The raiders burst into a fit of laughter as they became unruly. The shackled enslaved people began screaming for help, rattling their chains from inside metal barred cages.
More people stepped forward and stared down the gangs, which caused pain to everyone alive. The unbelievable happened; the people who emerged from the tower began unleashing magical attacks down onto the raiders.
Through the help of the powers bestowed upon the people who had entered the tower, they were able to push back the warlord and his gangs to the outskirts of the city. Civilization began anew with the people working together across Terra and starting to rebuild the cities.
The Warlords took control of the countryside and rapidly expanded in power in the wilds while humanity began to fortify the cities. The survivors no longer knew the advanced metalwork from the past and elected to build castle walls that were soon made out of stone and mortar.
Peace returned to Terra once again as no one needed to venture out into the wilds and face the warlords, as they could travel to other castles through the towers. The people began to worship the buildings and powers, believing they were gifts from God, and affectionately referred to them as God's Towers.
***
The Elderly woman closed the book quietly and smiled at the slumbering Jackson, bending forward and kissing his forehead before slowly standing up and sitting in the chair in front of the fireplace.
She reached into her blouse and pulled out an old corncob pipe and reached into her oversized chair, and pulled a small pouch of tobacco out from between the cushion as she packed it and snapped her fingers, producing a flame from her index finger and lit the pipe, taking a few puffs and sighing in relief, sinking into the cushion with a smile.
She stared at a family painting hanging above the fireplace. In the picture was a young woman and her husband, a small child in their mother's arms, and an older woman, "Where have you gone to now, my son..?" She asked the young man as tears welled up from her eyes.
Her son, Jackson's father, was a challenger, someone who climbed the tower for the sake of humanity. No matter what he was doing, he had always made sure to exit at least one day out of the month. It had been a year since he was last seen...
"Your little boy needs you..." She muttered as the tears streamed down her wrinkled cheeks, "I cannot give him what he needs from you..." She sighed, "He deserves the truth..."
His mother, who she never understood why her son took her as his wife, dropped Jackson off with her one day out of the blue three months after he disappeared, and she never came back. She had changed her name, altered her appearance, and vanished into the wilds.
She turned her face, wiping her eyes as she stared at the innocent young boy fast asleep in the nearby bed. She opened the back of the book, placed her hand on a hidden, sealed envelope addressed to Jackson, and frowned before taking a deep puff from her pipe.
She puffed on the pipe absentmindedly and stared into the fireplace until she fell asleep.
Hours later, Jackson awoke and sat up in bed, looking around as the beginning streams of sunlight began peeking through the trees and into the small clearing; he flung the blankets off him and exited the cottage, heading to a small hut that served as an outhouse on the other side of the clearing.
She was awoken by the door closing as she heard the sounds of small birds chirping happily outside the cottage. She turned to the bed and saw it empty and smiled as she slowly stood up, groaning as her bones ached, and slowly walked into the kitchenette and opened the refrigerator, pulling out eggs and milk.
After relieving himself, the young boy exited the tiny building, ran over to a large basin with water, rinsed his hands off, and splashed his face before running inside and sitting down at the table, "Good morning, Grandma!" He chirped.
"Good morning, Jax! Breakfast is almost ready!" She said with a smile as she finished cooking the eggs on a flame she had created before placing them on a small plate and putting it in front of the boy with a glass of milk.
"You'll need to finish your chores early this morning; we need to go to the market and buy another stone to power the fridge." She explained as she sat down with a mug of coffee.
"Okay, Grandma!" He said with a smile as he began to eat his breakfast. The elderly woman smiled and finished her coffee as she stood up and patted his head as she walked by him, heading outside and stretching her body with a loud groan.
"Growing old is rough..." She muttered to herself, slowly walking into the clearing around the house toward a massive rock near the edge of the thicket of trees.
She sat down and crossed her legs as she closed her eyes, resting the back of her palms against her knees. A pale, white, viscous-like energy emerged from her body as the rock began vibrating.
Jackson finished his breakfast and burst out of the cottage, running as he quickly stopped, digging his heels into the ground and skidding to a halt as he stared over at his grandmother.
Her eyes sprung open, glossed over, and brightly emanating the same aura coming from her body. The massive rock immediately halted as it settled again into the dirt, and the aura vanished, and her eyes returned to normal.
She groaned as she slid off the rock, adjusting her thick leather dress and jacket, dusting herself off as she approached Jackson, "The Mana Stone has been ordered, you need to hurry along now and finish your chores, or we're going to be late!" She wagged her finger, scolding him.
Jackson's eyes went wide as he ran around the house to the small fenced-in pen with the singular cow and chickens. He quickly picked up the bucket outside the enclosure and hopped the fence as he attended to his chores.
After he finished, he quickly ran to the water trough once more and dunked his entire upper body into it before shaking wildly and running to the front of the house and hopping into the carriage his grandmother was sitting on behind a singular mule.
"Hyah!" She said and flicked the reins as they began their journey to the closest settlement, Duskgate.