" The Towering Worlds : Hell's Chalice. ™"
A Story written By @mohhdude.
(Be warned, there will be references from other series in this book!!)
Alternative Names -
"TTW : HC.™"
"Protocol — Hell's Chalice. ™"
"End of Earth, Beginning of Hell. ™"
Chapter XII, PT. I:
"Mana Cascades Like a River."
Act II:
Sasaki and Aleksandr.
"Teetering on the edge of no return, he fears that he may never find him."
— The Humming Bird
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…
[ EARTH, BETWEEN THE BORDERS OF RUSSIA AND FINLAND. ]
[2005, March 26th]
In a facility, children with an X mark on their nape were in containment rooms, not having seen the light of day since the months of their newborn stage. Only fed supplements, most have died, only four to five children remain, the scientists kept injecting the children with substances to boost their immunity, intelligence, and strength.
The children had empty eyes, as if they could not feel the injections anymore. One in particular, had red hair despite being from Japan. One of the scientists knocks on the glass of his containment room, "Hey, Sasaki. Morning." he said, the child was sitting down as he was sleeping, rather than sleeping in bed.
Sasaki nodded, as he and the other children were wearing a patient's attire, an open-back white gown, like the one you would see in a standard hospital.
But it was dirty, the doctor opened the room gate, Sasaki looked up at the doctor, before the doctor took his hand and led him out of the room, he flinched, his neck and body had burn marks all over.
He led Sasaki to a testing chamber, as Sasaki put his hands together, the doctor looked at him with a gentle smile. "Try again, Sasaki. I know you can do it." Sasaki nodded his head, he looked down at his hands, before creating a spark. A flame forms from that spark, in between his hands.
Scientifically experimented on to use magic, the doctor's eyes widened at the spectacle, as he chuckled, Sasaki flinched again, feeling the burns on his body form. The flame got bigger, before the doctor put his hand on Sasaki's shoulder.
"That's enough for today, Sasaki. Let's go back to your room." Sasaki nodded his head, staying quiet. He complied as he walked with the doctor back to his room, as the gate of the room closed shut. One of the children knocked on the glass wall right after the doctor left, and the door was closed, "Pst! Hey!"
One of the children knocks on the glass walls, waving at Sasaki. Sasaki waved back, his face remained neutral. If Sasaki wasn't wrong, the brown-skinned boy with black hair next to his room was named Falner, "Can I see that fire thing?! I'll show you mine!"
Sasaki nodded, curious to see what Falner had in store for him, he put his hand together, making a crackling fire. Falner jumps in joy, "Alright! Now watch this…!" Falner puts his hands together, as sparks of electricity erupted from his palms. He smiled cheekily, Sasaki was shocked at the sight, he clapped his hands pleasantly with a gentle smile.
"Name's Faulkner! You must be… Saski, right?" ..Ah, Faulkner. Not "Falner", Sasaki shakes his head, "Sasaki." Faulkner puts his ear to the glass to hear him say, but he didn't hear it, so he said: "Saki??" Sasaki shook his head again, he cleared his throat, "Sasaki!"
Faulkner heard him this time, but decided to tease him… "Maki???" Sasaki sighed, looking away, Faulkner felt bad, knocking on the glass. "OK! OK! Sorry, Sasaki! Just teasin' you, that's all!" Faulkner was laughing as he apologized, Sasaki let out a chuckle, as well.
Faulkner and Sasaki shared the same containment room they were in, as they both were sealed off by a wall of glass, the other two children were silent, they were in another room far from theirs. "Where're you from, Sasaki??"
"...Um… They told me… Japan... I'm from Japan." Faulkner nodded at Sasaki's answer, as both of them sat at the glass walls, talking to each other. "Cool! They told me I'm from the U.K! Say, why don't you talk a lot?"
"... I'm not good at talking to people…" Sasaki looked away, Faulkner was confused by his answer. Tilting his head to the right. "But you're talking to me right now?" Sasaki looked back at Faulkner, scratching his forehead slightly. "...I mean, I guess…"
Sasaki looks down, Faulkner puts his cheek to the glass, and starts licking it as a way to make Sasaki laugh. Sasaki looked at Faulkner doing this, trying not to laugh, only a snicker got out of his closed mouth. "Hey! Sasaki! Let's get outta here when we're older, yeah?!"
