Nar and Kur woke the others with 15 minutes to spare.

As if on cue, the lights turned back on to full intensity.

“Up, people. I want everyone ready to go in 5 minutes!” Kur said.

While the others stirred awake, Nar collected his pack. He wrapped it securely around his shoulders, and once he was done, he waited, with sword in hand.

That’s when it hit him.

Uh… Something’s off.

He frowned and looked around.

Nothing looked out of place. Jul, sitting where she had slept, still looked half asleep and gave no indication of any danger.

Am I just imagining it or… Oh. Oh!

It was Mul.

The brawler was quiet.

In fact, he hadn’t uttered a single word since being woken up.

What in the pile? Nar thought, staring at the brawler out of the corner of his eyes.

Mul was silently packing his things, and once in a while, he shot a glance at his sister.

Nar had never seen him looking like that.

There was something almost fearful in his expression. Hurt. Scared.

Growing curious, Nar glanced at Cen instead.

She was… Well, she was something. Angry?

No, not that.

He didn’t know what it was, but something had clearly happened between the twins. He hadn’t heard anything, so it must have happened while he slept.

“Come on, come on!” Kur shouted.

Jul struggled to her feet, and continued to come awake, swaying, next to Nar.

Nar forgot about the twins and searched the walls for the exit, but to no avail. Like the door out of the cubeplant, there was not even a mark on the wall. If not for the presence of the toilet, he would’ve probably forgotten which side they had entered from.

Really playing it heavy with the messing around with our heads, Nar thought.

The party got itself put back together, and sleepiness was slowly replaced by excited anxiety, as they formed up by the wall.

As the timer neared 5 minutes, Nar caught Mul staring at his sister, his expression still lost and confused.

Cen, for her part, stared at the floor, ignoring him. Ignoring everyone.

What in the pile happened between those two? Nar wondered once more.

Had Cen finally lost it and snapped at her brother? Somehow, Nar doubted that was it, however, a scratching sound drew his attention back to reality.

The same section of the wall dropped, seamlessly, revealing the exit, and a loud, angry, buzzing sound filled the safe room.

“What in the pile is that?” Tuk whispered.

“Is that the Pressure?” Kur asked, leaning forward.

Eyes turned to Jul and the scout went rigid.

“I-I yes, I think so!” she stammered. “Sounds the same. Just louder… I-I think!”

Nar felt his ire rise. However, the expected, oh so typical, Mul complaint never came. The brawler kept his mouth shut.

Damn...

“Nar, can you check it out?”

Nar startled and found Kur staring at him.

“Me… What?”

“Can you go check it out?” Kur asked. “You’re the strongest against the Pressure. Can you see what’s happening out there?”

“Oh… Uh, sure.”

“Thank you, and hurry. We need to get out fast.”

Nar rushed towards the door, and the others made way for him.

“I’ll be right here,” Gad said.

Nar gave her a grim nod and faced forward.

Here, by the door, he could practically feel the heat emanating from the corridor. The buzz was strong and penetrating, and he wasn’t even out there yet.

What if it killed him?

He took a deep breath.

They couldn’t stay in the safe room either. The word “punishment” was ominous enough that it was better to just get out and face whatever new challenge that was.

And so, without any other choice, he stepped outside.

The Pressure nearly forced him to his knees and he gasped under its weight.

“Are you okay?” Gad shouted.

Nar turned, and saw that she was positioned to reach out and pull him back in.

“I’m fine,” he said. “It doesn’t hurt, but it’s really heavy.”

He inhaled deeply. It was hot, but also not burning.

He checked his HP. The bar was full, and it looked like it was staying so.

“It doesn’t look like I’m taking any damage,” Nar said. “It’s just hard to move in.”

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Gad looked back, seeking Kur’s instructions, and he nodded at her.

Gad stepped out, sweeping both ends of the corridor with a glance.

Nar swore at himself.

Damn it! I forgot to do that!

A guardian could have been right there, besides the door, and he wouldn’t have seen it. Not before it had been too late anyways.

Leaving his weapon behind. Getting distracted at the back. Not watching for danger… When was he going to start taking his role seriously?

