It was a bright day outside. Not a cloud to be seen in the sky, the sun's rays beamed down onto the water, reflecting the sun's light. I've been travelling for about nine months across the sea to get to Shinar. It was so long and grueling, nothing but a vast open sea. It was beautiful some nights; the stars would appear in the black abyss of water, and the night sky would be in hand reach. It was like you could touch the real stars. It was a sight to see. Other nights it would be storming thunder and lightning. Waves the size of mountains would appear out of the dark, crashing down upon other waves creating a one-way ticket to death. Luckily we survived; I was aboard a ship called "The Colossus," it was a big boat that could fit over 1000 passengers and was one of the 3 Great Boats. I was heading to Babel, the capital city of Shinar, or, as the legend goes, "The Land of God."
"Attention, everyone! We are arriving at the dock in 10 minutes. would you please grab your belongings and prepare for departure."
"Yes, we have arrived" I was happy that the long journey has come to a close. Now I could start my true journey. To the Tower of Babel!
Fishermen occupied the dock; seeing this many people out and about was a sight for sore eyes. I could only take so much of that boring water. LOL. I knew that Babel was about an hour away from the docs, and with no other means of transportation, walking was the only option.
I usually would dread the idea of walking, but being at sea for nine months could make a man grateful for touching the earth again.
Eventually, after walking for about 45 minutes, I arrived at an outpost. I could see the city walls in the distance so I knew I was close. I approached the outpost.
"Welcome to the city of Babel traveler, how can I help you today sir?", said the man working the post.
"Why is the outpost so far away from the city?" I said.
"The king of Babel ordered it so, the purpose for this post is to alert they city of who comes in and out. What's your name stranger?"
"My name is Obasi."
"Obasi? Obasi what? You don't got a last name?"
"Nope just Obasi."
The outpost worker gave me the most snarling look. "And what brings you here to Babel?"
"I want to climb the tower."
The worker busted out in laughter. Tears streaming down his face.
"You're just a kid. You look no older than 20 years of age. Why would you want to climb the tower? You know that most people don't ever come back once the enter the tower?"
"Yeah yeah. I know about the tower and the stories of who came and and went. But the reason I want to climb the tower is to speak to God."
"God? What business do you have trying to talk to God? He is a ball of destruction, that never looks out for the people of earth, but you got Moxy kid. Keep heading down this road path it leads to the city entrance."
Obasi gave the worker a weird look of confusion, thanked him and continued walking towards the city.
The worker waves off Obasi and watches him walk into the distance.
"Well well well, it looks like we might have our selves a descendant."
Obasi had reached the entrance to the city. It was grand. At the entrance stood two massive doors made of crystal and glass. There was two guards who stood in front of the doors. The guards were made up of of stone and similar material to the city walls. Obasi went and reached for the doorknob, but the doors were to strong and big to open himself. He called out to the guards.
"Hey, big guy. Why don't you open these doors for me, I need to get in"
No answer
"Hello are you guys listening?"
Obasi jumps up onto one of the guards head staring directly into its eyes.
"Hello….mister guard sir thing let me in"
Still no reply just as Obasi is about to go back to where he met the first outpost worker the guards suddenly say in unison "an eye for and eye, a tooth for a tooth, gold for gold", they then repeated this statement of a total of 3 times and silence once again. Obasi stood there confused.
"What do you guys want? You want to trade something?"
One of the guards immediately stretches out its hand palm up. Obasi reaches into his pocket and pulls out 5 bronze coins, 3 silver coins, and 1 gold coin.
- 1 gold coin is worth $100
- 1 silver coin is worth 25$
- 1 bronze coin is worth $5
Obasi gives the guard 2 silver coins, "here this is worth the same as a gold coin." Again the guards repeated "an eye for and eye, a tooth for a tooth, gold for gold". Obasi was frustrated and reluctantly handed the guard a gold coin. "Uggghhh that was my last gold coin…I hate my life," the 2 guards pulled open the city gates and behold the grand city of Babel land of Shinar.
I walked through the massive gates of the city the buildings stood tall and high, and the stretched far past the eye could see. The Tower could be seen from anywhere it seemed. It was so tall you couldn't see the top though. I stood there in amazement of how nice everything was. I strolled down the white sand covered road towards the direction of the tower. I passed by many different shops and homes. Seeing people of all kinds working together, eating together, living together. It was a nice change of scenery from where I'm from.
