Chapter 471

Casey got her way. Since all of Arhtur’s helpers were dead, she succeeded in her quest without any issue. All she had to do was pass through the open entrance doors and she would be on to the next level. The good news, Arthur had to reflect bemusedly, was that they too could continue to the next level. The problem, of course, was that they were supposed to clear that level with multiple members – and since this was an escort quest – the most hated of things, it was going to be a pain and a half.

Unless they got lucky and had random reinforcements arrive, which, Arthur was certain; they had missed the trigger for. It was still somewhat speculated what the trigger was, but the general belief it involved at least a few survivors in the longhouse.

"Think we'll get lucky?" Arthur asked Jan, standing beside her as they stared at the open doorway.

"No lah. You're not that lucky."

"I'm not?" Arthur said, amused.

"Yeah lah. You always find the hardest way to do things," she replied.

Arthur snorted, but had not much of a defense to that. She was not at all wrong, what with his own history of problems. 

"Let's go." Arthur moved to pass forwards through the doors only for Jan to dart ahead of him, flashing a wicked grin before she entered. He laughed, softly, and felt the energies of the teleportation wash over him, tearing molecules apart and spinning him off into another dimension.

Somehow, as the wash of light and energy ran through him, he could not help but think, he’d never get used to it.

 

***

 

“Bomoh Umi, please hurry,” Arthur repeated for the umpteenth time as the old woman stumped along, hunched over and using a gnarly cane that was as old and worn as she was. Small fetishes hung from the top of the cane, and the backpack that she had forced on Arthur smelled of old herbs and sloshed in a disturbing way. Knowing some of the stories of what the old bomoh’s did, he had made sure not to open the bag.

If nothing else, this was the Tower. What might just be superstition in the real world – and he was not entirely certain about that – could easily be real here. He did not need a centuries old curse thrown at him, to chase him and all his descendants down.

Not that Climbers could have children.

“No need. We start when I arrive. So I’m always on time ah.” A low chuckle erupted from her, as she paused for a moment to carefully negotiate her way around a puddle.

Arthur kept the sigh that built up in him contained, knowing it would just slow her down further as she chided him. He looked over to Jan who smirked, the woman having taken the role of scout for the trio. She moved back and forth regularly, aided by the minor healing factor of his Seal so that she was not exhausted from the constant motion.

It helped, of course, that they were moving at the pace of a tiny, five foot two old woman who felt the sun itself would set when she wanted it to. Which, it indubitably and demonstrably, was not.

“It’s getting late, we’ll need to find a place to rest.”

“Rest?” Bomoh Umi sniffed. “Saya ingat kamu nak cepat!”

“It’s harder to keep you safe at night, Bomoh.”

“So?” she sniffed. “I never ask you keep me safe. You volunteer, you do.”

“Bomoh…”

This time his entreaty was met with silence as she stomped along. Arthur sighed, looking up to meet Jan’s gaze, only for her to shrug. The entire journey for this part of the day – nearly half the day so far – had been boring and a little stressful, mostly from the lack of danger.

Could it be that the entire quest was just a question of patience? Were they truly expected to just walk for days and not kill the irritating woman? If so, Arthur would be grateful; but from what he recalled, that was not the case. Not that it was a guarantee because the Tower did change its mind but normally, they would face attacks, when and by what; however, changed based off an unknown random table of encounters or a more powerful algorithm. It mattered little, it was too complex or the table too large for Arthur and the people to make sense of, at least not yet.

Maybe in another twenty years, they would have figured out the Tower further. Of course, some people said that at the rate of uptake for the Tower, at the speed that humanity was shifting to make the Tower important and the removal in population of Climbers, humanity itself would be dead in another fifty years.

Mostly, people scoffed at such cries of alarm, what with the way fears about human populations ballooning to eleven billion by two thousand and so forth had been overblown. Equilibrium might arrive, just at a different time – and perhaps, in different ways than what others might believe.

After all, there were groups, individuals and religions who had no desire to join the Tower. His Tsifu was among them. His mother too. It wasn’t just the older group too, but there were many that Arthur knew, fellow schoolmates who had no interest in it; content to live the lives that they had carved out in Malaysia.

The rich, the fortunate, the content could afford to exist without struggle. The cowardly, the fearful, the timid need not challenge themselves. The lame, the realistic, the ungifted might see the physical challenges in the Tower and realise it was not for them.

Though the Towers might change the world, they were no apocalypses. Not in Arthur’s view, at least.

“Hungry?” A hand thrust outwards, a strip of dried meat held in it. Arthur’s eyes narrowed, curiosity and wariness warring with one another as he stared at the dark brown strip.  “Well?” Another shake of the hand sending it jostling.

“Thank you.” Taking the meat, Arthur took a bite warily. Felt the spices and chilli explode in his mouth, forcing him to grab at his water bottle by his side. He drank, fast, while the woman cackled by his side at his misfortunte. He was a Malaysian – he could eat spicy. He just wasn’t insane and liked turning his own mouth into an inferno.

“Make sure to finish it like a good boy, eh?” Cackling, Bomoh Umi wandered off to the side of the road, waving another strip of meat at his companion,.

Cinnamon and lemon grass and spice lingering in Arthur’s mouth still and tainting each breath, as he stared at his friend. Wondering if he should finish the gift. Wondering if this was another part of the quest, or just another form of the Tower’s twisted sense of humor.

It really could be both.