211. Walls and Veils

  Up close, the wall’s mysteries only deepened.

  Its surface was smooth and uniformly flat across its width, fit for the ramparts of a Realm-wide fortress. Compared to said fortress, Ashvanaga was a veritable baby castle. It struck an adorable figure (at least in Serac’s eyes!): a tiny little thing next to an ancient, moss-laden grandpa.

  “Curiouser and curiouser,” Renna intoned one of her favorite phrases as she brushed aside some lichen to reveal a patch of the alien material. “The uncanny smoothness reminds me of linoleum. But just one touch tells me this is far more durable and impenetrable than anything we found in the Duskpool Infirmary. Zacarias, do you know what it is?”

  “Listen, I’m not an expert or anything,” the Manusya hedged as he shook out his right hand—he’d just tried to punch the wall with [Cestus] to no appreciable effect, “so all I can say is this is some real sci-fi shit. I don’t think even Manesferans have invented whatever they built this wall with. Maybe we have to revise our assumption about Tidereign merely matching the higher Realms in technology.”

  “Oh no.” Serac immediately saw the ominous implication. “What does that mean for Ash? Can its teeth even find purchase?”

  “Might I suggest performing a few tests?” Trippy went ahead and suggested. “I wouldn’t want you to be halfway up the sheer vertical ascent before you find out it’s impossible to go on.”

  Trippy had a point. Time was short, but the Wayfarers nevertheless devoted the next half-hour to working out the nitty-gritty of wall-climbing.

  First to establish whether the feat was even possible. Thankfully, Ash once more proved its chops as a mode of vertical transportation, but with a big caveat: total reliance on the layers of vegetation that clung to the wall. Ash churned its teeth to grab sufficient hold of the moss, lichen, and vines, but lost traction as soon as it came in contact with the ‘sci-fi’ material. Not only that, but the plants were one-time use only, easily chewed up by the grinding of castle teeth.

  “It should still be viable,” Renna was the first to declare. “The navigator must keep Ashvanaga on a path of maximum contact with the plants. Look out from the battlement and watch the road ahead.”

  Much easier said than done. Unlike the kind of navigating Serac was used to, gravity and headwinds conspired to keep her off-balance. She couldn’t stay upright long enough to ‘watch the road’, let alone relay her instructions to the driver inside the cabin. Her experiment ended painfully with a near-lethal fall.

  Zacko with his NINEFOLD-sculpted body gave it a try. Barely an improvement. Not even Renna with her squish-patter feet could hack it for the duration the job required. Which left…

  “I’ll do it.” Oriole put his hand up, picture of focus and determination. “I’m nimbler and more flexible than any of you. I can see better in the dark. Not to mention I can [Shadow Tag] my way back to a foothold if I ever slip off. Way I see it, I’m the only one for the job.”

  Oriole had a point. So much so it was a wonder the Upheavers hadn’t tried him first. Sure enough, he managed to climb higher than any of their previous attempts, all without breaking a sweat.

  “Okay,” Serac exclaimed, as much to release her own tension as to rally the troops. “Now that the tryouts are done, we’re up for the real deal. We should set off before we lose any more time… unless anyone has any objections?”

  “Not an objection,” Renna said calmly, “just an observation. What do you all think that is?”

  The group craned their neck in unison, looking directly heavenward. They all gave it an honest attempt to make out Renna’s ‘that’, to varying degrees of success. Oriole with his cat eyes fared best, as he commentated for the Rakshasa’s and Manusya’s benefit.

  “The skies are visibly darker just above the wall. It’s almost like the veils are swallowing up the moonlight.”

  That sounded ominously familiar to a veteran of Day-side travel. Serac asked anxiously, “You mean like the Gloaming mists? Do we have to worry about that on top of the wall?”

  “We’re not gonna find out just yapping about it down here,” Zacko spoke up, not without a hint of impatience. “Whatever it is, we can only deal with it once we’re up there. Worst case, we end up reconstituting back at the Observatory. We’ll have to do this all over again, but hopefully with a real plan next time.”

  The ‘worst case’ sounded pretty darn bad—or at least tedious—to Serac. She even thought about burning her one remaining [Privilege] to set down another Waystation right here. On the other hand, it seemed much wiser to save that for after they’d surmounted an ostensibly insurmountable wall.

  “Okay,” she said again, her mind made up. “Let’s go. Worst case, this run will just have to be a fact-finding mission. Ori, can I leave you to it?”

  The tabbycat gave a gauntleted thumb-up by way of reply. Serac nodded firmly and ushered the rest of the group into Ash’s cozy cabin.

  The castle shuddered to life. It took no time to grab hold of the wall, thereby rotating exactly 90 degrees. Serac and Renna ended up sitting on the cabin’s back wall.

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  Zacko, he of the NINEFOLD-sculpted body, held fast inside the driver’s alcove, using his legs and core strength to brace against the walls. Both of his hands remained firmly on the steering wheel, ready to act on instructions from above (well, strictly speaking ‘sideways’ in this case…).

  Before the Upheavers could set off in earnest, however, something gave their castle a palpable jolt.

  Serac heard the distinct clank of metal against stone, issuing somewhere not-above her head. At the same time, she felt the not-floor beneath her sag just a little, almost as though it’d picked up some extra weight. Whatever the cause, it wasn’t enough to derail Ash’s progress; the little castle that could eased into its vertical ascent, its route fairly straightforward in the early going.

