The climb. By Mark Gaviglio

“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” -Albert Einstein

We are hunters and we are gatherers. We are not leaders. We are equal men. Every man works for themselves to feed their village and family. If you expect to live off someone else and not work, you will leave the village, and if you don’t leave, the village will move you. We are kind, we all make and enforce the rules of the village, and the only motivation for having rules is safety, not greed. We don’t have time for greed.

Today I will see the world as I know it. I will see every part of the land I will ever need to see. Today I am a man. I will climb the tower of the gods and look down at the land. The land my father hunted and the land I will hunt. My father made this climb, as did the other men and some women in my village.

My day starts before the sun comes up. I pack last night’s harvest into my bag. Before I leave I have a talk with my father. We share a drink, a special drink that every man has shared with they’re father. I start my walk to the tower alone. As I reach the base of the tower the sun is now in the sky.

The tower scrapes the sky, and touches the sun. The gods built it, many worlds ago. It is the last part of the great civilization. We don’t know much about the great civilization, all we know is what we can assume by the one relic they left behind. We know that they must have been gods, and that they must have been powerful.

The tower is cold and wet. It is hallow most of the way up it, then halfway up the tower It’s filled with a maze of empty rooms. The at the top there is nothing but a needle poking the sky. Standing at the bottom is very threatening. Looking up at the tower of the gods, is like looking at a proud man that is not afraid of death. Soon nether will I.

Before I start my climb I drink some water and snack on jerky. I tell myself I’m ready to become a man. The bottom of the tower is covered in vegetation, Each step I get further and further away from earth.

Some say the great civilization was a lot like us, that they believed in equality and love. They must have, if they were so powerful they must have been a perfect civilization. They learned just as we have that greed and lust gets a person everything, but the people nothing. Greed and lust are impulses our people don’t act on. One powerful person ruling everything gets everyone nothing.

The vegetation is wet and slippery. I’m trying not to be afraid. My mind is clear, and nothing is in my thoughts but the thought of reaching the top. The sun moves across the sky. I haven’t rested. The sun is now directly above me. My throat is dry. I need a drink of water. I find a sturdy beam of steel to hold on to. I reach down to my water. I grab my canteen, I need that water. It slips out of my hand, and falls down to earth. I cant move to catch it in possibility of falling. My hand must have been wet from the vegetation. I feel like I failed. I need to reach the half way point so I can rest.

Birds! Just birds. I’m certain I will fail. Pecking at me. This is torture! The only way I can escape the birds tearing at me is if I can reach the rest area, but I can barley climb with these birds. The birds have torn off my bag of food. I’m am certain I have failed.

I reach flat floor. It feels like salvation. I pull myself up and collapse. I’m laying on the floor gasping for air. A bird lands on my chest, I grab it. I bite through it’s chest. I hold it with two hands as I drink it’s warm blood. It’s not satisfying. I feel it’s heart beat against my teeth. I know the worst is behind me. Now all I need to do is walk the rest. My belly is empty and my mind is screaming.

I enter the maze of stairs and holes in the ceiling. It’s dark and cold in here. The only bit of light I see is through holes and cracks in the wall. Every floor I climb through I think it’s going to be the last. I am a fool. I want nothing but to prove myself as a man. I find random insects feasting on the dieing structure. I feast on the insects.

I get to a Large hole in the wall. I look up at the sky. The sun is almost down. I collapse to my knees. I decide its time to sleep. The thought was seemed like a great idea. But in reality I could barley find sleep. With very little food in my stomach and thoughts of failure in my mind, it took a long time to get to sleep.

I wake up lost. Where am I? My starvation reminds me of my whereabouts. My body doesn’t want to move. I feel like I am pinned down. It feels like my mind is awake but my body is not. I need water. I need food. I must move on.

I make it to my feet. I’m to dizzy to move on but I got no choice. I need to decide how to continue to the top. I can keep going though the maze, but it’s taking to long. Or I can climb from the outside, it couldn’t be much further.

My muscles are sore. My arms shakes as I reach for the next crevasse. The sun is burning my skin. My mouth is dry. I can’t imagine a greater hell. The vegetation is no longer lining the tower at this elevation. The only things to grab a hold of are sharp crevasses and beams. I come across a gathering of bird nests. I feast on a few eggs, It is not satisfying.

When the sun is directly above me I start to finally reach the top. I was told the top of the tower was once a great piece of art, that slowly ascends from it original boxy shape, to an eventual needle. Though now it is just a hollow shell of it’s former brilliant self.

I climb to the point I can’t climb anymore. I turn and look at the land. The island. The only land I know and the only land I ever need to know. I feel like the gods that made the tower. I try not to think about the way back down, I only think about how I succeeded, how I am a man.