by Jakob Tanner
Despite arriving right on time, she found herself waiting in the climber academy courtyard. She was frustrated that their instructor seemed to be late as it created more opportunity for having to interact with Sybil and Cyrus.
Toto squealed and gestured to a boy standing by himself.
The boy had shaggy red hair and big blue eyes. He was a mixture of handsome and cute, especially the latter, as he looked around with the awestruck eyes of a tourist.
Is this boy even a climber? she thought to herself. How does he not know where he is right now?
Then she realized. He must be the new kid she’d heard rumors about.
“Wow, can you believe it, Toto?” said Casey. “There’s someone here who is more of an outsider than even I am.”
Casey felt her cheeks blush as she thought: the boy must not have any friends yet. Maybe we could—
She shook her head.
Don’t get too excited, she told herself. You don’t know. He could be another Cyrus or Sybil for all you know.
But something told her that wasn’t the case.
He had a kindness in his eyes. A sweetness to him with a tinge of sadness there as well.
“I should say hello,” she said to Toto. “Don’t you agree?”
The pet just shrugged as if to say: ‘I don’t know, I’m a gerbil!’
“Hmm,” said Casey. “I think just approaching him might be coming on a bit too strong. What if—”
She materialized a piece of paper and pen from her climber’s pouch. She scrawled a quick message on it, and then folded it into a paper airplane.
“I’ll send a message via paper airplane,” she explained to Toto. “Good idea, huh? Definitely the smart and mature way to say hello, right Toto?”
Toto covered his eyes with his little paws.
“Fine, don’t support me in my life decisions,” she said.
She then threw the paper airplane and triggered her trait to make sure it reached the destination of the new boy’s forehead.
As the plane flew threw the air, Casey felt her hopes rise.
I hope he’s nice, she thought.
I hope he likes gerbils.
I hope he’ll want to be my friend too.
Tears flooded from Casey’s eyes as she remembered the first day she had met Max.
She’d never thought about it this way before, but prior to meeting him, she hadn’t realized how lonely she had felt.
Different from her parents, yet different from the children of pure-vein climber families.
Max was the first person she met who was like her.
An outsider.
And since that day when they became friends, she had felt less and less like that.
As the tears rushed out of her, she trembled. She couldn’t help but think about how she didn’t want to return to a life where Max wasn’t in it.
The boy lay there silently.
She shut her eyes.
Don’t let Max see you like this, she said. You need to be happy and cheerful. That will help wake him up. Not sobbing like the blubbering mess you currently are.
Then a voice cut through her thoughts.
Her heart lifted.
She looked up to see Max, his eyes narrow but open as he slowly returned to consciousness.
“Casey...is that you?”
When Max opened his eyes, he was very confused.
He was hooked up to hospital equipment and Casey was crying in front of him.
The questions ran through his head faster than he could remember how he got there.
Where am I?
What’s going on?
Then the memories came flooding back.
The fight against Mother.
The assassination of Sabriel.
His fight with his sister.
Elle.
What had she become?
And then there was Casey—crying in front of him.
She was crying because of him.
He hated to be the reason why this gorgeous girl was filled with tears and sadness.
He reached out his hand to hers.
“Casey...”
The girl wiped her eyes with her sleeve but she wasn’t able to stop.
“Max...” she said. “I’m sorry...I don’t mean to cry. I’m just...”
Her voice was shaking.
Max wanted to make her feel better. He didn’t want her to be sad.
He reached inside of himself and prepared to tell her the truth.
He gripped her hand with his own.
“Casey—I don’t know where I am exactly or what happened at the end of the tournament either. I’ve been in a long painful dream. My sister...I found her...briefly...but she isn’t who I thought she was. There was only one thing that kept me going in that painful dream.”
Casey locked her gaze with his and he took in her gorgeous green eyes that were even prettier all puffed up and red.
“The only thing keeping me going,” Max continued, “was to see your smile again.”
The exact opposite of what Max was hoping for happened next.
Casey started sobbing even harder.
“Hey...now...” said Max.
“I’m sorry,” she sobbed, wiping her eyes.
She mustered a smile and said, “I can’t help crying. It’s not because I’m sad, it’s because I’m so happy you’re still alive.”
They held each other’s hands and smiled at one another, until a loud voice emanated from the doorway.
“Geez louise, get these two a room already,” snickered Harold, crossing his arms, standing in front of them, clad in his own hospital gown.
“Excuse me, old-timer, but we were having a moment!” shouted Casey.
“You are?” whispered two other voices.
Then, emerging from the side of the door were just the foreheads and eyes of Sakura and Sarah, peeking inside the room.
“You should leave them alone,” said another voice from the other side of the door.
