By the time they were finally set free, drenched in sweat and their uniforms splattered in a dozen colors and dishes, and smelling of delicious food, Nar had to give it to Tuk.

They had set out to find out where their food came from, and not only had they discovered it, they had also learned how it was made, and had made it themselves.

Boiling, steaming, frying, grilling, stir-frying, blanching, mashing, crushing, cooling, heating and so many, many others. They had done it all, and it had been a time of laughter and fun, and he would savor the memory of his friends’ faces as they huddled up to try the dishes that they made, with their own hands, as the chef and cooks instructed and aided them.

“Of course, you won’t fully understand the full cycle of food until you’ve harvested it yourselves, but that’ll come. And sooner than you think,” the chef had told them, with an enigmatic smile. “Now go on! Go get yourselves cleaned up for dinner! And you’re always welcome to come back! We’ll make cooks out of you if you want us too!”

Tuk and Jaz both promised to return, and soon. Nar thought for himself that he had had enough of cooking for a good while. He’d rather eat it. Still, he didn’t swear off of it entirely. The feeling of all the things he had done, and all the textures he had touched, lingered in his hands and fingers. And his mouth was still abuzz with all the dishes they had tasted.

It was fun, he admitted to himself.

And it had also been surprisingly fulfilling. In the cubeplant, all he ever did was push aura into his machine, never really understanding what it did with his aura, how or why. And in the Climb, he had done nothing but endure and destroy his way up to the surface. This, though? This was different.

He had made something. He had seen it from beginning to end.

He had chopped the onions and sauteed them. He had added the meat and stir-fried it, adding the incredibly aromatic herbs and spices into it that gave the dish its flavor, as the chef had explained to them. He had boiled the vegetables, he had combined everything and cooked them to readiness alongside his friends, and in the end, he had tasted the fruits of his labor. The work of his very hands.

It had been amazing. It had been terrifying. It had been exhilarating. And one day he would do it again, with his dad.

For now, I have no time for it, he thought to himself. The master said I would need to sacrifice everything to make my path work. And I will…

They all chatted and laughed and greeted crew members as they made their way back to the faculty decks, following the white arrows at their feet.

They split to each go for their own party rooms, and when they arrived at their own, they found the others about to head out.

“Where have you been?” Kur asked them. “You missed the captain’s announcement! There’s a…”

“Special dinner tonight,” Mul cut in.

“And we’ve reached the gateway,” Viy added. “We know. The chef told us.”

“What chef?” Kur asked. “Wait! What’s a chef?”

“One of the bosses of the kitchen!” Tuk chimed in. “You have no idea what we saw! And we made food!”

“You what?” Cen asked. “How?”

“Later!” Gad said.

“Yes. You can tell us all about it later! Just go get cleaned!” Kur said. “We’re going to 0LR4 to look at the gateway. Just hurry up!”

They didn’t have to be told twice, and ran into their rooms and bathrooms to get ready.

Nar paused briefly as he considered his clothes after the shower.

He took them to the dirty laundry chute in their corridor every morning on his way to breakfast, but he had never really stopped to think about what happened to his clothes, who took them, washed them and brought them back to their rooms.

A place like the kitchen, but for cleaning clothes, Nar thought, as he wore a fresh uniform. The slight scent he’d come to associate with clean clothes filled his nostrils, and he inhaled deeply. He never got tired of it.

How many more places like those are there on the ship? Filled with people doing their own tasks, in their own little corners of Creation…

It wasn’t that different from the cubeplant, he supposed. However, the curtain kept rising, revealing more, and more, and more of the endless vastness of the Nexus. And he hadn’t even seen the Nexus proper yet, or the rest of the ship, or even a single dungeon.

He realized, in fact, that despite all that he had seen, all that his Nexus 101 teacher and masters and instructors taught, that he really knew nothing of this infinite place he had stepped out unto.

And… I think I’m okay with that, he thought to himself, getting dressed. Actually, I hope I never run out of things to find out about.

In the end, out of all of them, Tuk, with his simple desire to live, and discover and enjoy good things, might just be the one with the right idea after all.

Well… Maybe after I get my dad out. Who says we need to spend our lives fighting?

“You guys ready?” Mul asked, peeking his head inside the room for the third time.

“Yes, yes!” Tuk snapped at him. “We’re coming!”

The first time Mul had opened the door to ask them if they were ready, he had nearly flashed Jul, and Tuk’s scream had been higher pitched than hers when the two of them had made eye contact.

Outside, Viy and Jul were also already waiting for them. Nar noticed that Viy’s hair still looked damp.

