Two days later, rested and healed, Kur asked out loud for the party to be let out of the safe room.
An exit revealed itself, and having learned their lesson, Gad stepped outside cautiously.
It was with immense relief that they found the yellow arrows waiting for them outside, ready to continue guiding them on their way up.
And on their way they went.
The days and weeks that passed by afterwards were a blur.
Kur made a comeback with a fierceness he didn't used to have. He led them well and truly. He was not afraid to share his doubts and they all made the tough decisions together. But as their party leader, he still kept the last word.
Jul learned how to fight, and slowly overcame the gap she had compared to the rest of them in both combat experience and lacking attributes. Mul taught her as best as he could, from a brawler to a rogue, and he was only a little bit grumpy and short tempered about it.
Their "new" rogue discovered she could fight with a fierceness she sometimes didn’t believe belonged to her. Mixing her [Stealth] skill, which rendered her invisible within certain rules and caveats, with her [Backstab] skill, which effectively tripled her damage if she attacked an enemy from behind, and the devastating speed and agility of her four daggered fighting style, made her a true sight to behold.
Kur had Nar and Gad start trading positions again.
Nar wasn't a tank like Gad, nor was he a DPS like the others, but he was fully committed to seeing where his path would take him. And everyone respected him for it, and did his best to help him.
He hadn’t expected that the major gains he had received would have made things easier from now on, and the System did not disappoint. It sent guardians at them in increasing numbers, in different combinations and with varying strategies. Most of the time, he was up for the challenge. Other times, less so. The first time he blocked a rolling, charging Soldier Guardian 2, he was sent flying, and lost over half his HP.
Gad, once again, and very patiently, reminded him that blocking wasn’t in his path. He knew this, of course, he assured her. He hadn’t forgotten her words. However, he very much lacked the [Strength] to simply cut a soldier in half. Perhaps with [Aura], he would one day be able to do it.
For now, even though he did not like it, he had resigned himself to learn to wield it.
From years of using it, he knew the pain threshold at which things turned bloody, and so far that had been a barrier he hadn't manage to break through. And the day he realized that he was actually starting to take HP damage during his attempts was a sobering and grim one. The damage was not enough to be life threatening yet, but it was increasing. Something was not right. And more and more, he believed that just as he had feared, his years of double shifts and too early [Aura] work had left him damaged somehow. Inside.
However, he hated the thought of being captured or killed even more, and of letting down the party who had accepted him. His party. And so, he endured it silently, hoping to find the breakthrough he needed. The others cheered him on, not knowing the issues he faced.
Mul was the first to succeed. One day, during their now daily [Aura] practice, Nar had been startled out of it by Mul’s shouting. The lengos had been standing up, alternating between laughing and shouting, showing his glowing knuckle weapons.
When Cen deemed that he had enough control over it, she allowed him to fight. And what a sight it was. With a single punch, Mul turned a soldier guardian into a collection of broken parts. The blow went right through the thick armor, and an explosion of [Aura] forced a hole through the soldier’s opposing side. Broken bits and pieces flew everywhere, and everyone was left staring speechless.
The power of [Aura] was undeniable.
And the more the saw of it, the more it gave Cen the hope and the confidence she needed, to continue to experiment and learn, and teach and coach the rest of them. No one tried to dissuade her of her choice to delve ever deeper into [Aura]. She had made it clear that it was her choice to make, and that she knew what she was doing and what she was risking. Given everything that had happened and what they had learned, Kur was happy to leave it in her hands after a very serious conversation. He could offer counsel and advice, but it was up to one’s self to decide what sort of path theirs was going to be. And for Cen, her path was [Aura]. And by the Crystal, her power was terrifying. More than Mul’s. More than Tuk’s.
Whenever he beheld the absolute devastation she could bring forth, Nar couldn’t help but consider his own [Aura]. At 70 points, he had almost double of what Cen had. He knew he was not a caster, and that he would never be able to shoot those devastating projectiles like she did... But all the same, with so much [Aura], what could he do with it? What could he achieve, if he brought it fully to bear?
That it was the simplest, and most direct answer to the second half of his path, his lacking DPS, there was no doubt. Even he himself did not deny it. He could not. But he did not fully welcome it.
When at last he managed to make the base of his blade gently start glowing, he was the last of the party to be able to manifest his [Aura]. And he was the worst of them all.
Even Gad, who had been a trolley pusher could do it, and she had never even come close to a receptor in her entire life. She could fully encase her shield with it, though she had not yet bothered with her mace. The effect was much more subdued when she first used it in combat, but no less devastating than Mul’s. The soldier’s legs had come apart in pieces as it charged the glowing shield. And Gad? She had barely felt a thing from behind her shield of metal and [Aura].
Viy, Jul and Rel learned it more or less at the same time, and they became similarly devastating in their own right.
