Chapter 6

Towers Descend (II)

Emma was currently running amok in her kitchen trying to quickly put together Lana's breakfast. She cursed herself inwardly over having stayed up late last night to watch a bad soap opera and clocking her alarm twice into a wall before finally remembering to wake up.

Pieces of salad were stuck to her apron, and a burn mark on her right forearm was a good indicator of how sleepy she still was. Luckily, she still had roughly ten minutes before she had to wake up Lana, so it ought to be enough for her to fix the breakfast and get cleaned up in time.

Her sole companion in these early, ungodly hours was the TV noise coming over from the living room. At the very least, she thanked her lucky stars, she never fulfilled her dream of being the early-morning host on a TV program as that would have likely ended her life some time ago.

Just as she put the finishing touches on a magnificent breakfast -- a cooked egg with a few pieces of bacon and a hastily cut-up salad -- she felt a sudden tremble phase through the house, shaking her momentarily. An earthquake? She thought pensively, unable to recall when was the last time they had one.

Shaking it off, she shrugged and glanced at the clock, realizing there were still five minutes until the wake-up call. Stretching and yawning, she walked over to the living room and plastered herself against the floor, quickly doing two sets of thirty push-ups to try and shake herself awake. By the end, she broke out a few strands of sweat, though the drowsiness was still there, just slightly pushed back.

“Breaking news!!” a host cried out on the TV, causing her to roll her eyes. These days, she realized, everything was ‘breaking news’ -- just a few mornings ago, they announced that a pair of penguins in a nearby zoo had finally gone and done it. While Emma was certainly happy for the quirky pair, it hardly constituted ‘breaking news’. Even that was more ‘breaking’, however, than the time they announced a fifty-year anniversary of someone’s death as ‘breaking news’.

Still, her curiosity got the better of her as she figured she may as well have an early-morning laugh, glancing toward the TV and noticing the absolutely shocked, terrified, and flabbergasted expressions of the hosts. Usually, they have a hard time keeping themselves from laughing... she noted as one of the hosts, a decently-liked chap, Dion, spoke out.

"... we... we are getting reports of an incredible phenomenon, and tragedy that befell Los Angeles twenty minutes ago. "L.A.? Emma's ears perked up as she forgot about waking up Lana, slamming herself forward, and increasing the TV's volume. "The footage we are about to show you is of incredibly disturbing nature, so please be advised and remove your children from the room." Emma's anxiousness increased a hundredfold as she felt a bad feeling overwhelm her.

“...” on cue, the screen switched from the studio to a rather low-quality recording. Even still, despite it being low-quality, it was more than enough to depict what was happening.

The world quaked for an instance, and then the loudest sound of thunder Emma had ever heard boomed out into the world, shaking even the tallest of skyscrapers. As though that wasn't bad enough, space above L.A. was suddenly ripped open like a piece of cloth, a gash running on for tens of miles appearing in the skydome. The very next second, as the screams swelled out into the video, a massive behemoth of a construction struck through the gash and landed on the city within the blink of an eye.

The earthquake swelled as the shockwave ripped the city to shreds, eventually reaching whoever was recording the video and tossing them into the air, which was when the feed was cut.

As the TV cut back to the studio and the horrified faces of the hosts, Emma found herself doused in sweat, her eyes leery, lips trembling.

She scrambled like mad around the sofa looking for her phone, her mind filled only with a single thought: Is Cain safe?

She eventually found it lying on the kitchen counter, immediately opening it up and dialing Cain’s number. She mumbled prayers silently, closing her eyes and pressing her finger against her lip. Yet, a moment later... and her prayers fell on deaf ears.

“The number you are trying to reach is currently unavailable. Please try again later.”

“Come on, C’’,” she mumbled. “Pick up the phone...”

“The number you are trying to reach is currently unavailable. Please try again later.”

“C’, goddammit!” she cursed, her fingers beginning to shake. “Charge your fucking battery, come on!!”

“The number you are trying to reach is currently unavailable. Please try again later.”

“... no, no, no, no, goddammit, no!!” she screamed out angrily, dialing the number once again. The reply, however... did not change.

“... the number you are trying to reach is currently unavailable. Please try again later.”

“FUCK!!” she cursed out once again, nearly tossing the phone against the wall. She ran back into the living room, right in time to realize that L.A. was not the only city hit -- five other places across the world reported the exact same incident at the exact same time -- Kyoto in Japan, Rio in Brazil, Jaipur in India, Brisbane in Australia, and Frankfurt in Germany.

She, however, did not care about that, but rather what was going on in L.A. The most she got, however, was that the emergency response was well underway and that the government officials are also making this the highest priority.

"..." helpless, she turned to her phone once again and dialed... but the sound was the same. Silent.

She dropped the phone from her weakened hands, slumping forward on the sofa, tears gathering in her eyes. Not now... she thought, feeling desperate. Not when it just started getting better...

“Mom?” a melodic voice jolted her from her stupor as she reflexively reached for the remote and turned the TV off. “What’s wrong? Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“N-nothing, sweetie,” Emma replied, getting up while stealthily wiping her tears and smiling. “The--the school’s canceled today, so I figured I’d give you some extra sleepy time.”

“Eh? Canceled?” Lana looked at her happily.

“Yup!” Emma nodded, making a silent and firm decision on the spot. “Mommy’s got a lot of work to do over the next few days... would you mind staying with Aunt Jenny?”

