Chapter 2: THE CAT

I walked and approached the tower doors. There was nobody outside of the tower which I thought was strange because, this was supposed to be a high traffic area in Babel. I didn't question it much though. I opened the doors to find nobody inside the tower entrance. Only a small brown cat occupied the room we were in. I'd thought maybe Id went to the wrong place, so I proceeded to walk out of the room before being stopped by a strange voice.

"You come to climb the tower?"

I looked around the room to see if anyone was there that I might have missed walking in, but it was only that brown cat looking directly at me.

"Are you going to just stand around and stare at me human, or answer my question?"

The cat talked, I've never heard of animals being able to talk before, I stood there in shock. "My name is Obasi, I do wish to climb the tower," I said. I was a little freaked out by it, it was abnormal and quite creepy. The cat hopped off the ledge it was laying on and walked over to me and sat right in front of me.

"Hello Obasi, my name is Kevin. I am one of the guardians of this tower."

His bright orange eyes looked up at me. I was still a little nervous but I was starting to get used to it.

"I can tell your a little shocked, what is it, cat got your tongue haha?" Kevin laughed.

"Sorry I've never seen a talking cat before"

I bent down towards Kevin and went to pet him.

"Do not touch me human, I do not know where you've been, uggh, he said.

Kevin then looked into my direction and stated "That voice…I haven't heard that voice in years"

He then walked over to me circling over and over, until he then reached for my sword on my hip that was given to me by King Bell. It was still wrapped in the white cloth it came in.

He then stared me down with a concerning look.

"Where did you get that?" He asked.

"It was a gift from King Bell" I answered.

Kevin then grew somewhat bigger then before. He now looked like a leopard with brown and orange fur, with a long white tail.

"Do you not hear it?" Kevin asked.

I was starting to think that this Cat was completely bat shit crazy.

"No I don't…are you alright?" I replied back.

"Interesting…follow me I have to show you something." Kevin then grabbed the sword with his tail coiling it.

He then walked over to where he was originally laying down and said the words "As above so bellow."

The floor suddenly began to move, shifting into patterns and shapes I've never seen before. Behold a staircase that led into the ground below the tower entrance.

Kevin then walked down the steps. I followed suit trailing close behind him. The stair case was deep, we had walked down for at least 10 minutes before reaching a room at the bottom. Out of the room was a blue shimmering light that lit up the bottom. Kevin then looked back at me and said, "are you ready?" Smiling with a grin.

"Ready. Ready for what?"

I was confused about the whole situation, was he going to kill me, or maybe he was going to take my sword. Kevin walked into the blue lit room and I followed. The room looked like a bath house of some sort. The walls were white and stained with moisture. The walls also had murals of animals of all kinds, from Lions, Tigers and bears, to gryphons, dragons, and Sea serpents. "What is this place?" I asked.

Kevin laughed and said

"This room is Solomons pool of wisdom, before I can let you into the tower with this blade I have to test you."

My suspicions rose, how did Kevin know that I had a blade, it was completely wrapped up so there was no possible way he could tell it was a sword. Kevin noticed the concerned look on my face.

"Your probably wondering about how I know this is a sword. I am a Sphinx, no mere cloth can device these eyes Obasi."

"A Sphinx, Like the one in Kemet? I read about them in history books but I always thought they were a myth."

Kevin quickly shut me down and my wondering thoughts of his race. "Enough with the questions that's not important right now" said Kevin. This cat had an attitude on him alright, and it was starting to get on my nerves. Kevin instructed me to strip naked and enter the pool.

"Do you have a change room," I asked. Kevin looked at me with a blank expression.

"Are you a child?….man up and do as I say" Kevin hissed.

I'm not going to lie this whole situation was totally awkward, but I did as instructed. The pool was warm, it almost felt like I've been here before, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"Good boy, see that wasn't so hard now was it," Kevin said mockingly.

He then un wrapped the cloth around the blade and threw it to me. I thankfully caught it by the handle. "Are you trying to kill me?, you can't just be throwing sharp objects around!" I shouted.

Kevin rolled his eyes and told me the next step was to stab myself into the chest with the sword.

I looked at him dumbfounded. "Are you crazy, I haven't even gotten into the tower, and you want me to kill myself?"

"Precisely. Haha. Are you scared? Compared to what's in that tower of horrors, this task is light work", said Kevin.

I looked back to the black blade. Fear trembled over me. I looked back up toward Kevin, he smiled at me. "Well are you going to look at the sword all day or should I just kill you now for wasting my time. He was an egotistical fuck.

