January 01, 2125.

The day is bright. It was bright and clear.

The street bustled with activities as different people minded their businesses, doing what they knew how to do best.

The hawkers roamed around the streets, screaming at the top of their voices as they advertised their goods; shop owners tried their best to drag in passersby, hoping to turn them into customers, and various other activities which kept the streets moving, busy as usual.

A dark-haired boy was carrying a box of biscuits he was bringing out to drop on the showcasing step-like wooden carriers in front of their shop when his eyes suddenly looked up for no reason.

He saw something so tiny that it looked as though it was descending upon where they were. Finding it somewhat interesting, he rushed to drop the box of biscuits and ran to his mother, who was currently brushing off specks of dust from the carrier on the opposite side of the shop entrance.

"Mummy, look at that?" he attracted his mother’s attention, pointing to the sky above.

His mother initially wanted to ignore her son, almost mistaking his interest for normal child’s play, but looked up after being persuaded by her son.

"What is that?" she found herself asking her son, who shoved his hand in an ’I don’t know’ way with a mild pout on his face.

"It looks like those stories in our school English textbooks where comets streak across the sky. But, they normally travel in horizontal streamlines. Is something going to happen...?" He turned his gaze away from the sky to his mother and added, "...mummy?"

Honestly, none of them had the simplest explanation for what was currently descending from the sky above. And, just like this mother and son, other people now had their attentions drawn to the sky.

It didn’t take much time before their attentions were collectively drawn to the billboard at a corner, high and bold enough for everyone to see what was displayed.

It was through that billboard, and because of whatever developed mechanisms the government had, that they were able to see that that tiny thing that had been falling from the sky looked like a pagoda.

A female figure soon appeared on the screen and placed some files she held in her hands on a desk, although not visible to the onlookers.

"We are currently witnessing... uhm, we are about to witness a meteoric impact event and..."

BOOM!

The world’s brightness dimmed.

That tiny thing, in the form of a fracture of light from the sky, descended but not yet completely.

An explosive impact was heard across the world, and before the female reporter could complete her speech, every citizen watching the news live saw her body lean forward and then lose its balance completely before being dragged by an invisible force they couldn’t see.

Every onlooker looked up to the sky again, but they were no longer seeing that tiny thing that had been descending.

It had descended, and from what it seemed, it fell several miles, if not towns, away from where they currently were.

What these people would later find out is that it was this tiny thing that produced the force that dragged the female reporter.

And, what they would also come to find out...

A terrifying force began its pull without warning.

At first, it was weak like a strange wind pulling against the clothes of these people. But then, it grew stronger. Much stronger. Until people stumbled.

"Mummy!"

Screams shot across the whole place.

"Help. Don’t let go of my hand!"

"Grab them tightly. Do not loosen...!"

Wails of help and laments of hopelessness filled the air.

WAAA!

Fingers clawing uselessly in the air, accompanied by swinging of legs.

Bodies leaned forward. First, it was that of an old man, then a young lady, and one after another, their bodies were in uniformed position.

And like the female reporter on that billboard, they began to get pulled into something mystical. All of them, including their items, dragged and streaked and flew in the air as they all got pulled through the same direction.

This world of humans was called Elarion.

At the center of the Null Island, a coordinate where the equator and prime meridian meet, this tiny pagoda had descended.

The pagoda happened to possess a pulling force that distorted reality. Dragging the physical bodies of these human beings from far and near, as if it was sucking out their life essence from them.

The pull was fast. So fast.

It only took the remaining hours of the day for it to completely draw every human into itself. It was when these humans reached closer that they clearly saw what the culprit of the violent force is.

A pagoda, with golden rings of energy that revolved around its structure while ancient symbols illuminated the skies themselves. This structure seemed to be floating in the air, with just a slight opening creating a distance between it and the ocean.

It was a very tall building, more like a divine object forcefully inserted into reality. They recognized it instantly.

Apart from these mystical happenings around it, its structure looked no less than other developed buildings of their world.

They called it a tower in their minds.

However, before these witnesses could ponder more on what was currently happening, they all got dragged into this tower.

And that was when the tower completely sealed to the ground. Everything shut down.

***

May 21, 3126.

A brown-haired boy was flipping through the pages of an old archive, which bore the history of this world in which he was giving birth to.

It was called the Tower World.

This Tower World was not just given its name for the sake of naming but due to certain specifics.

A long time ago, about ten centuries or so, a mysterious tower pagoda had suddenly descended upon the humans of the world in the form of a fracture of light, like a mirror struck by a divine hammer.

Meanwhile, nothing seemed to happen until the seventh day after the humans had been sucked into this tower, when the first "miracles," or what some people at that time termed "curses," were recorded. Men and women began to see strange inscriptions hovering before their eyes.

Some gained strength beyond reason out of it. Some called flame into their hands. And some spoke words that bent the will of beasts.

Days went by, and they gradually accepted their new reality. And as intelligent as they were, they grasped the purpose of this tower into their very being.

These individuals later called themselves "players."

The ancestral players at the time had fought to the cut of their throats for freedom, but they never seemed to be able to find a way out of this trapping tower... or even locate its gates in any way. However, that was the time the age of climbs began.

All they were able to find out, at the cost of their lives, was that each floor on this tower possessed challenges that needed to be challenged and conquered.

A few years passed, and the "Players" were able to somehow conquer the first floor of the tower, which no less even looked like a world of its own. And on this first floor, they established a new and organized standard of living.

With this new standard of living also came the establishment of Climbing Guilds, an association of talented beings — players — who work together under a centralized rule to climb this tower and clear its floors.

Through records and statistics, these Climbing Guilds were able to hypothesize and later came to the conclusion that every living individual in this tower was gifted with the prospect of becoming "Players" once they turned sixteen years of age. The limit cap for this possibility was eighteen years.

So, it would be correct to say that every living human in this tower has at most three chances of facing the awakening process to become Players... and it has been so for every person who tried.

***

In another dimensional world called Earth.

A young man, with lean athletic body and well-defined features, was sleeping peacefully in his apartment.

Until... he heard a ticking sound.