Rodent felt himself transported to another place that was heavy and dark with himself feeling pinned, his head taking a few moments to adjust to the transition to this new area, feeling like he was lying on his back. He couldn't even shake his head due to the pressure upon him.

When his eyes finally did open, he saw inside the hollow ribcage of a massive skeleton atop him, which bore smaller skeletons placed together and stacked on top of each other, through the spaces between the bones revealing the absolute ascent above.

Rodent exhaled at the view, looking to the sides at the smooth, black walls that did not have texture. He was at the bottom of a narrow crater that went deeper than any he had seen in his life. It took his mind a little bit to piece together what had happened.

LOOK AT THEM, RODENT.

THESE ARE YOUR PREDECESSORS.

Rodent shifted out from the prominent bone that pressed upon him. It was thick and curved, immense without being crushing, and it came to push against the ground after Rodent slipped out. He then looked inside at the skeletons within.

There were all types and kinds, big and small, short and wide, some with ears on the top of the head and others without ears.

"You couldn't have thought of a better graveyard than this?"

THIS IS A SMALL POOL OF THOSE WHO ATTEMPTED THE SWORD THROUGHOUT THE AGES. LOOK AT THEM. SEE THE MANY THAT HAVE FAILED. AND THEN ASK YOURSELF.

WHAT MAKES YOU DIFFERENT FROM THEM? WHAT MAKES YOU BETTER THAN THEM? WHAT GREATER WORTH DO YOU HAVE THAN THEY?

"Comparing yourself to others is for losers." Shuffling his back against the ground, Rodent rose between the bones of the giant's rib cage. Inside, he found a little more room, looking around at how the skeletons within were stacked. "So, what's the trick to this obstacle course?"

ARE YOU NOT FRIGHTENED BY THE BODIES?

"No." Rodent stood on the inside of a bone as he glared upward. "More so annoyed that you're making me disrespect the dead like this. But it doesn't matter how many you show me that have failed or died." He threw up his hands, shrugging. "I just don't care."

THEN PROVE THAT BY REACHING THE TOP! CLIMB THE FALLEN TO REACH A HEIGHT NONE OF THEM COULD!

Rodent rolled his eyes and looked at the skeletons, their expressionless skulls, and the flooring they made. Soon, however, the skulls started to turn toward Rodent, looking at him with sockets without eyes, their jaws lowered slightly. The little ones had more spike-like jaws as they looked up at him.

SOME STILL HOLD ON AFTER DEATH.

THEY MAY NOT TAKE KINDLY TO HOW YOU USE THEIR REMAINS FOR YOUR AGENDA.

THINK YOU CAN STILL USE THEM?

Rodent glared above before losing the scowl at the skeletons. Most of them looked at him, their bodies stacked and pinning the other into place. Some shifted but could not break free. Still, there was no fear in the man's heart, as he rubbed the ring on his finger.

Just then, he came forward to those stuck in critical positions, standing before what appeared to be a bulky human skeleton. "Can you speak?"

The bulky skeleton gazed at Rodent.

"No? Figures." He glanced up to see if his speaking to the deceased would be contested—it wasn't. "Look. I'm going to get you out of this pile. I'm going to grab your shoulders and pull." He looked to the rest of the heap. "The rest of you, things will start slipping—do your best to spread and free yourself."

With that, he grabbed the skeleton's shoulders, the contact potentially able to kill a person, but Rodent didn't even think about such a thing as he pulled the skeleton back, groaning and heaving, wiggling the torso until finally… it started to slide free.

Rodent pulled the bulky skeleton out of the pile, which spread out as Rodent helped pull out more who needed it. Those still active soon became unstuck. The rest fell to the sides or outside the giant's rib cage.

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Then, Rodent stepped away from the lot, catching his breath.

The standing skeletons glanced at each other and then at him.

"Listen." Rodent raised a hand as he hunched over, caught his breath, and stood adequately again. "I don't know you. Not what your backstory is or how you ended up here. Only that dick in the sky wants me to defile your remains so that I might climb out of here."

His gaze swept across the gathering. "I don't know how you feel about living people, those who are after the sword, or anything like that." Rodent threw his hands up. "But I can't imagine that any of you are a fan of that voice that's using you for a purpose like this."

The skeletons were standing and motionless.

"I don't know what I'll be able to do for any of you… but if you're able to move like this… then maybe you can escape this pit with me?" Rodent looked up, seeing the sea of skeletons around the ribcage they were inside, with giant after giant stacked on top of each other, acting as 'levels' to the pit. "I won't use your remains like the voice wants me to. But if you could help me get out of here… I promise I'll give an earful to that voice and that sword on your behalf."

