We sit on logs covered in snow. The fire still burns, sustained by Rei's mana. It burns hot, turning white, changing the tone of our questions.
It starts snowing again, but not a single flake lands on us, as if we're being shielded by Sho.
The wind refuses the snow.
"What are you talking about?" Viri sighs.
"We're not going to see the end of the tower?" Rei says quietly.
Selene speaks up. "Once we beat the tutorial, the bosses won't be as close to the starting platforms."
Viri looks stunned. "Shit, you're right," she says. "I never even thought of that."
"Can you explain?" Rei asks.
Sho nods. "Since neither you nor Eli played the game, let me. In the game, bosses had random spawns…except on the tutorial floor. That's why the Crusaders had such an easy time with Floor 1."
"Except for the NPC casualties," Selene mumbles.
Selene adds, "Each leaf is roughly the size of Earth, and they shrink as we go higher."
"So in the game," Rei continues, "it must have taken time to even find each boss."
"Correct," Sho says. "On public servers, it would take months of in-game time just to find them, especially the ones that could hide themselves."
"I still don't get why we won't see the end," I say, not following the conversation.
"The tutorial has already taken months," Mr. Sato explains. "And it's supposed to be the easiest part of the tower. Ignoring your bet with Valen, even if we'd already beaten the floor ten boss, it would still take years to finish the game."
"Will we even live that long?" Rei says.
"There are still so many questions," Selene says. "Do we stay the same age forever? How does mana affect that? Why were we called here?"
"Assuming we age normally," Mr. Sato says, "and each floor takes an average of one year, none of us will live to see the top."
"But with billions of people working toward it, doesn't it make sense we'd find the bosses faster?" I ask.
"That's the thing," Selene says. "In the game, we had a system that alerted players when a boss was defeated."
"I'm sure there are still players watching the floors, thinking the bosses are still there," Sho mutters.
"There's no system here," Rei says quietly.
Mr. Sato adds, "Less than ten percent of players are even ranked with RG. Even fewer are actively hunting bosses."
"And part of that's my fault," Sho says. Her gray hair shifts gently in the heat of the fire. "After the tutorial is beaten, the next summit should be announced. It would be easy to allow anyone to challenge the bosses instead of assigning them to specific guilds."
"That would just get more people killed," Rei says.
Sho nods. "Unfortunately, if we want to be as fast as possible, that's the only option."
"Best case, we could just wish everyone back," Selene mutters.
"If you make it to the end, what would you wish for?" she asks more cheerfully.
"I'd wish the green light never happened," Rei says. "It would stop all the deaths. Stop us from ever coming here."
"But what does that have to do with the Crusaders?" I ask. "And Adrian?"
"You still haven't answered our question," I continue. "Why are you being so nice to us?"
"If we can't make it to the end," Sho says confidently, "it's our job to raise the ones who can. It's the duty of the strong… to have strong children."
Teruki "Tenshi" Raimei's Perspective:
Cold.
Colder than I've ever felt.
Selfish.
I'm so selfish.
Hate.
I hate myself.
The snow pours like rain. It soaks my shoulders, matting my hair against my scalp. It clings to me like guilt. Heavy and relentless. My fingers are stiff. My breath is sharp. I struggle to move, but I keep going. One foot follows the other as I push my body forward through the endless stretch of white.
I won't stop.
I can't stop now.
I need … I need strength.
Everything is your fault.
I step forward again, slower now. Every movement feels far away, as if my body is no longer mine to control. The chill seeps deep, biting into my very bones.
My vision blurs.
I see something move ahead of me.
Chains.
I should have waited for Rei. I should have turned back. I should have stayed with the others. But I couldn't. I made a choice. A selfish one, maybe … but I had to come. I had to prove something.
Not to them.
To me.
To my brother, who always stood stronger than me.
To my friends, who've always fought for me.
But most of all. To myself.
If becoming an Avatar means gaining power that no one else can reach, then I will do it. No matter the cost. I have to.
I have to prove that I can fight too. That I'm not just something fragile to protect.
The snow is thick now, almost blinding. I see the marks. A broken trail where something was dragged. Chains, deep grooves in the snow.
A body maybe?
Shards of ice mix with the dirt. They cut a jagged path through the wilderness. It's better than wandering blind.
I follow.
I follow that cruel, ugly path.
