Both parties waited anxiously for the return of their leaders.

Kur and Row had already left an hour ago, joining the mass of party leaders heading out to announce each party’s decision to the Raid Leaders. Like Kur, Row had also gone to meet Juf.

“It's the only way. I’m not going to let anyone else decide this for us,” she had said, as she left.

Their party had had a much tougher time in deciding, and the fact that Kur’s party was going through the middle had been the deciding factor in pushing them towards Row’s arguments.

Nar was happy to have them at their side. They had fought well together, across that first bridge, and it was good to have someone he could trust and rely on with them, amongst all of those strangers.

I wonder if there’s any Climbers from our cubeplant here, he thought, thinking about Der and Faj, the only two other Unclean to join the Climb that year.

I hope they made it, Nar thought, feeling a knot form in his stomach. Even if they did make it out, Nar doubted that he would ever see them again. As it turned out, there were one hundred thousand gates out into the O-Nex. That meant that they could be split across very different, and very distant places.

If they even made it to an exit…

He shook his head. He couldn’t wait to cross that gate. It would be good to leave all that suffering and death behind.

“They’re coming back,” Tuk announced.

“Finally!” Mul said. “Hey, we’d like to take the suicide route with you, thank you. How long does it take to say that?”

“Calm down, Mul,” Gad said. “It’s going to be alright.”

“It fucking better be!”

They waited in a tense silence as Kur and Row made their way back, past all the other party leaders still walking over to make their decisions known. The two of them had actually been amongst that first burst of party leaders heading out.

“Alright, gather up,” Kur called, as they approached.

Row motioned over for her party to join in as well.

“So? What’s the pile like?” Jaz asked.

“Like shit,” Row answered. “It’s absolute insanity.”

“Fucking great,” Mul muttered.

“Come on, tell us,” Gad said.

Kur passed a hand over his face and sighed.

“Alright, here’s what’s going to happen. To no one’s surprise, three bridges are going to come up.”

“Yay…” Tuk said.

“They are going to connect this side to the Gates. Each of these things are going to be big, with about 300 feet in between them,” Kur explained. “The right and left bridges are going to be curving out from the middle one, and they are going to have two levels. This is important because Climbers will start on the lower level of those bridges, and will have to climb up past the defenses onto the upper level. Up there, there will be long ranged, high-powered DPS enemies, aiming and shooting at the middle bridge. At us.”

“My Crystal…” Cor said. “From both sides, and from that distance, we can’t really do anything, can we?”

“No. We’re completely dependent on them,” Row said. “However, there is mention that… There might be some surprises. On either side, or down the middle. So we never know. 300-feet is a lot of space for anything to pop out of.”

“Okay, what about us, then?” Teb asked. “We just have to kill this boss?”

Kur shook his head. “The boss will be heavily defended. There will be three separate offensives down the middle. One on the left, one on the right, and one down the actual middle. The one in the middle will be the one to actually engage the boss. The ones on the sides will be split into vanguard, that’s the front, the middle, and the rearguard. They will move as necessary to protect the parties in the middle.”

“Are we in the middle?” Mul asked.

“No, we’re on the middle left. We wanted to fight the boss, but…”

“Of course you did.”

“But Juf is worried about the sides and the surprises that might come out of that hole. She’s making sure she has enough strong parties holding the sides and covering the middle. And I told her we were a strong party.”

“And so did I,” Row said.

“Nice one, boss,” Jaz said.

Row glared at him.

“What? I meant it! I don’t want to fight that Raid Boss! Did you see the size of the thing?”

“Speaking off, don’t expect things to be easy just because we’re not fighting the Raid Boss directly. There are going to be a lot of enemies on those bridges. A lot,” Kur said.

“When you say a lot…” Cen let the question trail off.

“There are over fifty thousand of us,” Kur said. “Multiply that. That kind of a lot.”

“A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot,” Row said, shaking her head.

“Not making me feel any better here, boss,” Jaz said.

“Not trying to. Get it in your heads. This is going to be insane. Hundreds of thousands of enemies, piling up on the left, on the right and in the middle… They will be everywhere. And these won’t just be little things. We’ll be facing huge shit too. Things like the Sentry, and by the thousands! The Raid Boss will be the big guy, but it won’t be the only thing towering above us.”

