Kauss’ first ever memory was the moment he saw the elevator lifting someone up to the second floor. His grandmamma, Keyl Mellow, stood beside him with her hand on his tiny head. They stared as the elevator vanished into the next floor. A minute or two passed, and it came back down with no one on it. The first person in a hundred years to leave the first floor has made it to their destination.

Kauss looked up at the ceiling that covered them. At least Keyl said there was a ceiling, but with no actual light shining down, it looked just like a void. The deep blackness that Kauss stared up into would terrify him, as if a monster would break out from the top, scoop him, and eat away at his fragile body. A kid’s imagination was their own worst enemy.

He hugged Keyl’s side and hid his face in her thigh, hiding from the monsters looking down from the top of the floor. She did her best to comfort him, but he was too scared about the monster lurking above, and worried that they would soon devour the person who went up.

Kauss would replay that scene in his head any time he ever thought about climbing. The nightmares he had, the terror he felt, the bodies that could pile up. All those thoughts ran through his brain and he would immediately think of how stupid it would be to climb. There was a reason the people on floor one hadn’t climbed in a hundred years until that day. The tower was a dangerous place and no matter how many times someone said they would return, years would pass and a new generation would be born, forgetting the promise they made.

The city Kauss grew up in was large enough to house millions of people. However, only a couple thousand took shelter within the buildings and unending alleys. The first floor was a large city that spanned the entire floor. Buildings were in disrepair and air was still and limited. Plants littered people’s homes and roads. The plants were the only things criminals and gangs would refuse to mess with. Without the oxygen they produced, everyone would die and there would be nothing to steal from and no one to kill.

Crooks, robbers, and whores roamed the streets looking for places to rob, people to maim, and money to obtain. There was little order and government ruling over them, but the city agreed on a currency and a few other rules to live by. Order was nowhere in sight, so the only rules there were are natural taboos that have implanted themselves into the mind of civilians over countless generations. To break a taboo in a gang’s territory would mean to pick a fight with the gang itself. A person’s life, or at the very least fingers, was at the mercy of the gang that spotted the taboo being broken.

The city was split into four regions that four separate gangs had control over. Kauss lived in the northeast side of the city. The northeast was controlled by a gang called the Owerneckers, and led by a man named Killian Necker, the descendant of the founder, Ower Necker. They would constantly patrol the streets, looking for shops to eat and/or rob, and people to mess with. They had the largest territory, and due to certain circumstances, they became a somewhat governmental force ruling over the people within their territory. Despite that, however, they still acted like a normal gang would, with all the power of rulers lording over the peasants.

Kauss woke from his sleep at the sound of a gun being fired. He shot up and quickly grabbed a large pocket knife that sat on a dresser beside the bed. He quickly pointed it at his bedroom door, waiting to see if someone would break through. A woman screamed outside his home, death oozing out of her throat. No one broke through his door, and Kauss sighed in relief. Another day of living in this hell. He didn’t even think twice of the gunshot and silence thereafter since it wasn’t him at the end of the barrel.

Kauss entered the kitchen and grabbed an apple from the fridge. Sheathing his pocket knife, he went into the next room and began the standard daily routine he followed. The room he entered was a small rectangular closet. He flipped the switch that should’ve turned on the lights, but nothing came on. The lights had been turned off during the night.

Shrugging the inconvenience off, he grabbed a spare lighter out of the kitchen and lit candles around the house. The last room he lit was the closet, which he called the soul room. At least he did in his mind cause calling it that to his friends would get him mocked.

When the light filled the room, a sinking dread weighed him down as he looked over at the two pictures at the back of the room. One was of his Dad, who died when he was young. According to grandmamma, he was shot by a rival gang after a raid on one of their restaurants. The previous Owernecker leader did nothing in order to avenge his father’s death, since by doing so, it could’ve started a massive gang war. In order to keep things going as they had been, he threw Kauss’ father into the fire and went on about life.

The second picture was of his grandmamma. She had died from an unknown illness that none of the two highly experienced doctors could cure. It was seven years ago when she passed away. He was only ten years old and sick as well due to be around her. He wasn’t as bad off as grandmamma since he had a semblance of a working immune system. As he looked into her picture, he thought of the final words she had said.

“Kauss, come here.” Keyl whispered to him.

Young Kauss staggered over to her and sat on a stool that was beside the bed. Her breath was so ragged and weak that anytime she breathed, her breath would stutter and shake. She didn’t have long, and it was plainly obvious to any onlookers. He couldn’t believe that someone else would leave him all alone again.

