Luke Everhart

Chapter 6 - The Challenges of a Hybrid Class

While the other three slept, completely passed out, the others chatted in hushed conversation.

Jul remained quiet, staring from one end of the corridor to the other. Non-stop.

Nar, while still paying attention, thought it was a good time to get familiar with his UI and the other stuff the induction hadn’t covered.

He had been warned to do it before combat after all. It would be idiotic of him not to.

First, he considered his weapon.

There had been mention of a ...

Chapter 5 - System Induction

Nar came too with a gasp.

With his pulse beating in his temples, he looked around him.

Where was he?

Who were these people, laying on the floor in front of him?

Slowly, his sense of self pieced itself back together.

Crystal.

Goodbye.

Party.

Yellow.

B-Nex.

Climber…

He sat against the wall. Next to him, a red, glistening dark splatter slowly dripped down its length.

What in the pile was that?

He swallowed, ...

Chapter 4 - The Climb Begins

They were one of the last ones called.

That was fine by Nar. Now that he was actually about to leave everything that he had ever known, and he had his class, weapon and party ready, he found that he wasn’t in that much of a hurry to leave.

He had also started remembering every single scary story he had heard as a child and had himself told younger kids as a teenager.

Workers liked to make up the weirdest, most horrible things they could think of for what lay beyond their s...

Chapter 3 - We are the Party

The six of them crossed the warm, heavy darkness in hushed conversation.

Around them, other crystalights shone in the dark, marking the other Climbers.

Some very few traveled in groups. Even less walked with family.

The majority made the journey alone.

Few were those who understood a Climber’s decision. Fewer still those who accepted it.

Once you voiced your decision to Climb, no one could stop you. And no one could hurt you either, though many wanted to.

Chapter 2 - Plans Made, Hope For the Best

Stairs and houses and cracked, leaning walls blurred past him.

Nar clutched the sword to his chest, like a precious newborn, and walked so fast he almost ran, risking falling and breaking his neck.

It was like walking in a dream.

He couldn’t believe that it was actually happening.

He couldn’t believe that he was actually leaving.

Workers stared at him as he went by with his little crystalight and sword.

They stared. They sneered. They spat at his feet.<...

Chapter 1 - All Climbers Go Before the Crystal

A Sinner Ascends

Book I of the Path of the Last Champion.

Part 1 - The Upper Depths

“Why, Crystal? Why?” - Unknown ex-Climber, Intoxicated

Excerpt from “A Life in the Depths – A Study of the Life Conditions in the Between-Nexus”

Status: Unpublished. Censored under the authority of Truth Legate Alastor Ghabn

Notation: Level 4 Breach of The Tenets for Scholarly Conduct, Education and Enlig...