Tower of Worlds

Chapter 1—Global change.

In the middle of the oceans, far from lands and men, one day it appeared. Defying the waves, this tower stood upright, unshakable and untouchable. It appeared as an enigma and will remain one for all.

At first, it was given a single name carrying thousands of meanings while all the satellites of the world were pointed at her: an anomaly. Overnight, what was just a few pixels on the radar screen had become the center of the world.

The first image to cross the world came from a container ship passing several miles away. For the mass of humans, it was just one more weird picture, a meaningless retouched photo probably showing only a lighthouse or a building poorly framed and repainted in black. No one was interested in this image.

For the armies, it still bore the name of anomaly as they set out to sea in search of an answer to what could only be alien to our world. They were the first to reach it, but could not touch it. A mysterious barrier enveloping it completely refusing access to all, living or not.

Reporters drawn to secrets then followed the military, boarding ships in search of an answer to the unrest. It was at this point that a first video was released of an endless black tower rising to the heavens as helicopters and warships revolve around it.

All over the world, all eyes were on it, on what was called "the Tower": a building 1618 meters in radius and several tens of kilometers high, towering above the terrestrial troposphere. With its appearance, it has become the tallest edifice on Earth and surpasses all that the genius of men is capable of.

The scientists' analyzes were clear, the tower gave off no heat, no electric or radio waves, and there was no evidence that a life form was actually inside, human or not.

From there, as everyone waited for an answer or even a sign from the tower, there was nothing. The tower did not change, but the world did.

Scientific, philosophical or religious theories spread over the surface of the Earth like a tidal wave whose waves never dried up. For six months the world gravitated around the tower. The words then became rarer and ended up drying up. For the most part, out of fashion and thoughts have turned to simpler and more mundane things. Humanity knew of its existence, but its existence brought nothing to humanity.

One day, as its image sank into the subconscious, it sent a message to everyone.

I was too young then to understand what I was hearing in my head. "Challenge," "destination," " leave Earth." It was all too abstract for me, who at the time was just a child.

Later, I understood it: a journey of no return to the unknown. This was what the tower offered to those who entered. The strangest thing for me was the ritual necessary to enter the tower.

"When you close your eyes, think of the Tower of Worlds, this is how a key will appear there. Then, sleeping with the key in your hand, you will find yourself in front of me."

The instructions are pretty straightforward, right? Too simple, even.

All humans have heard this message and as a result the world has gone mad. Governments have all without exception recommended not to follow this instruction, but for the more reckless, it was nothing more than a challenge. For the majority, it was just a game of making keys appear and there have been many scientific experiments to understand the phenomenon. Each key, however, seemed to emerge from nothing in a way just as inexplicable as what the tower had done until then.

As for the more reckless, those who decided to enter the tower, most returned fairly quickly, suddenly disappearing into their sleep and reappearing as the keys did in just a few minutes. These people all had one thing in common, a very pronounced feeling of unease ranging from disgust to panic attacks to the mention or the sight of a photo of the so-called "tower of worlds", as it presented itself in its message.

However, some people did not return. For about one in ten people, the tower wouldn't let them come back. For them, science said there was probably a selection process. Governments simply announced that they were probably all dead.

I grew up in a world shaken up by the appearance of the tower. In playgrounds, on screens, in newspapers. Everything was done to show the tower as a killer or a man-eater. Because of that, there was a taboo for kids like me to brave, and no one my age saw the harm in spawning keys. Courage tests at that time consisted of falling asleep with a key. Mostly, the children returned with a trauma related to the tower and a correction from their parents and it was an opportunity to make fun of them, but some did not return, carried away forever by the tower.

It was during this period that politicians ended up changing their approach by moving from recommendations to sanctions. In my country, it was a question of fines to the one who tries or to his family in the event of disappearance or even imprisonment for incitement to use the keys. Since cells were empty due to fleeing prisoners in the tower, there was no problem putting new prisoners there. The tower has become a taboo because of this, we know of its existence, but we must not talk about it.

Disappearing in the tower therefore became a crime, but on top of that, it was a stupid idea causing pain to those close to you, a betrayal of your country and even a form of terrorism or radicalization. When the old religions got involved, the tower then became a door to hell.

I must say that my country made quite the effect by announcing that a trip to the tower was nothing but suicide and, by dint of hearing that, the idea stuck in my head.

The results were clear anyway, after a year fewer and fewer people tried to enter. It is difficult to say if it is because those concerned had already all tried or if the hammering and the censorship actually ended up working.

Because of the tower, a new disease has in any case appeared in the books under the name of Tower Trauma, which gives "TT," whose symptoms are now close to insanity. One more reason not to take the risk.

Pro-tour religions then began to appear preaching that the salvation of mankind would come through the tower and that its invitation should be taken as a command. A sort of ultimate test for the salvation of the human race. Enter the tower to become a kind of holy figure joining god.

For the scientists, there was so much to discover that they just decided to ignore the global hustle and bustle and focus on understanding the teleportation phenomenon. On the other hand, because of the easy key-making process, factories have started to emerge where the masses can spawn keys all day long to retrieve the metal much more easily than by mining it.

Everyone was reacting to the tower and for over a decade I went through it all without it really affecting my life. I never made the leap by falling asleep with a key in my hand, even for fun. Because of all the images I saw, it was impossible. It felt like I was making a huge mistake.

Basically, I think the image of suicide stuck in my head. The image of a bald man on TV staring at the camera convincingly saying that trying to get in was suicide struck me.

Time passed then, without me really thinking about the tower. The world hasn't changed that much in the end, you still have to study, find a job, get married, etc.

For my part, I missed a few boxes of the usual pattern. No work and I try to survive until the end of the month. I only have my girlfriend for me. My "other half," "my world," or whatever the love cliché movies can use as a nickname.

For her, the world is heading for either ecological, ideological or economic catastrophe. A few bad words with a definition that I can understand and that I kept from my student's years. The tower was his idea of a solution and it sounded like a bad joke most of the time.

I didn't pay attention when she spoke seriously about it the first time, or even the second and subsequent times. She started buying some of the authorised philosophical and religious books and that's where I got interested.

Basically, what are you risking? A phobia? Tower trauma? That's all?

On the other hand, I could finally learn what's in the tower and mock anyone who gets it wrong from the inside. There is, of course, the word "challenge" used in the tower message.

The unknown scares me, but maybe once inside I'll be better than here?

My girlfriend has become more and more distant on her side, especially when the end of the month is difficult. No job or money and dreams that are shattered more and more each day. Going into the tower becomes heady. According to her, it is no longer "suicide," but an opportunity to be seized, an experience to be attempted. Now just because I think about it doesn't mean I'm going to do it. I'm not the type to rush into something completely unknown, but there's a reason I'm thinking about it.

Whether I like it or not, she will try with or without me to enter the tower. When I think about it, I tell myself that I would rather die than lose her. I only have her and if she has to try to enter the tower, I don't want to be left alone.

So, in a way, I am ready to make a leap into the unknown for her. Hopefully, I'll be with her again in a few minutes, wherever that may be.

Key in hand we lie down together in bed, without being sure to ever come back.