On To The Tower

Watching as the ashes of the well built man began to scatter in the wind, Myu walked over to the lifeless body of the young girl on the ground and knelt down. Her eyes began to brim with tears as she shakingly reached out with her hand and touched Rio's head. Her eyes were still wide open from when she was stabbed through. Myu gently closed them as she lowered her head and rested it on the young girl's shoulder. "Sister... I became an awakened. I can now enter the tower…. I will make sure to reach the top. If wishes really do come true, then…. I will wish to bring you back to life. Then I will be the one to look after you. My dear sister. May the gods show mercy on your kind soul. Your baby sister is now going to start the life we always dreamed about. No matter how many years pass from this moment on, I will never forget why I am climbing the tower."

Myu stood up and reached out with her hand, allowing the flames from within her to engulf her sister's body. She stared at the body of her sister, the one who had taken care of her these past seven years, and closed her eyes slowly. "My world… My sister… I will live a life for the two of us."

Only when there was nothing but ash left did Myu scoop up as much as she could, holding them in her shirt before walking towards her home. She did not wish to leave her sister's ashes to be scattered by the wind. She would place them inside the tower, a place her sister had long dreamed about. She had tried to hide it, but it was true. She really did wish to enter the tower. Myu knew this more than anyone.

When she got home, she found a pot with a lid on it and stored the ashes she was holding inside. After sealing it with some rope and wrapping a tattered cloth around it, Myu looked around one last time before taking out the dagger that her sister had next to the bed and stuffing it into the waist of her pants before leaving the small shack. She was sure someone would one day come and take over this place once they realized no one was living there, but that was fine. From this moment on, she did not know if she would ever return to this place. She carried the makeshift urn on her back and began walking down the path that led to the main city from the mountain cliff.

Myu's destination was only one place, the tower. It was the only place she knew she could go to now. But what she found strange as she walked through the streets of the slums and made her way to the main city was that she no longer felt hungry or thirsty. In fact, her entire body seemed lighter as well. She did not know if this was some kind of effect of her new powers or what, but she did know that she had to thank the god of wrath for taking pity on her. Without the flames of wrath that she obtained, she would not have been able to survive just now. She would not have been able to avenge her sister's death so quickly and so easily. She would not have this chance to climb the tower to make her wish and bring her sister back to life. No matter how selfish this wish was. She wanted to at least try.

The streets of the main city were as lively as always. The sight of a pillar of fire seemed to have been a hot topic as Myu listened to the conversations around her. She kept her head lowered as she continued making her way toward the tower ahead of her.

She did not know what to expect. She knew monsters resided on each floor and that each floor had what was called a floor guardian. In order to pass to the next floor, you would need to kill the floor guardian. Once you did, you would get a stigma on your back that would allow you to pass through the floors you had already cleared unimpeded. This meant that no monsters would attack you and allow you to make your way back to the last floor you were on without needing to fight too much. Of course, if you attacked a monster, they would attack you.

The guardian rooms were also strange. They were unlike regular rooms and seemed to be disconnected from the world altogether. This allowed many people to enter the guardian room, but they would be separated from the others fighting their own boss. You could form teams if you had an item that allowed a temporary bond between you and your teammates to take on these guardians, but that only made the guardian harder to fight.

Myu had learned a lot about the tower over the past four years since her sister allowed her to enter the city on her own. She had been obsessed with the tower for a long, long time. Even more so than her sister.

As Myu continued down the street, she did her best not to bump into anyone as the city streets were quite busy. She did not want the urn on her back to get bumped or damaged by accident. The streets were filled with not only normal citizens but what are called climbers. Those who climb the tower. Just like what the well built man called himself, climbers were those who had awakened and would make their living off the tower itself. The monsters that you killed would drop items that you could take and use to either turn into weapons or sell to make a profit.

Myu already knew her first batch of materials would need to go towards making money. She did not know how much first floor monsters would make her, but she figured she would take this chance to try to make some quick money. Her only problem was… she only knew how to use her flames. She did not know much about the monsters inside. She just knew that they would take a bit of skill to fight.

"Rio, I might die as soon as I enter, but it will be worth it if I can make it through. And if I end up dying, I will get to see you again…." Myu did not know if what happened earlier was a fluke or not, but she was willing to give her life if it meant she could at least step into the tower and try to fight a monster, but not before burying the ashes of her sister. This was her top priority now.

It took three hours to reach the gates leading to the tower. Myu walked up to the heavily guarded gate and stood in line with the others. Many people looked at her, but no one said a word. This was common in this world since no one had time to care about others outside their circle, especially if you were a climber.

When Myu finally got to the gate, a sword appeared before her eyes. "Kid, this is no place to play. Fuck off!"

Myu ignored the guard's words and showed her arm. "You can't deny me access."

"This!? But how!?" The guard's face flashed with jealousy as he looked at the fiery tattoo that showed its runic markings.

"That's not your business." Myu felt irked by the guard's attitude. She reached out and touched the tip of the guard's sword. It slowly began to turn red hot before the guard yelled out in pain as he tossed his sword and jumped back. "Shit! What the fuck are you doing!?"

Myu did not even give the man a second glance as she walked past the gate, not caring for the looks others were giving her. She did not know why they even had a checkpoint at the gate since you couldn't even enter the tower unless you had the markings of a god or goddess on your body. But now, before her, she was staring at the open door to the tower. She was about to embark on her first step to becoming a climber.