B2 Chapter 46: The Ties That Bind

I returned to Sebastian, looking troubled.

“Guess I know how yours went,” he said.

But I wasn’t disappointed about not getting a prize. My mind was focused on the other things Samara had said. She’d said that a war was coming. So who was fighting with her? If it involved other gods, then it would invariably bleed over into the Tower. Who else was going to get dragged into this conflict?

Sebastian moved over and surprisingly selected the Contrition door and went inside. He came back only a few minutes later, looking pleased.

I stood up and chose Patience as my next door. I figured it was one that he wouldn’t want, and I needed something calming after the last door. The stone room I entered became Yakeshi’s garden on a warm summer’s day. He appeared the same as always. Sat in a meditative pose under his favorite tree.

“It is interesting that the System wanted me to represent the Patience room this time,” he said.

“You’ve done this before?”

“Many times, though not recently. A long time ago, I’d come here to offer Victory, Strength, and even Contrition on occasion. But Patience is a new one. I think it is trying to mock me with this particular room.” He sighed. “And it would be right to do so. I’ve avoided a lot of things and buried my head in my own studies. I told myself it was because I was beyond petty politics. Truthfully, I think I was just ignoring them because they bored me. Now trouble is coming and we must prepare.”

“Samara called it a war.”

He nodded. “As a queen fighting to hold on to her territory, she would call it that. I would call it a disruption. Someone who wants to destabilize the System entirely and throw everything into chaos. You’ve already met some of their handiwork before. They were the one who created the Scarlet Beast that we found.”

My eyebrows rose. “Created?”

“Yes, you find somebody from an unincorporated world with the right temperament and dump them on a System planet that’s going through a tutorial like the Tower so that they can receive Class selection. Even then, Blood Reaver is an incredibly difficult Class to get. It must have taken years of trying and hundreds of lives just to send me that message.”

He shook his head in disgust. “All that death just to petulantly say ‘I’m still here.’”

Usually, Yakeshi came across as reserved. Only when this subject was brought up did more emotion slip through. I sensed there was more here than what he was telling me.

“It sounds personal,” I said.

“It is. We have a long and complicated history. But ever since Rahklesh-9, there have been no other messages. I’ve searched everywhere that I can think of, but it’s a big universe, so I am left waiting until they make their next move.”

“How can I help?”

A scroll appeared in his hand. “Sign this and formally pledge your service to me. Then, when you walk through the Golden Door, choose to leave the Tower for good. I will then take you back here and personally train you myself. It will be a tutorial that far exceeds whatever the Tower could offer you, and by the time I’m finished, you’ll have no problem dealing with the likes of Samara.”

“And how long would this training take?”

He shrugged. “The timetable will be quite aggressive and relatively fast. Perhaps only two decades.”

My eyes widened. I couldn’t spend the next twenty years living in seclusion on a mountaintop, regardless of how good the teacher was.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I have elixirs that can slow your rate of aging down, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“No, I’m worried about leaving my friends behind.”

“Hugo has pledged himself to Roan, a very old and cunning god who does not throw away his servants lightly. The crow has managed to make it this far. I’ve watched him too, and I believe he is capable of finishing the climb without you.”

I winced at that last part. It rung true and selfishly; I had worried about what would happen if he felt like he didn’t need me anymore.

“You can also visit him as soon as the Tower is finished in eleven month's time. I’m not trying to hand you a prison sentence,” Yakeshi added. “I just believe that in the long term, this would benefit you the most.”

He had cut right to the point. When I spoke of leaving friends behind, I was mainly thinking about Hugo. Would I give up the chance to train one on one with Yakeshi just to stay with others like Elise and Hemi? Would they do the same in my position? I couldn’t be sure.

Still, there is always a price to pay.

“What would it mean if I pledged myself to you?” I asked him.

“You’d have to take up my cause. Kill any blood drinker you come across and you’d have to give up your blood powers. They’re simply too risky for you to hold on to. There would be… a brief regression period that would weaken you. But I have an array of abilities picked out that you’ll find more than suitable as a replacement.”

“So I give up my powers for some random new ones, spend a year away from Hugo and the others, and spend two decades mostly living with you?”