Faulkner had a bright smile on his face, his face all up against the glass, Sasaki couldn't help but feel easy when he talked to this stupid kid, as he nodded his head… "...Yeah. We will… It's a promise." Sasaki puts it as a promise that they'll get out of here, Faulkner's grin gets wider.
"Alright!! So it's settled!" Faulkner answers back. The two children were happy, keeping each other company. That promise will stay in their hearts, until they get older.
…
[ 2015, January 12th ]
Time passed, as Faulkner and Sasaki were around seventeen years old, both were experienced in the art of their abilities, lightning and fire. Sasaki was doing push ups, while Faulkner was doing sit ups. Whilst they were, Sasaki looked at Faulkner through the glass while panting. "Hey… Stop copying me, Faulkner…"
Both were clearly out of breath, and both of their rooms were designed a little more different than before; there was workout equipment and books in both Sasaki and Faulkner's rooms. "Hey– You're copying me…!" Sasaki said with a strained voice, Faulkner and Sasaki were clearly strained, droplets of sweat hit the floor, making a puddle of sweat under them.
Sasaki lets out a small chuckle, his quiet demeanor slowly faded as he spent time with Faulkner, "Yeah, right… I'm more original..!" The scientists entered the room, knocking on the glass. "Sasaki, Faulkner, pay attention, we have assigned you a new caretaker, an intern of ours."
A boy, around 5 feet 9 inches, entered the room. He had pale blonde hair at neck length, and mismatching colored eyes. One was golden, and the other was bluish green, Sasaki and Faulkner glanced at the boy. "This is Aleksandr Sirolov. My brother's son, in other words, my nephew." Aleksandr looks at Sasaki and Faulkner, fixing his glasses.
"It's… nice to meet you two." Aleksandr said with a gentle tone, as he hugged a brown clipboard to his chest, wearing a standard labcoat. He glances up to Faulkner and Sasaki. "Heya!" Faulkner waved enthusiastically, having not seen a new face in a while. Sasaki waved at Aleksandr too, as both of them took a white towel to wipe their faces.
"Now, I'll leave Aleksandr here. Don't do anything foolish, both of you, and listen to what he asks." Aleksandr sat on a chair as he observes Sasaki and Faulkner, the scientist leaves, as Aleksandr looks around, getting up, he walks to the switches, opening the doors to their rooms as he throws that brown clipboard away on the floor.
"You two, please come with me." Faulkner peeks out of the door with a raised eyebrow, and Sasaki follows Aleksandr's request without question, forgetting to put a shirt on. "Wait, where are we goin'?" Faulkner steps out of the room as he puts on a black shirt, Aleksandr turns to look at them, his eyes narrowed. "Out of the facility, that's where."
…
Aleksandr walked to the doorframe, looking left and right. Faulkner, instead of questioning, was really curious about the outside world… So, he didn't ask questions like Sasaki. So, Aleksandr walks out of the room and into the hallway as the two behind him follow.
…Sasaki kept looking at Aleksandr with a look of confusion, and wonder. Like; "Why is he short?" "Why are his eyes differently colored from each other?" "Why doesn't he look a lot like the doctor?"
Sasaki tapped Aleksandr's nape, as he suddenly froze with a chill down his spine from the warmth of Sasaki's finger, grabbing his nape as he looked back at Sasaki with a slight glare. "What?" Sasaki was only curious, he shook his head left and right. Aleksandr sighed as he kept walking.
The low, creeping ambience of the laboratory was enough to keep Aleksandr on his toes, as the door opened, one of the scientists looked at Aleksandr, with the two towering boys behind him. "Aleks?" The scientist asks, "Dr. Grado, I'm only taking these two to a walk." Aleksandr calmly replied.
Dr. Grado nodded his head, gesturing to Aleksandr to continue. "Don't forget to put these things back in their place, Aleks." He said as he walked past Aleksandr, Sasaki, and Faulkner.
Aleksandr gripped his fists, grabbing the back of Grado's coat and pulling him back "WHA–", as Aleksandr was starting to pummel him with his fists. Whilst on the camera…
[ SECURITY ROOM, LABORATORY ]
Aleksandr's father, Dr. Sirolov was observing him through the cameras, tapping his chin. He had set this "escape" up for Aleksandr to see how he'd react… Of course, there were several buttons to stop their path, but he was interested in how his nephew would leave this large facility.
"...Very, very interesting."
He got up, looking back at the security guard door, as children floated in test tubes.
