A magma cleft room was what Laurence was confronted with when he arrived at the next testing stage. He and Yun had apparently made good time despite spending a large amount of it messing about and improving in his creative art. He had come a long way, but in his eyes he was still just beginning. To the young boy the limit of his path was endless. The only limit to his path to understanding the world seemed to be his imagination. Working through art and creating tools, he could understand reality more but in the process he would have to learn and experience like Luke had suggested.
Although they arrived in good time, they were only given a day to rest and mull over the products of the trip so far. As soon as the next day rolled around both of them were ushered into a hall with over three thousand people in it. As Laurence scanned the room he was presented with a sight beyond his wildest dreams. At the front there were people of various ages and sizes, even some animals. No matter where you looked you could see unique people. Even now, though, the majority were still human. It seemed like humanity was the most suited to the various planes and realms that littered Babel.
As Laurence stared at the wild and varied challengers in the room a dog-man walked out in front of the thrumming crowd of people. The crowd fell quiet when he showed himself, because through presence alone they could tell that all of the people in the room put together were weaker than him. He was taller than Tony, who resembled a terrier more than anything, and sported a much longer muzzle. His light brown fur set off his deep set eyes, eyes that seemed to exude the presence of a hunter. This man was not one that Laurence wanted to cross.
“My name is Declan Juda Lupe. I am the adjudicator of the fifth floor and will be monitoring all of you through this journey. In a moment I will split you into groups of five for the challenge you will be presented with. You will be pitted against another team in a game of attack-defense. One team must defend a point, object or person, while the other team must take, break or incapacitate the target. If one team ends up being incapacitated instead then the standing team is declared the victor. If you have a companion then you will be paired with them, but if you have more than four then your excess companions will be shuffled into teams together. Remember, as always, companions can pass on their own, but if the leader passes then all pass”.
There was a murmur while Declan explained this round to the challengers. It was surprising to a lot of the contestants that there would be a test so similar to the second floor test, but the smarter people amongst the crowd either knew or quickly realised that the expanded group size, and the fact that they were not looking for a flag anymore, meant that the event could evolve in a variety of ways. Depending on whether the object had agency, whether it had a will of its own or not could completely change how parties would have to react.
“You can tell whether something is your target by the fact that there is this symbol upon their form”. He growled and then pointed to the odd flag behind him. Emblazoned on the flag was a very minimalist image of a dog’s head. It was six lines, and at first glance looked like a mountain-range, but with Declan standing below the flag it was unmistakably a dog. “They may wear it on their clothing or have it as a pattern on their cover. You will not be able to tell until you get into the challenge.
“You have absolute free reign to do what you want in the arena, the only real rule is that you can’t cover up the mark. It has to be clearly displayed”. With that he began walking off the stage towards the exit, turning round at the doorway to say “Begin”.
The moment he said the word Laurence felt a sense of displacement and then realised that he had been moved into a small room. There were four other people in the room, one was obviously Yun, but there was also a boy about the same age as Laurence, a tall woman, and what looked like a half-human-woman half-bird-hybrid. They were an eclectic group, but it surprised Laurence that there was someone else near his age climbing the tower.
The tall woman walked over to Yun and began scratching him between his ears. “You’re a beautiful specimen, aren’t you? I just want to take you home and use you as a rug”. She grinned at the idea before yelling in pain as Yun snaked down on her hand.
“He can understand you, you know,” said Laurence, as he walked up to his furry friend and put a hand on his shoulder. “I don’t think we like you”. The way Laurence said it seemed to give the woman chills. It was delivered with so little emotion that she could not help but find it unsettling. She quickly retreated back cradling her punctured and bleeding hand.
“Calm down everyone. We have to work as a team if we want to pass this test, so how about we get to know each other instead of threatening to skin and wounding each other”. The bird-woman quickly spoke up, trying to stifle any more sparks that could ruin their chances. “I’ll go first. I’m called Louisa, I have been climbing Babel for two years now. My combat capabilities are flight, reconnaissance and high speed assaults”.
Laurence smiled at Louisa. He thought she was nice, so was happy that there was at least one nice person in the group they had formed.
“Sara Loaksang,” said the tall woman. “Bounty hunter and gladiator. I can track, fight and deal with children who bite off more than they can chew”. She said, shooting a look of pure venom at Laurence. He had no understanding of why she did this, it was senseless to him.
The other child piped in, “I would leave the boy alone. He’s obviously a Golden Child, otherwise he would not be here”.