“Seems safe,” Gad said. Like Nar, her posture was also hunched over under the strain. “But it is heavy.”

One by one, they filed out of the safe room.

When Kur stepped out at the last, the wall closed itself shut again, leaving no marks.

“Damn… This is heavy,” Kur said.

Nar wiped his forehead. His forearm came away slick with fresh sweat.

He twisted his nose. He must have stunk something fierce by now. Probably they all did.

He had seen the others changing clothes before, and he had been tempted to do the same. However, he only had two spare sets and no one had mentioned anything about new clothes. Food, yes. Facilities, yes. But nothing about clothes. And so he hadn’t changed. He could only hope the others weren’t twisting their noses in disgust at him.

“It’s going to be a long forty minutes,” Tuk said.

“The sooner we get it done, the better,” Kur replied. “Gad, take us forward.”

They got underway, bowed under the weight.

It was humbling.

Almost as if they were made to walk with their heads bowed before the Magnificence of the Crystal. Reminded of their place. Of their status as sinners.

Nar muttered a prayer under his breath, staving off unkind, blasphemous thoughts.

The going was hard. Each step came down on the floor with a jarring impact, and each foot came up from it with a conscious significant strain.

“I’m losing stamina,” Kur said, about twenty minutes into their trek. “Fast.”

“Me too,” Gad said.

“We must be using our attributes,” Tuk mused, wiping his forehead

He had a very dark, wet stain on his shirt, around his bulging pack. They all did, and Nar had no doubt he had one of his own too.

The heat, at first bearable, now coupled with the physical exertion, was getting to them.

Tuk grabbed some jell-o and slurped greedily. Nar could only stare in envy. At least he had less to carry.

“Come on, let’s keep going,” Kur said. “We’re halfway there.”

They plowed on, silent and struggling to breath under the weight that smothered them.

Can’t believe I thought that was it, Nar thought. So much for the end of the Pressure.

If the Crystal wanted, they would be on their hands and knees by the time they got to the surface, and they would do nothing but pray and praise Its Glory.

That particular thought went through without apology. Nar was so focused on keeping one foot going in front of the other, that he didn’t notice the blasphemy.

And so the minutes dragged, made even longer by the constant, annoying buzzing sound. It was like having many people loudly whispering in his ears. It was louder, and even worse than before they had reached the safe room, and as they walked, the noise gnawed at his sanity. Even covering his ears did nothing to block the constant static that dragged its nails across his brain.

On and on, they dragged their feet.

“We’re all sure of the time, right?” Kur asked.

“Yes,” Jul said. “It's been almost an hour already.”

Tuk, kneeling down, breathed hard and tried to clear his throat.

Both of the lengos were down as well, gasping against one of the walls, and Viy leaned heavily on her spear.

Gad was doubled at the waist, but still standing, and Kur was also struggling to stay on his feet. Next to him, Jul sat, gasping for air, her green hair matted against her shiny forehead.

Nar exhaled heavily and leaned against the wall, both leaning on and hiding his face in his arms.

The sound of his breathing echoed in his ears, and his hot breath almost scalded his face.

“What do we do?” Gad asked. “My stamina is melting away.”

Nar checked his again.

A third. Almost half.

The others had to be faring worse than he was.

“We’ll keep going for another while,” Kur said, in a throaty voice. “Another 10 minutes. If we don’t make it out of it, we’ll stop and rest.”

He looked around him, looking every bit like he was exerting every single shred of willpower he had not to join the others on the floor.

“Come on, people. Let’s keep going. Just another 10 minutes.”

Again, and uncharacteristically so, Mul complied without protest.

I can’t be the only one seeing this, right? Nar thought, wiping his brow.

Mul offered a hand to his sister, and while she took it, she let go as soon as she was up.

She swayed on her feet and Mul panicked, ready to hold onto her. But Cen managed to stay upright by herself, and walked past her brother, never even looking at him.

“Alright. Let’s go,” Kur said, once they were all up

Nar pushed away from the wall, and dragged his feet after them.

He should probably drink something. It was hotter there than in the factory.

