Contrary to earlier appearances, the hallway isn't endless by any stretch. Compared to many of the trio's earlier journeys, it wasn't even particularly long. Still, something about the repeating cycle of doors, the sense that an entire world existed beyond each one of of them, each populated by what are essentially Gods gave the pathway a surreal and unnatural quality. There is a palpable sense of relief as they finally reach the end of it, even if that relief is short lived. The good news is that they had, indeed, found a path upwards. The bad news is that it, predictably, wasn't sized for rodents.

"Do we really have to climb up all of those?" Mia asks. Her fur has regained much of its original dark coloring, but it's clear she still hasn't quite regained her full stamina, as meager as it is.

"It's a lot easier than climbing from the outside." Kay replies. She isn't wrong.

Mice are familiar with staircases. Sort of. The mouse city has some of them, but usually each one is only made up of a few steps. Massive stairwells take up too much real estate in the mouse city, with higher up apartments and structures usually accessed through ropes or ladders. The same applies to stairs made by humans. Once in a while it's necessary to traverse them, but usually no more than a few at a time. Here, each one sits a considerable distance above the heads of the mice, an open gap between each one. Someone like Kay can fairly easily jump from the floor up to its surface, and even for the others, climbing is far from an impossible task. The real issue is the sheer quantity of them, not to mention the demoralizing lack of progress. Each step leads to another, as stairs have the unpleasant tendency to do, and another, and another. After an exhausting trek, finally the three reached their goal. Well, not their goal, a goal, as another hallway, identical in appearance to the first stretched out before them.

"Weren't we just here?" Frederich huffs.

"No..." Mia says, panting no less heavily. "We appear to have reached the second floor, though."

"How many floors are there?" Kay says, sitting, similarly regaining her breath. The stairs posed little difficulty for her, but she still feels a growing sense of exhaustion as the curse continues to spread through her body.

"Hmmm, well I can see another window to our left." Mia replies, looking about. It's too high to clearly see though, offering a view of nothing but the darkness outside anyways. "I guess that means that there are as many floors as there were rows of windows visible from outside. I didn't keep track however. Anyone know?"

"A lot." Kay answers, curtly.

The sorceress simply nods and sighs in response. "Yeah. That sounds about right."

And so the journey continues. It's a fairly safe one, all things considered, even if at some point or another all three of them sort of hoped that they would be attacked or something, purely to break up the monotony. As frightening as unexpected things can be, the sheer uniform design of one identical floor stretching out to one identical hallway after another wore on their minds. Mice aren't really used to such uniformity. Their cities and villages are largely random conglomerates of houses and structures, and the relatively few Maker shrines they visit tend to all have unique layouts and purposes. The endless repetition felt unnatural, like a dream or, more accurately, a nightmare, so much so that after a few floors Frederich asked the inevitable question.

"Are we sure we're even getting anywhere? Everything is the same... the same floors over and over again. It doesn't feel right. Are we positive that we're not circling back somehow?"

"I'm..." Kay begins, hesitating with her response, going with the more honest response rather than her planned one. "...Pretty sure we're making progress."

There really is little way to tell. They can't see out of the windows, and are already within the aura of light so Kay has no sense of it really drawing closer. All they can do is keep moving, all secretly dreading that they are trapped in some sort of magical loop and wondering just how long they will have to go before they are forced to decide a new approach is necessary. Instead, however, without any real warning, the twisting stairwell vanishes. Another long hallway stretches out in front of them, but behind, it no longer turns upwards. On one hand, verification that they have actually traveled is a wonderful thing, but there is another problem, and not a trivial one.

"Whew, finally made it to the top." Frederich smiles. "What now?" he asks, his smile fading when he turns to Kay. Her own expression is worrisome.

"I... I don't know. It's still above us, but there aren't any more stairs." the older mouse says, head turned upwards, staring at the rough plaster ceiling.

"Maybe there's another way up somewhere?" Mia says, looking ahead. "Is there something at the end of the hall?"

Kay pauses, narrowing her eyes. She nods her head. "Yeah, there is."

"It's not more stairs, is it?" Frederich asks. He was just joking, but Kay's non-response gave him all the answer that he needed.

They traverse the upper floor feeling a distinct sense of deja vu. Aside from the slight variation in the stairwell they first used, everything was almost impossibly identical to the first floor. Fatigue has slowed their pace, and they are given a greater opportunity to take in their environment. This is not such a good thing. Beyond a door to their left, furious shouting between two alien voices can be heard, accentuated by the occasional loud bang or crash. Not far beyond, quiet soft sobbing can be heard from another. Across the hallway, the crack of light underneath the poorly painted door flashes in and out of existence, as a pair of heavy feet pace, stop, turn around and pace back, repeating this process seemingly endlessly. Through another, more sounds could be heard, but not the sounds of people, at least not really, instead just the digitally recorded voices going through a script. Even when the muffled lines of that script were followed by canned laughter, they still sounded far more lonely than mere silence.

