The jeep continued its haphazard approach as Katie started giving Scott more details.

"Never figured out where they came from or what they're doing here. We just know that the System--Fuck!" Katie screamed as the jeep hit an unseen hole that almost threw them off the side of the ridge. As Scott's heart crawled its way up his throat he couldn't help but notice they were higher than the nearby buildings. And it was a sheer drop. He dangled over the edge, only held in place by his seatbelt.

Katie's cursing turned into laughter as the top of the ridge suddenly smoothed out, flopping Scott back into his seat. The transition was jarring. It was as if they'd moved from a backcountry ditch to a freshly paved superhighway.

Which Katie celebrated by blasting the jeep to full speed while Scott white-knuckled the 'oh shit' handle over his head. Katie was still chuckling slightly as she said, "As I was saying... Fuck, what was I saying?"

"Something about a system?" Scott supplied as he eased his grip on the handle. Slightly.

"Right. The System wants people to Ascend. Like, literally. It wants us to climb the damn towers."

Scott inspected the smooth stone surface of the tower. He was having a hard time picturing how they were supposed to climb it. He didn't see any stairs. Hell, he didn't even see any handholds. There definitely weren't any places to rest and recuperate. They'd have a hard time climbing a fraction of the tower he could see. And it already stretched higher than that. "That seems like a big ask."

"Yeah, well, the System bestows a few advantages. Probably more this time, since we'll be in the first wave."

It finally clicked in Scott's head.

"This time. So, you're what? Doc Brown? Did you come back in time to save me from making a terrible mistake?" he joked, punching her lightly on the shoulder.

Katie didn't answer him, her eyes locked on the tower that loomed ever closer. She remained silent for several seconds causing Scott to worry before she finally glanced towards him. Scott was shocked to see tears in her eyes. He'd been with Katie through broken hearts and the loss of both their families and she rarely cried. Even when life kicked her in the junk. Especially then.

"It wasn't your mistake. It was mine," she almost whispered as she slowed the jeep. But then she blinked and her smile returned with so much force Scott almost felt as though he'd imagined the tears. Almost.

"But that doesn't matter now. Everything is already so different. We won't spend months just trying to survive. We're close enough we shouldn't even have to worry about the Surge."

Even as Scott opened his mouth to ask 'what surge?' they rolled to a stop at the edge of a raised platform abutting the tower. Katie started working the jeep over the lip, and he found his question lost as he tightened his grip again. But this time it was just a quick thump and the jeep stopped.

The platform didn't look very fancy. Their motel had more interesting decor. The only thing that stood out were several depressions in the stone platform. "It's… so simple."

Katie was already climbing out her side of the jeep, another twizzler dangling from her mouth as she answered, "Yep. Not much to look at. But that'll change pretty soon."

Scott wasn't sure that was a good thing but he grabbed his pack, moving to join her. Katie grabbed his hand hoisting him out with long practiced ease. She didn't let go once he was out. Instead she grabbed a tie-down strap from the back of the jeep, wrapping it around the winch then around their arms, binding them together before dragging him to one of the larger circles. Once they were standing in the circle, her arm tightly linked with his, she seemed to relax.

"I can't believe we made it. It all happened so fast."

"What happened? What's this Surge you mentioned? Why are we bound together? And how is standing next to a mysterious tower that emerged from the ground going to be safe?" Scott asked now that they were no longer moving. He trusted Katie. He really did. But if she had answers and was willing to share them, he was all ears.

And if she wasn't willing to share. Well, he'd be okay with that too. She'd more than earned it.

"The Surge is going to happen any minute. It's a wave of energy 'surging' out into the world. It happens at the same time as-"

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

A deep rumbling rolled over them, interrupting her once again.

"It's starting," Katie said, her voice carrying a hint of awe.

Scott followed her gaze. Great cracks formed across the surface of the tower. From within, rays of light in more colours than he could count shone out. It was like one of those cheesy led displays he had to set up at the Mattress Barn. Budget over quality wasn't their official motto, but when they'd contracted him for the work, it sure felt like it. These lights felt less 'cheesy' and more 'soul-piercing'.

He found he couldn't look away as the colours rotated faster and faster before going black. All the while, the rumbling rose in intensity. Then the circle they were standing in was enclosed in a dome of shimmering colour.

