As soon as we were discovered by the other Climber team, I hopped over the railing and dropped down to meet them. I needed to pull their focus away from Donald. Fortunately, my team had been in enough fights to understand what I was getting at. Without having to say anything, Hugo flew to the other side of the room while Damian maintained his high ground position. We could now attack from three directions at once if it came to a fight.

The three Climbers in their shiny armor did not react to our movement except to note Hugo’s new position. They seemed remarkably calm, and it made me wonder if they had any concept of the danger they were in. Still, I decided to give them a chance to leave.

“Whatever quest you have isn’t worth this,” I told them. “I suggest you turn around and walk away.”

The stout one chuckled. “He thinks we’ll just go if he asks nicely enough?”

The other two smirked, and I realized my mistake. They were mistaking my compassion for weakness. They thought that because I was trying to talk our way out of a conflict that I was afraid to fight them. Well, if I can’t convince them to leave, the least I could do is try to find out why they’re here. It would be useful to know if we were being targeted by a rival quest given by someone like Tanver Vhar or if they were just here by coincidence.

“What are you even doing here?” I asked.

“I hired them!” yelled Donald’s brother, trying to look defiant and pretend that he wasn’t cowering behind one of the vats. “And they are going to fulfill their contract if they want to get paid!”

“Hired them for what?” I pointed at the hunk of alien metal. “To protect that thing?”

“You should never have brought Donald back here! You’ll ruin everything!”

The thin man gave his employer a dismissive wave. “It’s fine. This one is just stalling because he knows what’s coming.”

I snorted. “What’s coming? I hope it’s not fashion tips, because the only thing that garish armor is protecting you from is having good taste.”

“Said the man not wearing any. What, you couldn’t afford it?”

I smiled while showing my teeth. “No, I just don’t need it. But the fact that you’re taking money from some floor towny shows us that you aren’t serious Climbers. Frankly, I’m amazed the three of you survived this far down.”

The stout one furrowed his brows. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Forget it,” said the woman. “He’s just trying to rattle us.”

I wasn’t. Most of the items that could be bought with currency on the Tower marketplace were mediocre junk. The fact that they were all wearing matching armor suggested to me that that was exactly where they’d gotten it from. The best items in this place were won by completing quests or killing challenging monsters. The fact that they’d had to resort to just buying armor, and that they were willing to take some guy’s money, meant that these weren’t capable Climbers. They were the dregs that through sheer luck had survived this far.

The thin man sensed that the conversation was over and started giving orders. “Lucille, take the bird. Mike, take the archer above.”

I guess I should feel flattered that the leader of the group had chosen me, but really, I just wanted to get this over with.

At the same time that I drew my sword, Damian fired his crossbow at Mike, who tried to deflect it with his two short swords. It wasn’t a conventional bolt though, and it exploded on impact, knocking him over. The blast was strong enough that it left burn marks on his face and hands. He was still breathing, but he didn’t get up.

“Bastard!” the leader shouted.

He charged at me and wildly swinging his mace. My sword met it again and again. He was trying to force me back, but I remained rooted in place. His eyes were filled with a murderous rage, yet I felt only pity.

*Player Identified* [Todd Smith, Class: Knight Guardsman, Level: 162]

He never stood a chance. I couldn’t have ended him a dozen different ways. All of them would’ve been quick and simple. But I didn’t want to. I didn’t like killing other Climbers, especially when there was no way to know how many of us were still here. For all I knew, these could be the last other Climbers alive in the Tower. Plus, they didn’t feel like enemies. They were just desperate idiots with bad luck.

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My sword met his mace with a thunderous clang that shoved him back. Todd was breathing heavily, yet was as determined as ever to kill me. This couldn’t go on. I had to make an impression and show him how outclassed he was.

As soon as he got close enough on his next swing, I activated my Crimson Domain and dragged him inside. My Domain was a pocket dimensional space with a sky of endless night and a shallow pool of blood that stretched on into infinity. The only other thing in the place besides us was a large apple tree that drank from the blood of those I killed to produce fruit that boosted my abilities when consumed. There was even a Scarlet Apple hanging from it right now, but I wouldn’t need it.

Todd, to his credit, was only stunned for a moment upon being transported here. Perhaps he mistakenly thought it was an illusion? In any case, he foolishly tried to swing his mace at my head. Chains of blood shot out from the ground to meet him and wrapped themselves around his arms and legs until he was immobilized.

“You should have heeded my warning,” I said.

He still looked a defiant, so I squeezed the chains a little tighter until he got the message. He stopped resisting and sank to his knees. Satisfied that it was over, I dropped the domain and returned to the brewery to see how the others were faring.