"What's with this place?" Frederich asks. Mia similarly looks about nervously, regularly cringing at the unexpected noises.

"This is life." Kay says, with a sigh. "Are you surprised? There's more to the Maker's than just making big machines and delicious foods. I guess this is a side of them that you rarely see."

The naked mouse isn't too shocked by this. Humans are still avoided, but the local mice still live within close proximity to them, and this have a somewhat less romanticized version of then than the mice of the walled city.

"I guess life can be hard, even for a God." Mia muses, looking to the door where the overly loud television is playing, but daring to not even touch it.

Most of the chambers are silent, with no light spilling out beneath the crack of the doorway, but even these offer no real sense of peace or tranquility. At last they reach the end, and what greets them is hardly a pleasant surprise. More stairs, but unlike before, there were no steps traveling downwards, only up. While technically good news, it certainly doesn't feel that way, as another tiring journey up the massive steps simply renewed their sense that they were repeatedly walking the same roads. At the top, however, it doesn't end with an opening leading to yet another identical hallway. It leads to a door, with a familiar green glint shining from the knob.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Both the armored mouse (although less armored that he was before) and the sorceress nod to Kay as she repeats her earlier efforts. Knowing what to do rather than simply experimenting means that while it's still a somewhat awkward and difficult process for the tiny creature, it goes significantly smoother than the first time. She turns the knob, pulling the heavy metal door open with a huff, requiring all her strength, and all three feel the rush of cold air hit them as they rush through, the heavy door loudly slamming behind them the moment that Kay releases it.

There is a renewed sense of proper progress. It immediately becomes apparent that they hadn't simply been looping through their ascension, they have ventured upwards, far higher than any of them had gone before. There is little to see but darkness, but in the distance the faint glow of street lamps are visible, revealing the darkened silhouettes of countless structures, the occasional pinpoints of light within the windows, all of which are massive compared to the mice, yet appear tiny from this vantage point. An even clearer sense of this comes when the sky is illuminated by a sudden flash of lightning, followed by the inevitable long, low rumble of thunder.

"Heh, quite the view, isn't it?" Frederich grins. "A stormy night is the perfect atmosphere for the end of an epic journey, don't you think?"

That's when the rain begins to fall. Abundantly. Kay glowers to him, as though it were somehow Frederich's fault, and in truth, he kind of feels the same way, as though he were tempting fate. Rain can be quite unpleasant for mice. Torrential rain can be downright dangerous, especially when one is very far above the ground, and at risk of being washed over the ledge. Thankfully, even though visibility is a far from trivial issue, their goal, what they hope is their final goal, is quite obvious. On this flat, rough surface, only two small structures exist. One, the doorway behind them, surrounded by three short walls, and two, the single chamber up ahead, the clearly locked door shining with a bright pink lock. Even locked, the doorway offers some manner of shelter from the rain, the wooden door cracked and weathered from the elements. The lock proves uncooperative, but once it finally clicks, the door swings open on its own, revealing... nothing.

Well, that isn't entirely accurate. There are an abundance of Maker tools hanging from hooks, supplies, complex devices, a veritable treasure trove for the average mouse, but after visiting the hardware store, it is impossible for them to not be disappointed. Kay slumps her shoulders, simply looking forward in disbelief.

"H-hey, come on! It's too early to give up yet! There has to be something in here!" Frederich says, forcing a smile, trying to conceal the fact that he similar fears the worst.

"He's right." Mia replies, her own optimism significantly less forced. "I can't be certain what we'll find, but the only reason the pillar would appear here is if there were some significant source of magical energy. We just need to find it."

The naked mouse nods her head, still exhausted and demoralized. She had no idea of exactly what to expect, but it wasn't this. And so they search. There are no shortage of interesting things here, especially when one considers the lower standards held by mice, but certainly no signs of a great source of power. It was a fairly small chamber, at least by human standards, with only so many places to look, but as much as they searched, all they found were the same dark corners. Fatigue and frustration rapidly setting in, it's Frederich who happens to notice something unusual, entirely by accident.

"Um, I know this place is dark, but that corner over there... is it supposed to be that dark?" he asks.

The other two turn their heads. It was easy to miss at first glance, just another heavy shadow, but after watching for a few moments, something unusual is revealed: the air, dust and other debris in the area is drifting about in a spiral, circling around an unnaturally black pit.

