“I can’t keep going!”

Everyone stopped and turned to Cen.

The lengos sat on her knees and gasped hard, holding her throat. “My stamina… I only have 7 points left!”

Oof… I guess she has the lowest stamina out of all of us, Nar thought.

Tuk leaned his shoulder against the wall. On his back, Viy had never even stirred since the last wave of Pressure. Not even the guardian had woken her up.

The trugger looked just about ready to collapse. His clothes were stained with sweat, and his pale, brown skin was flushed.

“I’m nearing my limit too,” Tuk said, in between breaths. “11 here.”

Mul grunted something, and from the way Gad was nearly bent over, leaning against the wall, she wasn’t going to make it much further either. She didn’t even look up or say anything.

“Let’s stop then,” Kur said. “We’re dead either way if we run out of stamina.”

Nar approached Gad and helped her down to the floor.

“Thank you,” she managed. She didn’t even open her eyes.

Looking up from the heavy breathing morsvar, Nar cast a glance around.

Mul and Cen sat together, leaning on each other for comfort. Cen had her eyes closed, her breathing ragged. Next to her, Mul stared at his feet with an empty expression.

Kur had helped Tuk lower Viy down, and all three now sat in line, with one passed out and the other two looking barely awake.

Nar dropped in front of Gad. He wasn’t sure whether he should be staying at the front of the party or at their back. All he could really do is pray that nothing came at them in their current state.

As promised by the induction, his HP had barely recovered.

His cuts had closed and the bruises on his arms looked a little bit lighter. It was nothing short of incredulous, to see his injuries heal so quickly. However, tired and hurt, he had only managed to recover back up to 52 points of HP. He felt very uncomfortable thinking how close that was to zero, halfway or not.

On the other side, his stamina didn’t fare much better either.

56… Not a lot, but still much better than the others.

The thought gave him some comfort. He had tanked, and he had killed the guardian. He knew that Mul had probably dealt the most damage with whatever skill he had used at the end, but he hadn’t been totally useless, either as a tank or as DPS.

However, Viy had been down. Had she been awake and fit for fighting, he probably wouldn’t have been needed. At least not for his limited DPS… Though maybe he might have still been useful for tanking when Gad lost her aggro.

Either way, he had been battered.

Gad only looked tired, while his clothes were almost in tatters and stained with blood. And his body looked and felt like it had been dragged down the pile.

He sighed. Suddenly, he didn’t feel so confident anymore.

For Crystal’s sake, I didn’t even remember my skills… he suddenly realized, cringing.

As if they would’ve been useful anyways.

His first fight had shown him that he was exactly what he had feared from the moment he had looked at his sword. Okay at both tanking and DPSing, but not good at either.

Hopefully, that would change. And soon.

And this damned [Aura] too… Just how in the pile did I gain it? And where did it come from?

“Nar. Jul. How’s your stamina?” Kur asked.

Nar startled at the sound of his name.

Next to him, Gad snored lightly.

“I still have over half,” Nar said, and Jul nodded, whatever that meant.

Kur passed a hand over his pale, yellow hair.

“I don’t think we’re going to go anywhere without rest,” the party leader said. “I hate to do this to the both you, but can you keep watch again? We all need to sleep.”

Nar hated it too, even though it was the most logical thing to do. But Kur was barely hanging on. He couldn’t watch even if he wanted to.

“Okay,” Jul said.

“Yeah, go on,” Nar said.

Kur grimaced. “Thank you. As soon as we can, I’m letting you guys sleep. I promise.”

Nar nodded and stood up.

“I’ll take this side,” Jul said, pointing towards the rear of the party.

“Okay. I guess I’ll…”

She turned her back to him and walked away.

Nar pressed his lips, watching her sit down with her back to him.

That’s fine… Not like we could’ve kept each other awake or anything.

He rubbed his eyes.

He might have a load of stamina left, but he wanted nothing more than to sit down and be gone. And just thinking about it startled a huge yawn out of him.

At his feet, Kur was already nodding off, losing that battle. Cen and Mul were out cold too, and so was Tuk and Viy. And Gad, he knew she was already long gone.

He took a deep breath. Right, how am I going to keep myself awake now?

And without his thoughts turning inevitably back to his doubts, worries, concerns, and now, jealousy?

Unfortunately, it really was inevitable. A couple of minutes later, he found himself staring at the 23 points next to his [Aura], and racking his brain for an answer to that impossibility.

********

He continued to heal, slowly. Gradually but undeniably feeling better and better as time dragged by.

Watching his wounds and bruises heal in amazement was a big part of how he managed to stay awake while the others slept. Every time he looked back at a specific wound or bruise, it was startling to see his HP’s regeneration at work.