“You ready?” Nar asked her.

“It will dry on its own,” Viy said, jumping to her feet. “Now let’s go! I wanna see this gateway already!”

They quickly left their room and rushed through the now chaotic corridors.

Apprentices chatted and shouted, laughed and joked, and the atmosphere was charged with nervous and excited sparks. Despite the long queues at the lifts, there was a feeling that something special was about to happen, and nobody really minded the long waiting.

“Crystal… What were those people doing?” Mul asked, when they reached the lift at last and squeezed in with other apprentices. “You go in, you press a button. How hard is that?”

Nar pursed his lips, and continued staring at the slow-moving numbers in the level indicator. His checks burned.

“Sorry, it was our fault,” Tuk said. “I took too long in the shower.”

“I love the shower too, you know. But I don’t use my full allotment when people are waiting for me, you know?” Viy said, half-joking and half-chastising both Nar and Tuk for having had the audacity to use their entire daily allotment of water to enjoy their showers.

“Sorry,” they both mumbled.

Jul chuckled quietly into her hands as Viy sighed with exaggeration and shook her head.

Fortunately, after the lift, it was all smooth sailing, and they quickly reached their destination.

The first time Nar had walked through one of those seemingly sudden and empty rooms, finding the view of a million ships outside, on his way to his party room from the infirmary that very first night they had boarded the Scimitar, he hadn’t known what they were for.

But now he knew that they were communal leisure rooms. They were meant for apprentices to relax with each other, enjoy the snacks on the machines at the back of the room, and enjoy the view of whatever was going on outside.

The room they now found themselves in, however, was much bigger, and it had a much bigger window to match. It actually curved up to cover the ceiling as well, giving them an unparalleled view of the outside.

Usually, whenever they looked out, the view was more or less similar. It would be bright out, or dark.

Dense gray clouds would cover everything, barring their eyes from enjoying the outside view, or there would be between a few to none, in which case they would be regaled by the view of thousands of ships sailing alongside the Scimitar, as far as the eye could see.

However, this time the view before them was slightly different.

Something massive emerged from the clouds below the ship, and kept going far, far above their heads, where it turned at a right angle, and disappeared from view. Within it, there was a shimmer of a veil of golden and pearlescent multi-color.

“That’s the gateway!” Cen told them, as they joined up with the others by the entrance of the room, where they had been waiting for them.

“My Crystal…” Tuk whispered. “The size of that thing!”

“You just missed one of the professors' explanations. The gate, the structure you see, is a hundred miles across on either side,” Cen explained, smiling up at their expressions. “And when we go through it, we'll be jumping about 7.4 quadrillion miles from here and into the Outer Edge of the Labyrinth.”

“Crystal…” Viy whispered, looking up.

“And it will be instantaneous,” Gad added, also looking up. “The Nexus is a place completely beyond us. I’m glad that the COO found us and took us in.”

“Yeah…” Nar agreed, mutely. Then he frowned. “This is the first ring, right?”

“The Ring of Faith,” Cen said. “A quarter of the way into the Outer Reaches of the Endless Labyrinth.”

“A quarter…” Nar said, slowly shaking his head.

“It really puts the endless in the Endless Labyrinth, doesn't it?” Cen asked.

“Crystal… I can’t wait,” Tuk said, in a hushed tone. “The things we’ll see. The things we’ll do…”

“The things that will try to kill us,” Mul added, though his tone of voice was awed.

“This is just the start of it all,” Gad said. “Whatever our lives will be like outside the B-Nex, it starts through this gate.”

“Yeah…” Tuk breathed.

Nar glanced at Gad. He had picked the slight waver in her voice, and he reached up to squeeze her shoulder.

Startled, she looked down at his hand, and then him. Then a smile spread over her lips, and she gave him a nod.

As for the others, despite his downer words, Mul was staring up at the massive gate with as much wonder, and perhaps even hunger, as Tuk did.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Despite the brawler's pessimism, Nar was starting to wonder if perhaps Mul was just a closeted Tuk. He had been repressed and beat down on by his family for years, and now, here he was, free of them and the B-Nex, and ready to finally live his life the way he damn well wanted to.

And I hope he gets too, Nar thought. Both of them.

It was worth everything they had endured, to see the two of them marveling at the wondrous sight before them. And to the side, both Viy and Jul starred in just as much wonder. Hopefully, they two would find whatever they wanted. Whatever it may be that brought them happiness.

As for Cen… He snorted.

She was loving every bit of studying and aura work, and that was probably her calling right there. Like someone who had been shown the light for the first time in their lives, which, in fairness, they all had been, Cen had to be pulled away from her studies and practice to sleep and eat. Sometimes even to use the toilet.

