The Dreaded Spiral Tower 1 Arthur's Letter

After a few moments of hesitation, Dark decided to write out his day-- an eventful one, at that.

Journal Entry #1: August 28th, year xx02

Well, my therapist suggested I keep a diary... A way of coping with emotions?

Considering that I liked to write a lot, I guess it worked out fine.

If somehow another person stumbles onto this diary I suggest you read it, it will probably be interesting...

At least I hope.

What if I die a day after this diary starts? That would be kind of boring.

The name? Pffft. Dark Everich. I am eighteen years old, and I plan on climbing the Spiral Tower... in a few years, probably.

I still need to unlock my innate ability, but it's pretty difficult. If only I had better genes... Guess I'll have to live with it.

Anyway, thank the Yato G.o.d I have a photographic memory. I wouldn't be able to create a journal otherwise.

It started off like any normal day, I guess...

That's a complete lie.

I woke up sometime around noon, thanks to the d.a.m.n parading in the streets.

Apparently a new king was selected as a successor to the throne. It was huge news I guess, but I could careless about politics right now.

Anyway, as I got out of my jammies and put on some ghetto clothes,

I yelled: "Cindy make me some d.a.m.n cereal!" . . .

Of course, I am referring to the robot I named Cindy. Not an actual human...

Probably.

She politely responded back in a robotic tone, after a five second delay,

"You dumba.s.s! We don't have any milk!"...

Who programmed that lovely machine, Satan?

Suddenly, I heard a buzz coming from my castle-like gate.

I slid on my shoes and I navigated through my polished garden, filled with various trees, fresh daffodils and roses, and moved around the huge fountain in the interior.

I had to do this in a rush, since I rarely got visitors.

Turns out it wasn't a visitor. I nodded my head towards the friendly postman, and wrote out a check to the greedy government for payment.

It wasn't often that I received postage mail, as this system was very outdated because of our largely corrupt government.

The postage center also wasn't a reliable method of communication since they inspected each letter in accordance to three strict principles.

These principles are as follows:

One, each letter must be paid for by the recipient and the sender.

Two, letters that are sent must either contain public information or greetings.

Three, discussion of the Spiral Tower is strictly prohibited.

If letters were deemed unfit, they were immediately disposed of, wasting the large sum of money paid by the sender.

In the worst case scenario, rumors speculated that people were killed.

What kind of information would cause people to die?

Simple, talking about any secret information regarding the Spiral Tower.

The Spiral Tower is a complete mystery but is hugely uncovered, there are precious gems and unknown metals that are still undiscovered and they all fetch a high price in the market, finding a singular gem could make someone a millionaire because of how strongly values fluctuate.

All I know currently about the Spiral Tower is that my father is in it, it's filled with unknown monsters and poisons, and there are an absolute 100 levels in total, and that there are two flights of stairs in each labyrinth.

One flight of stairs take you upwards a level, while the other takes you downwards. Along with that, the location of these stairs randomly change as time pa.s.ses.

Many people have dreams about the Spiral Tower, in that they wanted to become rich or famous so they climbed it.

Well, my ambition one day is to reach the peak. This coincided along with my fathers dream to see beyond the summit.

Before my mother pa.s.sed away, she told me of a revelation she had in her dying breaths. My therapist said to forget her words, but I will cling to them with my life.

"The world will end unless the four heroes can break the darkness enshrouding it all. Kill the ent.i.ty."

I love you, Mother. I will avenge you.

*scribble* *scribble*

...

Some had speculated that the Spiral Tower was endless, but that theory got debunked in a matter of decades. Only one person has made it to the summit, otherwise known as the "t.i.tan Layer", but that person has disappeared ever since then.

Anyway, back to the generic friendly postman.

Since my father is currently adventuring in the Spiral Tower, receiving his letter worried me endlessly, as the worst possible scenarios filled my mind.

He had to stay alive, for mom's sake as well as mine. After all, he promised her.

Why did I have to receive this letter?

After obtaining the letter, I hastened back to my newly remodeled living room that displayed t.i.tanium white walls br.i.m.m.i.n.g with confidence, and quickly turned my marble fireplace on.

I finally opened the s.h.i.+ny flap up of the envelope, and slowly read his letter.

The last words I would ever read from my father.

================================================================

If you're reading this, I am dead. I repeat, I am dead. Don't look for me. Unless you want to suffer the same fate. I am sorry to have been such a terrible father, and it was a difficult choice for me to make. Know that I scaled the Spiral Tower for the sake of our family. Stay strong.

Carefully look into my bookshelf. There hidden extravagantly, tells one wish easily reachable.

Let every virtue encompa.s.s life. 100 antiques left in various excerpts.

================================================================

I almost cried, but this letter... I knew for a fact, my father wouldn't write something like this . . .

Right?

I panicked. Leading to a complete meltdown.

The way I acted was very uncanny.

Sometimes, my emotions got the best of me.

All because of that one d.a.m.n day.

...

End journal.

*...A few hours earlier.*

Dark paced around the room with a broken smile, controlled by a bunch of conflicting emotions, he went into a rage.

"This wasn't like him at all." He yelled in agony.

"I have my suspicions about this letter, considering that he specifically stated that I was to climb the Spiral Tower and to fulfill my dream one day... Right?"

He struck the wall with extravagant force.

"And that he literally said to never give up... Right?"

He sharply bit his tongue like a tiger capturing its prey.