Hugo had summoned Ostorox, his void creature spirit summon, to do battle against Lucille. The large floating mass whipped its spiked tentacles around at her while she did her best to fend them off with her spear.

Footsteps on metal clanged behind me as Donald and Damian made their way down the stairs to join me. Mike was conscious, but didn’t try to get up. Damian had probably warned him of what would happen if he tried.

Seeing that we were finished, Hugo gave up toying with her. Ostorox lashed out with all of its tentacles and knocked Lucille over.

“Looks like one of your kind has wrapped things up,” I said to the Shard.

“That thing is not Voidborne,” the Shard replied with a surprising amount of venom.

I didn’t know how sensitive it was around the concept of spirit summons, so I dropped the subject and turned to Todd.

“You were warned,” I told him.

He nodded, staring down at the floor. He looked like he was about to cry.

“But I’m not going to kill you,” I said.

He looked up suddenly.

“As long as you leave and remember this moment if we run into one another again,” I finished.

Damian dragged Mike over and Ostorox dumped Lucille next to them.

“I don’t think we should kill them,” said Hugo.

“Guys…” I began.

“This again? Really?” asked Damian.

“It’s not their fault they needed the money. They were just in a bit of a fiduciary crisis and got carried away. The fact that we all chose to spare them tells me that you know I’m right.”

“A fiduciary crisis? They tried to kill us!”

“They don’t know any better. Look at these morons in their cheap store-bought armor. I bet their weapons don’t even have magical abilities.”

“You know, you can just kill us now,” said Todd.

“Guys!” I shouted, which made them stop bickering. “I’ve already said we’re not going to kill them. It’s not their fault that they didn’t know what they were getting into.”

Donald’s brother took this as his cue and slinked out from the vat he’d been hiding behind. He wiped his brow with a handkerchief and plastered a relieved smile on his face. “Look, I don’t know who you three are, but what I promised to them I can give to you.” He pointed at Donald. “All you have to do is keep that thing away from the Source.”

“You don’t want to save your brother?” I asked.

“That’s not my brother!” he snarled and then covered his mouth, as if surprised by his own outburst.

I turned to Donald for answers. “Well?”

The Shard sighed. “You would not have assisted me had you known that my host had perished.”

“So everything before…?”

“I retained some of Donald’s memories and can mimic his voice. In truth, my host felt my presence growing day by day. Slowly, he heard my voice and my thoughts until it drove him mad. By the time he tried to kill himself, I had enough control to stop him, but only if his life felt like it was in imminent danger. Donald became afraid of what he or I might do, so he walked out into the forest as far as he could with some wandering merchant, and paid the man to tie him to the tree. Being exposed to the elements and unable to move at his age caused him to suffer a heart attack the next day.”

It sounded plausible and was correct. We wouldn’t have likely helped the Shard if we knew it was just possessing his corpse. But he Shard had also impressed upon us a desire to return here and I wanted to know why.

“And all this stuff about you dying?”

“Was correct. I cannot sustain myself forever without a living host to feed off of. Once I am reunited with the Source, I can leave this place and return home.”

Considering the fact that it had possessed and driven someone mad, that sounded far too neat and tidy to me. It also wouldn’t have needed our help getting back to the town. The Shard could’ve posed as Donald long enough to free him from the tree, and then we could’ve gone our separate ways. What was the point of bringing us here?

“Why should we believe you?” asked Hugo.

“You shouldn’t!” Donald’s brother yelled. “It’s not human! If it reconnects with the Source, it will reclaim its full power and be unstoppable.”

“He makes a good point,” said Todd. “Maybe you should stop him yourselves and claim the money. Even if you let us go, I don’t really feel comfortable having an unstoppable alien force running around on this floor.”

Something didn’t feel right. Todd was too calm. The Shard had known it would need our assistance in the brewery. And then there was his brother.

“Wait, how did you know that about the Source?” I asked the brother.

His eyes shifted, and he went from angry to nervous. “My true brother told me he was hearing voices. He explained it to me before he left.”

That was also plausible, but he left out something important which Hugo picked up on.

“But how did you know he would be coming back here today with Tower Climbers?” the bird asked him.

Donald’s brother fell silent and his face went slack, like all the emotion had been drained out of him. His handkerchief slipped out of his hand as if it was of no consequence, and his eyeballs turned black. “Kill them,” he said in the same alien voice of the Shard.

The three Climbers we’d had on the floor leaped to their feet. Their eyes too, were now black.