The temperature slowly dropped as they left the strange, sweltering corridor behind. And in the tight corridor they now found themselves in, Nar thought that the warmth was almost pleasant.

If he reached out with both arms, he could almost touch the walls on either side of him. The ceiling however, very quickly turned into an empty, impenetrable void above their heads. The difference was jarring.

He would have preferred the claustrophobic feeling of having the ceiling touching his head, rather than entertain all the thoughts of everything that could be hiding in that darkness above them.

“Anything?” he whispered to Jul.

“Not yet.”

“We’ll keep going then.”

“It’s been a while already. Gad will come after us.”

Nar stifled a laugh. The thought of the tank feeling her way towards them was quite something.

“I don’t think Kur will let her do it. Come on, let’s hurry.”

They sneaked along the corridor as fast as they could, and Nar breathed in relief when Jul guided them into another corridor. Just as small, but now with a low ceiling covering their heads.

The two Climbers were completely submerged in pitch black. The comforting light of the yellow arrows had long disappeared behind them, and Nar now walked guided by the strange black and white Nexus of lines that his [Sight] granted him.

He cast a cursory glance at Jul, who walked just a half step behind him. He couldn't make her facial features, or hair, or any such details. The figure beside him was like a much over simplified version of the quam. He saw legs, arms, a torso, and a head, and that was pretty much it.

I wonder what she can see, Nar thought.

In that small moment of distraction, his foot landed just a smidge harder than he intended too, and Nar winced at the loud, echoing sound that it caused.

“Are you okay?” Jul whispered.

“What? Oh, yes. Yes. Sorry,” he whispered back. “I’m just so loud.”

“A little bit,” she agreed, and Nar could’ve sworn he heard the laughter in her voice.

He shook his head.

“How are you doing it?” he asked her.

Unlike him, Jul was practically non-existent to his [Hearing]. He couldn’t hear her steps, or her breath, or even the sound of her clothes as she moved. If not for his [Sight] telling him that she was there, he would’ve never known the scout was standing right by his arm.

“It’s a scout thing,” she said, with a shrug. “I think we’re supposed to be good at sneaking around.”

“Wow, that’s nice,” Nar said, impressed.

She raised a hand, and stopped.

“I heard it again,” she whispered. “Someone’s hurting…”

“Damn it! Let’s hurry then!”

“Yes!”

She took them down the length of the corridor, and a stairwell of twisting metal rose up into the darkness.

Nar glimpsed at the time as he stepped onto it, and froze.

“Nar?”

“It’s been almost fifteen minutes. We’re going much further than the last time,” he whispered.

“Oh. You’re right. I didn’t notice it.”

Nar turned around to face her.

“We’ve walked a lot already. Do you know if we’re close?”

“I don’t know, but I think I definitely heard someone crying.”

Nar took a deep breath, considering their options. On one hand, he wanted to rescue the poor Climber, and they needed to be sure before they dragged the others into the dark with them. On the other hand, they were getting further and further from the party.

Despite what Gad had said, Nar had serious doubts about their ability to find them in the dark. Especially if they got captured.

Jul tapped his arm.

“Will we…”

She tensed.

“What?”

“I heard it again. It really sounds like crying. I’m sure of it!”

“Alright. We’ll keep walking for a while longer then.”

She nodded, and passed a hand over her antennae. “I don’t like it.”

Nar squeezed her shoulder briefly. “I know. Me neither. But it will be okay, we’ll save them.”

Together, they climbed the narrow, twisting, stairwell.

Again, Nar marveled at how quiet Jul was, compared to his loud, echoing, metallic steps. No matter how much he tried to be quiet, how gently he laid down his feet, it still sounded like a pileslide to his ears.

A few, loud, seconds later, they got off the stairwell. It continued up into the unknown darkness, and they soon left it behind.

“Nar?”

“Yes?”

“I… I need to tell you something,” she whispered. “Well, maybe I should tell you two somethings.”

“Go on.”

“It’s just, I’m scared you’ll be mad.”

Nar chuckled quietly. “Don’t worry, I’m sure I won’t.”

They walked onto a chaos of metal walkways that spread into the darkness. Up, down, right, left, and in all the diagonal variations. Jul pointed to the left walkway, and they walked alongside the wall.

Again, exposed. Can’t tell what’s up. Can’t tell what's down. No idea whatsoever what's around us. Why are there so many corridors and walkways and levels and stuff?

