Nar came to in a dimly lit room.

He heard the others breathing, peacefully asleep around him.

A window popped up, and Nar read the message.

You have entered a safe room.

You are safe!

Food will be provided. Eat and drink as much as you want.

Facilities will be provided.

New gear will be provided.

HP regen rate and stamina recovery rate are boosted by 500%.

Gains will be calculated and applied during the recovery period.

There is no time limit for staying in this room.

Stay as long as you want.

Stay as long as you want.

Nar teared up and inhaled shakily.

He was out.

He was out!

He could scarcely believe it!

They had made it!

They were safe. It was over. The cannibals were gone. Trapped behind the Pressure barrier. Crystal willing, that meant that he would never have to see another cannibal ever again.

Nar covered his mouth, so as to not wake up the others.

He was out.

He was alive!

He had been so sure that his life was about to become one of ceaseless pain and suffering. He had fought hard against his imagination, trying not to think of all the things that the cannibals were going to do to him and the others.

And now, it was all behind him.

He was safe.

Thank You, Crystal! Thank You!

In that moment, he forgot all of his grievances against the Almighty. All he could feel was relief and gratitude.

He was alive. He still had a chance. His dad still had a chance. His party still had a chance.

They were okay now.

That was all that mattered.

Still sobbing silently, Nar drifted back into sleep.

He would never know how close to death he had come. Those last injuries inside the barrier had eaten through his HP and stamina, leaving him bare.

Unlike the previous time though, the System did not notify him about this. Nor did it tell any of the others either.

It simply pumped them full with the life saving energy of the Source, which flooded into existence through the Crystal.

Flesh was knit back together, leaving no scars or blemishes. Organs were repaired to full function. Cracked and even broken bones were fixed to brand new. Even blood levels were restored to optimal.

Why did the System do this? It did not know.

All It understood was that certain factors, sets of variables and conditions had been met, which had triggered specific subroutines buried deep within Its reasoning.

However, there was something about those subroutines and conditions that felt odd.

The System decided to file a report. With that done, It moved on, focusing on bringing the Climbers back from the brink.

Unbeknownst to It, however, Its sending of the report triggered yet another set of different subroutines. The report would never make it to its intended destination, heading somewhere else instead. And disappearing…

*********

It was still dim and quiet when Nar next woke up.

He lay where he was, listening to the sounds of the others, still sleeping around him.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

He could see where the ceiling met all the walls from where he was, which gave him comfort. Being in a nice, enclosed, small space was exactly what he needed.

Quietly, not to disturb anyone, Nar sat up.

To his left, he found Jul, sleeping with her mouth half open. A smile crept up his face. His heart beat peacefully, but each beat was strong and filled with pride and joy. Pride at how brave she had become, and joy that she was safe. The rogue had come out of this nightmare better than she had gone into it. He scarcely believed that this Jul and the scared, quiet girl he had met all those months ago, were one and the same.

To his right, he found his sword, and next to it, Rel.

With a sigh of relief, Nar touched his weapon and stored it away.

Then, his eyes fell upon Rel. She mumbled something in her sleep, and her eyelids shook.

Did she sleep here out of habit? Nar wondered. Or did Rel just feel the most comfortable with him and Jul?

He honestly did not know what to make of her. Didn’t know how to feel about her either.

He had an idea of the things she had done, considering he had been one of the victims of her deception. But he didn’t know how many Climbers she had baited into cannibal hands.

Actually, he found that he didn’t want to know.

They had fought together, and Rel had saved them. Her motivations, whatever the thing in her head was that she, Tas and Wik had alluded to, were still unclear to him. Had she saved them in a bid to redeem herself? Or had she seen an opportunity and seized it?

Whichever it may be, and whatever Rel had done to survive, he also didn’t know if he could judge her for it. He hadn’t been there. He hadn’t seen what she he’d seen. Suffered what she did. According to Wik, they had been working for the cannibals for months. Crystal knew what she had been through in that long time?

And now, she was going to Climb with them.

Could he trust her?

Could he accept her?

He didn’t really have much of a choice. Kur had given his word, and as the party leader, his word bound them all.

He heard someone else shuffling in the room and looked around.

Gad had gotten up, and she was checking up on Viy.

“I’m glad to see you’re awake,” she said, after she was done. “You’ve slept the longest. It's our third morning here.”

“That long?”

She motioned for him to get up and join her on the side of the room where the dispenser, toilet and blaster were.

“The lights will turn brighter in a few minutes,” she told him. “But let’s let the others sleep for a bit longer.”

Nar nodded.

“How are things?” he asked, in a low tone of voice.

Gad smiled. “We’re alive, aren’t we? The rest will heal.”

“Even Viy?”

Her smile faltered a little bit.

“Rel told me what happened. It was my fault for letting it get so far. But she looked so happy, and she was talking again. I didn’t like Wik, but if he was helping Viy, I was willing to go along with it. But now… I don’t know. I’m scared for her. It’s not looking good.”

