“Where’d they go?”
“Gone, boss.”
“Where to?”
“Didn’t see, I’m afraid.”
“Well don’t stand there like a fool. Go grab a squad—no, grab everyone available and find them!” Bron Del looked over the crowd, glaring at the troublemakers that had caused the crowd to block his way. He noted their faces and quickly pulled out a Scanner and identified them, committing them to memory. They’d regret getting in his way.
By the time Bron turned back around, his subordinate, a desperate and disposable man with little talent and prospects, had already scampered off.
“Did anyone hear anything about where the newcomers were going?” The crowd cowed around him, the emblem on his chest vibrating a violent red. He saw several try to avoid eye contact and shoved through the crowd to drag an aging woman to her knees before him. “You look like you heard something, old bat. Tell me.”
She looked away again, and he sighed.
“You scum always have to make everything harder than it has to be. We both know someone here will tell me.” He drew his sidearm, a weapon that could take down a C-class monster on the thirtieth floor in one shot, and placed it under her chin. “You know who I am and what I’ll do. Tell me.”
The old woman continued to stubbornly resist, defiantly staring back at him.
Bron scowled. “Then have it your way.”
His finger began to pull the trigger when someone shoved him back. The young man glared back at him in the same way the old woman did, irking his primal instinct and desire to educate them to the pecking order.
“They were going to awaken their heart cards!” the young man shouted. “Just leave us alone!”
“Now, was that so hard?” Bron asked, grinning. He turned in the direction the new potential recruits had fled. All before him parted. He took two steps away before stopping. His voice, low and calm, carried over the silent crowd. “Consider this a lesson to everyone.”
He turned and shot the young man, leaving a gaping hole through his chest. He was dead instantly.
“Know your place.”
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“What’s this? New climbers?” An overly cheerful young woman wearing incredibly aggressive floral perfume shoved a folder at James almost as soon as she saw them. “Fill this out and line up over there, we’ll get your paperwork filed and you can go on in!”
The line was only eight people long, and the paperwork was only two pages. The first was basic: name, address, occupation, income.
“Is it alright if we don’t have any of these?” James looked at the page with his name and nothing more.
“They’ll take anyone,” their grumpy guide said grumpily. He glanced over his shoulder as if worried about being noticed. “Hurry up.”
The second page was a declaration of intent. They needed to select an alliance and choose a target floor.
“What’s an alliance, and how many floors are there?”
“Alliances are how the tower pits us against one another. Right now the factions are Ascension, Expansion, and Destruction. You don’t want to join any of them until you have something to bargain with or they’ll take you for everything you have and then some. If you insist on doing this, at least do it smart.” He glanced over his shoulder again.
“Who are you so worried about?”
He shook his head. “Not sure. Someone big. Not someone you want paying attention to you. Just hurry. Once you’re inside, you can leave by a transit door and disappear. I highly recommend you don’t come back out this way.”
James scribbled ‘None’ for alliance. “And how many floors are there?” Then he shook his head. “Nevermind.” He saw Ivy had just written ‘all of them’ and did the same. Without the smiley face.
“Is there anything I need to know about this awakening process?” James asked, while they waited for the line to move.
“You go in, they jab you with the tower stick, you fall over and scream for a few minutes, and then you’re the proud owner of a heart card that’ll kill you if you don’t kill something else first.”
“Are you always such a ball of cheer?”
The guy ran a hand through his hair, glanced over his shoulder again, and looked like he was trying very hard not to scream. “Listen. I know this is all shiny and exciting and new, but this is not fun and games.”
“It’s definitely games!” Ivy piped up. She’d been drawing little stick figures in power armor slashing at furry monsters with oversized teeth in the margins of her paperwork.
“Consider me intrigued,” James mused, turning away from the guide. “Not sure what all the rush and fuss is about, but I’m quite curious to see what this tower stick is like.”
“Onward and upward!” Ivy shouted, charging through the door.
And immediately came back out, cowed by the shouting of whoever was inside.
