Slowly, Johan opened his weary eyes to find an old man staring back at him.
"Good, you've awoken. I was worried you might be under a sleeping curse."
Johan gave him a blank stare.
"I am Tafti, caretaker here at the great spire. I found you in the storeroom while fetching some food for lord Beelzebub, you see. He has a tremendous appetite."
This "Tafti" talked much too fast for Johan in his groggy state. Even so, he had greater questions than what Tafti was cooking for dinner tonight.
"Where am I?" Johan asked in a weak, tired voice.
"I told you already, you are in the great spire of the miracle worker."
Johan frowned. Tafti seemed like a nice enough person, if maybe not the brightest, but Johan felt far too tired to deal with his seemingly bottomless pit of energy.
"And where exactly is this 'great spire of the miracle worker' located?"
Tafti looked at him, confused, as if he had just been asked why the sky was green.
"This spire is not located anywhere; it is the location of all and everything, it is all there is, all there ever was, and all there ever will be."
Johan thought he must be either crazy or stupid.
"Well, I couldn't be that far away from home. I must still be somewhere in London." Johan thought outloud. "He said he found me in a forest; he must mean Queens Forest, which would mean my house is only about an hour's walk from here."
Johan looked around the massive room he was in, before he was too deep in thought to notice the size and grandeur of his surroundings. The room was the size of a palace, with gold and silver etchings of demons, monsters, and unimaginable creatures that had Johan staring for an unhealthy amount of time.
Once he collected himself, he turned to Tafti and asked, "Would you please show me the exit to this place?"
Tafti pointed to a small metal door in the corner of the room
"That is the exit to this room, but if you are looking for an exit to the spire, then you will have to reach the lowest floor and find the worker of miracles. Or at least that's the theory, no ones been able to test its accuracy quite yet."
As he said this, he flashed Johan a wicked grin.
But be careful, stranger, for I do not know how you got here, but there are dark things in this tower, darker than you could possibly imagine."
Johan turned and walked out the door. He did not understand what was going on, but something in him knew that he had to find this miracle worker no matter what.
A few hours had passed, hours spent traversing endless stairs and passageways. Johan was tired beyond belief, but he kept walking until eventually he stumbled upon a door. This was the first door he had seen since leaving Tafti. It was a sad-looking door, its small wooden frame rotting and withering away.
Johan slowly opened the door and entered the room, and as he did, he was hit with a gust of chilling wind that burned his skin and made his eyes water. As this Arctic hurricane started to die down, he spotted a man sitting on a throne of ice and snow. But this was no ordinary man; even seated, he towered above Johan like a god.
Johan cautiously inched toward this towering being, and as he got closer, his body got colder, his fingers went numb, and his legs shook.
"Can you help me find my way?"
Johan craned his neck up to converse with the giant.
"I am trying to get to the bottom of the spire and find the man who can perform miracles!" He yelled up at the giant.
As the giant opened his mouth to reply, his cold, frigid breath froze Johan in place, and as he spoke, his voice boomed and echoed around the room.
"Many seek the miracle worker; many beings far more powerful than you or I are searching for him."
"Like who?" Johan asked.
"The ones who are closest to the base of the tower are the 7 demonic princes: Lucifer of pride, Beelzebub of envy, Satan of wrath, Abaddon of sloth, Mammon of greed, Belphegor of gluttony, and Asmodeus of lust."
"These 7 demons have been traversing the tower for millennia, looking to take the power of the miracle worker to reign over all realms."
The giant stared deep into Johan's eyes as if he were looking into his soul.
"I see great potential in you, but also great darkness. Your path does not seem to be written in the stars, like you were never meant to be here in the first place."
"You seem to know a lot about this tower," Johan remarked.
"I have been here since its inception."
Johan cracked a smile as he replied
"So you know the miracle worker?"
"No," replied the giant. "I have never seen him in person. But I have seen him in my dreams many times."
"A tall, mysterious figure, cloaked all in black, he is a mystery wrapped in a mystery."
Johan looked at the giant with a look of astonishment.
"I have seen this cloaked one in my dreams."
For the first time, the giant's face shifted; it looked surprised
"I have been in this spire for countless infinities, but never have I come across such an interesting boy."
Johan gave him a smile and fell to the floor.