The boss… he wasn't this big in the game. Was he?
I push forward. Snow is creeping into my boots. It is biting at my skin. The trail disappears in mere seconds, buried beneath fresh snow. I blink.
Nothing.
The forest looks untouched. As if no one had passed through it at all.As if my presence means nothing.
No trail.
No signs.
No guidance.
But I don't stop.
The cold doesn't even register anymore. Not truly.
A heavy pressure settles on my chest, something I can't seem to lift. I pause briefly and summon a flicker of mana to steady myself.
Just enough to keep myself standing. Just enough to breathe.
Step.
I keep going forward. One foot dragging in front of the other. The snow pulls at my ankles.
I keep pushing forward.
Step.
My pace begins to slow. The weight of exhaustion anchoring every movement. My legs feel like lead. Each step heavier than the last.
Step.
I try to move again, but my body won't listen. I am frozen. My limbs lock up. The cold turned every joint into solid stone. My arms refuse to lift. My knees tremble. I stand there. Trapped in place. Unable to breathe, unable to scream, the silence of the snow louder than anything I've ever heard.
CRUNCH
The snow gives way beneath me. I collapse into it. My knees hit the ground hard. My palms sink into the freezing powder. My sleeves darken with wetness.
Snowflakes kiss my face.
I lift my eyes to the sky. The moon above is glowing faintly behind the clouds. It's light, weak and distant.
I breathe.
"I'm not cold," I whisper, even though I am. Every inch of my body screams otherwise.
I try to rise.
But I can't.
My arms tremble. My legs are numb. I lower my head and stare at the snow beneath me.
It was never this bad in the game.
A tear slips from my eye. It barely touches my cheek before it freezes solid.
"You're a failure," a voice whispers. My own voice. Cold. Merciless. It echoes again and again. It bounced through my mind.
"Why?"
"Why did you think you were ready?"
"Why did you think you were strong enough?"
And beneath it all … him.
My brother.
Always ahead. Always taller. Always stronger. Even now. Even here, in a world where power is supposed to be within reach, where mana surges through my veins and strength should come easy I am still beneath him. I have so much mana, so much potential, but when I think of him he still dwarfs me. Not just in skill, not just in presence, but in everything that matters.
I close my eyes and think back to Earth.
To the way we were always in competition.
Always measured. Always compared.
He would win. Every time. Without fail.
No matter how hard I trained. No matter how much I tried.
The spotlight never has room for two.
I…
I don't …
I don't KNOW.
But EVEN SO.
I get up.
I push my hands into the snow. My fingers burn, but I force them to move. I grit my teeth and push. My arms tremble. My knees scream. My heart tells me I am nothing.
But I rise anyway.
My father once said strength wasn't about winning. It was about getting back up when everything in the world told you to stay down.
If he saw me now.
He'd probably be disappointed.
But I don't care.
I need to keep moving. I need to see this through. I need to atone.
A sound rips through the night.
Crunch.
That sound again. Not my steps. Something heavier. A weight that fills the forest, a pressure that tightens in my chest.
I grip a jagged shard of ice from the snow.
Someone falling endlessly into darkness.
My vision blurs.
Someone is gone.
I can feel it.
Another life lost because I wasn't there. Because I wasn't strong enough
I clench my fists.
"I can't…" I whisper.
But I have to.
"I can't give up!!"
My voice cracks through the storm. I gather my mana, forming a barrier to keep the snow off me. It hovers around me in a soft shell, warm against my skin. It won't last long. But it's enough.
I move forward.
I walk. And walk.
And then I see him.
He sits slumped at the base of a jagged mountain. His frame is massive, even seated. Snow surrounds him but never touches him, as if even the storm is afraid.
Chains spill from his arms like rivers of iron, dragging through the snow in long, frozen coils. They dwarf him.
Twice his size at least.
He wears them like a second skin. Shattered armor clings to his chest and shoulders, jagged with frost, splintered by old battles. Ice hangs from his jaw like a beard. His face is still. His eyes are closed.
He looks like a corpse.
But I know better.
He wanders these forests. Alone. Bound.
His head rises slowly.
His eyes open.
And then, at last, I hear his voice.
It's rough. Cold. Deep like the shifting of glaciers. It sounds less like speech and more like the ice itself has decided to speak.
"Are you… here to… kill me?"