Mayor Levine had just arrived in her office and was drinking a cup of coffee that she sorely needed in order to deal with another day that promised to be long, when the internal phone line rang in her office.

“Madam the Mayor, there is a man here that says that he absolutely needs to speak with you. He claims to have information concerning the tower.”

“Have him speak with David or Sophie. They will brief me if its important.” The mayor replied hanging up the phone. The receptionist should know better than to call her for these things. She didn’t have time to deal with every crackpot who claimed to have information on the tower. If this happens again, she may need to see about getting a new receptionist she thought to herself as she went back to her coffee and the day’s agenda.

The internal phone line rang again “What is it now?” The mayor snapped.

“Mayor Levine, I think that you may want to meet this person. David and I think this may actually be the person from the tower.” The mayor recognized Sophie’s voice on the phone.

“Show him in, but get a couple of people from our security team to come up as well in case of any trouble.” The mayor closed her agenda knowing that today would most likely not be going as planned.

A few minutes later there was a knock on the door before it opened, and Sophie, David and a non-descript third person entered the room.

“Everyone, grab a chair, and let’s get to it.” The mayor said, not in the mood for formalities.

“I heard on the news last night, that you were looking for me, so I thought that I would save you some time and come to you. You can call me Xander, but as you can probably guess, that is not my real name.”

“Well, Xander, I must say I wasn’t expecting to see you this soon. Actually, I rather thought that you would be hiding from us, so this is really quite the surprise.” Mayor Levine paused as she took a long look at Matthew, as though she was trying to see figure out what kind of person she had sitting in front of her.

“You have stirred up quite a media storm the last couple of days and cost me quite a bit of sleep so I am hoping that we can find a way to clarify some things. What can you tell me about the tower?”

“You may not like what I am going to say, but I will tell you as much as I can safely tell you at this time.” Matt realized that there would be certain aspects of the tower that would be too much for her at this time.

“This tower is only the first tower of many that will be appearing all over the world. The world as we know it will be changing dramatically due to these towers. Even outside of the tower, there will be new inexplicable phenomenon which will start occurring because this tower, and the many other towers which will be arriving after it, will be loading the air with mana, which is the fuel used in magic. Some people will start developing abilities, and will be able to do things that are currently not possible.”

“I certainly hope that you didn’t just come here to tell me that I am going to have more problems. What can be done about this tower and the future towers?”

“I don't believe that you will be able to prevent it, and you won’t be able to shut it down, but you can prepare for it. I would say that you could embrace it, but I suspect that it may yet be too early for that. The fact is, this tower is an unprecedented opportunity, and if you can create a framework for it, you could become an example for the whole world in how to manage the apparition of towers. That is why I am here, to assist you in setting up an infrastructure.”

The mayor steepled her fingers, her thumbs under her chin. Meanwhile Sophie and David were feverishly noting down everything that was said.

“This is really a lot to take in.” Mayor Levine said, leaning back in her chair. “What exactly would this infrastructure look like, and what are the advantages and disadvantages that can be expected?”

“To begin with, let me tell you a bit about the tower. The tower, is what is commonly referred to as a dungeon in fantasy novels. Inside the tower, there are dangers. Poisonous plants, dangerous beasts as well as other threats. At the end of surviving the challenges on each level of the dungeon, you receive rewards which you typically will find in a chest at the end of the level.” Matt watched Mayor Levine for a reaction to what he was telling her, but was surprised to see that she didn’t show any reaction.

“Each level of the tower, will get progressively more and more dangerous, but the prizes will be of greater and greater value. For example, the healing potions that I used in the hospital, were a very high-quality potions from the highest level of the tower. These potions can restore a person from the brink of death, to perfect health.” I pulled out one of my remaining healing potions, which everyone regarded with great interest. “I also have a resurrection potion which will bring someone who has recently died, back to life.” I returned the healing potion to my storage and removed the resurrection potion. With that Matt got a startled reaction from everyone in the room and Sophie nearly fell out of her chair.

“There are also gold and jewels” Matt had a number of jewels and gold coins appear in his hand “as well as magical items.” With that he retrieved the box of memory stones, most of which were dull and infused them with mana, making them come alive with color before their eyes.

“The tower has a lot to offer, but it is very dangerous and some who go into the dungeon, will, unfortunately, not be coming back out. For this reason, I would like to set up a school for Ascenders or adventurers, to train people in mana manipulation and survival skills. People need to be trained and assessed or licensed to enter the tower. Professional ascenders will need to assess each level of the towers and ascenders will be informed as to which levels they are ready for, which match their skillset. Of course, there is no way to prevent them from going further, but at that point it will be their own fault.”

“The logistics in New York could prove to be a challenge, as the tower will attract people from all over, but this will lessen as towers start appearing in other locations. I assume that you have procedures for this sort of logistics. In the future, people will be able to enter the tower from far away which should reduce the congestion locally.”

“Then there is the wealth that will be coming out of the towers, and will need to be sold or exchanged, but also taxed.”

The slight change in her body language told me that I had hit a positive chord with the mention of taxes.”

“I think it is critical that we do this correctly here. This will make us the experts and give us a lot of advantages when others towers start appearing in other places.”

