Soon, they found another batch of corpses. And another, right after it.

The Pressure had long faded away, taking its orange, weight and heat with it, but they were still finding more dead cannibals.

They walked well into the night, past what had to be at least a couple thousand corpses.

Kur kept them going, hoping that at some point they would hit clear corridors again.

Instead, he eventually had to give up.

Jul, now only using her full range of senses in short bursts, informed him that there were more bodies coming up ahead. Beyond that, she couldn’t see.

“It’s okay,” he said. “Thank you. I think we need to give up. Here’s as good as anywhere.”

They settled down for the night, in that small stretch in between corpses. There was no smell, somehow, and the darkness covered the horrors they had been walking through all day.

Nobody ate that night. Not even Mul.

However, there was no killing the spark of joy in Tuk.

“Are we doing it?” Tuk asked.

He and Cen were sitting together, and his eyes shone with anticipation.

Can’t put a damper on that man, Nar though, with a small smile.

“We aren’t doing anything,” Cen said, trying and failing not to smile. “I am. You’re just watching. And yes, I’m doing it. How can I say no to those eyes?”

“Yay! Go on then!” Tuk urged her.

Cen grabbed her staff and propped it between her legs.

“Alright, I’m starting.”

“I’ll be quiet!”

Nar, despite himself, watched her closely.

She closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath.

She continued to breathe deeply, still holding her staff upright.

After about a minute or two, she frowned.

At the tip of her staff, a small, hazy light came into being.

Tuk mouthed a “wow” and looked around.

The light was smaller than the nail on his pinky, but Nar couldn’t look directly at it. It seared his retinas, leaving a burning impression after it.

The darkness on either side of the corridor receded, and faint circular shapes danced slowly across the walls and ceiling.

Cen cracked an eye open and laughed at Tuk’s marveled expression.

“You’ve seen it so many times already!”

“It’s beautiful,” Tuk breathed. “I can never have enough of it…”

It is beautiful. And powerful. A light that burns my eyes. If only it was magic, Nar thought.

Cen grinned at Tuk and closed her eye again.

She resumed her measured breaths, and slowly, the light atop the staff grew.

By now, the rest of the party was also staring at the lights playing across the walls and ceiling.

Cen had surprised them two days after the battle for the cubeplant, by announcing she wanted to practice her [Aura]. Not her skill, [Aura Projectile], but her [Aura] itself. She had asked Kur’s permission to do it, and for the party’s trust. She wanted to figure something out, but she couldn’t tell them yet. Partly because, as she put it herself, she had no idea exactly what she was looking for, only that she felt something in her gut.

“I won’t stop you,” Kur had said. “But are you sure you want to do it? If it's for us…”

“No, this is for me,” Cen replied. “And yes, I’m sure. I just need to check something.”

“Then, go ahead. Be careful though,” Kur said.

“I will!”

Nar had wanted to stop her. In fact, the words had almost left his mouth.

The more she messed with it, the worse she ruined her future chances of getting magic and real power. He understood the temptation. [Aura] was right there, and right now. It was real, and it had kept them alive, and they would for sure need it again.

However, a part of him was happy that it was Cen, and not him that was the sacrifice. The thought shamed him, and it dredged up unresolved and buried feelings.

He had not forgotten how he had risked his life for Viy during the battle. That had not been the first time he had placed himself in danger for the party, but it had been by far the worst. And he hadn't done it as a tank.

He couldn’t deny that he didn’t regret saving Viy. Neither could he lie to himself any longer, that he had growing feelings for the party. However, he was still not able to put to rest his dilemma. The party, or his dad, if push came to shove, which one did he need to prioritize?

As the Climb continued, as they faced death and struggled side by side, the more the lines blurred between Climbers and something more. And he did not want Cen to sacrifice herself for him. He wanted her to find the magic she dreamed of, just like him. However, there was no denying that they needed her [Aura]. So what should he do?

He had already decided that like Kur, should anything happen to Cen’s path, he too would watch over her for the rest of his life. He would pay his debt to her, for opening their way to the surface.