His stamina, unfortunately, lost another point during his vigil. Whatever he was doing, it was clearly not restful enough.

Fortunately, the only thing of note that happened during his watch was that Viy stirred in her sleep, mumbling in either dreams or nightmares.

Nar’s guess was on nightmares. He couldn’t remember the last time he had had a pleasant dream. And for a worker to take the Climb, their life couldn’t have been the most pleasant either.

Nar and Jul had stared at the spear woman as she turned her head and frowned and muttered. Nar had wondered if they should wake her up, before she woke the others or got too loud. However, whatever it was, it had soon passed, and Viy had stayed asleep.

He guessed that out of everyone, she was the weakest in the face of the Pressure.

That was another mystery that he returned to, again and again, to occupy his mind. What made them stronger, or weaker against the Pressure?

That, his [Aura] gains, and the smattering of [???] unknown attributes bothered him, and helped him stay awake.

There were a lot of things, important things he felt, that he just didn’t understand.

Pushing his [Aura] gains aside, with difficulty, he was especially concerned about the two [???] attributes. He wondered if they were something crucial to his hybrid class that was, as of yet, kept out of his reach. And if they were, how could he make gains on them without even knowing what they were? He could only hope that, maybe as he leveled, or suffered some more, that he would get to know what those attributes were.

“Nar, it's almost time,” Jul whispered.

Nar sighed. “Okay, let’s wake them up.”

They divided the task between them, and Nar headed straight for their party leader.

“Kur?”

He gasped awake. “Y-Yes?”

“The Pressure’s coming again.”

“Oh… Oh! Yes. Thank you!”

“We’re waking up the others,” Nar said, and reached to the left to shake Gad.

“I’m awake,” she said. He could see no tiredness in her pure, black eyes, but there were darker spots etched under them. “Thanks for watching.”

“Yeah, thank you,” Kur said, rubbing his eyes. “That really helped.”

“No worries,” Nar said.

Inside, he felt bone weary. Only his stamina kept him moving.

Nar went to wake up the twins next. Both Tuk and Jul were having trouble waking up Viy, and he doubted they would be able to.

“How long do we have?” Kur asked.

“5 minutes,” Jul said.

“What-What do you want?” Mul shouted, as Nar shook him.

Nar frowned at his raised fists.

“Oh… Sorry. Sorry. I was…”

“Is it time?” Cen asked, sleepy.

“5 minutes,” Nar said, repeating Jul’s reply.

Maybe I should start keeping track of the time as well.

He glanced at his clock, willing his UI to become visible.

22:25:48. Or almost ten thirty PM. This will be the fourth time we’re hit. Fifth, if we count that first time.

“What do we do?” Tuk asked. “I recovered some HP but...”

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

He left the unsaid hang over them.

Kur had said that this was not a death sentence but, if the Pressure kept coming, without giving them a chance to rest, it would eventually strip them bare of their protective HP and of the stamina that kept them going. And if they had to contend with the guardians at the same time…

“There has to be a limit to these attacks,” Gad said.

“I think so too,” Kur said.

You mean, you believe so. Or you hope so, Nar thought to himself. There was no knowing what the Crystal had planned for them.

“What’s… Happening?”

For a split-second, the voice was so unfamiliar to Nar that he half-turned, expecting to see a new, random Climber amongst them.

“Viy!” Cen said.

Viy looked up at them, her eyes unfocused, her head dropping.

Jul and Tuk had succeeded in waking her after all.

“The Pressure knocked you out,” Kur said.

“Ah…”

“How are you feeling?” Gad asked, crawling to her.

Viy took a shaky breath. “Not good…”

Gad lay a reassuring hand over her shoulder. “Listen, we don’t have much time. The Pressure is about to hit us again.”

Viy’s eyes focused with fear. “A-Again?”

“Yes, but it will be fine, okay? Right now, you need to do as I say. Look in your UI, what's your HP and stamina looking like?”

Viy frowned, her brain struggling to interpret Gad’s instructions and to make them happen.

“54… HP?” Viy said, frowning.

“And the stamina?”

“It’s almost full.”

Gad breathed in relief. “You’ll be fine, then.”

Viy nodded, wide eyed.

“There’s also something flashing… My notifications?”

“Probably the messages from before,” Kur said. “That’s what the notifications are. Your first HP damage taken alert and then the level up.”

“Level… Up?”

“Yes, we all leveled up,” Gad said. “We fought a guardian.”

“You did what?”

Gad shook her head.

“I’ll tell you everything later, for now, just get ready. The Pressure is going to hit us, and you will probably pass out again.”