I had stopped by a local inn to grab some food, my hunger was killing me since I haven't eaten since I got here. The sign on the front of the establishment read "The Garden, food for the soul." It sounded promising enough, the inn was a large open space with booth seats and a bar. I saw many people eating the most delicious looking food, even if you were full I'm sure the mere smell of the cuisine would make you want to gobble down more and more. I walked toward the bar side of the restaurant and sat down on the far right side of the bar towards the large window that had brought all the light in. The bartender had approached me and leaned over the table, "How can I help you with today, what would you like to start with. He was a very tall burley looking man, with a handle bar mustache, and tattoo markings along the left side of his face and neck. They almost looked like large snakes of some sort. It frightened me a bit, but he had the delicate voice so I wasn't too worried.
"what do you recommend?" I said.
The bartender looked at me for a brief moment and said "You must not be from around here huh... I suggest the Apple Wine to start. Its a very popular drink here in Shinar." I was amazed that he could tell I wasn't from around here, despite the city being massive with a huge population, the community seemed to be very tightknit and woven in unity. "That would be great," I said smiling. The bartender nodded and walked into the back to fetch the Apple wine. I took a good glance at my surroundings and really soaked everything in. I was lost in my admiration of the restaurant, when a man walked right over and sat down beside me. The man was dressed in a all brown uniform of some sort, a long brown trench coat, and brown vest with a white shirt underneath, black pants and brown boots with a brown sunhat with a very unique patter along the brim of his hat. He also had a large bag with him as well. He let out a huge sigh and leaned back into his chair. There was a confidence about this man that gave off a contagious vibe. The bartender had walked back out from the back room with two large bottles. "Ah Chem-vou, your here early, did you finish up your job already?" The bartender said to the man. The bartender had handed me and the man the two bottles of Apple wine. "YES YES, the crew and I finished up earlier with the hunting trip, so I decided to stop by to celebrate." The mans voice was loud and deep, you could feel the tone of his voice in your soul. He had picked up the bottle of wine and began to chug massive amounts of it. He had let out a burp and slammed the almost empty bottle onto the counter top. "AHHH delicious, I can never get enough of this stuff." He looked over to me staring at him with my jaw dropped. I had never seen a man drink a huge bottle like that in a couple of gulps. "Do I got something on my face kid?" he said raising his eyebrows and smirking at me. "No no... sorry that was just amazing." We shared a laugh together. I had picked up the bottle and began to gulp down the wine. The taste of it was spectacular, better than anything back home. It tasted as if I had been eating the sweetest apples ever, although there was no taste of alcohol at all. But my hunger had gone away with every sip, and I could feel my belly fill more and more. Finally a drink I could enjoy without the feeling the need to throw up.
"Good isn't it?" the man said. "Yes very," I replied. We had cheers each other and we both began to chug the rest of our drinks. The man had ordered another round for the both of us, I told him that I didn't have much money. He laughed and said not to worry about the bill at all and he would take care of it. I smiled from cheek to cheek and thanked him.
"What's your name kid?" he said.
"My name. oh yes I haven't introduced myself yet.. My name is Obasi, your name is Chem-vou right?"
" Yes my name is Chem-vou Edward, I'm the lead Hunter in the Land of Shinar", Chem-vou said.
I had asked Chem-vou what he hunted here in this land of Shinar, and he explained that he was a Sea Hunter, they would catch massive Sea monsters that lurked the shores of the city. He had gone on and on about his travels and expeditions throughout the land and the sea, and before I knew it we were 10 bottles of Apple wine deep and it was now night time. I was drunk out of my mind but Chem-vou seemed to be still sober. He had offered me a place to stay for the night, and to be honest he really didn't give me a choice. He placed 5 gold coins on the counter and said his goodbyes to the bartender. We grabbed our things and headed out of the establishment. I could barely see straight and walked in a zig zag pattern all the way to Chem-vou's house. The night life in Shinar was vibrate, the unique lights that illuminated from the moon onto the building lit up the city itself. and many people were out and about. It was way busier at night then it was in the day and that was hard to believe because Shinar was very busy in the day.
