“You thought the tower emerged in 2045 and ten years later Zestiris was formed to protect and regulate those who went inside the tower?” said the climber president. “You’re mostly correct in that assumption. There’s a key part of the true history missing though. Those first ten years after the tower first emerged were an incredibly volatile and destructive time. Psychotic climbers went on rampages killing thousands of people. Geopolitics became the entire world versus the United States and its super-powered soldiers. After ten years, it all came to a head as psychotic climbers laid waste to entire American cities, the monster waves increased in power, and the rest of the world attempted to nuke the tower. The world crumbled, destroying itself. The entire planet was on fire, turning into a monstrous hell scape.”

The climber president took another deep breath, before continuing.

“Humanity had no hope of survival left on Earth. A plan was formed amongst some of humanity’s strongest S-rank climbers. They would do a re-do in the tower and so that’s what they did. They shepherded as many innocent people as they could through the lower-levels of the tower until they reached floor-4 where we are now.”

Max shook his head.

“How is any of that possible? Is it actually 2085? How could an entire North American city be recreated on a floor in the tower? And surely there must be people still alive who remember this exodus—how is this not more widely known? How does this secret survive unknown amongst so many?”

The climber president nodded his head.

“These are all good questions. It is indeed 2085 and there are survivors from that time, myself included. You have to remember, the three founding creators of the city were S-rank climbers. They held unimaginable power. One of them had a trait called Limitless Inventory and he was able to place entire skyscrapers into his own personal immaterial inventory by the touch of his hand. So that was how the city was built-up so quickly. Another one of the founding members had a trait called Master of Illusions and she was able to wield powerful mind magic. Combined with the third member who had a trait called Arcane Crafting, they were able to make the walls that separated the city and have the runes manipulate the memories of the populace so that they forgot Earth’s destruction.”

Max couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His entire life, his entire world, had all been one massive lie?

“Okay,” he said, trying to stay calm as question after question piled in his head, creating a motor of mental stress in his mind. “You’ve explained how Zestiris was created, but why? What was the point of stripping people’s memories away?”