“... work?” Lana’s expression dropped immediately, and Emma knew why. However, she couldn’t exactly tell the young girl she was flying to L.A. to see whether her dad’s still alive or buried beneath a mystical behemoth. “No...”

“...” Emma bit her lower lip, coming to her senses. He’s fine, she tried convincing herself. He’s gonna call any second now...

"... is... is it because of that tower in L.A.?" Lana suddenly asked, startling Emma. "Is dad okay?"

“... h-how do you know about that?” Emma asked.

"..." Lana rolled her tiny eyes at her, pointing at the phone in her hand, causing Emma to near facepalm herself.

“Right... of course...”

“... if... if you’re going, so am I...”

“No way,” Emma shook her head. “Don’t worry. I’m sure dad’s fine. He’s gonna call any second know and tell us both a bad joke. You know him...”

"... yeah." despite saying so, it was clear Emma managed to convince neither one of them. "At least... you should go..." Lana spoke out suddenly. "To save him."

“...” Emma smiled bitterly, wondering when she became the hero between the two. “You’re fine with staying with aunt Jenny?”

“Yeah,” Lana nodded. “But... call me.”

“I’ll call you all the time,” If I can even get a flight... just at the thought, Emma’s phone suddenly rang.

Both hers and Lana's expressions lit up like starlight as she rapidly reached toward the table and grabbed it. However, when she saw that it was an unknown number calling, the expression on her face flattened as she sighed and took a deep breath, managing her anger, and answering the call.

“... hello?”

“Hello,” a voice on the other end was unknown, a man’s. “Is this Emma Mathews?”

“... yes? Who is this?” Emma asked.

“This is Rick,” the man replied. “A friend of Cain’s...”

**

Cain was currently standing in front of a ghastly, yet eerily comfortable sight. After all, he was far more familiar and close to what was in front of him rather than the last three months he’d spent on the outside.

There were three bodies lying motionless, two who had stab wounds and one who appeared beaten to death. The blood had already pooled beneath the tree and the stench had begun to slowly permeate the site. Ah, it’s true, then, Cain sighed as he crouched next to the three bodies and slowly closed their eyes. Most thought it was a terrorist attack, so they went after everyone even remotely ‘non-American’...

Though, to be fair, Cain had no means of knowing what actually transpired inside the Tower when it first fell. All the reports coming from the inside were mixed, and the government did what government does -- lied through its ass and sealed up whatever evidence they managed to unearth.

These things, however terrible, would never stop happening -- if anything, once more and more people got their Classes, skirmishes between them that resulted in one or more deaths would become worryingly frequent.

Looking around, he noticed the ‘path’ in-between the tall trees and shrubbery that lead to a cliff and, in extension, a specific cave within that cliff. As far as he knew, the first case of someone discovering that cave happened two days into the Tower’s descent, but it could have all been a lie which made him more cautious as he approached.

The entrance was the same as he remembered it, barely five feet tall and one and a half feet wide, just barely enough for him to squeeze inside half a mile-long tunnel that led into the extremely spacious cave.

As he tossed himself out of the narrow tunnel, he took in the familiar sight. Every time he'd wanted to upgrade his Class, or undergo an Awakening, he'd have to come here -- anyone who wound up being an Elementalist had to come here. Eventually, the entrance to this place would widen, and dozens of shops would be set up as it would essentially become a district designed specifically to cater to the Elementalists' needs.

At the center of the cave was a wide platform made of ‘Subris Stone’ as the status window called it. It was circular, repeatedly patterned by strange runes all pointing toward the center, which was exactly where he stepped in without hesitation.

A familiar sensation swelled inside of him, like fresh strength surging through his vein, revitalizing him.

//Welcome, Cain Gregory

Please confirm your identity//

Cain quickly pressed ‘Yes’ on the virtual screen whereupon a bright pillar of light surrounded him and then proceeded to ‘beat’ the Class into his mind.

//Do you wish to become an Elementalist?

Please confirm your choice//

He clicked ‘Yes’ once again and waited for a few moments until he finally felt it -- Mana. At the very least, that was what people called it. It remained one of the things that could not be identified by the status screens, and thus people resorted to calling it Mana, Qi, Energy... -- any local equivalent of it.

//You have become an Elementalist

Unlocked: Mana, Tier 0 Skills

Unlocked: Access to the Stores of Denizens

Unlocked: Levels

Unlocked: Items//

Cain quickly read through the series of notifications just to confirm it was the same as the last time before dismissing them, taking in a deep breath and feeling Mana swelling within him. Cracking his neck, he brought up his Status Window to see the newly-improved numbers while slowly wondering whether it would be better to raise his levels for a bit before returning. Eh, I should quickly get to the 10th. It should take others around two months to catch up, which should afford me some time to prepare... looking around, he decided to head to the Ruined Castle, north of the Shrine, and home to what the screen identified as 'Lawless Bandits'.

///Name: Cain Gregory Age: 32 Race: Human

Class: Elementalist

Strength: 6 Vitality: 9 Agility: 8 Stamina: 10

Intelligence: 18 Wisdom: 14 Health: 90 Mana: 180

Traits: Labourer(C-), Quick-witted(B-), Tenacious(D), Leadership(C-)

Skills: Fire(D), Frost(D-), Arcane (D+), Earth (D-), Wind (D-), Blink(C-), Elemental Shield(D+)

Items: N/A

Titles: The First Elementalist

Achievements: 2///