Kur could make his whole scepter glow with [Aura], but he was not a fighter, so it didn’t really do much for him. But he learned it all the same. His weakness, in the face of Tas’ and Wik’ betrayal, had been a rude wake up call to just how useless he was in direct combat. And he was motivated to at least gain any advantage he could, for the next inevitable time that he found himself having to fight. And anything was better than nothing.
As for Nar, the days and weeks passed by, and he managed little. Cen encouraged him to keep trying, always being patient with him. As for the others, no one really mentioned it, other than to tell him to keep going, and that he would get it soon.
Only Rel was left bewildered by Nar’s failure. She wondered if his failure was in any way related to the fact that Nar had been an Unclean, whatever that was, but since nobody asked or said anything about it, neither did she.
From his side, Nar considered her from time to time, discreetly.
Sometimes he caught her crying. Others, he found a broad smile on her face and a spring on her step. By mutual, silent agreement, they had all accepted her in the party. And as the weeks passed, she became more and more comfortable with them, and they with her.
It wasn’t that they had forgotten how they had met her, and what she had done. But her value to the party was undeniable. Plus, it was hard to reconcile the Rel that laughed and smiled easily, with the Rel that had nearly brought them to their deaths... For the most part however, she still preferred to hang back with Nar. Though she had added Tuk to her list of talking companions, and the two of them often talked for hours and hours on end.
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Of the whole party, only Viy seemed to be bothered by Rel’s presence. The spearwoman fought using all the knowledge she had learned from Wik, and with the added [Aura], she was both mesmerizing and terrifying to behold. Fast, graceful, and deadly. But she alternated between periods of near normalcy and of nearly catatonic. Long days of silence, where the only thing Kur, Gad or Cen could get out of her were nods.
Nar heard and watched Viy tossing and turning in her sleep, whenever he stood watch.
Her brow always glistened with sweat and he knew she was deep in nightmares he could not even begin to imagine. While Viy had confided in Wik, none of them knew what it was that hurt her so, and despite Gad’s and Cen's gentle insistence, Viy had remained mute about it. Like Viy had told Wik, the party’s opinion mattered much more than his, and whatever it was, she wasn’t ready to tell them yet.
Slowly, the days of silence became the norm for her, and they all came to fear for her. Nar, in particular, now kept an eye on her during every fight, ready to jump in. Just in case.
However, Viy wasn’t the only one affected by what they had gone through. They all had nightmares now, and quite regularly.
Nightmares where Jul hadn't arrived on time to save Kur. Where Jul hadn't come at all. Where they had come for them in those cages, and taken them to the other tents...
They woke each other up, when people got too loud, or the nightmares too intense, but other than that, there wasn't much anybody could do other than to power through it, and hope things would get better.
In Nar's case, he kept waking up with a start, drenched in sweat, with the afterimage of that hand beyond the Pressure slowly reaching out to him. Except in his nightmares the barrier did nothing to stop it. And it was always hard to fall back asleep after that.
Rel’s sleep was just as troubled as Viy’s, though in Rel’s case, it had much more observable effects. The alfin would wake up from her nightmares and dash into the darkness, just far enough where she thought nobody could hear her.
But Nar could. And he doubted he was the only one.
He heard her puking and crying. Then her gasps and whimpers, and after that, more crying. This had happened since their first night out of the safe room, and Nar had figured out right away what was happening from her bloody sleeves the next morning.
He didn’t like it. But what could he do? When he mentioned it to Kur, the party leader had told him that it was best to just keep an eye on Rel for now. He would do the same, but it was too soon to do anything.
Nar had reluctantly agreed with him. There was too much they didn’t know about her yet. And there was still the whole circumstance of how they had met.
All the same, it made Nar angry. He hated the thought of her hurting herself in the darkness, alone. Regardless of what she had done…
It was all just... So confusing.
In this way, the weeks passed, and a full month rolled by, in darkness, in yellow arrows, in guardians, in [Aura], and in nightmares.
They grew and they healed. Or tried to.
*********
Another bridge came and they crossed it.
And to no one’s surprise, they found that the majority of Climbers now used [Aura] as well.
From the conversations floating around him, Nar learned that they had all passed through the same Pressure barriers, and had found that their only way through the mighty guardians that blocked their paths was through their loathsome [Aura]s.
Cen and some of the others who had also decided to fully embrace their [Aura] had gotten together to discuss their findings and theories. They hadn’t been at it for more than five minutes when someone interrupted them, calling them fools and sinners. Warning them that they were giving up their magic for the temptation of quick, easy power, and that they would regret it. And soon!
From there, things quickly escalated into a shouting match between those in favor of using [Aura] and those few still staunchly against it.
Those who merely used it as needed tried to mediate and keep the peace. But the arguing quickly caught on to all the parties present. Members quarreled and argued bitterly with one another, forming sides with total strangers they had never met before, to try and convince their party members of their folly or of their need to be realistic and survive.
