Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman
Prelude to the Broken Tower Saga

I have seen Cruelty—murdering millions, dead. I have yet seen kindness, compassion is it called — Leaving a string of hope in despair; Oh, I've seen Despair, I felt Despair. Yet, indifference grew over. Cruel as despair is—often left a path.

And Love, oh Love, I have seen Love; and by the grace, I was loved.

There's kindness in cruelty. Yet the one hurts till was — the cruelty received out of kindness. Sheer Kindness.

Beware of that Cruel-Kindness, takes over a millennium to heal.

— El'nir. Dawn Singer of Ages.

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DARKNESS REIGNED ON THE 42ND FLOOR of the Maha Tower.

Two figures wandered on a dark mountain slope at a quiet and rhythmic pace. The one leading was a middle-aged man in a black cloak. He was tall, almost burly. It was unknown if the leading man was fair-skinned or not in this sight-blinding darkness, but his blazing red hair was more than enough to distinguish him. Behind him was a scrawny man with an average figure, he's more than a head shorter than the one with red hair. But he did stand out in the crowd, though awkwardly.

The flamboyant-haired man appeared to be well-versed in this slope, unlike the other one— following him.

Glinch followed behind Savor; it's been over a month since they were venturing the dark mountain labyrinth of the 42nd floor. And he could not determine when they would reach their destination. Wherever it was.

"Is it still the 42nd floor, Savor?" Waves warped out of his mouth when Glinch asked that. He wanted to know if they were still on the 42nd floor. He couldn't make out why there's such a dangerous labyrinth on the 42nd floor. It's even more brutal than when he climbed the 50th floor a decade ago.

"The tower is more complex than you think, Glinch." The middle-aged man, Savor answered, not looking back. The warping sound echoed again. "Even more complex than I think."

Their journey continued. Glinch didn't ask any questions, just followed the tall figure of Savor.

"Looks like we've arrived."

Hearing that, a light smile appeared on the youthful face of Glinch. He was almost hopeless in this fool's quest of Savor. He was sceptical at first when Savor pitched the idea. Even now, he couldn't believe that he was with him all this time.

"Give me your hand," demanded the red-haired man, which he courteously abided.

And in the next movement, they were in front of a gigantic ancient gate. Glinch eased his dizzy head as soon as Savor dropped him from his grasp. He could handle any type of warping with eyes closed but the one powered by individuals. It's still a long way for him.

"Where are we?" Glinch asked, looking at the gigantic gate in front.

Savor didn't answer, walked straight towards the gate. He stopped in front of the gate, pushing the gate a bit with his right arm. Though the gate didn't budge a bit.

"Hey! Oldman? I'm here. Open the damn gate." Savor shouted, still pressing his arm against the entrance. They waited and waited after that.

"You don't have a key or something?" Ginch couldn't help but ask.

"Well, I was told that I'm the key." Just when Savor said that, the runic pattern of the gate lightened up. Red and blue.

Savor collected his arm and stepped back a few distances. On the other hand, Glinch was inspecting the scribes on the gate with deep appreciation. His keen eyes suggested that he would have preferred to study them. But his mind knew it wasn't the time for that.

"Glinch, remember to be fearful and respectful to him." Savor warned him which Glinch nodded unconsciously. His mind was still on the runic pattern of the gate.

The gate opened into a portal after all the runes lightened up. Glinch followed after Savor into the Portal as their vision blinded by bright, radiant light.

Glinch rubbed his eyes when he arrived at their location, seeing what he was not supposed to.

A lake with pure water as clear as crystal. He could see a long mountain range if he longed at the horizon with white cliffs. The Humming of birds, squirreling of squirrels, the sound of the waterfall. It was more dreamy than an actual dream, with the smell of fresh air and water. Who could have thought that the floor known as the Darkest Floor of The Maha Tower was hiding such greenery and spectacular scenery?

"... Are you listening?" Glinch came back to his senses, hearing that. The sound wave didn't warp anymore. "Let's go, we got no time for sightseeing."

Savor brought him to a cottage near the lake. It was a tiny humble cottage compared to what Glinch had seen in his life, built by common woods, with no artistic value. Still, the atmosphere was spectacular.