…
Aleksandr had made it to the cafeteria with Sasaki and Faulkner, and after beating the hell out of Grado and stealing his lab coat, Aleksandr threw it to Faulkner instead of Sasaki. "Your name is… Faulkner, right?" Aleksandr turned to him and said, as the three of them hid in a blind spot of the camera. Faulkner nodded his head.
"Yessir. That's me. Whaddya need, Boss?" Faulkner held the lab coat in his hands, Aleksandr gestured to him to put on said lab coat. As Faulkner inspects it, he squints. Aleksandr notices, and takes his glasses off and tosses it to Faulkner, as he catches it again.
"You can't see objects that are near, right? Use that." Sasaki was looking around what to do in the blind spot, using a small spark of flames. Aleksandr glanced at Sasaki, his eyes slightly widened from surprise from him summoning fire out of nowhere.
Faulkner wore the glasses, blinking. It wasn't really the number that his eyes needed, but it was close… Still, it caused discomfort and eye strain. "Jeez… Is this what you nerds at the lab go through?? Thanks, though…"
Aleksandr points at Sasaki. "Hey… How do you… Do that?" Sasaki looks at Aleksandr with a confused look, but suddenly understands his question. "Well… Dr. Sirolov told us that our powers come from unknown catalysts in our body… So, we don't know."
Aleksandr turns to look at Faulkner, "Can you do that, too?" Faulkner snickers mischievously, putting his hands together as electricity sparks between his palms. "I can do it, alright!" Sasaki lit up a warm fire for himself, because it's cold and he's shirtless.
Aleksandr was impressed and intrigued, as he noticed a scientist in the corner of his eye who spotted them. Aleksandr grabbed them by the back of their neck, and slammed them into the wall, knocking them out and pulling them into the blind spot.
He took off their coat, and tossed it to Sasaki. "Hey, catch." Sasaki was late to react, as it fell on his face then and there. He takes it off his face, as he starts to wear it backwards. Aleksandr's left eye twitched. "…Here, one sec."
Aleksandr walks up to Sasaki, taking the backwards-worn coat off his chest. Holding one sleeve for one arm, and one sleeve for the other arm. Sasaki followed, putting his arms in the sleeves of the coat. "If you want to follow me, then look professional, at least."
Sasaki nodded, as Aleksandr put on the buttons of the lab coat, Sasaki couldn't help but feel a small warmth when Aleksandr did this. "...Thank you." Aleksandr nodded his head. "No problem… Sasaki, right?" Sasaki nodded his head like Aleksandr.
"There, now you look refined." Aleksandr backs away, proud at what Sasaki looks like now. He looks like a scientist… but without an undershirt of sorts. "Uh… Aleksandr?" Faulkner had trouble with the buttons, and so mixed them up.
Aleksandr groans, as he fixes the buttons on Faulkner's coat in a rushed way, Sasaki feels comfortable and most of all, warm from the coat…
The three get out of the shadowy corner as Aleksandr led them, in a way that they'll hopefully get by without being spotted or caught. Aleksandr held a card key in his hand, as he looked at it, it opened only the exit door. As Aleksandr is an intern, he can leave any time he wants.
…After they had finally reached the exit door past reception, Aleksandr's uncle stood there at the entrance, fixing his glasses, then looking at his nephew. "Aleks. I would never have thought you'd leave like this, with mere spoils."
"Why would you keep them here? Why'd you take them from their nursery?!" Aleksandr was confused, and angry at the actions his uncle and his company had committed. Many mothers went through the pain of birth, just for their child not to be in their arms when they reach home.
"You do not understand what you are dealing with, boy." Dr. Sirolov's voice had venom and danger seeping through it, his hands were behind his back, as the gleam of his glasses hid his green eyes. Aleksandr grits his teeth… Aleksandr looked back at Faulkner and Sasaki, as he looked back at his uncle. "Then tell me!"
Dr. Sirolov sighed, pushing his glasses up via his middle finger pushing against the middle part of his glasses, lifting up the left part of his lab coat, taking out three files from the pocket inside. Throwing it to Aleksandr, as Aleksandr caught it.
The files read "The Dungeon Tower", "Sasaki Yamamoto", "Faulkner Harrison", Sirolov glares at Aleksandr. "...However, since I do not wish to deal with difficult people right now and you are the son of a very difficult person like my sibling… You may be escorted out with these… spoils. Just read that file, and return the spoils to me if I'm proven right."
