Tower of the Truth part 2

When they both look up, there is no end in sight.


"Maybe that's because it extends all the way to the sun?"


"No way, It would evaporate long before it reaches the sun."


"Hmm, maybe it has a skylight."


"I guess that's the case, but just how massive it has to be for it to catch so much light?"


"Look, there are stairs over there."


Gorge points to a seemingly endless spiral staircase that ascends by the tower's walls.


"Do we climb it?"


"Yes, what else are we going to do here?" Replies Periphirilia


They begin climbing the stairs.


"These stairs seem to go on forever."


"Everything has an end, no matter how endless something may seem. Most likely, true infinity doesn't exist. Periphirilia exclaims.


As they proceed up the stairs, they notice that the wall is covered in enormous drawings corresponding to the stairway's curvature and scaling.

It depicts people living in the forest in modern-looking yet strange and unknown buildings. It's raining, and people are outside with their hands raised, almost as if they are trying to catch the rain.


"What a weird drawing," Says Gorge.


"It's most certainly unusual."


"What could it mean?"


"I don't know, maybe some kind of religion."


"Hmm, you are probably right, so could this be like some kind of weird church tower?"


"Doubt it; even if the painting is religious, the building seems pretty modern."


They continue climbing, and as they climb past the first drawing, they find something a bit more disturbing, continuously transitioning there is a second drawing. A painting depicting rainfall yet again, but this time there is also a lot of water on the ground; however, the people depicted don't appear to be very happy or welcoming anymore.

"This one is much weirder than the previous one."


"Yeah, but all we can do is keep climbing to see more."


Next, they see a text: It wouldn't stop. And immediately picture the rain in their heads.


"You think those people got flooded?" Asks Gorge


"Maybe we just have to go further and see what happens next."


As the second drawing seamlessly transitions into the third, Gorge and Periphirilia keep climbing anxiously.

It depicts the city half-flooded and people scrambling for their lives. The text stating- "Humanity has faced an impending doom," is present right in the center of the picture.


"That is so awful. You think those people are okay?"


"Of course they are; I have no doubt they managed to survive." Reassures him Periphirilia.


"The further we go, the sadder the story gets. Do you want to continue going up?"


"Of course. Are you interested in what has happened here too?"


"I guess so."


"So we keep climbing?"


"Yeah. Since we are already here, we might as well go to the very end."


They continue climbing further. They also notice a fourth drawing, which this time shows a large group of people constructing something, but it's unclear what it is.

Most likely, they are building a ship. Thinks Gorge.

They continue climbing, and they see the other half of the drawing.


Huge letters say: The entire humanity came together to build a waterproof shelter. And it depicts a giant construction.


"Hey, that looks kind of similar."


"I think that's the structure we have been at before." Replies Periphirilia


"So that means that there are survivors? Maybe that person we have encountered in the dark."


"I don't know. Who knows what was going on in that place? The only thing left to do is to keep climbing." Replies Periphirilia


Gorge and Periphirilia continue going up while silently admiring the beautiful paintings on the walls.


The next drawing looks a bit odd; it shows the bottom of the structure getting flooded and people drowning. And there is a text that says: People found out that the shelter wouldn't last.


"Good thing we didn't go any deeper in there; the whole place might have been underwater," Says Periphirilia while carefully examining the art.


"I don't get it, so did they die or survive?" Gorge is confused.

Another mystery. He thinks.


"There is only one way to find out." Periphirilia points her arm up.


They continue making their way up yet again. Gorge starts getting tired.


"Hey, maybe we should take a little break? There are way too many stairs over here."


"Look, the next painting is already visible; we can take a break once we can fully see it."


"Kay"

Gorge is almost crawling now. Periphirilia takes his hand and helps him up, and finally, they have reached the 6th painting.

It depicts backward evolution. The text says devolution is the solution; back into the ocean!


"What the fuck does this mean? I don't understand." Gorge is very confused. What is this devolution thing? Do you know?


"That means that they are trying to go back to before there were different life forms that lived in water. But the process would take hundreds of millions of years, so I don't think that's possible.


"Maybe they found a trick that lets them do it faster?"


"Gorge. There are no tricks like that."


"Oh, yeah, well, how do you know? Have you ever tried to evolve before?"


...


"Let's just keep climbing up; the higher we go, the more interesting it gets."


"Wait! You said that we could rest here.


"We did; now we can continue climbing."


"Whoaaa, there is no need to rush, you know. Five more minutes, and we are good to go."


"Sure, five minutes wouldn't hurt."


Gorge and Periphirilia are looking around as they rest. Gorge looks down and almost passes out after seeing how high they are.


"Look!" Gorge points down. "How did we get so high? I can't even see the bottom floor anymore, and we didn't even climb for that long."

Periphirilia looks down. "Hmm, that is definitely weird." It seems that this place is even more interesting than we originally thought. In any case, I think we have rested enough for now. Up we go forward!"


"Don't you think it's dangerous? This place is really weird."


"It's definitely weird, but I don't know if I would call it dangerous. I guess if you were to fall down, it could be pretty bad, but otherwise, it seems pretty safe. No more talks; let's go."


As they ascend, Gorge and Periphirilia pick up the pace. However, Gorge cannot shake off this weird feeling that something is amiss here.
They have reached the seventh painting.

A group of people surround one person as he lies down on a table and make adjustments to his body parts. The writing reads:

A majority of people felt that development would take too long and that they wouldn't make it. So they decided to act independently and formed a coalition that is opposed to devolution.

"Hey, look, the drawing isn't finished yet; it still continues." Gorgte points up.


"You are right; let's go!"

What they see completely shocks them.

There is a painting of a grotesque creature.

With a humanoid head but with very small eyes and a large beak resembling that of a toucan. Fat, round, hairy body with very short legs resembling a cat's.

And the text that said:

So they have decided to take matters into their own hands and alter humans using sophisticated technology for modifying genes and intricate surgeries to create an entirely new species better suited to the post-apocalyptic environment.


"Eww, that thing is so ugly." Gorge looks at the painting with disdain.


"I never expected to find something like this. From now on, we should be careful. I can't even imagine what's above us. I wouldn't be that surprised if we happened to find more than a painting up there."


"More than a painting? Like two paintings?" asks, completely terrified and shuddering Gorge


"Hey, calm down. I don't think that it's going to be that bad. At worst, I think that we should be prepared to run, you know, just in case..." Periphirilia smiles nervously.


"Wait... We are still going up?"


"Of course, what's the point of coming all the way here if we are just going to turn around the moment we get scarred? Unknown things are always scary until you find the truth behind them. So instead of escaping our fears, how about we conquer them?" Periphirilia now smiles confidently.


"Yeah, let's go. If we die, we die!" SHouts out Gorge while pumping himself up.


"Whoah, no need to go that far; if things get dangerous, we run, remember ?"


"Yeah"

I hope we don't die. This is a scary place to disappear from. Gorge gets lost in his thoughts as they continue making their way up.