Blurs moved around her.

Distant sounds echoed, muted.

She heard words.

She heard pain and fighting.

But it was all so far. Her Nexus was but a blur of dark and green that held no meaning.

Cen knelt on the floor, her staff forgotten in her hands.

Her mind replayed the same thoughts in an unbreakable spiral that pulled her deeper and deeper, and farther from the outside.

The secret she had carried had been weightless at first.

It had been easy to justify, and she had held tightly to it, binding it in strings of logic and good reasons.

Her intentions had been pure and her heart, in the right place.

To keep it hidden was a betrayal, yes. But only for now. Once on the surface, bathed in the light of the Crystal and the abundant aether that all could freely tap into, it would all be worth it.

Mul would understand.

He would be grateful of the hard decision she had made for the both of them. For their future. For the power she would accumulate, and the life she would ensure for them, with the endless bounty of the Labyrinth.

But she had underestimated just how much the Crystal reviled them. Just how much it wanted them to suffer.

She had expected hardship, not torture. Not this unfairness, impossibility of guardians, Pressure, darkness and poison! It was all too much. The Crystal demanded way too much out of her. Of them all.

Through it all, she knew she was being useless. She had not downed a single guardian. Those little, useless puffs of air did close to nothing. And the reason for that, was her secret.

The secret that had gotten heavier and heavier, especially after Mul had almost died. After she had almost let her own brother die, in sacrifice of her secret. No. Of her greed.

Day by day, the secret burdened her, growing heavier.

She could have made all their lives so much easier, and their Climb that much faster. And safer.

However, the more she held onto her secret, the more she had to double down. She dreaded the repercussions of coming clean, and the more she hid it, the worse they would be. And the more the guild ate at her.

How had things turned out like this?

Cen had been born exceptional.

Everyone around her told her so, and she had come to believe it.

That is not to say the words were without merit. She put in the hours, and the extra shifts. She pushed aura till near exhaustion, until her peers forced her to stop. To rest.

She would fight it, and they would insist on it. And, oh! The compliments they gave her, and the way they looked at her… With pride, with envy. She was an example. The example! And the harder she worked, the more they loved and envied her.

Even Mul’s shadow over the family served only to make her light shine brighter. While she consoled him with all her heart and truly hated the way their family treated her brother, some perverse part of her enjoyed being the good sister. The pride of the family, the one that got all of the attention.

She was on fast-track to become the youngest Main Operator in memory. And beyond that, her family had set their eyes on pushing her onto the management tracks. It was hard, but not impossible to rise above the masses of workers, and she was sure she could lift herself, her family and her descendants into the management ranks.

Her family’s hopes for her were as big as her ambition.

But then, she plateaued.

Aura became too painful. Too sharp in her veins.

It felt like pushing broken aetherium through her blood vessels, and it made her ill.

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The more she tried to break through, the worse she felt. And eventually, she had to be honest to herself. She had to face it. She had reached the end of the line.

This was her peak performance and she would go no further. Not without risking early death, or the Wasting.

She was used to being the best. To being admired and envied. To being the hope and pride of her entire family. But that was all about to end.

What would people say now? Would they mock her? Laugh at her? The once rising prodigy would turn out to be just a little bit better than the rest of them, but still, very much, one of them. Just another nameless worker, with nothing but empty aspirations of greatness.

It was all over.

And in that darkness, her brother, her beloved brother, the shame of the family, brought her the solution.

He wanted to Climb. He was sick and done with their family. With everyone. There was nothing but misery in the cubeplant for him, and he would not have it. He would rather risk death than submit to a lifetime of imposed disgrace.

And, surprising the both of them, when he asked her if she wanted to come with him, she had said yes.

Mul had been both terrified for her, and overjoyed by her coming. It would be dangerous, yes, but there was a whole Nexus outside of the cubeplant. They could start a whole new life outside. Free. Free of everything.

Excited, he had taken her to the chapel.

