“Why is it doing that?” Mul asked.

“I don’t know, just wait,” Kur said.

They were piled on top of each other, in the tight space of a stairwell. All of them were trying to get a look at the slowly spinning gray arrow at their feat.

“Are you okay?” Nar asked Rel.

“Not… Really,” she mumbled.

“Breath, just breath. It will stop soon.”

The arrow, ignoring him, continued spinning lazily.

“It’s taken us up and down, and around and around in this damned place!” Mul muttered under his breath. “It’s been three days already!”

“Mul, not helping,” Nar said.

His stare slid off from Mul and landed on Cen. Usually, she would be the one chastising her brother. Instead, she stared at the arrow, quietly, and with a blank expression. Unaware of what was happening around her.

She hadn’t spoken in days, except with her brother. At this point, he was starting to be very worried for her. The discovery of aether had hit her much harder than he had thought.

Someone needs to talk to her.

He was surprised no one had, actually, now that he thought about it. Though maybe someone had. He couldn’t imagine neither Gad, nor Kur, not noticing anything, or Mul or Tuk for that matter. Surely. It was just that Rel was taking all of his attention. He barely noticed what went on around him other than Jul’s not so discreet huffs and puffs whenever Rel started getting difficult.

Like now.

He caught Jul staring daggers at Rel, judgment plainly written all over her face.

Nar waited for the rogue to notice that he was looking, then the two of them entered a silent argument with their eyes and expressions. Nar won, he believed, by managing to make the ugliest face and getting Jul to look away first.

“It’s taking a while,” Tuk said, trying for a light tone. He only half managed it.

The arrow spun and spun. It didn’t help that, just a few steps below them, they had found another half-melted Climber, his journey coming to a sudden, gruesome end. An end that hung over their heads as well, and of which they yet knew nothing about.

And it wasn’t just two dead Climbers they had found in their three days in that mysterious circular chasm. On their second day, as they searched for a suitable corner to sleep in, they had stumbled upon a scene of utter chaos.

All the furniture had been smashed and pushed in every direction inside one of the living spaces. And lying amongst the broken pieces and charred corpses, they had found enough dead Climbers to make up a whole party of ten.

Whatever had attacked them, had probably ambushed them in their sleep, and been strong enough to wipe out the entire party.

After that, Kur had decided that they would be taking two watches instead of three, with half the party asleep, and the other half watching over them. He didn’t want to take any risks now, even if the lesser amount of sleep left the party irritated and tired.

However, no one protested the decision. The end was so close now, they could almost taste the free air from the outside. What was a little bit of less sleep, when compared with the possibility of ending their Climb, once and for all?

“Ah!” Kur said, surprising Nar out of his reverie. “It’s pointing up.”

“Should we wait to see if it changes its mind?” Gad asked.

“No!” Mul said. “Of course not! Why would we do that? There’s barely even any path left! Do you want to wait until it's all gone?”

Nar glanced up the dark staircase.

That was another thing. The arrows on the gray path were becoming sparser and sparser. They now went several feet apart, forcing them to walk into oppressive spots of utter darkness.

It was fine for Nar and Jul, and even Tuk and Rel to some degree. But for the other five, it was utter blindness, and they had to rely on the eyes of the others.

Nar couldn’t imagine Climbing without his [Sight]. It was crazy to think that half a year earlier, he had had no sense attributes at all. How had he lived like that, blind and deaf, without the System’s enhancements?

“That’s a possibility,” Kur was saying. “The path might be malfunctioning in here as well, and given the size of this place… Well, we should hurry, I think.”

He delivered the last words while staring at Nar and gave him a solid nod. Nar turned around and continued climbing, scanning every inch of the stairwell in front of him, sword held at the ready.

They all carried their weapons now. At all times. Even for sleep.

The wiped-out party had left a deep impression on them, and nobody wanted to die so close to their goal.

Around them, the scenery remained much the same. A giant chasm, an innumerable number of living spaces, burned bodies, melted Climbers, and more stairs than they could count.

The third day passed much the same as the others, and so did the fourth and the fifth day.

“Why can’t you just find the way?” Rel asked. “You did it before, in that place with the columns!”

Jul kept a neutral expression. “Back then, I heard the air coming down the ladder.”

“There’s wind here too!”

“Yes, and it’s coming from everywhere!” Jul said.

The facade was starting to crack.

“Yeah, right. Excuses, excuses and…”

“Enough,” Nar said. “Remember where we are.”

Jul turned around and walked back to the middle of the formation.