He gave me a small smile. “Thus, you see the main reason why this room was called Patience. You cannot expect to be the strongest today or tomorrow. This will take time. You need to start taking a longer view of life. As you continue to level up, your rate of aging will slow down. I know it's difficult, but you need to start thinking about your life in terms of decades and then centuries.”

The Tower made that impossible. There was always another looming crisis. Always another death defying challenge. Life after the Tower was unimaginable to me and I’d made it a point to not think about what Earth was like after the integration. I didn’t want to get my hopes up that everything would be okay after the Tower. Nor did I want to believe that it had all been destroyed. Ignoring my future was a strategic move that I would continue. At least until the Tower was over.

Yakeshi looked at me expectantly as I wrestled with his offer.

I couldn’t do it. It was a great offer. Far better than the one Samara had provided, but the price was still too high. My powers were too much a part of me to give up now, and I couldn’t leave the others behind again. It was hard enough to reconnect and get used to all of the changes after leaving them for a week. Eleven months from now, and they’d be unrecognizable. Even if Hugo was safe for that entire period, I still wanted to be there for him and the others.

“I’m sorry. I can’t accept,” I said.

He nodded, looking sad. “I won’t try to fight you on this. All I’ll say is that you should avoid making deals with any other gods. They are not to be trusted. Do that and you may still call on me if you happen to find one of my shrines.”

I wanted to thank him for his help so far, but as soon as he’d stopped speaking, he disappeared. As did the garden, and suddenly I was standing back in the empty stone room.

“You were in there a while,” said Sebastian when I returned to the starting zone.

I was? It didn’t feel long, but then again, time can work differently in Yakeshi’s home.

“I’ve already gone through my last door, so the Connection door is all that’s left,” he told me.

I nodded and slapped my palm on the door.

Let’s get this over with. I never expected to get a prize out of this challenge anyway.

After the door opened, I walked down another corridor until I saw a light. The light grew brighter until it led me out onto a beach. Though I wasn’t fooled. I was still in the challenge room. It just happened to be a lot bigger than the others.

There was another sound of fuzzy static that made me cringe. As soon as it ended, Roan appeared before me, wearing the same dark suit he’d wore the night of the party. He seemed pleased to see me, but I was wary of him during our first meeting, and even more so now. He was allied with Samara, but I wasn’t clear on the particulars of how their arrangement worked. I did not trust him, but Hugo had pledged service to him, so I had to avoid making an enemy out of him.

“I don’t see how this is the Connection room or why you’d be here,” I said.

Roan pointed at a red buoy that was floating out at sea that I hadn’t noticed before. There was a black crow standing on the bottom of it that could only have been Hugo. He hopped nervously about, looking down at the water. Around the buoy were black shark fins that were circling. One Abyssal shark leapt out of the water and snapped its teeth near the buoy before falling back under.

“Why doesn’t he just fly away?” I asked.

“His feathers are soaked through with water, which is weighing him down too much. He’s also injured from an earlier fight and has no summons left to call. You’re going to have to rescue him yourself.”

“Oh, is that all? Just dive into the monster shark infested water? You didn’t give the sharks guns, did you? No, I suppose you wouldn’t want to make it too challenging.”

I was rambling because I was scared. The sharks terrified me, and I always felt more helpless in the water.

“I think the sharks as they are are sufficient,” he said, curtly. “These creatures are apex predators that hunt Shrikon for food. Giving them weapons wouldn’t make them scarier. It’d be putting a hat on a hat.”

“Wait, I thought the Shrikon hunted them?”

He shrugged. “It’s a contentious issue where both view themselves as superior. It’s debatable on which side is telling the truth.”

I stared into his eyes, looking for any sign of deception. “And you wouldn’t be lying about anything to manipulate me?”

An eclipse formed to block out the sun, and the beach was thrown into night. His posture was relaxed, but the sudden change in atmosphere told me that I’d touched a nerve.

“I have no need of lies,” he calmly informed me. “They are the way of ignorance and cowardice. Truth is my favorite weapon of all. Remember that.”

I stiffly nodded, and the sun returned. Moving quickly back to the matter at hand, I asked, “okay so what do I get if I go into the water?”

Roan pretended to look offended, but there was a gleam in his eye that suggested he was amused by the question. “I’m sorry? Are you asking me if I’ll pay you to rescue your friend? You realize that this is the Connection room? There’s a connection right over there that’s waiting for you to connect with them.”