Just a bit longer, he told himself. I have to ration…

The ten-minute mark came and went.

Kur exhorted them to walk just a few more minutes, but eventually, he had to call a break.

The party collapsed, sweating profusely and struggling for air.

Nar stared up at the yellow lit ceiling. Then, remembering his failing that morning, he forced himself to roll over so that he was, at least, facing the dark behind him. Whether he liked it or not, the role of protecting their backs had fallen to him, and as their secondary tank, he planned on taking it seriously.

“Let’s wait here for a bit,” Kur said, panting. “Let’s see if we can recover some stamina. Nar, Jul and Tuk, first watch, just in case we fall asleep.”

“Don’t think anyone is going to sleep in this,” Tuk muttered.

Nar couldn’t agree more. Between the weight and the loud buzzing that penetrated his very thoughts, he doubted anyone would fall asleep, no matter how tired they were.

Turns out, he was very wrong.

The others were out of it within moments, and he himself barely held on, fighting against his impossibly heavy eyelids.

Next to him, Tuk’s head bobbed up and down, his battle going much worse than Nar’s.

“Tuk!” he called.

Tuk gasped awake.

“Shit. Sorry, man! Sorry!”

“No worries…”

Jul looked around, at both sides of the corridor, as she usually did, but the movement was slow, languid. Nar was impressed by her tenacity.

“Have you gotten any stamina back?” Tuk asked.

Nar shook his head. “It hasn’t been that long, though.”

However, he doubted that counted as resting. Even sitting against the wall, he felt like he needed his [Strength] just to stay upright. To breathe. To talk. To think, even.

“I don’t know if this is going to work,” Tuk said, echoing Nar’s thoughts.

“We can take turns and sleep,” Nar said. “At least we’re not losing any HP.”

Tuk nodded absentmindedly, and their conversation lapsed. Talking took too much effort. As it was, they seemed to have reached a stalemate between stamina recovery and expenditure, so better not risk tipping that balance back into the negative.

Can’t believe I thought we we’re done with this damn Pressure, Nar though, staring at the ceiling again.

Maybe now came the real test, or maybe it was just another one in a series of tests they had yet to overcome.

The buzzing was loud inside his mind, blotting out his thoughts. It grated on him, and knowing that there was nothing he could do about it made it even worse. Like an itch he couldn’t scratch.

Just endure it, man. Come on, let’s do some praying…

Prayer of Devotion. Prayer of Adoration. Prayer of Exultation… There had to be an endless compendium of them, and there had to be even more in the O-Nex and I-Nex.

Nar had had to learn to recite about twenty of them by heart. Once a month, the chapel was cleared for Unclean use, and they were forced to march up there to worship. Taking turns inside the stuffy building, they were made to sing and pray, in hopes that the Crystal would cleanse their souls.

Nar hated having to go, either before, or after his destroying double shifts. But it was one of their conditions for staving off exile. They had to show remorse for their sins to the Crystal, or they would face further repercussions.

The Unclean didn’t give a pile about it. It was the Clean who were scared. Scared that the Crystal would punish them again, hitting somewhere else in the Homes. And nobody wanted to become Unclean.

Idiots. The lot of them, stuck in their stupid tiny little hole…

Nar shook his head. He had lapsed into dark thoughts again.

It was hard not to.

Every time he looked back to his previous life, barely a month ago, he was filled with a consuming darkness. Anger, and hatred and… But it didn’t bear thinking about it.

Prayers forgotten, he wondered why that was. He had hated the Clean of course, but never with such a visceral passion as he did now. And the thoughts and emotions had not been so frequent either. Most of the time, he’d just accepted life as it was.

Maybe it was because now he had an abundance of free time. Time to think, to mull things over in his bored and battered mind, to ponder about everything. He was free of the mind shattering concentration required to focus and push aura out of his body in tune with the machine’s demands.

He had a lot of time now, just watching over the party, or walking behind them, where he was left to his own thoughts. And it was hard to pray and praise when he had to contend with the memories carved deeply into him.

You ask a lot of me, Nar thought. But if You let me save my dad, I will do anything You want. Anything.

And he meant it.