“She could just…”

“Rel, shut up,” Nar said.

The alfin groaned but she stopped talking.

Nar sighed internally. Her outbursts were becoming more and more commonplace, and it was becoming a true test of their patience. Especially Jul’s.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

And Mul too. Crystal. I’m surprised he hasn’t snapped yet.

Though maybe that was to be expected.

Cen wasn’t doing so well. She didn’t speak much, and she barely ate. And, perhaps most telling of all, she had stopped her nightly aura practice. In fact, she seemed to have completely dropped the subject altogether.

While Rel and his senses occupied all of his attention, he couldn’t help but feel a sinking, crushing sensation in his stomach, every time Mul looked back to check on his sister. He looked lost. Probably was. It reminded him of that time, back in the tutorial. The scene was almost the same.

Always magic. Always aura. That damned aether better be worth all of this.

“We’re too slow,” Rel said, suddenly, like she had just gained a valuable piece of insight.

Crystal. Here we go again, Nar thought, sighing externally this time.

“We’re making good time,” he said.

The archer shook her head. “We’re stopping too early. And getting up too late. I should speak with Kur.”

Nar grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her back. To be fair to her though, she didn’t put up any resistance.

“We need to sleep, and we haven’t been doing much of that anyways,” Nar said. “We don’t want to end up like all those Climbers. Or do you?”

She twisted her arm free and wrapped her fingers around his arm.

“We’re quiet. We can see in the dark. We could go.”

“Us two?” Nar asked, trying not to laugh in her face.

“Yes!”

“There’s no path. We need Kur.”

“We don’t know that,” Rel said, pressing against him. “It could be different. We could check up ahead. Say we’re going to scout.”

Her voice was low. Sultry.

Nar had to hold on to every shred of willpower he had not to burst out laughing.

Still, it annoyed him how fast his heart was beating.

“You know everyone can hear you,” he said.

“I don’t care,” she said. Her breath was quick. Urgent. “You know, I look like this now, but before… I was really beautiful. All the guys were into me.”

Oh, Crystal… Nar thought.

She swallowed. “Just us two, in the dark… You know? Things could happen, and afterwards, once I look better again… You know?”

She reached up, towards his face.

Nar froze. He hadn’t actually expected her to make a move on him.

Her lips parted, coming closer.

Nar’s eyes widened in panic.

He headbutted her.

“Ow!” she shouted, holding on to her nose.

“S-Sorry! I panicked!”

Mul burst into laughter. It ringed out loudly across the vast darkness, and he quickly covered his mouth and looked away. Still, it was impossible to miss the shaking rocking his body.

“My nose,” Rel said pitifully. “Couldn’t you’ve just pushed me away?”

“Sorry. I just wanted to…”

“Avoid my kiss? Oh Crystal…” she said, realization spreading through her face. “Oh, no.”

“Oh, yes,” Tuk said grinning, wiggling his eyebrows. “That was something. Phew!”

Rel looked beet red, a rarity for her those days. “Can everyone please forget what happened?”

“You mean what almost happened?” Gad asked.

“Oh, Crystal, why?” Rel said, covering her face.

“One day, we’ll look back at this, and laugh,” Tuk said. “Well, we will. You’ll be embarrassed for the rest of your life.”

“Ugh!” Rel muttered.

“Come on, leave her alone,” Kur said. He was smiling too. “Let’s just keep going.”

“I’m sorry,” Rel said, as they resumed walking.

“It’s fine,” Nar said. “And I'm sorry too, for the... You know. Nose.”

His face was hot and his heartbeat was still hammered away. He hadn’t been tempted at all, but Crystal, that had taken him by surprise.

Jul was right, as always. Ugh… She’s going to be impossible after this.

He purposefully avoided looking ahead, knowing full well that Jul would be staring back at him.

I’ll tell her she was right… That might shut her up. To be fair though, I didn’t expect her to actually do it.

They had laughed it off, but this was no laughing matter.

Rel was losing control. More and more.

She kept telling him that it was too soon. That she was young and strong. But he couldn’t quite shake the thought that perhaps being in that place was speeding things up. And possibly quite a lot. Not to mention all the stuff she had been through already.

However, as with aether and magic, he couldn’t do anything. They were already going as fast as they could.

He sneaked a look at her. Rel nursed her nose, making faces as she moved it.

Just have to hope we make it in time, Nar thought.

If they missed their deadline… He didn’t even want to think about what that would do to Rel.

After that, the hours drifted by.

