Nar considered the half-eaten square of cracker between his fingers.

It was the last half of his fourth cracker.

He wasn’t supposed to have finished two of them, let alone be finishing his fourth.

He wanted to blame the others. They ate every two or three days, lacking his discipline and need. And there was only so much pretending he could do before someone noticed it.

However, the blame didn’t rest solely with the party.

Truth was, when they were hungry, so was he. Perhaps with the exception of Mul.

Cen, slowly making a recovery from whatever it was that had been bothering her, had started talking again. And she had her hands full and her patience tested on the daily, having to keep Mul from plowing through his rations in the name of his new found gluttony.

However, if he was to speak honestly, which he would never do, he understood the brawler. Nar was hungry. So hungry.

He was hungry almost every two days, sometimes, every day and a half.

Unlike the lengos however, he couldn’t simply give in to his stomach. After this meal, he would be down to only six crackers. If things continued at the same pace, he would be out of food in less than ten weeks.

Two months and half, he thought.

He turned the half-munched piece in his hands.

Will that be enough?

There had to be a dispenser somewhere, at some point. Right? They had been promised that there would be.

Nar pondered his options, staring at the piece of food.

Should he set a limit? Try to go hungry once he reached four or perhaps three crackers? Say that his stomach hurt, or something?

He grimaced. Could he do it, though, even if he had to?

He was no stranger to hunger, but this was something else. The pain in his stomach grew with each passing day. At last, at max three days after his last meal, he had to succumb to it, and eat, or he felt too weak to keep going.

He didn’t understand it, and this had been yet another unanswered question added to his growing list. Whatever the reason, his body was demanding more food, and he didn’t know yet how large that demand would grow to become.

He sighed and popped the whole thing into his mouth. It was tough, and rubbery, an exercise to his jaws. Briefly, he wondered what food would be like in the O-Nex.

Better. That was all that the workers remembered.

Real food, they called it. Whatever that meant to a people who had forgotten what day and night was.

He snorted.

It was not relevant for his current predicament. For now, he would continue to eat. Hopefully, there would be a dispenser soon. If not, well, he would decide then.

The others were strewn around their small Nexus of light, huddled together in little clusters.

Their third encounter of the day had finally exhausted the little energy and willpower they had woken with, and Kur had ordered a break.

He and Tuk now talked in a hushed conversation, a few feet away.

They had called him over, but Nar had politely declined to join them. He had felt too tired for chatter.

Next to him, Jul had fallen asleep. Her brow was marred by a deep frown, and she was drenched in sweat.

Another one with nightmares, Nar thought.

Beyond her, Viy muttered and whimpered in her sleep, tossing and turning.

Nar scratched the side of his jaw, considering the pale spear woman.

While Cen was seemingly making a slow, but steady, comeback, Viy looked to be spiraling in the opposite direction. She barely spoke now, and only to Gad. Her sleep was plagued by nightmares, and her eyes had adopted a permanent red tint, with huge dark bags forming underneath them.

Unlike Mul, the ever annoyance, Viy never complained. She went to sleep, she got up, she walked, she fought, she ate.

While he still felt somewhat slighted at her lack of gratitude to anyone who helped her, especially him and Jul, more and more he felt sorry for her. He was starting to dread whatever had pushed her out of the cubeplant.

Memories sighed by his mind. Time had faded the details, probably made it less bad than he remembered it, but he hadn't forgotten. And he would never be able to.

He clenched his jaw and shook his head, driving the images from his mind.

The feelings.

The sensations.

Whatever had happened to Viy, Nar hoped it wasn’t as bad as he feared.

He shook his head harder, twisting his face in disgust. The more he thought about the past, the sharper the memories became.

“Ouch…” he muttered.

The movement sent waves of pain rocking from his left side.

He had tanked that last, third guardian of the day, and the thing had managed to land a solid hit under his left arm.

No matter how much he struggled, how much he tried to see and catch every hint of the guardians’ movements, there were always surprises.

Blows coming at him from blind spots. Blades appearing where he least expected…

Sometimes he convinced himself that he was getting better. His sword was faster, less clumsy and better positioned to block the damage. At others, it felt that he was attempting the impossible. Either he was trying to react faster than the enemy could hit him, or he was trying to predict what it would do next. Either way, neither seemed realistic.

He leaned his head on his hand, his elbow propped against his knee.

