Nick’s job was to head over to the market. He would trade the various items his team had picked up during their adventures for tools and provisions that would help them climb the tower at peak efficiency. Sophia was searching for the other people they had fought beside in the arena.
V and Devin would register their party and get a door assignment, since Nick and Sophia weren’t on good terms with Jim and his followers. Nick started walking with a spring in his step, eager to finalize their preparations and enter the tower when everyone was ready.
He waved goodbye to his companions and started making his way through the camping grounds, heading for the impromptu market in the distance. He had a number of items he had collected over the past six weeks that he wanted to trade for tools and fresh supplies, as well as a smaller pile that he had been given by the others.
At the top of his wanted list was a pencil and some travel rations that would stay good for at least a few weeks. Nick had no idea what he would find once they entered the Tower of Rizzen, and there was no guarantee that there would be opportunities to hunt or forage within its walls. The last thing he needed was to starve to death before he finished climbing to the top.
As he walked, Nick took in the sound of voices all around him as people chatted with one another. They were telling stories and making plans, enjoying this rare moment of peace before the next ordeal began.
It had been so long since he’d been around a crowd that the constant murmur and press of bodies was a bit overwhelming at first. Rather than plunging into the thick of things, he picked a path that led him around the perimeter.
On the way to the market, Nick passed by an impromptu training ground, where the members of team Earth were sparring with one another and taking their best shots against a line of wooden dummies. Ok, maybe calling them dummies is an overstatement. They were more upright logs with crude faces carved across the top, but the result was more or less the same. When Nick took a closer look at the firing range, he came to a dead stop, jaw dropping in surprise.
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It was clear at a glance that the other volunteers had undergone their own remarkable transformations over the last few weeks. He saw fireballs sailing alongside arrows. Swords, spears, and every weapon he could think of were bringing the pain to their wooden adversaries. But what really got his blood pumping was the magic in the air.
Nick saw a woman with spiky blond hair unleash a bolt of lightning at the nearest dummy, reducing it to burning splinters as ozone rose to fill the air. There was a girl with a cloud of rocks floating around her head, which she fired off in a rapid barrage, each hit tearing chunks of wood free from the logs and sending splinters flying.
There was another woman who had a massive ball of water hovering over her shoulder, in which murky shapes were swimming. When Nick pulled out his spyglass to take a closer look, a pair of eyes materialized on the side of the ball, looked straight at him, then vanished a heartbeat later.
Absorbing all the powerful spells on display, Nick felt his optimism begin to grow. He stood there for long minutes, staring up in wonder at jets of black flame, beams of blue energy, and powers that came in every color of the rainbow.
Not to be outdone, the warriors were sparring vigorously, performing feats of strength and dexterity that would put any Olympic athlete to shame. Nick took in the sight of humanity 2.0. Women and men wielding every weapon and element that he could imagine, along with several that he’d never seen before.
He let his mind go still, ceasing his constant plotting and planning in favor of simply listening and taking it all in. These were his people. Individuals who were risking their lives for a chance at saving their planet. People who had just been going about their day before the System arrived and threw their existence into chaos. Who were willing to die to give their loved ones a chance of making it in this strange new world.
The sight filled Nick with fierce and conflicting emotions. Sorrow for the loss they had already endured, and the pain they would surely suffer again. Hope that most of them would live to see the top of the tower and walk upon their home world again. Frustration that they had been forced to play the Mad God’s game, and fury at the senseless slaughter of billions.
But most of all, the sight of the gathered members of team Earth filled Nick with pride. A deep and growing respect for the brave women and men who had gathered here today, whose courage and sacrifice humbled him to his core.