She’ll be fine, Nar thought, smiling at the small lengos. And that leaves… Kur?

“Where’s Kur?” he asked.

“Wha-What?” Tuk asked, looking around.

“Relax,” Cen said. “He was just called away for a bit.”

“Why?” Mul asked, with ever present suspicion.

“You’ll see…” Gad said, smiling. “He should be back soon.”

And knowing neither her nor Cen would budge and reveal whatever mystery they were cooking up, Nar resolved to look outside again.

The clouds were dispersing as the light dimmed outside, and soon, more and more ships popped into view, their dark silhouettes marked by their colorful golden rainbow wakes.

“There’s so many of them,” Jul said. “Are we all going into the same gateway?”

“I guess so,” Cen said.

“It’s definitely big enough for all of us,” Mul mumbled.

The klaxon sounded suddenly.

“All hands, all hands! Prepare for gateway jump in 30 minutes!” the voice said. “I repeat! All hands, all hands! Prepare for gateway jump in 30 minutes!”

“Soon…” Nar said.

“Come on, let’s get closer!” Tuk said.

They waded further into the big leisure room. There had to be about two or three hundred students gathered there, and Nar noticed that throughout the room, tables had been put together into squares of varying sizes.

“That must be for the food!” Mul shouted.

Cen laughed at her brother's excitement and held his hand.

“Yes, yes. After we jump, they’ll feed us.”

“I’m starving,” Mul said, staring wistfully at the closest empty table, as they passed by it.

“Didn’t you spend the whole day in the kitchen?” Cen asked. “Didn’t they feed you? You missed lunch!”

“No! We feed ourselves!” Mul said. “Listen. So, first we went to Row’s room to grab…”

“Hey! It was my plan!” Tuk said. “I should be the one to tell what happened!”

Nar chuckled at the back of their party, and as they found seats by the floor to ceiling window, Nar wandered over to it, to have a better look of the outside.

The clouds were thinning more and more, and suddenly, amidst the breaking clouds, he saw a massive monolith emerging.

Cries of surprise rose up amongst the gathered apprentices, as the shadow of a massive aethership blocked out the light into the room.

“What is that?” Jul asked, having been on her way to join Nar by the window.

“It’s one of the Navy ships guarding the gateway,” Cen told them from the green couch they had claimed. “The professor said we might see them.”

“It’s huge!” Tuk said, looking up.

That was an understatement.

The ship was built all in right angles, like a block carved out of some kind of dull, matte dark gray and blue metal. The symbol of the Crystal and the 14 Great Houses was emblazoned upon its underside, in between massive spheres glowing brightly with aether, as was a completely different symbol.

It was that of a great horned, blue and winged beast, holding a massive sword in its vicious looking claws. Its head was thrown back in a silent roar, and the clear savagery and promise of violence it evoked, together with the sheer size of the monstrosity above their heads, made Nar stiffen at attention.

“The great warships of the Church…” Gad whispered.

This was authority.

Physical. Real.

The power and might of the Radiants and the Holy Church made manifest. And Nar knew that this was just one of probably millions of ships, crewed by the trillions that served the Church. Most likely, it was probably not even the biggest ship in the enormous fleets that defended the Nexus and the early parts of the Labyrinth.

As with everything else, seeing hit much harder than simple belief and knowledge. This was probably the first, real, manifestation of the power of the beings that had haunted Nar throughout his entire Climb, and which Nar had cursed and swore at again and again.

Not that I didn’t have a reason for it, he thought, half bitterly, and half coy.

Still, looking at the ship that was even now still passing above them with its enormous bulk, he couldn’t help but feel a sobering experience.

Here was the authority of the Ones who had created them. Here was the might of the Ones who had casted them into the darkness for the Original Sin. And these were the Ones that Nar had defied, and demanded a hybrid path from, and shouted and cursed at for years.

And not even knowing that there were 25 of them… He thought, shaking his head. Maybe I’ll be more careful, from now on.

He was out and forgiven now. Who cared about what he had gone through to achieve it? Or how many he had seen burned to char and blasted apart as they attempted to earn the same as he?

He shook his head again, pushing away the thoughts and memories.

Regardless of the omnipotence and omniscience of the Crystal having been thrown into doubt by Professor Thim, he had to behave himself from there onwards. He hoped to never find himself on the wrong side of The Radiants’ Law and Will ever again.

“Head’s up, everyone!” Kur’s voice suddenly shouted from behind him. “Look who I brought!”

