Somewhere in the mythical world, towers reach high into the clouds; there are vases and sphere-shaped water that is kept in shape by a central core that is a device. People live there, dwellings that reach into another dimension; a cube appears superficially made of light, glass, and mist. This is where the residence of water runs into another place; in this other place, there are dwellings of water that are submerged into streams and rivers. This is unimportant; those streams and rivers had another story. The towers are of concern here; near the water dwellings, transparent spheres hang there. Were they for decoration? Once centuries before, the towers were used as a place for endurance.Youth were required to climb these towers to find their way up without much help from the community, and only to climb outside the building. Some died by falling from such a great height from exhaustion; few wished to scale such a height as the winds were so fierce and powerful that there was constant danger of being swept off into what seemed an abyss. There were secret ways up the towers; each climber had to use their ingenuity to survive the climb. Most dreaded the rise; few looked forward to this. As young males come of age, the tower of endurance is waiting for them. If such a task were completed, they could, in time, sit on the highest seat of the tribal council. Few in the past questioned this, some tribes in the mythical world had people that asked everything, and they weren’t too popular with the authorities. Some of the youth climbing the tower had disappeared into another world because of a cube-shaped sky, clouds, and weather. Perhaps they reach another world, and then the climbers are gone. These cubes were located above the towers; each tower had a cube that varied in size from one building to the next. The cubes contrasted with the surrounding environment; it had its sky, clouds, seasons, and weather, which seemed part of another world. When the towers were built, the cubes appeared, no one knew where they came from, and none tried to explain or study their sudden appearance; they just accepted them. Some people accused the builders of creating them but denied that they made them. Few learned people knew what the cubes were because the explanations were complicated and illogical, and people that tried to measure them with instruments failed. The only thing that dropped from the cubes after a climber had disappeared for a few days were spheres with intricate designs; no one could explain what they were. Some people tried to investigate the cubes by climbing into them. As they tried, they were blocked by a barrier. Only the youth that rose the tower seemed to be able to climb into the cubes and enter them. But not all the children that made the climb joined the cubes. Eventually, with the disappearance and the young climbers that fell, family members complained; the authorities banned the ritual.

The question was, why wasn’t this ritual stopped, or why did it get started? When the first towers were built, young climbers that challenged it didn’t fall, and there were no sky cubes, all a climber needed was nerves. Once they were at the top, all climbed down safely; only later did the cubes appear, and the climbers fell or disappeared. But why wasn’t it stopped right away as the accidents began to happen? People and climbers thought it was a thrill and challenge if they fell or disappeared. This was a long time ago. Over time the ritual evolved into a spectacle that became gross, so it was abolished.

The towers are no longer used; the climbing rituals have almost disappeared. The towers started to change; they began to turn organic, looking like they were made of trees, forest, and rock. They were becoming part of the land; these tower forests had become part of it. There are tiny beings three to four inches high living in those towers. Again those same towers are changing, evolving as they were before. Other beings are seen climbing those towers, and the four-inch beings run up to the sky cube. Another event is taking place. The cubes are increasing in size, perhaps engulfing the world.

Robert J. Matsunaga