[ Before reading: First of all, I want to thank you for all your comments and your power stones. I also want to let you know that I have updated Chapter 2, as I forgot to include the reaction of the head of the Tu Perie family, Tperie, which is now included.]
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If we could define Yeong's childhood, it would be with the word 'solitude.' Indeed, during the four years that followed, the heir of the Yeon family was surrounded only by his mother, Yirang, and sometimes by his godmother, Illarde. However, this did not make him unhappy, as he lived joyfully, constantly hearing all the lessons from the head of his family. But after listening to the heroic tales of his mother and her journey through the tower, he too wanted to experience friendship, like the group of Great Warriors of which his mother was a part.
In his deepest naivety, with his childlike voice, Yeong couldn't help but ask his mother once again if he could play with the children of the family he saw from the main palace of the mothership, who seemed to be having so much fun together. "Mother, please let me join them; they look so happy," he said while watching his cousins in the distance.
"No! How many times must I repeat to you, Yeong, that playing around with those regulars won't benefit you in the long run?" Yirang said with exasperation, massaging her temple at the same time. "If you want to have fun so badly, just tell me, and we can play together. But otherwise, your mind should be focused solely on understanding how the tower works and learning to perfect your young flames."
"But why can't I have friends too, like you had during your journey in the tower?!" the young Yeong began to whine, as pink flames started to form.
Then Yirang smothered her flames with his, which glowed with a strange feeling of repressed anger. "That's exactly it, my son, why I have constantly reminded you how important it is to control your flames. You must not accidentally kill anyone around you in a fit of anger! And to answer your question, it's precisely because I had friends that I am preventing you from having any, so you don't suffer the same undesirable effects of friendship that I did"
Then Yirang Yeon knelt and wiped her heir's tears with a luxurious silk handkerchief while he continued to sob, searching for the words to respond to his mother.
"Why are you so different from when you were climbing that tower, when you were so kind and smiling? I want you to be like that, Mom, and nothing else!"
There was a silence before the head of the Yeon family began to speak: 'I haven't told you about this yet, but several centuries after ascending the tower, Zahard, I, and the other family heads, following tragic events that we all went through together, freely decided to sacrifice much of ourselves to maintain a semblance of unity among us. So I sealed my memories, along with many of my feelings, in a precious jewel shaped like a Zygaena flower, which I placed on one of the floors of the tower, though I don't remember which one, as I also erased my memories of its exact location.
Hearing this from his mother ignited a fire in Yeong's heart, a flame filled with courage and determination. "Mother, I know what I want to do when I grow up. I will climb that tower to recover both your memories and your past feelings so that you can smile again," he said with a bright smile.
Faced with such innocence and purity, the improbable happened, and a tear fell from one of Yirang's eyes, who was sincerely surprised after so many millennia. "Huh?! I had convinced myself for millennia that I was no longer capable of this." She then turned to her son. "You are truly special, Yeong, know that! But if you undertake such a journey, you must become extremely strong, because Zahard will not allow me to recover my memories. Therefore, you must focus on training instead of thinking about playing. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Mother, I will train even harder than usual to return what you have lost." He replied, forming his young flames in his hand and then sending them toward moving targets, which greatly pleased Yirang.
"That's excellent, you've greatly improved in your mastery of Shinsu," Yirang said, stroking his hair. "You can now go rest while we wait for the meal to be served, and remember that you are not allowed to go outside the palace grounds; it would be bad for you"
Then, when Yeong turned seven, another event marked his childhood, he was greatly tempted to discover his family's mothership beyond the limits of the palace, which he knew so well. And even though he felt great guilt about breaking his mother's rules, his immense curiosity pushed him to venture out of the palace's beautiful gardens toward a large hall from which he heard a lot of noise, unaware for even a second of the horror he was about to witness.
Attracted by the warmth and the noises emanating from the building, like a moth to a flame, the young heir of the Yeon family quickly found himself disillusioned upon entering the room. He immediately understood that the sounds he had heard were screams of pain and that the heat came from flames being used by children not older than him to burn tower inhabitants who were pleading for their lives. But what troubled Yeong the most was seeing that the girls who were immolating these individuals were not punished; on the contrary, they were praised by adults for using their Shinsu correctly. The seven-year-old boy could no longer bear to witness such horror; he even thought that all of this must be a nightmare.
"It's not possible, Mother wouldn't tolerate something like this, I refuse to believe it!" the child screamed as he dropped to his knees, unable to stop himself from covering his eyes with his hands to hide from the truth.
As he tried once again to face what he was seeing, he couldn't help but feel fear as all those pink eyes turned toward him, filled with either rage or jealousy. He hadn't thought he could be so hated by members of his own family, but before he could curl up and cry, a familiar presence lifted him into their arms to comfort him.
"My foolish son, you should have listened to me. That prohibition was for your good. I didn't want to expose you to the cruelty of the tower or the corruption that plagues Zahard's empire and its 10 Great Families until you were old enough so that you wouldn't lose your innocence." Yirang scolded, gently rocking her heir.
"Mom, why do all the members of our family, except Illarde, look at me with such negative emotions?" Yeong asked.
She immediately replied in a slightly hateful voice, "Because they are simply jealous of you for the position you hold! However, facing the harsh truth, you must certainly have other questions to ask me, I suppose?"
After being comforted, Yeong nodded and stepped out of his family head's arms. "Mother, tell me sincerely, why do you allow the members of our family to kill the inhabitants of the tower?"