“Of course, there is the other option”, I continued. “You could try to destroy the tower, prevent entry, but I promise you it will be a losing battle. Entrances to the tower can be created far from the tower in an instant. Creatures from the tower will probably be allowed to escape, and believe me, you don’t want the creatures which are in the tower running through populated areas. Many of these creatures will even be impossible to deal with for someone with no magical skills.”

“I can form some trainers and assist with the setup, but first I will need your approval and assistance. I don’t expect an answer now, but I also don’t know how long we have before other towers appear or the dungeon loses patience.”

"Another thing we need to prepare for is visitors from other worlds. Once we have a certain level of integration, travel between worlds will become possible via the Tower portals."

The tower, or dungeon is actually sentient, but I am not sure if it is empathetic. Up until now it has been generous with me, but it also let me fight my way through numerous deadly monsters without stepping in to help, so I wouldn’t count on it to wait too long for an action on your part.”

David looked up from his notes and from his look it was apparent that he was hesitant to speak, “What is your relation to the dungeon then? Are you its slave or its ambassador? Are you from the dungeon, or are you one of us? Whose side are you on?”

“Thank you, David, I am also curious to get an answer to that question.” The mayor said, leaning forward on her desk.

“I am one of you, but I am also an ambassador for the dungeon. The dungeon has been correct with me, and everything that I have told you today is the truth as far as I know it.”

“You wouldn’t happen to be Matthew Cairns by any chance, would you?” David said, from the smug look on his face he looked to be saying ‘Check and mate’.

When I heard my name come from his mouth I instinctively started to panic. I felt my heart start to beat faster, the sound of my heartbeat drumming in my ears to the point of distraction. My brain refused to think clearly but went into panic mode. On the outside, I tried not to let any of this show, I just stared into David’s eyes in total silence as I tried to calm my inner demons. After a few moments I regained control.

“I came in here today on my own free will.” I said, looking at each person in the room. “The only thing I said in the beginning, was that I was using the pseudonym of Xander.” I paused and looked back at David. Everyone in the room had probably guessed that I was Matthew Cairns at this point and that was a large risk for myself, but more importantly for my family. I let my aura, or maybe it would be more accurate to say, my killing intent, flow into the room, but mostly focused on David.

His face drained of color and his hands started to tremble. “If I came in here using a pseudonym, do you know why that was, David? Take a wild guess.”

David tried to speak, but started stuttering instead. “Yyyou wwant tto be anonna annonnna annonymous.”

“Very good David, you got it on your first try. I don’t want anyone knowing my real name, but do you know why that that is David?”

David looked like he wanted to cry, his skin had become almost white and he was trembling so badly, the pages of his notebook were flapping and making a lot of paper noise.

“Nnoo” he cried as he broke down in sobs. I was feeling really bad that I had to go this far with him, but my family’s life could be at stake here, I needed to make the point.

“I will tell you why. I am not afraid for myself, as there is very little that can hurt me. It is for those that I love, who will be targeted if my identity is known. And if anything happens to anyone who I love, due to any of you” I looked again from David to Sophie and to the Mayor, “revealing my identity, you will learn what it means to face the anger of a dungeon-champion battle-mage, and believe me, it will not be pretty.”

“Unfortunately, due to David’s curiosity, I will need to perform a blood pact with all three of you. Don’t even think of calling security, that would be a big mistake.”

With that I formed a needle from mana and pricked my own finger, then I pricked the fingers of each person in the room. I gathered the blood drops from each in miniature mana bowl which now hovered in front of me, now everyone in the room was terrified.

From the knowledge which I had gained from the memory stone on magic, I created a blood binding spell which would only inform me if they revealed my secret, but I didn’t want them to know that that was all it did.

When I finished my incantation, the bowl disappeared and I released my killing intent.

“I am sorry that I had to do that, that was not at all my intention when coming here, and I hope that this will not affect our future relationship.” I said, knowing there was a good chance that I had just blown any chance of the mayor agreeing to my requests.

“What did you do to us?” the mayor asked, still visibly shaken.

“I made a blood binding with all of you. If any of you ever reveal my identity without my permission or make a move against my family, well, let’s just say, you don’t want to do that. But as long as you keep my secret, there will be no negative effects. If you have told anyone else, you had best let me know now, so I can make a pact with them as well. It will be for your good as well.”

”No, no one else knows.” Sophie said hurriedly.

Although they seemed to have relaxed a little, they still looked at me with fear in their eyes, and I wondered if I had gone too far. I didn’t want to leave with them fearing me like that, and the guilt was really starting to eat at me.

“Listen," I said, trying to sound as sincere as possible "I know that that was probably the scariest thing that has ever happened to any of you and I apologize for having to do that; but I want you to ask yourselves, to what lengths would you go, if your family was in danger or being threatened?

I have healing potions, resurrection potions, gold and jewels enough to buy a small country. If my identity were known, how long before my family would be kidnapped and held for ransom, or worse?” I could see that I was starting to get through to them. The fear that was there a second ago had lessened significantly, which was a big relief for me. I was beginning to think that maybe not all was lost after all.

I stood up to go, handing a note the mayor “You can reach me at this number. Please, never show up at my house. When you call, ask for Xander.”

As I was about to go, the mayor's phone rang.

“Excuse me, just one second” she said, picking up the phone.

As I watched her, her skin became ashen and tears started welling in her eyes. She collapsed to the chair, the phone dangling from her hand.

“A group of teenagers managed to get past the barrier and entered into the dungeon”, she said “and one of them is my son.”