The next few days were utter bliss. Samantha’s parents kept their word about making time for her whenever she managed to visit, as well as inviting Thomas, Tiny, and Felix over to catch up. They’d even splurged on a special qi-scripted doorbell to make things easier for everyone. When Samantha fed a bit of qi into the scripts it would activate the connected talismans everyone kept on their person, alerting them to her arrival. Obviously her parents couldn’t be expected to stay home all day waiting for her to show up, but she was more than happy to relax outside or in their living room until they returned home. Usually it wasn’t long before they were excitedly greeting her, or until Thomas, Tiny, or Felix dropped by.
The three cultivators asked her almost as many questions as her parents did, but with distinctly different topics of interest. While they did ask after her wellbeing, they were much more invested in knowing what the second floor was like. Tiny’s home city did not share Yivesh’s practice of using forced ascension as a punishment, nor its secrecy around the Ascension Obelisk, but the common knowledge that ascendants couldn’t return was the same. She was just as curious about Samantha’s experience as anyone else would be. It was times like now–when both of her parents were still on their way back from some errand–that Samantha could be more honest about what exactly that was.
“...then I closed the rift in Walter’s face!” she said with a laugh. “We’ve been traveling to Centra since then. I think I can get us there today if I push myself, which would be a nice change of pace. I hardly count the Delver’s Outpost as a proper representation of civilization on the second floor, and I’d rather ascend with a more positive impression of what this place is like.”
Tiny shook her head in disbelief. “I still think you should’ve killed him. Or, beat him senseless, at least!”
“I think she made the correct choice,” Felix disagreed. “Her restraint likely spared more than just Walter’s life.”
“She could’ve avoided killing anyone else! She’s ridiculously strong now, right?”
“Yes, and it is because of her strength that she was able to show leniency. If the area is as dangerous as she says, the Outpost was already in a precarious position. Removing their strongest fighter and wounding others would only further endanger the group.” He paused for a moment and gave Tiny a meaningful look. “Think of the children who’d suffer the consequences.”
Tiny’s brows furrowed as she frowned, but she didn’t voice further rebuttals.
Thomas, who had been oddly quiet and looking thoughtful up until this point, suddenly spoke up. “Wait… you mentioned earlier that time moves slower on the second floor than here. What if the third floor is even worse? What about your parents… and us?”
Samantha gave him a sad smile. “That’s up to you more than me, isn’t it? Sophras has no restrictions on access to their Ascension Obelisk, and you three probably know more about what to expect than any other aspiring ascendant ever has. I’d be willing to wait in Centra to meet up with you if you planned to join me.”
Silence hung heavy between all of them.
“Your parents aren’t cultivators though,” Thomas deflected lamely.
“True,” she agreed without clarifying further. Silence filled the room again.
Thankfully, her parents didn’t take much longer to return and revitalized both the mood and conversation. The issue of ascension did not come up again until hours later when everyone was getting ready to head back to their own homes.
“Samantha, sorry to interrupt, but do you have a moment?” Felix called out to her to get her attention.
She smiled at him to acknowledge she heard him. When she turned back to her parents, they were already motioning for her to go. Her parents continued the conversation with Thomas seamlessly while she followed Felix to a more ‘private’ corner where Tiny was seated.
“About what you said earlier regarding ascension. The thing is…” Felix cleared his throat awkwardly and looked to Tiny for moral support.
Clearly seeing where this was going, she did her best to give both of them an out. “You don’t need to give me any excuses. Ascension isn’t for everyone, and I’m not going to hold staying on this floor against you.”
“No, it’s just–had you asked us a few months ago… but now we…” Felix looked away for a moment, embarrassed.
Tiny laughed, clearly amused by his mild discomfort. “You can be so unexpectedly shy, sometimes! Do you just want me to say it?”
“I’m the one who owes her a life-debt. So, I’m the one who should give the explanation,” Felix said stubbornly.
Samantha raised an eyebrow as a sneaking suspicion began to bubble up in her thoughts.
Felix let out a heavy breath. Tiny gestured teasingly for him to hurry up, which he pointedly ignored. Eventually he worked up the confidence to speak. “We’re having a child.”
She smiled warmly at the two of them. “Congratulations! That’s great news.”