Cen hadn't visited the chapel in years. She had little time outside of her overworking. Mul however, had taken her hand, and pointed out the Named Few whose names he had found out.

They had the Crystal’s aether running through their veins instead of the dirty aura they fed the machines. And that meant they had magic! That they could encase their fists in fire and lightning. That they could make ice blades out of nothing, and cut with invisible swords of air.

They could be free, he had said. They could be like them. With magic, in a place of light and color. In a place without the suffering of aura, and without their lives being dictated by shifts or quotas.

To him, it was the means to escape from their overbearing family and its abuse.

For her, it was the chance at something new. To start the climb towards greatness anew.

Aether!

Magic!

Something she could actually apply her intelligence and hard work into. Nothing like the broken aura she was forced to take into her as a form of punishment.

Why was she worrying about powering a machine that recycled trash, when she could be up there, wielding power beyond her wildest dreams?

No. Her true calling was not trapped in that cubeplant.

It was up there, in the O-Nex, where aether flowed freely!

And with the Climb just around the corner, she could leave before anyone could realize that she was just another loser. Before they could laugh at her, and tell her she was just another one of them.

For she refused to hear it, and refused to believe it.

Receiving the staff had elated her. The Crystal had found her worthy, and granted her the path she wanted. The future would be bright, and it waited for her and her brother outside of the confines of the cubeplant.

Why care about her family anyways, or any of the others? They just wanted to use her! And they had always been horrible to Mul. She had hated what they did to him, and despite her numerous pleas, they had refused to stop. Instead, they had tried to turn her against him! Against her own twin brother! How could they?

She had failed to protect him, but now, with aether, and magic, she would take Mul into a better life. A life beyond their wildest dreams, where he could finally find some happiness.

Yes. Everything was perfect. Everything would be perfect.

It was only after she set foot outside the cubeplant that she realized how terribly wrong she had been.

She had expected the initial lack of aether and magic. But she had not expected what had been given to her instead.

The discovery had shattered everything, and she could not accept it. And she could not tell the others either, not even Mul.

And so, she kept quiet. But it became harder and harder to do so. In fact, she suspected, in some distant way, that the secret was costing her her sanity.

But what else was she to do?

Something collided with her and she fell forward.

Noise, screams and chaos flooded into her.

She was in the middle of a fight.

What… What happened?

She had been stuck in her past, and in her guilt, seeing the faces she had left behind. They mocked her. They jeered at her. They clamored for her death. For her to be punished for abandoning them.

It took a few seconds for her memories to slowly return, and they came in fragments. Until finally…

The Sentry! The fight! she remembered.

She had blanked at the horrendous sight of the boss.

Around her, the guardians closed in, and the tiny guardians still dropped on them. However, everyone was staring up, including her brother, frozen in place.

His name died on her throat as she too, looked up, and found death staring at her.

It was enrobed in bright green mist, and moved enormous limbs to crush her. Her, her brother, and all the others.

It was the end.

A tear ran down the side of her face.

What am I doing? Why am I still holding on?

She knew the answer, of course. There was a reason for her secret. She wasn’t just a selfish monster. Though now, she wasn’t so sure anymore.

Above her, the boss leaned down to them, to better spread its poison.

Whatever type it was, it spelled the end of their Climb.

A determined frown took her face and she gripped her staff.

Unbeknownst to the others, Cen stood up and raised her weapon.

They had all fought with and for her. She had been saved and protected innumerable times. They had trusted and placed their life in her hands, even going so far as to risk their own for hers. And her brother…

Her throat closed in pain and regret.

Mul had done everything to protect her. To ensure that she was alright. To keep her going, even when the Pressure and her secret made it unbearable.

No.

This was not the end for him.

This was not the end of the Climb for anyone.

She would not allow it.

This would be the end of the secret. It was not worth their lives.

Cen aimed her staff at the boss.

At its tip, a hazy gray light began to gather.