“I'm so glad we’re finally out of that realm,” Winoa said, sighing happily at the sight of the open sky and feel of the wind on her skin. “Who's dumb idea was it to halt a person in the sixth floor testing chambers anyway? Argh it makes me so angry! We were only a week past the year limit.”

“You've said this before, Win,” Cleo sighed, “The parameters on us are a lot harder because we start with an advantage”. She agreed with her friend, but she could not help but understand the reasoning behind the restriction. “We will almost always skip floors six to nine, so there's got to be done way to push us beyond our comfort zone”.

“Yeah, well travelling with that Zoo guy was a mistake.”

“And I said I was sorry for that. He knew the best way to Slipstream, and neither of us realised that it would cause such a big problem when getting a ship to Maelstrom.”

Winoa stuck her tongue out at her friend and laughed. “Still your fault”.

The two girls had become even closer over the time they had been trapped in the sixth floor testing dimension. They both cultivated with the elements, so working together allowed them to cover each other's weaknesses in greater detail than either of them could have on their own. Thanks to their two year journey together they had ascended to the lofty heights of peak Sainthood, with an extremely competent grasp on the capabilities of the four elements.

“So what now?” Winoa asked. She knew full well that Cleo refused to go to either of the regions controlled by the clans of Chaos, but they were both clueless about where to go from there. Winoa was loath to leave her friend alone, and she did not know anyone who would be in her clan’s section of the city. The only real benefit that either girl would receive was a stable place to stay.

Cleo fiddled with her collar as she thought about the options that she had. She could have stayed in the clan, but her status as an unwanted child meant that she would never truly be welcome there. Sometimes she would wonder what life would have been like, had she been born the first or second child of a family. Even the third child, usually considered the weakest would be treated better than she had originally. She had worked and worked, lucked out a little and eventually earned herself a copy of the Book. She had known for as long as she had known anything that no one in the Ignis clan cared about her, at least no one who was not her brothers. When she was around her clan, she had to work twice as hard for half the result. It was why so many people were shocked at the fact that she had become one of the three children selected to climb the tower, and not only that but she had actually been the first person of her year to become ready for Sainthood. She had risen far above her birth and stunned the entirety of the Ignis family in the process.

Again and again, Cleo had worked and worked to make herself the best she could be, to make herself respected, maybe even admired by her fellow members of the Ignis family, but she knew that even reaching peak sainthood at the age of eight and a half. All she needed was some time to consolidate everything she knew and she would likely break into Heaven rank with ease. Unfortunately, the amount of knowledge that she was dealing with took a long time to consolidate.

Her next option was to beg another clan to let her in, but that would likely cost her her book. The Heaven rankers of the nine clans of the books would do anything to get their hands on a second book. Getting a second book was the simplest path to immortality. It was something she simply could afford to do. The third was she could stay in one of the uncontrolled areas. She would need to earn her way, or find an empty house to squat in, but unfortunately neither one had any idea of how to begin.

They decided in the end to go to the desolate strip and look for one of the nicer areas, eventually settling on an area called Panwood lane. It was relatively quiet, and had been rebuilt by the current community that lived there. There were still several empty houses, but the lord of the land was a retired bobby. He prided himself on affordable, and high quality buildings that people could rent for cheap. He had made a killing off the various unaligned challengers who needed a place to stay. Some would only stay for a few months, but for many this floor would be their final stop on climbing the tower. They just did not have the courage or the tenacity to climb further.

Panwood lane was growing into a thriving ecosystem, as both a rest stop and permanent housing, but there was something about the area that seemed extremely morose to the two girls when they first arrived. They could not help but feel the waves of dread and sadness flowing off everyone. Every person they walked past wore a black armband, a simple black cloth hanging from their hips, or full on mourning clothes. It was like they were preparing for a funeral of some kind, one that had affected all their lives.

Eventually Winoa worked up the courage to ask one of the more active and happier looking members of the community, and got pointed in the direction of the landlord. The man was an elderly looking fellow, sitting against a wall, whittling away at a piece of wood. He looked up at the two girls and gave them a wan smile.

“Good day ladies,” he said, putting down a beautiful statuette, “how can I help you?”

“We just arrived in Spirit and are looking for a place to stay. We have to stay until we reach the age where we can climb Babel again, so we may be here for a while,” Cleo replied, bowing slightly at the man’s greeting. “Is there anywhere we would be able to stay, and perhaps work to earn shards to live? We are both skilled with the elements.”

The man chuckled, “You two girls are obviously golden children, so why aren’t you with your family? Why aren’t you with your clan? You could get much better treatement with them.”

“We can’t. There are reasons why we can’t stay with them, but I can’t tell you,” said Winoa. “It’s complicated, and to do with clan politics more than anything. We just need a place to live, and perhaps work on some element arrays to make the place a nicer place to live.”

“Alright, I’ll give you two a place to stay, and a stipend of two silver shards a week to live on if you install light and flowing water arrays in all the living areas in this estate. Does that sound fair?”

Cleo and Winoa glanced at each other. They did not know how much an arrayist would normally received, but they knew that they would both be able to live comfortably off that. After a moment, they nodded in unison. “That seems fair,” Cleo replied.

“I trust that you will be true to your word. The clans generally react negatively to those who besmirch their name.”

“We will do our work, don’t worry,” said Winoa. “The last thing either of us actually want is to rock the boat with the clans”.

The old man rubbed his hands together and began showing them the way to their new home. “Okay, well I have a house for you but there is a girl about the same age as you living there. We took her in a few weeks ago and she’s not in a good way. Perhaps you two will be able to improve her state of mind”.

The two girls followed the landlord to a small housing unit near the entrance to Panwood lane, it was dark, but it had a homely feel to it. Cleo sighed, it would be the first place she could call home without worry about being picked on or harassed by her own family. She took a few steps inside and saw the form of a small person curled up in a ball, shying away from the light and the people coming through the doors.

Her greenish brown hair was bedraggled and hid her face, but she seemed like she was a frightened rabbit. She pulled a thin blanket that covered her body up to her face, in the hopes that it would hide her better. Eventually the landlord walked in as well and said, “Girlie, you’ve got a few new roommates”.

“I told you not to let anyone in here. They will get attacked by the devourer if they do!” Her voice was musical, and for some reason Cleo recognised the voice. It was one she had not heard in almost two years, but recognised well. “It’s not safe,” the girl continued. “He’s coming for me. He always does...”

“Who is the devourer?” Interjected Winoa.

“Winoa? Is that you? It’s been a long time since I heard the voice of another golden child.” The girl pulled down the blanket and pushed away her hair. She was gaunt, but still had the floral quality that had made her a firmly popular girl when they had first met. She smiled, the thin slit of her sallow face not quite reaching her eyes. “Hello Winoa, hello Cleo. It’s been a long time.”

“Rose?” Cleo gasped, “What happened to you?”