Chapter 174: The Monolith

“Hello, I’m Elli, could I see your tokens, please?” a scithian says, almost gently. We approached them mainly because they weren’t with the city guard. Instead, they had short, black hair, styled to poke up from their scalp, and draped a snake around their neck. 

The monolith stands in front of us. It’s a towering thing - black and austere. Perfectly smooth, like glass, tapering to a pint high up in the sky. It pierces the drizzling clouds like a symbol of hope, of opportunity.

With very, very swift motions, we all present the sigils. Bofoy, Anna, Trey, Jean and Isabelle followed us along swiftly. It took a while for me to convince the quiet thief to let her little brother come along, but in the end, she agreed. If he could gain even a single level, he could start putting points into heart and get better.

Also, she wouldn’t go alone. There was no chance of her leaving him behind, so he had to come along. 

Now, the reason we’re going so fast is because there’s someone walking towards us. Multiple someones, in fact. Raven, Coldscar, Lucky and Reign. And, of course, in addition to them, there’s a new person.

Someone who spotted Jean immediately. Someone whose presence is so wide it makes me shiver. Her field of authority crashed over me when she entered the fifth ring. Delfine, the oracle. A tall feryran, wearing a wide-brimmed hat, an exquisite, golden dress and a veil that hid her face. 

But she’s easy to spot. Her dress drags on the street, but doesn’t cake with mud. She is surrounded by four guards, all of them wielding stacking authorities. And her own sense of detection buzzes at the back of my head as she walks towards us, hushed whispers passing over the crowd.

Like an inevitable ghost, she approaches. So, we hurry. Elli gives us a small smile that brightens when her cute snake sniffs the tokens. Then she nods. “Good, you all have them. Your group seems to be spread over a wide array of levels. Do you need me to set the scaling factor?”

The questions are genuine and kind, and if we had more time, I would ask to pet the snake. But we don’t. So, instead, I tell them, “We’re in a hurry. Whatever gets us in quickest.”

Elli scratches the back of their head at that. “Well, alright,” they say with a weak smile, glancing at the people who seem to be very decidedly coming after us. “Just to warn you, you can die in the monolith. And they’re not instanced - you might find other people climbing them. Most likely, even. If you find nobles, try to be respectful,” they explain.

And then, with quick motions, they press a thin booklet into my hand. “Here, this’ll have the most important bits. Good luck.”

With another wave, Elli beckons us inside. The door to the monolith is a swirling haze of fog. It ripples forward, covering our feet. The entrance is also guarded by Respitia’s staff, though their eyes are all on Delfine. Still, the oracle approaches, her vision growing tighter over us, like a thin net.

There are also independent climbers here, like Elli, who generally serve the same purpose as guards while also selling themselves to fill additional spots for incomplete teams, climbing with them. 

Not that we could afford it. Despite our profits, after all the blackmail, and buying supplies, we’re… well, not quite broke, but close. Usually, we’d have bought more healing items, but with me and Jean, we’re one of the rare parties who is overstacked on healers, rather than understocked.

With Elli’s approval, it only takes us a few swift steps into the fog, Delfine and the gangs approaching behind us. I breathe in for a long moment, then step forward. Past all the guards, through the fog, and into the monolith.

- - -

First, the sigil I hold burns in my hand. It rapidly rusts, then turns to flaking ash, falling down. The fog consumes me, and I feel the cold creeping across my skin. It’s far, far colder than Downpour even on its coldest days, but it’s not cutting. It clings to my skin, to my eyes, and I blink a few times to clear them.

[Companion bond confirmed. Participant ‘Kuro’ admitted in same slot as participant ‘Ion’.]

Then the cold pulls away a step. It sticks around for a few more moments.

[Full party confirmed. Establishing cohort.]

One moment to another, my vision clears. The fog disappears, and instead of it, I find myself in a simple room. It’s small, lined with stone bricks, in a similar style to Downpour itself, really. There are small channels in the ground that are flooded with water. One after another, the others all appear in the chamber with me.

Sighing softly, I finally drop the shadow-mask. For just a moment, we’re safe. The entrance is shared only among cohort members. In this specific room, for just a moment, we’re untouchable. A thin smile spreads on my face at that, but I quickly smother it. While we’re safe, we’re not safe.

I breathe in, then out, and wait as everyone else comes in. One by one, they trickle inside, and yes, everyone makes it. Which is good news, because it gives me the time to turn to the three portals in front of us.

“Not that one,” Thatch says instantly, pointing at the leftmost one.

Faintly, I tilt my head, then walk up to it and look inside. Just that, in and of itself, doesn’t tell me a lot. It shows a beach, I think. Ocean waves gently rolling in from the side. But the mana from there speaks a different volume. 

It’s so thin it could barely exist, but there’s also a lot. [Annexation] whispers about it to me, as [Observation] lets me feel the mana beyond it. There’s a hurricane coming. Some kind of storm. If we spend too long there, we’ll be crushed.

I nod, agreeing with Thatch, and take a look at the middle door. It’s filled with warmth, a wet kind of heat that hits me in the face even from this side of it. The entrance leads to what looks like a cave, with brine pools lining its edges. 

The last door, on the right, is even hotter than the middle one. Instead of a beach, it’s just sand. A desert, with a cruel sun from overhead. “Wow,” I say out loud. “These all seem miserable.”

Trey stops his surprised gasping for a few moments to look at me in… well, surprise, too. “What do you mean they’re all miserable?!” he demands.

I turn to the kid and tilt my head. Then I point. “That one will kill us,” I say at the left door. “That one’s warm and humid,” I point at the middle. “And that one’s hot,” I finish, pointing at the right one.

Anna blinks at me. “I feel like one of those is not like the others.”

Looking at her, I just shrug. “Eh. I would simply survive.”

Opal laughs, then gestures at the doors. “So? Which one are we taking?”

“Caves,” Inu says without hesitation. “It’ll be easier to lose anyone hunting us.”

A small smile spread on my lips, and I nod. “Caves it is.”

Sylves sighs dramatically. “And here I was looking forward to flying again.”

Thatch rolls his eyes. “We’re on flying islands. You can fly some more when we’re out.”

Having decided, we all step through the portal.