She nodded and began to tell him the truth, her eyes void of emotion: "As you know, I have no affection for the living beings born in the tower; whether they live or die, it doesn't matter to me. Thus, I let this unfold under the direction of your godmother, Illarde, in order to allow the members of our family to improve as much as possible in mastering their flames, even if it's cruel. It's in the nature of the tower to be cruel; to become strong and ascend, one must necessarily kill."
This made Yeong swallow hard. "So all the other Great Families operate in the same way?" he asked.
"In broad terms, yes, my son. The members of these families typically use their powerful positions to commit the worst cruelties imaginable with impunity. I can give the example of the Khun family, from my former friend, Eduan, who, in addition to ostracizing family members not chosen by the tower, also organizes bloody fights between children your age to decide who will be abandoned." Yirang explained calmly
But that's vile! Those who participate in this are nothing more than monsters!" Yeong exclaimed with anger and disgust.
"That's still very strange," said Yirang. "I never taught you to have such a morality, and yet you have this deep kindness even for tower inhabitants you don't even know! Can you tell me, my son, where this way of thinking came from? From Illarde, from books you may have read in my library, or something else, like a dream?"
The child in front of her simply shook his head at her questioning. "No, Mother, you're wrong. You did teach me this way of life, not in the form of a lesson in propriety, but when you recounted your adventures. I was only imitating you through your examples, your joy, your kindness, your righteous anger, and finally your love that could extend not just to allies but also to the enemies you encountered."
"Don't stay in this naive way of thinking; it could kill you or, worse, make you become like me in the future" she said."
And Yeong refused without even thinking. "No, I refuse, Mother. I know deep down that this is the right way to think, and above all, it is the only way to help you regain your smile."
Yirang lifted her right lip slightly to form a semblance of a smile in response to such a declaration, which had once made her cry. "Even after four long years, and having confronted the truth of the tower, you still want to perpetuate your childish dream?"
Faced with such a question, the child did not shrink back; on the contrary, he seemed to be filled with great courage as he began to speak. "This doesn't change my determination, Mother. I still want to seek your memories, but now I also want to put an end to the corruption of each Great Family by changing their heads of families, starting with the recovery of their memories, and also by showing everyone, including you, that the regulars are not insects. Otherwise, it will never work!"
His mother showed her satisfaction with a noble nod of her head. "I expected nothing less from my precious son; I'm very glad to have made you my heir." With that, the family duo returned to the palace, their bond even stronger than before.
Then, when Yeong grew to the age of 11, it was clear that the physical traits specific to the Yeon family were strongly manifesting in him; his black hair had become smoother, and his eyes shone with a beautiful pink glow. At that moment, he was in a room of the palace, practising his green healing flame on a baby Zygaena to save its life when suddenly he felt an extremely powerful presence behind him, in the form of a white rabbit holding a staff adorned with a blue orb. It was Headon, the administrator of the first floor of the tower, and the boy immediately recognized him, shifting his attention away from the Shinheuh, which happily departed after being healed.
"I officially welcome you to the tower, anomaly. But it seems you do not need an introduction, you already seem to have heard of me," the administrator said theatrically.
"Indeed, from the description given by my mother, I knew you were the administrator of the first floor, Headon." Yeong chose his words carefully to avoid offending the being in front of him, but he couldn't help but be curious about the term Headon had used. "However, dear administrator, why did you call me an "anomaly" instead of irregular ?"
Faced with this question, Headon smiled and then spoke in an enigmatic manner. "Are irregular beings who force the opening of the tower's doors, or are they chosen by the tower itself? That is a question that non-administrators can't help but ask themselves at least once in their lives. But one thing is certain: regardless of the strength of an irregular, they will inevitably appear on the first floor to take my test, young Yeon, because there is only one entrance door. Only beings who transform their own stories into reality can surpass the tower's relentless logic, creating anomalies and forging new doors if they wish"
"What do you mean?" the young heir asked insistently, truly lost and simultaneously struck by an existential crisis about his existence. Although his mother had told him the truth, he still didn't understand why he had appeared directly before her. "I'm struggling to read between the lines, but you're telling me that my presence in the tower is connected to one of these powerful beings. But who are these beings, Administrator Headon?"
"For that, you simply need to climb the entire tower and see the stars, and I'm sure you will know the answer to that question," Headon told him before pulling out a black sphere and handing it to him. "However, I think our interesting conversation must come to an end, child. Let's now talk about something very important: I'm referring to your future entry into the tower! Since you are a new kind of irregular, I have decided to give you the exceptional opportunity to choose when you wish to begin climbing. Otherwise, in my opinion, you wouldn't be a true irregular if it were me or another administrator who chose the moment you should start ascending this tower. It is in this spirit that I entrust you with this Pocket, through which you can contact me at any time, so I can come to fetch you and you can officially begin my test."
Yeong carefully took the Pocket and made a humble bow. "Thank you, but I will not enter the tower for some time, as I still have so much to learn from my mother. I need to perfect my healing abilities and attacks by creating my fighting style."
"I completely understand. So train well, and come back to see me when you're ready. I look forward to our next meeting." he exclaimed, twirling his staff and disappearing in a wave of Shinsu, leaving Yeong somewhat unsettled.
After this encounter, Yeong was able to relay everything that had happened to Yirang, but she did not seem nearly as enthusiastic as her son. She strictly advised him to be wary of Headon, as well as of all the humanoid creations of Macseth that he might encounter.
This thus concluded Yeong's tumultuous childhood, as he would seek to develop a new fighting style in his adolescence to be able to enter the tower.