The heron creature blared in a deep guttural voice that reverberated through the whole chamber. Arcen’s Worm Pit had swallowed its foot, and it had worked way better than he expected. The worms of the pit had drowned in spicy water and had gone into a frenzy.
I have to get the fuck out before this thing stomps on me!
The heron was hopping on one foot as its other leg was reduced to a stump in seconds, sinking further into the Worm Pit like a log into a wood chipper.
Arcen barely missed a huge blow from the creature, trying to peck him to death with its huge beak. The blow dug a crater into the ground, sending him flying.
Shit! Ball lightning! Right away!
He was just about to activate it when a thin line of napalm hit the creature on the head like a laser beam. It splashed against the rocky skin of the creature, splattering everywhere, starting fires. One of its big eyes sizzled and popped, melting only seconds after catching fire.
The heron roared, stumbling forward as it desperately swiped everywhere with its beak. Arcen kept running, dodging its swipes based on sound more than vision. He barely made it to a small island with blue and pink cylindrical cacti growing on it. He hopped over them and rolled into a hole out of sight.
The heron brushed its beak over the whole island, destroying the cacti and sending wet sand flying. Arcen was tossed into the air with a truckload of sand. He flew screaming and came crashing back down, skipping across the shallow water like a rock.
Each bounce broke something. His elbow cracked, his left leg twisted the wrong way at the knee, and his hip made a strange popping noise as if something slid off its socket.
He lay there twisted on the ground, barely keeping his head above water to not drown in spicy water. He didn’t even attempt to use Restore. It wasn’t going to do anything.
He remembered something else that he saw in his list of skills recently, which sounded like just what he needed at the moment.
He looked down at himself, focusing all his thoughts on his own body. He didn’t know how targeting worked for this new skill.
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ SKILL ╰︶
????
RELIEVE
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╰︶ACTIVATE ︶╯
It helped in the way a cigarette would’ve helped. A surge of calm washed over him almost instantly, banishing all pain and panic aside. The effect faded within about five seconds.
That doesn’t help.
He groaned, trying to move on his arms. He had to get out of this spicy water hell if he ever wanted to have thoughts other than ‘I’m fucking burning to death’ repeating in his head every second.
Something exploded behind him. He saw orange and red reflections on the disturbed water all around him. The heron creature’s drastic movements came to a halt, its roars of pain reduced to a constant wheezing sound.
He heard footsteps splashing across the water, and Elena appeared before him. She grabbed his hand and tried to get him back on his feet.
“That’s not going to work!” Arcen said, biting his lips. His hip was sending lightning bolts across his body. It hurt like few things ever do.
“Oh shit, you can’t move!” Elena dropped him, crouched, and used Restore on him. His bones moved, stretching his flesh as they realigned themselves back into place. It hurt even worse.
“Do you have a Relieve…or something?” Arcen asked, about to lose consciousness.
“Yeah! I forgot. Sorry!”
Her relief hit way harder than his. It was the equivalent of getting full-body anesthesia. All pain vanished, and his heart slowed down like he just woken up from the most pleasant nap. He felt warm and cozy, despite being wet and burning.
Elena dragged him across the water after his hip fell back into place. She used another Restore on his elbow. Arcen closed his eyes, falling asleep right away with a dumb smile spreading on his face.
“Wakey wakey!”
Arcen woke up with a jolt. He was far from danger and spicy water this time. Elena peeked at him from above with a cheeky grin on her face.
“All good, you’re fixed like brand new,” She said. “Except this. Half of these are wet.” She pointed at the purple pack of cigarettes in her hand. It was soaked both with water and her oil. “Maybe we can dry it over a fire or something.”
“I got through that shit and lost only my cigarettes. What a miracle,” Arcen closed his eyes, feeling all four of his limbs. The only other time that he was more grateful for being alive was another time when Elena was right next to him, after being revived with her contract on the ground floor.
He raised himself off the ground, still soaking wet. She had dragged him to safety under some sort of a canopy. The water here wasn’t spicy like before.
Arcen slowly noticed all the eel-like fish grazing around the legs. He squirmed immediately, feeling like they were crawling between his legs. His family jewels were in grave danger.
