“So if I’m understanding correctly, we have three days to get through the hordes of birds trying to kill us, reach the altar in the henge, and then ascend to the next floor, am I right?” Adrian says, putting down his mug of beer.

  “That is the gist of it, yes,” Ji-a says.

  John and Matt sit on the table silently, focusing on their own food. Adrian sits back, thinking about what he has just learned.

  It has been a few hours since they escaped from the Silent Scavengers after killing the boss, and he has broken Matt free from his Prison. They haven’t been very thrilled at being so easily defeated by the boss, so the party had decided for all of them to go back to their rooms and cool off before meeting down later for dinner.

  “It will be a bit difficult,” Adrian hums, more to himself than to anyone else.

  “You don’t say. But we don’t have to do it in one go. We can take our time and finish the job in two days. Take care of one batch tomorrow, and then the last one the day after that.”

  “Why not in three days then? In three batches?” Matt asks.

  “The third day is a failsafe in case something happens on either of the days. We can’t read the future, they can, so it only makes sense that we keep a day on the side,” John explains.

  “That reminded me,” Adrian asks, “What happened to the boss’s core? Did you get it by any chance?”

  “The situation didn’t warrant it,” Ji-a shrugs.

  “So is that a no?”

  “Of course not. Here you go.” She throws a pale blue core his way with a smirk on her face.

  Adrian focuses on the core, rather than the obvious ‘praise me’ energy he feels from Ji-a. A Fate Glimpse core. A nice find, all considered.

  “You guys sure I can have it?” He looks around at the table.

  “You got the kill in the end, go ahead. There are a hundred more of these for us to get our cores if we want,” John says, nodding at him. Matt too agrees, and Ji-a just waves him off.

  Now then, which core should I add it with.

  Through his journey, he has managed to amass a nice array of cores. He has sold some, but those were mostly the ones he got from killing a ton of the same creatures. He has tried to keep any unique core that he can find, all so he can find a perfect match for anything truly extraordinary and suitable to his build.

  I guess I know what I’m doing tonight.

  “So… like do we know why we haven’t freed Jarad yet, by the way?” Matt says.

  Adrian, Ji-a, and John each exchange eye contacts, and then shrug.

  “Isn’t it so peaceful without him though? I feel like I’m always on my guard when he’s around. It’s better to just stay like this for a while. Although we should still wake him up today, lest he thinks we’ve been hanging him there intentionally” Ji-a yaws, stretching on her chair.

  “Oh my god, you guys really do hate him!”

  “Heyy psst no! I don’t hate him. I would just rather not see him. Like forever, if I could.”

  “Totally get it. The guy gives me the creeps as well!” Matt exclaims, and so begins the joint session of pointing out every bad thing about Matt that the group could.

  Adrian strangely feels a new level of camaraderie with this group over their personal hate for the archivist, perhaps even some underlying hate towards the church.

  A few hours later, when the dinner is over, they finalize their plans for the release of Jarad.

  “Okay, if he asks, I was unconscious until now. He doesn’t know that Matt was imprisoned too, so let’s just stick with that, and all should be fine,” Adrian says.

  “Maybe you should be more dirty though. Haven’t you been unconscious? Why are you smelling of jasmine then?” Matt inquires.

  “Good point! Adrian, go roll in the dirt outside. And wear your torn clothes if you could,” Ji-a orders.

  John just sits there looking amused.

  “Okay, first of all, no. I’m not doing that. Second of all, fuck you too. And thirdly, I can just say that I chose to take a shower first before releasing him. He will surely understand.”

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  “No no no, your logic is flawed. The only real way is to roll in the dirt. Now!”

  A few minutes of squabbling later, the group heads to Adrian’s room, where the reduced prison lays on the desk beside the bed.

  Adrian hasn’t yet tried to release a Prison while it is in its reduced form, but something tells him that the effects would be… very interesting to say the least. He is not willing to try it on a member of the church though, which could very easily get them chased throughout the Tower.

  He puts the Prison on the ground, brings his concerned face on, and then releases it.

  Jarad falls to the ground with a thud, and… just stays there.

  “Um… Jarad?”

  Did I kill the guy? Is there some kind of problem when keeping humans inside for too long? Was the psychic damage on?

  Adrian can’t help but fear as he calls the guy.

  Waking up from his trance, Jarad’s eyes finally focus. He looks at Adrian and the others behind him, then says in his formal tone, “It seems like my arm is broken, and I’ve received various smaller injuries. I would request someone to leave me by my room with a healing potion. We will talk tomorrow.”

  “Uh, yea sure. I’ll help you,” Adrian lifts the guy, holding onto his shoulder. John takes the other one, and the two guys help the man to his room in an awkward silence stretched between them.

  After bidding the guy good night, the group leaves, whispering to themselves.

  “That was weird. It was weird, right?”