“Crystal…” Nar muttered.

“Our parties are going to be working together, but separately,” Kur said, exchanging a glance with Row. “It’s too late to try and mix both parties together now. We know how to work alone, so that’s what we’ll do, but we’ll keep an eye out for each other and support each other as best as we can. And I mean that.”

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Row nodded.

“And as soon as that thing is down, and the Gate is open, we’re legging it. All of us, you hear?” she said, staring fiercely at each and every one of them. “When the Raid Boss goes down, it’s going to be everyone for themselves. Everyone will want to get out. The whole thing is going to fall apart, and we'll only be able to rely on ourselves. On these two parties.”

“We’re all getting out,” Kur said. “Carry each other if you have to. Everyone else is going to be blinded by whatever is on the other side, but not us. We need to hold strong and we need to walk out of this together. We’ve only made it this far by the effort and sacrifice of everyone here. Without even one of us here, none of us would've made it here. So watch out for each other out there. And may the Crystal have some mercy on us. We’re all going to need it, and it's about time we got some.”

*********

It was quiet.

The lights had been dimmed early for the night, maybe to force everyone to try and sleep ahead of the big day tomorrow.

They had eaten, and Kur had told them to go to sleep early. However, like Row’s and many other parties around them, they were all still awake, huddled up together.

“I think it would be nice if there was some fire here. In the middle,” Tuk said suddenly.

“Why would you want more heat?” Mul asked.

“I don’t know. It was just a thought.”

Another moment of silence lapsed between them.

Gad stood up. “We should all sleep. It will be rough tomorrow.”

Nar found himself nodding. He should go sleep, he just wasn’t sure he was going to be able to.

“I… I just want to say I’m really happy I ended up at this party,” Gad said. “Kur’s party. I’m really excited to see what's beyond those Gates tomorrow, with all of you.”

Gad smiled at them, and the tenseness he felt eased off his shoulders somewhat.

“Me too, my people,” Tuk said. “It will be great to finally step outside with all of you.”

“Into light and color!” Rel said, smirking at Nar.

“Into light and color… Yes. And a new life,” Cen said.

“Away from everything,” Viy whispered.

Kur stood up. “Gad said it for me. It’s been my privilege to come all this way with you all. It will be a privilege to continue going into the unknown with all of you.”

“Whoop-whoop!” Tuk said, eliciting a smattering of laughter.

“Now, seriously, go to sleep. I don't want to wake up tomorrow and hear anyone complaining they couldn’t sleep.”

“What if we can’t sleep?” Jul asked.

“Then wake me up,” Kur said. “I’ll keep you company. Now shoo. Sleep!”

With some weak protests, mainly from Tuk, the party lay down to sleep. Besides them, they heard Row forcing her party to do the same.

Like he predicted, Nar lay with his eyes wide open, completely awake.

The scenes he had been given kept replaying through his head.

He had learned a smattering of new words earlier, but two of them kept resurfacing in his thoughts.

Monster and spider.

Surprisingly, spider had put a name to the things they had faced in that strange circular place, atop the endless chasm. Spiders were insects, whatever that may be. Non-sentient living creatures. And the things he had encountered had likely been modeled after them, even if they only had six legs, instead of the customary eight.

But their bodies matched the description, and even the wires they shot out matched the description of this web thing, that real spiders used to capture their prey.

Who had made them and for what purpose was still a mystery, but to him, those had been spiders. Aether powered, mechanical, invisible, lightning shooting spiders.

However, what had been surprising about it the most, was that he had expected to fight guardians. From the images he had received, none of the enemies they would be facing qualified as guardians. It wasn’t a big deal of course. He would still be fighting for his life regardless of whatever he faced. However, he couldn’t help but find it strange that the guardians had been replaced by something else.

As for the other word, monster, that one was a bit harder to unpack.

It could be used to describe the Sentry, and the giant guardian they had faced, and also the big spider that they had destroyed in that circular chasm. All those could be called monsters, but a monster didn’t necessarily have to be big, although it was a potentially defining trait. Frightening. Dangerous. Terrifying. These could also make a monster. However, and more surprisingly, he understood that sentients could also be accused of being monsters.