He still lamented the lack of a shield, but he had grown tired of whining about it, even if just to himself. All he had was the longsword for now, and so, he had to do the best he could with it. And he wondered if he was being too harsh on himself.

After all, barely a month and a half ago, he had never even touched a sword before.

It was impossible to expect himself to pick it up and become a sword master in the blink of an eye. It would come with time. With experience. With errors and mistakes. And, unfortunately, with plenty of injury too. But it would come.

Eventually.

With nothing better to do, Nar checked his stats.

NAR293457741235645XAV

Basic 5

Health Points: 83/120

Stamina: 74/110

Attributes

● Strength: 11

● Constitution: 12

● Stamina: 11

● Agility: 8

● Speed: 7

● Aura: 32

● ???: 5

● ???: 10

No changes and no gains.

Even a week after they’d left the safe room, there were still no level ups in sight.

The guardians accosted them two or three times a day, forcing them into slow battles of attrition and aggro.

Kur never allowed them to use their skills, a fact that Mul complained constantly about. However, the party leader was worried about surprises, and he was firm in his stance that they needed to conserve their stamina.

It was a good, logical and prudent argument, but it did make all their fights last much longer, and be more prone to injury. Case in point, the last fight.

Nar had gotten tired. Sloppy. He slowed down and the guardian had scored its hit.

He grimaced at the pain that shot up from his ribs, and adjusted his position against the wall, looking to be more comfortable.

Ugh. Why does this HP not take away the pain?

As if summoned by the thought of pain, the Pressure spiked around him.

Oh, for the love of…

He grunted through his teeth.

The Pressure rose quickly to a crescendo of noise, and forced his chin to his chest.

The pain ground his stomach this time. It was a slow, wrenching, fistful of jagged aetherium slowly twisting inside him.

The Pressure also exacerbated the pain from his bruised ribs.

Nar plunged into a blindness of pain, heat, and crushing, merciless weight.

When it was over, Nar pushed himself forward and puked.

“Crystal dammit…” he muttered, in between spitting crimson stickiness.

He leaned back again, breathing sorely.

His body was broken. Abused. He had gone beyond what was physically possible. Perhaps even beyond what the Source allowed him as well.

He wanted to curl into a little hole and weep.

Was this not enough yet? He had bled. He had cried. He had suffered. What more did the Crystal want? For how much longer did It want to see him suffer and writhe in agony?

He clenched his fists, digging his nails into his flesh.

His hands shook. He felt no pain from his nails. There was barely any strength to his grip. However, his emotions boiled within him.

It was only with every last remaining shred of willpower that he pushed them down.

Whatever You want to do, just do it. As long as You give me what I want.

If the Crystal did not, however… No. He couldn’t even consider the thought of it.

The others woke, one by one. Around them, the floor was soon too disgusting to look at, and the stench of it filled their nostrils.

“Let-Let’s go somewhere else,” Kur said, wiping his mouth with his forearm. “Not too far… Just-just enough.”

Swallowing his pain, Nar got to his feet.

They walked as if with a foot already in the recycler.

Mul and Cen supported each other. Tuk swayed from one side of the corridor to the other, zigzagging erratically after Kur and Jul. The two of them took their steps slowly, measured, as if to make sure their next step was indeed capable of supporting them. And at the front, Gad carried Viy forward.

The spear dragged behind them, and Viy’s head lolled with each of Gad’s ponderous steps. Nar couldn’t even tell if she was awake or not.

They had reached their limits long ago. Yet, the Crystal had remained deaf to his prayers and begging, and Nar doubted he was the only praying.

Ignoring their silent cries, however, the Crystal continued their atonement. Or should he say torment?

HP recovered after each encounter and Pressure hit. Stamina recovered after each restless sleep. But the constant buzz never stopped. The weight and heat never let up.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Slowly, they reached the end of the third week since they had left the safe room, though he wasn’t sure if he was keeping proper track of the time. Without the date feature of his clock, of which he only understood vaguely, it was hard to keep track of the passage of days in their corridor of madness.

And there was no respite at all.

Nar couldn’t even remember what silence sounded like anymore.

Oftentimes he found himself yearning for his home, in the Unclean’s little ring of empty houses. Coming home, from that loud, noisy factory, was always such a bliss…

But here there was no bliss to be found, and thinking about it only made him feel worse.

With a startle, he spun, raising his sword to block… Nothing.

