I appreciate all of you who have stuck with me and continued to read my story. As a token of my gratification I am giving an opportunity to those who really love it. I also would like to know who else is reading it, so if you read my story and have a user name, please submit at least one review. The more people that I captivate the more encouraged I will be.
The Towers Continued: Who We Are
Jeremie:
The experience from what the traveler had just done was indescribably horrifying. The terror that had flown through me was impossible to express in words. The immense amount of energy that I had felt coming from him, as it ripped through my body, had nearly drained the life from me. I was barely able to breath, and I simply couldn't understand why he had done that.
"I apologize, I had forgotten, momentarily, that you were all children. If I had remembered I would have moved you to a safer distance for your, um, age. I hope that it didn't 'hurt' any of you to much. If so, and again I apologize, I am willing to heal you."
"What the hell did you just do?" Ulrich asked his voice cracking.
"I'm not sure you would understand..." the traveler responded. "X.A.N.A. had figured a way of creating a barrier would have killed you if I had taken you through it. I simply destroyed the barrier. It was changing the rules of the universe, and that is why I had to be so 'rough'."
"So you ripped a hole in the universe?" Aelita asked.
"You could say that, but I wouldn't. There is no hole but there isn't something that was there." He sighed. "This is hard to explain."
"How... no, why did you do that?" I asked.
"Jeremie, have you ever tried to defy 'god'?" the traveler asked me.
"No..." I said bluntly.
"Not while you are awake anyway... but Yumi has, her powers defy the law of gravity and a few other laws of nature. The thing she did a while ago, before I sent her into the temporary space, would have killed her if she had continued. She was doing nearly the same thing as I had done."
"I did?" Yumi asked.
"Yes, but because you don't have the same kind of power that I do your effect was different..." the traveler told her. "Anyway, I see the activated tower now."
We began moving down towards the ground. I saw a large tower that was emanating a light green aura. I had seen many similar towers on the way here and I couldn't tell why this was the one that was active. There seemed to be no distinction between this one and the others that we had passed.
As we neared the tower the traveler said, "Brace yourselves, you are about to feel something nasty..."
I didn't understand what he meant until suddenly I felt as though I had become nauseous. I felt quivers run through my body and into my stomach, then out of my stomach and back through my body. I nearly fell over but Aelita stopped me before I fell. I looked over at her and she looked at me. She looked nearly as bad as I did, but she was still able to stand.
"Only a few more steps..." the traveler informed us his voice vibrating through the air as though we were underwater.
As I took another step I came out of the invisible veil that had been surrounding the tower. I looked back to see what it had been and noticed that the tower was pulsating a murky black. As each pulsation was created the space that it went through was altered and the light bent around it. Now that I could see it I found it horrifying.
I turned around and began walking towards the tower again. I saw that the others were already standing next to it waiting for me. I quickened my pace and caught up with them. Once I was among them again they turned to look at the tower again. The tower was as tall as all the others, and it had the same cylinder like shape. The problem was that there was no visible way in. I didn't know how they usually entered the towers but I couldn't find a door of any kind.
"I should warn you all; these towers are very different than the ones that you are use to." The traveler told us. "Follow me..."
The traveler began walking into the wall of the tower and he suddenly began disappearing through it. I was shocked but Aelita and the others didn't seem to be surprised at all. One by one they each followed him into the tower until only Sissi and I were left gawking at the tower. Quickly I followed them into the tower and was amazed by what I saw.
The inside of the tower was far larger than the outside. It looked almost like five towers could fit within it. The floor was stone and engraved in it was the X.A.N.A. symbol; the symbol was emanating a dim white light. The walls also appeared to be made of stone but there was something that looked a lot like fire running up many areas of it. There was a space around the tower that didn't have any floor on it and I couldn't see anything beneath it.
The traveler was standing in the center of the room and the others were waiting around him. He looked at me, and then behind me, presumably at Sissi. He then looked at all of the others in turn. Finally he sighed and began to speak.
"As I told you all before I remade Lyoko after another universe. The universe held Lyoko, and the equivalent of your world, as similar yet different spaces. Lyoko was known as the Lyoko Holy Lands and the version of your world was still known as earth. The world in which your counter parts live is far different than the one which you know. It is more of a feudal era. They do not have the technology that you do, but instead they use strong forms of magic."
"So what were we in that 'universe'?" Yumi asked.
"Your counter part, Yumi, was a princess. She was also a powerful priestess. Her family ruled over a land which is more like Japan than France, and for that matter the continents are very different on their world..."
"A princess huh?" Ulrich muttered to himself. "I wonder..."
"Ulrich, your counter part was a prince, but his kingdom was overthrown and he banished. He had made his way to Yumi's kingdom and lived there for two years of his life before they met."
"They were royalty?" Odd asked impressed.
"Odd, you were a 'commoner', but you held a great power which was unknown to anyone, including yourself. It was only released when your counter part met Ulrich and Yumi. After that your powers began to grow at an accelerated rate."
"What about Aelita?" I asked suddenly.
