Tower of Origin - Book 1 - Chapter 5 - The Tower of Origin Part I (Patreon)

                                                                        Blake Artorius
                                                       Year 6137 | Month 11 | Day 1

Diane pulled me around the manor for a couple dozen minutes before having one of the maids send me back to my room again to prepare for the Hour of Origin while she went back to her own room.

And now I find myself staring up at the ceiling of my new, fancy room while manipulating several strings above my body with one of my hands held on top of the other on my stomach.

I turn my head to look at the clock next to the bed before pausing for a second and looking back at the strings again.

Hmm, might as well.

I clear away five of the seven strings, causing them to vanish into thin air before I direct the two remaining strings to wrap around the clock itself. After that, I lift the strings with the clock upwards, causing the clock to slowly float up into the air.

The process of doing this makes my brows furrow a little from the concentration, but it’s at least working, so there’s that.

I watch the clock with the time ’11:56 PM’ flashing continue floating in midair for a few seconds before I create another string and quickly feel my control on the other two currently holding the clock slack slightly. The clock proceeds to fall nearly a foot in the air, stopping only when I catch it again by putting more focus on the two strings holding it.

This is going to take a lot of practice to get used to.

Right as I’m about to summon another string, a thought comes to mind, and I lower the clock back onto the nightstand before sitting up and looking around the room for something. After only a few seconds of looking, my eye narrows in on the dresser a few meters away and I direct the three strings over towards it.

I quickly wrap the strings around the handle for one of the drawers before carefully using the strings to pull it open, revealing a drawer full of different articles of clothing.

Hmm, I guess that’ll do.

Without any hesitation, I use the strings to pull out a sock before wrapping one of the strings completely around the sock and constricting the string.

Let’s see if it can cut a-

My thoughts are interrupted as the sock is cut through all the way with only a small amount of struggle, causing the separate halves to land onto the floor.

My eyebrows raise slightly before I suddenly feel a pulse radiate throughout my body from the Chrono eye in my right eye socket.

I quickly turn to look at the clock and find it displaying ’12:00 AM.’

Guess it’s time to go…

My thoughts trail off as my eyelids begin to grow heavier and heavier before I can no longer keep them open anymore and everything goes dark.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As soon as I regain consciousness, my eyes shoot open, and I find myself calmly descending through the air. However, the air around me, despite how calm my descent seems, is by no means calm.

The sky is full of extremely dark clouds, with occasional bolts of deep-blue lightning striking throughout the clouds. Meanwhile, directly in front of me is an enormous tower. Parts of the tower are rather clearly visible, but most of it seems to be cloaked in some sort of shadowy substance, with an appearance slightly similar to the dark clouds in the sky, except much darker and moving at a much faster pace.

There also seem to be a couple other buildings scattered around the island of which the large tower is on, but most of them are rather small, with only one of them being a little over half the height of the first tower. And even that one is cloaked in clouds, making it difficult to see.

Before I can look around anymore or pay any specific attention to the dozens of people walking around on the island’s surface, a flow of words appears in front of my face with an appearance similar to the HUD. At the same time, a deep voice echoes in my head speaking said words out loud.

After I finish reading through the words in front of me, they disappear, leaving only the voice in my head to continue as my body suddenly begins flying through the air towards the main tower.

“The Tower of Origin is the largest structure on the Plane of Origin, and it is the location of which you will be playing the games. It has various private Origin planes within it where the games themselves will be held, along with the reception desks used to register for the games, and two locations where you may purchase an increase in your Tier.”

Once the voice finishes, I feel myself flying through the air again towards the second largest tower, where the voice once again continues speaking.

“The Tower of Commerce is the second largest structure on the Plane of Origin, and it is the location of which you will be able to find various shops, both Chrono created, and Keeper created. These shops will both have items that can be brought to Arkea, and items that can’t be brought there and can only be used within the games.”

I look at the tower now that I’m getting a closer look at it, but it’s still coated in clouds, making it difficult to make out anything except for the top of it.

After the voice finishes this time, I find myself floating downwards towards the various scattered buildings on the island below before stopping several meters in the air above them.

“The Island Central is an area of the Plane of Origin in which any Tier 4 or higher Chrono may set up their own private building, which can be used for both commerce and personal use. These building will be protected by the Laws of Origin itself, causing anyone who violates the building’s privacy to instantly lose one Time Arc, with the terms of privacy being set into place by each separate building’s owner.”

Oh? That’s a thing?

I didn’t realize people could actually have private property on the Plane of Origin.

Although considering how few Tier 4 or 5 Chrono actually exist, the lack of information about it in Arkea makes some sense. After all, there are only a few dozen buildings scattered around the island, with the exception of the towers.

My body suddenly jerks to a stop before flying over towards a large stone platform in front of the Tower of Origin, where I also happen to see Diane standing with a faint smile on her face.

“This place is meant to be training for you, so you will have to learn for yourself about anything that has not been told to you in this introduction.”

The voice then just cuts off. Meanwhile, whatever force was making me fly through the air cuts off along with it, leaving me falling down the last few meters between myself and the stone platform.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those of you who can't see the image:

{--|>----------------------<|--}

Welcome, Blake Artorius, to the Tower of Origin.

From now on, you will be visiting here every single night with only a few exceptions to the rule.

In order to leave the Tower of Origin each time you enter, you must compete in at least one game. These games can be anything, whether that’s a simple sport with the use of deadly force permittable, a deadly dungeon dive, or even a simple game show or monster-filled obstacle course.

Whether you win or lose the game does not matter for whether or not you can leave the Tower.

However, if you do win the game, then you will be rewarded.

Top Ranked Games give out 500 Ark and a Tier 1 Sleep Pass as a reward for the winner, while Mid Ranked Games give out 100 Ark and a Tier 2 Sleep Pass, and Low Ranked Games simply give out 10 Ark for winning.

-<>--<>-

There are three different purposes of the Tower of Origin, including training the lost descendants of Chronos in order to protect themselves, granting Chronos himself entertainment, and giving the people of Arkea weapons to use against the Fallen.

{--|>----------------------<|--}