“So what? What do you think I am? I can take on any child, no matter what colour they happen to be”. Sara frowned. She seemed to be missing something about the world.
“Oh, you’re from outside the tower, aren’t you?” The boy replied dryly.
“So what if I am. Does that make me worse than you?” The woman seemed to take any form of reproach as an act of aggression, if not all out war. It was becoming infuriating.
“He’s just realised that you don’t have much local knowledge. That’s all,” said Louisa. She was quickly becoming the mediator between the two children and Sara. “A Golden Child is a special existence, Sara. I expect that both these boys are from large clans. They are likely more talented than both of us, so have been thrown to the wolves to grow”. Louisa paused, smoothing down the feathers on her arms. “Sara, how long have you been climbing the tower?”
“Two years and six days. I was told that I can’t leave the tower until I get to the sixth floor once I pass the first test. I was hunting a bounty and followed them in here. They had already passed the test by the time I got into the tower, so I had to follow. Unfortunately I caught up with him and then found I could not get back”.
“That’s mighty unfortunate. But it took you two years and six days of hard work to get here right? So you have spent six hundred and six days travelling and battling to get here?”
“Yes. Why do you keep repeating the days like I’m an idiot?” Sara flared up again.
“Please, I just want to show you something”.
She pointed at the other boy. He smiled and pulled his white leather jacket taught, removing any creases. Pushing back his blond fringe he said, “My name is Quentin Absolution, I am a Golden Child of the Absolution clan who is gifted with the Book of Life. I am a combat medic, and I can fight at super close range”. He puffed up his chest, proudly expressing how excellent he was. “I am eight years old in ten days, and have been climbing since a month after my seventh birthday. I have currently been climbing Babel for two hundred and sixty days”.
The two women showed shock on their faces. They were very fast at climbing the tower, in fact they were better than hundreds of other people who walked through the tower every day. This boy, however, was a true monster.
“You’re from the Absolution clan too? That’s awesome!” Said Laurence. He had a big grin on his face, as it was the first time he had met a member of his clan, outside if his father. “My name is Laurence Absolution and this is Yun. I guess I’m a Golden Child too, but I make things. I can also fight with my hammer if we need”. He smiled again. It was hard to tell, but Sara seemed to shiver every time Laurence smiled. “I’m still seven, but I’ve been climbing the tower for one hundred and fifty eight days”.
“One hundred and fifty eight days?” Louisa stammered out. It was an unprecedented number that was four times quicker than her journey had taken. This child was without a doubt one of the elites of the Absolution clan.
“That’s impossible!” Gasped Quentin. “If you were a Golden Child of the Absolution clan then you would have to have taken ninety to get here. Shorter is possible, but longer is absolutely not”.
“Why not?” This confused Laurence, as he could only really go by what his father had told him. Quentin would know more about the inner workings of the clans simply by having a closer interaction with them from birth.
“Simple. The Golden Children are released on the first day of the month of Phenes, part of an agreement to push the children to compete better. You must have come in to Babel on the second of Turto for you to get here in that time”. Quentin frowned. “Strictly speaking that means you are the year after me, but you had a massive head start on the other children of your year. I’m not sure if that will make things harder for you, or easier, but I’m glad you’re on my team”.
“Well, my birthday is the first of Turto, so I guess you’re right about that”. Laurence smiled again. The cheeky grin was becoming his defence mechanism for situations he had difficulty working out. “I don’t know why my father would not tell me to wait though. I’m sure he could have”.
“Who is your father?” Quentin asked. He assumed by knowing the name of Laurence’s father he would be able to work out why the boy was released early. A normal Golden Child was privy to a lot of information that most of the other clansmen would not know. They would be the backbone of the clan when they grew up, so they were shown a lot to get them used to knowing secure information.
“My father is Angus Absolution, of Ribec Village”.
The moment Quentin heard this name his hand dropped from his fringe and his face went white. “Angus…” he stammered out. “Angus… Bloody Gus…” His eyes were as wide as dish-plates in fear and reverence as he looked at the boy in front of him. “You’re the son of an Ascendant Immortal?”
“What?” Laurence, Sara and Louisa all yelled out. All the people in the room looked stunned at the young boy, as he looked at his canine friend with wide eyes.
“I assume that he never told you for some reason, but there is a story in our clan about him. He was our greatest healer, but when his brother died he became an angel of death, reaping the lives of many many people. The Clan ceased calling children Angus, or Gus, after the incident, just in case they inherit the ire of Bloody Gus. He terrifies most of the clan”.
