They were one of the last ones called.

That was fine by Nar. Now that he was actually about to leave everything that he had ever known, and he had his class, weapon and party ready, he found that he wasn’t in that much of a hurry to leave.

He had also started remembering every single scary story he had heard as a child and had himself told younger kids as a teenager.

Workers liked to make up the weirdest, most horrible things they could think of for what lay beyond their safe confines. It was probably one of their ways of telling themselves they were better off staying inside the cubeplant, and that the choice not to Climb had been the right one.

“You guys, come on,” the woman said, ushering them forward. “Hurry. We don't have the whole shift!”

There were now only two parties left as they made their way towards the Admin and the open exit beyond her.

“Behave,” Kur whispered.

“Why wouldn’t we?” Mul replied.

Something in his tone of voice led Nar to think that Kur had meant that warning specifically for the brawler, and Mul had obviously picked on it too.

The Admin looked up as they approached.

Her aging face glowed from above the metal cylinder that stood at her feet, her eyes glaring and accusing.

Light filtered out through a dozen holes on the cylinder’s surface, casting lines across the dark floor. Next to the bright container was another cylinder of the same size, except no light came from this one.

Nar stared at the gathering of crystalight inside the bright cylinder. It was almost blinding.

“Who speaks for this party?” the Admin asked.

“I do. I’m Kur,” he said, stepping forward.

“Kur. Do you wish to Climb?”

“Yes, Admin.”

“Do all of your party members wish to Climb as well?”

Kur looked back, searching each of their faces for a last-minute change of heart. However, nobody uttered a word.

“Yes, Admin. They do.”

“Then you are Climbers all, as worthless as that is,” she said with a sigh.

Nar tensed, but he kept his mouth shut.

“Hand over your crystalights. They’re for workers only.”

One by one, they pulled out their belts. Nar looked down at his crystalight. He would miss the little crystal tied to his belt by means of a retractable wire. It had been his one true light in a hole of pitch darkness…

Goodbye, he thought, swallowing hard, as he handed the entire belt to the Admin.

The woman snatched it from his hands, and pulled the crystalight out from its socket. Then she dumped it unceremoniously into the pile, and into the other cylinder, she dropped the belt.

Nar kept his face neutral at the aggressive display, and stepped back. Between the loss of his belt and no longer having the Unclean cloth tied around his arm, he almost didn’t know who he was anymore.

“Useless to the end.”

He looked back up. The administrator ripped Viy’s crystalight with hatred, and threw the two components apart.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he caught Cen grabbing onto Mul’s arm.

Viy stepped back, the brief glance he caught of her face showing the hurt and pain that the Admin had inflicted.

There was no need for that. No need for any of this…

He clenched his jaw.

Soon, they would be out. The Admin could rot in this hole for the rest of her life, as she had always, clutching to her useless power and authority. Despite her position, she was a sinner just like the rest of them.

The thought of that morphed some of his anger into pity, and Nar simply avoided staring at her.

After Gad handed over her crystal, not even waiting for the Admin to separate the components before she turned her back to her, the Admin waved them through.

“Go. The door is open. Go and be forgotten.”

With pleasure, Nar thought. And good riddance.

With grim expressions, the party stepped forward and around her.

Up ahead, a line of crystalights guarded the open door, and they headed through the dark in their direction.

As they approached, Nar considered the featureless opening revealed by the gathered lights.

It was simply a hexagonal hole, cut into the wall. Other than a little depression on the imposing cube wall, nothing else was remarkable about it. It had no lights. No symbols. No markings whatsoever.

Walking towards it, Nar ignored the glares from all the workers that guarded the door.

Neither the Admin, nor the priest, nor anybody else controlled that door. It opened when someone wanted to leave. It was the Crystal's Will, beyond any perceived power or authority within the cubeplant. And it seemed as though the door would stay open until all the Climber’s had left.

Considering all the stories going around, that was bound to make everyone nervous. There had to be at least fifty workers gathered around the door, and there were more inside. All of them where armed with bits and pieces of broken aetherium.

