Despite the late night, Nar woke up ahead of Kur and Tuk’s wake up call. For their last night, Kur had reinstated the watch to make sure they didn’t sleep through the deadline.

Now, Nar sat alone, drumming his fingers against the grip of his sword, waiting for the door to open. Around the room, the others were in different stages of preparedness and nervousness. It was time to finally see what the real Climb had in stock for them.

As the timer hit the 15-minute mark, they were all surprised by a low rumble. The exit was opening.

“Isn’t that too early?” Tuk asked.

Kur, frowning at the opening entrance, shook his head. “There was no mention of when it would open this time around. I assumed it would be 5 minutes like last time, but I guess it doesn’t have to.”

The exit fully revealed itself, and the party gathered around it. Beyond the threshold of the opening, there was only a deep, impenetrable darkness.

“Where’s the path?” Tuk asked.

“Maybe we need to step out first?” Cen ventured.

Gad hoisted her shield and stood in front of the entrance, blocking it.

“I’m not sure I like this,” she said. “Why wouldn’t the path…”

Beyond them, the now familiar yellow arrows sprung into being.

One by one, leading away from the door, the arrows stretched until they disappeared into darkness. Around the path, there was nothing at all except for a few feet of unremarkable floor.

“That’s… Where’s the corridor?” Tuk asked, looking over Gad’s shoulder. “There’s nothing there!”

“Stay back!” Gad told him. “Kur?”

“Yes! Into formation everyone!”

They quickly rearranged themselves behind Gad.

“What do you think?” Kur asked Jul, as they assembled. “Can you hear or see anything? Or sense anything wrong?”

Jul closed her eyes and concentrated, her antennae angled towards the exit.

At the back of the party, Nar flexed his grip on the sword. His heartbeat drummed against his ears, and a new layer of sweat was spreading over him, as the warmer air from the outside slowly raised the temperature in the room.

That darkness made him uneasy, and evoked thoughts of giant, silent machines staring down at him from invisible heights.

The door had only just opened, and already things looked complicated and dangerous. There could be anything in that unknown space. Anything at all.

He caught Tuk taking a deep breath out of the corner of his eyes. The trugger spun his rings in little circles on his right hand, while the other he kept in a fist, rings poking out in between fingers and ready to be spun. On the other side, past Kur and Jul, Cen gripped her staff so tightly that the whites of her knuckles were visible.

The melee DPS stood at the ready behind Gad, mimicking her half-bent knee stance, similarly ready for anything.

“I’m sorry,” Jul finally said. “There’s nothing.”

“Nothing to be sorry about,” Kur said, with an easy smile. “It’s probably a good thing there’s nothing there.”

“Should we go?” Gad asked. “The timer is going to run out.”

“We still have 12 minutes, but yes, I think we should just go. Is everyone ready? Good. Then Gad, whenever you want, take us forward.”

Gad nodded and lifted her shield. Then, she stepped into the unknown.

Jul’s gasp was all the warning the others had.

As for Nar, his brand new [Instinct] screamed at him, and he jumped to the left.

A darkness collided into Gad, sending her flying into the room, exactly where Nar had stood.

Jul had managed to get out of the way, but Kur had no chance to dodge.

Gad flew into him, driving him back into the safe room. The two of them crashed and rolled across the floor, Kur under Gad, and above her, a spreading, lashing darkness.

The guardian unfurled like a living nightmare, and attacked the two Climbers underneath it.

“What the fuck?” Mul whispered

Gad grit her teeth, holding her shield up against the flurry of blows and blades. Under her, Kur didn’t move.

The party started in a frozen shook.

No… Not him. Please, no! Nar thought, staring at the prone figure.

“There’s one more!” Jul shouted.

Nar pried his eyes from the downed party leader and stared at the gaping darkness.

If another Guardian made it inside the room, with their tank already taken out of commission, it would be the end of them. At the same time, Nar knew he would never be able to tank a hit like that. It would kill him.

“It’s coming!” Jul said, dropping into a ball and covering her eyes and antennae.

The others all looked lost. Without Kur, nobody knew what to do.

“MOVE!” Gad bellowed.

Her booming voice echoed across the safe room, shattering the party’s indecision. The DPS turned towards the guardian already inside the room, while Nar’s feet took him forward.