In fact, by the definition of the word, the cannibals were monsters, and what they did was monstrous. However, was the Crystal not responsible for opening those cubeplant Doors?

He sighed. That was a venue of thought he’d rather ignore for that night.

Instead, he recalled what he had seen. The words had been given to him for a reason. They would face spiders of different sizes, and the Raid Boss was a humongous thing, a true monster. It would probably not be the only one either, if those images had been accurate.

Nar tossed and turned, but it was impossible to escape the thoughts and images his own mind kept bringing up to show him.

Around him, from the occasional cough and restlessness, he could tell that no one was asleep either.

Maybe I should go for a walk.

But where though? Knowing of what lay down there in the dark, Nar really didn’t feel like getting close to that edge anymore. He doubted he would be attacked, dragged down into the dark for a quick and sudden death, with no one ever hearing his screams or knowing what had happened to him. However, the thoughts weren’t pleasant all the same. And as dumb as it was, it dissuaded him from going.

Also, he doubted Kur would just let him go off, right before the big fight.

He would probably just try to talk me to sleep. I bet he has a lot of managerial crap to talk about. That could work. Might put me right down to sleep.

But he didn’t want to disturb Kur or anyone else for that matter, so he stayed where he was, quiet.

Oh… Hold on. There is a place I can go to.

It was a strange idea, but after all, why not?

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

He took another, and another.

He relaxed his body.

He let go.

Deeper.

Downwards.

And then, he was there.

His aura glowed, warm and welcoming in front of him, in this deep, dark place within him.

Nar frowned at it.

Did you get any bigger?

He wrapped his arms around it, and surprised, found that his fingers couldn’t touch anymore. In fact, there was probably a good hand and a half of space between his fingers now.

Holy Crystal! You did get bigger! I mean… I shouldn't be surprised, I guess. I did gain another 56 points in you since then. Just how big are you trying to get, eh?

His aura simply stayed where it was, glowing in its multitude of grays, and its spots of deep blacks and bright whites.

He sat down with a groan, and looked around. Other than his aura, there was nothing else there.

What even is this place? And where?

It was a question he had asked himself before.

It was inside him, of that much, he was sure. But how was it possible that it felt like he was sitting somewhere else? As though he truly were there, and not laying down with his party, in that massive room?

He didn’t know. But he hoped he would.

That ball of light had kept him alive, and even now, staring up at it, he couldn’t help but feel that it radiated a sort of promise to him.

Take me… I promise you won’t regret it, it seemed to say.

That it was his, and that it would always be there for him, and that it would never let him down.

I’m the one letting you down. I’m sorry.

Yet, from his aura, he felt nothing more than welcoming warmth and reassurance.

He shook his head and lay down in that strange place that wasn’t a place.

He felt warm. He felt secure. Safe and supported.

Soon, he slipped into a sleep full of good dreams. Of getting out. Of exploring the Nexus and the Labyrinth with his party. Of saving his dad.

Unbeknownst to him, gentle ripples formed across the surface of his aura.

Each time they did, tiny droplets of hazy gray separated from its body and spread out, slowly, in all directions into the darkness.

It kept doing that all the while he slept, and only Crystal knew how long it had been doing that without Nar’s knowledge. However, somehow, Nar’s presence there tonight made the ripples form stronger and more urgently. And the droplets got bigger and bigger.

One would expect the ball to slowly diminish with so much of it spent and sent away. But on the contrary, that ball of light only continued to grow.

*********

Elsewhere, in vastly different darks, separated by truly immense, endless distances, Presences watched the vast numbers of Climbers spread out across the One Hundred Thousand Gates.

It was not possible to peer into their minds, nor to understand their thoughts.

Numbers? Probabilities? Concepts? Facts and lies. Emotion and feeling. Both basic and utterly complex.

Most turned away, uninterested.

But some stayed to watch.

The Ceremony of Final Atonement was about to commence once more.

And amongst the Presences, two of them seemed to share the same emotions.

Apprehension and hope.

And yet, they felt them for entirely different reasons.