“Grandmamma, what do you need?” Kauss asked, his voice tiny and weak from the illness.

She smiled at him with a toothless grin that filled Kauss with a tinybit of hope that maybe there was a chance of survival after all. Right after, however, his hope shattered into dust.

“I’m not going to be around much longer you know.”

Kauss felt the first prick of a tear come to his eyes. “Stop saying dumb things.”

Keyl laughed sweetly, almost as if she weren’t even dying. “Do you want to climb the tower?”

Kauss couldn’t believe what he had heard. He was utterly speechless at why she would even ask such a question. She stared at him, waiting for an answer. Shaking his head as hard as possible, he gave his answer.

“No, cause you aren’t going to die.” Kauss wanted to scream, but he was so weak that all he could do was talk at a higher pitch.

“Don’t be naive. You have someone waiting for you on top of the tower.”

“How do you even know Mom’s still alive?”

Keyl looked away from him and stared up at the ceiling. It was almost as if she were looking past everything. As if she were looking through the roof, tower, and whatever else was waiting for a new, stubborn fool to climb the tower. She was staring at something that she knew was impossible to see, but knew it was there all the same.

“I can just feel it.”

Before he could ask what she meant, her body had already gone cold. Kauss touched her shoulder and reeled back after feeling it. That was the unmistakable feel of death that he had touched upon and felt so many times before. That was when the realization of the world barreled down onto his shoulders. There was no future on top of the tower, but there was no future here either. The world was in a never-ending cycle of decay and rot that scoured throughout the homes of the innocent and took away anything that it touches.

Kauss didn’t cry. In fact, he didn’t even move a muscle that day. He just stared at her corpse and took into note the subtle details about her and burned them into his memory. He was almost as still as the corpse was. The only difference between them was that Kauss stomach still moved whenever he breathed.

Kauss, in the present day, sat on his knees and bowed his head. His Dad and grandmamma stared at him through the pictures, as if their souls had become one with the still images. The next day, after grandmamma had died, he had her cremated. Inside of the dresser the pictures sat on, the ashes of Keyl Mellow now lay.

Kauss wasn’t religious, but Keyl had him practice a religion she made up. According to her, there was a God that would welcome everyone after death. The God would take pity on the souls that lived within the tower, and whenever they died, the God would make all their dreams come true in a fictional afterlife. It was a silly, childish dream, but he still practiced it, not because he believed it, but out of respect for grandmamma.

After a minute of silence, Kauss stood back up and walked to the door. He quietly shut it and leaned against it, sighing. He was tired. Not just a drowsy type of tired, but he was tired of everything. Kauss felt the weight of the knife he had in his pocket. It seemed so heavy at the moment. Anytime he moved his leg, the knife nudged against his skin, almost begging to be taken out of the restraints it was in. It talked to him, telling stories about the false God and saying it wasn’t some sort of fantasy. In order to meet the God, all he had to do was take it out of his pocket and go to sleep for good.

Kauss banged his head against the door. There was no reason to feel like this anymore. He had a friend he cared about. He had a girlfriend, and they both loved each other more than anyone else. He had a reason to live, and he wasn’t going to give it all up on one giant urge. Even though he knew that, the option still kept on poking at him.

There were some things he needed to do. He needed to get the lights turned back on quickly. In order to do that, he needed to leave and risk the perils of the streets. Not even hesitating, he flung open the front door and kicked it shut on his way out. It slammed with so much force, the rats that were having a reunion nearby scuttled away into alleyways and holes.

No one walked the street, and the silence exuded a nasty atmosphere. The fresh red stain and brains that littered the wall next to his home were probably the reason no one was out and about. However, the gore wouldn’t stop people from coming back. By tomorrow, this place’ll be as busy as normal, with the stain dried up and becoming a new red decoration for the building. Whatever happened to the body, Kauss didn’t know nor care. If he got his nose stuck into random people’s business, he’d become the next paint job.

He made his way down the street; the air smelling like burning wood and mold. With every step he took, dust leapt from the street and fell back down to the road below. After nearly five minutes of walking, he came across the first person to come out beside himself.

A lonely prostitute leaned up against a wall, showing off as much skin as she could. That was great for her cause people would be much more likely to purchase her time, but on the downside Kauss could easily see the scars riddling her body. From family problems all the way to the injuries she received whenever her time was taken, the scars hurt her chance of being bought. Unless people were into that type of thing, but there was no one he personally knew that was.

“Want some time, baby.” The prostitute asked in a flirtatious manner. She placed her hands on her waist and leaned forward a tiny amount in order to expose her cleavage.

