by Jakob Tanner
Mana and energy reverberated from the feather as Harold poked at it with his special device.
“Hmm,” he pondered aloud.
He tried a similar test on the envelope itself and again nothing significant happened.
The old man sighed and placed down his metal tool. He then leaned back in his seat and stared at Max.
“Like your previous letter you brought me,” said Harold. “It’s protected by magical wards. The only option left is the nuclear option. Shall I?”
While Max had hoped it wouldn’t come to that, he had half expected it might.
The problem with Harold’s “nuclear option” was that he would destroy the clue, forever. Once again, it would force Max to give up on the one thing that connected him to his sister.
That said, when he had done it last time, it had helped lead him to this next clue.
So tough as it was, he knew what he had to do.
He gulped, then nodded his head at Harold.
“Do it.”
The old man grinned and got up from his desk. A few seconds later, he returned with a big mana-flame device.
He handed Max some goggles.
“You might want to put these on,” said the old man.
Max placed the goggles over his eyes and Harold did the same.
Harold then lifted up his device and scorched the work desk in mana-flames.
Max watched through the tinted view of his goggles.
Harold eventually let go of the flame trigger and waved his hands in the air to remove the smoke.
Max pulled off his glasses to see what remained of the precious item.
The black feather had disintegrated into a black mucus while the envelope remained perfectly in tact.
As far as Max could tell, it seemed like the items hadn’t left anything to be deciphered.
He eagerly looked up to Harold hoping the old man would tell him otherwise.
The man frowned.
“Sorry about this, kid,” he said. “But I think we’re all out of luck. No secret clues in this batch of items I’m afraid.”
A huge pit formed in Max’s stomach.
So I’m back at square one then, he thought to himself.
Harold walked away from his work desk to put his tools back in storage.
Max looked down to the destroyed puddle of burned feather with disappointment.
But then something strange happened.
The puddle of black guck, popped and bubbled.
It then spread out along the backside of the envelope.
The black mucus began to form words and Max watched on with wonder.
A few seconds later, the puddle of black guck was gone and in its place was a message.
A message from his sister.
They’ve lied to you. Even more than you think.
2
Sakura sat in a large boardroom on the second highest floor of the Zestiris climber’s guild hall building.
The city and the sunny blue sky could be seen from the window that stretched across the entirety of the boardroom.
Across the long table from where Sakura sat were an older man and woman.
John Karlson.
Edith Brooksmith.
The two of which made up the elder council of Zestiris.
They were arguably the second most powerful political entity in Zestiris after the climber president.
Though, based on many of their conversations, Sakura often felt like she was subservient to them.
“Have you brought the list?” said the older man.
Sakura pulled out a folder from her briefcase and slid it across the table.
The man opened the folder and picked up a document. He read it over and then handed it to the older woman.
After the woman had finished reading the document, she placed it down on the table.
“This list is okay. There are a few eccentric choices. We don’t have a problem with any of them, except for one.” said the older woman.
“Max Rainhart,” said the older man. “We object to that boy being on this list.”
Sakura was both shocked, and yet not surprised. The elder council had been suspicious of Max ever since he had entered the tower-zone.
“How many times does he have to prove his loyalty?” asked Sakura. “Prove his loyalty due to distrust and suspicions he himself has never earned on his own.”
“As long as he remains related to the Scarlet Demon,” said the council. “We’ll always be uneasy with him.”
Sakura clenched her fists underneath the boardroom table.
“Fine,” she said. “What if we came to a compromise?”
The two council members looked at each other and then nodded.
“What did you have in mind?”
Max stared at the message in front of him.
They’ve lied to you. Even more than you think.
The words only stayed there for another second or two until they faded away into the paper leaving nothing but a faint black stain.
What the heck did that message mean?
Who is they? thought Max. And they lied about what?
Max’s first thought must be that Elle was trying to tell him about Zestiris. She knows that the world was destroyed and that humanity lives within the tower. That was the biggest lie he could think of.
What more could they be lying about?
Max thanked Harold once more and then stepped back out into the city streets.
The first thing he did was let out a huge sigh.
He wasn’t sure if it was relief or just emotional exhaustion.
Before entering the antique shop, he wasn’t sure if he had been doing the right thing.
The black feather—the symbol of the tower terrorist cell The Fallen Angels—had been a burden to carry around with him.
But now he felt almost sad that it was gone.
He had nothing connecting him to his sister any longer. At least, nothing physical. He still had the memory of her messages to him.
Her words raced through his mind.
Remember your promise.
Find me in the tower.
They’ve lied to you.
More than you think.
What did it all mean?
Finally, there was one last mystery haunting him.
