PART 1 - FOUNDATIONS

“Coming out of that gate… We weren’t ready for it. For none of it. And sometimes I wonder if I made the right choice. In not going…” - Anonymous security contractor, thranil, ex-Climber, heading home from work, aboard the AetherLines

Excerpt from “A Treatise on Forgiveness and Freedom”

Status: Unpublished. Censored by the authority of Truth Praetor Elisa Tranevor

Notation: Level 2 Breach of The Tenets for Scholarly Conduct, Education and Enlightenment

Scholar Kuon Feeir, KUO274021097334283LDX – Warning Issued

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A burst of sound made Nar jump, and finally pry his eyes from his confused face, displayed on a hundred screens high above his head.

“My, oh my! What an ending, folks! What an ending!” a voice boomed across the vast space. “Let’s have it for our last Climbers and that spectacular display of camaraderie and skill that they put on for us!”

From all around them, high above the massive white walls that surrounded the brightly colored hard flooring that they stood upon, the crowds erupted in cheering, applause and whistling.

“What in the pile?” Jaz said, for all of them.

The two parties stared about in confusion, lost as they clutched the wounded at their backs.

Even more of the colorful, soft things came softly raining down on them, in a renewed intense flurry that obscured the crowds, the screens and blinded them of their surroundings.

“What’s going on?” Tuk asked, his eyes wide as he stared at the rain of color falling from on high. At his back, Viy was completely passed out, and looked to be peacefully asleep.

At his side, Gad had lowered Cen to the floor, so she could stand on her own two feet, and the tank now considered the flurry that surrounded them with an inscrutable gaze. Mul was slumped over her shoulder, unmoving. As for Cen, she too looked up, her mouth forgotten open, and a soft expression on her face, which was marked by two trails of wetness.

That left only Jul, staring around her in confusion, biting her lip with restrained nervousness and rampant adrenaline. She held fiercely onto Rel, whose face was turned away from Nar, and who was presumably also still unconscious after all the strain that she had endured to fire the mighty skill that had brought down the flying monster that had almost ended their Ceremony in tragedy.

As for Row’s party, they had arranged themselves in a protective bubble around Row, and seemed ready to continue fighting for their freedom.

A series of loud booms sounded just behind them and Nar turned back to see the massive gate from which they had just exited, slowly closing itself shut once more.

From beyond it, he could see the lights turning off, shrouding the now destroyed husk of the Raid Boss in darkness.

A shiver ran down his spine as he beheld all of the uncountable spiders that had just been chasing after them. They now stood motionless as the darkness slowly swallowed them, their bodies gleaming in the fading white light filtering in through the gate.

It’s over… I’m out…

Nar looked around him, at the blinding flurry of color surrounding them.

“Now what?” he asked out loud, since no one had asked thus far.

“I’m sure someone will tell us something… Right?” Kur said, at his back, straining to hold onto his neck. “Or maybe we should just…”

As if in reply, a loud coughing and spitting startled them once again.

A man in long robes of white, with a cloth of gold and blue on the left side of his chest, and with what the System informed him was some kind of white, flat hat perched atop his head, wiped at his mouth in annoyance.

He looked human, but his skin was a patchwork of browns, purples and bright yellows. And he had a third, smaller eye in the middle of his forehead, framed by a sweaty, unruly mess of purple hair.

“What in Crystal’s Benevolence are they doing with those damned petals?” he muttered.

Then, he seemed to notice the two parties of Climbers staring at him in stunned silence, and froze.

He cleared his throat and something appeared in his hand.

Again, the System told Nar what he was looking at. It was a book, white and without any embellishments or even any words written upon its covers, from what Nar could catch with that quick glimpse.

“Today, boy! We’re not being paid by the hour!” the man snarled at someone behind him.

“Y-yes, Priest Mongylio! Right away!”

Nar’s jaw dropped as a young boy, probably in his early teens, stumbled forward on thin, bony, three clawed feet, while flapping wings of orange to keep himself steady.

The kid’s face was fully human. In fact, other than his legs from the knee down and the pair of wings that were now furled neatly behind his back, he looked completely human, with a pale, white and sweaty countenance.