Tiny slapped Felix happily on the back. “See? I told you it wasn’t a big deal.”
“Boy or girl?”
“We don’t know yet,” Felix answered, looking relieved. “It’s still early in the pregnancy. But, I wanted you to know this was the reason why we couldn’t join you.”
“I completely understand, and I hope everything goes smoothly for your growing family! I look forward to meeting them someday,” Samantha encouraged.
Felix and Tiny held hands. “We look forward to it too.”
The three of them continued chatting for a few more minutes before eventually saying their goodbyes. Thomas left shortly after, but without addressing the question of ascension like Tiny and Felix had. In fact, he barely spoke with her at all and seemed in a rush to leave. She had been trying to overlook the state of everyone’s qi to give them the privacy of their emotions, but it was hard to ignore the shame that was prominent in Thomas’s energy as he fled from her.
“So, you plan to ascend again soon? Thomas mentioned it,” her mother questioned coolly. “When were you planning on bringing this up to us?”
Maybe Thomas was avoiding her for more than one reason.
Samantha gave them an apologetic bow of her head. “I wasn’t going to hide it from you, if that’s what you’re implying. I only wanted us to enjoy some more time together before thinking about what the future holds.”
“And what does the future hold?” her father asked.
She sat down heavily in a chair and allowed herself to sink into it. “I don’t know.”
At the heart of it, the differing ‘time’ between herself and her parents had been a problem long before she ever ascended. It was an interpersonal hurdle that all cultivators were eventually faced with when their loved ones were mortal, and one that her younger self had chosen to put off thinking about. Ascension had temporarily ‘solved’ the issue because outliving her parents by a hundred years or more was superseded by simply never seeing them again. Her ability to return to visit them, combined with the time difference between floors, had both renewed and complicated the problem.
She’d already tried to find a workaround with [Rift Walk] and her personal domain in the hopes that she could somehow bring her parents to her. Even using the entirety of her qi pool, she could only put a little over 80 miles between rift exit points. Her soul cord informed her that her body was somewhere generally above the first floor, but it was much, much farther away than 80 miles. Still, she couldn’t help but attempt to bridge the gap. Her only reward had been disappointment and an even sorer cultivation base.
Her failure to access her personal domain through her projection was yet another devastating blow. She speculated that because the anchor always felt close to her physical body whenever she 'searched' for it, she could possibly access it with her projection as well. Unfortunately, it seemed the space was intimately connected with her dantian which, while admittedly spiritual, still resided within her true physical form. She could open her domain while projecting if she was near enough to her body, but her sense of where the anchor was became more indistinct the further she traveled. That made opening it from the first floor completely impossible.
Her father nudged her out of her thoughts and she frowned at him. He shrugged back. “Sorry, but you were getting the look.”
“I don’t have a look,” Samantha grumbled.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“Yes, you do,” he insisted.
“Many, actually,” her mother confirmed. “But this is the one where you’re thinking very seriously about something stressful.” Her somewhat stern tone from earlier started to soften. “Why don’t you talk through it with us, and we can figure it out together?”
Samantha rubbed at her face tiredly and fought back the tightness in her throat. “Alright.”
Her parents sat down and began listening attentively.
“As things stand now, I can only foresee a handful of ways to navigate my continued ascension. The most straightforward is to simply… stop. Put my life on hold and enjoy what time we have until both of you die of old age–grim as that sounds. After that, I could continue ascending. However, if I’m being completely honest with you, I don’t want to. Maybe it’s selfish of me, but waiting around for 15, 20 years just for the sake of watching my parents be buried…?” She chuckled bitterly.
Her parents looked at each other with concern, but continued to listen.
“I could maybe bring you along with me instead, but I’d never ask that of you,” she continued. “Assuming you’d be willing and able to ascend in the first place as mortals, I’m not confident I could keep you safe. If you got to the second floor and I found you before anyone else did, it might be possible to let you live in my personal domain while traveling. But… I’ve been traveling constantly. What kind of life would that be for you, to live in a small, isolated, box for my comfort?” She sat up straighter and ran her fingers through her hair in agitation. “Maybe you could become cultivators in the same way Harold managed it, but I wouldn’t ask you to do that either! It’d require you to kill a cultivator, and this way of living is… no offense, but neither of you are suited for it.”