“I’ll tank the other one!” he said.

“And we’ll deal with that one first!” Mul shouted in reply.

A loud voice within him screamed for him to stop, to realize the folly of what he was doing, but Nar didn’t stop. He had failed once already. He wouldn’t let his fears stop him again.

The exit and the darkness seemed to elongate before him, and there was a momentary tinnitus in his ears. For a split-second, a wave of noise rattled in his ears, then, all sounds faded to a much lower level.

What in the pile…

From beyond, he heard the sound of sharp metal on hard floor, growing louder in quick cadence.

Tik! Tik! Tik! Tik! Tik!

What the fuck is wrong now? he thought, stumbling towards the exit.

His sight snapped back to normal, and he suddenly caught the glint of yellow on fast moving blades.

Wait! That’s… I can see it! I can hear it!

That strangeness had to be his new heightened senses coming to life for the first time. It was incredible! He could hear the guardian rushing at him from the darkness, its blades sounding clearly against the floor. The background of chaos within the room had lowered to a much lower profile, but he could still perfectly hear everything that was going on.

Crystal. These attributes… It’s insane!

However, he didn’t have long to marvel at his new, enhanced senses. The guardian ran towards the opening, seemingly intent on mowing past him.

With seconds before the impact, Nar thrust his sword forward, holding it with both hands. He lowered his center of gravity, and tensed his body, ready to receive the collision.

If you want to get through me, then get through this first! Nar thought, clenching his jaw.

Sword and Guardian met, and Nar bared his teeth as he fought to hold his ground, the sword gradually being pushed back against his chest. The Guardian, encountering resistance, slammed down all of its legs and pushed, something within it making a high pitched whine.

Though it felt like his arms were going to snap right off him, Nar managed to hold the thing in place.

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Realizing that it couldn’t get past him, the Guardian pulled back and spun in a tangle of limbs and blades, and speared towards Nar’s legs.

Caught off guard and balance, he could barely react to his [Instinct]’s warning.

He half jumped half stumbled backwards, pushing his sword haphazardly to block the worst of the hits.

The guardian blurred, and Nar’s eyes went wide when he suddenly found himself surrounded by blades. With a split second to react to the warnings, he jerked back his head before the blades turned inwards in a deadly embrace.

A burning line cut across his check, and the blades lunged forward again. Surrounded once more, he raised his left arm to shield his head, and back tracked madly, sword countering blades with everything he had.

There was no technique, no expertise. He used his sword like a club, and did what he could to stay alive in the flurry of glistening blades, blows and warnings.

Any concept of time and space evaporated. There was only the next blade, the next dodge, and parry, and the next warning.

His arms ached. His body stung from a dozen cuts. His lungs screamed for respite, but the guardian was unrelenting.

Twice he misplaced his footing, twice he nearly got skewered to death. But he managed to hold on. He twisted out of the way, or blocked just in time, or sacrificed something less vital instead.

He fell, he got up, and he endured. However, under that relentless assault, not even once was he able to attack back.

In what felt like hours later, a voice brought him back to reality.

“Nar!” Viy shouted. “You’ve gone too far! I can’t see you!”

Risking a quick glimpse in the direction of her voice, he found her in the doorway, framed by the light of the safe room. Behind her, he caught glimpses of the first guardian still raging about.

“You have to come back!”

“I can’t!” Nar shouted. “It’s too fast!”

Just that quick chat was enough to distract him, and he grunted as a line of pain cut vertically up his left arm.

“Nar!” Viy shouted, horrified. “Hold on! I’m coming to you!”

“Wait! Don’t!”

But two seconds later he heard her voice right next to him. “I can barely see it!”

“It’s right in front of me!”

He hadn’t even finished speaking and already her spear lunged forward, a few inches from his side. The guardian parried it with ease, but its momentary distraction gave Nar the breathing room he needed.

“Let’s head back!” he told her. “Slowly!”

Together, he covering them, and Viy distracting the guardian, the two of them slowly retread back towards the light.

The sounds of the fighting behind them grew louder and louder, until finally, Nar was within the light’s comforting presence once more, the guardian revealed by the light of the room and of the arrows under them.

“Viy, you got him!”

It was Kur. Thank the Crystal he was safe!

“Nar, can you hold it off while Viy helps finish this one?” Kur asked.