Surprised, Aleksandr's eyes widened, a gesture like this… It doesn't remind him of his strict uncle. An experiment, again?? Aleksandr had the urge to prove him wrong, whatever the file in his hand read.
…
Several guards appeared, escorting the three outside of the lab, and into another country, given necessary supplies… Aleksandr felt… uneasy. As though something were to happen, they were taken to a 4 star motel, where they wouldn't be seen.
…
[ SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA. ]
[2006, NOVEMBER 7th]
Aleksandr was stuck researching the two names of Sasaki and Faulkner, Sasaki was in the living room, under a table as it was snowing outside. Faulkner was eating tangerines, peels of it thrown into the trash. All three of them are now eighteen… Faulkner yawns, looking at Sasaki under the table.
"…Hey, Sasaki… I'm kinda tired of this place. Cooped up for a while…" Sasaki turned his head to look at Faulkner, then his eyes turned to the floor. "Huh, guess you're right… But Aleksandr does have work, so we have to wait."
Faulkner groans impatiently, "Screw that, man!", before putting his hands palms facing each other next to each side of his mouth. Before shouting: "HEYYYY!! ALEKS!!! WE'RE BORED!!! WE WANNA GO OUT!!!"
Aleksandr walks out of his study with eyebags and two files in his left hand, up all night studying these two… He rubs the bridge of his nose, his hair messy. "Shut up, Faulkner… I got your full names, you wanna hear them or what?" Sasaki slid out of the table, looking at Aleksandr as Aleksandr looked at him back.
"Yeah, fine…" Faulkner pouts as he answers, Aleksandr clears his throat, looking at the files in his hands. "Faulkner, your full name is Faulkner Harrison. You belong to a family in the United Kingdom. Sasaki, your full name is Sasaki Yamamoto. You belong to a family in Japan."
Aleksandr abbreviated as much as he could, the files kept on the table, as he sighed, wobbling. Sasaki got up, "...Would you want help with making your bed, Aleks..?" Aleksandr sighed, looked up at Sasaki, as he held onto the wall.
"I am fine. You need to sleep, too… I'm planning to take the two of you outside as a day off…" Aleksandr takes a step, before stumbling forwards, Sasaki extends his arm out to Aleksandr's chest before catching him. Pulling him closer.
"... I'll… try to make your bed, Aleks. Just sit down." Aleksandr slowly nods, as he is guided to the table to sit down at. Sasaki walked to the bedroom, and unfolded the folded blankets and placed down Aleksandr's futon.
…By the time he was done setting up the futon, Aleksandr was already outcold, drooling on the table as he slept. Sasaki was confused, he looked around him to see if he could pick him up without disturbing him.
Faulkner had a glass of milk in his hand, before chugging it in one go, sighing from the beverage, and then looking at Sasaki, trying to figure out a way. Faulkner pulls Aleksandr back gently, before nodding his head to Sasaki to swoop Aleks into his arms.
…
Aleksandr was tucked into bed, so was Faulkner, only Sasaki was awake. He looks at Aleksandr as he is asleep, having no idea why he was like… different from the rest. He brushes a little bit of Aleksandr's hair past his eye, whilst Faulkner snored like a car engine… If Sasaki even knew what that was.
Sasaki walked into the living room, before lighting a fire in his hand, using it as a way to read without wasting electricity… Who was he kidding, he has electricity in the form of a human. But nonetheless; he opens the file: "DUNGEON TOWER"... He reads one of the 100 logs within the file:
"LOG 092: The dungeon tower was discovered, showing signs of slowly rising out of planet Earth at 50 kilometers per year, discovered only 70 years ago… We found a river overflowing with a beautiful, blue substance. The research team calls this cascading substance "Mana", and it could lead to the birth of magic in infants… Like hell, we have nine years before Earth is f—ked. I digress; reminder that this tower was discovered 6371 kilometers under the surface just between the three countries; Germany, Poland, and Czechia. This is Doctor V, out."
"…Mana… Is that what this fire is?... Mana…", Sasaki looks at his hand, the fire wavering at this discovery… It seems Aleksandr had highlighted some parts. However, it is already late. Sasaki thought to himself that he should sleep.
It's beautiful.
It is as though… it does not belong to earth, this substance.
This dungeon tower… Sasaki hears like a voice call to him, whenever he thinks of it.
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— CHAPTER XII PT. I, FIN.
— NEXT CHAPTER: "DEAL."
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