"Well, that, Jeremie, is the biggest part isn't it?" the traveler said looking at me. "Aelita was another priestess, like Yumi. And like Yumi she was also a princess, but unlike Yumi she was from another universe all together. She was from the Lyoko Holy Lands, the four regions of Lyoko. The largest and most powerful kingdom ever held within any of the hundreds of versions of Lyoko. They had once been in contact with earth, but that ended many years before any of you were born."
"What happened?" Aelita asked.
"They were in contact through a temple, which since the loss had been lost itself. The Lyoko Holy Lands had been watched over by a powerful and peaceful god, known as Xanadu but when a newcomer came into the universe and tried to take power for himself Xanadu turned evil and began demanding sacrifices and other things... the two lands lost contact and the gate that they had used to communicate was lost..."
"So where do I come in?" Sissi asked impatiently.
"You..." the traveler said and coughed. "You were a princess of a different country who had been trying to get married to Ulrich before his country overthrew him. You then did everything in your power to find him again, and upon doing so you continued to try to get him to marry you."
"Oh," she said disappointed. "I see, so even in that place I was a nuisance to the others..."
"Well, what about Jeremie?" Aelita asked. "You haven't said what he was yet."
"Jeremie was the one who found the temple and reopened the gate to the Lyoko Holy Lands. He was the one who got all of you together and brought you to the Holy Lands. It was because of him that this all ended, and just like here it was because of him that any of you met."
"So, we were all brought together then just as we have been now..." Ulrich said thinking.
"Yes, and to answer your question, no, not all universes are the same. To give an example there is a universe where you nearly killed Yumi. There was one where Aelita is the evil X.A.N.A. and he is the good person and one where none of you meet at all. There are hundreds of different universes and hundred of different possibilities."
"So, what you are saying then is that there is a universe for every possible outcome?" I asked.
"No, there isn't. That would require an infinite amount of space. This realm of reality is limited, as is all of existence. There are only a set number of universes total."
"Does that mean that you have been to all of them?" Sissi asked.
"No, goodness, I am not that old... I still have a couple billion more to go... but that's not the point. I will reach the others when I am ready, until then I go to one at a time and deal with that one until I am done." The traveler said. "In any case, the reason that I told you is because you need to know what your role in deactivating the tower is."
"Wait, you mean that Aelita isn't the only one needed to deactivate it?" Odd asked.
"No. All of you are required to deactivate it. Each one of you has a place you will go to within the tower and I will explain what you have to do there." The traveler replied. "Aelita, you have the top floor, Jeremie you are with her. After those two it goes, Yumi and Ulrich, Odd, and finally Sissi."
"How many floors are there?" Sissi asked.
"From the outside the tower appears to be two hundred meters tall. If a meter is three feet and a floor is six feet then how many floors should there be?" the traveler asked.
Everyone began calculating. I had the answer in a few seconds and I raised my hand. I didn't realize what I was doing until I had done it and I quickly put my hand down. The others seemed to be getting the answer as I heard groans all around me.
"Well, most of you got it right anyway. It's one hundred stories, but you won't have to worry about climbing stairs..."
"Why not?" I asked.
Suddenly a light appeared around me. It was similar to the one that had been used to transport me to the tower so I knew that the traveler had done it. I suddenly felt myself moving and saw that I was right as the floor swept away from me. I was moved over the hole that surrounded the center floor and I suddenly felt myself flying upward. I saw ten stories fly past me and I stopped. I was then moved over onto the floor again and the light disappeared.
"What happened? We only went up three stories." I said.
That is because there are only ten stories. The tower does not obey the rules of your universe. In reality there should be one hundred floors including the ground one, but if there were then far too much energy would be used to hold it up. So instead the creators of the towers only made ten stories in an alternative space. Each and every tower is connected and each floor on those towers is as well.
"So what are we supposed to do?" Aelita asked.
Suddenly the traveler appeared in front of us. He looked first at Aelita then at me. He then held out both arms and two beams of light appeared. The beams hit us and I felt myself changing. My clothes shifted and the sleeves became wider and longer. The chest of my shirt bagged out a little and extended down becoming something like a tunic. When it was done I was no longer wearing a white lab coat but instead a three peace tunic with some sort of frills coming off of it. I would have to say it looked almost like something you would see in an anime... and it also looked like something I was wearing in a dream that I had had once.
I looked over at Aelita and saw that her clothing had changed as well, she was wearing a dress that looked very similar to my clothing but with different colors, and of course it was a dress. As I thought about it I realized that she suddenly looked a lot like an elf again. The clothing matched her completely.
"So, what are we supposed to do?" Aelita repeated.
"I'll tell you in a second." He said and disappeared.
Unfortunately I have some bad news. There are only four chapters left before we must reach an ending. It is sad but life must continue. I of course know this because I have the chapters backed up, just waiting for some previewers and reviewers... You might be able to extend the life of this story though by getting more people to submit reviews. I promise I will write another chapter for every new user who submits at least three reviews.