“Where the fuck are we?” He asked, pushing off the shallow water into a crouch.
“We have to wait for that Treklith to die, so I dragged you out here.”
“That’s what that bird is called? Is it not dead yet?”
“Nope. I added more fire, but it's not burning fast enough,” She said, pointing at a gap in the canopy. Arcen peeked through.
The creature was on fire, burning like a pyre, yet still alive somehow. One of its legs was stuck, repeating the same movement over and over.
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ SKILL ╰︶
????
REVEAL
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╰︶ACTIVATE ︶╯
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ ACTIVATION SUCCESS ╰︶
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
That’s lower Aura than I thought. Is it because we killed it?
“That thing has like a hundred thousand Aura left. Is it still dangerous?”
“Treklith only has like three hundred thousand max. They’re dangerous without Aura. Just big dumb birds that are hard to kill.”
“Didn’t know that was a thing. I thought everything up here was supposed to have a lot of Aura.”
“Some things can just tank the tower sickness. Treklith heals faster than it can kill them, and they’re big.”
The creature took a while to go completely still. Elena grabbed his hand before moving out of the canopy like a kindergarten teacher.
“Don’t let go for any reason. You’ll just find a new way to die if we’re separated again.”
He couldn’t believe these words were coming out of a twelve-year-old’s mouth. He knew she was right, and it was completely true. He was just that bad at surviving in a tower.
This is more embarrassing than I can process right now.
He gripped her hand without any complaints, following her outside in a crouched walk through the largest gap in the canopy.
The water was spicy as soon as they stepped out of the shade. He’d used his other hand to squeeze through the gap, and now it was burning. He didn’t even try to comprehend how it was happening. The fish seemed to know, gathering in droves in water under the shade.
“How are you walking without shoes in this water?”
“I’m oily.”
Of course.
They circled the long beak of the dead creature and waded up towards shallower waters. This chamber had a glowing wall. Arcen had missed it entirely in the panicked chaos. He’d also missed other herons in the distance, standing like statues over the water with their huge beaks sheathed between puffed chests.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Fucking hell, there’s more. We've got to get out!”
“It’s fine! Treklith sticks to their areas. They don’t bother with anything else.”
“What? One of their buddies got cooked alive, and they don’t care at all?”
“Of course they don’t. It’s more land for them.” Elena said, laughing. ”Some people are like that, aren’t they?”
Now that she said it. I knew a landlord just like that.
There was a clear pool of water further ahead as they walked towards the glowing wall. The water was seeping in through the cracks in the stalk. Fishes swam freely in these areas and only grew in number, variety, and size as they walked. It seemed the herons and spicy water had pushed all other creatures to the rim of the chamber.
“We can wash off here, this water’s good,” Elena said, gesturing at a nearby pool. They were both tattered and dirty after that fight. Arcen especially had sand everywhere.
Elena took off her long coat, revealing a strange combination of oil-drenched clothes underneath. She had crafted a bodysuit for herself with an oversized tank top, thick bandages, and what looked like a very thick, strong tape.
She placed the orange fruit firmly on the long coat right next to the black egg, plugged her nose, and jumped into the deepest corner, going under.
Arcen found himself in a different puddle. He didn’t want to swim in her oil and come out all slippery like an eel.
Dipping waist deep into a hole, he leaned back, letting fresh water dilute the remaining spicy water off his body. Elena seemed to have the same idea, lying on her back in a shallower section.
“How do you just know how every floor works?” Arcen asked, washing sand out of his ear holes.
“I don’t? It's a lot messier on a fresh climb,” She said, splashing her face. “People have been through here. Hundreds of them. So everything's mapped out already.”
She was rubbing all over herself and washing her face almost obsessively. He had no idea what she was even cleaning; the oil layer made her look as fresh as a brand new doll. It was likely something that she was doing out of habit.
That means she wasn’t always this oily. Interesting.
”What do you mean, mapped out? Like someone drew it on a piece of paper?“
”Yeah. Some people do that. Actually, Zuhara's really good at it. She only does it for fun these days, if she's bored enough.”
“Sounds even more boring to me.”
