The Dream Tower of Gloria
This piece is about the actual location and settlement of The Dream Tower of Gloria. To read about the legends surrounding this mythical place and its mysterious residence please read The Dream Tower of Gloria and The Children of the Hourglass.
Endless Hallways
Endless hallways, they extended as far as his eyes could see, going on and on in either direction forever. Countless doors clinging to the walls every few feet, each looking identical. Simple wooden doors with copper handles. His head spun as his eyes went cross as if he was looking into mirrors reflecting infinitely between each other. He had no idea how long he had been standing there pressed up against the cold stone in between doors. Clutching at his head, he shut his eyes, hoping this was all just an odd dream. But it wasn't.
How did he get here he thought? Try to retrace your steps! Last he remembered he was on the road headed back home to Opco. He had been away on business for about a week, conducting trade up in Roseport. It was a good trip he thought, he had sold a good selection of the farms remaining crops. He drifted off thinking about how his mother would've been so proud of him for selling their leftovers from the harvest that the crown hadn't taken as per their share. Focus man, focus! he thought.
He imagined back to his travel home, he was on the road when it began to rain, and quite heavily too. Not so strange for a sudden storm in that area so close to the sea. No oddities there. He had pulled up his cloak and tried to push through hoping the rain would abate but it quickly turned into a full-blown storm and nearly tore him off the road. In a panic, he had looked about searching for cover. There, he spotted a small house on the side of the road, a little decrepit but it would have to do. So he ran to the door and quickly rapped upon it, "Sorry for the intrusion!" he yelled as he pulled the copper handle outwards and stepped inside.
Breathing a sigh of relief he slid down and sat on the flooring, closing his eyes. He was still dripping wet and breathing heavily but at least the roof over his head was keeping the rain out. Well, he thought I suppose I should apologize for my sudden, and wet, appearance. He opened his eyes as he stood, and was met with a stone staircase, spiralling downwards, its steps uneven and cracked. What the? he had thought, wasn't this a house? Or was it a cellar he had walked into? "Hello?" he called out, "Anybody home?" He was met with silence as his calls made their way down the staircase. Silence? he thought, but it was pouring out. Shouldn't he at least be hearing the rain? Oh well, it must have stopped raining thing. He could get out of here before he bothered whoever owned this place. He turned back towards the door, and was met with a grey wall of stone. "Huh?" he blinked and rubbed his eyes, "Wha..what? Where did the door go!?" A strange panic rose in him quickly, there had definitely been a door there just moments ago. He had used it! He stepped into this house, or what he thought was a house just a minute ago. Now there was nothing, no door, no windows, just stone. Stone? The house was made of wood timbers for sure. What is going on!? Wait...this house...in his rush to evade the rain he rushed to this nearby shelter. But he had taken this route many times in the past, both with his family and just himself. There was no home here, nevermind a practically fallen over one. And now he found himself within this strang house. He spun and clutched at his head, "Shit! What do I do!?" he yelled out loud. In response, he heard a loud click and the sounds of a creaking door opening. He could see a faint light illuminating the stairs as if a candle or a wall sconce had been lit at its bottom. "He..hello?" he called out down the stairs, "Is someone there? Can you help me!?"
Desperation had led him down those stairs, he remembered now as he came out of his fog of recollection. At the bottom of the stairs, an open wooden door, one he had stepped through in search of help. The door swinging closed behind him as he found himself in this endless hallway. He continued to clutch his head, his fingers digging into uncomfortably as his panic increased. "Hello? Are you okay down there?" Huh...he opened his eyes, he had slid down to the ground and lay flat on his back, he had that happened. Staring upwards he saw a child, looming over him, their eyes bright and sparkling as if someone had crushed up the stars and blown them into glass orbs. The child stared down at him, was that concern drawn upon their face? No, that's not it...huh? He wasn't the best at reading people but was that...curiosity? As his eyes began to regain their focus he began to notice first the child's strange but beautiful garb. A short cloak that almost shimmered black and blue, spotted with bits of white and trimmed in gold that ended at their waist, and slim pair of trousers seemingly made of similar material. And wait...was this child's skin pink! And shockingly pink as well, glimmering in the flickering light cast by the hallways sconces. "What are you doing on the floor mister, you okay?" the child asked again, leaning down and getting uncomfortably close to his face. "Ummm, yes!" he popped up from his prone position and straightened his damp clothing. They had dried quite a bit already somehow, had he been in his stupor that long? "Where are we?" he asked the child, trying to ignore their startling appearance. He hadn't ever seen someone so...colourful he thought. "Hmmm?" the child looked at him quizzically, "Oh! You're new, how exciting!!" The child grabbed his hands with surprising strength and began pulling him down the hall. "Come on! I have so many interesting things to show you!"
