Chapter 29 - Ninth Floor (2/2)

”I know your Urek Manzino, an Irregular just like me. One of the strongest people in the Tower and the fastest one to climb to the Top.” Lumen told him all the information he knew about him.

”Wait, you really don't know who I am. Wow! What kind of backward place are you from, if you can't recognize the Great Prince of the Manzino Empire?” Urek asked him with wide-eyes. He comes from one of the biggest Empires in the entire Universe, so he didn't expect someone from the outside world not to be able to recognize him.

”I've never heard of that place. I'm from Earth, we don't have such an Empire there. In fact, Empires don't exist there.” Lumen truthfully answered him. There are a few countries that could be considered Empires, but he didn't think of them as ones.

”Earth?! Hmmm. I've never heard of that place. Which Galaxy is it from?” Urek asked while scratching his chin.

”We call it the Milky Way.” Lumen answered. He didn't expect that this would their first conversation, but it was better than nothing.

”I've never heard of that as well. That's odd. But you truly haven't heard of the Manzino Empire? The Empire that spans over five Galaxies. One of the biggest in the entire Universe. With Amory Manzino, the God of Power and Destruction, being the Ruler of the Empire.” Urek explained his origin, expecting to see some kind of response.

”Never heard of it.” Lumen replied. The people from Earth only speculated that there could be other intelligent beings in the Universe, but they didn't have any proof for that.

”Damn! You really are from a backward place. Then how did you even come to the Tower?” Urek questioned him.

Lumen hesitated for a moment. After thinking about it, he decided to tell him about his story.

”Well, I was promised a grand adventure by a weird man, and I was sent to the Tower to have said adventure.” Before he could continue, Urek stopped him.

”Impossible! You can't be sent to the Tower. The Tower has to open its doors for you. You were tricked by him. Just like how I was tricked by that bastard Phantaminum. He promised the same thing to me! Now, I have to find a way to get out of this place without making trouble for my old man.” Urek denied him immediately.

”But that's the truth! I didn't even know about the Tower's existence. If it wasn't for that Loki guy that called himself an Axis, I wouldn't even be here. Hell, he was the one that gifted me my powers!” Lumen didn't mind telling that to Urek since he didn't believe he could steal them away. From his first impression of him, he didn't seem like that kind of a guy.

”Impossible! There is absolutely no way for someone to send you into the Tower. It's also impossible for him to be able to grant you your powers. Axises might be the only naturally born divine beings, but they can't grant powers to others. In fact, no divine being can grant someone powers. Otherwise, the whole Universe would be filled with people like you.” Urek's words made sense, but that's what happened to Lumen.

”If you didn't look so convinced that that's the truth. I would have killed you already for lying to me.” Hearing that, Lumen didn't know what to say. That was the actual truth, and exactly what happened.

”But that name Loki, it sounds familiar.” Urek scratched his chin with a thoughtful expression.

”Ah! I think I remember now. Loki is from those drifter Gods. Yes, that right! Those guys are pretty famous. No one knows from where they come from, but they are a pretty strong bunch.”

”From what I remember, they once said that the place they come from has extremely weak and stupid monkeys. They tried helping their civilization improve, but didn't have much success. Annoyed by the stupid monkeys, they started roaming around the Universe and didn't have a territory for themselves.”

”At one point, they took over a Galaxy, but all the divine beings were angry at their actions. They banded together and forced them away from that Galaxy. However, that's all they were able to do, just force them away. That group had incredibly strong Gods amongst them like Zeus, Odin, Thor, Jupiter, Amun, Indra, and a bunch of others.”

”Due to their strength, the divine beings formed a pact with them. They would be allowed to roam free around the Universe, as long as they do not attack the territory of other divine beings.”

”Whenever they were asked where they came from, they would always curse how stupid and weak that place is. I heard they are a fun group when you get to know them, but I never got to meet any of them.”

Lumen was amazed at hearing stories about the Gods that were only myths on Earth. Never would he though that all of those incredible stories would actually be true. The Gods from Earth were even famous across the entire Universe.

”That's amazing, but Loki called himself an Axis, not a God. What's the deal with that?” Lumen asked Urek, trying to understand his own situation better.

”That shouldn't be possible. I'm 100% certain that he is a God. Although Gods and Axises are both divine beings, you can't be both at the same time. You can become a God, but you can't become an Axis, you have to be born one!” Urek's explanation was starting to confuse Lumen.

”Then how do you explain my situation? I was a normal 20-year old human a few months ago. I had absolutely no special powers until Loki granted them to me and sent me here.” Lumen asked him. It's not that he was unhappy with his powers, but he at least wanted to know more about how he received them.

”That... I don't know. It's shouldn't be possible. As I said, no divine being can grant powers to someone else. It doesn't matter if it's a God or an Axis. That's simply impossible.” Urek resolutely told him.

”Take me for example. Both of my parents are Gods, so I inherited some of their powers. I might not be immortal like them, but my lifespan is greatly increased. I also had my powers since the moment I was born. They weren't given to me by a divine being.”

”What you are saying, just doesn't make sense. Damn!” Urek started massaging his temples. ”I didn't expect to have this kind of conversation with you. I just wanted to ask you how my father had reacted to my disappearance.”

”Neither did I. I just wanted to know more about the other Irregulars. Can you tell me more about Phantaminum and Enryu?” Lumen asked, hoping to get some hints from hearing about the other two Irregulars.

”Phantaminum is a shitty, cheating, lying scum. If you meet him, never listen to a word he says! That's all you need to know about him. Enryu, on the other hand, I've never met. I don't know anything about him, other than that he killed the Guardian of the 43rd Floor. Which is pretty impressive.” Urek's explanation didn't help him at all, but Phataminum did sound a bit like Loki.

”Well, that was mighty useful.” Lumen sighed.

Urek thought for a moment and pulled out an alcohol beverage from his Pocket. He took out two glasses, filled them up, and presented one to Lumen.

”Tell you what. You tell me about your whole life on Earth before you met Loki, and I will tell you about mine before I met Phantaminum. Sounds good?” Urek asked.

”It's better than nothing.” Lumen accepted the alcohol-filled glass, and the two sat down, sharing their stories.