Chapter 13: The Tower

Several days passed in the city of Xarxes. In these past days, several people had gone missing, to unknown causes, but no one seemed to care, as murder and death was all too commonplace in this world, which in they lived. Of course, these small people that had gone missing, were all courtesy of my friend, Targhas, and some even from me. After all, we needed our food.

I didn’t spend these days doing much, except planning ahead; I needed a plan, for what was to come. My number one goal, was to revive my wife, Amelia. But there were many things that had to be accomplished for that, and I didn’t even dare to think of what prices had to be paid.

For now, however, I needed to find my brother. From what I was told, he should be strong; extremely strong. There simply wasn’t much I could do to find him, as I doubted that even the kings and Immortals would know much of him, if even anything. Therefore, there were only a few things I could do; read through old, forgotten records, describing battles of the most powerful beings, or just encounters with them.

Thus, I had asked Targhas for libraries in the city. However, being the normal person he was, he could only lead me to the normal, public libraries, which wouldn’t contain such secret information. However, I still had one informant that I could ask; the Afflicted Prince.

Luckily, I had means of contacting him, as he had giving me the communications device. And indeed, he did know of places, which normal people wouldn’t know of. It was still a bit weird for a bandit to know of them, no matter how strong he is, though. I suspected he might be from quite higher origins, which might be where his nickname came from.

Thus, I went out. I said my farewells to Targhas, and the two girls, and told them I might be gone for a few days, or weeks; however, I didn’t give them a clue to where I was going. This place was apparently a well-kept secret, and apparently, not even Saints and Mythical Saints were allowed in, without permission. Luckily for me, I possessed the same strength as that of a Legendary Saint, and would be given permission to enter freely.

The Prince had assured me of this, as they had methods to test the true strength of a person. It wasn’t too uncommon for someone to possess a special lineage, or something, giving them strength above their rank. It was still less than one in a trillion Saints, but there were a few.

Thus, I left the city. This place wasn’t in the city, but quite a distance away, and would take even me a few days to reach there. So, I travelled for three days, to the place which he told me about, until I finally reached there.

And man, if it wasn’t a sight. This ‘library’ consisted of a tower, but it wasn’t just any tower. It was so tall that I couldn’t even see the top! It pierced several dozen kilometres into the sky, and the top; at least as far as I could see, was covered in clouds.

At the bottom of the tower, there was a giant pantheon, acting as the entrance. Outside said pantheon, there was an entire army of guards, and even the weakest amongst them was a Saint!

Stricken by awe, I flew down to the entrance, to try and enter. However, before I could even take a step on the pantheon,

“Halt!” Someone shouted at me, and pointed a large, golden spear at me. This man was truly huge, towering at nine feet tall, but that wasn’t all; his skin was silver, deeply contrasting with his bright, golden spear.

“Only those of the Legendary Saint rank are allowed entry, without special permission, and supervision,” the silver guard said, without emotion; without even a change in expression.

“I am aware of this rule, however I possess the strength of a Legendary Saint, so I believe I should be permitted entry, no?” I shouted back at him, a bit loudly. The silver guard looked at me with a slightly surprised expression, as he lowered his spear, then took out a small, familiar item.

In his hand, was a hand sized orb, of a black and golden colour. These two colours seemed like mist, trapped inside the orb.

“Then put your hand on this orb, and we shall see,” the silver guard said. I complied, and put my flat hand on the orb, and let it test my strength. Suddenly, it started to glow brightly, and the black colour started to overtake the golden colour. Then, all of a sudden, the expression of the silver guard changed greatly, several times, before settling down.

“Alright, it seems everything is fine. You can go on in,” the silver guard said, as he stood to the side, to give me entry. I was a bit puzzled by his behaviour, but I paid it no mind, and went on ahead in. I could feel the eyes of the silver guard on my neck, but when I turned around, he was gone. The weirdest thing of all, was that he had no aura or energy. He didn’t feel like a living being.

