From beneath the giant legs of the tower, it was far more daunting than it appeared from a distance. The structure rose straight up, like a needle pushing towards the pupil of stars.

The twisting mass of metal held only narrow sets of ladders intended for humans. The rest of it was alloy girders, long protruding barbs with a long forgotten purpose, and space. There was so much open space, that if Nix slipped, the only thing she would hit was the ground.

And yet she wasn’t afraid.

Compared to the Eidolon Gods, this tower truly was a needle. Not even. A pinprick point smaller than she could see.

Maybe, long ago, she might have felt some sense of vertigo imagining being so high, but after falling such vast distances into the maw of an impossible being, she didn’t even feel worried. Climbing this would be easy.

Nix reached her arm out, grabbed the wire mesh fence, and pulled herself over. Even under her gaunt weight, the ancient wire bent and she collapsed to the ground. Not a great start. She rose, noticing the pole of the fence near where she’d tried to climb had snapped. The wire mesh held it mostly upright, and she’d failed to notice before climbing.

So, she’d tripped on her first step, but Nix was determined to keep going.

The old her would have backed off after a single failure. She would have seen it as a sign that this was already too dangerous and that she needed to run back to the safety of her corner room in the Ward. The old Nix had been a coward. A coward that was too hopeful and trusting for her own good.

This Nix knew what sort of future awaited her if she was passive. Only by moving forward, and resisting her original attitude did she have a chance to change that fate. Even if it meant a little bit of danger.

Once she got the metal rungs beneath her feet and began ascending, motivation became abundant. So much of her time had been spent confined and unable to exercise while under the ‘care’ of the cults.

She’d originally been placed in the care of the fleshsmiths. K’tan offering her as a gift. After a year, maybe two, with them, she’d been handed off to the four Great cults, who each passed her around. Each of them had their own, unique rituals they’d performed on Nix, which supposedly increased her value as a sacrifice. The specifics, of course, were never disclosed to her.

Some had backfired. The sound of ritualists being eaten by the very thing they tried to channel had been a rare joy in her bleak existence.

The movement of her feet beneath her, and the strain of her muscles as she heaved herself up to the top of the first ladder felt great. She glanced around with pride as her breaths came quick, but not yet panting.

After that, I must be a quarter-way up the tower.

Her pleased expression soon grew strained as she looked down. She’d only climbed, what? Two, three storeys high? It felt like she’d done triple that. As her head tilted back, she found the tower’s point no closer than when she began.

With a nervous gulp, she moved to the second ladder. This was going to be much harder than she expected, but she refused to give up.

By the end of the second ladder she was wheezing. By the third, she had no strength left in her legs. She glared at the imaginary eye where it floated above her.

So nice of you to join me in this struggle.

Nix crawled to the fourth, the sharp metal grating beneath her knees left them raw and bloody. With her hand on the lowest rung, she crawled upwards, doing everything she could to hug the ladder close. Ever so slowly, she pulled herself up.

“Why do you not fly? Or teleport? Or twist your flesh into something less weak?”

The eyeball monster’s form distorted as Nix’s sluggish backhand swipe passed effortlessly through it. The black mist spread outward, covering its form, before the eye popped back to normal. Completely unaffected.

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Nix didn’t have the energy to do more than that, but she was still left disappointed that the misty feeling hadn’t been more solid. She really wanted the creature to leave. And seeing the creature get swatted out of the sky would be so enticing. Why did her own mind have to taunt her?

A sudden pain bloomed in her chest, and she hugged the ladder tight. She may not have climbed as high as she wanted, but she was still high enough to die if she fell.

The pain spiked in her heart, and she did all she could to keep her arms locked. A slimy feeling sprouted in the back of her throat. Suddenly, she found it impossible to breathe. Nix coughed. A chain of sickly hacks belted through her, leaving her entire body shivering with each progressive splutter.

When the coughing finally relented, Nix couldn’t move.

She stayed on the ladder until motes of fog rose around the eastern temple, encasing it in its eeriness. That’s strange, there should still be a couple hours.