He tried to protest, tried to ask where they were and how to get home but for some reason, he couldn't express those thoughts. Instead, he went along with this strange child, down this strange endless hallways with its doors that led to impossible places. Until they reached a door, the child seemed to have chosen this one specifically somehow, despite it being the same as all the others. Or wait, was it? There, etched into the wood of the door just above the handle. A pocket watch? Before he could look closer at the image the child pulled the door open, a gust of wind blasting them in the face. "You're going to love the tower," the child yelled gleefully. "The wha?..." he began before the child suddenly pushed him through the door. What laid beyond was a mystery to him, and to most of the people of the world. Only spoken about in stories and myth, now he would have all the time in the realms to learn and explore The Tower of Gloria.
Breathing a sigh of relief he slid down and sat on the flooring, closing his eyes. He was still dripping wet and breathing heavily but at least the roof over his head was keeping the rain out. Well, he thought I suppose I should apologize for my sudden, and wet, appearance. He opened his eyes as he stood, and was met with a stone staircase, spiralling downwards, its steps uneven and cracked. What the? he had thought, wasn't this a house? Or was it a cellar he had walked into? "Hello?" he called out, "Anybody home?" He was met with silence as his calls made their way down the staircase. Silence? he thought, but it was pouring out. Shouldn't he at least be hearing the rain? Oh well, it must have stopped raining thing. He could get out of here before he bothered whoever owned this place. He turned back towards the door, and was met with a grey wall of stone. "Huh?" he blinked and rubbed his eyes, "Wha..what? Where did the door go!?" A strange panic rose in him quickly, there had definitely been a door there just moments ago. He had used it! He stepped into this house, or what he thought was a house just a minute ago. Now there was nothing, no door, no windows, just stone. Stone? The house was made of wood timbers for sure. What is going on!? Wait...this house...in his rush to evade the rain he rushed to this nearby shelter. But he had taken this route many times in the past, both with his family and just himself. There was no home here, nevermind a practically fallen over one. And now he found himself within this strang house. He spun and clutched at his head, "Shit! What do I do!?" he yelled out loud. In response, he heard a loud click and the sounds of a creaking door opening. He could see a faint light illuminating the stairs as if a candle or a wall sconce had been lit at its bottom. "He..hello?" he called out down the stairs, "Is someone there? Can you help me!?"
Desperation had led him down those stairs, he remembered now as he came out of his fog of recollection. At the bottom of the stairs, an open wooden door, one he had stepped through in search of help. The door swinging closed behind him as he found himself in this endless hallway. He continued to clutch his head, his fingers digging into uncomfortably as his panic increased. "Hello? Are you okay down there?" Huh...he opened his eyes, he had slid down to the ground and lay flat on his back, he had that happened. Staring upwards he saw a child, looming over him, their eyes bright and sparkling as if someone had crushed up the stars and blown them into glass orbs. The child stared down at him, was that concern drawn upon their face? No, that's not it...huh? He wasn't the best at reading people but was that...curiosity? As his eyes began to regain their focus he began to notice first the child's strange but beautiful garb. A short cloak that almost shimmered black and blue, spotted with bits of white and trimmed in gold that ended at their waist, and slim pair of trousers seemingly made of similar material. And wait...was this child's skin pink! And shockingly pink as well, glimmering in the flickering light cast by the hallways sconces. "What are you doing on the floor mister, you okay?" the child asked again, leaning down and getting uncomfortably close to his face. "Ummm, yes!" he popped up from his prone position and straightened his damp clothing. They had dried quite a bit already somehow, had he been in his stupor that long? "Where are we?" he asked the child, trying to ignore their startling appearance. He hadn't ever seen someone so...colourful he thought. "Hmmm?" the child looked at him quizzically, "Oh! You're new, how exciting!!" The child grabbed his hands with surprising strength and began pulling him down the hall. "Come on! I have so many interesting things to show you!"
