Of the things that Nar had expected the Climb to involve, fighting for the survival of, and then actually going inside another cubeplant, had not been on the list. Now that he thought about it, what had he expected?

He snorted.

It wasn’t this for sure.

Walking in that familiar, warm and stuffy darkness, guided by the even more familiar white glow of a crystalight, he couldn’t quite believe that he wasn’t dreaming. Or was stuck in a nightmare.

Tuk still helped him walk, and Gad was to his left, also still carrying Viy. The others walked behind them. None of them carried their weapons. The System had declared the cubeplant a no-combat zone, and they all trusted in It with their safety.

Still, after the day’s events, it was nerve wracking walking in such a crowd of Climbers.

“We are reaching the facilities,” one of their guides said. Probably management, given his tone. “Behave yourselves. We are under no restrictions from the System, and we’ll not tolerate any harm done to our people.”

He didn’t wait for replies, but paused long enough until he felt that his message had sunk in.

The workers hadn’t been happy with the System’s decision to allow them in. They had been quick to accuse the Climbers of lying, but there had been nothing they could do when the Admin himself received the notification. Apparently, Kur had been there to see it, and the old man’s face had been quite something when he saw the little window pop in front of him.

“It will probably keep the Admin post in his family for another ten generations,” Kur had mused, shaking his head. “Definitely saved his own job, too. A direct message from the System Itself, plus all the food they’re about to get? They’ll forgive him everything. In the end, they failed the quota and were rewarded for it. Well… Minus the workers who died of course.”

And, also of course, everything could have gone terribly wrong. If not enough Climbers had joined the defense of the cubeplant, or if there had been more cannibals… Or if Cen’s aura hadn’t saved them all at the end, things would have gone much, much, different.

Nar shuddered at the thought of the cannibals running amok inside the cubeplant. Man, woman, children… They would’ve taken everything.

Speaking of Cen though, I still need to thank her.

Her timely intervention was the only reason he was still alive, and even now, stealing a glance at the caster, he felt awe at the power she had demonstrated. Aura or no aura.

And on the topic of aura…

No.

He shook his head. He was too tired to think about it. All he wanted to do was blast off his skin and sleep for the next few days. He could think about things later.

But what’s there to even think about?

He shook his head again.

Soon, they were walking through the streets. From the rooftops, and windows and doors, and wherever they found space, the workers of the cubeplant had crowded to see their guests come get cleaned and relieve themselves.

The whole experience felt surreal.

It was like a homecoming, but not. Like being a stranger in his own home. Everything looked different, but at the same time, it all looked disgustingly similar to his own cubeplant.

I almost rather sleep outside.

It was a foolish thought, he knew. It was neither safe nor clean out there. And by the Crystal, how he wanted to get clean… His stench was revolting. Everything was sticky and slimy and drying on him. He was going to go in that blaster and turn it to the max. And those tatters he wore were never touching his skin ever again, gear or no gear.

“Food and entertainment,” Mul said, as he waved to an excited group of kids, up on a rooftop. “Us being the entertainment, of course. It’s like a banquet.”

“Mul!” Kur breathed.

“What? They don’t even know what that means,” Mul said.

Nar felt the lukewarm dripple of knowledge inside his brain, and his eyebrows shot up as learned the word’s meaning.

Wow. The O-Nex must be some place… Banquets, eh?

The very notion of the word seemed impossible to him. It spoke of a level of wealth and abundance he knew was possible, thanks to the data package, but that he could not fathom. It was simply beyond him to understand the obscene amounts involved in such a thing.

“How did you know that word?” Jul asked.

“Hmm? Oh, I was thinking about being surrounded by a lot of food and being very happy, one of these nights. Suddenly, the data thingy showed me this bunch of words and their meanings. Banquet was one of them,” Mul explained, shrugging.

Kur glared at him and Mul shook his head.

“We have it rough down here. That’s all I’m saying,” the brawler said.

Nar saw a cluster of young people around his age. He wondered how many of them would have been inspired to leave their cubeplant. And how many had been dissuaded by the horrors that waited for them outside. After all, for them, stories about cannibals were no longer just stories.

Their guide took them to a squat, long building that was at once very familiar.

“Blasters first, toilets after,” he told the Climbers. “When you are done, come back out. We will take you to the place where you’ll rest.”

The party went inside.

Workers milled about, using their crystalights to give the Climbers light for their needs.

Kur took the lead and guided them farther in, to the back, where the queues were smaller.

“Gather around,” he said. “There is no combat, but I don’t know what counts as combat. As far as we know, stealing could be fine. So Mul, Tuk, Cen and Jul, you’re going to look after the AUCs first, while the rest of us clean up. Then we swap. Gad?”

“I can clean her up,” Gad said, looking down at Viy, still asleep in her arms.

“Thank you. Get clean everyone, but make it quick.”