What was she doing with a black feather? Was she part of The Fallen Angels then?
Max looked up to the clear blue sky, wishing he could speak to his sister directly. Hug her and be together with her once more. A family.
Elle, he thought to himself. What’s happened to you?
Max realized what he had to do next.
He had to go to the library. He had to do more research. He had to figure out what Elle was trying to tell him through her coded messages.
He crossed the street and headed towards the library when his phone vibrated in his pocket.
He pulled it out and saw that it was a message from Sakura.
‘COME TO THE CLIMBER’S GUILD HALL IMMEDIATELY.’
Max stared at the text, slightly confused.
All caps? No hello?
A bit rude.
But Sakura was the climber president, so he couldn’t ignore a direct order.
He spun around and started walking in the direction of the climber’s guild hall.
Max arrived at the guild hall to find it thrumming with activity.
A clerk approached him straight away and led him to a room he’d never been in before.
“Um, excuse me,” he said. “I have a meeting with the climber president?”
“Yes, yes, I know,” said the clerk. “You all do.”
Max didn’t understand what she was saying.
“You all do.”
Who else was coming to this meeting?
The clerk nudged him into a large gymnasium filled with hundreds of climbers.
The different climbers all stood around with their arms crossed, some huddled in groups while others stood to the side on their own.<
br />
They glanced at Max suspiciously, and then returned to their thoughts or conversations.
What’s going on?
There were loads of climbers Max had never seen before. Judging by the different colors of their badges on their chests, he could tell that a mix of higher- and lower-ranked climbers had been asked to come here today.
He walked through the crowd of climbers slowly, picking up bits and pieces of murmured conversation.
“Why have they called us here?”
“Is a tower war about to happen?”
Max shuddered at the speculation. What did a tower war even look like? He shook his head. He didn’t want to know. The power of climbers on their floor and even higher up could reach such levels of monstrosity that to imagine such beings pitted up against one another in a full-scale war was unfathomable. The death and destruction would be on an incomprehensible scale.
Max started to wander over to a nearby wall where he saw some space to stand, when he heard a voice behind him.
“Max!”
He turned around to see his best friend, Casey, walking quickly towards him. Her beautiful emerald green eyes flashed across the room and she shot him a gorgeous smile. Her brown hair was in pigtails and she was wearing a striped shirt and navy skirt with leggings. Her gerbil, Toto, was perched on his favorite spot on her left shoulder.
“Hey,” said Max. “Don’t suppose you know why we’re all gathered here?”
“Haven’t got a clue,” said Casey, shaking her head. “Just got this very intense message from Sakura.”
She lifted up her phone to him and Max saw they’d received the same message.
He looked around the gymnasium at the countless number of climbers gathered.
I guess we all got the same message to come here then.
“People are whispering about a war,” said Max. “That can’t be true, can it? War with who?”
Casey crossed her arms. “I hope not. We’ll just have to wait and see I guess. Better to not jump to massive conclusions.”
Despite her calm and rational suggestion, her pale face suggested otherwise.
She was nervous.
Neither one of them during their careers as tower climbers so far had ever been asked to come to a meeting like this one.
Suddenly, like a gust of wind, the entire gymnasium went quiet as Sakura walked out onto a podium at the front of the room.
Everyone stood up straight and looked in the direction of the woman.
The climber president.
Hopefully, she would provide answers to why they were here.
Sakura stared out at the large group of climbers standing in front of her.
These were some of Zestiris’ best and brightest climbers. She caught sight of Max in the middle of the crowd. His red hair made him stick out like a sore thumb.
She quickly glanced away from the boy. She couldn’t play favorites. Not with the elder council breathing down her neck like they currently were.
“Thank you for coming everyone,” she said
They all stayed quiet looking at her with eager curiosity.
What must they be thinking right now? They must think they’re in trouble or that war is brewing.
Most of them won’t have remembered or been privy to the last time this event happened.
“I have gathered you all here today,” Sakura explained, “because a very important mission is coming up. It will bring the potential for big rewards and opportunities to grow and rank faster than ever before. There is much knowledge, power, and influence to be gained by embarking on this mission.”
The faces of the crowd began to brighten up.
Sakura briefly smiled.
She was telling them things they wanted to hear.
Important mission.
Big rewards.
Knowledge.
Influence.
Power.
“Only a select few of you can go on this mission, however,” Sakura explained. “So in the interest of both fairness and for us to determine who would be the best people suited for the job, we’ve concocted a challenge for you all.”
Many in the crowd nodded with determination, while others looked around fearfully.
“For those uninterested,” said Sakura. “You may leave now. The rest of you. Get ready.”