“Just me?”

“Us too,” Kur said, pointing at himself and at Gad. “The others will watch over us, don’t worry.”

“Why?” Viy asked, looking around, looking more and more lost.

“We haven’t figured it out yet,” Cen said. “But don’t worry. We’ll take care of you, okay?”

Viy nodded, her face pale.

Must be overwhelming, Nar thought. Wave after wave, and to be completely powerless before it. Not to mention, entrusting your life to complete strangers.

It was easy to forget that they had just left the cubeplant. That it was still their first day out in the bowels of the Between-Nexus.

Nar shook his head. It felt like a long time had passed already, since he had last seen his dad.

And these new words… Even my thoughts sound different.

He checked the clock again. 2 minutes to go.

“Sit down, everyone,” Kur said. “We keep falling on our faces here. Might as well sit down and properly wait for it.”

Nar did as Kur suggested, and made himself comfortable.

This time he made sure to hold the sword in his hands. He briefly wondered if he might hurt himself with it, but he decided that it was better to be prepared, just in case another guardian came at them.

He couldn’t put it past the Crystal to throw something at them when they were down…

A tendril of something nasty tried to sneak its way out from the confines of his mind, and Nar pushed it down with a strangled gasp.

No! No! Forgive me, Crystal, I didn't mean it!

“Do we just keep walking again, afterwards?” Cen asked Kur.

“Yes,” Kur said. “We’ll keep going… As long as we can at least. That’s all we can do.”

Cen nodded, looking sorrowful. Mul held her hand and squeezed, though his expression didn’t look much better.

Looking around, Nar saw that everyone was lost to their own thoughts, none of them happy. Or hopeful.

I probably look the same, he thought.

Between the Pressure, the tiredness, the [Aura] and the fear of his impending death, it was hard to remain hopeful. Or to remember the happy daydreams he had harbored, not even a day ago.

Thinking about his dad only made him feel worse.

Would he just assume that Nar had forgotten him? Broken his promise? That he was up there, living the amazing life he had promised his dad? That he had abandoned Bey to wither and waste away in the dark?

He felt pinpricks behind his eyes and frowned hard to keep them to just that.

In the distance, he heard the sound of the Pressure coming for them, before Jul announced it to the others.

Nar took a deep, shaky breath, and prepared for it.

“Hey guys!”

Nar looked up.

Tuk smiled at him. At everyone.

“Come on. We got this!” he said.

He raised a double thumbs up. “See you on the other side!”

Nar stared at the trugger completely dumbfounded.

How was he so optimistic? So energetic? So hopeful?

I was right. I do like him, Nar thought, feeling a smile creep onto his face despite the rushing sound.

Alright. See you on the other side.

He closed his eyes and the Pressure came.

It weighed down on him, howling, snarling and snapping with static. The noise burst through his ears and onto his mind, body and very soul.

It invaded him, threatening to erase who he was.

His bones were smashed and forced back together again.

His organs were smushed to pulp.

His eyes threatened to pop out of their sockets.

Or at least, so it felt to him.

He opened his mouth to scream, but he didn’t know how to.

And the heat. Crystal. The heat.

The little sliver of him that remained begged for everything to end. For him to pass out and be granted reprieve from his torture.

Somehow, it felt worse and much longer lasting that time around, before he finally succumbed to it.

Not so long after, he gasped awake.

Something dripped down his nose. His ears.

Nar looked around him in confusion. His heartbeat was erratic and painful in his chest, and his throat was coated with something thick and metallic.

What just happened?

Something had happened. He was sure of it. He knew it deep within himself that something had been different this time around, but he couldn’t put his finger to it.

Cen coughed awake.

“Uuh… What happened?” she moaned, holding her head.

A little line of very dark gray streamed down her nose.

“Tha-That felt worse,” Nar said. “Right?”

Cen nodded slowly, squinting against the pain ravaging through her mind.

“It was,” she whispered.

“Are you okay?” he asked, and pointed at her face.

She frowned and finally seemed to notice the blood dripping down her nose.

She touched it and looked at her fingers. “Oh… I thought I felt something. You’re also bleeding by the way.”

Nar nodded. It was a familiar sensation and he had figured as much.

Mul woke with a startle. “Fuck! Holy… Fuck. What-What happened?”

“I think the Pressure was worse this time,” Cen said.

Mul stared at her in confusion. “Worse? Yeah… I-I guess it was.”

“Also, you’re bleeding.”

“What?”

Tuk gasped awake and looked around him with big, wide eyes. Finding the others staring at him, he burst out laughing.