He tried to protest, tried to ask where they were and how to get home but for some reason, he couldn't express those thoughts. Instead, he went along with this strange child, down this strange endless hallways with its doors that led to impossible places. Until they reached a door, the child seemed to have chosen this one specifically somehow, despite it being the same as all the others. Or wait, was it? There, etched into the wood of the door just above the handle. A pocket watch? Before he could look closer at the image the child pulled the door open, a gust of wind blasting them in the face. "You're going to love the tower," the child yelled gleefully. "The wha?..." he began before the child suddenly pushed him through the door. What laid beyond was a mystery to him, and to most of the people of the world. Only spoken about in stories and myth, now he would have all the time in the realms to learn and explore The Tower of Gloria.
Outside of a Dream
Encountering the TowerMany stories and legends are told of The Dream Tower of Gloria, of lost travellers stumbling upon the structure itself, or of a chance encounter with one of the mysterious residents of the tower known as the Children of the Hourglass. Numerous stories of these chance encounters with The Dream Tower of Gloria and The Children of the Hourglass have been told across the world, and unbeknownst to the citizens of the continent, many other worlds as well. Because of its strange placement in between realms the Tower may appear at random in sudden and unexpected places, across endless realms, whenever and wherever it wishes to be. It often travels to wherever it feels like it is needed the most, to act as a muse for an artist, as a shelter for a cold traveller, or to confuse a local farmer who suddenly finds it in the middle of their crops. The last one admittedly isn't needed by the farmer, but it does amuse the Tower, who does enjoy a good joke here or there. Despite its name, it can appear anywhere and as anything, as long as the said item has a doorway of some sort. While its favourite form is a simple tower made of wood and stone it can appear as an assortment of things. A window in an attic, the doorway of a forgotten and crumbling home, or the remnants of an ancient structure fallen and buried in an endless desert. Strangely enough, the Tower has a penchant for copper and each of its forms has at least a little somewhere upon. Iconically its tower form always sports a copper handle upon its wooden door.
Within a Dream
Inside the TowerThe inside of the Tower is a much different reality than outside of its walls. If a wanderer somehow finds themselves passing through one of the Tower's doorways they will be confronted with a place very few have ever been able to witness. And those that do, find themselves lost in a maze without a logical exit, never able to find homes and tell their tales of the Tower. Their journey into the depths of this bizarre reality begins plainly enough, a spiral staircase that leads down to a simple wooden door. However, very few are prepared for what lays across this portal. Beyond they will see and experience all sorts of oddities as every door within this realm is a passageway into endless possibilities. They may find themselves in a simple yet vast field of golden wheat, birds casually flying in an endless blue sky ahead. Or floating upon an open and tumultuous sea that stretches on into eternity. The only commonality in each strange room is another simple wooden door, one that leads further into the tower and its twisting halls. These doors are often coy and enjoy hiding themselves, forcing the traveller to seek them out as if playing a game of hide and seek. Many who find themselves exploring the tower end up wandering its rooms and halls for countless years, oddly enough they do so without the need t rest, eat, or even breathe air. As time within the tower is optional, and those who are not accustomed to this may find themselves lost for eternity. While the Tower may dump you out into an assortment of strange villages, odd collectives, or any sort of place filled with their own often bizarre citizens, these places are mere images, snapshots of other realities the Tower has visited, and are often illusory in nature despite how real they may feel at the time. Though that also depends on your perception of reality within these walls for if you believe in it honestly enough, who's to say what is real and what isn't? But those musings aside, some travellers are lucky and patient enough, or for those who may have discovered the tricks on how to convince the Tower into showing them the way, may find themselves in the Towers only true, and quite real, settlement.