Silence. Stillness. Nothingness.

The skeletons looked at each other, an invisible, silent communication that could go either way.

Then the skeletons finished as one stepped forward, Rodent not flinching, offering its bone hand, which Rodent looked at and took—shaking it.

Though it was hard to tell, the skeleton seemed surprised, as though it felt something in the contact that it had never felt before—not even while it was alive.

For a moment, it seemed to try and speak with Rodent, but words would not come out, so the skeleton stepped back and crossed its arms over its head, linking the bones of its fingers together as it jumped in place, leaning from side to side with one leg raising up, in a strange form of happy dance.

Behind it, the others seemed equally shocked but also linked their fingers together over their heads and jumped and danced in the same place. Rodent chuckled and did the same, having no idea what he was doing but enjoying the childish fun.

Just then, another skeleton came behind the first, merging with it as they became taller. The second skeleton shook Rodent's hand, before a third came behind the second, joining the unit and shaking Rodent's hand, who shook back with a smile.

"Nice to meet you!" Rodent said to the third.

"Thank you!" he said to the fourth.

"Thanks!" he said to the fifth and so on.

Soon, the skeletons had all formed into one, the one at the top latching on the top of the ribcage, as the unit made themselves into a latter with their arms and legs sticking out their sides, acting like pegs for Rodent to climb, their torsos made stronger to support this.

Rodent climbed with a smile and nodded at each of the skulls that passed, making it to the top of the first giant, where the voice angrily roared around and outside this pit.

WHAT… IS THIS? WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?

Rodent smirked looking up. "Making friends with the undead."

THAT IS… IS…

"What? Not allowed? You thought they'd be mopey because someone else is after the sword?" Rodent shook his head. "Get real."

H-HOW DID YOU GET THEM TO—

"I thought about it from their perspective," Rodent said, reaching the top and seeing the sea of skeletons blocking him from the next giant. "If some voice tricked me into my death and tried to use me to do the same to another, I'd want to spite him."

YOU ARE SURROUNDED BY THE INFINITE AND BETTER DEAD! H-HOW COULD YOU EVEN BRING YOUR MIND TO SUCH A CONCLUSION AFTER BEING TRAUMATICALLY BURIED LIKE THIS!?

"Because I'm an idiot that doesn't care, and it's been that way since I was a kid." On the second giant above, some of the skeletons had freed themselves after watching what had happened below, seeing Rodent. They saw beneath him to the skeletons that remained—doing that dance. "Whatever is going to happen is going to happen. It's not my job to think about it—I just let the world do what it does."

After watching the dance, the skeletons inside the second giant above did it themselves, fitting through the ribcage into the sea between the two. They connected with the skeletons that no longer had life to them, allowing their remains to serve a use and purpose that would bring meaning to the ones valued here.

A bridge was being assembled and formed between the giants, with the skeletons of both giants coming to meet in the middle, opening the way for Rodent to keep on climbing. He did so with his usual smile and grin, as the air around him was bright and fresh.

"Look at the dead who still remain! Those who still want to do something—to help!" Rodent glared above as he climbed, not seeing the surface but not caring how long it would take to reach there. "They could have helped in Warro Wood! Helped Dula Village's dictator troubles! Instead, you killed and buried them!"

SUCH IS THE COST OF ENTRY! IT CANNOT BE A TRUE TEST OF WORTH IF THE ULTIMATE COST IS NOT INCLUDED!

"Keep coping." Rodent climbed, and he climbed, and the skeletons to the sides watched as this man climbed, those on the inside of each giant doing that special dance that made those lingering come alive. Soon, currents of bones disassembled and slid off to the sides, further clearing the way as the force from below pushed upward. "I'll show you everything you could have done instead."

[CENTER]SUCH ARROGANCE![/CENTER]

"Sometimes it's required to get a lesson across."

Just then, something happened: a great rumbling in the pit, where the sea of skeletons sank to the bottom, and the giants came to fall and land on the new ground. Rodent tumbled and fell and was claimed by a stage-sized palm held before the skull of a giant.

Rodent blinked while sitting back on the palm, chuckling at this while, at the sides, the skeletons below all formed together to make more giants, which caused Rodent to take out his notebook and sketch out the amazing scene, watching the giants climb the invisible walls and hang from them, each holding down their hands.

Rodent trusted in them as the palm he was upon raised and was handed to the giant above, who raised and passed him to the next giant, upward and onward, much to the displeasure of the voice. Standing with fingers interlocked over his head, Rodent did the dance that seemed to make them so happy.

Until he breached some sort of surface and was brought into a new dimension.