Bottom

“Ow,”

The barely audible whisper came from the dimly-lit upper floor of one of the many houses that had been built along the massive wall of the domed city, the thick curtains of wisteria leaves trying to conceal the flickering light of a small fire shining through the glassless windows of the building, the smell of burning wood mixing with the delicate scent of flowers and moss that hung in the air, barely disturbed by the gentle breeze that was making the grasses sway and rustle.

Alice had just managed to climb back up the stairs after her jump out of the window and was now clutching her bruised shins after falling down the steep steps two times in a row, her body still unable to perfectly control her newly-improved muscles, her steps halting and difficult to predict.

On top of that temporary problem, she also knew that she would have to slightly adjust the way her cartilage worked, the thin layer of connective tissue between her bones not enough to absorb the more powerful impacts she was going to receive upon adapting to the new body and the way it worked.

It’s not a huge issue with my Regeneration but I also don’t think that it would take me long to find a solution, even adding a few millimeters of the stuff might be enough. She thought to herself as she moved towards the fire, slightly shivering in her nakedness.

Despite the few issues that had arisen, she could barely believe the way her body had changed and the effect it had had on the way she moved.

Ignoring the uncertainty that accompanied each one of her movements, Alice could still feel the way her muscles used hardly any energy when she moved and how they barely contracted as she raised her weapons, her mace now feeling incredibly lightweight in her grip, the whooshing sound that had previously accompanied each one of her swings having become a piercing whistle of displaced air, the flanged head of the weapon now a silvery blur ready to pulp flesh and pulverize bones.

I’ll just have to get used to it, she thought as she lowered the mace on the ground and, instead, started slowly repairing the small wounds she had caused herself while walking, using the last reserves of her magical warmth before quickly getting dressed and sitting down beside the fire, adding the last twigs and pieces of dry moss to keep it going for just a bit longer.

When everything was ready, Alice tentatively extended a hand towards the coiled snake sleeping less than a meter away from her, her index finger gently brushing on its scales and immediately retracting when the tiny creature was startled awake, its head moving lightning quick towards the perceived attacker and missing her fingertips by a hair’s breadth with its long, hollow fangs.

“Oops, I’m sorry,” she whispered, an embarrassed smile on her lips as the creature took a single, long look at her with its purple eyes, its forked tongue tasting the air near her fingers when she extended them once again.

For a few long seconds, the snake didn’t seem interested in her but, just as she was going to relent and leave it alone, the reptile suddenly slithered over her hand and started coiling around it until it found a comfortable position, taking a last look at her before closing its large eyes once again.

After that, Alice moved closer to the fire and laid down on the part of the room she hadn’t already cleared of the moss, enjoying the spongy, if humid, sensation against her back, her head propped up by a round mound of dirt and vegetation that happened to be growing there.

When she finally found herself in a comfortable position, the girl eyed the little creature she was holding in her right hand, careful not to injure it with her grip and silently taking pleasure in the dry smoothness of its scales and the slow movement of its lungs against her palm.

Slowly, as she petted her new companion and stared at the glowing embers of the fire, Alice closed her eyes and let herself rest, her breath slowing down as she forgot of her sore body and exhausted mind, relishing in the small break after the challenge she had managed to overcome until, after a few minutes, she finally found herself in her silent mind-room, her attention immediately taken by the new lines of symbols that had appeared at the bottom of the large wall of glyphs smoldering in the center of the dark void she floated in every night, a smile of satisfaction appearing on her physical lips as she slept.

You have reached Level 28 in the Biomancer of Symbiosis Class.

You have reached Level 29 in the Biomancer of Symbiosis Class.

The changes to your body have tangentially affected your metabolism. The skill Efficient Metabolism has been improved to Hyperefficient Metabolism. Your body will automatically lower the expenditures of those organs and systems it isn’t actively using.

You have reached Level 30 in the Biomancer of Symbiosis Class.