Even as Scott opened his mouth to ask a question, the tower… Split.

Scott tried to follow what was happening but all he could see was flashes of darkness as pieces shot past him. Ducking reflexively, he realized nothing could strike him here. They were protected inside the rainbow dome.

As suddenly as it had started, the rumbling stopped. The surrounding area that had held the town of Mackenzie was gone. Peeking through the dome, he thought he could make out some smashed buildings in the distance. But they were kilometres away. He was turning to watch what appeared to be a floating island when Katie grabbed his chin.

"That was way more pleasant. Now listen, we might get separated. Never done this with a partner before. We're going to be taken to do our System initiation." Katie turned Scott's face with her free hand, popping a twizzler in his mouth as she left him staring into her eyes. "I know your instinct is going to be to grab an augment to help fight monsters to protect me. But do yourself a favour, if we do get split up… Don't just focus on the monsters. Get something you'll enjoy. Can you do that for me?"

Even as Scott nodded, squinting his eyes at the idea of monsters, Katie grabbed her bag, hiking it onto her shoulder.

"Good. So, raising attributes after initiation requires hard as fuck work. Getting the achievements is harder with higher stats, so, it's best to max out instead of spreading the initial points around."

Scott continued to nod until his brain started to process what Katie was telling him. "Hold on. This sounds like a video game."

"Yeah. It even had a save point." Katie grinned, punching him lightly on the shoulder.

"How many times have you lived through this?"

"Once. And I don't think I'll be able to do it again. The circumstances were… Unique."

"Anything else I should know?"

"Yeah. Buy a healing augment. Even if you don't unlock a casting class by the first civilization tier, healing skills are incredibly useful. Oh, and flight skills aren't as useful as they seem. Tower's against people trying to cheat their way up."

Scott stared at Katie as she nodded to herself. A flight skill? She knew he was terrified of flying. There was a reason he never followed her on her travels around the world. Other than the getting stabbed or shot at part, that is.

Even as he was considering her advice, there was a tugging at his feet. The feeling was reminiscent of an elevator, if an elevator also squeezed him through a sieve before spitting him out across a gravel surface.

Scott screamed as he tried to shake off the road-burn on his hands. It was only as the pain of the road-burn throbbed that Scott finally realized this was really happening. He'd been going through the motions in a haze, not quite able to grasp that it was real. He needed to talk to Katie. Was she alright?

He called out for her several times before he remembered her saying they might get separated. And despite her precautions it looked like-

His musings were interrupted as a rainbow-hued distortion appeared next to him, Katie rocketing out of it to smash into him and send him sprawling. When he got his bearings, he found her on top of him, the tie-down strap that had bound them still stretching off into the distortion.

Katie blinked at him, then hit his chest with a thump while shouting, "It worked. I… Shit!"

Before Katie could finish, Scott had unwrapped the last of the tie-down and hauled her to the side. And it was barely in time. Even as the gravel crunched beneath his feet, the jeep popped out of the distortion, rolling twice and nearly crushing them before coming to rest ten feet away.

"Oh. That could've been… Thanks, hero." Katie gave him a kiss on the cheek then laid her head on his chest as they stared at where Betsy lay on its side against a marble fountain, the jeep seeming mostly intact despite its tumble. Good thing it was an old model properly equipped for when Katie inevitably rolled it.

The centre of the fountain Betsy lay against was dominated by a statue of two figures standing atop a seven headed creature. The pair were somewhat cartoonish, but also… well, they were very underdressed. A male and female intertwined, holding each other very close while their feet clearly stomped the hydra beneath them. Each of the creature's heads pointed in a different direction, all pointing toward a different one of the fountain's seven sides. Out of its maws of sharpened teeth, tiny streams of water flowed, collecting in the mostly empty basin.

A gentle shaking against his chest caused him to glance down at Katie, who was laughing as she squeezed him again. "I can't believe that actually worked. And we're together! No spending years without your… ahem, I mean."

"Without my what?" Scott asked, raising an eyebrow as Katie smiled up at him.

When she whispered in his ear, he couldn't help himself as his lips found hers. The closeness of their embrace managed to eclipse even that of the statues as they reunited.

It seemed their off-again, on-again relationship was back on.