Cigarette smoke trailed after the voice, confirming it belonged to Blake.
“I don’t think you’re supposed to smoke in here,” said Sarah.
“It’s part of my recovery,” Blake retorted.
They all stumbled into Max’s room at that point.
Surrounding him on the bed, they all smiled down at him.
“You won the tournament, Max,” said Sarah.
“Everyone has been celebrating in Zestiris,” said Sakura.
“You did good, kid,” said Harold.
“Seriously, I’m impressed,” said Blake.
“I was so worried for you,” said Casey. “But it’s true: you did kick that old Mrs. Jerky-Mc-Jerk-Face’s butt really good.”
Max smiled.
“Actually,” said Sakura, “it’s not just us who wanted to offer you personal congratulations. Take a look out your window.”
Max moved over to the window and couldn’t believe his eyes.
“CONGRATULATIONS!”
A massive crowd had formed outside his window of the hospital.
Tiberius was clapping his hands along with the rest of his team.
As were the Boldrin and Flaron teams as well.
U’lopp was there, cheering with his frog-folk companions.
Queen Violet was there too, clapping with the Elestrian team behind her.
Most shocking of all was to see the cat-folk off to the side, clapping gently with begrudging looks on their faces.
Max couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
The sight filled him with happiness.
He wiped tears from his eyes.
They had all come together.
The Elestrians.
The Caesarians.
The frog-folk.
The Boldrin.
The Flaron.
And even, the cat-folk.
The different members of the alliance were all there.
United.
And to think that at the start of this tournament, they had all been at each oth
er’s throats.
It was miraculous.
It was a beautiful sight to behold.
It gave Max a renewed feeling of hope and optimism.
If it was possible for such different civilizations of the tower to come together.
Maybe… he thought to himself. Just maybe…
There’s still a chance that others can be pulled back from the darkness.
89
A few hours later, Max watched the sun set over the Caesarian capital from his hospital window.
It was quiet except for the soft beeps of his heart monitor.
He’d sent everyone home half an hour ago.
He appreciated everyone’s concern for him, but now that he was on the road to recovery, he wanted them all to desperately get some rest as well.
They’d been through an ordeal.
All of them.
He sighed and leaned his head back against his pillow.
He was all alone now.
Just him and his thoughts.
He grimaced, thinking about the final moments of the tournament.
When he closed his eyes, he was still there.
Lying half dead beneath the arena.
Injured at the hands of his own sister.
He could still see her walking away from him in the shadows.
A faint silhouette of the person he’d been chasing after all this time.
Max shut his eyes tighter, refusing to let go of the memory.
He reached out to his sister.
“Elle!” he screamed in his own mind.
He yelled and yelled, trying to call her back, but she never stopped walking away.
He couldn’t catch up to her.
She just walked away deeper and deeper into the darkness until she was gone and there was nothing but black.
Max opened his eyes then.
He felt his chest tighten from reliving the memory.
He felt a throb of sadness as he considered the entirety of the mission he’d just undergone.
Yes, they had won the tournament, but The Fallen Angels hadn’t been completely defeated.
A tower god had been slain.
His own sister wasn’t who he thought she was.
Elle had grown embittered by the tower, her original kind self had mutated at some point during their time apart.
He’d just have to show her that it could be different. He’d have to bring her back from the dark path she had embarked on.
He had a lot of work ahead of him.
He could still see his sister walking away from him in the darkness as he lay there nearly dead on the ground.
I’m coming for you, Elle, he thought to himself.
Next time we come to blows, I can promise you one thing.
I won’t lose.
The End of Tower Climber Book Three
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Author’s Note
Thank you for reading my book from start to finish! If you enjoyed Max’s adventures and would like to see more books in this series, please leave a review. As an indie author, reviews go a long way to achieving success, so please leave one if you can!
If you’re not sure what to read next while I’m still writing Tower Climber 4, maybe check out my first series, Arcane Kingdom Online. It’s a seven book complete series with loads of LitRPG/GameLit/Progression Fantasy goodness. If you’re interested, check out a free sample on the next page…
Thanks again for reading and see you soon!
-Jakob Tanner
www.jakobtanner.com
Arcane Kingdom Online: The Chosen (Book 1) (Preview)
Chapter One
It wasn’t easy waiting to see if you’d live or die.
It was why the old man at the front of the line took his sweet precious time. He waddled forward, lifting his cane then placing it down again. Step by step. The echo of the cane on the terminal floor was like the ticking of a clock, each excruciating beat bringing me one second closer to my turn. My dance with fate.
The soldier managing the line barked through the air purifier tusks of his gas mask: “Hurry up or I’ll throw you into quarantine.”