Rel, thoroughly embarrassed, kept her mouth shut. Nar caught her shaking her head multiple times, but she never spoke her mind again.

After another lengthy stairwell, Nar paused before the next gray arrow.

In front of him, where the stairwell continuing up should have been, was an empty wall instead. The arrow at his feet pointed to the left, into a long, wide corridor.

There was no chasm in sight.

“By the Crystal,” Mul whispered, standing next to him. “Are we out?”

“I don’t know… Kur! Kur, come up,” Nar called into the dark stairwell.

His party leader’s muffled steps rushed upwards to them, and soon, Kur stood right next to them.

“Look,” Nar said, whispering.

“Crystal. Is this the end?” he asked, taking in the sight.

Before them, there lay a wide corridor, which disappeared in the shadows beyond. It was filled with debris. Of chairs, tables and many other things besides that Nar had no idea what they had been or what purpose they had served.

Right at their feet, the gray, rough floor turned into some sort of smooth, white and black diamond covered floor.

The arrow pointed into the room, and in the distance, slightly to the left of the long corridor, they could see the glow of another arrow.

“What do we do?” Mul asked.

Kur looked down, staring in disbelief at the lengos. “What do you mean? Where did all that rush from earlier go?”

Mul shrugged.

“Of course we go in,” Kur said. He turned back towards the others. “Gad, come on up. We’ve reached the end. Or I hope we did. We’re going back into formation.”

Gad climbed up heavily, and Nar gave her and her massive shield enough room to go through first.

She stepped out of the staircase slowly, both watching where her feet landed, and scanning her surroundings.

The rest of them filtered past Nar, one by one, until he and Rel were together again, at the back of the party.

The path led them down one of the sides of the corridor.

While the debris were strewn all over, they were thickest in the middle. Also, Nar noticed that thankfully, there were much fewer corpses there.

They walked past tables and chairs that seemed to be propped on wheels, something he had never seen before. There were also some strange, thin and short walls still standing, here and there, surrounding pairs of chair and table.

Their feet crunched over a myriad things, and here and there, large containers of some sort were overturned, spilling some kind of dark, thick dust onto the floor.

The ceiling above their heads was tall and spacious, and it had a semi-circular section running through the middle of it.

Nar saw that the others had stopped up ahead, and quickly joined them with Rel.

There was an opening on the wall, and beyond it, was a room unlike any he had ever seen.

There was furniture everywhere. There was a bed, a big table and chair, and there were things on every wall. They were some sort of construct, with rows and rows of horizontal flat surfaces, and they were all empty.

“I don’t think we’ll ever know what this place is,” Gad whispered. “Or was.”

“No, I don’t think we will,” Kur said, nodding in agreement.

He tapped her on the shoulder and she continued onwards, towards the next gray arrow.

Nar lingered a bit longer, waiting for the formation to take shape. It was a bit warmer up there, and he found it more comfortable. He was finding that he didn’t particularly enjoy the feeling of being cold.

He looked around him, running his eyes over the rubble and the few bodies.

“This Climb has been one surprise after the other,” Rel whispered. “And I’ve understood almost nothing of it.”

Nar nodded in silent agreement.

Very little had made sense since he’d left home.

However, he felt as though there was something different to that place. Like it didn’t belong, somehow. It wasn’t supposed to be there and it wasn’t supposed to have broken their path.

I’m becoming like Kur and Jul, he thought, shaking his head. Weird feelings and weird somethings.

They continued on.

A few steps later, they stopped again, in front of another room.

A light flickered on and off within it, accompanied with a strange, buzzing and strangled sound.

Kur questioned Nar with his eyes and Nar nodded.

With his sword held upright in front of him, and senses stretched to their max, he stepped into the room.

It was exactly the same as the other one, except for a big rectangle that occupied a good portion of the wall. It was this rectangle that was the source of the light and sound.

An image flickered, on and off, with heavy lines of gray and dots of different colors making it impossible to know what it actually was. But the shape was vaguely sentient looking. Nar was pretty sure it was a person.

And the sound. Was it trying to speak?

He waved at Kur, and he and Tuk came into the room, while the others kept watch outside.

“Is that a person?” Tuk asked.

“It looks like one,” Nar said. “I don’t know what they’re saying though.”

Tuk stepped in closer, and gave the square a tap.

Nothing changed.

“What?” Tuk said, facing their combined stares. “Worth a try.”

“There’s no point in trying to figure out what this place is, or what happened here,” Kur said. “Hopefully we’re near the exit. Come on.”

Suddenly, there was a loud crash outside.