1 Chapter 1 - The Contract

2000 years ago, a tower appeared. Sprouting from the ground, it grew and grew until it hit earth's atmosphere. No one knew what it signified or why it existed. During the time when it first sprouted, humans researched for years on what it was, trying to understand all they could about why it appeared. There was no progress on what it could possibly mean. Until people all over the world disappeared. Day after day people were vanishing into thin air. No one was aware of what the phenomenon was at the time but feared it none the less. Years went by with no solution for the problem and the worlds leaders were feeling pressured.

Then...there was contact. A messenger from the tower. The man wore armor and had a longsword strapped to his back. He is considered the first conqueror of the tower. As time passed, more and more people started coming out of the tower. When enough people came outside of the tower a new problem arose. All over the different continents, portals full of vicious monsters and demons started appearing, destroying the towns and cities that they resided in. With the already low population numbers from the tower kidnappings, humanity was at its worst.

That's when the tower conquerors came. Slaying the monsters that spawned out of the portals. Defending the people and pushing the monsters back into the portals. The conquerors had saved almost everyone. Due to the strength of the monsters there was a fair share of casualties. With humanity's newfound strength they had gained hope. As time passed people were able to relax and settle back down into normalcy. But with the constant threat of monsters looming, the government created The Monster Slayers Association. Anyone who had conquered the tower was officially recognized as a Slayer.

35 years ago Alan's father was recognized as a Slayer. He made a decent salary and provided for both Alan and his younger brother since their mother had passed away when in labor with Alan's younger brother Finn. With their mothers death Alan felt it was his responsibility to look after and protect his younger brother Finn. Alan was a very attached to the family that he had left. His father with his dangerous job would always worry Alan. But one day Alan didn't need to worry about his wellbeing anymore. He died a year ago when a gate in Orlando Florida opened and he was called on duty. Alan knew being a slayer is a dangerous job but his father was never really going to get another job whether he liked it or not. The only thing he could do right was killing monsters. Alan expected that his fathers death would eventually happen but he never thought that it would cause him as much grief as it did. On his fathers grave, Alan swore the same thing he promised to his mother. To protect Finn and raise him right.

A year later after his father's death, Finn was living life alone and isolated in his bedroom. As it was his first time experiencing loss, Finn fell into a deep depression. Every so often Alan would be able to get him back on his feet. But it didn't work for more than a week. Finn was already living out his days on an unhealthy diet. It didn't exactly help that he wouldn't leave his room anymore.

Even though they both lived in the same house. Alan worked constantly to stay afloat and barely got to see Finn more than once or twice a week. It was rough but now Alan was left sitting in front of the tv watching the news before his next shift. The female news reporter stood in front a gigantic portal. Around her was destroyed buildings and rubble that made it look like an earthquake had occurred.

"There have been recent reports that the S-rank slayer, Aziel Curcio will be holding a conference regarding the last gate incident in Lincoln." The female reporter kept talking on the tv.

Alan kept watching the tv until his phone alarm beeped for him to go to work. He put his dishes away and yelled goodbye to Finn before walking out the door.

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Finn woke up at his desk facing his monitor, which was still on from last night. He checked the time and decided to leave his bedroom. Walking in the downstairs kitchen, Finn saw a meal already prepared for him on the table. It was wrapped in plastic with a note on it. The note read: Hey, I'm off to work again. I know your diet has been filled with a lot of garbage lately so I decided to make you something. Put it in the microwave to heat it up before eating. I'll be back around 9 tonight so if your up maybe we could watch a movie or something?

He crumbled the note and threw it away before putting the food in the microwave. Finn brought his meal upstairs into his bedroom before closing and locking the door. A girl appeared on his monitor as he ate his brunch. It was a streamer girl that Finn admired. After his father's death he didn't want to spend time with his friends and ended up finding out about online communities. One of which was centralized around a girl that played video games.

Overtime Finn accepted more and more of the online culture. He became interested in games and only played the ones that the girl streamer enjoyed. Slowly he was exiting the real world and joining a world of fantasy and make believe. It changed his behaviors. He wanted to share everything he enjoyed and found, but the only person he could talk to was Alan. Even then, Finn thought that Alan might consider the internet community a curse and take it away from him.

"You're the only one who listens to me." Finn stared at the screen with a smile on his face. The girl on the screen didn't reply to what he said. But only kept talking in a cheerful tone to her viewers.