3
A few climbers hurried out of the gymnasium not wanting to take part in the special challenge.
Max turned to Casey and grinned.
“Important mission sounds nice,” he said.
“So does, ‘Big Rewards’,” said Casey with a large grin on her face.
Max peered around the room, taking in the climbers who stayed.
There were still hundreds of climbers left.
Max considered everything Sakura had told them. The challenge they were about to face was to determine who should go on this mission; so whatever happened next would most likely be some kind of elimination challenge.
Everyone in this room—including, Casey—was now potentially his opponent.
Max could feel the tension in the room grow as all the other climbers came to a similar sentiment.
There had already been suspicious glances darting around the room before, but now there were real threats in some people’s looks.
Intimidation tactics, scoffed Max to himself. Let’s wait and see what the challenge is first.
Sakura glanced over to the door and watched the last person depart the gymnasium.
“So that means the rest of you are up for the challenge,” said Sakura. “Good.”
The climber president pulled a device out of her pocket with a big button on it. She pressed down and suddenly all across the gymnasium bright pink portals emerged in front of every single climber.
“Beyond the portal your challenge awaits,” Sakura declared.
Max looked at the portal and gulped.
He then turned to Casey.
“I guess see you on the other side of this challenge?” he said.
“Yeah,” Casey replied. “Good luck!”
Then, without any hesitation, she dived straight through the portal.
As soon as she jumped in, the portal disappeared with a poof.
More and more climbers stepped into the portal and the gymnasium began to thin out.
“For those of you hesitating,” said Sakura, “you can consider this a bonus mini-challenge. You have five seconds left to jump in or you forfeit the challenge.”
The statement hit Max like a splash of cold water.
Well—what was he waiting for then?
He leaped into the portal and didn’t look back.
He emerged in a strange field right on the ridge of a hill, tripping and tumbling down to the ground.
He was finally able to stop rolling when he hit the bottom of the hill.
“Argh,” he groaned as he picked himself back up and patted dirt off his clothes.
This is not a very impressive way to start the challenge, he thought to himself.
Once he got his bearings, he looked around the realm the portal had taken him to.
He was in a large open field with dips and rises.
The strangest part of this realm was it had an odd purple sky.
Where the heck am I?
He took a few steps forward and looked around.
He couldn’t see anyone else nearby. He thought he saw a flicker of a person very far away but he wasn’t sure.
He took a deep breath.
Sakura had said, “Beyond the portal your challenge awaits.”
But what the heck was the challenge? Stand in an empty field by yourself for ten minutes?
Max took another deep breath.
Let’s give it a few more minutes, he thought. Hopefully the actual challenge will make itself known.
Suddenly a message appeared in his retina, just like when he was looking over his profile and stats.
Challenge One: Survive the monster-wave
Before Max c
ould even say, “What monster-wave?,” a horde of monsters materialized all around him.
Max readied himself for the grueling battle ahead.
Monsters filled the field that had been empty only seconds before. There were the usual rock golems, harpies, and fire-breathing tigers that accompanied most monster-waves, but there were some other nasty creatures in the mix as well. There were werewolves and bipedal beetle monsters. In the distance, he even saw mud zombies pull themselves out of the ground.
“Here we go,” Max sighed.
Step one of Max’s action plan was to reclaim a little bit of control of the battlefield.
He triggered shadow blink and reappeared at the top of the hill he’d previously tripped and fallen over.
Time to give myself a height advantage.
Then as a group of harpies swung down on him, he gripped his rare legendary weapon—Galrog’s fists—and unsheathed his mana claws.
With three elongated sharp beaming knives of mana on either side of his hands, Max thrashed his way through the incoming squad of harpies.
They disintegrated on the ground, while Max wasted no time, circling the area, creating more and more space between the hungry horde of monsters that were after him and his hostile mana claws.
“Come one step closer and you’re entering the shredder,” shouted Max.
Most of the monsters didn’t heed Max’s warning and simply charged at him.
Max retaliated with fancy footwork, moving in a deadly circle with his claws, ripping through most of the monsters’ flesh.
One tricky werewolf was able to keep pushing forward despite multiple slashes.
Damn, thought Max. Must be a higher-ranked monster. My mana claws aren’t enough.
But that wasn’t a problem.
Max triggered chain lightning, sending a long rope of bright blue electricity right into the wolf man’s stomach, frying him into nothing.
“Rargh!” screamed a monster behind him.
Max quickly looked over his shoulder and saw a spiked-ogre club coming down to hit his head.
Oh crap!
There was no time to dodge, so Max triggered his phase-out ability.
His instincts still had him lifting up his arms to block the attack, but the ogre swing went right through him.