Nar risked a quick glance behind him.

Kur was propped against the wall, with a line of blood running down the side of his face. Meanwhile, the others threw everything they had at the first guardian, which Gad kept focused on her, and trapped against a corner of the room. The guardian itself looked to be on its last efforts.

Nar turned back to his own tanking. His left arm radiated pain, and the sword felt unbelievably heavy on his other arm. However, he was still well enough to move. He could do it. He knew he could.

“Do it!” he said.

“Okay! Viy, go!”

“On it!”

The guardian tried to chase Viy deeper into the room, maybe due to her higher DPS she held its aggro, but Nar denied him entry. His sword flashed in all directions and impossible angles, and he foiled every attempt by the guardian to step into that room.

The two of them fell back into their deadly dance, the guardian pushing, and Nar defending.

However, Nar was starting to get a little bit more used to his [Instinct]. He was getting faster, though not a lot, by any means. The change was almost imperceptible, but coupled with being back under the light of the safe room, and knowing that he was no longer alone, it was enough to keep him going.

An eternity later, there was a loud crash from behind him.

“Yes!” Kur said. “To Nar!”

“Nar, let me tank it!” Gad shouted.

Suddenly she was right next to him, and blades sought out her shield instead of his body. She took his spot, pushing him out of the fight. He had no qualms with it, and let himself be pushed out of the way.

“Good! Now fall back, Nar,” Kur said.

Nar took a few uneven steps back, and collapsed against the wall next to the exit.

I did it, he thought, struggling for air.

He had not been able to attack even once, but he had done it. He had kept the guardian away from the others.

Wait… I forgot my skills, he realized.

He almost laughed out loud. It was ridiculous how easily the guardian had overpowered him. He had also forgotten to look at his HP and stamina.

Next time, he told himself. Next time I’ll do better. One step at a time.

He lifted his hand, still holding the sword, to his left bicep. Blood flowed freely from a large gash, staining his new gear. His sleeves were completely shredded to bits. In the end, the [Climber’s Shirt], even with its damage absorption, was not armor.

Maybe I’ll just roll my sleeves. Or will that affect the damage absorption? Nar considered, his mind going numb as adrenaline faded.

“Nar, do you need healing?”

Kur kneeled next to him, dropping heavily on his right knee.

Nar shook his head. His arm stung, but it was probably already healing. He had lost 42 HP, but that still left plenty to fix him back up.

“You did great!” Kur said, shouting in his ears to be heard above the racket made by the others. “We couldn’t have done it without you!”

Nar nodded. “How are you?”

Kur wiped away the blood staining the side of his face.

“It’s not bleeding anymore, but I can’t stand yet. Can you help me? We need to get out. The timer is still counting down!”

“Oh, shit!”

Nar pushed himself upright and stored the sword in his inventory. Already, he was seeing how valuable the ring was.

He passed his right arm under Kur’s left, raised arm, and hoisted the party leader to his feet.

“Gad, we need to get out! The timer’s gonna run out!”

Gad roared at the guardian and pushed with her shield. The thing barely budged, but it was enough for her to scrape through the narrow opening, and the guardian, still taunted, followed after her.

“Out! Out!” Kur shouted.

The party rushed outside, and the entrance closed immediately behind them, plunging them into relative darkness.

“Don’t stop! Finish that thing!” Kur shouted.

“Crystal. How long did we had left?” Nar asked, looking back to the now seamless wall.

“Less than ten seconds,” Kur whispered.

He looked pale and sickly in the low glow of the yellow arrows, and his eyes were inlaid with deep shadows.

“Crystal… We almost didn’t make it,” Nar said.

“Yeah…”

In front of them, Jul stood with a focused, tense expression, a pair of hands firmly clapped around her temples. A hint of a smile touched Nar’s lips, seeing her not curled up into a ball anymore.

Beyond her, the others fought the guardian, and his eyes fell upon Viy, savagely, madly, yet somewhat mesmerizingly, wielding her spear in long thrust and twirls that caught the light of the arrows.

“Did you send Viy for me?” he asked, looking down at Kur.

“I did. Jul said you were getting farther and farther away from the room. We had to bring you back.”

“But she’s not a tank! There could’ve been another one!”