Nar turned around, slowly peeling his eyes off the mammoth aethership above them.

His heart froze, then dashed to a gallop.

At Kur’s side was a woman he had never seen before. And yet, despite knowing that he was right, he also knew exactly who she was. There was no confusing that grin.

It was Rel.

*********

While the party rushed towards Rel, shouting and crying and all talking all at once, Nar stood where he was.

His brain was having a disconnect seeing the woman before him and recognizing her as Rel.

Her skin had turned back in time, rejuvenating back to its youthfulness. Her body looked fuller under the uniform, gone her emancipated, self-consumed look. Even her hair had grown longer in those two short weeks, now reaching her shoulders. And it was full, and vibrant in its deep golden brown, which glistened in the thousand colors of the massive ships’ engines above them and the glow from the gateway.

Her light green eyes sparkled brightly with barely contained tears, and her cheeks were flushed with a healthy crimson, as she tried to answer and assure everyone that she was fine now, and that everything was okay.

And Nar’s heart beat hard and fast. He felt… An apprehension. And he didn’t understand why.

The klaxon sounded again.

“All hands, all hands!” Nar heard the voice. “Prepare for imminent gateway jump! I repeat, all hands, all hands! Prepare for imminent gateway jump!”

In a daze, Nar looked back outside, in time to catch the tail end of the massive ship finally passing by them.

The light of the gateway was much brighter now, though it was not blinding. And before his eyes, one after the other, he watched ships disappear into the light.

The others all gathered around the window in the general commotion of apprentices rushing to get a better view.

“Is it everything you thought it would be?” a voice asked, far stronger and richer than he remembered it to be. “The light and the colors and everything else?”

Nar looked to his side, and met her eyes, shining in the light of the portal.

“Yes,” he said, as everything around him seemed to extend and lose shape, the light stretching into visible strands and decomposing into a tiny billion dots. And while this all happened, her eyes never left his. “It is… And more.”

Then a wave of nausea hit them, and everyone stumbled to the right, backwards, towards where they had just come from, as if their bodies were still expecting to be back there.

Rel reached out for him and he stabilized them both, and Mul held onto his hip, he himself holding onto Cen.

Then, it was over, and when Nar looked up, the massive gateway was now on their right, and the outside was a lot darker than before, a rich, velvety deep blue and purple.

“Is everyone okay?” Gad asked, above the rising noise of the excited crowd.

“Ugh…” Tuk said. “I hit my head on the window…”

“Fucking pit…” Mul said, breathing hard. “Who told you to put your face to it?”

“I just wanted to see…”

“Are you alright?” Nar asked Rel, still holding onto her arm.

She looked up and smiled brightly. “I’m fine, Nar, thank you.”

Nar let go of her arm, and suddenly, it was like a tap was turned open.

“How are you? Are you healed? Did you find the Source? Did you…”

She laughed and squeezed his arm.

“Calm down! I’m fine!” she told him. “Everything is fine now. And yes, I found the Source. It’s thanks to it that I’m alive… But, that face! Seriously, Nar, I’m fine! Everything is alright now!”

“But how?” he mumbled, still barely recognizing the person before him as being Rel.

“Well, where do I even start?” she pondered.

Meanwhile, from behind them, there were shouts about food being served, but neither of them moved away from the windows.

“Okay! The long story it is, then!” she said, laughing. “So, the last thing I remember was using my [Arrow of Redemption] to stop that flying monster…”

“The dragonfly,” Nar said. That’s what the alfin doctor back at the arena had called it.

“Yes, that! Then, next thing I know, I’m waking up in this dark room,” she said. “There are other alfin around me, and we’re all sleeping together in this circle… And in the middle of us, floating in the air, was this tiny, tiny dot of light… And, I-I can’t explain it but, it was like being touched by life itself! It was like eating, and drinking and breathing all at once.”

She looked up to him, struggling to find words.

“I-I can’t really describe it… But I’ve never felt so alive as I did when I looked at that light,” she said. “I was still very weak, of course. And that’s when the priest came in to talk to me.”

“A priest?” Nar asked, stunned. “On the ship?”

Rel nodded. “She looks after the light, the Source. No ship is allowed to carry the Source without a priest of the Order of the Alfin Protectors of the Sacred Source.”

Nar just gave her a confused look and she laughed again.

“I know, I know! It’s so confusing, isn’t it?” she said. “So, basically, what I’ve been Yearning for all this time was for the light of the Source Itself!”

“The same Source that powers our level ups and attributes? The whole Creation Source?” Nar asked, dumbfounded.

