Chapter 33

Vyle (I)

The party of eight sat in a circle, doused in somber and heavy silence. Most either had their eyes closed or were looking to the side, though, quite frequently, they would glance at the blanket nearby as though trying to peer through it, yet not daring to.

Cain and Emma sat to the side, the latter resting her head on the former’s shoulder, hand in hand. Cain reached into his inventory and took out a pack of cigarettes, lighting one up quickly. Rick raced over and practically tore the pack from his hands, lighting one up himself.

The old man sat down next to Cain, his fingers shaking as they tenderly held onto the cigarette. The smoke whiffed into his eyes, yet he didn’t even seem aware of it.

“You okay, old man?” Cain asked, taking a puff of cigarette, startling Rick back into reality.

“Y-yeah...” the old man mumbled. “No... not really. This is... nuts...”

“Hm,” Cain nodded, glancing at the blanket himself. “It is.”

“Thank you.”

“Hm?”

“Without you,” Rick added. “It wouldn’t just be... just be two lying there. Likely... all of us would... would have...”

"... you never know," Cain said after a brief silence. "You guys pulled your weight, though. That has nothing to do with me."

“It has. Everything,” Rick said, looking at him. “Seriously, Cain. Thank you.”

“... no problem, old man,” Cain smiled faintly, taking a puff of the cigarette. “That’s what friends do, right?”

“Yeah,” Rick smiled faintly. “I always imagined so.”

“Oh, miss me with the being-rich-woe-is-me stories,” Cain rolled his eyes, taking another puff and causing Emma to chuckle faintly and Rick to laugh. “Come up with something new and original.”

“Ah, well, if you say so... against all odds,” Rick added following a short bout of silence. “You two... really look good together. Doesn’t make any sense.”

“Tell me about it,” Emma said. “We never made sense.”

"Now you're just lying," Cain scoffed. "Don't you remember when I took you out to that fancy dinner when we got accepted to the university? The waiting staff was all like 'Oh, wow, you two look perfect together!' and 'you are made for each other!'."

“That’s ‘cause they wanted a fat tip from you,” Emma said with a grin. “Which they got, if you recall, specifically because of that.”

“... no...” Cain mumbled disbelievingly.

“Yup.”

"No... that... that can't be," Cain said, seeming genuinely distressed. "People wouldn't play with a kid's heart for... for like, twenty extra bucks. They wouldn't, right?"

“... I’d forgotten just how naive you can be,” Emma chuckled, shaking her head. “It’s... it’s still cute, though, I gotta say.”

“It really is,” Rick said with a hearty laugh. “But... I suppose every guy wants to hear that.”

“Hear what? That his arm-candy looks good on ‘im?” Emma said.

“Well... yeah...” Cain and Rick replied almost at the same time, resulting in both bursting out in laughter while Emma rolled her eyes. By now, they’d dragged the attention of others toward themselves who slowly began joining in, seemingly seeking respite from the reality.

“What we talkin’ about?” Jamal asked. “Arm-candy? Damn, brings good memories back. There was this girl, Tasha, in my high school. Anyway, she was this nerdy type, you know? Glasses, books, teacher’s pet -- nobody really liked her ‘cause she liked to tell on us and stuff. Anyway, come prom, I am dateless -- I know!! I couldn’t believe it myself! I mean, who wouldn’t want a sweet piece of candy like me?”

“Dude...”

“Come on man...”

“Khm, khm, anyway, since it was far more embarrassing to go to the prom dateless, I figure I may as well bring Tasha along,” Jamal continued, his smile turning into a grin. “Boy, that girl cleaned up niceeely. And we talkin’ like, model-level nice. Couldn’t even damn recognize her at first! Got some hair extensions, make-up, nice, black dress, took off those damn seer glasses... boy, she was the fire. The whole night through, I had guys asking me whether I fuckin’ hired someone. The look on their faces when I told them it was Tasha... aaah, priceless.”

“So, what happened with you and the Disney Princess?” Emma questioned as the laughter settled.

“Oh, she dumped my ass right after prom,” Jamal said, sighing. “Somethin’ about me being a thug and something-something. Didn’t even get to make out with her man. Really hit right in the gutters...”

“What is it about the guys and inability to just go and dance? Like, just, literally dance?” Lamia joined. “They always think there needs to be more to it...”

“Well, y’know,” Jamal took it upon himself to reply while most other guys retreated one step back. “Dancing... dancing is fine, you know? But... but it’s like being invited to a concert where, like, Biggie is to perform, but he’s opened by some random guy they picked up from the street. Like, yea, the guy’s a cool rapper and all... but I’d rather have Biggie.”

“... yeah, I don’t think that worked at all,” Cain echoed everyone’s sentiment after a brief lull of silence, prompting laughter. “God, what kind of shit-ass analogy was that?”

“Oh, shut up,” Jamal growled. “I at least tried! Y’all just went and hid like some pussies...”

"'cause that's what you're supposed to do, man," Cain replied, sighing. "Whenever you hear a girl come out swingin' with 'what is it about guys and whatever', you run. Nothing good ever comes from that one.”

“He’s right, you know?” Rick said. “Take it from the old guy here.”

“Oh, bite me,” Jamal said, seeming indignant. “We... we need to have conversations and such, you know? It’s, it’s like a new thing.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah...”

Though their minds appeared distracted for a moment, Cain knew it wouldn’t last. Drawing the last puff of the cigarette, he looked at the notifications that told him there were ten minutes of rest remaining.

