[System Notice…]

  [...]

  [...]

  The dots repeated, blinking before the nose of every awakener on the pnet. The Earth-shaking descent of the Tower immediately forced the world into an uneasy truce overnight. No one alive had seen it before, but historical records spoke of it. It existed almost as an illusionary space, forever on the edge of the horizon—the Tower existed simultaneously in every country and in no country. It seemed to be at an arm’s length but also an eternity away. Numerous Gates worldwide opened and functioned as entrances with more opening by the second. The powers that be scrambled to secure the entrances they could, but the numbers were too plentiful, too pervasive.

  Fractal patterns split the heavens and winds raged, dancing across the earth while howling at the moonless sky. The world watched. Some looked up in awe—some in fear. Consteltions messaged their wards. The Tower offered a challenge to humanity, but it also offered reward in equal measure. The concentration of mana accelerated worldwide. [The System] seemed almost too generous in its support.

  [System Notice. The mana concentration on Earth has reached critical levels due to the illegal entry of thirteen Css 7 Entities, one Css 5 Entity, and one —Cl*&0^#3.14159(@]— and one Css 1 Entity. The Tower has descended. Please clear the Tower within the allotted timeframe or the entities will be released.]

  The screen was updated though some characters were unreadable. The world held its breath. The Gate entrances began to glow. Entry was now permitted… And on the first day of its descent, seconds after the system’s announcement, the first wave of eager Awakeners entered The Tower. A timer appeared on [The System]. It started ticking down.

  Anatoly looked up at the sky with dead eyes. His lips tightened into a thin line as shaking hands pulled at his hair.

  “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” He screamed and smashed his hands against the snow, the force shattering the earth and creating a crater below. His [System] had additional messages. He read over the Contract details again and again looking for a way out. None existed. The man born awakened, the man who had never deigned it necessary to sign a contract with a consteltion due to his pride, was now bound to a malevolent god against his will.

  “For over a month I’d been searching for an opening to escape.” He looked down at his shattered hands and watched a white light surge out from his core to heal them. He could feel the surging tide of mana buried in his heart, hanging over him like the sword of Damocles. He was now nothing more than a tool and, if he tried to rebel, he would become even less than that. He could become an Avatar at that monster’s behest at any time.

  Anatoly shook his head to vacate his thoughts. He didn’t have time to wallow. “First, I have to find Watergss,” he said.

  “So Scale was wrapped up into the Tower?” asked Sarah.

  “Yes,” said Alyssa. “She was on the level of a Consteltion already. I can prove that much. It makes sense when you think about what we know. She died before awakening here, so she was never tied to the System. She reincarnated as an extremely talented being in a world far away. By the time she returned she was strong enough to slip past the Veil.”

  “But now that more Consteltions showed up—”

  “The System noticed her and swept her up with them.”

  “That’s not what happened,” said Anatoly through grit teeth. “She knew about whatever was coming ahead of time. She was waiting for it. She even increased her mana when it arrived. She wanted it to grab her. It doesn't make sense.”

  “It makes sense when you think about who showed up,” said Alyssa. “After she returned from the Gate at the Mississippi, Scale was afraid, you know.”

  “Something could make her afraid?” Anatoly didn’t sound convinced.

  “Oh?” Sarah smiled. She seemed to understand.

  “You may understand the dynamics of power, Mr. Fist,” Alyssa tapped him on the cheek, “but you don’t have a clue about other things. Just because you’re strong enough to punch your father and win, does that mean you no longer fear his disapproval? Does strength of fist invalidate strength of heart? We don't respect our elders because they can beat us in a fight, you know.”

  “You’re saying these entities that the system spoke of… She knows them?”

  “Worse than just that. One is her mother and the rest—” Alyssa ughed but didn’t eborate. “If she’s stuck in that tower until we clear it, it makes sense why she took such drastic actions. She loves freedom and it probably hurt her deeply to take away yours.”

  “She didn’t seem particurly upset while breaking my bones.”

  “Well, you did bring a team of assassins to kill her sister and sister-in-w~” Sarah chimed in with a light jab.