We approached Chem-vou's place. It was a very humble home, it was smaller than the rest of the buildings in the area and it gave a very cozy warm feel, compared to the very bougie pristine atmosphere the city gave off. It was made of black stone foundation with wood and gold accents that complemented it very well. We walked up the path toward the front door and he rung the bell just to the left of door. I could hear footsteps coming from the other side of the door. The door had opened and I saw a little boy. "PAPA!" the boy said running into Chem-vou's arms. Chem-vou gave him a big bear hug and lifted the boy into the air. The boy then looked over in my direction and pointed "who's that papa?" Chem-vou told the boy that it was rude to point at someone and introduced me to him. "This is Obasi, he's a friend a met today at the bar." I waived at the boy and asked him his name. "My name is David," the boy said. He was a spitting image on Chem-vou. They both had bright yellow eyes, and auburn colored hair, although Chem-vou had gray hairs peeking through scalp. We had walked inside and sat down in the living room. "Alright Obasi, I'm going to put this little one to bed, you just wait right here" said Chem-vou. I nodded my head and he and little David had gone up stairs. Chem-vous house was identical to the homes from the west, with lodge styled structure, I felt at peace and relaxed. I had closed my eyes to what felt like 5 minutes but when I woke up, I was laying in a bed and the sun was shining through the window. I looked around the room and sat up onto the bed. I called out for Chem-vou but there was no answer. I got up and headed toward the door of the room, suddenly the door flung open and there was David with a big smile on his face. "Good morning Obasi, how did you sleep?" David seemed very mature for his age and had to be about 8 years old. "I slept great," that was a lie. I could've sworn I was asleep for 5 minutes, but the day waits for no man I guess. "Papa's put right now but he told me to give you these and freshen up," said David. He was holding a towel and bath cloth, with a change of clothes. David escorted me to the bath house just outside their house, and told me to take all the time I needed. I thanked David and he skipped away singing "Shinar Shinar O land of Shinar how God had cursed us all." His song gave me chills down my spine but I tried not to focus on it, because children were always weird to me.
I freshened up and headed back toward the home, as I walked around to the front and ran into Chem-vou. "Hey Chem-vou!" I shouted and ran toward him, we shook hands and he smiled.
"How was your sleep? I put David to bed, came downstairs and you were out cold so I just put you in our guest room and went to bed. That Apple Wine got the best of you eh?"
"Yeah Apple Wine might be my new addiction" I said.
"But I've got to head back into the city, you coming along?" Chem-vou said. I figured I'd head back with Chem-vou and get to the tower, after all that's what I came all this way for. I said my goodbyes to little David and we headed back to towards the inner city. Chem-vou seemed a little off today compared to last night, as if he saw a ghost or something but I just assumed he wasn't a morning person. We had arrived back at the "Garden food for the soul" in and Chem-vou lit a cigar. "This is where we depart my friend," said Chem-vou. I was kind of sad that my time with Chem-vou was coming to and end but he said he'd see me around. We shook hands for the final time, and Chem-vou handed me something. A brown sun hat just like the one he had. He said as long as I had this hat on he would be able to find me, and he strolled off. We parted ways and I began my search for the tower.
As I was walking a group of what looked to be priests of some sort was yelling at a women.
"You vile creature, how dare you touch my robe with such filth," one of the priests who were wearing red and gold smacked the woman, and she fell onto the floor. He picked up a small stone and looked at the woman. "You will pay for your sins, woman," he said. He threw the rock at the women's head, causing her to bleed.
"Please, please, I'm sorry. I won't ask again, please stop," the woman cried out with streams of tears and blood fell onto her cheeks. Then the other priests who was with the priest dressed in red and gold, also casted stones at the women. They all laughed and scoffed at her, spit flew from one of their mouths hitting the women. Then they began to walk away. I quickly ran over to the women. "Are you alright?," I said wrapping her up in my arms. She was bleeding from her head and nose. Blood poured out like a fountain. I could tell that she was trying to say something to me, but she was so dazed she couldn't make out the words.
"Hey boy, what do you think you are doing?"
I looked up to see the priest in red and gold standing over me and the women.
"You must be slow boy, that women there is filth and trash. You have no business attending to her at all. What is your name?"
My heart was pounding, and my nerves quickly came into effect. I looked up to the priest and saw only evil and bloodlust in his eyes. I mustered the courage to stand up and face him, "my name is Obasi," I said. He looked me up and down then proclaimed that I was just as filthy as her and deserved to be punished. The priest raised his hand to the sky motioning he was going to slap me. But without hesitation my body moved on its own, I ended up punching the priest directly in the face, sending him flying backwards on to the ground.