A Grand and Twisting Place
The Town of GloriaAnother simple wooden door, one of the countless others each connected to another strange, wonderful, or terrifying place. Except this one is different, it feels different, both to the touch and the way it makes you feel. It buzzes and makes your mind race with excitement. Emblazoned in the wood of the door, a timepiece, hanging on a chain, its face twinkling with stars. Beyond this door is much the same as any other a traveller of the tower may find themselves in, though in many ways it is even stranger a place. For this is The Town of Gloria, the Towers only real and somehow permanent settlement. Travellers of the tower, those who wandered for days, weeks, years or even close to an eternity, all eventually find themselves here somehow. If they have survived the perils of the tower. And over the eons of its existence, a wonderous town has been constructed here. A staggering array of people can be found living here, lost or otherwise, having been pulled into the tower in some way from all sorts of different places from across an innumerable stretch of realities. Gloria is much like the rest of the tower, ever-shifting and changing, though in a much kinder and subtler way. The streets often change, twisting into corners or alleyways where once they did not, leading to sudden new arrivals, parks, fountains, and more. Homes often appear out of thin air, wedging themselves between each other, on top of each other, or hanging somewhere strange and peculiar. Much like the tower the town has no perceivable end, twisting and spiralling in all directions as far as the eye can see and beyond. With its streets and buildings stretching out across its walls and ceilings in an odd cacophony that only makes sense to those who live there. But the oddity of the city doesn't end there, the architecture of the city is often a cobbled-together mess of angles, deco-styles, and material. Brass cogs that open mouse size gates, obsidian statues that greet passersby in a thousand different languages, and tangled growths of violet vines that grow and stretch upon thousand-foot walls. Each a common sight amongst the numerous oddities of the town, and only a small handful of examples you may see within Gloria. Sometimes a grinning moon will sit above the city on a crimson night sky, other times no sky exists at all and the town just encircles itself in an endless loop.
Some have lived here for generations, cultivating homes for themselves, businesses, and even families. The citizens of Gloria being bound together in the strangest of circumstances. Some stay here permanently, accepting their odd circumstances and believing it best to settle down and create the best life they can for themselves in whatever way they know how to. Some, treat the city as a temporary respite before they journey back out into the strange and shifting passages of the tower. But, what is true for all of these residents is that this town is a place to find rest, for despite the wonders the tower shows to each of its inhabitants, each of its wanderers is owed a place where they may rest their bodies and minds. The town is filled to the brim with people from across various places and worlds, many of which would be considered strange and bizarre if it were not for the odd nature of the place in which they all find themselves. However, amongst these people, all of which have found their way to the tower from across different times and realities, none are quite like the Children of the Hourglass. These beings are quite distinct as they are creatures born from the magic of the tower itself, children of its own in a way. Children of the Hourglass also live amongst the citizens of the town of Gloria and but are rare even amongst the countless imports of the Tower. They are mischievous by nature and have a mixed reputation within the town, as they often get in trouble due to their often problematic personalities and want to do whatever they wish regardless of consequence. The tower generates all in which the citizens may desire, including whatever food, beverage, or sustenance they want. Though the constraints of normal realities still don't hold much sway here so the inhabitants are not required to partake in any of this if they do not wish to.
Entryways to the Tower are often disguised, even a simple window could a portal
Legend of the Tower
The Dream Tower of Gloria has been spoken and read about in stories and myth for longer than people can remember, in fact, it's as if stories have always been told about this strange and mysterious place. Stories of their inhabitants visiting people of the realms and taking them on strange and wonderful journeys, or lucky wanderers who find themselves within the walls of the tower itself, able to explore and experience an endless array of mind-bending realities within its walls.
For most though, the tower is just a collection of fanciful stories, told to children to entertain them or lull them to bed. But far from the stories, is a real place, floating in between the spaces between realities. The tower exists in many places all at once, across many different places and many different realms. It is seemingly endless, filled with hallways and doors to lead to impossible places and peoples.
Between the Walls of Realms
State of Reality
The Dream Tower of Gloria only in between various realms of reality, and as such isn't tethered to anyone in particular. It has no shackles as to what it can be or what its inhabitants must abide by. As such, the tower often changes the rules by which it is governed, even stranger is that the tower in an ever mischievous way can do so at random and only affect certain areas or rooms of the tower. One day the inhabitants may be subjected to the rules of gravity, pulled in and copied from a nearby realm. The next this may change completely and the inhabitants are left floating and can soar through the air. Or one section of the tower may suddenly exist where nothing was there before, or an already existing room may fill with ocean water with its inhabitants able to breathe and swim underwater suddenly.
State of Reality
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