  “I only came to fight her. The others… I feel even if I wasn’t here she would have made you fight them.”

  “You’re probably right.” Alyssa shrugged. She grabbed the television remote and turned up the volume. On the screen a familiar face started talking—

  “This is Hana the Gossip coming at you live from the first floor of the Tower! As you know, we’ve only just recently developed technology to stream from the inside of Gates, but our techies have already altered the equipment to work inside The Tower too! We’ve equipped both of the scouting teams with our special cameras and we’re going to show the world how we—"

  The top of the Tower resembled a wide meadow. Flowers bloomed and a stream babbled by. Butterflies danced around a picnic table buffet. Olimaw held a white teakettle between two cwed fingers and sat at the head of the table. Perhaps at a distance the picnic setup would look normal, but if a standard sized human were to sit here they would be but an ant on the tablecloth. Thirteen young dragons of varying colors and figures sat around the table. Some had more humanoid forms and sat as such, while a few rexed like a cat would by using all four limbs on the seat. All of the thirteen had one thing in common, however—they were all staring at the being at the opposite end of the table.

  At the far end, shimmering and white, a beautiful and sleek dragon shivered under the relentless, sticky eyes. Her wings curled around her body, hiding much of it from view, and she stared daggers at Olimaw on the far end.

  Scale wasn’t happy. While she could have slipped the bonds of The Tower, doing so would only cause harm to the Earth in the long run. The Tower’s difficulty scaled with the animosity and drive of the Consteltions trapped within. So long as they were amicable, then the awakeners of earth stood a good chance of clearing this test.

  Scale let her eyes briefly fall upon the thirteen ‘matches’ her mother had brought. Her stomach churned and she had to close her eyes. She didn’t want to use force. There were consequences to fighting inside The Tower. The best method avaible was to expel them all without allowing it to come to blows. And for that to happen then Scale needed to py her mother’s game.

  Dragons had immense pride from the day they were born. None of those present thought they could match Scale in terms of strength, they could all feel that, but every one of them thought themselves more than a match in terms of appeal.

  [Shall we start with the introductions?] said Olimaw. Her pristine white scales mirrored Scale’s own. The two were simir but also different. Whereas Olimaw was formed by harsh angles and lines, Scale’s draconic body had a supple softness to it that radiated warmth like sunshine on a cold day.

  “Ah. Very well.” Scale’s eyes narrowed as she spoke. Her voice thrummed like a plucked guitar string. She didn’t cower under the eyes anymore. She knew she needed to project confidence even if she wanted nothing to do with this farce. So long as these dragons were here, unless she was willing to raise a hand to her own mother, this was the only way.

  It had to be this way.

  The camera captured the first internationally organized team to enter the tower. The stream showed them standing on a desert of shifting yellow sands. No other living beings could be seen. The sands were littered with stone blocks and white bones. The scouting team knew they were not the first people to enter. There didn’t seem to be any survivors. The rgest stone block stood in front of the team. On it were words that [The System] roughly transted to, “Travel by night. Still by day. The sky inverts. Red stars guide the way.”

  Heavy Tomtom, an American S-rank awakener, motioned forward. Carefully, the tank line marched. The ground rumbled beneath them. The artificial sun wheeled overhead, disappearing over the false horizon. A river of stars appeared, a replica of the Milky Way. Glowing red eyes popped up from the sand, opening pair by pair in a cascade; it looked like the desert was bleeding.

  “Fletching Snakes, B-rank!” Someone called out the name of the magical beasts. Normally B-rank monsters wouldn’t be a threat to a powerful crew of A and S ranked awakeners… But as the scouting team looked out across the desert and met the eyes of millions of snakes, their hearts began to waver.

  The man operating the camera pulled it close to his chest. His rough breathing could be heard on the stream. He turned around to see the Gate that they had entered from vanish into smoke.

  “It seems that once you enter you can’t leave,” said Tomtom. He ughed and looked at the cameraman. “Chalet, make sure you record everything. We are the vanguard. So let's give the world a good show."

  They didn't know how long it would be until reinforcements arrived--or even if reinforcements were coming. Heavy raised his shield and beat his hand against it.