  “Yes Matt. It was very weird. He didn’t ask anything, and he seemed very serious for some reason. What did your Prison do to the man!?”

  “I don’t know! How did you feel trapped, Matt?”

  “It was really like swimming in a yellow ocean. Endlessly with no limits, and no emerging. Strangely peaceful. Noises couldn’t enter inside, and nor could I see outside, except for very very very hazy shapes.”

  “So he shouldn’t really know that we left him in there intentionally, and unless you’ve ‘accidentally’ given him psychic damage,” John says with air quotes, “his behaviour is abnormal,”

  “Let’s think about it tomorrow. My head hurts now. Let’s just go and get some sleep,” Ji-a says, putting an end to the conversation. The others shrug, and go their ways.

  Adrian waits for John and Matt to go into their rooms before stopping Ji-a and motioning towards his own room. He does get a glare in return, but she follows him in the room.

  “So, what is it that can’t wait till tomorrow?” Ji-a demands, laying on his bed, prompting Adrian to walk around in his room.

  “It was the hidden reward.”

  “What of it?” She doesn't shift, but her demeanour changes. Becoming more serious.

  “I think I’m gonna die in the near future. At least after or on the 5th floor.”

  “Explain it from the start.”

  And so Adrian does. He tells her about the vision, the chains, the cloud, the palace, and then finally the hand.

  There are only two reasons for him to tell her about it, not fearing that she might steal the core before him. Apart from the trust he has on her, he has often noticed that she doesn’t seem to care about much power or materialistic pleasures.

  She has no drive, no passion towards gaining power. Everything she does is either a byproduct of helping someone, or going with the wave.

  He doesn’t know what could bring such a disposition, but he isn’t about to ask her her life’s story yet either. Perhaps if someday he gets to hear it, that will be nice, but even if not, then he won’t particularly be mad about it.

  “So, what do you think?” Adrian asks, sitting at the corner of the bed.

  “I do think that you’ll die soon too. Although gaining something on the 5th floor could help you survive in the far future, I do believe that it’s better to get it as soon as you can. You know, just in case.”

  “Do you know something about the hand?”

  Ji-a shakes her head, “The current Tower has been running for thousands of years. I can’t know everything that went inside during that time. Various powerful people have risen and fallen during this time, and more will continue to do so.”

  But Adrian wasn’t concerned with her lack of knowledge. What he did concern himself with is something else that she said.

  “Current Tower?”

  A silence hangs in the room as their eyes meet. The deep calm eyes of Ji-a with that certainty about herself, and the anxious eyes of Adrian. Finally she breaks the contact, as she gets off the bed

  “I’ll tell you later. Just not now. Not inside.” She says, “Good night, Adrian.”

  And then she is gone. Adrian sits on the bed, looking past the window and the endless stretching desert into some point that he doesn’t even know about. Some time during the night, Monkey enters his room and sits on his lap.

  Monkey has crystallized even more than before. The crystals have begun to grow on his nails and fingers, his fur shines and reflects the light. In the distance, Asharth’s Descendent, the crystalline beings shine in the desert.

  “Are you too heading towards that fate?” Adrian asks mindlessly. Monkey doesn’t respond.

  I wonder if you know your own fate.

  Adrian falls asleep sometime during the night, and Monkey very quietly leaves his side, leaving him to have a quiet night of slumber.

  #

  The next morning, the party goes to hunt the Silent Stalkers with a few more adventurers by their side. They are people who have also been looking for the cores, and knowing that the boss is dead, they’ve come to get some easy meals.

  Jarad doesn’t follow them this time. Says that he will be useless in the fight anyway, and that he has to visit the local Church branch for some important business.

  A few hours of continuous fights and many cores later, when their mana levels have reached the 10% mark, the group falls back. Some groups remain, so they bid them well and leave for the inn.

  Reaching the inn, they realise that Jarad isn’t back yet, so agreeing to meet later for dinner, they all head back to their rooms.

  After a fresh shower and some light snacks, Adrian finally sits down with his stack of cores, determined to find a good match for the Fate Glimpse core. He has also earned a few Attraction cores today from killing the vultures, so those could also be a good candidate for one of his skills.

  He has been about to start the experiment, when someone knocks on his door. With an internal sigh, Adrian creates a quick avatar to open the door for him, as he is too lazy to actually do it himself.

  “Jarad? When did you come back?”

  “Just a few minutes ago. Do you think I can talk to you for a while?” The bronze skinned man asks, making his way into the room.

  “Yeah sure, what do you want?”

  “I was hoping for a small favour. I don’t think it’ll take much time or energy out of you, but you’ll probably be the better judge of that.”

  “What is it?”

  “I want to be imprisoned again. Do you think you can do that?” A fervor crosses Jarad’s eyes. A desire. Unanswered questions.

  Adrian feels a goosebump travel down his spine.

  Oh my god. Did I get him addicted?

  #