"My nose, you broke my nose you little shit," the priest yelled. I could feel the eyes of everyone on the street side staring at me. The other group of priests had surrounded me, "Teach that man a lesson of what happens when you mess with the kings council," the red and gold priest said. They grabbed me by arms and sat me down onto my knees. I knew I was about to be in a world of pain so I prayed to God. "All mighty Father please help me," the group of priests began throwing a series of punches and kicks to my face and body. One after the other continued to beat me. I could feel my face swelling up and my left eye began to shut close. The wind had been knocked out of my body multiple times, I tried gasping for air, but with every breath came a strong kick to the chest. I thought I was going to die in that moment. All that work to get to Shinar was about to go to waste, all over helping a stranger, I guess this death was an acceptable one. Then I heard of voice in the distance, "what seems to be the problem gentlemen?" I looked upward with my one good eye and saw a very tall man dressed in royal garbs, with a symbol on his chest that looked like circle with feathered wings around it.
I glanced around the street and saw everyone on one knee bowing. Even the group of priests had bowed.
"My king…we were just handling some business with these…commoners," The red and gold priest said.
"What is your name child?"
I looked up at the kings face, I couldn't quite make out his facial features because of the sun behind him blinding his silhouette.
"My name is Obasi…what's yours?
"You arrogant little mule, show some respect to the king of Babel," the priest said.
"Enough Julius," the king said, "my name is Bell the King of Babel and the Land of Shinar. Your a lucky man Obasi, if I had been any later you would've been a dead man and food for the crows."
The kings words sent shivers down my spine and arms. Everything had started to spin and go black. Was I passing out, drifting in and out of consciousness I heard faint words come from the king "escort him to the guest quarters and bring the women as-well." I hung my head in relief and passed out.
had woken up in a bedroom, it looked like a fancy hotel, there was a terrace and out onto the terrace was the women from earlier. I sat up and looked around, I was bandaged up and felt great to be honest. I looked around the room to get a better feel of where I was at, there was a small coffee table that had a tray of fruits and wine. A massive pool, and beautiful painting of the Land of Shinar. Then I realized I was naked under the covers. Did I have sex….wait no no no no…I must have been drugged. I looked back out onto the terrace and stared at the woman. She was wearing a light purple dress that hung just above her knees, she had long black hair, and very pale skin, which was surprising since it was so hot in Shinar. I couldn't help but notice that she also had the most beautiful body I had ever seen. I was In love. The women suddenly turned her head at me and we locked eyes, at first I was startled, I looked away quickly. I noticed there were some clothes at the edge of the bed so I put them on. There was a white shirt with the same crest that the king had on the back, also a pair of black pants and socks with brown shoes. I walked out onto the terrace and stood next to the women.
"Hey," she said.
I finally had gotten a good look at her, and my oh my was she stunning. She had piercing green eyes, and her bangs hung just above her eyebrows. She had nice big lips, I was practically drooling out the mouth at the sight of her.
"Hello?" She said again.
I had totally forgot she had said something.
"Oh my bad hey"
"Thanks for saving me back there, it was sweet. Risking death like that…"
I didn't know that I would be risking my life to save this girl, but I could use this to my advantage.
"It's no big deal, I'm happy I helped you"
We locked eyes again, this time I really could feel something in me light ablaze.
"What's your name hero? I've been dying to know", she said after putting her hand onto my forearm.
" Obasi, my name is Obasi. What's yours?"
"My name is Eden," she said smiling.
"If you don't mind me asking, why did those priest attack you Eden?"
She paused and looked down towards her hands.
"I am a escort. Then priests and his men hadn't paid me for 3 months so I went to ask them for my payment and so on and so forth." I paused. I didn't think that a pretty soft spoken women would've been an escort. Usually back in my hometown, women were usually escorts because they were slaves or the had to do it for money. It didn't feel like my place to ask her much more detail so I nodded and looked out over the balcony overseeing the city.
"What brings you here Obasi?" Eden said.
"I want to climb the tower." I said.
She looked shocked
I smiled, and stared off again. We didn't say anything to each other for the next few minutes. You could only feel the awkward tension. But some time after that I caught myself looking at her again. She broke the silence and said "why did you help me…back there?"
It caught me a little off guard at first but I responded "because I would want someone to do the same for me." We locked eyes once again but this time Eden had moved closer to me pressing her Body up against mine, I blushed and put my arms around her waist. She stared deep into my soul, "should I kiss her?" I thought to myself. I've never kissed a girl up until this point. Back home all the girls were stuck up and mean, I didn't bother pursuing them at all. But this girl here…Eden felt different.
Just as I was about to lock lips with this hottie but the king had appeared, opening the doors to the room.