“Go to someone else for money. I don’t got the time.” Kauss said, passing her and moving on. He could hear her mutter about him being a cheapskate as she waited for someone else to pass.

After a few more minutes of walking, Kauss finally made it somewhere with an influx of people. Owerneckers patrolled the street, looking for a place to stir trouble. Merchants exited stores and yelled out their newest deals, and the few normal civilians packed one weapon before coming out into the madness.

No one knew how life got like this. There was barely any order and saints were scarce, so no one stood up to the injustice that’s been happening for hundreds of years. Any time someone tried to fight back against the world, they ended up as stains. A common rumor that circled throughout most of the city was that supposedly the red houses were actually painted in blood with the amount of people that died down here. There were lots of things about violence that Kauss could believe, but that had to take the cake on the most absurd thing he ever heard.

More prostitutes asked for money and Kauss declined them all. It’s not that he wouldn’t take up the offer normally, since he and his girlfriend were in an open relationship, but he had important things to do. One of those things was to get to his girlfriend’s place.

He saw her home right away since he’s been in there so many times before. A blue building nestled between a coffee shop and a turnoff that headed straight to the home of Killian Necker. Kauss knocked on the door and waited for an answer. Luckily, his girlfriend’s, Helona Garidon, father was crippled. He lost the ability to use his legs after an accident. If he could move as he pleased, there would be no stopping the man’s drive to kill him. Helona’s father was a monster of a man, who in his prime was the right-hand man of the previous Owernecker boss.

Kauss heard footsteps approach the door. The person behind the door leaned on it, and he could hear the squeak the door made any time force was placed on it.

“Who’s there?” Helona called out.

“Just me Helona. You can put the gun you have down now.”

She placed the gun down and Kauss could hear it thud against the table in the hallway. The door opened, and she dragged him in before anyone saw what was inside the house. She slammed the door quickly and locked it.

Helona was wearing pajama pants and wore only a sports bra as a top. Every day, after she wakes up, she’ll exercise before heading off to her job at Owerneckers. Kauss could see a slight hint of abs beginning to appear on her pale stomach. Her brown hair was tied up into a ponytail, exposing the glistening azure eyes that gazed into his soul.

“Is your dad gonna start trying to kill me?”

“No, he’s still asleep thankfully. I was actually about to change and head to work soon.”

Kauss made his way into the living room with her. She had working lights since anyone who was a part of, or been a part of, Owerneckers twelve main men were given free electricity for as long as they lived. The only way to get electricity was to either pay them a sum of money each month, or the more likely option, and the reason most deaths occur, is to do a certain job for them.

“I need my lights back on and since I was heading there anyway I thought why not walk together.”

Helona sighed with a smile on her face. Although she was incredibly strong and could beat up most attackers, she still feared going out by herself. It was an innate, primal fear that was ingrained into everyone. Go out by yourself and you’d most likely end up dead. That was the lesson they were taught growing up. Even Kauss feared going outside every now and then, especially for long trips.

“Wait here and I’ll be back. I just need to change.”

Helona disappeared into her room, leaving Kauss by himself. He could hear her move around as she changed into the normal attire she wore for her duty. As he waited, Kauss remembered the first time the two had met. Kauss was only fifteen at the time, and for his sixteenth birthday, he headed to the red-light district at the edge of the western section of Owerneckers’ territory. He thought that celebrating the day he became an adult would be more special than sitting alone, doing nothing.

Kauss had entered the first strip bar he’d seen and went up to the bar as he examined the dancers. How the strip clubs worked was that dancers would come out and present themselves to an audience. They would do everything in their power to get purchased for a night. They would do everything from doing naughty poses, all the way to dancing purely in the nude. After the night was over, they would share a fifty percent cut from the buyer to the club’s owner. Prostitutes on the street made way more than that, but inside a club, there was much more guaranteed safety.

A woman came out around Kauss’ age. She had a decent figure to his standards, so he was about to purchase her for an hour. Suddenly, the door to the bar slammed open and three people entered, laughing. There were two guys and one girl, all of them wearing Owernecker jackets. The two men took a seat near the stage while the girl, Helona, sat next to Kauss at the bar. She called for a drink and waited for it to come out.

Kauss thought Helona was gorgeous. The way her soft face and pale skin contrasted from her fierce clothes and stature drew him to her. He was into dangerous chicks, which he didn’t know at the time, but he sure as hell did in the present day. If she was a dancer, he’d have bought her straight away.

“Hey, why would a girl be in a strip club and not on the stage.” Kauss lowered his voice and stood as straight as he could in order to seem more masculine. All that did was have her laugh at his attempt and drop self esteem tenfold.