“I’m alive! Oh, my Crystal, thank you! Thank you!”

Nar snorted, which caused a stab of pain inside his nose.

“Ow…” he muttered, closing a hand around it.

“Are you alright?” Tuk asked. “Is everyone alright? Why are you all bleeding?”

“You’re bleeding too, you fu… Oof!”

Cen elbowed him, just as Jul came to.

The quam sat up, very straight, and stared at nothing. Bright green blood dripped out of both of her nostrils, and she didn’t look like she was all there yet.

“Are you alright?” Nar asked her.

She ignored him. Her antennae shifted left and right, listening for something.

“Jul?” he tried again.

“It’s gone,” the scout finally said. “The Pressure’s gone.”

They froze.

“Oh, shit…” Mul whispered, looking round the yellow corridor. “It is gone!”

“Oh, thank the Crystal All Merciful and Kind!” Cen said, and sobbed into her hands, her shoulders shaking.

“See! There was hope! I knew it!” Tuk said, raising his fists into the air, still laying on his back.

Nar half-exhaled, half-laughed three times, his body shaking with each gust of air that escaped his lips.

Holy Crystal… Is it over? Did we make it?

“What do we do?” Tuk asked. “Do we stay? Do we wake them up?”

He looked at Jul.

“I-I don’t know!” she stammered.

Mul groaned. “Very useful. Why don’t you wake up the manager brat? He’s the leader after all.”

Gritting his teeth, Nar crawled over to Kur in her place.

The brawler was starting to get on his nerves, but he was right. Kur was the leader. Let him decide. Not like Nar wanted that responsibility on his hands, anyway.

He shook Kur gently.

“Kur? Wake up.”

Kur moaned and moved his head around.

“Are we… Safe?”

“We don’t know. The Pressure hit hard. Harder than before, but when we woke up, it was gone.”

Kur finally managed to pry his eyes open. “Gone?”

“Yes. Look.”

Kur looked around him, with the face of one who was barely awake.

“Holy Crystal… It’s gone.”

Nar nodded. “What do we do now? Do we walk? Do we stay?”

“Let’s stay,” Kur said. “I-I can barely stay awake…”

“Okay. Rest then. We’ll keep watch.”

“Thank you… And, I’m sorry…”

The party leader dropped into sleep again.

Nar looked at the others. Mul and Tuk watched him expectantly, the sleep evident on their faces. Cen had seemingly already fallen asleep.

“Rest,” he said with a sigh. “We’re staying.”

“Nice!” Tuk breathed.

“Good stuff,” Mul said, closing his eyes. “Keep an eye out, will you?”

Nar glared at him.

Don’t hit him… Don’t hit him…

“Nar?”

“Yes?”

Jul recoiled from the dark expression on his face, and his harsh tone.

“Oh, sorry, no! I wasn’t…”

“It’s okay,” Jul said, in a hushed tone of voice. “I wanted to say, if you’re tired, you can sleep too. I’ll watch.”

Nar sagged and smiled at her.

“No, we’ll both watch. It will be less scary like that, right?”

Jul stared at him, completely unmoving, for a few seconds. Then she looked away and gave him a tiny nod.

Did I just see… A bit of a smile?

“Okay,” she whispered.

She then made a show of pretending he wasn’t there.

Nar looked away, smiling.

Maybe there’s hope for her yet.

Then his eyes fell upon the rest of the sleeping party.

Oh, how he envied them.

He wondered how long they would sleep this time around.

********

The night, as that was clearly what it was, was long.

Four hours had come and gone.

Nar brooded. Nar paced. Nar despaired.

There was no solace in his thoughts, and nothing happened to help distract him from the endless, slow march of seconds.

He didn’t try to talk with Jul. He didn’t want to scare her, or come off as imposing.

Those things worked slowly, if they ever worked at all. The quam wasn’t going to get past potential years of only the Crystal knew what had been done to her in a matter of a single day, and he didn’t want to ruin whatever chances she had of overcoming it. So, he left her well alone.

More than once, he stopped, glaring at the others. They looked comfortable in their sleep, no doubt recovering HP and stamina at a much quicker rate than he was. He himself sat at 68 HP, having recovered from the 37 HP he had found himself in, after the fifth and last Pressure assault.

It wasn’t too bad, he supposed. His stamina however was a problem. He only had 33 points of it left.

He didn’t know if the Pressure was done and over with them, after that last hit, or if they were simply being given the mercy of the night, only for it to return in the morning. Either way, he would be in trouble if he didn’t get any rest.

Even if their time under the Pressure was over, which he doubted, there were still the guardians to worry about and whatever else would be thrown at them next.