“Don’t stop,” Kur whispered, as they headed in. “And don’t say anything.”

Evenly spaced, weak rectangular lights cast as much shadow as they did light from where the ceiling met the walls on either side of the corridor. Nar stared around him, stunned. If he stretched, he could touch the ceiling and the hexagonal walls. And with the lines of workers guarding the corridor, they were forced to walk in a single file.

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“This is it?” Mul muttered. “It’s tiny!”

One of the workers snorted.

“No respect for anything, eh, Climber?”

A smattering of laughter echoed in the tunnel.

“I wonder if you’ll have the same attitude when you die out there, and have to explain yourself before your ancestors!”

The laughter turned to jeering.

A woman spat at his foot, and Nar stepped over it.

The others cowered, hunching down and hiding their faces.

Not Nar.

He walked tall.

Proud.

He was used to it, and now, there was nothing more these people could do to him. He felt nothing but pity and contempt for these pathetic Clean. Years and years of fearing and hating them, and now, look at them, stuck forever in their cubeplant.

Pathetic, Nar thought, keeping his eyes forward. Each and every one of you.

On the other end of the tunnel, they stopped before what looked like a dead-end. Before any of them could speak, another door closed behind them so fast that they didn’t have time to react.

The cursing and shouting workers were silenced, gone, left behind in their hole. Forever.

“That wasn’t so bad,” Tuk said, though Nar caught the slight tremor in his voice.

Mul sighed loudly and muttered something under his breath.

However, Nar had spotted something on the wall that made him forget everything else.

B0234-19371289.

Nar’s breath froze in his throat.

That was the identifier of the cubeplant! It had to be!

B0234-19371289.

He read it again, forcing it into memory.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and they were thrown to the side.

“What’s happening?” Mul shouted.

“I think we’re moving!” Gad said. “Hold on to each other!”

Nar held on to the quiet quam and to Tuk, fighting to keep all three of them upright, while at the same time straining to keep his eyes on the identifier.

B0234-19371289!

Force pressed them against the wall for a few seconds, then it was over.

Nar closed his eyes.

B0234-19… 37… 12… 8… 9?

He opened his eyes. He had gotten it right.

Jul quickly but gently untangled herself from him.

“Oh, sorry…” Nar said.

“It’s okay,” she whispered, not looking at him.

“Thanks, man!” Tuk said, from his side.

“No worries,” Nar said.

He quickly focused on the identifier again. He had to remember it. It was probably his best and only chance of finding his dad ever again.

The others stood around, looking uncertain at the gray walls.

“At least we have light,” Tuk said. “That would’ve been terrifying in the dark.”

“That was terrifying!” Cen said.

A transparent square of light appeared in front of Nar, making him jump and blocking the identifier on the wall.

“What in the pile…” he heard Mul say.

The square of light followed Nar’s movements, always staying focused at the center of his vision.

“Everyone see this?” Kur asked.

“Yes,” Gad said.

“Me too,” Cen added.

“Okay. Read through it then.”

Nar frowned and focused on the words in front of him.

Welcome Climber, to your Climb.

The Nexus beyond your cubeplant is infinite.

Pay attention to everything that you are told.

The System will communicate to you in this manner, by means of windows.

The window blinked off, and was replaced by another.

Your Climb will be dangerous.

Chances are, you will not survive it.

This is not done in cruelty.

Your sin is grave and must be atoned for in a measure equal to its weight.

So suffer, Climber, and earn your forgiveness.

The second window also disappeared.

A sigh made him look to his left.

A new door gently slid open, and a warm yellow glow shone in from outside.

As one, in silence, the party gathered by the door. Their faces, awed and stunned, shone above the bright yellow arrows on the floor, macabre shadows cast over their features.

It’s color… Holy Crystal. It’s color. Real color and light!

Nar followed with his eyes along the direction that the arrows pointed in with a look of pure amazement.

