the protagonist would always rise above everything — becoming stronger than gods, stronger than fate itself. I envied them. I wanted to be like them.
Then… one day… the world changed.
Without warning, a Tower rose from the ground — not just here, but everywhere, across the globe.
An endless pillar of light and stone, stretching beyond the clouds.
Panic spread like wildfire. Governments collapsed. Religions fought for meaning. The world as we knew it shattered overnight.
As I stared at the colossal structure piercing the heavens, a strange thought crossed my mind — maybe… just maybe… this is my chance.
The Tower seemed straight out of the stories I loved.
But reality isn't a story.
Every month, random people were chosen to enter the Tower.
One hundred floors.
One hundred impossible trials.
Ninety percent never returned.
But those who did — the survivors — came back with power beyond imagination.
They could bend the world to their will.
A year passed since the Tower appeared. Humanity adapted faster than anyone expected. Cities recovered. New governments formed around the "Challengers."
And me?
I wasn't chosen.
"Maybe next year," I said to myself.
Maybe.
Five years later, I was still waiting.
The Challengers had become gods among men — and some, monsters.
Their powers brought chaos and fear. No one could stop them.
Still, I waited.
Maybe in ten years, I thought. Maybe then.
Ten years later, I gave up.
I got a simple government job — stable, dull, unremarkable. It paid the bills, nothing more.
Thirty years.
My hair turned gray. My back ached. My dreams were gone.
I never married. Never had children.
Who would want a poor, broken man like me?
Forty years since the Tower appeared.
I sat alone one night, staring at the stars, whispering into the darkness,
"I wanted to be a hero."
"I wanted to matter."
Maybe… in another life… I will.
The universe, after all, is mysterious.
Then fifty years passed.
The monsters — those from the Tower — began to appear in our world.
Cities fell. Nations vanished. Humanity was powerless.
And the so-called heroes — the Tower Challengers — did nothing.
Why?
Why won't they help us?
Why…