You have managed to greatly increase the power of your musculature. You have obtained the Coiled Muscles of the Spider Queen skill. The braided fibers of the larger muscles will be constantly in tension and able to exert force at a moment notice, overexerting the muscles will offer an even greater power while significantly increasing risks of injury. You will also be able to further enhance the muscles by circulating your magical energy through their tissues.

Damn, level thirty uh? My first level seems like ages ago… I wonder how far this will bring me.

The next morning, Alice was awoken by the first rays of sun peeking through the leaf-covered windows and by a startled hiss very close to her right ear when she attempted to brush her eyes with a handful of snake, a clearly unpleasant event for the reptile who then proceeded to slither off the hand and into the neck of her dress, initiating a brief but intense session of very unexpected tickling.

Despite those obstacles, however, Alice still found herself in a good mood, her body feeling well-rested, recharged and with just a bit more control over her muscles.

After a long and thorough session of stretching, during which she carefully warmed up every single part of her body and tried to get used to the new feeling of power coming from her own organs, Alice gently removed all of her belongings from the silken sack she had recently stuffed full of cooked meat and proceeded to thoroughly clean its surface from the layer of soot, warm blood and grease that had coated it, smiling when the annoying smell of old barbeque disappeared and was replaced with that of moss and metal as she placed everything back in, being particularly careful with the glowing ellipsoid she still didn’t know how to turn off.

As soon as the rucksack was on her back and the chitin shoes on her feet, Alice took a final glance at the room she had slept in and then moved out of the door, carefully descending the stairs, crossing the ruined living room of the bottom floor and soon finding herself in the middle of the street, walking under the light green canopy of the large wisteria that had colonized that entire section of the wall.

Searching around, it didn’t take her long to find the closest descending staircase and to start climbing down, her mace swinging at her waist just beside her trusted silken rope as she carefully moved down step by step, trying to control her overeager body whenever it attempted to exert too much force against the crumbling stone.

Even with her new body and all its upgrades, falling down into the void would only spell her death.

As the hours passed and Alice continued moving down, the buildings themselves became bigger, more numerous and significantly more intricated, clearly showing different and yet unknown functions, the numerous stairways occasionally leading on top of some of those structures’ roofs or into winding streets that continued for hundreds of meters without revealing a single junction or fork, only countless buildings invaded by vegetation or simply turned into rubble, sometimes with those large crystals embedded in the ground between the shattered rocks, their multifaceted surface reflecting the rays of sunlight, the sky only showing a few clouds that sometimes obscured the sun and briefly plunged the city into a delicate half-light.

Sometimes, Alice was even forced to climb back up a few levels before finding a new way that would lead her down and, in a few cases, that meant having to scoot along the increasingly large branches of the wisteria or jump over collapsed spots where the stairways had crumbled into sand, exposing the abyss below.

It was around midday when, after descending through a good portion of the city, Alice suddenly found herself stuck, the road she had just finished walking along ending abruptly against the main body of the huge wisteria tree, its wood having enveloped the path and the surrounding structure like a vegetal wave of wood and leaves.

She silently stared at the massive plant, her mind almost unable to fully comprehend its size, just the circumference of its trunk probably more than fifteen meters in diameter and growing thicker the closer it got to the ground, which lay at least fifty meters below, the bottom of the climbing plant passing through the partially-collapsed glass roof of the large domed building she had spotted a few days before.

To make matters worse, it wasn’t like the wisteria was only blocking the road in that spot; even if she attempted to climb over it, the only thing that would be waiting for her beyond was a mess of partially collapsed steps only kept up by the plant itself, some of the blocks looking like they were barely holding on even without extra weight.

“Dammit,” she swore under her breath, taking another brief look over the edge to see if she would be able to simply jump down to the level below and grimacing the moment she spotted the new ledge more than a dozen meters away and slightly to the side; it wasn’t a feat she felt confident about.

Because of that, Alice found herself having to decide between retracing her steps back up and searching for another route, or simply climbing down the wisteria.

Deep in thought, she stared between the wooden mass she would have to descend—its entire surface covered in convoluted twists and knots that revealed the plant’s incredible ability to adapt to its environment—and the road she had just finished traveling, thinking back at the many risky jumps and difficult crawls she had been forced to do to reach it.