They waited at the cottage for the 'him' — Savor talked him over about. Though Glinch didn't know who this 'him' was. It didn't keep from any anticipation to wash over his mind. He was fidgeting with his fingers against one another when he heard someone's footsteps.

"We have guests today, huh?" An ancient voice came out of the cottage. As the sound of the footsteps raised as the owner of the voice entered the cottage.

Glinch thought that the owner of the voice would be an old man. Apparently, he was not. Though the man have white beard, and white hair—it was not the withered out white of old age but the natural silvery white. He looked lively, with his narrow exterior. The figure of the man was similar to Savor, only a decade or two older.

"Savor," the white-haired man said. "I knew nobody would disturb me, but you."

"Good to see you too." Savor greeted. Followed by Glinch.

"I wish I could say the same," said the white-haired man. He then inspected Glinch, the unfamiliar face he was seeing for the first time. "A Designer?" The man asked again, not minding the stare from Glinch. His gaze returned to Savor again. "That means, you came this time well prepared?"

The Redhead nodded in response. "Let's do the introduction first." Savor continued showing Glinch. "This is Glinch, a climber of the 59th floor, and a Designer at that. Merely a step away from the origin."

"That one step makes the difference between the sky and earth," snorted the man with white hair.

Glinch bit his tongue upon hearing that. He was waiting for a bit of astonishment from the man. Maybe a bit of encouragement too, but this was all he got. Not disdain, but more of indifference. 'You want Origin level Designer? Good luck.'

"And this is someone who doesn't like to talk about himself," Savor continued introducing, not bothering with what the man said. "Don't be fooled by his appearance, he's as ancient as anyone I'd seen. You can call him: Mortvin."

"Well, if this is all you got, then your plan is already in the gutter." The man, Mortvin said. "I told you specifically to bring an origin-level Designer."

"It isn't picking stones from the riverbank, you're talking about an Origin level Artillerist. You of all people should be aware of that," Savor said. "Apart from that, I almost wrapped up the other stuff."

The white-haired man stood there, unmoving. He was pondering over the situation or making plans to overcome the shortcomings. He hesitated for a bit. "It's still not enough. What about your fellow councilmen? Are they of some use?"

"If they care about anything else, would I be here?" the redhead said with deep resentment in his voice. "If those conservative groups of old bones were a bit prudent, do I have to do this all alone?"

"They didn't even care when the Inispiersle was destroyed," Glinch said sarcastically. "It's more than enough that they were not opposing you."

"That's 'cause, they don't expect me to succeed in the first place."

"And you won't give up, even if all the stakes are against it, would you?" Mortvin sighed.

"No," Savor confirmed. "Is there no other way around it?"

"There is a way. There's a man, I knew once." The man looked in the direction of the waterfall while answering. "But now it's unknown if he's still here or not."

"You don't have any contract or something?"

"What's the use of it here?" The man shook his head in denial. "But that was not important. The core problem is that—you can't replace him if he doesn't want you to.

"Look out for him, he goes by a lot of names, even I don't know which one is real. Long ago he was called by El'nir."

"El'nir as in the 'Dawnsinger'?" Glinch asked out of the blue, hearing a familiar name. His tone was astounding. "Ein Axi scripts? If I'm not wrong."

The two of them were startled, hearing him. Savor looked confused, as Glinch expected him to be. While the other man nodded. "Yes, Ein, one of the four main Sanskrit scripts of Axi. Even the most used language of Magic—Elnin is nothing but a part of it."

"That's alright but, " Savor chimed in the conversation, bringing back to the main issue. "How would this help us replace him?"

"That's 'cause I've seen him," Glinch announced with enthusiasm. "He taught me a few things about Ein scripts."

".. ."

"Savor, it looks like Maha, no." Mortvin corrected his words with more fervour than before. Hope was glittering in his eyes. "The whole Axilia wants you to succeed."

"No, I had already failed, only hope what I am going to do will be of some use for the next generation," Savor said, shaking his head. "Some might blame me, some might even curse at me for doing this, but the Tower must be broken."

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Hey folks... I hope you liked what I've written.

I'll publish every chapter at least after rechecking thrice or more before publishing, even still if you see any issues with typos or inconsistency let me know.

— Stay safe.