Kur looked up at him. His stare held Nar’s, unflinching.

“We cover for each other, Nar. She had to come get you, just like you had to risk your life to stop that guardian. Did you stop to think about it? If it came down at you like the other one, could you have tanked it like Gad did?”

Nar looked away.

“You did what you had to do, and so did she. And so do we all.”

Nar pursed his lips, and Kur focused back on the fight. Out here, and with just one of them, the fight turned into just another straightforward encounter.

Gad skillfully blocked the guardian, while Mul and Viy went in from behind her to attack any gaps. Behind them, Cen and Tuk rained down damage non-stop from their safe distance. And finally, at their backs, Kur stood to give orders and Jul to be their eyes and ears, keeping them safe from further ambush.

They all played their role. They all did what they had to do.

And Nar was in turmoil.

That he was the tank, even the secondary one, and had to put his life on the line for the others, he had already accepted. Or at least, he had thought so. However, had it been Viy out there in the dark, and not him, would he have risked everything to go and get her?

More than that, he had been a fool. He had allowed himself to get distracted, and had gotten too far from the safe room and the party.

Kur had ordered Viy to come get him, but what if she hadn’t wanted to? She could barely see in that darkness! What if she had refused to risk her life for his? And how much longer would he have lasted out there on his own?

He thought of the consequences from that time he had hesitated. He thought of the bridge. This time he had marched forward, without hesitation. He had jumped right into the face of danger, not knowing what was coming at him. Had that been a mistake? But had he not, the guardian would’ve burst into that room, and they would all be probably dead by now.

What was I supposed to do? he wondered.

He did not want to be a coward, hiding behind his party, taking only the easy, under control fights. He wanted to grow stronger and better. He wanted to pull his own weight, to be useful. But just how much was he prepared to risk against his dad’s life? Their future? All for these Clean, who had most likely been amongst those spitting at and clamoring for his death and that of other Unclean.

And Clean or not, could he even trust them? He had seen what happened when people panicked. It had been imprinted onto his mind…

When push came to shove, would these Climbers have his back? Or would they throw him away as bait, and run for their own lives?

He didn’t know. He didn’t know at all.

Ahead, the fight was nearly finished. The guardian smoked and sparked from a dozen different smashed cracks and gashes, and with a cry, Viy thrust her spear forward, fast and hard.

The weapon penetrated through, and hit whatever vital mechanism still kept the guardian in that fight. It came crashing down with a loud echoing cacophony that reverberated through the sudden silence around them, making Nar wince and glance around him at the impenetrable dark.

You have defeated one Guardian Soldier 1. 276 experience points have been awarded.

You have defeated one Guardian Soldier 1. 551 experience points have been awarded.

The party stood, panting, looking between their downed enemy and the silence around them.

“Jul?” Kur asked.

The scout shook her head.

“Good. But keep an eye out. Everyone, come back towards us. Let’s rest by the wall where we can see.”

The others dragged themselves back to the now closed wall, and collapsed in a semi-formation.

“What the fuck was that?” Mul said, holding his right shoulder. “Was It expecting us to survive that?”

“I don’t think it was aimed at me,” Gad said. “I think it wanted to take you out, Kur.”

“To end our path,” Kur said, staring at the stains on his hand.

“Is that fair?” Tuk asked, in a hushed tone. He looked around with a fearful look, as if dreading a swift and immediate reprisal.

Nar kept from the conversation, his mind still a turmoil of uncertainty, worry and guilt. Yes. He felt guilt too. In his mind, he was weighing how much their lives were worth risking for.

“We’ll be fine,” Kur said. “As long as everyone does their part, and we cover each other. And speaking of, thank you, Nar, for taking that second guardian, and thank you, Viy, for going out there to bring him back. As long as we protect each other like this, everything will be okay. No matter what comes at us.”

Nar nodded silently alongside the others.

Kur’s words belayed the truth. They even echoed his dad’s own words. However, something had snapped free inside him, and Nar wasn’t sure how to handle it.

It was not the fear of death, or not feeling like the party was worthy of his protection. It was just the thought of his dad, alone in the dark, slowly decaying and waiting for a son who would never return…

Nar closed his eyes. The image of his dad, frail and coughing blood, alone in that broken house... It was too much.

He couldn’t.

He just couldn’t fail.