"Huh, it looks like a portal of some kind." Mia says, looking closely, but not too close. "I've heard about these. They're magical gateways to other realms."

"Ugh, we're not going to have to walk through a whole other realm, are we?" Kay grumbles.

"I hope not. I've got to say, though, that thing looks a lot more ominous than I was hoping for." Frederich says, studying it similarly to Mia, but at a significantly safer distance. "So, what, do we just walk through it?"

"Of course. What, did you think that a source of incredible power would simply be lying around where anyone could stumble upon it?" an entirely new yet not entirely unfamiliar voice asks. All three adventurers turn to see a mouse standing in the doorway, a woman of flawless silver spotted fur, ornate garb, not even visibly wet from the raging storm outside, pressing a pair of spectacles up her long snout, up against her eyes. Helena, head of the adventurers guild gives the three shocked mice a sly smile. "It's right through there. The opportunity for all of my wishes to come true."

Kay grips her weapon tightly, glaring at the woman. "That's funny, I don't remember inviting you on this journey. If you were so interested, you should have asked to come along earlier."

The silver mouse chuckles. "Yes, in truth I had low expectations for your group, which you should be proud to learn you have surpassed. Well, slightly proud, at least. I believed this to be a fools errand, but am pleased to find myself proven wrong. I must apologise, though, on two fronts. First, yes, in hindsight I suppose I should have travelled with you and assisted in your goal. I certainly would have, had I believed that you would succeed. Secondly, and more significantly, I'm afraid I'm going to have to take those keys of yours. A frightfully rude demand, I'll admit, but I assure you, quite necessary to create a better world." she slowly steps forward, cracking the knuckles on her ringed paws. "I'm afraid I cannot accept 'no' for an answer, either."

"Seriously? You're crazy if you think we'll just hand them over to you after we've come all this way." Frederich says, drawing his sword. He pauses, looking down at it. "Uh, look I know we've never exactly gotten along. I always suspected you had a crush on me, which is why you were always so mean, but I still don't want to hurt you. If you refuse to back down, though, I'm going to have to stop you."

The woman grins wider, spreading her arms wide, and offering a slight, inviting bow. The armored mouse sighs, rushing forward, and at that moment Kay's eyes go wide. "I'll just knock you out using the flat of my blade. Sorry about this!" he says, leaping into the air, swinging the sword directly at her head. There's a sudden clang from the impact, Frederich had closed his eyes, being too chivalrous to bear seeing a lovely woman be injured. Instead, he opens them and looks into her eyes with shock. The blade is stopped just a paws length from the side of her head, pinched between two of her fingers.

"I accept your apology." she smiles, before punching him square in the chest. There's the briefest of pause, followed by an intense gust of wind before the armored mouse is sent, quite literally, flying. He barely has time to bounce off of the ground before smashing into and actually through the first few layers of the inside wall.

Frederich coughs, shaking off the powdery residue which rains down from the broken wall. "Heh, I guess you're a little stronger than I thought. Well, it'll take a lot more than that to stop me!" he grins, pointing his sword towards her. Well, that's the goal, anyways. The forearm dangles uselessly from the elbow, bent in a completely unnatural direction. "Huh?" he says, looking down at it. "Well, that doesn't look good. No pain, though..." he pauses. "Oh, wait. There it is."

He falls back, groaning, cradling the broken limb. Kay simply continues to stare, Mia, for once, showing surprisingly quick reflexes, raises her staff to cast a spell at the intruder. Although a significant amount of ground exists between the two female mice, the guild master clears it in an instant, landing two quick strikes on the surprised sorceress, three fingers jabbed into her throat, forcing the black mouse to double over, followed by a swift spinning kick to the stomach which doesn't make her fly in the same sense that Frederich had, clearly landed with significantly less force, but more than enough to send her tumbling nonetheless, clutching her throat, coughing, trying to regain her breath.

Helena simply grins, looking down at the sorceress, not even turning her head, simply raising a single forearm which Kay's axe, which she had earlier named 'Catherine', clangs down against. The silver mouse doesn't wear so much as a bracer, and took the blade and all the force behind it without so much as flinching, it not leaving even the slightest scuff on the woman's fur. This should be amazing, impossible even, but Kay finds herself entirely unsurprised. Her shock is similarly reserved for not so much the name over the womans head, which she already knew,, but the number alongside it, set above the womans head: Level 1445.

The guild mistress tilts her head towards the attacker who can't even begin to conceal her own terror, and cast a smug grin in the direction of the nameless mouse. "Two down..." she says in a soft, friendly voice. "One to go."