However, that resolution had not gone down right with him. It didn’t feel right to sacrifice anyone, for anybody else. Why should Cen have to do it, why should she let go of her dreams, for theirs?

And now this? Why? Why was she doing it? Was it out of duty for the part? Was it out of guilt, for keeping it a secret?

In the end, Mul was the only one that had tried to dissuade his sister, but Cen had refused to budge.

“Please trust me,” she had asked him. “I need to do this.”

And so she had.

That first night, when Cen first tried it, nothing had happened. Neither did anything happen on the second night, or the third. But on the fourth, she succeeded, her light waking them to varying states of confusion and fright.

From then on, she had managed to summon her [Aura] every night. And every night, Tuk and Nar watched her practice. One with open wonder in his eyes, the other, keeping it within, and burning with shame and guilt.

Now, she could call the light at will. She could make it bigger or smaller. And for the most part, that was all she did for her practice.

“How does it feel?” Tuk whispered.

“Still like I’m going to be sick,” Cen said, with a strained voice. “It hurts so bad.”

Nar pressed his lips, and pried his eyes from the display of light dancing across the ceiling, looking at the caster instead.

Beads of sweat ran down her pale complexion, and the staff shook in her hands.

It’s impossible, Nar thought. It’s a curse, and that’s what it will always be.

Both he and Tuk, and by now the rest of the party, had guessed at her goal. Cen wanted to figure out a way to use her [Aura] without all the punishment that came with it.

When pressed about it, she had refused to explain her reasoning, or her logic.

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It made no sense. Why did she even think it was possible to turn their curse into… Into what? Nar didn’t know. He didn’t understand. Why was she going to the trouble? Through the pain?

Why? he thought, staring at Cen. What is the point of doing this to yourself? Just use it when it's needed, and don’t touch it! Why do you risk your magic for this… This thing?

And yet, she insisted on it. No matter what they said, no matter how much Mul begged her to stop, she kept going. It made no sense at all.

“Maybe stop here for tonight?” Tuk asked, grimacing at the thin line of blood that had leaked out of her nostril. “You can try again tomorrow?”

Cen shook her head and wiped her nose. The trugger fell silent, respecting her will and endurance.

Nar shook his head, and looked away, unable to watch her suffer.

The minutes dragged by, slowly, just like the shifting shapes of light on the ceiling and walls.

Looking away from Cen, but hearing her struggle, Nar couldn’t help but ball his hands into tight, trembling fists.

Why was she doing this?

And why was he not stopping her?

********

Nar woke up tired.

His night had been filled by dreams of hordes of cannibals and massive gray explosions. Amidst it all, Cen had been crying, sobbing, as blood poured from her eyes, ears and nose.

He sat up, and sighed, covering his eyes with his hand for a moment.

What am I supposed to do?

He shook his head, and rubbed his eyes.

It was still early, and he returned the wave Gad gave him, from where she and Mul were sitting on watch. There was still an hour to go before wake up time, and he doubted he would be able to fall asleep again. So instead, he offered to take one of their spots on the last watch before the day started.

Mul insisted that Gad go rest, and she hadn’t managed to put up much resistance to it.

Nar didn’t move from his spot as she lay down, and Mul didn’t ask him to join him. Each of them brooded their own separate thoughts.

That hour felt endless, and Nar was already standing by the time Kur started waking up people.

He heard stomachs gurgling with their newfound and still shocking hunger, but nobody ate. And they were quickly on their way.

The day was filled with more corpses, further darkening his mood.

Now that he knew it was there, Nar saw the signature forearm slashes everywhere. The cannibals, with their little daggers, hadn't stood a chance against the guardians.

A few hours later, the Pressure took them by surprise. They had not been attacked yet.

“It changed!” Tuk said, in his muted voice.

The party stood in the orange, confused by the sudden change in the pattern.

“They’re coming now!” Jul suddenly shouted. “From the front!”

Nar enhanced his ears and heard them straightaway through the static.

“I'm down to 40 HP!” Viy said, her eyes wide.

But there was no time. Two guardians emerged from the darkness.

And there they stood.

“Why aren’t they attacking?” Mul whispered.