What in the pile? he thought, swaying from the sudden explosion of movement and crashing into the wall.

He was… Something had…But he had been…

Dread spread through him, shivers bursting across his body.

Am I… Am I going crazy? Did I just imagine it?

He had been so sure that he had… What? Felt something?

A sudden, splitting headache forced him to his knees.

“Nar? Are you okay?” Kur asked.

Nar opened his mouth and let out a silent scream.

Something dug into his mind with fingers made out of blades.

“Stop! Something’s wrong! Stay in formation!”

Nausea washed over Nar, and blood poured down his nose and ears.

He felt careful, gentle hands on his back.

“What's happening?” Tuk asked.

“I don’t know! Nar, can you hear me?” Kur asked.

He could. By the Crystal, how he could! Why was he shouting so loudly right next to his ears?

Jul’s gasp was like a slap to his mind, and her shout, like a punch.

“Something’s coming!” she shouted.

Scratching reached him. It was faint, and buried under the Pressure, but it was there.

Whatever was happening, pushed harder into his brain, and he crumbled to the floor, contorting in pain. His eyes screamed as though they were being stabbed repeatedly, and something drilled into his ears.

“Gad, tank it! I’m staying here with him!” Kur shouted, sending another spike of pain reverberating through his ears and into his brain.

The sound of the guardian smashing into Gad’s shield nearly drove him over the edge of sanity, and he thrashed wildly.

“Crystal!” Kur shouted. “Hold him down!”

Hands pushed down onto him.

“Nar! Nar!” Jul cried.

A searing blindness exploded in his head, and Nar screamed wordlessly once again, a hollow rasp that seemed to never end.

“Shit… Hold on, stay with him!” Kur said. “Melee, what are you doing?”

The sounds of the fighting were continuous blows to his head. The Nexus was pain. All was pain. And it was consuming him.

“Nar, what’s happening?” Jul asked, screaming it in his ear. “Tell me!”

She shook him, relentless and Nar grit his teeth.

“So… Loud…”

“L-Loud?” Jul asked, frowning. “What do you mean?”

“Loud… So loud!”

“I don’t understand,” Jul said, her fingers brushing against his face. “What’s happening? How did it happen?”

“Behind me… Something!”

“Behind you? What do you… Oh. Oh no!”

She held him with two hands, and with the other two she gripped his face, forcing him to face her.

“What did you feel! Tell me!” she shouted.

Nar tried to escape her, but the pain had locked away his [Strength], and her grip was unyielding.

“Tell me!” she said, shaking him. “Was it something bad? Something scary? What was it?”

Hot, burning tears streamed down the sides of his face.

He was going to die. The pain was going to kill him.

“It was… An attack…” he breathed, pushing the words out with the last of his strength.

Jul hugged him tightly.

“Kur! There’s something behind us!”

“What?”

“There’s something behind us!”

The pain, suddenly, was gone. Nar hung limp in Jul’s arms.

Darkness descended on him, coming to embrace him.

But he heard it.

“Crystal have mercy…” Kur said. “There’s another one behind us!”

The guardian’s approaching limbs pounded towards them. Calmly, as though it knew the party was about to meet its end.

“What do we do?” Tuk shouted.

“Stay focused on the first one!” Kur replied. “I’ll try to distract it!”

“No! You can’t even fight! “Mul shouted. “If you die, we’re all dead!”

Nar heard someone rush past him.

He couldn’t go to sleep. Not yet. Not now. When something was happening. Something that felt important. Crucial, to him, and all that he wanted in life.

“Jul…” he croaked. “What’s happening?”

“Don’t worry about it!” she said, holding him tighter.

He pushed against her grip. “Tell me…”

She ignored him, and tried to hold him down.

Somewhere behind Nar, Kur shouted a battle cry.

“Jul, if he dies, we all die with him,” Nar breathed. “We have to help him…”

That finally got through to her, and her grip slackened.

Nar rolled backwards, ignoring pain, nausea and his very body threatening to break apart. That was it. Whatever had just happened to him, it had been the last piece of aetherium pulled from under the unstable pile. Everything was tethering now, about to come crashing down.

Through teary eyes he found Kur standing before the guardian.

With his tiny bucker, he shouted and swatted at the enemy, trying to keep it from plowing into the defenseless back of the party. And end them.

He’s going to get himself killed… And then, we’re all going to die. Here, in the darkness, shred to bits by those things.