People always said that the B-Nex was like a maze that housed untold cubeplants, all working to recycle aetherium for the rest of the Nexus. But he hadn’t fully comprehended the meaning of maze back then. And now that he did, he wondered why everything was so big and convoluted as it was.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

It had taken them nearly four whole months just to reach the Mid-Levels. Even the tutorial itself, that endless corridor, had stretched on for nearly two months. The scale of the B-Nex was humbling, and they weren’t even at the exit yet. And that was assuming they were taking a somewhat straightforward path up…

Just how big is this place? And what in the Nexus is down there? He wondered, looking down. What I wouldn’t do for a light. A big, proper light.

“Nar?”

Oh shit.

“Yes?”

“Did you forget about me?”

He swallowed hard, and regretted it. He was sure she heard it.

“You did!”

“I’m sorry! I hate being in open places like this! I got distracted!”

The sigh that came from behind him almost smothered him.

“So. You were saying?”

“I don’t know if I want to tell you anymore.”

“Oh! Come on, Jul! I just got a bit distracted,” he pleaded. “You can’t tell me that this stuff doesn’t bother you? There could be anything around us!”

“We’re okay. There’s nothing here,” she told him. “Don’t be scared, I’ll protect you.”

“That’s not… You’re messing! Pile! I can’t believe it!”

She laughed through her hands.

“You deserved it.”

“I did… Anyways, what where you going to say?”

“Well...”

She took a deep breath.

“It’s just. The others. The new Climbers?”

“Yes?”

“I… I don’t like them.”

Nar stopped and faced her.

“Wait. What?”

That was not what he had been expecting.

“Yeah. They’ve made us go… Bad somehow,” she said, struggling for the right words. “Wrong.”

“You mean our party?”

She nodded. He couldn’t see her expression in the dark, but her entire outline fidgeted and squirmed.

“Everything feels wrong now. It didn’t use to be like this.”

Nar nodded slowly. “To be honest, I don’t like them much either. Other than Rel, the other two are pretty much rattling my receptor all the time.”

“Yeah, Rel’s okay!” Jul said. “I’m sorry for her.”

“Me too. But, look… I think Kur and the others have realized what’s been happening. And I think things are about to get better again. Back to normal.”

“I hope so,” she whispered. “I really don’t like those two. Especially Wik. Sometimes I sense that he’s actually not a nice person at all.”

Nar seized her shoulders. His breath stopped, stuck on his throat.

“Nar? A-Are you angry?” she asked, in a tiny voice.

Nar’s heart beat so fast it hurt. So fast it made him dizzy.

“I’m not angry, Jul. I’m scared. I need you to help me now, okay? I need you to focus. Can you do that? This is important!”

She gave him a little nod.

“Thank you. Just there, what did you say?”

“I-I said I don’t like them. I really don’t like them. Is that bad?”

“It's not,” he said, shaking his head. “Like I said, I don’t like them either. What I meant was, what did you say after that?”

Dread had broken out in his mind, and slowly spread through the rest of his body. A thought. A single thought. A possibility… He felt like he was about to be sick.

Was he scaring her? Hurting her? He didn’t want to. That was the last thing he wanted right now! But he needed her to focus.

“After?” she whispered.

“Yes, after.”

Damn, he had scared her! Crystal damned idiot! She was talking slower and slower. She was about to shut down!

“After… Well, I said… I don’t remember. You’re scaring me! Did I do something wrong?”

“No! No… You didn't! I completely agree with you. I just want to know what you said about Wik. You know, what you just said.”

“What I just said? Oh! You mean, about how I sometimes sense that…”

She gasped, and in that moment, she came back from the brink. And Nar had the confirmation he did not want.

“Crystal! I sensed!” she said. “Why didn’t I realize it? Nar! I sensed danger from him! I was too tired! I didn’t think! I-I-I…”

He covered her mouth.

“Jul, we need to be quiet now,” he whispered. “I think we’ve been tricked.”

She mouthed “why?” against his palm.

He removed the hand from her mouth and leaned in to whisper in her ear.

“Jul, can cannibals sense too?”

She didn’t make a sound, but Nar felt her tense. She gripped him, almost hugging him. Around them, the dark was almost suffocating.

“Maybe not before, but these ones?” she whispered. “They’re stronger…”

“Yes…”

Her grip tightened.

“They’ve been walking away from us,” she whispered. “Taking us farther away from the others.”

“I think so too.”

“But then, that means Wik is…”

He covered her mouth again. She had raised her tone too loud.

He didn’t know if cannibals had senses. They were ex-Climbers, but they were supposed to have been cut off from the System in their fall to madness. [Hearing], [Sight], [Smell], and even [Instinct] were things they were not supposed to have access to anymore. And yet, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had arrived at the right conclusion.