The cheery young woman grinned knowingly at James before reaching out to take their paperwork. “It’s rare to see someone so excited. It’s a breath of fresh air from all the hopeless, despairing type we usually get dragging their feet through here.”
“Like him?” James thumbed over his shoulder toward their strange and grumpy guide.
“Like him.” She nodded. She went about the task of filing and sorting their paperwork, which he was surprised they had to fill out with a pen after seeing all the glowing, shining, in-your-face tech that was far more advanced than he’d expected when choosing Euriste 3.
At least Ivy was finally getting the adventure she wanted and wasn’t sickly anymore. Everything else was just icing on top.
Shen Ai followed in their footsteps, filling out the paperwork silently and handing it over with excitement in her eyes. She was absolutely brimming with the same level of energy as Ivy through all that reserved, shy charm.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Just remember. Transit door.”
“Yes, noted. Thank you.”
The moment they were past the standing-waiting stage and hadn’t been rejected, their grumpy guide turned around and left without another word.
There were five different ascension halls, so they’d each be able to do it at the same time. James happened to be in the third central door, not that it should matter.
The ‘tower stick’ the guy had mentioned didn’t end up looking anything like James had envisioned. He’d have expected a pole, perhaps, or a wand of some sort. Instead, it was an entire pillar of huge stone blocks… suspended from the ceiling. The ceiling itself was at least three or four stories tall, and the space beneath the massive pillar was just about tall enough for him to sit in. A space that also happened to be the exact center of a large, intricate square of glowing carvings in the floor.
He had a very uncomfortable feeling about this. Any one of those blocks would be enough to crush him into paste, and there were definitely more than one of them.
“So how do we do this?” he asked, eyeing the deadly-looking contraption warily. “Just go touch it, I expect?”
“Nothing so basic. Take off your shirt and lie down here.” The awakening attendant was much more brisk and businesslike than the girl running the front office. He pointed to the central square.
James did as instructed with the greatest reluctance. He edged his way under the gently swaying pillar and stared up at it. The underside was also carved with an intricate series of glowing lines, a mirror to those around him.
“One hand here, one hand here.”
He placed his hands where instructed, and immediately felt a current of something warm and soft running up one arm, across his chest, and down the other. He twitched, breaking the connection, and shivered.
“Hand. Here. Don’t move.”
“It was an accident. You should have warned me it’d be strangely furry.”
“Right. Furry.” The attendant scoffed. “Don’t move.” He pressed his hand to the wall, and the pillar began to descend.
Slowly.
“And this won’t crush me to paste, right?”
“Don’t move.”
“Not reassuring!”
Then the glowing stamp pressed down on his chest and he gasped for air. The warm furriness of the current was gone, replaced with a deep sense of peace and security. His surroundings went white, or perhaps black, or perhaps no color at all as he lay entranced within that perfect encapsulation. He didn’t feel his body, only a warm soul-deep tranquility.
Everything was fine. Everything would always be fine. He didn’t have to worry. It was something he’d felt in smaller doses ever since he’d come to understand just how much power the shop had given him, but never so purely distilled as this.
Then cold slapped him across the everything and he yelped in shock. The room with its pillar and square diagram reappeared around him, the chill in the air making him shiver. The pillar was raised again, no longer touching him, and there was no longer any sensation running through his arms.
The attendant raised an eyebrow and tossed him his shirt. “I’ve never seen someone so unaffected by this. You made it all the way to legendary. Congratulations.”
He offered James a hand up, then nodded at his chest. “Want to register your heart with the Association? We can guarantee a 2% bonus on top of whatever your faction ends up paying.”
James couldn’t stop staring at the white square imprinted over his heart. It glowed faintly, even through his shirt. “What is it? How do I use it?”
“Say ‘Manifest’.” The attendant’s hand immediately held five cards, which disappeared when he released them. “Like that.”
“Manifest.” James held out his hand, and his card appeared.
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“I’ve never seen that before,” the attendant breathed, her voice awed.
