• My mother once told me of the tower. How magnificent it was. She used to tell me all the time, her and my father, stories about it, but no one ever left the village, or leaves any other village for that matter. I never understood it. A magnificent city; a tower leading to the skies, but no one who ever ventured to find it did. I was far too fearless for that! I made up my mind young to dedicate my life to the finding of this town harboring such a tower.

    Once mother told me of a man who did set off to find it. Old man MKM. Harland was his last name, but I can't remember the rest of his name for the life of me. MKM set off in search of the tower. The villagers told him that he would meet his at a pack of raging dogs for being out of the town beyond the hour of the closing of the gates. He may have been an old man, but he was strong at heart. A brave soul if I had every met anyone else brave enough to leave the town.

    Everyone who left was a legend, and every one of them had died in some fantastic way. It was either convenient for the villagers to tell these stories, or there was great danger outside these city limits. It is said that while old man MKM was watching a popular water sport at a neighboring town, he was struck by a plasma discus and it turned him to ash. I found it funny that old man MKM would be the one to kick the can without actually leaving any evidence. This story only helped to evince my will to find the tower.

    The remainder of my years in town were spent becoming strong enough for my journey. While mother would have preferred that I be in the kitchen with her cooking for the family. "Chrischaef," she'd say "No man will marry a wild woman!" I preferred to be outside beating up the town boys and waving my stick like a sword stained with the blood of my enemies. I wouldn't want to marry any man this weak anyways! Marriage held no interest of mine and neither did the thought of remaining locked up in that town forever.

    The day finally came when I left the town. I was a young woman clad in armor. Long red hair and fair skin. As any other woman in the town was until she grew old enough for her hair to gray. I set off with the intention of traveling town to town until I found the town that harbored the tower.

    My journey lasted me about six years, but in that time, I did indeed visit a green town, which on the outskirts in the medium grass field, a single grave with the title MKM Harland written in gray on the head clear as day. It brought me a sense of honor to be standing at the grave of Old man MKM that beautiful day. Eventually, I gained enough information to find that there was a town at the summit of the mountain. It was the hardest place to reach. There was no doubt in my mind, that this was the mythic tower town. This was the last year in my journey.

    I found a group of horses near the ocean side, and, apparently, domesticated their leader. The horse I rode was brown and spotted white. The rest of them, about eight horses, never left his side. They followed me up the backside of Stephanie; the mountain here in the outback; land of the Irish.

    If there is one thing that I learned, it is this. You should never wait until 23 hours too late to tell the chief of a village of your journey to his town. I did just this, and my procrastination earned me a stay just outside the gates of the town.

    The blistering snow and cold was no trouble, it was the snow covered packs of wolves ever waiting to devour me in the night. They didn't leave much room for rest or comfort, but the presence of the horses did me well in intimidating them till morning. It was much more serene by then.

    I entered the town much like I would enter a dream, which seemed much like any other I'd visited in my time. A sense of relief took me over as I remembered my mother so far away. If I could somehow contact her from this village to tell her of my triumph, she would have been so proud of me, as would any male in any town and forever praise me for excelling in courage where they had failed.

    After a brief meeting with the chief, I spotted the tower. To my eyes, it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. It was stacked high with thick and shaved stones. Mundane, but a treasure of greatest worth. In the center was a pillar that held a large bright blue jewel that glowed magically. Whether the light came from the jewel or the reflection of the sun, I could not tell. Nonetheless, it was the greatest sight my eyes had allowed me to see.

    The people of the town walked along as if the tower had not existed. No one looked at it, no one ventured toward it. Perhaps they had all seen its wonders and grown tired of it. Not one person, not even the chief, spoke, or even looked in its direction. I did not care to ask why. My very being had finally found its destiny.

    I walked to the pillar with its glowing jewel and saw far across the way, a vast sea of clouds, and on the other side was another tower similar to the one on which I stood. The other tower was much more elaborate, more decorated with lots more little rocks and it was much taller than this one. I climb the stairs to the top of the tower, but when they climb the tower, all they see…is me.