She shook her head. “So what does that leave? Hope that the third floor isn’t even slower and that I can still project this far to you? Watch you age faster and faster while I stay the same? Is this–” Her words became strained. “Is this really all I can do?”
Her parents embraced her tightly seeking to soothe her evident anguish, but this only deepened Samantha’s grief and resentment. Though, who or what exactly this resentment was directed towards, she couldn’t say.
“Oh, honey,” her mother cooed. “Why were you trying to solve this by yourself?”
“Regardless of what we end up doing, all your mom and I want is for you to be happy and healthy,” her father added. “We’ll fix this together.”
Samantha tried very, very hard to believe that.
----------------------------------------
“This’ll be the last one,” Samantha announced to the group. “I don’t want to cause any alarm at Centra’s gates, so I’m going to put the exit rift several miles out. We’ll walk the rest of the way.”
“Are you sure you’re not pushing yourself too hard?” Harold inquired. “A few more days in the forest isn’t going to kill anyone, and it’s better for all of us to be in good condition.”
“I’ll be fine.”
She attempted to keep the frustration out of her tone, but Harold’s raised hands and ‘sorry I asked’ look told her that she had been about as successful as she and her parents had been at finding a solution to her ascension problem.
The three of them had continued discussing options every time she returned, but no one could think of desirable alternatives. The only other somewhat reasonable suggestion was to have someone ascend with them as a temporary escort. However, with Felix and Tiny not an option, and Thomas making himself scarce, there were few they could ask or trust with the task. Her parents mentioned looking into if there were any groups planning to ascend soon–such things apparently weren’t entirely uncommon in cities where ascension was less restricted–but Samantha didn’t want to get her hopes up. Even if such a group existed, there was no guarantee they’d accept her parents and protect them. There was also no guarantee that her parents would actually join them.
This was one important consideration neither she nor her parents had brought up yet. Samantha had made her stance on waiting around on the second floor clear, but her parents hadn’t told her what they wanted to do. Neither of them seemed particularly enthused by the idea of ascension, though they were at least humoring the possibility for now. If her parents ultimately decided to make peace with further separation rather than join her… well… a less-upset Samantha could deal with that another time.
The rift snapped open and the group walked through to the other side the same as any other time before. It was only for Samantha that each step closer to Centra refreshed the turmoil she felt.
When the rift closed behind them, Silas jumped up and laid comfortingly across her shoulders. He’d been doing this especially often today, probably as a show of solidarity with her. He undoubtedly felt her distress through their bond, but he had been polite enough to let her open up about it in her own time rather than pry. She gave him some appreciative chin scratches, and he let out a happy, low, rumble.
She started walking in the direction of the city. “It’s this way.”
Everyone obediently followed.
“So, what can we expect?” Harold asked after several minutes.
She shrugged.
“Oh, don’t give me that!” Harold griped. “Clearly you’ve at least seen Centra to correctly place the rift and direct us there.”
“I did. But, do you really want me to poorly describe it to you rather than wait a little longer to see it yourself?”
Harold considered her words for a moment. “Fine, I’ll wait.”
“Don’t forget to re-summon Tobias before we get there! He was excited to see the city,” Mercer reminded her.
Unlike Tobias, Mercer’s construct could stay active at all times if Harold wanted. In exchange, he had almost no fighting capabilities whatsoever and would disperse if struck by anything stronger than a mortal’s punch. He did possess some utility arts that aided with trade, but otherwise it was similar to traveling with a non-cultivator. This was also why, rather than Harold, Mercer usually rode atop Sandy’s back when they trekked anywhere. With the somewhat rotund man lacking Agility even by mortal standards, it was much faster for everyone to have him ride the spirit beast.
In response to his words, Samantha pulled Tobias’s figurine from her pocket and started trickling qi into it to activate his construct. “Thanks Mercer. He would’ve killed me if I made him miss the grand reveal.”
“No kill! Not Harold lady no die. Remember?” Sandy commented ‘helpfully’ via [Liaison].
“You can’t keep bringing that up,” Harold scolded. “Who knows who might be able to listen in once we’re in the city? I’m the one who’ll pay the price if you’re overheard.”
“Oops! Sandy mistake. Sandy sorry,” the spider apologized, sufficiently chastened.
