PANDORA. Hope Dies Last: ToG

Rekindled Hope

Chapter 2

"Pan-Doros (All Gifts)"

... ...

"Very well then. Then the deal is sealed."

My savior approached me as he put his hands, massive hands, on my shoulders. Somehow his hands didn't pass through my corporeal form. Was he like Hermes?

"Hundreds of Billions of intelligent beings dwell within this tower. With less than 20 exceptions, all were created and born within the tower. As I dictate, souls from the inside are bound to it and may never leave...but you, you will be one of the exceptions. An exception of an exception."

I was getting quite confused by his explanation.

"You will be the only irregular to have never opened the Tower's Gate. You are too weak at the moment to open the Tower's doors. So I shall reincarnate you inside the tower. A regular with the soul of an irregular...Such a story!"

I felt myself fading little by little. The presence I had in the moment becoming weaker by the moment.

"You who hold All-Gifts, make sure to use them well. Curiosity will lead your way and that pithos tied to your soul...I took the liberty to refill it. Of course, the most loyal of them was given a tiny portion of my authority."

I couldn't see myself anymore and my vision was getting blurry.

"Reach the Top. The top beyond the false ceiling that kid put there. Reach the stars and I'll be here, waiting for you. I'll wish you luck Pandora"

"Wait...what is your name?" The name of my savior.

"Huh, I was so focused I forgot to share. The denizens inside know me as Phantaminum. Remember that this is a Prelude, Pandora"

What? I couldn't hear anymore. I couldn't see, touch, smell or hear no longer. Well, it wasn't like I was new to this, I simply chose to let myself relax in the emptiness as I awaited my next journey.

(A.N: For those of you who cannot imagine the scale of the Tower. Imagine the Eurasia continent as the size of 1 floor. The height of each floor would be around the height of the sky itself. Pile that up at least 135 times for the known floors of the Tower. This means the tower is at least 11 times the size of Earth.)

POV Arie , Head of the Arie Family, The White Sword. On the 100F

(AN: Arie Hon is a fairly tall looking man (187cm) with notably pale skin and long white hair that flows down his back and also covers the upper half of his face. On his right hip hangs his sheathed sword. His clothes resembles that of a pope's ceremonial robes. Colors are white and blue/purple)

He pondered and wondered as time flowed past, ignoring him. After all, he was immortal; Never aging, never weakening, never dying. What he pondered...no one knew. He simply thought of the early days of his life when things have been different.

When he was not a god, not an immortal, not the White Oar of the tower...and yet for what he could remember, those days were better than what was now. The age of genesis when they entered the tower together and crusaded up the tower fueled by mortal feelings.

Conquering floor after floor they adventured, pioneered, discovered the wonders of the world on each floor. Every floor that awaited them presented a new world, dimension, challenges, and rewards.

And yet...yet...it began on the Hell Train when things began to change. When the blood of adventure that pumped through our hearts bled, changed, morphed, into something different.