“Kur?” Gad asked, standing between them and the party.

“Wait! I want to see what they do.”

It was impossible to tell their intentions. The things didn’t even have eyes.

Suddenly, a spasm went through them. They crumbled into balls and rolled backwards at speed.

“Shit!” Kur said. “After them!”

They scrambled after the two fleeing guardians. The two rolling tangles of limbs kept just within sight, but the party wasn't fast enough to catch up to them.

They are leading us somewhere! Nar thought.

“Kur!” he shouted.

“I know! But what else can we do?” Kur replied

Nar clenched his jaw and didn’t reply. Kur was right. The path pointed only one way, and if they left those things unchecked, there was no telling what could happen. The best they could do was be ready for anything.

“More bodies!” Jul shouted. “And something else. Something big!”

“Formation!” Kur yelled.

The bodies came into sight a minute later. With them, was something else.

Its body alone was twice the size of Nar’s torso. It was covered with circular metallic plates, and its thick limbs were spread from ceiling to walls to floor, blocking their passage.

The two smaller guardians rolled right under it.

The new, massive guardian, however, remained motionless.

“What in the pile is that thing?” Mul shouted.

They slowed to a halt a few steps from it.

“It doesn’t look weak,” Gad said. “Look at all that armor.”

“And look at those things!” Mul cried. “They’re thicker than my legs!”

Gad approached the guardian, her shield covering her body. Still, it didn’t move.

“Kur?” she asked.

The party leader shook his head. “The path points forward…”

Gad nodded.

Nar licked his lips and looked behind him. Was this it? Was this the trap? The obstacle they needed to overcome before they could level up again?

That guardian was unlike any they had faced. There was no doubt in his mind that this guardian was the real deal. Nothing like the weak guardians they had been mowing through with impunity over the past two weeks.

Gad took another step forward, her shield raised high to cover her.

Tuk swallowed hard. “Why is it not…”

Nar heard the whistling, but it was too late. Something thumped into Tuk, forcing him a few steps back.

“Ow?” Tuk mumbled.

The something protruded from his left shoulder, and he pulled it out with a grimace. The word “bolt” flashed through Nar’s mind.

“What in the pile?” Tuk whispered.

His eyes rolled up and he collapsed on top of the bodies.

Nar was there before anyone else.

He checked that Tuk was still breathing, then lifted his hand to see what had hit him. It was a projectile of some kind, that new bolt thing. It was a muted dark gray and it was longer than his hand, ending in a wicked sharp tip.

From that tip, something glistened. A dark, almost black, viscosity of some kind.

“It’s poison!” he shouted.

In a sudden whip of arms and blades, the big guardian lashed at Gad’s shield with booming viciousness. The blows forced the tank to step back through the treacherous corpse filled floor.

Nar heard more whistles fly from the darkness behind the big guardian.

“Watch out!” he shouted.

The bolts missed Gad and Viy by a hair's breadth. Mul and Cen, with their height, were safe, and so was Nar, kneeling over Tuk. As for Kur, Jul had pulled him down before Nar had even opened his mouth.

“Is he alive?” Kur shouted.

“He’s breathing!”

“Do I use my skill?” Cen asked.

“Not yet!” Kur said. “Nar, can you stop those things?”

Can I stop… Why don’t you just let her blast the damn things?

“Nar?”

“Uhm… I can try?” he ventured.

“Good! If it's safe, get behind the big guardian and stop those things, then!” Kur told him.

“I have aggro!” Gad shouted.

Ahhh! Crystal damn it!

What was the point of having Cen’s skill if not for situations such as those?

However, he got up, and sprinted over the corpses, tripping three times on his way to Gad.

His [Instinct] flared and he was just in time to lift his sword to cover his face. He felt and heard the impact rather than saw it. With their dark color, the bolts blended in perfectly with the darkness.

Still, he had managed to block it.

Uh. Maybe I can stop them.

“On your right!” he shouted.

Mul pulled back, jumping behind Gad, and left him an opening through which Nar sprinted through.

He held his sword and forearm up to cover his face and ran through the flurry of limbs pounding down on Gad's shield.