The man stopped dawdling and stepped into the bioscan. He slouched his shoulders and muttered a quiet prayer to himself. A few seconds passed and a green light appeared above the machine, followed by a single shrill beep.
The passenger was free to go. The old man hurried away towards baggage claim.
The armed soldier yelled, “Next!” and the line shuffled forward.
Four people stood ahead of me. Four more turns until my own.
A little boy in front of me tugged at his mother’s arm.
“I don’t want to go through there mommy,” he said. “Please.”
The woman’s face was pale and she had bags under her eyes. She gripped her son’s hand tightly and said, “Shh. It will be over soon.”
But the little boy was far from comforted: tears forming in his eyes.
I crouched down and smiled at the kid. “Why are you crying little guy?”
The boy sniffled and wiped his eyes. “Cause… I don’t want to walk in there…”
“It’s scary, huh?”
He nodded.
“But think about this: you had to go through the same scan before you got on the plane, didn’t you?”
“Yeah…”
“And you must’ve been cleared—healthy as ever—otherwise you wouldn’t have been allowed to even get on the plane, right?”
The boy nodded his head again.
“So do you really think you would’ve gotten sick between now and the last scan?”
“I don’t know,” said the kid.
“Well, did you eat the veggie option?”
The boy shook his head emphatically. Of course not.
I smiled at him. “Then you’re fine.”
The kid laughed, vindicated for his dislike of vegetables.
“You’re almost through,” I said, “Don’t worry.”
I stood back up and the woman smiled at me. “Your mother must be so proud of you.”
I shrugged awkwardly, not wanting to disappoint her with the truth.
The guard ended our conversation abruptly, yelling, “Next!”
The woman bent down and kissed her son on the forehead. “Wait here and join me on the other side in a minute.”
The woman walked through the two metal walls of the bioscan. The device scanned her body, searching for any signs of the virus. The machine buzzed and a green light flashed. The woman stepped forth onto the other side.
“Your turn buddy,” I said to the kid.
He took a few hesitant steps before rushing between the detector’s walls. As the scan commenced, the boy shivered. His whole body trembled. It was horrible to watch. The shrill beep went off and the green light flashed.
The boy ran to his mother, jumping into her arms. They hugged and kissed before grabbing their things and hurrying towards the exit. They had made it. They were free to enter the country. The boy turned around, smiled at me, and waved.
“Next!”
I stepped forward, passing between the two armed guards, and entered the scanner. The process was no different from going through a metal detector. The only thing you felt were your nerves. I stood there as the machine scanned my body for bacteria and deadly cells. I closed my eyes and counted the seconds. There was nothing to be worried about. Just as I had told the kid: I’d gone through the exact same scan only a few hours ago. Nothing had changed.
I waited for the beep. Silence. I lifted my head to see if a green light flashed. Nothing. I turned around to get confirmation from one of the guards. Instead I found an assault rifle pointed at my chest.
“Stay right where you
are,” said the guard from behind his gas mask. He had a rough voice with a slight country twang. “Don’t move.”
“What’s going on?” I said. “This must be a mistake.”
I whipped round and another guard was already there, semi-automatic ready in hand to blow my brains out.
“If you do not calm down, we’ll be forced by law to subdue you.”
I didn’t move. I didn’t open my mouth. Anything I did would be taken as a threat from these guys. All I wanted to do was elbow them in the face and run for it. But somehow I knew if I did, I would be begging them to shoot me.
The soldiers kept my head in their crosshairs. Army boots smacked against the floor, getting louder and louder. Security had sent out reinforcements.
Two new armed guards took position in front of the bioscan and started processing people.
The guard at my back patted me down and confiscated my phone, wallet, and passport.
“Hey! I need those—“
“Not where you’re going,” muttered the guard, patting me down.
Once finished, the other soldier said, “Follow me.”
He spun around and marched forward. I stood still, frozen with fear. Paralyzed. What was about to happen? The guard behind dug the barrel of his gun deep into my skin. A sharp pain ripped across my back.
“Move it.”
I caught up with the marching guard while the other one followed behind, making sure I didn’t run for it. We entered a back stairwell and headed down the steps. A cold draft swept through. My teeth shivered and my shoulders shook. At the bottom was an open door, leading to the tarmac.
Waiting for us there amongst the airplanes and runways was a green army van, engine running. The guard opened the back door and climbed in. Behind me, the soldier kicked my back with his boot, knocking me into the van.
“What the hell?”
“Shut up,” said the soldier, climbing in after me and shutting the door. He signaled the driver, “Take us to the quarantine facility.”
I got up off the van’s floor and sat down in the corner seat. “What are you guys planning to do to me? What exactly have I done?”