“Can’t a girl do another girl in peace?” Helona said, winking.

Helona looked up at the stage and looked deeply at the girl, who Kauss had his eye on as well. Both of their faces turned red, and they were turned on, as she spread her legs and slowly removed her panties. They both dug into their bags at the same time, praying they had the right amount of money. Grinning with triumph, Kauss took out the money, feeling mighty proud of himself.

“One hour with her please.” They both said, slamming the money on the counter. They looked at each other as if ready to accept a challenge.

“Two hours.” Kauss said, ready for her to bring it up a notch. Instead, she surprised him with something else.

“We don’t have to do that. I’m okay with a threesome.”

Kauss knew he was in love after that. They decided together that it would be two hours, and they split the bill evenly between them. The bartender waved the dancer down and she came over. With two arms full, she led them to the private rooms and then he proceeded to have the best birthday of his life.

After the night was over, Kauss and Helona kept in touch, and once the instant lust died down, they actually began to learn a bit about each other. After around a month of dating, they had made things official and became an actual couple. Although they met in a pretty interesting circumstance, they managed to become something more than just sex friends.

As Kauss was lost in his few happy memories, he hadn’t noticed that Helona came out of her room. He figured it out when she thumped his forehead. He yelped and rubbed the place where she hit him, chuckling at his discomfort.

“Are you a sadist or something?” Kauss grumbled.

“Maybe, but you won’t let me check.”

Helona had her Owerneckers jacket on over a white tank top. The jacket was completely black with a red “O” patched onto the left side and it’s designed in a way to make it look like a devil’s mouth. Fangs hung off of the “O” and horns stuck out at the top. A tongue was stitched in the middle of the “O” to make it look like a mouth rather than a head with triangle eyes.

They left her home quickly since they heard her father moving around as he was waking up. She quickly grabbed the gun that she placed down and stuck it in a holster around her waist before closing the door. Although she’s an Owernecker, which by itself carries a ton of intimidation, it also made her a target, since many people have a grudge against the gangs that controlled the city.

All they needed to do was take the turn and walk down the road for a minute or two, and they’d be at the HQ for Owerneckers. People weren’t seen walking nearby as often since they didn’t want to cause any trouble with the gang. Because of that, any normal civilian passing needed to be on high alert. Alleyways littered the place as they connected various streets, making it a nice ambush place. With few people around and many places to hide, the chance to disappear off the face of the tower was very likely. Kauss would always avoid heading down the street unless he had business with the Owerneckers already.

Kauss could see the HQ as they were walking down the street. A massive mansion stood at the end of the street, leaning against the walls of the tower. It was the second largest building in the city, the largest being a skyscraper belonging to another gang. Many Owerneckers littered about the place, discussing whatever it was gangs talked about. A few people left the building in a hurry, carrying papers in their hands. They were normal civilians, most likely under the same predicament Kauss was facing.

“Why don’t you join already?” Helona asked as they approached the mansion’s steps. “With your skills, you could easily become one of the twelve main men. You’d have to kill one of ‘em first, but they do it all the time.”

Kauss shook his head as he had done many times before whenever she brought up the topic. She knew the reason he refused to join. He may have thought about it if they weren’t the same people who killed his father. He was already tired of having to deal with them any time his lights went out, but he crossed the line at actually joining them. If it weren’t for the fact they control practically everything in this part of the city, he’d find a new way to get lights years ago.

Helona sighed when it was obvious he wasn’t going to answer. She knew how talented Kauss was and if it weren’t for the past he had, then he’d be a regular top performer. Whether it be simple robberies, all the way to murder, Kauss could get any job done in no time flat. It wasn’t his strength, nor his wisdom that carried him. He wasn’t particularly the brightest and in a hand to hand fight, Helona can beat Kauss in less than a minute. If she could get the time, she’d go with him to his next job just to see what he does in order to succeed each and every time.

Helona opened the mansion doors and entered, her footsteps sounding along the hard floor beneath them. To her knowledge, the mansion’s floor used to be completely covered by a red rug. It was torn up by Ower Necker in order to make footsteps more pronounced so it would be impossible for someone to sneak up on them.

The electrical room was on the second floor of the mansion. Kauss followed Helona up the stairs, and as they made their way to the electrical room, he rubbed his hand along the grooves of the mansion walls. The walls were rough and his fingers shook from the bumps protruding from the surface. Anytime a window passed by, he would lift his hand and peer out for a brief second.