Yes. He doubted very much that things would get any easier from then onwards. He would probably be grappling with his sanity, and fighting for his HP points all the way to the surface if he had to guess.

If we even make it there…

“Nar?”

Nar turned around slowly.

“I’m tired,” Jul whispered.

“Oh… Uuuhhhh. Why don’t you sleep? I’ll watch.”

She shook her head. “We need to sleep. Wake up Kur.”

Nar stared at her for a moment, considering her words.

She was right. They had to take turns. That had been what Kur had said, and now that he stopped to actually think things through, he had a feeling that Kur wasn’t going to be happy with how long they had stayed up.

Thinking about it now, he felt silly. He should’ve woken him at least an hour ago.

“Okay,” Nar said. “I’ll do it.”

Nar approached their sleeping leader and kneeled next to him.

He shook him gently. “Kur? Kur?”

The altei inhaled deeply and opened his eyes.

“Nar? Something wrong? Is it coming again?”

Nar grimaced. “No, everything’s fine. We’re just tired and we’re wondering if…”

Kur’s eyes went wide.

“Oh, my Crystal! How long has it been?”

“A little over 4 hours.”

“Four… What the fuck, man! Why didn’t you wake me up sooner? You guys need to sleep!”

Nar looked down. Suddenly, all his anger and huffing and puffing and glaring felt silly and shameful.

“You guys needed it more,” Jul said, coming to his rescue.

“But you need rest too! How much HP do you have? How much stamina are you down to?”

“68 and 33,” Nar said, avoiding eye contact.

“Almost full HP. 18 stamina,” he heard Jul say.

“Oh, for the love of the Crystal! Go to sleep! Now!”

“Will you be okay though?” Nar asked.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll wake up Gad. Then I’ll wake up two of the others later on. That’s how it's supposed to work!”

“Sorry,” Nar said.

“You should be!” Kur said, his face contorted in anger. “What happens now, if you don’t have enough time to recover and we get hit again?”

Nar stayed silent, taking the chastising he knew was earned. If anything, he only felt more respect for Kur. And relief. It looked like Kur was going to be a good party leader.

Kur sighed. “I’m sorry. This is on me. I should’ve told you guys to wake me up. I’ll make sure to set up the watch from now on, before everyone goes to sleep.”

Nar nodded.

“Now go on, sleep!”

“What if you can’t hear the Pressure?” Jul asked.

Her concern felt genuine, however, it was impossible to miss her slow, blinking eyelids.

Kur snorted. “If we can’t hear it, we’ll feel it. Awake or asleep, I don’t think it matters. It comes, it comes. We just need to take it.”

Nar nodded again. That was probably true.

“Go. Sleep. Don’t worry about anything else. And… Good job you two. Thank you for keeping us safe.”

Nar scratched the back of his head. “Didn’t really do anything to be honest.”

“No, you did plenty. You watched over us, you carried us, you gave us the security of knowing that we could sleep in safety. It was a lot to be demanded of you both, straight out of the cubeplant. And I thank you. I… Honestly, thank you so much.”

Nar looked away. It was awkward, and it weirded him out of his mind to find himself at the receiving end of such feelings of gratitude coming from a Clean.

“A-Alright. We’ll go to sleep then,” he said.

Nar stood up and walked past Kur and Viy, to sit back at his spot at the end of the party.

He didn’t like the idea of sleeping next to that dark, but he figured he needed to start building up his courage.

As a tank, he was meant to stand in the face of death and take the damage meant for the party. Plus, he didn’t know exactly by what basis the System operated yet. “You are what you do” was a plenty ambiguous tenet to live one’s life by. And not knowing, Nar couldn’t risk having his path skewed by simply harboring cowardly feelings or thoughts.

“Uhm…”

Nar turned around and found Jul standing a couple steps from him.

“Can I sleep there?” she asked.

The scout pointed at the space between him and Viy, then at the darkness behind them. “It will be less scary, right?”

“O-Of course!” Nar stammered.

He shimmied himself closer to the darkness, too dumbfounded and worried about doing anything to scare her off, and gave her plenty of space to be comfortable in, with no danger of them accidentally touching in their sleep.

“Thank you,” she mumbled, hiding her face behind her hair. “Sleep well.”

“Y-You too!”

What just happened? He asked himself, heart hammering in his chest.

Was this a sign of her trust for him? Did she feel safe enough sleeping next to him? Was he reading too much into it?

Whatever the reason might be, he felt a strange touch of warmth inside him. A sort of pride, maybe. With some hope in the mix?

He smiled as he closed his eyes.

Maybe she’ll be okay after all.