Emotions ran raw and sudden fights broke out. They had all crossed through cannibal-controlled territory on their way there, and parties had suffered losses. The grief, the regret, the guilt and the shame. It was quick to turn all of those into anger and resentment.
But Nar watched it all from afar, unwilling to join in. He felt the growing heaviness of his failure in using his [Aura], and the toll it was starting to exact upon his body. And he knew he was holding himself back.
Despite himself, he knew what it would take him to fully use his [Aura]. The pain, the suffering, the wrongness. It had reached levels beyond anything he was used to, and it was getting harder and harder to keep the screaming inside him. If he was to get where he needed to be, he would have to literally shred his veins to bloody bits to make it work, destroying himself in the process. And the moment he did, the others would know that for all his [Aura], he wasn’t capable of using it, despite being so desperate to do so.
He didn’t know whether to feel anguish or relief at that.
As the fighting raged all around him, it all served to prove just how divisive and deeply personal the decision was for each Climber.
Hours later, when the party leaders had finally managed to quell the chaos, Climbers slept in uneasy silence. Nar heard more than a few nightmares and late-night sobbing. No one had been left untouched and unmarred by their encounter with the cannibals. Everyone here would carry their scars, and the memory of those who had fallen, or worse, had been left behind, for the rest of their lives.
Not for the first time, Nar found himself questioning himself if in the end, his decision to save Tas, Wik and Rel had been wrong or right.
On one hand, they had almost died. And in the most brutal and horrific way imaginable. On the other hand, they had come away from it with gains and gear that they would otherwise have never received.
Their [Aura] had come out in the open, and their party was more united than ever. Jul had overcome a massive obstacle in her journey to healing, and now was on her way to become an amazing DPS. Also, he could not discount that they had also saved Rel, their new and ninth member. And she had proven herself to be a fantastic addition of a ranged DPS to the party, even if her senses were dulled by her mysterious illness.
All these, they had gained. But at what cost? And what more would Nar have to pay and suffer in order to become a Named Few? He had lived through nightmare incarnate, and all he had gotten was gear, three levels and some extra attributes. What would he have to do, to reach the very pinnacle of power in the Nexus? What would it cost him to get there? Or perhaps, as Tuk had warned him, who would that power cost him?
And would he ever gain his damned magic? The priest had promised it would be so. But could he trust him, after everything he had seen?
Like him, the others were subdued that night, and there were no celebrations. The lackluster rewards from crossing that bridge only added to the atmosphere.
After his gains had been calculated, Nar had stared blankly at the paltry list before him. He didn’t even finish reading through it. As soon as he saw the newly added 8 points of [Aura] he was receiving, he had forgotten about the rest.
78 now. 22 to go.
It was at that moment that Nar realized that he was going to lose his second modifier as well, and that there was nothing he could do about it.
As unfair as it was, it was unavoidable. Everything pushed him towards his [Aura].
The fighting required it. Their very path, laden with Pressure, demanded it. The System, at the will of the Crystal, the Great Admin, seemed adamant in forcing as much [Aura] as It could down his throat. And Nar could only take it.
He stared blankly at his status tab, unable to sleep.
NAR293457741235645XAV
Basic 20
Health Points: 187/220
Stamina: 145/250
Stats
● Strength: 17
● Constitution: 22
● Stamina: 25
● Agility: 19
● Speed: 23
● Aura*: 78 (60 + 18 Mod.)
● ???: 16
● ???: 21
● Might: 6
● Endurance: 8
● Instinct: 21
● Reflex: 22
● Hearing: 13
● Sight: 12
● NPC: 5
● Smell: 5
Despite all of his gains, and everything he had been through, and every enemy he had left dead or broken in his path, he was still just a Basic 20. Who was he to deny the Almighty and Its System?
He almost missed that he had unlocked [Smell], starting at 5 points. When he told Jul, she was much more enthusiastic about it than he was. She herself had gotten no better gains than he had, and it was the same for all the others.
The only two exceptions were Kur, who gained a new boon, [Fighter’s Boon], and Gad, who finally gained her much anticipated and desired AOE taunt skill, in her now upgraded [Shield Call 2]. The upgraded skill added a third charge to her taunt skill that allowed her a shorter-ranged, multi-target taunt based on a 20-feet radius around her.
They were good skills to have, but all in all, across the party, the gains still felt lackluster…
In the sullen silence of early next morning, Kur got them ready, and ignoring the empty stares of those who had not slept, the party walked into the corridors of the Upper Levels. According to the quest window, this was the last level before they reached the O-Nex.
However, rather than joy, all Nar felt was exhaustion.
Five months he had Climbed, and there was still an entire level above them. Only the Crystal knew how many more months of unknown horrors and tribulations awaited them, before they could finally see the blessed light of the Outside-Nexus.