  “Did you feel that?” Serac turned to Renna with a whisper, so as not to distract Zacko.

  “I did.” The frog woman nodded calmly.

  “Should I go out and have a look?”

  Renna shook her head, still perfectly calm.

  “Not worth the risk. Whatever it was, it’s either gone already or blended into the ambient ripples. I have to assume it’s not causing us any trouble, at least as yet. Should that change at all in due course, I’ll let you know.”

  That was good enough for Serac. She relaxed into her seat, ready to enjoy the ride. No, that was a complete lie. There was no way for her to relax, not when Oriole was out there by himself, saddled with the sole responsibility of guiding her living castle through a treacherous climb.

  In the intervening turn of the moon, she’d learned to trust the tabbycat and even think of him as a friend. But their journey together had simply been too uneventful for the newly KL-17 Wayfarer (contributing to the Gladiolus smite had been a juicy haul for a newbie!) to showcase his talents. Well, this was as good a chance as any to do just that.

  Soon, the bell rang to indicate right. Zacko steered accordingly, and Ash responded in sequence, turning on an axis to head for ‘greener pasture’. The navigator then adjusted mid-turn, rattling the pebbles to redirect the castle left into a smooth S-curve.

  It was a complicated maneuver, one that had taken Serac herself some trial and error in the Naraka Badlands to perfect. The fact Oriole nailed it on the first try spoke to his sharp instincts and readiness to learn. All that time he’d spent shadowing Serac on the battlement hadn’t gone to waste.

  After the Ori-Zac-Ash crew executed a couple more turns without once losing speed or traction, Serac finally did relax. You’d think the lesson would’ve stuck by now. Never underestimate a Wayfarer! With that refresher out of the way, the KL-72 Rakshasa left her friends to it—the easiest climb of her life.

  Oriole did his thing outside. Zacko steered with remarkable fidelity for someone who claimed to dislike vehicles. And Ash kept a steady pace, Stamina to burn and spirits high.

  What a wonderful Steed! Serac was thankful for a lot of things, and her living castle had to be up there among the very best things to have happened on her journey. Oh, just you wait, Ash. Once this is over, you’re in for so many pats and hugs and—

  [ASHVANAGA Status Effect: UNMOORED]

  The castle rumbled on, churning teeth and all. Yet an odd silence fell over Serac’s world, as she wrestled with the Pathsighted message and what it portended. She didn’t have to wrestle long, for soon enough, the effects became plain for all to see.

  [79!], [58!], [64!], …

  [Mana loss: -2, -2, -1, …]

  Concurrent Health and Mana loss! The latter didn’t much matter in Ashvanaga’s case, but the former was a big, big problem.

  This must be what happens when you try to traverse the Gloaming mists. Is there any point to go any further? Should we turn back now before Ash Dusts and we all fall to our deaths?

  Serac was the de facto leader of her party. It was her call to make. She nearly ‘stood up’ to do just that, then… thought better of it. Or perhaps it was the more foolish decision. But she’d just had her reminder about not underestimating fellow Wayfarers. To forget the lesson so soon would be counterproductive, to say the least.

  Serac sat back but didn’t quite relax. Beside her, Renna was a picture of unreadable calm. Across the cabin (but actually ‘above’!), Zacko continued to grip the steering wheel, ready as always to adapt and overcome. And outside…

  [THE PLEDGE Spell: MARK OF THE OATHLESS]

  Suddenly, the cabin filled with an earthy-red gloam. Visually, Serac’s closest reference point was the red haze of Frenzy. But spiritually, the phenomenon reminded her of accepting a fluttering butterfly onto the crook of her neck.

  The sensation passed quickly, as did the redness. No wonder, for neither Serac nor her companions inside the cabin were valid targets for Oriole’s spell. But Ashvanaga certainly was, as the ancient castle from hell became the latest ‘object’ to receive the Keeper’s stamp of approval.

  Ash rumbled on, [Moored] again to the space between worlds. The HP loss had stopped with plenty to spare, never in danger of an untimely demise. And the navigator too went right back to navigating as if nothing had happened, guiding the [Marked] castle through the homestretch of their journey.

  Oh, just you wait, Ori, Serac mused as a broad smile spread across her face. Once this is over, you’re in for so many ruffles, scritches, and—

  A final, shuddering churn, and Baby Castle finally made it over Grandpa Wall. Ash’s trajectory flattened almost immediately, throwing its occupants into another 90-degree swerve. Zacko held fast in his alcove, Renna hopped lithely onto her feet, and Serac, predictably enough, tumbled to the floor for some more faceplant damage.

  [31!]

  Serac couldn’t help but giggle as she pulled herself up. One of these days, I have to add [Grace] to my list of attributes. Who knows, maybe hanging around Tiryagas will teach me to be as graceful as a cat…

  The Upheavers had averted disaster and completed an impossible climb. The Night might be soon over, but surely, they had enough time to spare toward a bit of celebration. Serac was about to suggest just that… when a Realm full of twists and turns decided to throw out its latest surprise.

  [TIDEWATCH: The cycle has changed. You now have 18 hours to reaffirm your OATH.]

  faceplant seven times, get up eight.

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