1 Rasmus

『Chronicles of the Blood Tower』

Long ago, there were stories he heard from his mother.

Stories of people like the ones of Earth, gathering together to climb a Tower. Those people sought to change their fates and grew alongside each other becoming comrades, friends, lovers and parents.

Initially those people changed their lives already just by being alongside each other and facing the trials of the tower. But over time, years went by, decades, centuries, millenniums. They had lost sight of why they climbed the tower.

Those people were changed by their own instincts as they reached higher and higher. Until, they stopped. They settled down, no longer wishing to climb the tower. They became tired, complacent nobody knew. So they stopped and tried to enjoy what they had experienced through the Tower that already surpassed the countless possibilities of their worlds. At least that's what was told.

"What did they find at the top Mama?"

A young boy named Rasmus asked his mother.

"They never saw the top of the Tower, my child. Nobody knew what was at the top except for the Guardians of the Tower."

"But then, did the Guardians tell anybody what was at the top?"

"Countless things, my little Rasmus, countless. But, the Guardians had their own story within the Tower, so nobody knew what was really there."

"Were they bad guys then Mama?"

"They were called many things, but good was not one of them… So perhaps aha."

She told her son as she rubbed his forehead lightly encouraging him to sleep.

Those were one of the last memories that he had of his mother before everything changed.

---

Wheeohhh Wheeeohhh

Sirens were blaring loudly outside the residence

---

That very boy, Rasmus who loved and enjoyed the stories from his mother had changed. On his 10th birthday his Mother passed away suddenly.

The red and blue lights were glaring through the night sky as he sat on the couch being hugged by his father crying and crying because of the sirens wailing throughout the night added with the inexplicable fear that he didn't know what happened to his mother, and nobody around him told him the answer directly.

But, deep down he knew his mother would no longer be with him.

The countless police officers came by and were chatting in low voices to his father consoling his father as he sobbed lightly, trying not to show a face that would worry his son. But, it was for naught.

6 years later, Rasmus was in a hospital bed.

His father had started drinking heavily and tried his best not to show the effects that his loss had on his kid. But, regardless human emotions were a fickle thing. Rasmus' feelings grew more and spiraled down the stairs of despair, feeling that things were falling apart with his family. He had no friends at school and was teased and bullied by the other kids about his father and mother.

But, deep down in that pit of despair… A light flickered. A violent, cruel, light that became a small flame. The flame of rage.

Nonetheless, He was in a hospital bed at 16. His rage at the world, his parents, every kid at school was thought to be subsided by being at death's doorstep but… it wasn't. He was diagnosed with an unknown disease that the WHO had never seen before. He layed in his hospital bed with his eyes closed and breath uneven, but deep inside he was wallowing away burning with rage at the world for it's unfairness.

Beep…. Beep...…. Beep.... Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr

On August 7th, 2023, the life support he was attached to had his pulse drop to zero.

The nurses and doctors rushed into the room.

"1...2...3… CLEAR!"

Bmph!

He was already gone.

Rasmus fell into a blurry abyss. The hazy memories of his Mother playing with him in the yard, his loving father helping him assemble his first train set. The joyous laughs he had back with his friends in preschool before a flame flickered. The same flame that was buried deep in his heart.

It grew slowly albeit steady. Then it exploded.

Rasmus' conscience faded out and spiraled into a small vortex within the flame.

---

WHOOOOSH!

"huuu…huuu…"

Rasmus awoke lying flat on the ground, gasping for air. His head was spinning and his fatigue was piled on his body like a mound of rocks. His eyesight slowly became clear. He turned to his surroundings.

Whoooooooooooooooooossssshhhhhhhh

He was lying on a dry, red dirt. The land was somewhat flat with the exceptions of pebbles lying around the area. Not to mention the incredible sweltering heat.

He noticed that his body felt a bit different than normal. He lifted his arms to look at his hands. The skin was incredibly soft, like a baby's and had a natural rosy complexion, unlike the dry, pale skin he had from laying in the hospital bed for months. His legs felt full of energy as he lifted his lower body to stand up and get a look around his surroundings. But most of all, his head… more specifically, his hair.

He had lost all of his hair when he had gone under chemotherapy to combat the disease of cancer. But, now his shiny, lustrous black hair was atop his head and he could feel his bangs sway in the wind.

He came to a conclusion rather quickly.

'This isn't Earth'

Chapter 1 - Fin