“Right? That’s why I keep things up here!“ She tapped her forehead. ”Not saying I'm super smart or anything. I just try to remember stuff. If I forget, oh well.“
Arcen poured water and sand out of his ears. He remembered something he forgot to ask her.
”Wait. All the bottom floors are mapped out, too?“
”Maybe, Yeah. Why?“ She asked with a frown.
”So why aren't more people using the shortcut then?“ He asked, but continued when he remembered where they left this conversation earlier. ”Zuhara never believed me. And wait, I forgot to ask why you lied to her about that!“
”Ah, well. It's not about her at all.“ Elena sighed, sitting at the edge of the water, leaning against a mossy rock nearby. ”She's never been a fan of shortcuts. I just wanted to make sure she won’t be telling other people about it.“
”Hold on, this shortcut is supposed to be a secret?!“
”It is, sort of. I don't think a lot of people know about it. That's a good thing. That's why it still works. Because every time someone goes through, it tightens. The capillary gel, it reacts with Aura.“ She said, curling her fingers into a fist to demonstrate. ”So, the shaft is very long, like, thirty, fifty kilometers long-“
”Wait, it's how long?“ Arcen frowned hard. This was entirely new information. The shaft did not feel that long when he was in it.
”Yeah, I know. It doesn't feel that way, but it's somewhere around fifty kilometers. Think about it, there are a thousand floors on average. We're halfway up the tower. If the shaft were straight, that means we're halfway up the sky right now. But it isn't straight,“ She paused, ”...and I know it doesn't feel that way either, but that thing actually bends and spirals around quite a bit. So it could actually be longer.“
This scares me for some reason.
He hadn't thought about it until Elena brought it up. He was fifty kilometers into the atmosphere. It was a good thing these towers didn't come with windows. He'd always been terrified of heights.
”You tell them there is a shortcut, everyone wants to use it, even if they know it shrinks after them. Everyone thinks it's the next guy's problem. It happened in the first tower I climbed. Forty-seven people drowned in a capillary gel. It wasn't even that long, maybe two kilometers.“
“Well damn! I never thought it was that dangerous! Is that why Zuhara is so...weird about them?”
“No, Zuhara, she always climbs towers how towers want her to climb them. Jelly can sense everything, and Zuhara likes exploring,“ Elena said with a reminiscing smile. ”So when you tell her there was a shortcut, she's a little butthurt because that means she totally missed it, and it took her three months to climb this far. She wouldn't have used it even if she found it, but it feels unfair to her.“ She tapped her forehead with a mischievous grin. “So, that's why I lied. It's still unfair, but now, she doesn't feel bad about not seeing it. Now she thinks she couldn't have used it even if she found it and wanted to. Now, even if she tells other people, they won't be trying to find it because I made it sound very expensive. Most people don't come into towers with millions of Aura.”
Alright. This oily brat is just scary now. She read Zuhara like a goddamn book!
“I don't know if anyone told you before. When you do things like that, you're making it really hard to believe you're just twelve years old,” Arcen said, shaking his head.
Elena was a different breed. It made perfect sense now how she ran circles around him since their first encounter. He had never stood a chance against her in any interaction they've had up to date.
“That wasn't a lie! thirteen soon!” She said, “I can't wait to be a teenager. I want to get about a foot and a half taller.”
That's a bit unrealistic, I think.
“I really don't think you have any growing up left to do, Arcen said, standing up. He was finally free of the spicy water and sand in crevices and holes where sand shouldn't be.
Elena grabbed her long coat and turned with a smirk. “You wanna bet?”
“Nope.”
I really don't want to see what she's gonna grow up into. What a freaky kid.
They went through several chambers lining the stalk, each one of which had more or less safer trails to follow than the chambers they came from. These stalk-adjacent chambers had calmer creatures than the chambers that were towards the middle. From what Arcen could gather, it had something to do with resources. Stalk chambers had more water, more creatures, and more balanced food chains than others. The creatures were well fed, without having to do too much.
Elena took the safe routes through them, following the known and marked trails. These creatures were not docile; they were just uninterested in humans as prey. Other climbers had set up means to keep it that way, laying out winding paths to squeeze through these chambers while leaving minimal impact.