I shook my head and refused. This had been an interesting charade to indulge in, but I knew it was fake. There was no way that the System had just grabbed another Tower climber and used them as a prop for a challenge room. The Hugo on that buoy was likely a hologram or a mindless clone.

Roan stretched his arm out as he pointed again at the buoy. He then slowly lowered his arm a fraction at a time and I watched as an invisible force began to push the buoy down into the water.

Hugo’s hops became more frantic as he climbed further up to avoid the ocean. But there was nowhere for him to go once he reached the top and the buoy was still sinking.

“Okay, stop!” I shouted. Not being able to take the chance that this wasn’t real.

Roan ignored me and continued pressing it down.

When I realized he wouldn’t listen to anything else I had to say, I ran to the water and dove in.

The water was ice cold and air rushed out of my lungs almost as soon as it entered. I fought through the shock, gasping for breath as I swam.

As soon as one of the sharks would get close, I’d pull my knife. I couldn’t rely on blood powers in the water, so I had to hope the knife was enough.

The sharks seemed to avoid me when I got closer. Perhaps they were tired of waiting and wanted a guarantee of two meals instead of one on our return trip. In any case, I made it all the way to the buoy, but when I climbed up to grab the bird, Hugo was gone.

I blinked and suddenly fell backwards onto the sand. I had landed back on the beach next to Roan.

“You did well,” he said.

I rushed to my feet. “So it was fake!” I snarled.

“Of course, but for a moment, you thought it was real. That moment when you overcame your fear of the water and dove in to save your friend. That was you fighting to preserve a connection. Here is your reward.”

*DING!* You have gained [Advanced Animal Companion Pact] – As a testament to your bond, your initial bargain with your companion will be strengthened upon the next meeting. From now on, you will each be able to sense the location of one another. If permission is granted you may also see through the eyes of one another.

“An odd choice of power up,” I said.

“This is the Connection room,” he repeated as if I was slow.

My eyes narrowed. “And what do you want in return for this ability?”

“Me?” he shrugged. “Nothing. Everything I want, I either have or will have. I do want you to pledge your service to me, but I will not beg, plead, threaten, or bribe you. You will come to me of your own accord when the time is right.”

That sounded highly unlikely. My skepticism was through the roof, but I had to ask. “And why is that?”

Roan smirked. “Because once your eyes have been opened to the truth, it will be the obvious choice.”

He vanished before I could ask him more questions and I went back to the starting zone, more confused than before, but also more eager to reunite with Hugo.

Sebastian was already there, waiting for me yet again.

“I think… this was worth doing,” I told him.

He opened his mouth to respond, but a System message interrupted him.

[Congratulations on completing the challenge room!]

One part of the lower wall to our right opened up.

[Please make your way through the gravity traversal vehicle to leave this place]

The name made me suspicious. I peered closer and frowned. “It looks like a slide. Where does it go?”

[It’s a gravity traversal vehicle.]

The System restated.

“Could also call it an inclined plane or a ramp?” suggested Sebastian.

“Yeah, or a slope.”

[It’s a gravity traversal vehicle!]

The System snapped at us and refused to answer my question of where it would lead.

“Does it think it just invented the concept of a slide?” I asked.

Sebastian shrugged. “I dunno. There were a couple of times in the rooms where things became stranger than usual. Like parts of it seemed to be glitching out with mistakes or things that shouldn’t be there appearing and disappearing.”

I’d noticed that too, which was troubling. If the System was experiencing problems, then that didn’t bode well for any of us.

Sebastian gave me a nudge. “Come on, let’s use the slide to exit the funhouse.”

I sighed and agreed to go first.

The slide was steeper than it looked and with no twists or turns; it sent me shooting into a giant ceremonial temple. Luckily, I had enough dexterity to land on my feet and roll out of the way before Sebastian could slam into me. He crashed onto the floor a few seconds later. A little bruised, but with nothing broken.

As I looked around the room, I was too shocked to move or speak.

“Why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?” he asked me. Then he saw what I saw and his mouth fell open.

We were on a raised platform and below us were hundreds of Shanker monkeys and dozens of those giant gorillas with the orange glowing fists.

We stared at them and they at us. Both sides equally stunned that we’d break into their house of worship.

Without thinking, Sebastian pulled out his axe. It broke the spell of silence and the monkeys screeched in rage before rushing us.