He closed his eyes and struggled to get his elbows under him. Then a knee.

Move, damn it! Move!

He punched his leg into place under him, and then, pulling on the last of willpower, got to his feet.

“My sword” he rasped, reaching his hand out. He didn’t trust himself to turn and look for it.

“But you’re…”

“Now!”

Jul sobbed but he ignored her, his trembling hand still waiting.

The guardian was moving in, limbs spread out menacingly, ready to tear Kur limb from limb.

“Jul!”

Finally, something came into contact with his palm, and he curled his fingers around it.

The blade’s weight nearly pulled him back down, but he held.

He breathed deeply and stepped forward.

His leg buckled, and almost brought him down.

Snarling, he tried again.

The second time, it held.

“Kur, get back!” he shouted.

“Stay away, Nar!” his leader replied. “You can’t do it! Not like that!”

“You can’t tank! Get back here!” Nar shouted at him.

“No!”

Nar bared his teeth at the party leader’s stubbornness, and forced his legs forward. To carry him towards the edge of light and darkness where the two of them faced off.

The guardian suddenly lunged, the blade leaving a trail of bright yellow.

Somehow, Kur managed to get his little buckler in the right place to keep him from being skewered through the heart. However, the thrust pushed him back.

The party leader took three steps and fell on his ass, staring up in abject horror.

The guardian grew upon him, ready to end his life. And all of theirs with it.

“Noooo!” Nar shouted.

Attributes roared to life.

Blades speared down towards Kur’s horrified face.

The moment seemed to drag, death slowly coming for him.

Silence descended upon Nar except for his loud heartbeat. It drummed, steadily, in his ears, as he ran towards the frozen party leader.

It couldn’t end here.

Not like that.

Nar was not going to let it happen.

He swung, jumping above Kur, and his sword pushed away all the blades coming down on him.

Time returned to normal, and Nar crashed into the guardian, sending the two of them tumbling backwards in a tangled mess.

“Nar!” Kur shouted.

Nar backpedaled, desperately waving his sword against the flurry of attacks that came his way. The guardian had recovered much faster and easier from their collision than him.

“Nar!” Kur shouted again.

Suddenly, hands grabbed Nar from behind and dragged him away.

“Are you okay?” Kur asked, hoisting him to his feet.

“Get back!” Nar replied, pushing the party leader away.

“What are you doing? You’re hurt!”

“I’m the secondary tank! Not you!” Nar threw at him, parrying through another series of attacks. “You’re the leader, so lead! What do we do?”

“I… I…”

“Come on!”

Kur straightened up. “Alright! Hang on, then! We’ll deal with the other one first!”

“Just do it!”

“Jul, focus! We need to know if there’s any more of them. Tuk, Cen…”

Kur’s orders faded into the background.

To Nar, his whole Nexus shrunk to the blades and limbs raging all around him, threatening to swallow him.

The guardian was relentless and tireless made of unyielding metal and Crystal knew what else.

He, on the other hand, was pushing his frail flesh and bone body past the point where he felt like simply breaking down. Hot wetness dripped down his face, jaw and neck, and he wasn’t sure if it was just sweat. The taste in his mouth told him it wasn’t.

He didn’t even bother checking his HP and stamina. There was no point anymore.

Nobody would swap with him because nobody could. He was on his own until the others finished the fight behind him, and he had to hold on.

A glazing blade scored a line up his left forearm and he grunted.

He was finding it impossible to concentrate.

Things kept drawing his attention away from the fight.

The sound of the guardian’s limbs coiling to attack.

The sharp glint of blades that were not yet a threat.

Something suddenly screamed in his brain, almost blinding him.

A feeling? A sensation? A fear?

Nar reacted to it without realizing it, lifting his sword. He was right on time to block a blow aimed at the side of his head, coming at him from a blind spot.

What the…

More and more of the strange sensations spread out around him.

Nar tried to ignore them as they nearly overwhelmed him.

As it was, he was still blinded by them, and a series of hits landed against his left arm, torso and leg, drawing arches of blood that colored the walls in something other than yellow.

Nar stumbled backwards, waving his sword in front of him in a panic.

“Nar, don’t fight it!” Jul shouted. “Trust it! Trust what you’re feeling!”

Nar landed on his bottom, just as Kur had. The sensation exploded above him, and he raised his sword, barely in time to stop the combined blow of three arms coming down to cave his face in.