Halfway through a chamber with spiky vines and anteater-like things the size of vans, Arcen started seeing familiar wobbles in the air. It only got worse as they walked towards the chamber's veil. At first, he thought it was all in his head. He rubbed his eyes, but it didn't go away.
This is just like that shark lunatic.
“These… distortions,” Arcen said, using his fingers to gesture what they looked like. “I just need to know. Are we about to meet some crazy creature with a lot of Aura?”
“Oh no, it's Rika. Base camp is in the next chamber,” She said, as they crossed through the veil.
This chamber was completely different from the ones they passed through after leaving the doctor's chamber. This one looked like the chamber with storage tents, the one in the floor below.
The chamber had been completely annihilated, its former inhabitants burned to ashes in a far corner. There were four big tents and a scattering of smaller ones in between.
The spatial distortions only grew as they walked towards where all the people were.
The climbers here looked well-equipped and rugged, wearing tattered armor plates and worn-out clothes. They were gathered around the source of the distortions, talking amongst themselves. Some of them had their own distortions around them, resonating with the stronger ripples coming from the huge source at the center.
Orange arcs of light burst over their heads now and then like curved strands of lightning that twisted and moved like thin ribbons.
Elena excused herself through the gathering, dragging him behind her.
There was a tall woman standing at the center of the gathering with her back turned towards them. She looked like a life-sized fairy. Everything about her was completely unexpected. She was wearing a colorful dress with red-orange gradients and black patterns scattered across it. It was hard to tell where her skin ended and where her dress began. Her hair was styled in a single long braid adorned with intricate floral jewelry. She had what could only be folded wings, neatly arranged like a folded cape behind her.
Did she escape a weird color-themed wedding? Who dresses like a red carpet celebrity to climb a goddamn tower?
She was holding her hand over what looked like a gas tank wrapped in some sort of animal hide. The distortions were strongest at her hand, which was oozing gold as ribbon-like thunder danced all around her.
A thick strand of gold dripped down from her fingers like thick glue.
She turned as Elena parted the crowd. Arcen knew instantly what sort of mutant she was the moment he saw her face.
A near-hundred percent butterfly!
Her face was somewhat familiar; he'd seen her on a screen or a magazine before. It didn't help because he never paid any attention to post-Mayday celebrities, unlike his siblings, who obsessed over them. A 'Popular mutant' was a concept that made him feel like a circus freak.
Elena gestured at the fruit in her hands as Rika turned to face them. The woman smiled pleasantly and gestured a thumbs-up with her free hand.
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ SKILL ╰︶
????
REVEAL
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╰︶ACTIVATE ︶╯
Arcen couldn't hold back. He had to see what amount of Aura could distort space across chambers.
╭ ╰︶?? ERITHERIA ?? ︶╯ ╮
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ ACTIVATION SUCCESS ╰︶
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ NAME ╰︶
????
RIKA
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ TITLE ╰︶
????
EMPRESS
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ CLASSIFICATION ╰︶
????
ASCENDER [234]
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ MAIN CONTRACTS ╰︶
????
PASSIVELY OBSCURED BY A
HIGHER RANK [CONCEAL]
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ SUB CONTRACTS ╰︶
????
NO SUB CONTRACTS
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ TRAITS ╰︶
????
PASSIVELY OBSCURED BY A
HIGHER RANK [CONCEAL]
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ DOMAINS ╰︶
????
PASSIVELY OBSCURED BY A
HIGHER RANK [CONCEAL]
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ TRIBES ╰︶
????
PASSIVELY OBSCURED BY A
HIGHER RANK [CONCEAL]
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╭────────────────────╮
?╭─ AURA ─╮?
╰ 2,121,432,187 ╯
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
Two billion?! What the fuck did she even do to get that much?!
Rika narrowed her eyes at him, a thin, questioning smile spreading on her face. She'd detected him using reveal on her somehow. He felt like he should bow and apologize, but he froze where he stood instead.
“Come, we have to give this to the chef,” Elena said, dragging him by the hand.
A billionaire.
Next chapter on Monday.
Regular reminder to rate/review if you’re enjoying the ride!
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