"Obasi your awake I — oh. Am I interrupting something?" Without hesitation I pushed Eden off me and fixed myself to thank him for his hospitality. "No no your majesty…thank you for this and everything," the king shook my hand with a firm grasp pulled me closer and said, "we need to have a little chat Obasi."
I got the sudden feeling that I was in big trouble, I swallowed the frog in my throat and said "as you wish."
The King and I walked out the room, I waived bye to Eden but her head was turned already. The king saw the disappointment on my face so he put his arm around my shoulder. "Don't worry my friend, there are plenty women out there that will satisfy your needs. Girls like her aren't worth the trouble. We are going to my study room, there are some questions I want to ask you," we proceeded throughout what seemed to be the quarters of a castle of some sort. Probably the living areas of the royals that stay in Babel. We approached the study room and it was smaller than I had anticipated. Is looked to be a small 8 x 8 room with a desk and two chairs on each end. We sat down.
"You seem uneasy Obasi, are you feeling alright?"
"It's okay I'm fine. Just my head is hurting a little," I felt wrong for lying to the king but I couldn't show any signs of weakness.
"First and foremost, where are you from and how did you get here?" The king gave a sharp impression, he had a longer pointy face , but he was very handsome. He has a brown beard that was only a few shades darker that his skin tone. His nose was firm and big to add at that. He also had long flowing hair that curled near the ends.
" I am from the West, from a small village in the mountains. I travelled her aboard ship for 9 months."
"A traveler from the west, I heard many stories of that place. The Land of Savages some say. Is it true monster roam free over there running rapid around being controlled by the demons," the king laughed after his remark.
"Yes some of the myths are true, but they aren't the type of monsters of fairytale. But of people themselves. These people worshipped the Demons and Devils that walked that land to gain power. Ultimately they lost control of themselves, allowing the demons to posses them. When I was young my village was attacked by those monsters, they burned everything and killed everyone, my mother had hid me in a underground bunker. I didn't exactly see these monsters. But I can always hear them tormenting the people in the village."
I looked up and saw fear in the eyes of the king. I apologized for giving to much information but he didn't seem to mind. He looked rather interested yet uneasy.
"Well what brings you here to Babel. It's a long way from home." The king said.
"I am here to climb the tower," it had felt like I've explained myself over and over again, but since this was the king of Babel I let it slide.
"Climbing the tower you say. I once knew a boy back in my younger days before I was king, who came from the west to climb this very tower, he wouldn't stop talking about it. He said he wanted to talk to God. He was a dreamer for sure."
My eyes lit up "I want to talk to God too! I know many people say it's impossible but I don't care, I have faith that I can do it."
The king looked at Obasi with a grin, "Do you intend on climbing this tower without a way to protect yourself."
"I really never thought of that before I got here, I had survived in the mountains on my own for years fighting off the animals and monsters that roamed the land, I think I can take care of myself," I said.
"Let me tell you Obasi... What you will encounter in that tower will be nothing like the monsters you've seen before you will need to be armed." The King said.
The king opened one of the drawers to the desk and pulled out a long object wrapped on cloth. He placed it on the table and said "for you my fiend, I hope you enjoy it." I grabbed the gift and unwrapped the cloth around it. It was a sword. The sheath was black, along with the handle. I unsheathed the blade at it too was black.
The king leaned into his desk "do you like it?"
I nodded my head, it was beautiful craftsmanship and felt super light in my hand.
"The blade is called (The black Megalodon), this is a very rare blade, legend has it that this was one of the blades of the angles that fought in the Great War. That same boy I was talking from earlier gave me that blade, and told me to give it to someone who I found fit to use it."
"Why me King what makes you think I'm worthy of carrying such a blade?" I said confused.
"Call it a Kings intuition," he smiled. "Come let me escort you to the tower."
We hand walked outside to a horse drawn carriage and got into the coach. The king had sat in front of me facing my direction, we had small talk about the city and politics and the history of the Land. The king was a very wise knowledgeable man. He told me stories of his rise to the throne, and his battles with Demons and Devils of the Land. 2 hours later we arrived at the Tower.
"Here we are Obasi, the Tower of Babel."
The king had said. I nodded and thanked him again for his kindness and for the gift. As I left the coach that carried us to the Tower the king stopped me and gave me a word of advice.
"Obasi, listen and listen good, that tower is full of unknown dangers and traps. There is no telling what you will encounter when you enter. May God be on your side Friend." I bowed for the final time and the coach took off.
"Finally what I've been waiting for. Time to get going."