"Hey everyone! It's me Britney PK and I'll be bringing you another Q/A stream!" The girl sat in her chair faithfully answering questions her viewers asker of her. Finn spent the next couple of hours watching her stream until it was over.

Finn got up and went downstairs to a small room in the back of their house. It was their parents room before they had both died. He kneeled down before a photo of his father and mother. The photo of his father looked extremely average and resembled a protagonist Finn knew in an anime. His mother on the other hand was extremely beautiful and was in the modeling industry before she died. Sadly when younger, Finn was always told he resembled his father and Alan was the one who got the good looks in the family like his mother.

He prayed in front of his parents for a few minutes, thinking about their lives in heaven. After leaving the room Finn then would enjoy the house to himself. Before he retreated back to his room when Alan would come back. Alan was good to Finn. Maybe too much so. It hurt him to look at his brother. He had gotten over a lot of the issues he had when his father had first passed away. But he couldn't stand being around Alan. He was successful, had a job, and took care of Finn like he was a parasite. Sometimes he wished he could just be out of his brother's life. For him to start anew. For Finn that was the game world he surrounded himself with. It created a temporary fantasy for Finn to escape the look of pity his brother's eyes give off. Finn started to feel tears well up in his eyes again just thinking about Alan. He just wanted a do over at life.

[Do you wish for a do over at life?]

"Huh?!" Finn was surprised at the words in front of him. Leaving everything behind just to have a do over. It screamed your typical fantasy elements to Finn. He thought of his parents and Alan. What he would leave behind. Finn grabbed Alan's note out of the trash and wrote on the back of it. Leaving a message for Alan about his disappearance was the least he could do for his older brother. Finn took one last look at the message before answering: "Yes" His body was then enveloped in a light before he was transported away into the light.

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It was raining outside today, but thankfully Alan had brought an umbrella this morning. He pulled the key out of his pocket and unlocked the front door. "Finn I'm home!" Alan yelled as he entered. No response came from upstairs as usual. But this time Alan went upstairs to Finn's room and knocked.

"Hey did you see the note I left? I was wondering if you still wanted to watch a movie tonight?" No response came from his room. Alan knocked again. There was still no response. 'Maybe he's asleep already?' Finn doesn't like to answer him too often so Alan just assumes he's just asleep most of the time.

Leaving Finn's room, Alan went back downstairs. He entered his mother and father's shrine. He prayed for a few minutes to his father and asked for any advice he would give Alan to talk to Finn. After spending some time with his parents, Alan got up and noticed a note on his mother's picture. It was the same note he gave to Finn this morning. He flipped it over and noticed a note left behind. It read: I'm sorry Alan. I've been given a second chance at life. I have to leave you behind, but you should be better off without me anyways. If I was chosen it must've been for a reason. I probably won't ever be coming back. Goodbye Alan.

Alan dropped the note and ran upstairs to Finn's room. He opened the door easily because it was unlocked. "Finn! This is a joke right?! Come on Finn please! Come out please!" Alan shouted and shouted, but Finn was nowhere to be found. He sat there in thought about what could have happened. 'Wait... Did he say given a second chance?' Alan realized what Finn meant in the note. "The Tower... It chose him..."

The Tower was unpredictable and unstable. Alan knew these things since he was young. 'Why was Finn chosen?' Alan couldn't understand why Finn was given a 'second chance'. There was no reason in the tower's actions. It didn't care for flimsy relations between people. People had to adapt to it. They couldn't change the tower, they couldn't question it. Alan went back downstairs to look at the note again. He read it over and over. "What am I supposed to do dad?" He looked to his father for an answer. Alan had to keep his promise. What would he be to his parents if he couldn't. "I just need your guidance... just once more." Alan was answered. But it wasn't from his father.

[The tower is interested in your actions]

[Would you like to enter the tower?]

A red window appeared before him. The letters were written in black and glowed with a reddish aura. An invitation to the tower? Alan thought it was a miracle. A way to save Finn. Alan answered without hesitation. "Yes!"

[Sign your name here to complete the contract ___________ ]

Using his finger, Alan wrote his signature on the blank line. As soon as he was done his body felt fuzzy. The hand he just signed with started to fade out of existence. Alan's vison swirled as the world faded from his eyes.

'Don't worry, I'm coming Finn.'