“Yes! Trust them!”

Trust them… Trust what?

Another sensation flared up to his left, and he got his arm up just in time to protect his head.

His brain rattled against the blow.

“Just trust them Nar! You know what the guardian is going to do next!”

I know what the… The pile is she on about?

One more warning, and he opened his legs, avoiding the falling blade that crashed loudly against the floor.

This…. This is…

Sensations flared all around him, and Nar rolled, ducked and parried, backing away desperately, following the warnings.

I’m… I’m…

He had no idea what, or how he was doing it. Only that he was. And that it was probably the only reason he didn’t end up in several bits.

Suddenly, rings clanged against the guardian. The sudden offensive distracted it enough to allow for Jul to rush in and drag him to his feet.

“Thanks!” he gasped.

Nar risked a glance behind them.

The first guardian was down.

Gad breathed heavily, but she was making her way towards him with a determined, unshakable resolve.

It would all be over soon.

“Stop!” Jul shouted. “There’s another one, coming from the front!”

“Are you fucking kidding me!” Mul shouted.

“Gad, tank it! Nar, hold on! All DPS, focus on Nar’s guardian!”

Nar pushed away from Jul and jumped back into the thick of things.

The sensations were a chaos. A mess he could barely respond to.

Most of the time, he failed.

His eyes told him one thing, and his brain had to contend between them and the strange new sensations.

“Just trust in it!” Jul insisted.

“I’m trying!” Nar muttered under his breath.

It was easier said than done.

The guardian was a blur, and the warnings came to him just as quickly.

He was neither fast enough nor agile enough to respond to it all.

“Hang in there!” Mul suddenly shouted, as both he and Viy arrived, bringing the DPS Nar so desperately needed. “We’re going to finish it!”

Encouragement? From Mul?

Crystal, that must truly be the end.

Around Nar, Cen’s and Tuk’s attacks found their mark, coming in with pinpoint accuracy, distracting the guardian.

How they were doing it, he had no idea. The projectiles just curved around any obstacles in their path, guided by the System. To be honest, it wasn’t any more far-fetched than him suddenly being able to predict the enemy’s movements.

Aided by whatever it was however, Nar managed to keep the guardian focused on him, and himself alive. On either side of him, Mul and Viy panted, grunted and shouted, dishing out DPS as fast as they could.

Behind them, Nar hoped that Gad was doing alright with her second guardian.

“Mul, use one skill! Just one!” Kur shouted. “We can’t drag this on forever!”

Mul shouted and punched the guardian with all the [Strength] that he had.

His hit landed just to the side of where the guardian’s face should be, if it even had one, and the thing stumbled and crashed against the wall in front of Viy.

“Don’t let it up!” Kur shouted. “Ranged, focus on Gad’s guardian!”

The three of them, Nar, Viy and Mul, fell onto the guardian with savagery and death in their eyes.

In the confusion that followed, Nar barely kept track of the guardian’s feeble attempts to fight back. Mul’s punch had clearly done a number on it, and its movements were sluggish and slow. It was still deadly, but Nar had an easier time protecting himself and the other two.

However, Crystal be merciful, the end was inevitable.

Viy’s spear and Mul’s knuckles connected at the same time, and the guardian broke apart in an explosion of brown, clear, oily goo. Flying pieces of machinery, wires, circuits, and other parts blasted them, and the guardian’s limbs dropped around it.

Nar fell down to one knee, breathing hard and leaning his face against the pommel of his sword. At his left, Viy propped herself against the wall, her spear tip leaning against the floor. And to his right, Mul stood, with his face turned upwards. Sweat drenched his features, and his mouth hung, desperately swallowing air.

Nar breathed, or cried.

He wanted to go down.

He so desperately wanted to go down and close his eyes. But the fight wasn’t over yet.

“What are you doing?” Kur shouted. “Come on, we have one more! Jul are there any others?”

Mul exhaled forcibly, and turned himself around, towards the other fight. Viy followed after him, dragging her spear behind her. Neither of them even bothered to reply to the party leader. It would’ve been a waste of precious air.

“I don’t think so,” Jul said. “Just that one.”

“Thank the Crystal…” Kur muttered.

A pounding headache descended upon Nar, pushing him closer to the welcoming floor.

However, he knew he couldn’t stay down forever. Gad might need help. Most likely, she did.