“Yes!” she said, laughing. “It turns out that the alfin were the very first sentients that the Radiants created! And because of that, we need to be exposed to the Source!”

“What…”

“I know! But that’s exactly how the priest explained it to me! After the alfin, all the other sentient creatures were created, getting farther and farther away from what the alfin look like.”

“Wait… So, are you saying that all this time I thought of other sentients as human-like, but in reality, they’re all alfin-like?”

Rel burst out laughing. “Why would anyone be human-like? I mean, everyone is alfin-like, but I don’t think I ever thought of it like that!”

Nar however, was floored.

“So, my ears,” he said, touching them. “They’re just not alfin enough?”

Rel touched her own longer, and pointier ears and laughed again. “Crystal, Nar. I missed you…”

Nar stiffened at the unexpected words and Rel blushed.

“Not like that!” she quickly said. “The Yearning is gone. And so is… All of that embarrassing stuff…”

He couldn’t help but smile at her. “So, you’re healed then? It’s all over?”

A shadow passed over her eyes.

“Rel?”

“Well… Yes and no,” she said. “The Source healed me. It took until yesterday for me to be able to move around without help, and I still need to sleep under it tonight and tomorrow… But it didn’t fully heal me. It’s not strong enough to fully restore me to full health. I took too long… And more than that… The Yearning is gone, yes, but if I stay too long away from the Source, it will come back. Just like before…”

Nar blinked slowly at her words, their meaning slowly chaining and linking together. “So, that means…”

“Yes. I will always need to visit the Source regularly. And for the rest of my life,” she said, looking away, out in the darkness around the ship, where hundreds of thousands of ships glimmered in the dark twilight.

“Rel…” he said, his voice dying.

What can I say to that? Nar thought, his mind going blank.

“No-No! Look, it’s okay!” she said. “I can go on for months, you know? Once I’m topped up properly! For now, I just need to sleep under the Source twice a week. That’s why there are ships that carry the Source with them, so that they can have alfin delvers and still be in the Labyrinth for as long as it takes. So it’s all good, you know?”

Nar heard the begging in her voice. The begging for him to tell her that it was all going to be okay. That despite this veritable shackle around her neck, she could still live her own life, and go and do whatever she pleased.

And this on top of her penance path, Nar thought. Crystal… Did it really have to be like this?

However, outwardly, he smiled at her.

“Yeah… Yeah, of course!” he said. “It’s just like sleeping. Or-or eating, or going to the toilet…”

She gasped.

“Did you just compare sleeping under the Holy Source to going to the toilet?”

Nar raised his hands and took a step back.

“I-I mean… I was just…”

Her laughter rang, loud and clear. Musical, almost.

“I’m just joking,” Rel said. “Yes, just like going to the toilet. It’s just something you’ve got to do…”

Nar nodded, slowly. “And now? What are you going to do? I mean, you weren’t awake when we all decided to join the Scimitar.”

“Yeah… That’s true. But, even if I had been awake, I would still want to join up,” Rel said, looking around at the loud crowds around them. “I mean, Kur told me everything that happened. If anything, and yes, I know you were definitely dying to join up, but, yeah… You guys did it for me. I’m alive only because you guys got me out. And because you kept me sane, and alive, Nar. So, thank you. I’ll never forget what you did for me, and I swear that I’ll do whatever it takes to get your dad out. I swear by the Crystal.”

Nar felt a shiver at her words, and he nodded. “Thank you.”

“No, thank you…” she whispered, and then, speaking louder. “And besides, I have a non-changeable combat class! What else am I going to do with my life besides delving?”

“Uh… I mean, there can be other things you can do?”

“I know. I know. The priest told me a lot about the options available for me… But for now, I want to stay aboard this ship. I would like to delve with all of you, and then, afterwards, I can see how things are, you know? I can decide then. Don’t worry! Path of penance or not, I’m not trapped with anything!”

“Yeah!” Nar said, with much more enthusiasm than he felt. “For sure!”

She smiled and nodded effusively.

“Anyways, I’m starving! They only allowed me to eat soft and bland stuff,” she said. “I’m dying to try this real food I heard so much about!”

Nar chuckled at the sudden hunger that shone in her eyes.

“Already then! Follow me! We’ll eat until we pass out!”

She looked at him in shock. “You can do that?”

“Oh, yes! Just wait until you see how much food they give us!”

And with that, he gestured for her to follow him into the crowd, and towards the tables.

However, when she couldn’t see his face, he couldn’t help but drop the forced smile. Perhaps he had been too hasty in his early resolution of being more respectful towards the Almighty Crystal and the Radiants.

How? He thought. How could You do this to her?