Tuk looked at Nar.

“Can you stand, man?”

Nar stood up on his own in reply. He was feeling much better now, away from that room.

“Think so,” he said. “Thanks, man. That really helped.”

“Don’t sweat it.”

Nar, Kur and Gad, who carried Viy, joined the queues first. The others huddled together, discreetly out of the way with their hoard of AUCs, but still in sight of the first group.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“You go in first,” Kur said, tapping Nar on the shoulder. “You need it. And… Take a bit longer if you have to. That stuff back there… That must have been rough.”

Nar nodded.

When it was his turn, he went into the blaster, and the door rattled and screeched as Kur pushed it closed behind him. And then, silence.

Nar leaned back against the door and closed his eyes.

A shaky breath escaped his lips and he let himself slide to a seating position.

“Ah…”

He lowered his head onto his hands. They were sticky, and the sight of them would’ve made anyone gag. Those hands had reaped many lives that day.

His body ached and burned from blows and scratches, and Nar forced one breath after the other.

In. Out.

In.

Out.

Memories, images, feelings and sensations flashed past his closed eyelids. The past reared its ugly head at him, mingling in with the present, and Nar pressed his hands against his head.

The faces, hands, eyes. Mouths.

The grabbing and choking. The splatter of brain matter. Of limbs flying.

The long tongues slurping out of serrated, lipless mouths.

Old mixed with new and Nar clenched his jaw, as blinding pain burst inside his head.

He saw them anew. Felt them anew.

Their burning hands on his skin.

Their hot blood blinding him.

The stench of their breath.

The giant hand on the back of his neck.

The cannibals holding Viy. Laughing.

Laughing!

He hit the wall with his fist. And hit it again. And again.

He shouted.

He screamed with his whole being, still punching that wall.

Why?

It was a question that he had never had answered in all those years.

Why?

The same question the cannibal had asked him, looking like a normal person at the end.

WHY?

To pay towards the crimes he was born into. His many, many sins. Of which he knew none.

That was always the answer he was given. Because he deserved it. Because they all deserved it.

His knuckles dripped blood from a fresh wound.

Nar stared at it. He could not see it in the dark, but he could feel it.

How was any of that alright?

He covered his eyes with his other hand, and let the other bleed while his HP healed it.

There was no good in blasphemy.

All he had to do was Climb and all would be forgiven.

However, he wondered if it would ever be forgotten.

********

When Nar finally stepped out of the blaster, things seemed to be much quieter.

There were no queues left, and other than Kur, the rest of their party was also gone.

“I’m sorry,” Nar said. “I took forever.”

He had blasted himself until he could no longer stand it. To the point where it had turned to actual HP damage. He had wanted to rip out his own skin, if that meant he would feel clean again. As it was, he still didn’t feel entirely cleansed.

In his left hand, he gingerly held the shredded remains of his first set of [Climber’s Shirt] [Climber’s Pants], and [Climber's Shoes]. He wore a completely brand-new set, and noticed that Kur did the same.

As for his sword, Nar had found it spotless, which had been both a surprise and a welcomed relief. He didn’t fancy having to clean it, once he himself had cleansed his body.

“Don’t be. You were in a bit of a state” Kur said. “And you saved Viy, Nar. You did the impossible. If anything, I’m the one who should apologize. I asked you to go. No. I demanded that you follow her.”

“Someone had to,” Nar said, shrugging. “I was the best choice.”

Kur nodded. “You were the only choice. But I asked you. I sent you into that nightmare, knowing that you might not come back out… Almost expecting it.”

Nar sighed and clasped the party leader’s shoulder.

“It was my choice,” he told him. “Not yours.”

“I know, and I’ll never take that away from you. It’s just… I’m the party leader, but I’m the most useless of us. I can’t do anything on my own.”

Nar stepped out of the blaster, fighting the urge to head back in.

“The brain can’t do anything without hands, feet, or a body,” he said. “And a body won’t move without a brain. That’s your job, and only you can do that.”

A weak smile touched Kur’s lips.

“Is your party member done?”

A light shone in their faces.

“I’m sorry!” Kur told the worker. “He’s done now!”

“That’s alright. Come on, then.”

The worker guided them towards the toilets.

“Quick,” Kur whispered to Nar. “The others have gone on ahead. We were drawing too much attention here. They are going to use their AUCs and get it done with, before something happens.”

They rushed through the toilets and joined the last of the Climbers filtering outside the building.

“Leave your old gear there,” Kur said, pointing towards a tall mess of bloody rags. “The workers have asked for them, if we aren’t going to use them anyway.”

Nar nodded and did as he was told.

For him, the clothes were disgusting and ruined, something he would never wear again. For the workers, something of that quality, they would make damn sure to salvage as much as they could out of it.

