The Echelon Tower

Chapter 2 - Arrival

...

A strong light shined on Jonathan, forcing him to close his eyes. Along with it also came a fresh breeze of air, carrying the unique smell of clean, unpolluted nature. Even the sound of birds chirping came to his ears.

When he opened his eyes, he was shocked by the scenery in front of him.

He was currently on a high hill and could see an enormous green forest in front of him. It easily contained over ten species of coniferous trees along with tons of leafy trees. Smaller vegetation was also very abundant, with many different types of bushes. Everything was abnormally green, giving a particularly beautiful look to the forest

Jonathan had often driven a few hours north of Montreal, where they were very similar scenery, but they lacked compared to this.

Furthermore, there was a huge sun could be seen in the sky at the horizon. A black celestial body could also be seen near it and was about the same size. Surprisingly, a pillar of light from the ground to the sun could be vaguely seen.

His surprise was also shared by the five thousand people around him.

"Whoa! Look behind!" Someone screamed out, drawing the attention of many others.

Jonathan also turned around and saw something equally amazing.

A chain of mountains so high that they pierced the clouds blocked all view of what was behind them. There mountain shined with an almost metallic glow, along with their snowy tips, giving them a very unique look.

They were at about one kilometre from them and they were extremely sleep. Any attempt to climb them without specialized equipment would result in an immediate failure.

As Jonathan looked around him, he saw many familiar figures.

"Stop! You guys are here too!"

Everyone that was in Rafik's house seemed to have been teleported together

"Eh. How come you look so different?" Steph asked him with a puzzled expression.

"What do you mean?"

When he observed Stephanie, he was shocked to see such a major change. Flat chest, straight hips, smaller legs and a less mature face where some of the changes present.

"Could this be the..." Jonathan quickly examined his other friends, finding that they too seemed to have regressed a few years. "There's no doubt about it, this is the age diminishing that that guy was talking about."

Even when he looked at himself, he could see many differences. Although he was only 14 to start with, he was already over 6 feet tall. A such it didn't bother him to lose a bit of growth while working out. Naturally his hands should've been rough from going to the gym almost every day, but they were currently very soft. His finger was shorter along with thinner arms and legs. He could also feel that his voice was much higher-pitched.

"Instead of just lowering our age by some sort of downscaling, it looks like the process is more like a backward time machine. Except for superficial things like haircuts, everything else is exactly like when we were younger. Thankfully our clothes are scaled down." Julien made a quick analysis of the situation while staying calm.

"That's probably the case. I had permanently injured my knee while playing American football when I was thirteen and although it doesn't stop my mobility in any way, I could always 'feel' that that knee was weaker or more fragile than the other. However, I can't feel any of that now." William also added his personal to Julien's hypothesis.