Going all the way back is going to take a long time and, even then, I don’t really know whether I’ll find a better path somewhere else. On the other hand, I’ll be moving down a huge tree without safety equipment.

“Yeah. I guess it’s time to see if these muscles actually work,” she finally said, her words echoing between the silent buildings, soon followed by the sounds of her preparations.

Her decision taken, Alice proceeded to remove her shoes, stuffing them into the rucksack along with the rest of her belongings, trusting that her bare feet would allow her more grip on the surface of the plant.

After that, she uncoiled the silken rope and used it to tie shut the opening of the bag before wrapping everything around herself until she had created a sort of harness that would secure the sack during the climb, allowing her to hold it without using her hands.

By the time she had finished doing so, she severely regretted not having more ropes she could freely use and then discard without a second thought.

“I just wish there was a way to tie a rope up here and actually take it back after having moved down! I don’t want to leave it behind, it’s too useful to waste it for a single climb but I definitely wouldn’t mind having a way to survive if I made a mistake…” She muttered to herself, trying to think of a novel solution for her problem.

After a few minutes of pondering and walking around, her eyes suddenly landed on a twisted piece of rusted metal that sprouted from the leaves covering the floor, its end a jagged point whose simple sight gave her tetanus, her expression thoughtful as she inspected the object, an idea slowly taking shape in her mind.

Seconds later, Alice was moving towards the closest opening in the buildings that lined the street and quickly entering the first structure, scanning the ground for anything that would fit her requirements while her mind churned and improved on the idea.

I know that I can’t get a rope without losing mine and that it would take far too long to get enough of the right materials to create it but that’s okay… rope isn’t the only things climbers use. Am I right?

Working quickly, Alice quickly collected any metallic object she could find, focusing on the sturdier and more pointed ones before tossing them outside in the street and moving to the next building, immediately doing the same.

Over the course of an hour, she quickly entered and plundered all the houses on the street, collecting a heap of rusted blades, metal poles and broken pieces of furniture that were soon piled up in the middle of the road.

When she finally entered the last building, a three-floored structure that stood completely intact and gave her a perfect view of the rest of the land under the crystal dome, Alice found herself in a nice open area with particularly well-preserved interiors, only a thin layer of moss covering the stone and the few rotting pieces of some kind of furniture she couldn’t recognize.

There, hidden behind a long stone counter, she finally found what she needed.

“Aha!” she finally exclaimed, kneeling on the floor and grasping a short triangular blade that looked sort of like a long climbing piton, its tip sharp despite the layer of oxidization covering the metal.

“And now, I can actually try to climb down.” She said as she moved outside, quickly searching the rusted heap for anything else that could fit the bill and soon picking a short but sharp piece of metal that looked like rebar.

Placing the two objects along her obsidian knife in the bandolier on her chest, Alice moved towards the wisteria and stopped when she was right in front of the gnarled wood, searching for a good initial route that would place her in a good spot when she finally started the real climb, stopping only when she heard a soft hiss coming from her right wrist, suddenly remembering the little reptile that was still using her as a taxi.

Mhh, I better move him in a safer spot. she thought as she gently pried away the snake from the arm where it had been resting for the last few hours and gently moved it to her neck, letting it coil around it in order to be more limber during the descent.

“You better hold on, little guy,” she intimated before taking a deep breath, drying the sweat on her palms and then taking her first step on the gnarly wood of the tree, her fingers grappling on every nook and cranny as she slowly moved her way along the inclined trunk of the tree, using the numerous and thick tendrils of the plant as handholds as she descended and cringing every time a loose piece of bark crackled under her feet, doing her best not to look at the ground below while also searching for the next step down.

The first part of the climb had been quite easy, even for a complete neophyte like her.

The trunk had remained at an incline against the buildings for a while and the twists in the wood formed deep and numerous indentations that had allowed her to descend the first dozen of meters like a ladder, albeit one that was right over a deadly drop.