It was bound to become a new symbol of status, to wear patched up Climber gear, by the top execs and managers. Nar could just imagine it, scores of Team Leads strutting about in their worn-out Climber gear.

He wasn’t sure whether to laugh at the image, or to grind his teeth at it.

“That’s the last of them!” called the worker that had escorted them.

“Ok! Climbers, follow me!”

They were guided back through a much emptier and quieter Homes. Workers had to work and sleep, after all, and there was a wealth of food to be salvaged from outside. They had no time to watch the traitors all night long.

Shift long, Nar thought, correcting himself. This would be C shift’s time.

It was funny how easily he had adapted to, and adopted, the new day and night cycle.

No. It’s not funny at all, Nar thought frowning.

No time. No real clothes. No pillows.

There was nothing funny about it.

Soon, they left the Homes behind, and walked into the big empty gap in the cubeplant. They were being taken back to the still open Doors, through which the diffuse purple light of the battlefield still shone through.

The Climbers spread out, creating space in between the groups, so they could be alone, and talk in hushed tones.

“How are you feeling?” Kur asked him.

Tired. Angry. Sad. I don’t even know…

Instead, Nar replied with a question.

“What are you going to do about Cen?”

It was almost impossible to believe that the Sentry boss fight, and that massive cannibal battle, had all occurred within the same day. Add to it the revelation of Cen’s non-magical secret, and Crystal, what a pile of a day it had been.

“What can I do about her?” Kur said.

“You can… You know,” Nar said, shrugging.

“Kick her out?”

Nar shrugged again.

“Do you want me too?”

“No,” Nar replied immediately.

Kur glanced at him. “Why? Because it feels wrong, or because she’s useful?”

“Both.”

“Honest,” Kur said, nodding. “I like that. What would you do?”

“I’d keep her, of course.”

Kur snorted, then sighed. “Yeah, I guess I would too. But it's not just my decision. I doubt Tuk or Jul will mind much. But Gad and Mul were pretty shaken.”

“Mul’s her brother. He’s not going to leave her behind. And Gad… Gad is Gad. She won’t leave anyone behind.”

They walked in silence, each lost to their own thoughts, not knowing how similar they were.

“It wouldn’t be right,” Nar said, eventually. “I can’t and I won’t accept it.”

“Me neither. But she has broken our trust,” Kur said.

“She saved our lives. Twice. She could’ve just kept her secret.”

Kur passed a hand over his hair.

“I know she's a good person. You don’t need to make her case. But good people make bad decisions when they’re scared, or when they really need something,” Kur said, lowering his tone.

He waved around him.

“We fought together. We died together! You saw the horror, but I saw the ugly. People pushed others into the cannibals to survive. They stabbed people that called them by name, so that they would let go of them, and not drag them into the cannibals! I saw it happen right in front of my eyes! And this was all when we needed each other. The moment the battle was over, we turned on each other over those damned AUCs! Like, like…”

“We didn’t.”

Nar held Kur with his stare.

“We're not like that. You’re not like that. Don’t let it get to you.”

“I know… I know,” Kur whispered. “But my eyes are open now. I’m not going to go out of our way to harm others, but our party is all that matters. All that we can trust in. Rely on. And you know where I’m going with this, don’t you?”

“Cen.”

“Yes. And are you not angry at her? Not even the slightest? How?”

“Yes and no.”

“Do you agree with her?”

Yes, Nar thought.

“I understand why she did it,” Nar said instead. “I want magic too.”

“I figured. But is that reason enough to risk all of our lives for?”

“In the end, it wasn’t,” Nar said. “She used it. And I’m sure she’ll gain a pile of [Aura] for it.”

“Still!”

“We don’t know what's up there!” Nar said. “If she gets stuck with her [Aura], and that means she can’t do anything else for the rest of her life, will you be there for her? Will you protect her, and sustain her for the rest of your life? Because that’s the kind of debt we're talking about here, if we ask her to keep using it.”

Kur looked away.

“We lean on each other. Yes. We need each other. Yes?” Nar said. “But at the end of the Climb, what’s going to happen? Are people going to drop their classes? Are people going to continue their paths? Are there dispensers there, are we going to be given food and clothing, and a place to live in? We don’t know! We don’t know anything! And to give up magic is…”

“We still need to survive the Climb!” Kur said. “What does it matter if we get up there with no magic or broken paths? We’ll be alive! We can figure it out then! And yes, I will look after her. I will look after all of us, no matter what!”

Nar rubbed his forehead. What was he, someone who measured the party against his dad’s life on the regular, even saying.

“Then you are a good person, Kur,” he said simply. “And I’m happy you’re my leader.”

“You are a good person too, Nar. Else, you wouldn’t have chased Viy into that.”

It was Nar’s turn to go quiet. Was he?

Luckily, the end of the conversation arrived just then. Up ahead, to the left of the Doors, there was a circle of crystalights surrounding the Climber parties.