Inside the gargantuan tower, I arrived in a huge hall. There was a lot of people here; both customers and guards. It surprised me how many people came here, and not a single one of them was below the Legendary Saint rank. But it had to be understood, this tower wasn’t just something that belonged to the Dominion of Valadriath. From what I knew, the tower was located in a neutral ground, between the borders of several countries. As for the rulers of the countries directly surrounding it, they were the Tower Guardians. Neither of them owned, nor ruled it, but they guarded it.

As for the one who had created the Tower, was unknown. It was age old, and had records of things from the beginning of time, or so it was rumoured. Some thought it was created by the Gods, at the same time that the world itself was created, others thought that it was created by and ancient assembly of Immortals, and others, thought it was created by Demi God.

However, no one knew for sure. Maybe not even the Guardians knew. However, it was still a complete treasure hoard. Be it history, ancient skills and techniques, or just old stories and myths, it was all here. However, there was a limit to what you would be allowed to see.

Just like the world itself, the Tower, too, was ruled by strength. Only with power, would you be allowed to transcend higher up the tower. As for me, with the strength of a first stage Legendary Saint, I would only be allowed on the first floor.

However, that was all I needed. Even the first floor held countless records of history, and was bountiful with secrets. Even on the first floor held unread records, and undiscovered secrets. That was just how bountiful it was. Every floor was extremely huge, much beyond what I had expected. Just to read everything on a single floor, would take me millions of years. But that was how the Tower functioned. Access to the Tower, wouldn’t instantly give you access to a nigh infinite amount of powerful skills and techniques. First, you would need to find them.

And the tower; it operated in mysterious ways. No same record would ever be found at the same place. They would shift around, and sometimes, they would even disappear. Other times, they simply floated in the air, or flew to a new location, at extreme speeds, even for an Immortal.

Thus, the Tower, was truly un-exploitable.

Thus, with my goal set in mind, and with a will so powerful it could shake the heavens, I turned around and left the Tower.

You see, the tower was far bigger than what I anticipated, and I would need a lot more time than expected, so first, I would go back to the city, to let them know that I would be gone for a while. I even wondered whether the two maids would still be alive by then.

Thus, I quickly journeyed back home, and in another three days, I was back.

“Targhas, there has been a change in plans. I will need a lot more time than expected, and I might be gone for a few years, or a few dozen years, or even a few centuries. I will be doing research into the Demi Gods, and trying if I can find any clues. I will leave it to you to tell the girls, and you can do with them as you like. After all, they’ll likely die of old age, before I get back,” I said quickly, not letting him get a single word in, until I was finished.

“A few centuries? Just where are you going, for you to need this long?” Targhas asked.

“Well, I’m going to a library, to be frank. Quite a place it is, I just got back from there. But you have to be a Legendary Saint to be allowed on just the first floor. Also, while I’m gone, you can continue your business, just don’t change your base of operations from here. Even though, I’ll still be able to find you, no matter where you go. Well then, I’ll be off now,” I said, then disappeared in a flash, before he could even ask a single question.

It wasn’t really that I didn’t want to talk with him, I was just anxious. I wanted to find that brother of mine as quickly as possible, and I wouldn’t let anything get in my way.

Thus, with an even quicker speed, I got back to the Tower, in only two and a half days. This time, no one stopped me from entering, for some reason. They probably had some method to know who has already been checked.

Inside the hall, I quickly got to the center of the hall. In the center, there was a large mechanism, reminiscent of a portal, just much, much larger, and far more complicated that anything I had ever seen. As soon as I entered the large circle, which was the portal, the scenery around me immediately changed, and I found myself in what looked like a very normal library, except for the fact that there were rows upon rows of bookshelves everywhere, and I couldn’t even see the end.

In the air, there were streaks of light, composed of various shades of black, white and brown, and occasionally the odd colour, like blue or red. These ought to be the books in transit, but seriously, they were extremely fast. So fast, that all I could see, were streaks of light. If it was a mortal, he wouldn’t even see them, and in fact, he would die as soon as he stepped foot in here.

I finally understood why only Legendary Saints could be allowed inside here. It wasn’t only the extremely heavy energy, which made it feel like a thousand mountains of titanium were on my back, but the winds from the speeding books were cutting my clothes, and even causing light wounds.