Sighing, he tuned out of the conversation and thought back to the set of notifications he’d received after defeating Nightmare -- he’d jumped to Level 35, gained two Titles -- Void Slayer (increased damage to Voidspawn) and Slayer of the Nightmares (increased resilience to mind crowd control) -- fulfilled an extra requirement for the First Awakening, and got a single item from it all -- Scroll of Teleportation(SS-) which allowed him and the members of his party to teleport anywhere within a ten-mile radius of their location.

Though it was a good haul, and he was yet to even inspect what rewards others got, it was certainly not worth it, and he regretted not intentionally failing the last challenge and being kicked out. He should have noticed by the time of the duels that this place was way out of the ordinary for the first floor. No... he had noticed -- but greed had placated him. The rewards smeared his experience, and now, once again, he found himself swimming in regrets.

It was a difficult river to swim through, but, if nothing else, he had plenty of experience in it. What worried him were the others. For better or worse, the true fallout of today won’t hit them for a while. At least not until they are out of the Tower, and until they come to hear the hundreds of stories that have undoubtedly transpired by now. It was hard, he knew, the rationalize everything that happens within the Tower -- especially on someone’s first go-around. The mind would undergo a lot of catching-up, especially in the days after they leave the Tower.

“We should get ready,” he said, interrupting the chattering and getting up. “Stick close to me.”

The mood dampened quickly as they were brought back to reality, their eyes veering over to the two hidden corpses. Cain walked over and crouched, sucking both into the inventory, startling everyone else.

“You... you can do that?!” Diya exclaimed in shock.

“Hm,” Cain nodded. “I figured I may as well give it a shot.” he casually dropped out a lie. Virtually everything non-animate could be stored into the inventory, both within and without the inventory, as long as there was space. “Let’s go.” he added as he began walking to the spinning vortex.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped inside without hesitation, feeling the same pull of space as before. However, this time around, it was even stranger than before. The strange drag, almost bi-directional rather than the usual, omnidirectional one, was wholly unfamiliar as he’d never experienced anything quite like it before.

Startled, he rapidly spun around but saw no one else. Instead, there was the familiar bend of spacetime, colors warped into rigid yet strangely fluid spirals, everything distorted as though viewed through a less.

By his calculation, good thirty minutes passed before he felt an abrupt pull of energy drag him out of the ‘hole’ and toss him onto the ground. He rolled about, out of control, a soft sensation under him. Quickly recovering, he sat up on all four, looking around with deft eyes.

There was nobody else there -- only him, surrounded by well-maintained and strangely soft, pinkish grass. The mist curtailed around the edges, pulling back suddenly and revealing a small, fenced-off garden of tall, colorful flowers and an adjacent, wooden shack, straw-roofed and windowless, with doors ajar.

In front of it, standing in-between the house and the garden, was a small pond of water framed with smooth rocks, a small chair by its side. Cain’s eyes veered up and toward the figure seated there whereupon his heart began beating rapidly in alarm. Another ante-Human?!

The man appeared to be in his forties, white-haired and silver-eyed, rough lines across his face denoting the signs of age. He was topless, wearing only a rugged and dusty-seeming skirt of sorts that fell down to below his knees, his bare feet dipped in the pond. The man was staring at him curiously, a faint smile hanging on his face, the pair of silver eyes scrutinizing him within and without.

Cain stood up slowly, still on full alert, worried that nobody else had accompanied him here. What’s going on?

Pondering things inwardly, he knew, wouldn’t lead him to any answers. He slowly coalesced his courage and moved forward, stepping through the grass that, for some reason, would spring right back up, removing the shape of his boots in the process. The man said nothing as Cain walked up to the pond, looking around curiously yet seeing not much else past what his initial observations gave him.

“... uh... where... where is everyone else?” he asked the man.

“Resting,” the man replied in a soft, melodic, and choral voice. It was low and pleasant to the ear, so much so that Cain suspected it was actually a skill as he was briefly dragged into a feeling of a lull. “A much-earned one, I must say.”

“...” Cain remained silent, frowning. “And me?”

“You don’t look like you are in need of a rest,” the man said. “So, I invited you here for a chat. Please, sit." as soon as the man extended his arm outwardly, a same-looking chair like the one he sat on appeared beneath Cain, startling him. Under the man's expectant gaze, Cain sat down and realized that it hardly felt like wood, and instead felt far more like a cushion. "Quite comfortable, isn’t it?”

“... yes,” Cain said. “Am I, though? No...”

“... my name is Vyle,” the man said. “And I’m the Guardian of 99th Crucible.”

“...!!!!” WHAT IN THE GOD’S FUCK--

“Before you lose your mind,” the man interrupted Cain’s downward spiral with a chuckle. “I assure you, I am here merely on a vacation. Whenever a new Crucible starts, many of us descend to inspect the newcomers. Usually, however, we see it as beneath us to interact. You... you, however, piqued my interest, Cain Gregory.”

“...” Cain’s throat grew parched immediately, eyes widening, heartbeat racing as though desiring to leap out of his chest. For the first time since his return, he felt genuine fear -- fear for his life. He’d found himself so wrapped in it that he’d even forgotten to inspect the man, to confirm his words.

“No wonder... no wonder Chronos got kicked out after raging out a whole inferno,” the man suddenly burst out into laughter, free and undaunted, startling Cain. “No wonder... aah, you must have either been a brave or a tremendously foolish man, Cain Gregory, to dare steal from the Timelord. Ah, don’t worry,” noticing Cain’s ever-paler face, the man quickly added an assurance. “I have no intention of sharing my findings with anyone. I imagine that most will be rather happy to hear as the venerated Timelord is hardly well-liked among us. Besides, if you managed to steal it -- you have earned this second chance, Cain Gregory. I just hope... you won’t waste it like many others before you...”