In his hands, the boy held a short, gleaming gold and silver metal stick, from which dangled a short chain. At its end, there was some sort of container, from which a pastel rainbow like white smoke wafted from.

The man glared at the boy once more, his mouth half open as if to snap at him again, then tutted and opened his book to a bookmarked position and cleared his throat.

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

“Long, long ago, in the Eternity of the Everlasting Crystal and the Radiants, A great sin was committed against the Great Radiant Above All,” the man intoned, his voice taking on a solemn tone.

Meanwhile, the kid waved the stick around, making the smoke spread around himself and the priest, for there was nothing else that man could be.

Slowly the smoke reached towards the Climbers, and Nar smelled its intoxicating sweetness.

“The Original Sin, it is called,” the priest continued. “We do not speak of it. We do not forget it. And we will not forgive it.”

What? Nar thought in a panic.

“Until the great eras pass, and the debt is paid, Will those in cubeplants and the Waiting Dark be forgiven, And welcomed back into the Crystal’s Everlasting Love.”

… we know that much? Nar thought, his heart thumping in his chest. He was almost surprised that so much of what the man read from the book matched what the worker’s knew, given the insane string of revelations that had bombarded them ever since leaving the cubeplant.

However, the message from the System had told them that they were forgotten, right? So what was that all about?

“However, in Its Great Mercy,” the man said. “So has the Magnificent One decreed: A way out shall be granted, A path through the darkness shall be illuminated! Let there be a way for repentance and punishment! Let the Climb be permitted to those who are banished unto the dark!”

Nar felt Kur slip from his grasp as his entire body seemed to lose his strength.

We’re okay… We’re okay, Nar thought, feeling dizzy, as he pulled Kur back up to a proper position.

“Ouch…” the party leader groaned.

“Sorry,” Nar whispered.

All of a sudden, he was feeling very tired. Very, very tired.

The light caresses of the colorful things, petals, the priest had called them, brushing against his face, and the soft, sweet-smelling smoke were both conspiring to lull him off into what promised to be a long and gentle sleep.

“Let those of age make the decision! Let those who make it, Climb!” the man said, his voice rising into a passionate crescendo. “Let those who perish on the Climb, Be banished to the Waiting Dark. And may those who succeed, Bask in the Forgiveness and Mercy of the Radiants, Free and Purified of their Sin.”

The priest closed his book with a loud thump, jolting Nar to full wakefulness.

“And there you have it,” he said. “Now let’s go! Crystal’s Patience, making a person walk all the way out here for a bunch of…”

And just like that, he was once again lost in the flurry of petals, the boy flapping his wings in a panic to keep up with the priest's hurried strides.

“Will someone just tell us what the fuck is going on?” Jaz said again, louder this time, his tone between perplexed and irritated.

“For now, how about we just walk in that way,” Row suggested, pointing towards where the priest had disappeared to. “They have to have come from somewhere…”

“Sounds good,” Tun agreed, his eyes scanning their surroundings with wariness. “Not like we’re going backwards anyways.”

Nar looked back at the slowly closing gate, and the outlines of the spiders he could still glimpse from within.

Definitely not, he thought.

“Agreed,” Gad said. “Let’s get going. We need healers. Now.”

“Shit,” Kur said, staring at Rel. “How is she?”

Nar felt the telltale warmth of Kur’s [Healing Boon], but it felt it weaker than usual.

Farther away.

“I don’t know,” Jul said, shaking her head. “But I think she’s bleeding… From her mouth. And… Eyes and nose and ears too.”

“Crystal dammit!” Kur snarled. “Ok! Let’s go, let’s go! Quickly!”

“Do you need a hand?” Row asked them.

“We’re fine. Lead the way.”

Tun took the lead, with Raf unconscious at his back, and the rest of them followed suit.

Nar cast a quick glance at the closing gate behind him. In his chest, his heart felt as though it was being squeezed and pulled apart, as two competing emotions battled for control.

“We’ll be back, Nar,” Kur said. “I promise you. But for now, we need to get help.”

Nar nodded and took a deep breath.