“It’s okay Sandy,” Silas encouraged. “Human rules are hard. It gets easier the longer you’re with them!”
Tobias appeared in the midst of the group and scanned the immediate area for potential enemies. “No danger? Ooh! Does this mean what I think it means?”
“Samantha says we’re only a couple miles out from the city, so we should be there soon,” Mercer confirmed.
Tobias clapped once in excitement. “Fantastic!”
Everyone chatted amicably as they walked, and Samantha felt her dour mood improve slightly. It was certainly more lively traveling with Harold’s entourage rather than with just herself, Silas, and Tobias. She could see herself getting used to the company if they all continued working together.
“Is that it up there?” Tobias suddenly asked, pointing towards the thinning treeline. Rather than waiting for an answer, he jogged until he fully exited the forest. “It is!” he called back happily to the group.
Though not quite as thrilled as Tobias, everyone else had at least some positive reaction when they, too, first set eyes upon Centra.
Like the entirety of the 2nd Floor’s civilization was grouped into one spot, Centra was as large as it was grandiose. Nestled into the heart of where all the Great Gulfs across the Shattered Lands joined, the central hub of the floor was a veritable fortress, as well as a monument to what humans could achieve when working together.
100 feet tall, 20 feet thick walls of scarred, rugged stone sealed off access to each of the Great Gulfs’ many branches. There were multiple partially submerged gates along the lower section of wall that crossed the river, which allowed boat traffic to pass through the defensive barrier. On either side of the river were stone-paved roads leading to large gates. The gate doors–thick slabs of metal–were currently held aloft by a series of chains, pulleys, and turning wheels.
The roughly circular area created by these walls–dozens of miles wide, in some spots–was filled with buildings of various sizes, architectural styles, and material construction. Some proudly sported the raw wood or stone look, while others colored their walls and trim with paints. The residents and their choice of clothing were no less varied. Individuals of all skin tones, hair colors, and eye colors could be seen walking through the wide open gate and throughout streets beyond. Some wore modest, conservative-looking garb with muted or earthy tones, while others wrapped themselves in colorful lengths of cloth and didn’t shy away from exposing the tattooed skin beneath. It was easy to see that this was a place where peoples of differing cultures and standards of beauty had been mingling for centuries.
So many of the sights were foreign to Samantha, and yet it managed to make her homesick. The first floor seemed impossibly large when she lived in Yivesh. Having lived in the same place all her life, she wondered how much of it she had missed out on seeing before being forced to ascend. If she had been more well-traveled, would she recognize more of what she saw now? She could remedy that with [Spectral Projection] if she really wanted to, of course, but it wouldn’t ever be quite the same as if she was truly there. It seemed that for every new experience that ascension gave her, she recognized many more that she was forgoing.
Tobias tugged her along gently by the arm. “Come on! We should get in line.”
Though not distinctly marked, there was a semi-organized line on the right side of the road. On the opposite side of the gate–and on the left side from her perspective–was another line to get out of the city. Though seemingly long, the line moved quickly.
“Names and purpose for entering Centra?” a gate guard asked them after stopping them at the front.
“Octavios Rivera and Company, of the Merchant’s Guild. Well, soon to be part of the Merchant’s Guild, we hope!” Mercer boldly, and flawlessly, lied.
“Good luck with the guild exam.” The guard waved them through before turning to the next person in line. “Names and purpose for entering Centra?”
Samantha was half-expecting to be ambushed or for something to go wrong as all of them strolled through the gate, but started to relax once they made it a full block away with no issues.
“Mercer!” Tobias clapped his fellow construct on the shoulder. “Nice work.”
“You only get held up if you act suspicious. Appearing confident is everything,” Mercer explained, a little embarrassed. “Anyone could do it.”
“It’s not a talent we all have,” Samantha commented. “Thanks for handling it.”
“You give me too much credit, but I’m glad to be of service.” Mercer bowed his head towards her before turning to the rest of the group. “Well, we’ve made it in one piece! What now?”
Harold let out a heavy sigh. “How about finding someplace with a proper bed to sleep in and stiff drinks?”
“We need to get money first, don’t we?” Samantha pointed out.
Harold gave her a wide, unbothered smile. “You’re about to find out why Mercer is the most valuable thing I brought out from the rift.”