Aldenoah's Sky

Aldenoah is an obscure but godly linguist also known by few as the Hidden Sage of Tongues. He might not be famous even in his home country Shinar, but he is revered by the few who know his name and capabilities. It is so, especially in the art of languages. If not for being lowkey, he could've been a key person in history books.

Hundreds of years after The Great Flood, kingdoms emerged and cultures flourished. The endless cycle of life and death, ignorance and enlightenment, order and chaos honed the language that people use. This is so to the point that the origins of language slowly fade to obscurity.

Even so with the little amount of information available, Aldenoah studied the origins of language from the sounds to intonation as well as emotions and the cultural relevance of each word. From a mere idea, the seed of his endeavor turned into a school of thought. From a mere school of thought, his philosophy approached the level of laws of the universe. Unknowingly, in the kingdom of Shinar, there is a man who cultivated himself and his ideology to the level that almost reached godhood.

With the flourishing of the Kingdom of Shinar, as the living condition improve, people's endeavors also took a huge leap. From conquering lands and seas, they also want to tip their toes in the realms of the heavens.

How good it is to reach and conquer the skies and the realm that only gods reside in?

How does it feel to become a god and look down on mortals?

Humans yearn to fly, but what they yearn the most is to reach the heavens. For that to happen, the King and his Kingdom of Shinar attempted to erect a tower that will challenge the Gods - the Tower of Babel.

Aside from the king and other beings at the high chairs, Aldenoah's sight also pierced through the clouds. It might not be for money, power, and influence, but he longed to learn the language that gods use. He yearned to look at the language he painstakingly studied as a whole and not as fragments. He wanted to grasp the power of language and look at its primitive and final phase. Like a god, he dreamed of looking at the cycle of evolution of language, not at the pace of humans, but something far unfathomable - Gods.

Like bamboo, the Tower of Babel slowly rises and at its coattails, Aldenoah wanted to ride. Aldenoah believed that at the peak of Babel, he could reach godhood. Thus, secretly he cultivated his knowledge there without the knowledge of the people; even the monarch.

Since his knowledge was saturated, he tend to use his time at the tower to consolidate his knowledge and assimilate it into his inner self. This sounds so novel and fictitious, but it is just the act of being one with his principles. If a swordsman needs to be one with the sword, a linguist needs to be one with his language.

It took a long time and nothing was heard from Aldenoah even by his acquaintances and friends. Like the origins of language, he faded to obscurity.

Meanwhile, Babel continued to reach higher into the sky. With the power of slavery and countless wars and justified pillage, no one in the world could stop the rise of the tower. The status of the King in the hearts of people rose as well. If faith could be quantified and observed, the faith in the King steadily accumulates. The people believed that the lineage of the King will ascend to the heavens and will bring prosperity to the world.

This notion is also what made people afraid.

Challenging the heavens is akin to inviting its judgment.

One day, as the people celebrate the King, and while the tower was being built nonstop, a devastating bolt of lightning hit the tower. A blinding flash lit up the sky turning night into day. Who knew that a bolt of lightning could obliterate a sturdy tower.

Hundreds of people died and fell along with the debris. Some were disintegrated by the lightning even before the tower fell. Many got injured and most of the people within the perimeter encircling the tower got implicated.

The tower was almost complete according to its original design, but due to the bolt of lightning, the tower became far cry from its supposed and former glory. The wrath of the heavens caused the people's faith in the King to dwindle. They believe that the King's greed caused the ire of God to befall them. Minstrels spread tales and myths about the bolt of lightning. The tales were captivating, but they did not aid in the situation. Furthermore, the information people picked became tainted with lies and exaggeration. Every turn of events made everything worse each time. The kingdom became chaotic due to the belief that God was enraged.

The chaos became an opportunity for other schools of thought to emerge. Prophets and fortune-tellers used the tide of events to either indoctrinate people or scam them. As the King slowly lost his halo, the people who eyed his throne did not let the opportunity slip by. With the help of the scholars, the people of the Kingdom were divided into different factions of schools. From a united country, it became a congregation of sectarian communities. Differing beliefs caused the former sense of nationality to cease along with the former Kingdom of Shinar. Meanwhile, Babel became a huge expanse of a graveyard for the dead slaves. The King and his lineage perished and the cake that is thoroughly sliced and partaken is not worth obtaining. No one sat on the throne, but the enemies brought their own chairs.