Pain exploded on his left elbow, and he cried out. The guardian had accidentally clipped him.

“Are you okay?” Gad asked.

“I’m fine!” he grunted.

Not.

He tucked his arm against his chest and sucked in air. He wasn’t getting any use out of it for the remainder of that fight.

A quick glance told him his HP, already battered by the Pressure, stood at 83. How much had that glancing blow taken from his HP?

Nar watched the raging guardian wearily.

He didn't dare get too far from the party, as there were still at least two guardians hiding in the dark. But this close to that big thing, if it suddenly decided to attack him, he might not be able to do anything about it. His head, neck and back, all critical damage areas, would be wide open. And if a glancing blow had incapacitated his entire arm, he dreaded to think what a full on, intentional, direct hit would do to him.

He sensed another volley, and a split second later he heard it.

He reacted on instinct, and got out of the way.

“Nar!” Kur shouted, as they got pelted.

“Sorry!”

I wasn’t ready! You come here and do it!

Marshaling his resolve, Nar stepped back into the middle of the corridor. He glanced at the big guardian behind him again, and decided he would have to just leave it to Gad. Hope she kept that thing’s aggro on her.

Should have just let Cen do it…

He shook the thought away with an angry grunt.

Stop it! Enough of that!

He needed to fight and earn his own damn gains. Not hide behind Cen’s sacrifice.

He lifted his sword and pushed all thoughts away.

A few seconds later, he sensed the attack again. Multiple poisonous bolts flew towards him and the party.

Uh…

He twisted his wrist at the last minute, adjusting the sword a smudged to the right and angling it a few degrees further. One after the other, he was rewarded by the clear ring that two of the bolts made against his blade. But beyond that, he had simply stood there like an idiot, and the rest of the volley had gone on towards the party, unimpeded.

There were multiple projectiles! And coming at different times! How was he supposed to block them all?

First of all, he had a sword, not a shield. His weapon was thicker and longer than a normal sword, but it still didn’t offer the coverage of a shield.

Another volley shot his way, and again he stood glued in place. He blocked the single bolt aimed at him, but all the others flew past him.

Behind him, Gad grunted. In pain or surprise, he couldn’t tell.

Focus, Nar, focus!

He spaced out his feet further apart and tried to loosen his shoulders.

What am I missing? I have a sword, but what I need is a shield!

Another volley. This time he blocked two again. From behind, he heard Jul warning the others of the incoming attack.

Come on, think! Think! Think! Think! I have a sword. I need a shield. Think!

Those two thoughts seemed important. He held onto them. Juggled them. Threw them and bounced them around his head.

Sword. Shield. Sword. Shield.

Another volley came towards him. This time, there were no bolts directly headed for him. He stepped to the side and swung down his sword, managing to clip one of them out of control. It clanged harmlessly against the wall and the floor.

That’s it! It’s the same thing again. I don’t have a spear. I don’t have a shield. I have a sword!

He took a deep breath.

I’m not a tank like Gad. She stays still, she braces for impact and takes it on her shield. I’m not… I’m not a normal tank. I have a sword. A sword needs to move. Otherwise, it's just a useless lump of metal. I can’t block the attacks. I need to get to them! I need to attack them!

He changed his stance at the last minute. A volley was already in the air.

In that moment between heartbeats, he sensed the danger and swung his sword. It was a diagonal rising slash.

He hit two, but more went by. He spun on his heel and brought the sword down on the other side, aiming at another. However, his sword bit only air.

Damn it!

But it felt like progress. Now he just needed to get better. Try again. It felt like he was onto something.

Is this it? Is this what I’ve been doing wrong all this time? Is this what Kur meant?

[Instinct] roared from behind him.

It was too late. Nar was in between steps. All he could do was twist his torso.

The blow caught him on the shoulder instead of his spine. It lifted him off his feet and crashed him against the wall.

Everything went orange, and a high-pitched tinnitus stole the sound from the world.

Lights flashed before his eyes, dispelling the orange with gray, but everything was blurry.

Shockwaves rocked his body, and he tumbled onto the embracing softness of oblivion.