Shen Ai looked down at the five cards in her hand, each glowing with a pure white light. “No?”
“You must have a more powerful heart than anyone I’ve ever heard of.”
Shen Ai smiled. “I suppose you could say that.”
“Wait here, I’ll get you an expansion guide.” The attendant shook her head again. “I’ve never needed one for a new awakening before. Normally, people have been climbing for years before they can register a full deck, let alone…” She disappeared out through the door, still muttering in disbelief, as Shen Ai examined each of her cards.
The Heart card, the core of her deck, appeared at the center of the spread.
Connection, 4th tier. Form a connection with another creature. This connection cannot be detected below 3rd tier.
The other cards were similarly simple, each linked to Connection by a thin line of white light..
Healing, 4th tier. Ease the pain and restore the body and spirit of the designated creature. Cannot be countered below 3rd tier.
Analysis, 4th tier. Learn the strengths and weaknesses of the designated object or creature. Cannot be blocked below 3rd tier.
Suppress, 4th tier. Prevent the activation of a designated ability. Duration increases with the differential between caster and target.
Aware, 4th tier. Detection of minor details to a great degree. Pierce through disguise, illusion, and stealth alike for everything under the 4th tier.
“Here you are.” The attendant handed Shen Ai a thin blue card. “All the information you’ll need is in there. Don’t share it with anyone who hasn’t completed their deck yet. It’s incredibly dangerous to attempt expansion without reaching first completion.”
“I understand.” Shen Ai held up her handful of cards. “How do I use these?”
“Concentrate on it, then—”
Shen Ai analyzed the blue card in her hand. “I do not have a companion block to read this with.”
“You can buy one at any tech shop. Beyonds, they may even give it to you for free if you promise to tell people where you got it. Assuming you register your deck. You will be registering your deck, I assume?”
“No thank you.” She closed her hand and the cards disappeared into her chest. “I will find my own source of income. I do not need to beg or brag.” She drew herself up, channeling as much of her inner Senior Ivy as possible. “Now, show me the transit door. I have urgent… things to do.”
The attendant looked disappointed, but led her out a second door on the other side of the room from where they’d entered, along a narrow hallway, down three flights of steps, and to a balcony with a freestanding archway. Seniors James and Ivy were already there, leaning against the wall and conversing quietly.
Senior James jumped forward with a grin. “Hey, there you are. Also,” he turned to the attendant, “before you go running off—”
The attendant backed away. She didn’t quite run, but it was a near thing.
James sighed and leaned back against the wall. “No one’s told me how to use this transit door thing. What’s the use of—”
Shen Ai analyzed the contraption. “It synchronizes with your companion block, which we don’t have, and can be set to any of eighteen connected doors across the city. Including one in the courtyard of the tower itself.”
James and Ivy stared at her.
Shen Ai blushed. “I have a couple strong information gathering cards in my deck.”
“A couple?” Ivy leaned forward. “More than one?”
“Yes.” Shen Ai brought out her cards to show the seniors. “The attendant said it was rare, but… neither one of you did it either?”
James shook his head.
Ivy pulled out a single green-glowing card. “I got an uncommon! Retaliation.” She grinned. “Nobody better hit me, or they’ll get hit back twice as hard.”
“Mine’s…” James glanced at Ivy guiltily, then pulled out his own. It glowed golden. “Legendary, Protective Totem. It can block any effect of tier four or below. Making me basically invincible until we get to the third tier of the tower.”
“Wow…” Ivy looked between his card and hers. “I don’t suppose you can apply it to someone else? If you could make it so I can’t be hurt, but my Retaliation still bounces things back…”
“It only works for me. But it’s not really…” James rubbed the back of his neck. “I’d rather give it to you.”
Ivy shook her head aggressively. “I’m going to do this the right way. I’m going to build up my power from the bottom, like a hero should.”
“Right now, I think we need to figure out where we’re going from here, because we’re starting to get a line built up.”
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