The tower

The next day, Elain left the house and walked towards the train station. While he was boarding a train he turned on his phone and bought a pass to portal.

His father was once a fairly famous A-ranker but due to a heavy injury he suffered on his left eye and arm because of a powerful monster he had to retire. This was one of the two reasons why he went to the portal every day. The other reason is that he wants to become a powerful hunter like his father.

The more he kills monsters, the more powerful he becomes. This is the same for everyone. When a person kills a monster, an energy called mana enters the human body and improves it. That's the same energy that gives humans their power. When they reach rank D they gain a special power that no other has, at least not many people have it.

Elain got off the train and in front of him was a big infrastructure with the logo of a lion with a crown. This was the logo of Arieste.

He got inside and walked to the nearest guard. The guard turned towards Elain and asked:

"Do you have a pass or do you plan on buying one?"

Elain showed the pass on his phone. The guard nudged his head towards the portal near them.

"You are going alone, so be careful in there. You never know when it will be your last day."

Elain thanked the man and walked into the portal. And then he found himself in a forest.

"Hmm, I should go hunt and then find a place to rest in for the night" After saying this, Elian took out his sword (which I mentioned for the first time) and started walking in a random direction while listening for any monsters.

On his way, he found three goblins who were G-ranked and swiftly killed them while still being on high alert. After a while he found himself getting out of the forest on a plain grass field with a few trees there.

"Why are there no monsters around me?"

Even tho there were no places to hide, he still didn't see any monsters around him. This was giving Elain an eerie vibe and so he was about to return to the forest but saw in the distance a big black tower. Something from it was calling Elain, and so he started walking towards it.

It took Elain approximately 2 hours to finally get to it and throughout his whole journey nothing happened. Elain looked at the great black tower that loomed before him. The entrance was a large black archway, bordered by carved pillars of obsidian. The stonework was immaculately executed, perfectly smooth to the touch even tho it lived through centuries, and stood unyielding.

A sense of ominous foreboding hung heavy in the air, warning all who dared to enter to proceed with caution.

Elain took a big breath and walked In.

The only thing he saw was stairs that went up and down. He started walking up the stairs. He was walking and walking until he stopped to get a breather.

'From the outside, the building wasn't so tall, yet why haven't I gotten to the roof already?'

Elain sat on the ground.

'Maybe I should take a nap...' Elain took out his camping gear and set his tent. After which he drank water from his water bottle and closed his eyes.

***

On an ancient battlefield, two figures were watching each other. Around them were thousands upon thousands of bodies.

One of the figures is a gray-haired man in his twenties. He had a double-edged sword and an aura of dread around him. He glared at the other figure that was levitating above the ground.

He opened his mouth and shouted. But only gibberish was heard.

The other figure just stood in the air and indifferently gazed at the man under him.

Even tho none of its features were visible, a frown could be seen on its face. It opened its mouth but no words came out.

Yet the gray-haired man's face twisted in a grimace. Just as he was about to rebuke the other figure, the steps of another person could be heard. The man looked behind him and found a heavily injured woman near his age walking toward him. The man disappeared and reappeared next to her and caught her in his arms. They mumbled a few words before he placed her on the ground gently. He then unsheathed his double-edged sword and turned towards the other figure. Just before he attacked the figure, words could be heard.

"You waged war on us, yet you dare call us monsters." said the figure before saying a few more words.

"Awaken my soldiers."

After saying this, all hell broke loose.

***

Eliam jumped out of his tent. Only his ragged breath could be heard in the tower.

"What the hell?"

'Was that a dream? But I have never seen those people...' he took out his map.

Even tho every person was transported to a different location, they still managed to map most of them. Elain looked at it yet found no tower.

"So this is an unmarked location... I don't have the materials needed to mark it so I will tell the guards when I am out."

After saying this Elain placed his stuff in the bag and resumed his walk up the stairs.

After thirty minutes, he finally got on top of the tower. On his floor, there was a desk with a chair, a chest, and a bed. On top of the desk was a diary. Elain sat on the chair and opened it. Only the first page was used. On it there were hieroglyphs.

Elain frowned and took a paper out of his bag. On it, there were other hieroglyphs, and after each one a letter. And then Elain started translating. After an hour and a half, he finally managed to translate the hieroglyphs called Ar-hel.

'To whoever who is seeing this, we have lost the war... Currently, I am the only priest who has survived the massacre of our church.

Yet I don't feel anything knowing this. Even tho we fought to the end with the army of the

The Great Empire of Duren, they didn't have many major losses except one of their generals. We weren't the most powerful church yet we lost so terribly. What irony is this haha?' the letters were almost unreadable because the ink was so old. Only the words 'The basement' could be understood.

Elian took the diary and placed it in his bag. Then he opened the chest next to the desk. Inside it there was nothing. Elian clicked his tongue and then searched for anything in it only to find nothing yet again.

"The Great Empire of Duran... There are mentions of that name in the archives. I should check it later when I come back."

After saying this he started descending the stairs.