As the sect's influence became stronger and beliefs integrate more into the society, a lack of trust between people of different beliefs ensued. Sectarian communities developed their own culture and along with that and the passage of time, local languages emerged and evolved into something exclusive to a group of people.

Sectarian communities spread and became their own countries. The languages began to drift from their origin. Like their predecessor, the language of Shinar faded into obscurity as well. The events gave birth to a plethora of changes in the world and aside from the Tower of Babel, everything was buried underneath the ground along with the fallen royal family.

As for Aldenoah? His ideology ascended to law at the cost of his body. Perhaps, he died.

Or, maybe somewhere in the world, he reincarnated.

---

In a modern-day world, the things archaic people cherish were often taken for granted.

As technology evolves, methods of communication become more efficient and faster. Long ago, as distance increases, the transmission of the message becomes longer in terms of time. Such methods were also more vulnerable to interceptions. That is why being apart from someone is tedious especially if communication is a must. It is not just for the case lovers, but also for those who need either constantly talk with each other.

The long transmission time also permits mishaps to occur during the delivery of the message. Even now that technology is advanced that such problems occur, what more when a message is sent via horse. The horse could die, the courier could die, and the recipient could die even before the message arrives.

In a certain cramped, studio-type room, one could see a man engrossed in his computer screen. His fingers as fast as light, he types multiple lines of codes in his Integrated Development Environment (IDE). In the hands of this man is the completion of something that might change the course of communication.

"Ader! You missed your son's birthday again!.", said a guy in a simple shirt and jeans. He was looking at the immersed Ader whose eyes were nailed to the screen.

Ader, which is a textbook definition of nerd, squinted his eyes."Wait! When was it? Crap, my wife will kill me. George, what should I do?"

Ader's face was filled with fear, panic, and disappointment. He is disappointed in himself.

"Pfft... HAHAHA!"

The guy named George couldn't hold his laughter any longer.

"You! You have the gall to laugh at my predicament. What kind of friend are you?" veins bulged in Ader's head. The panic-stricken face was slightly overwritten with anger and indignance.

George sat next to Ader's workspace and booted his computer. He let out a sigh. "You keep on forgetting important things. I won't be surprised if one day you get cucked by some Tom, Dick and Harry."

Due to intense emotions, Ader is on the verge of crying.

"See? You even forgot that you don't have a wife as well as a child. Goodness! You're so drowned in work that you believed everything I said. The next time I see you like that, I might collect some nonexistent debt from you. I bet that you'd willingly pay for it."

Ader was dumbfounded. His facial expression became complicated. 'F*ck! Since when did I have a mundane relationship with women. George, you piece of sh*t! I almost run back to my nonexistent home.'

"Fuck off! Gonna take a break for a while. You better finish the database by 11 pm or I'll deduct your salary." Ader took off and bought an empty cup from his desk. As he went out, George raised his fist with a middle finger valiantly standing like a monarch.

"What a petty shit! Fuck you, Ader! Oh, buy me some cigs as well."

"Hmph! I'm not heading to the convenience store. You have legs, use them or I'll cut them."

Ader went out for a bit. The room he came out of is so cramped. Even when alone, aside from being stuffy, it is hard to stride inside or even stretch one's limbs. The issue becomes more apparent with the addition of George.

These two were independent researchers collaborating on a top-secret project. For outsiders, they might think that these two were just basement nerds trying to fulfill their eighth-grade dream, but in reality, the significance of their work is something that would change how communication and language learning is approached. The prime essence of language is what's at stake in this project.

"Once Babel is complete, I could finally peak at the Law that I made thousands of years ago. I might be smitten by lightning again... but it'll be worth it." with a resolute look, Ader eventually went to the convenience store.

'With language as my wings, the heavens are my sky.'