They pointed to the right, and disappeared in the distant darkness, following along a corridor that was wide enough for four humans to walk side by side. The ceiling was just about 10-feet high.

“Well, that looks straightforward enough,” Kur said.

“We have light!” Tuk whispered, excited. “Thank the Crystal! We’ve got light!”

“Yes, thank the Crystal,” Mul muttered. “Not like we could have Climbed in the dark.”

“Please, Mul,” Cen whispered, next to him. “We talked about this!”

Nar nodded inwardly. It was best to keep the blasphemy in check from now on. Even if he agreed with the brawler.

“Wait!” Kur said.

Mul, who had been about to step outside, froze and looked up at him.

“From now on, our lives will always be in danger, unless we reach a safe room,” Kur said. “We will walk in formation, with Gad at the front, then Mul and Viy, then me, Cen, Jul and Tuk at the center. At the end, covering our backs, will be you, Nar.”

Nar nodded slowly. He didn’t like the idea of being away from the front, where the fighting was likely to be, but he saw the logic in Kur’s plan. If anything came at them from behind, it would be up to him to stop it from ravaging the exposed back of the party.

He almost hoped something would come. After all, you are what you do was the ironclad tenet of the System, and he needed the right gains to build his path the way he envisioned it. Cowering at the back, letting the others handle all the fighting, would only lead him to failure.

“When we sleep, there will always be someone on watch,” Kur continued. “From now on, and until we get out, we can all die at any moment.”

The sound of their shocked but accepting silence was all that answered him.

“Also, there’s the Pressure,” Kur said. “We might get hit with it as soon as we step out.”

“Crystal have mercy,” Cen whispered.

Nar took a deep, slow breath.

Indeed, there was the Pressure. Another warning against those who sought to leave the safety of the cubeplant behind. Nar had no idea what the Pressure was, only that it would test him. And if he failed to withstand it, it would drive him mad.

No point being scared now, Nar thought, glancing at the darkness on either side of the yellow lit section of corridor. We’re here now, and we’re going all the way to the end.

“Alright, Gad. Ready when you are,” Kur said.

Gad nodded and raised her shield.

Then, she stepped forward.

They waited a few moments to see if anything would happen, but nothing jumped out at them, and neither did their tank fall to her knees screaming in agony.

“Quick, after her,” Kur whispered.

One by one, they stepped out onto the yellow lit corridor, the light of the path bathing their figures. Nar looked back one last time, at the identifier on the wall, as the door closed.

B0234-19371289… Nar read, one last time.

As the door closed, it pushed out from the wall, and then it was gone. Not even traces of it were left on the featureless, blank, yellow lit wall.

They were finally out.

For a long moment, they waited in silence, nervously checking their surroundings. Waiting for something to happen to them.

Nar stared at the heavy darkness behind him. There were none of the bright, comforting arrows lighting their backs.

He winced. He didn’t relish the idea of being at the back for his entire Climb with that darkness chasing after him. Crystal knew what could be hiding in it.

“Now what?” Mul asked.

Kur looked around him one more time. “I guess we just…”

A roar suddenly reached them, coming at them from the darkness ahead.

“What’s happening now?” Tuk asked.

“I don’t know!” Kur shouted. “Be ready for anything!”

The rushing sound grew into a crescendo and then Nar felt a weight crush upon his shoulders.

“What is this?” Cen cried.

No one replied to her.

Nar stumbled backwards, against the wall.

It’s just like when I met the Crystal! he thought.

Heat built around him in a flash, and the weight compounded it into him. His nostrils burned, even as wet droplets dripped from them.

A vicious hand clawed into his brain, and another pushed down his throat, crushing his lungs, squeezing his heart, pulverizing his stomach.

He puked against the wall and his legs failed from under him.

He fell into brightness.

Color and light unlike any he had ever witnessed exploded into him in a howling vortex of crushing and burning.

His very self was peeled away under the unrelenting assault. Thought disappeared and will was erased before that all devouring pain.

In the maelstrom, Something touched him.

And he was gone.