"In fact, I was planning on doing that in a few years. I know for certain that my father wasn't lying when he said that. No, he definitely couldn't have lied. That was just the kind of person he was... Right?" These thoughts ravaged his mind.

He exhaled, the largest breath known to mankind.

He waited a few minutes, and eventually calmed down.

This was to keep a level head and to think rationally.

"When a.n.a.lyzing the letter, there were obvious red herrings, after our thousands of conversations held I could easily notice the weird word choice of his writing, (noticeably in the last two lines), or the simple fact that we don't even have a bookshelf in the first place... How did I not notice that obvious lie in the first place?" He gasped.

"I'm a dumba.s.s." He whispered quietly into the thin air.

His eyes s.h.i.+fted greatly, as he had an epiphany: "Someone else may have sent this, in an attempt to trick me."

In order for him to verify if this was really sent from his father, he used a cotton swab to obtain DNA where the envelope was sealed (messily with an unprofessional lick).

After going through his quaint gate, he used his handy-dandy personal transmitter, scanned his iris and unlocked a s.h.i.+ny, gray motorcycle.

Dark drove towards a pathology laboratory at what felt like Mach 20, but realistically it was only 200 mph (321 km) as a result of mild traffic.

There, Dark met up with Kate at the laboratory. Luckily for him, since all businesses are State-owned enterprises, she has access to the World DNA Database, which will allow him to find out if his father really wrote this.

Dark went through the revolving doors and made eye-contact with Kate, one of his close friends. He walked over to her, with the same smile as usual.

"I had a habit of hiding my emotions, it all started from that faithful day." He thought to himself while approaching Kate, unaware of the struggles Dark has endured.

"I couldn't willingly open up to anyone. I was scared. From then on, I have always kept an upbeat att.i.tude no matter what the circ.u.mstance was, in order to hide my true self, and to make sure it never happened again." He repeated in his mind.

"Hey Kate!" He whispered quietly like an angel, "can you do me another solid? I need to a.n.a.lyze DNA from a letter I received from my father, I have reasons to believe I am being bamboozled." He gave his usual short smile.

Kate laughed and said, "d.a.m.n, are crooks after you again?" She smiled brightly and softly whispered, "No problem, I can test the DNA without anyone noticing. Buuut, you have to treat me to Ice Cream later, alright?" Her eyes were seductive.

Dark nodded and smiled, he quickly handed the evidence to Kate and quickly exited the pristine building.

Outside, he noticed a nearby velvet bench that looked very clean. He sat and looked up. He imagined a few skysc.r.a.pers here and there, a bunch of jets, and the Spiral Tower enshrouding it all.

"We would be in complete darkness if it wasn't for our enhanced eyesight." He said in a thankful tone. "Although every human has special characteristics, each one has the same gifted eyesight. Because of it, we can make light rays appear out of thin air~" he recited like a school presentation.

"Atleast.. that is what scientists believe at this given time." He groaned.

In this world, no one truly knows the reason why each individual human has unique characteristics, even with the a.n.a.lysis of DNA.

The extent to which each persons innate ability can go to is also unknown. Some are very weak yet some reach levels that surpa.s.s mankind.

Even then, technology has still accelerated in an insane rate compared to the past.

When he returned to the lab, Dark finally obtained the DNA results from Kate. He was stoked to have gotten closer to the truth of what happened.

After she gave him the envelope, he rushed a quick, "Thank you!" and hurried outside of the building.

Pa.s.sing through the revolving doors, he ran towards his motorcycle. Nothing else was on his mind.

"Considering that someone else could have sent this letter, if they knew that my father was climbing the spiral tower I could be in extreme danger, since something like that should be confidential, meaning they are out to kill me, Again." He said in a threatening voice.

He quickly unlocked his motorcycle with this slow transmitter and took off.

He returned home as fast as a cheetah, actually, a lot faster.

When he opened the envelope he got the news.

It turned out. . .

both samples of DNA. . .

matched up to his father?

He knew Kate well, she wouldn't have messed up the results. This meant that his theory was wrong. But there were still so many red flags. He proceeded to investigate the letter once again. His father might have created some misdirection, but for what reason?

Then it hit him.

"In order to deter the postal company from revoking the letter!" He was stunned and in awe.

"There must be a secret in the letter that he had to hide from the government. What could it be?" The endless scenarios filled his mind.

"One wish easily reachable"... he still couldn't find anything worthwhile.

This gray envelope looked rather clean, and it was freshly made, a.s.suming that the date on the envelope was correct.

It was delivered through the government postage office, so the letter itself probably wasn't tampered with in the delivering process, in contrast with third-party postal services that had less rules and were cheaper, but at the same time weren't secure.

"Let every virtue, encompa.s.s life"... he looked for any obvious clues, but knowing how much of a trickster his father was, if this letter had a message in disguise he wouldn't have left any room for error.

He thought to himself again, what type of misdirection is he using? Dark knew a little bit about human psychology but he could still only scratch the tip of the iceberg when it came to uncovering the truth.

"50 antiques, left in various excerpts"...?

He spent hours investigating this letter.

Then, it had finally clicked.

He had decided to head upwards into the Spiral Tower, as he had found the true meaning behind the letter.

He decided to obtain supplies, his list of supplies to gather were tonics that would allow him to regain health, magic infused armor, and a good old-fas.h.i.+oned sword and s.h.i.+eld.

This was because one of his special characteristics happened to be hand-to-hand combat.