Nar grimaced. “It’s alright, Gad. It wasn’t your fault.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. But it distracted me from everything else. I was so focused on Viy that I forgot the rest of you. I should’ve seen how messed up things had gotten. It was only that day when you told Tas to shut up that I finally looked around me. You were so angry, I thought you were going to punch him. That’s what made me open my eyes.”

She looked at the still sleeping forms of the others. “Crystal. I was such an idiot.”

“So was I,” Nar said.

Jul, Kur, Tuk, Cen, Mul, Viy and Gad.

I almost lost them. And in the most horrible way possible.

He couldn’t deny his feelings anymore. Not after what they had gone through. He had to face the reality that he liked these Clean. That they meant something to him. What it was, he wasn’t sure yet. But they weren’t just tools to his Climb. They hadn’t been for a long while.

For the first time ever, he allowed himself to acknowledge that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to part ways with them, once they got out. The thought of it scared him, actually. Made him feel sick even.

“We didn’t really do a good job this time around,” Gad said. “Us tanks I mean.”

“No. We didn’t protect them.”

Gad stared at him in surprise. “No. We did not.”

“I screwed up. I screwed up a lot,” Nar whispered. “With… With a lot of things. Things I should’ve done. Things I should’ve said. I tried to think it through, all by myself, and it has led me here. Led us here. I should’ve been talking to everyone. Especially with you and Kur. I should’ve been telling you, asking for your advice.”

“It’s your path, you know. Neither me or Kur are entitled to tell you how to build it. No one is,” she told him.

“Ah, the path is okay, for now… I meant about other things,” he said. “About the party. Things I caught, and that you missed. Things you should’ve known.”

“About Tuk?” she asked.

Nar looked up at her face. Sometimes it was easy to forget they were of the same age. Gad had always looked so much older than them, not in appearance, but in the wisdom that shone through her eyes. In patience, and in that solid serenity of hers.

“I heard, back in the cages,” she said.

“Yeah,” Nar said, hanging his head low. “I let him down so badly. I should’ve come to you, or Kur, if I didn’t know what to do. What to tell him. Instead, I kept quiet. I ignored it, kicked it to the next day, thinking that he wasn’t that bad. I… I’m sorry, I don’t know why I did it.”

Gad nodded slowly.

“Maybe forget about the why, and just make sure it never happens again. That you don’t close your eyes and fail the party again.”

Nar felt his chin tremble.

“Yeah. I think I will,” he said, his voice shaky through the lump that had formed in his throat.

The lights began to get brighter, and people started to shift in their sleep.

Gad squeezed his shoulder.

“There will be some difficult talking today. All of us, together. We’ve been waiting for you to wake up,” she told him, her expression pained. “There are things we need to discuss. Things we need to understand, to make sure they don’t happen again. If you want, you can add to the discussion, and we can all tell you what we think. But if you prefer, you can always come to me. I’m always ready to listen, Nar. And bash some sense into your head too, if needs be.”

Nar nodded and offered her a small smile. “Thanks, Gad. I will… Come to you, from now on.”

“You do that. I’m going to go check on Viy again. I don’t want her to be alone for the next while.”

Nar nodded, then followed her with his eyes, looking past her. Viy had sat up and was staring down at her lap, ignoring the others around her.

Like Gad, Nar too was scared for the spear woman. Something had been clearly very wrong with Viy, ever since the cannibal battle at the cubeplant, and he was worried how Wik’s betrayal had further damaged whatever that something was.

He looked away. This wasn’t something he felt he could help with. Gad, Kur and Cen. They were the ones better equipped to help Viy. All he could contribute was to chase after Viy if she ever lost it again, and bring her back to the party.

As many times as it's needed, I suppose.

And he would do it gladly. She was one of them, and he was… One of them as well.

With a sigh, he scanned the party, watching them come fully awake, one by one, and his eyes fell upon Jul. She was staring at Tuk in a daze. She was definitely not hearing a single word of what he was saying. It was actually quite something. How had Tuk gone from asleep to full on conversation in a matter of seconds?

If Nar had woken up there, he would’ve looked exactly like Jul did, and her expression made him smile.

The rogue slowly looked around her, and then, she found the empty spot besides her. Nar stifled a laugh, as he watched her panic, coming fully awake. Frantically, she looked everywhere until she found him, leaning against the blaster, with a grin plastered across his dumb face.

The moment she did, she froze.

Nar chuckled under his breath and tapped his ear, hoping that she would get his meaning.

He waited a few seconds to give her time.

“We’ll talk later,” he said, keeping his voice neutral.

He almost lost it when she visibly swallowed. Her eyes went very big, and she him gave one solemn nod.

To hide the smile that spread over his face, Nar entered the blaster.

She had lied to him for a long time. Of course, he wasn’t mad or angry at her. He himself carried his own secrets, that he had yet to reveal to the others. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t tease her a bit. Make her squirm for keeping it from him for so long.

He wouldn’t do it for too long though. She had saved his life after all. He would sit down next to her as soon as he could. He didn’t want her to retreat back into fear and quietness, though he was sure a few minutes of worry and concern would do her no harm.

For now, he had several layers of cannibal blood mixed with his own, dried and sticking all over his body. This was going to be the best blasting of his life.