He pushed down on the sword, raising once more.

If this isn’t earning my path, I don’t know what is, Nar thought.

“Are you okay to keep going?” Kur asked, when Nar stopped at his side.

Nar nodded, not trusting his voice not to say otherwise.

“Good. She’s had to tank two of them without any breaks,” Kur said. Then he tutted. “If only I could see you guy’s statuses.”

Gad, in front of them, held strong and tall.

Her shield might not be as high anymore, but she gave no indication of backing down.

Her figure burned into Nar’s retinas.

This was what a tank was.

Never back down.

Never give up.

A tank had to stand, forever the stalwart protector of the party, no matter what it faced.

Nar could only hope that one day his back could inspire such trust and belief as hers did.

“Stop!” Gad commanded.

“Back!” Kur added.

Mul and Viy stumbled away from the fight, and Tuk and Cen halted their offense.

“Gad, do you need to swap?” Kur shouted.

“Not yet!” she replied, nearly breathless. “One more!”

“I can swap with the DPS,” Nar offered, eyeing the two panting, wheezing melee.

Kur shook his head. “They can rest if they have to. You and her can’t.”

Nar nodded and stayed where he was.

“Hang in there!” Tuk shouted.

“You can do it, Gad!” Cen added.

Gad grunted and kept it up.

Nar clenched his jaw. He now understood how hard it was to tank alone, without the reassuring presence of the DPS next to him. And yet, she did it again and again, managing her aggro, controlling the flow of battle. She was truly amazing.

“Almost!” Gad shouted.

“Get ready!” Kur said.

The DPS pushed themselves away from walls or stood back up, ready to start once more.

Nar had to confess. He was impressed. This party was something else.

Clean or not, a means to an end or not, he couldn’t help but feel his spirit rallying alongside theirs.

He felt like he was one of them. Like they were truly coming together, as one.

“Now!” she shouted.

Instead, the guardian fled.

“What in the pile?” Kur said, stunned.

“Is it… Running away?” Tuk asked.

Good, Nar thought. Let it!

Gad looked back at Kur, confused.

“But… I taunted it…”

“Let it go!” Kur said. “It could be a trap.”

Nar followed the fleeing guardian with his eyes.

And don’t come back, he thought.

The guardian kept going, and going and going.

Nar’s frown deepened by the second.

“No way,” he breathed.

“The arrows!” Jul shouted.

“The path is stretching!” Tuk said. “Is this the end?”

“It's the end!” Mul shouted, raising his fists. “We can’t let it run away!”

And before anyone could say anything, he sprinted after the fleeing guardian.

“No, stop!” Kur shouted.

But it fell on deaf ears. Suddenly, Viy dashed after Mul.

“Noooo!” Cen cried, taking off after her brother.

“What are you doing?” Tuk shouted. “Come back!”

“Crystal damn those idiots! Come on, we’re going after them!” Kur said.

“We are?” Tuk asked, his eyes very wide.

We are? Nar thought as well. Why?

They were the ones running headfirst into the obvious trap. Why should the rest of them go down as well?

“Yes! We are!” Gad shouted. “Now come on!”

Gad, Tuk and Kur ran after the other three, who were slowly getting smaller and smaller in the distance.

Nar stayed where he was.

This again, he thought.

However, this time, it had nothing to do with tanking. This was just pure stupidity. A headfirst charge into an obvious trap. Why did he have to follow them into it?

“Nar?”

Startled, he turned to his right.

Jul was still there, staring at him with those big green and blue eyes of hers.

The arrows behind them slowly went out, the darkness encroaching on them as Kur ran down the corridor.

What did she see in him?

Fear? Or caution?

Cowardice? Or logic?

Shame? Or that he was right?

And did it matter?

“They’ll die without us,” she said, almost whispering it.

They probably would.

The Crystal must have quite the something prepared for them, if this was indeed the end of that damned corridor.

They would need their secondary tank and their scout, now more than ever, to push through that final obstacle.

“Nar, we will die without them,” she said.

She was right. He knew that. And there was no way he was going to abandon them.

Or was there?

Would he ever be able to live with that? Knowing what he had done? Living with what he had become?

His dad would never accept it.

He himself would never accept such a version of himself.

In the end, there wasn’t really a choice to be made.

A sigh escaped his lips. They were getting too far.

“Alright. Let’s go.”