He didn’t know how it was possible, but given how much stronger those cannibals were, it was the only explanation that made sense. Somehow, these had held onto their attributes… And Wik, Tas and even Rel. They had tricked them. They were working with the cannibals!

But, why? It doesn’t make any sense! He screamed inside his own mind. How would anyone do something like this?

“Nar, what do we do?” Jul whispered.

“Listen,” he said, pulling his thoughts back into order. “We need to be very quiet. We need to go back.”

“Should I pulse back to the group?”

They had never actually used that feature of the party view. To be honest, Nar had pretty much forgotten about the party view itself. It was helpful to Kur to know what was happening with everyone, but in the midst of chaos, the extra portraits and bars were just too much of a distraction for Nar. He had used it once, and forgotten about it. Even just there, after Kur had reminded him about it, just before they had left, he had forgotten about it once more.

“No,” he said, after a brief moment of thought. “It will just scare them. Make them think we are in trouble.”

“But we are in trouble.”

“Yes, well, we think we are. We could be wrong.”

“Still!”

“I know. But we don’t know what the others will do if we signal them,” Nar said. “What if they split up to come help us? That would just make it easier for the other three to attack them! Wik's level 27! He can probably take two or three of us at once!”

She inhaled shakily. “Okay. Okay… So we walk back, and tell them?”

“Yes, that’s our best option.”

Jul looked towards the direction they had been walking towards.

“We’ve been stopped for a long time,” she said.

“Yes, they’ll be suspicious. I think they’ll chase us once we turn back.”

Nar passed a hand over his mouth and considered Jul.

Her grip on his clothes was so tight, it probably hurt her fingers. And despite everything that he suspected she had gone through in life, she was now hugging him. Out of fear, yes, but it still warmed his heart that she trusted him that much. That perhaps she could really heal and open up again. At least to the party.

He could never betray that trust. The damage would be beyond measure. Perhaps even irreparable.

“Jul,” he said.

He hugged her and she gasped.

“I need you to trust me now, okay?” he whispered.

“We’re going to run?”

“We are.”

“I’m tired.”

“I know. But it will be okay.”

“You won’t leave me behind?”

“Never. I swear it on my dad’s life. I’ll never leave you behind.”

She hugged him then, properly, for real, and took a shaky breath.

Nar’s heart beat with abandon now. The fear ran thick in his veins and clouded his mind. Even his [Sight] and [Hearing] flickered on and off.

They were in a bad spot. Really bad.

If the other three were really working with the cannibals, and if the cannibals had managed to drag them all the way out there, there was no telling how many were hiding in the dark, or if they had blocked their path back to the party.

He checked his party view, for perhaps only the third or fourth time since Kur had unlocked it. He could see all of their portraits and status on his UI. Wik, Tas and Rel had never officially joined their party, and now, Nar wondered if that hadn’t been part of the deception. They seem okay for now, Nar thought. He was sure if anything had happened, there would’ve been a fight, and some injuries at least. But everyone’s HP was still full.

“Everyone looks okay, for now,” Nar said.

“Yes, I just checked,” she whispered.

He nodded, still holding on to her.

Now came the hard part. He had to get them back, and inform the others of the betrayal.

Only the Crystal knew how many cannibals now stood in their way, and Jul was already beyond exhausted. Could he carry her while he fought? Could he swing his sword without dropping her? Was he strong enough to bring her back to safety?

I have to be.

He checked his stamina.

90%. Some to carry her, some for my senses. A lot of it to fight.

It was fortunate that Tas had kept him from seeing any action when he had joined them. And afterwards, Rel had helped with her stubbornness. It had left him nearly full, even with his senses usage.

Can they really be in on it? He wondered. Wik, I can see. But Tas, he looked so scared. So real! And what about Rel? You can’t fake that kind of sickness!

He shook his head.

Now’s not the time. I’ll find out when I get there.

“Jul. We’re going to walk, okay? Just walk. As quietly as we can.”

“And if they find out?”

“Then we run. And if you can’t run, I’ll carry you.”

She gripped him so hard, he had trouble breathing. How did a scout have so much [Strength] in her?

“You can’t fight like that,” she breathed, shaking in his arms.

“Of course I can. Why wouldn’t I?”

He pushed her away from him. He had to use some force.

“We have to go now. Remember, I swear I will never leave you behind,” he told her.

“You swore it on your dad’s name,” she whispered.

“He means more to me than the Crystal.”

He watched her rub her eyes.

“Okay, let’s go. The others need us,” she said, her tone firm.

Nar stepped to her right and took one of her hands in his left.

“Come on. Quietly.”