Nix snapped her head up, not knowing when she passed out. Her legs had gone numb, and her arms ached worse than her pounding headache.

As she regained her bearings, she saw blood. It was everywhere. Her arms, and the rungs they clung to, were coated in dried crimson. Far below, the splattering of her internal liquid had painted the grey surface a darker hue.

Well, shit.

The iron tang was thick on her tongue, and as Nix looked down, she found the entire front of her expensive gown absolutely ruined.

It had been a long time since this had happened. She thought she’d grown healthier as she aged, but apparently it was just her lack of physical strain that prevented her from becoming a blood fountain again.

Woozy and disoriented, Nix felt the ground run away from her. She was so much higher than before. Out to her sides, there was more open, uninhabited lots between Still Tower and the rest of the city than she remembered.

Did they walk away? She thought hazily. I’d hate to be the guy who has to deal with a bunch of buildings growing legs.

As strange as the idea was, it wasn’t impossible. She’d heard of an apartment complex growing a stomach and eating a few of its residents once.

“Where did you go?” the eye popped in front of her face, but she lacked the energy to flinch.

Where did I go? Nix thought. Where else can I go?

Even when she’d found opportunities to escape, it’s not like there was anywhere on Coral that was safe. Her only option had been to hide in the eternal forest… but that had been too terrifying, and she’d chosen somewhere safer. Nix truly, truly regret not remaining in that forest. At least there, she could have lived for herself before she died.

Her head tilted back, and found the next platform was only half a dozen rungs away. she wanted so much to continue climbing. Nix wanted to see what Coral looked like from so high. But her body was weak. As it was, she had no option but to give up and return to the ward.

This body of hers couldn’t handle it, but Nix wouldn’t lose hope. She just had to bring her body out of this sickly state. Gradual exercise might make her healthier, but considering her current state was the result of curses, it might not.

An alternative was to join The Bodytwisters, as they had ways to increase one’s physical strength and capabilities. But not only would that require years of working her way up the ranks, the idea of being a part of a cult that had been a core pillar in her sacrifice left a sour taste in her mouth. Especially considering it was their leader that drove the dagger through her heart.

Nix’s best option, was to reach a name evolution. She’d lost hope that any additive she gained would be anything other than a curse, but she had three name parts now; that meant it was possible to condense it. Or… she hoped it was. A curse being so prevalent in ones blood it became a part of their name was rare, after all. Usually, it only occurred with cultists who already had an evolution or two… and they would combine that curse with an additive to strip the effect.

Was combining three curses really her best option?

Even if she gained the opportunity to evolve, should she bother? An empowered curse might become endlessly worse than anything she had to deal with now. What if her weakness amplified? What if she became bed-bound for the rest of her short life because curses should never be combined?

But… Nix didn’t have a choice. If she didn’t grow, she knew her fate.

Just imagining having the energy to reach the top of this tower was exciting. It was optimistic, sure, but the stakes on her life were already high. If combining curses gave her the slightest chance, she would evolve them. She would need to work for it, but it was better than waiting in her room for the world to eat her up again.

It was already late, and K’tan would be furious, so it was time for her to return.

Her limbs felt like jelly, but she was able to slowly lower herself a single rung at a time. If she had to go up, she wouldn’t have been able to move.

When her feet touched the metal grating below the uppermost ladder — the uppermost one she’d climbed — she collapsed to her back, arms flopping at her sides.

There was a slight sound of bubbles popping that tempted her to rest. But she couldn’t. The later it got, the more the cults would enact their rituals, and the greater the danger became.

The first fog was already dangerous for her.

A few minutes passed as she listened to the strange, accelerating sound of bubbles popping. They were just loud enough to deafen the indistinguishable whispering she knew came from beneath the surface. She didn’t know what it was. This close to the safe zone, there shouldn’t be any unprotected pools of water.

Curious, and ready to take on the next ladder, she rolled to her front, and froze.

Below, her pool of blood boiled.

Nix’s already pale face went white.