"I hope your right about this", I uttered. I drew the blade toward my chest not yet stabbing my flesh. With a loud scream I jabbed the sword through my chest.

Black, black, black. That's all I could see. Was I dead, it feels like I'm drowning, yet I can breathe still. I just began to float to the bottom of what seemed to be the seafloor. I laid there for awhile. It was peaceful and calm. If felt like nothing I have even felt before. Absolute bliss.

Narrators perspective

Meanwhile back above surface. Kevin waited for something. Anything. The pool filled up with black and red blood. Obasi's body could not been seen in the murky water. Kevin could only wait. "Hopefully he can pass this test, or I'm going to have to kill him if he fails and take that sword. It doesn't belong to some random kid from the west." Suddenly a little Cherub appears and pops over to where Kevin is. "Oh how exciting…number 7. We are about to see if we have a descendant on our hands." Said the cherub. "What did I tell you about calling me seven, Annabel. My name is Kevin, and I rather not be associated with "them. And yes when he arrived at the front gates the outpost worker noticed he had a similar story to the one who climbed this very tower."

Annabel sat down near the pool sticking her feet in the black and red bloody water.

"Ew for goodness sake Anna, you are sick, you know that." Shouted Kevin. "I know…it's what I like about me. Besides I was sent hear to watch over this situation." Smiled Annabel.

Kevin looked confused, "who sent you? I wasn't informed of any of this."

"Gabriel sent me", whispered Annabel. She then looked at Kevin with a glare of a hungry wolf. But imma need you to do me a favour."

Obasi's perspective

The peace made time itself feel stagnant. There was no noise, or lighting besides the white beam of light that was shinning on me. I sat up and began to float, it really feels like I'm in water right now. I begun to swim around and figure out where I was. The beam of light followed me around. It was a large space, but surrounded by just darkness gave it a eerie feeling. Suddenly I felt a strange shift in the current. It drew me backward. In my head I was freaking out. But my body was paralyzed from fear. Suddenly I heard a roar. It sounded like a dragon from legend. I waited and waited. Then it came. A beast like I had never seen before. It looked like a dragon but a fish aswell. It has dark blue scales and brown fur. It's head was the size of a massive stone about double the size of a whales body. It's body was long like a snakes but it had arms hand legs and feet. There were no wings on it but dorsal fins; his eyes glowed. They were ruby red with a little bit of yellow in the middle. It spoke out to me, but I heard it in my mind. "WHO ARE YOU, HUMAN? YOU ARE NOT WHAT THE PROPHET PROMISED," said the beast. I said nothing; I couldn't. I was frozen still.

The beast began to swim in the darkness around me, circling. I dropped to my knees. I could feel the water stir up around me. The beast spoke again. "State your name, human. Or I will eat your soul!"

I said my name in my head "obasi." the beast then swam away for a brief moment. But then I could feel something swim toward me again. I had realized that I didn't have my sword, did I lose it? There's no way I can find it in the black. Then a human like figure began to emerge from the darkness. He had begun to swim around me in the darkness just so I couldn't see his body. But his eyes glowed. They were the same colours as the beasts. Shrieking had begun to ring in the atmosphere. It sounded like thousands of voices calling my name over and over again. It ran my train of thought off the rails and off a cliff, I held my ears and began to shout stop. STOP! STOP! STOP! After the third time it was dead quite again. I heard a deep laughter in the distance coming closer and closer. The beast and the man had appeared. The man had been riding on top of the head of the beast. In unison they both called out "Obasi, Traveller from the west. Your ancestors call out unto you. If you are truly worthy of this blade then you must survive alone for one hour. Do you accept?"

Back above the surface.

"Do you think you can do that for me Kevin?" Said Annabel as she flew around Kevin. Kevin rolled his eyes and snarled. "Whatever my hands are tied. It's not like I can say no." Lights had begun to poke their way out of the water. "We'll would you look at that… it looks like the trail has begun," smiled Annabel. She flew down closer to the middle of the pool trying to make out what's was going on beneath the surface. "Do you really think he is a descendant's? It's not rare to come across one but… he reminds me of him. Kevin laughs and doubts the idea of Obasi being Descendant. He explained that descendants are usually noticeable by they're spiritual presence and Obasi didn't seem to give one off at all. Rumbling had sounded from the waters. Roars of beasts and monster pierced their way through the surface. Kevin leaned back "I forgot how creepy this was…guess it's been awhile. "