A man walks up to a podium on a stage set up for him and begins speaking. “Hello and welcome to the Exposition Corner. I am your host, Guy Exposition, and I am one of the teachers who will be walking you through the basics of the Tower. Today, I’d like to talk about The Upheaval or when and where the Tower appeared as well as what it did to the world.”
A man in the audience yells out as he tries not to laugh, “Is that your real name?”
“Yes, yes it is. Though my last name really is just my guild affiliation and is one of the many things different between the inside and outside of the Tower. But I will expound on that in more detail another time. Right now, I want to focus on why you found yourself here.” He clears his throat. “Now then, several months ago on May 15th most forms of entertainment disappeared, what remained was the culmination of military progression or in a word, weapons. Those of us who reside inside the Tower call this the beginning of the Upheaval as it flipped our world on its head.”
That dude shouts, “What does this have to do with me?”
Guy ignores the question, “Because of the loss of entertainment, namely cell phones and other fancy communication devices, many people started to become a little crazed, desperate to find the comfort they had lost. The most sane of these individuals eventually took up arms and invaded foreign territories and countries killing people indiscriminately. This led to a state of chaos the likes of which the world hadn’t seen before. Seeing this as a prime opportunity to make a move, the Sinaloa Cartel, which was largely unaffected by loss of entertainment, began making waves controlling territories formerly occupied by major powers. By the time the major powers finally grasped the situation, the Cartel had already taken over most of the southern hemisphere; South America, Africa, part of the Middle East and most of Australia had already fallen under their complete control. This was roughly 3 days after the Upheaval had begun and communications between nations had just barely been established. It was also about the time people began noticing the Tower.
“The Tower, which I haven’t mentioned up to this point, also appeared on the same day the Upheaval started, though only a select few people knew about it at the time. The reason for this is that the Tower appears as a mirage, only showing itself when someone gets within a ten mile (~16km) radius. Because of this fact, we only have been able to document thirteen places where this ‘mirage’ appears and believe that it is possible that there could be more.”
A different guy shouts, “Get to the point already.”
“It’s always the same,” Guy mumbled under his breath, “From day one of the Upheaval, the Tower has been taking people from the outside world and transporting them inside. We are uncertain of the exact means as the Tower is more of an enigma than the dawn of science itself, but we can guarantee that the amulet all of you in this room now possess put you here regardless of your will. The reason we have certainty of this, is that we have theorized that each and every one of you developed a strong desire and that desire had been festering for a long time. For lack of a better word, we labeled it an ‘ambition’ and those of you here had one that was powerful enough to invoke the will of the Tower. As a result, you have found yourself here, in the vacant room, where all traffic in and out of the Tower flows.”
A commotion arose as all the people heard clearly that there was a way out of the Tower. The sound quickly became a dull roar as people aggressively tried to demand an answer out of the speaker.
Guy wave his hand out in front of him and an arc of light stretched out along the path he carved in the air, passing over the heads of his listeners. This sudden display silenced the audience in awe. “Yes, there is a way out, but as you just saw, laws are in effect in this place that prevent us from freely moving as we please. Take a look at the amulets firmly attached to your wrists. It should now display a level, your health, stamina and a number beside those stats. That number indicates how many floors you must clear before you can leave this place.”
Several people voice their dissent as they look at their wrists. “Mine doesn’t have a number.” “Yea, mine’s a sideways 8.” “Don’t tell me I’m stuck here.”
“If you do not have a number and instead have the infinity symbol, I probably do not have to tell you, but there’s no escape for you. However, on the plus side of things, I can assure you that the world here is far better than the one out there. After all, the entertainment that went missing was actually moved to the inside of the Tower. Not only that, but anything and everything that someone had come up with has been made real in some form or another. So, if I were you, I’d cherish the fact that you don’t have to leave and deal with the harsh wasteland of reality that awaits you. Because I can assure you that all you’ll find is a constant warzone between the remaining militaries, called the Coalition, and the Cartel.” Guy briskly walks off the stage and leaves the room in a huff, upset that yet another group of arrogant newcomers is unwilling to listen to his entire speech.