I immediately had to make an energy barrier around me, to stop the wind blades. This was quite the scary place, if I was to be frank. I didn’t want wait any longer, so I immediately stepped of the teleportation circle, and went for the bookshelf closest to me. It was truly a puzzle to navigate around all these books. You could only see the name of the books on the cover, and some even had completely blank covers. And to top it all off, there was no coordination, at all. One book could be about the history about an ancient country, while the book on its side, could be a collection of poems.

You just had to pick and choose, and hope you find something good.

And thus, I began my research. I grabbed book after book; read one, tossed the others, choosing only the ones that seemed like they could be of some help. I didn’t stop for a single second, and I checked every single book, on every single bookshelf I came upon. And oh, there were many, many bookshelves. I spent year after years, and before I knew it, I had spent almost fifty years, reading. I had already read thousands, if not millions of books, yet I hadn’t found a single book or record, worth me a damn.

My mind could already be considered a treasure hoard, when it came to information, yet I didn’t know a single thing about Demi Gods, except what Father had told me. Thankfully, even though I was only a Legendary Saint, in terms of strength, my mind processed information much faster, and I was able read at very quick speeds.

But even though I didn’t find anything worth all my efforts, I still continued. Another fifty years passed, and another, and another, and before I knew it, I had spent four hundred years inside this library. And you guessed, I had still found nothing worth my efforts.

However, after all these years, I finally saw something, which was able to interest me, after spending countless years, looking at the same bland bookshelves and books, without any variety. Something happened, which I never thought I’d ever see. One of the transiting books, slowed down to a halt, then simply floated in the air, a good fifty meters up in the air.

The even immediately interested me, and I jumped up to grab it. Yet, I only managed to jump about ten meters. It was because of the heaviness of the place. All these energies made the unable to use my full strength, and I could only jump barely ten meters into the air. Flying was simply an impossibility.

However, even though I couldn’t reach it, I didn’t dare give up. So I tried, again and again, to reach the book. But, time after time, I still wasn’t able to jump even an inch closer.

Thus, I made up my mind, and set down, in a meditation position. I started training, praying to whatever I could think of that the book didn’t leave.

And let me tell you, training in here, was truly miraculous, if not extremely hard. The heavy energy made it hard concentrate, for one. But with my iron will, I tried my best to ignore it, and finally began training in the ‘Death Lord Art’, gifted to me by Father.

Thus, yet another one hundred years passed, totalling to five hundred years spent in the library, and miraculously enough, the book was still there, as if it was waiting for me. Waiting, for me to become worthy of taking it.

And, for the past one hundred years, I had trained without rest, until I could barely even feel the power of this place. And finally, I had truly broken through, to the Legendary Saint stage. However, this was truly different from any other stage, I had ever been in. For one, was I had rapidly progressed through the stages of an Mythical Saint, my true strength never went above that of an early stage Legendary Saint. This truly puzzled me.

However, now that I truly entered that mysterious stage, a true change happened in me. I felt a new power, sprouting up from the pits of my soul. A power that I could expand, out of my body, covering a large area, in the heavy aura of Death. I had awakened my Domain.

The Domain was truly a mystical power. As I expanded it, I could feel everything in its area; even control everything. I could alter gravity, or inhibit the movement of anything in it. However, inside this library, I was only able to expand it to a quarter of a meter around me. The energy of this Tower, was truly tyrannical. However, I was now able to move much more freely; almost as freely as I could before I entered, which showed just how powerful the energy was.

After all, I could feel that my power now reached that of a middle stage Legendary Saint, so I was still quite a bit away from full power. However, it was far more than enough, to jump fifty meters up into the air.

And thus, I jumped up into the air, fifty meters, and let my hand grasp at the brown, leather bound book. However, what I had expected to happen next was that I would grab the book, then fall back down, and read. Instead, however, what happened was that as soon I grabbed the book, and energy covered my body, and froze it in place, making unable to even let go.

And then, the book started flying, at speeds faster than even an Immortal, with me in tow.

End of chapter 13.