Towers

There is a finite world within an infinite spectrum of universes, which is a three dimensional world existing within a three-dimensional universe. Although finite, it is an extremely vast planet consistent of a desert plain, interpolated with pockmarks of brilliant blue seas. It is a lonely planet though, the only one within the solar system in which it resides, although it constantly brims with life. On a closer inspection, its desert surface is riddled with what look like stone towers, all different distances apart and between two and five kilometres in height. The ground between the bases of these towers is completely desolate, and filled with dying spirits. However, within each tower, a spirit is navigating a labyrinth of tight corkscrew staircases and winding corridors, ascending gradually to the summit of its corresponding tower, leagues above the ground. Atop the summit of each tower, regardless of height, is a triangular calling button on a bronze post, which the spirit uses once at the end of its vertical journey to call a mythical ship (which looks akin to a blimp) to take it on to the next tower, the next phase of its life.

 

Within this planet of towers, not all of the towers is in the same state of repair. Some are brand new and gleaming, built of new materials. Some even have lifts in the place of staircases, where the spirit has an easy ride yet achieves an extreme vertical distance above the ground. Meanwhile, other towers are built from stone and are decaying, like the tower that my spirit currently inhabits. This tower is taller than many of the newer ones, and is consistent of varying types of stones, yet is entirely true to its material. It winds its way into the heavens, riddled with multiple helical staircases winding their way into the heavens. An immense cathedral like space occupies its lower section, illuminated with fiery torches with conical holders and totally devoid of natural light. The opulent spiral staircase my spirit found myself climbing reached the vaulted roof of this lobby when it reached around about a fifth of the way up the stone edifice (the height of the tower is unknown yet, until my spirit reaches the mysterious golden lantern atop its roof). There, the spiral staircase soon became tighter and tighter, and the torches soon faded. My soul found myself navigating a dark labyrinth, and occasionally would crash against a solid wall, where it would double back on itself and put its head into its arms and weep. Sometimes staircases just lead nowhere, sections of the tower were completely abandoned.

 

One day, my soul was blindly navigating a cylindrical staircase when it saw through its two eyes a light of strange colours in the distance. This was a white light, as opposed to a grim artificial torchlight. It ran along the corridor and the light intensified until all that could be seen was a white slit in the far wall. The whiteness faded as my soul gingerly walked towards it and was replaced by the most wonderful view. Similar stone towers soar up in the distance, the glass sheath of one strongly reflected the strange source of this light, a white disk in the sky. To my spirit, this seemed like a universal torch, an eternal torch. Never before had its seen so much open space. As I made more friends in my life, these windows became more and more common and the sight of other towers became so much less of a shock. The higher up I found myself, the greater the view, yet I am probably not more than a quarter of the way up this stone structure. My first foray onto an outside terrace allows me to consider my life and look down, down, down, down into the imperceptible whiteness of the closest cloud of history to me. Above, the structure soars into yet another fluffy white murk, which I have not yet reached yet can perceive.

 

Nearby, the lower floors of one of the earliest towers that I saw have begun to burn slowly, and every so often a cracking sound pierces the silence as fragments of stone blow off the side. I suddenly see a piece of fiery stone heading directly towards me, and I scramble up the nearest corkscrew staircase before the floor nearly collapses around me. The fire worsens and worsens and I dont know what to do as massive stones fly off the side of the nearby tower and crash into the side of my tower. Entire staircases are sucked into oblivion and I am left clambering on a ledge of collapsing marble tiles, a vertical drop of almost twenty-two kilometres below me. Outside, the fire grows worse and worse, at a rapid pace and I begin to fear that the entire structure will collapse into the base of mine, severely undermining any further ascent. The fire is maybe a kilometre in height and my ascent becomes a race for survival as rocks crash through the elaborate grilles protecting me from a near-infinite drop.