Things, however, got hard when she finally left the cluster of houses behind, the plant gradually straightening and becoming a lot more vertical while the wood itself smoothed out, not requiring so many twists and bends to adapt to the surface it was climbing on.

Just a bit later, the last bough disappeared above her, along with the ever-present tendrils and leaves that shielded her from the terrifying sight of the ground below, giving way to the bare pillar of wood that was the lower part of the tree.

After a few more minutes, she was forced to extract the first piton, keeping herself gripped to the last good indent with a single hand and using the traction that her bare feet were able to exert on the rough bark while she planted the metal spike, a grunt of exertion leaving her mouth when the muscles of her arm rippled and she pierced through the wood, the metal groaning slightly but holding strong against her weight as she released the grip of her left hand on the handhold and extracted the second tool, soon planting it just a few centimeters below.

Thus started a slow and tiring work of stabbing and removing the pieces of metal from the soft wood of the wisteria, her muscles twitching every time she plunged the objects into the hard wood, sweat beading her forehead and making her palms slippery as she descended meter after meter, the mace at her waist sometimes swaying wildly in the air and forcing her to move slower as not to lose her equilibrium.

Fuck…me…and…my…brain. She thought, even her mind working slower under the pressure.

A few times, she was forced to stop to rest and dry her hands against the silk, panting hard for the exertion, her mind doing its best not to remind her of the deadly drop below her feet, forcing her to focus on the road ahead.

She had just began descending once again after one of those breaks when, just as she was moving to plant the next pilon, the one that was supporting her entire weight suddenly slipped, the piece of wood she had planted it in revealing itself to be a hidden nest full of wood-eating bugs that had turned the already soft wood into mulch.

She cried out in fear when she felt herself starting to fall but, despite the panic, her lightning-quick reflexes allowed her to react in time and she instantly flooded her muscles with magical energy, making them snap with even higher strength than before and plunge the free piton just as the second was dropping beside her head, immediately stopping the deadly free fall at the expense of the tool itself, which was now slowly bending under her entire weight, her feet trying to find a decent grip to displace a bit of the weight while her mace swung wildly in the air, making things even more difficult.

Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit.

Panting hard, Alice frantically searched for any handhold in the wall, groaning when she only found the colony of insects she had unearthed, its agitated members crawling all over the bark just a few centimeters away from the farthest point she could reach with her arm.

Despite that, she didn’t really have a choice, the metal of the piton groaning and bending more with every second that passed. She didn’t have long.

With another grunt, she started flexing her bicep and raising towards the handhold, finally grappling it just as the metal spike finally snapped, the broken piece joining its sibling at the bottom of the tree.

“Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh Fuck” she panted, ignoring the little termites that were busy biting through the flesh of her hand, trying to attack the creature that had disturbed their nest.

Her eyes wide, Alice looked around once again, sweat dripping down her back and her forehead as she frantically searched for a solution, her gaze finally landing on the swaying mace at her side.

She suddenly remembered what she had forgot.

Oh please, please.

Trembling as she felt her hand slipping, she reached for the weapon and removed it from the belt holding it, closing her eyes and focusing with all her being on the core she knew was inside the flanged head, trying to feel the smooth and cold shaft like a part of herself, channeling her magic through the hidden veins that ran along its metallic flesh and finally accessing the silvery core that had once belonged to Eisor, concentrating on the shape she desired and frantically guiding the metal into place, the mace slowly becoming the pick she had used against the giant toad, the material hardening and allowing her to propel it into the flesh of the plant, creating a second place she could hold on to, tears of relief filling her eyes the second she realized she was safe.

It took her a few minutes to recover from the scare but when she did, Alice looked down, staring at the dome of metal and cracked glass that was now just a dozen of meters away, her destination hidden in the shadows of the building where the wisteria finally touched the ground.

Enhancing her eyes, she could barely see the first roots burrowing in the stone below, her relieved expression soon turning into a confused one when she spotted something embedded between the larger roots, something strange.

It almost looked like…

a rift.

*****

This chapter is officially sponsored by Matthew C. Thank you so much for your support. It means a lot.