“Don’t worry,” he said, as he turned to follow after the others. “It will be a long time before… Before I can even think about returning.”

“Yeah…” Kur whispered. “It will. But it’ll come.”

“Hmm.”

Soon, they found more parties of Climbers amongst the petals.

Some stood, lost, staring at the crushed petals at their feet. Others sat, their eyes vacant, dried tears on their cheeks. And some even curled up on tight balls, weeping and rocking themselves back and forth.

“You were supposed to carry him!” a morsvar shouted, his voice a high pitch of hysteria as he strangled an altei. “I covered our backs for you! And you couldn’t even carry him out?”

“He was… Already… Dead…” the altei struggled to speak.

“You don’t know that! You don’t know…”

And then, the scene was gone in the petals. Only to be repeated. Again and again. And the further they walked, the less Climbers walked in parties, and the more they walked alone, or in solitary pairs and trios, their faces hung in shock, shame and loss.

“Crystal…” Tuk whispered. “This is not how this was supposed to end.”

“That last attack broke us,” Gad said in a low rumble. “In more ways than one.”

“Shhh,” Kur said. “Let it go, everyone. Let’s just focus on getting a healer for now. And just because we’re out, it doesn’t mean we’re done. We have no idea what's waiting for us.”

“If that priest’s anything to go by, I’m starting to think it’s nothing good,” Jaz muttered.

“Hush!” Row threw at him, smacking his back. “Shut it! We’re outside now!”

“Humph,” the archer said, twisting his lips.

Nar stumbled and both he and Kur almost went down.

“Are you okay?” Kur asked him.

Nar shook his head and blinked his eyes. Was Kur’s boon already over?

A loud whispering was growing in his head, reminiscent of the Pressure they had at long last left behind them for good.

“Tired,” he muttered.

“Hang in there, man,” Kur said. “We’ll get you checked out too. That was a lot of aura you used back there. More than… Well, anything I’ve ever seen. We’ll just make sure you’re okay too, alright?”

Nar nodded, but didn’t speak. His legs were starting to shake.

“Put aways your weapons! Keep walking!” a voice boomed from further ahead. “Healers are waiting to look at you!”

“Thank the Crystal,” Cen whispered, looking around her wrecked party. “Just hang in there everyone.”

“Hmm,” Gad said with a nod. She limped something fierce, but her eyes looked ahead with the same unshakable resoluteness as ever. “You guys okay? Need me to carry them?”

“I’m fine,” Tuk said, offering her a brief smile.

“I’m okay too,” Jul said, looking back at Rel with a concerned look.

“All good,” Nar said, forcing the words to come out as normally as possible.

“Put aways your weapons! Keep going!” the same voice shouted, and an ashen skinned human woman in a white and gray uniform appeared from the flurry, a baton of some kind at her waist. “Healers are waiting for you!”

Her voice was being enhanced somehow, and it made them all wince at its loudness. Her eyes fell on the two parties walking past her, and a soft smile spread over her lips. Nar couldn’t help but stare at her. She looked just like him, from her ashen skin, to her faded dark eyes and ashen dark gray hair.

“Keep walking, straight ahead,” she said, her voice in a normal tone. “We’ve got auramancer healers waiting for you, and the Order of the Forgiven will look after you, so don’t worry. And you should put away your weapons now. You’re out. You’re safe. It’s over.”

“Thank you,” Nar heard Kur say from behind him, and he caught the quiver in his voice.

She gave them a nod and walked past them.

“Put away your weapons! Keep going!” she said, her voice booming once more as she disappeared in the petals. “Healers are waiting for you!”

“Well, maybe things won’t be so bad after all,” Row said, looking at Jaz.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” the archer replied.

Tuk chuckled and shook his head. “You sound like Mul.”

Jaz pursed her lips and Row rubbed his back.

“It’ll be okay,” she said, and pushed him forward, whispering to him alone.

“Let’s go,” Kur said. “We’re almost there. One more push, and we’ll be done.”

With a nauseous swallow and setting his eyes firmly ahead of him, Nar stored away the sword and carried Kur forward, and the rest of their party followed after them.