Kauss could see the void from all the way in the mansion. That endless blackness spoke to him in many ways, begging him to come up. With each refusal, the next offer would grow stronger and stronger. He was sure that if he had the urge one more time, and if something would push him, then he’d go up there. Before his Mom climbed up, she would constantly talk about a paradise. At least that’s what grandmamma said was Mom’s reason for climbing the tower. There was no veritable paradise anywhere, however. No matter how far he would look at the ceiling, it just seemed like more hell would just be waiting for him up there.

Helona opened the door to the electrical room and Kauss followed in after her. His pocket knife was ready just in case they gave him a document to kill somebody. It wouldn’t be his first time killing someone. He had to do all he could to survive, and after nearly six years of the business, the act grew numb to him.

Only one person was in the room, and it was Killian’s right-hand man, and number one in the twelve main men, Fellipe Yun. In the center of the room was a giant contraption. A giant cubed structure glowed with yellowish lines, of what was presumably electricity, ran through it. Tubes attached to the sides and ran all the way down into the floor, and from there, even further down into the ground. The tubes and wires connected the entire Owerneckers district with power. The reason the Owerneckers’ territory was the largest out of the four gangs was because they used the power of the cube to entice people to their side and rebel against the enemy gangs. They would never reveal that they were the ones inciting rebellions since it would cause a war if they did, but everyone knew they were behind it.

According to a journal entry that was available to read in the mansion’s library that Helona read years ago, the cube was created by a scientist experimenting with the power source from the elevator that connected the first and second floors of the tower. According to the journal, he had managed to siphon out some of the power and created the cube that powered their region of the city. Others have tried to replicate it, but the scientist took the notes he jotted down that explained how to do it up with him as he climbed the tower. Now there was only one cube, and there were way too many casualties from experimentation. During the time of the energy boom, the population of the city dropped more than half with experiments.

“If it isn’t you two.” Fellipe welcomed them. “How’ve you been Kauss?”

Kauss shrugged and stood near the doorway as if he were a bouncer, blocking people from getting into a party. “Been doing good, I guess. Although my lights are down earlier than normal.”

Fellipe inhaled sharply through his teeth. He played up fake sympathy, but the grin on his face was way too apparent to be hidden.

“Killian came by and said to shut down the district you stayed at, then left the mansion. Apparently he had business he wanted taken care of.” Fellipe took out a stack of papers that was on a table near the cube. “Before leaving, he said to give this to anyone wanting their lights back.”

Kauss walked up and grabbed a sheet of paper Fellipe pulled from the stack. On the paper was a man’s face and words below it said he was to be killed and remains brought back to the HQ. The man was balding, but the remaining hair he had left was pitch black. Wrinkles covered his face and bags sagged under his eyes as if he hadn’t slept in weeks. His life was already over from the look of the picture, so taking pity and killing him would be an act of mercy.

“Rebellions have been sparking up lately.” Fellipe warned. “All of these were taken after they left a meeting discussing how to infiltrate the mansion.”

Kauss held up his hand to quiet him. That was all the information he needed. He knew the section by memory to the point even if he was blindfolded, he could figure out where he was in seconds. He excused himself and left to do the job he was tasked with taking care of. According to the paper, the man’s most visited locations that spies could gather were the northeast district of Owerneckors in a building likely to be his home, the center of Owerneckers at a small coffee shop that he works and drinks at, and west of Owerneckers at an abandoned library.

The closest place Kauss could get to was the center of Owerneckers, so the coffee shop should be the best place to look first. Considering it was still early and people were still waking up, he’s possibly there as well, either working or having his daily dose of caffeine. It wouldn’t take much effort on his part and he’d get electricity for about a month.

“Wait up dumbass!”

Kauss could’ve sworn he heard the mating call of a pale-skinned rat, but sadly, it turned out to just be his imagination. Imagination is such a curse, but it can also be a blessing. At least until it becomes reality and literally smacks someone on their head then, that’s when it’s truly vile. He turned and saw Helona standing behind him with a few more sheets in her hand.

“I thought we should do this stuff together, don’t ya think?” Helona grinned while passing him. “A bit of couple bonding while we blow a guy’s brains out? With the extra bounties I grabbed, we can probably convince Killian to give you an extra month or two of electricity.”

Kauss rubbed his head at the spot where she smacked him as he sped up in order to walk alongside her.

“Sure babe. Let’s get some power.”

They both smiled at each other as they took off into the city, hyping themselves up for an interesting day. The city, bustling with delinquents, somehow was so quiet that nothing could be heard even within a couple feet away. They continued on fighting for survival in order to not be silenced like the many they’ve silenced before.