“That doesn’t sound anything like my father though,” said Laurence. He knew his father was skilled in battle, but the way he had been described made him sound like far more than the healer and guardian he always acted like. “Either way, shouldn’t we get on to planning what we are going to do in the challenge?”
“For once I agree with you, kid”. Sara replied “We need to know how to progress. If we attack, then it’s pretty obvious that the bird scouts and we storm the weak point of wherever the enemy team is. Birdy, Louisa you said your name was?” Sara pulled out a pouch of something and began chewing a pinch of the contents. “Louisa, can you sweep through the sky and look for an enemy blind-spot? If they have two blind-spots we should probably go through the second most obvious. That way we know we aren’t entering a trap by punching through what looks like the weakest spot”.
“You sure know a lot about entering battle!” Said Laurence, his eyes alight with a fervour for knowing how Sara knew so much about battle. “How did you learn so much?”
“As a bounty hunter I took part in a lot of raids on criminal encampments. I’ve picked up a few things about military tactics in my time”. She spat out the gunk she had been chewing into the corner of the room, before taking out some more. Louisa winced when Sara spat. It seemed like she disliked spitting. “What you have to remember in warfare is that plans go out the window once combat actually starts, and that there are only two or three real states any group is at. That’s if they are attacking or defending. You’re either in a state of assault, feint or rest. No matter what you do you can’t escape these three ideas, so in the future you should plan with these three concepts in mind. The trick with any military engagement is guessing what your enemy is doing. Combat is like a massive game of rock, paper, scissors. If you have the right guess then you’ll more likely benefit. It’s not quite clear cut, but a good guess about your enemies’ plans will often save far more lives than a bad one. “
“So warfare at its core is simple, but its… Nuances come out in study?” Laurence beamed, he had learned a lot of new things in this simple conversation.
“You know a lot of big words for a kid,” said Sara, spitting out the second load of gunk. Louisa winced again.
“Am I using that word right?” Said Laurence. “I have heard people use it, but I’m not sure if I was using it right”.
“You’re using it right, Laurence,” said Louisa. She began preening her feathers in thought. “What if we are the defenders?”
Quentin piped up. “My suggestion is dependant on what our marked thing is. If it’s a person then we could either hide them amongst us or set them somewhere the enemy could never expect. If it’s an object, well, while they said we couldn’t cover the mark, they never said we couldn’t cover the object. We just need to make sure it’s hiding in plain sight with the mark on show”.
They discussed the plans for fifteen more minutes, but in the end they could not come up with anything more substantial than what they had already thought of. They spent another ten preparing and ironing out their roles in the party. Laurence was their front line, with Sara and Louisa as scouting and ranged artillery. Finally Quentin was the support and healer. At the time no one had really paid any attention to Yun, they had just treated him as one entity with Laurence. They had no real idea of how strong any of the rest of the party really was, so the only thing they could do was test through combat.
They strode out into the arena, as ready as a group of misfits who had never worked together could be. Sara spat out another chunk of the stuff she had been chewing, making Louisa shiver once more. Before them was a small building, made of obsidian and basalt. The black obsidian walls surrounding the area had a layer of lava behind it, giving the entire area a ruddy purple glow. There were several obsidian pillars between them and the building, littered about at varying heights as to pose as either cover for the attacking party or a bulwark for the defensive party. Depending on how active either team was, it could change the entire way the arena was fought in.
Laurence summoned his hammer and took a few steps forward. “Looks like we are attacking then doesn’t it?” He smiled again, this time making all three of his companions shiver.
The fight was a lot closer than either side had expected. Laurence and Quentin meant that the other side had to be balanced with two saints, or equivalent. This test was one of tactical skill and forethought, with a little bit of luck thrown in for good measure.
They began their trial by sending Louisa out on reconnaissance. It was interesting for Laurence to watch the woman climb up one of the larger obsidian plumes and just ride the pulses of heat that jettisoned out of the ground. As her massive wings unfurled she rocketed into the sky, soon disappearing from sight. The small woman looked both stunning and elated as she flew, there was an expression on her face that seemed far more real than the pleasant, motherly smile that she wore when dealing with the rest of the group.
After about five minutes Louisa flew back to the group, dive bombing then tapering off into a slow and graceful descent. “We are looking to get an object. I’m about eighty five percent sure”. She smiled and bowed politely as her wings retreated back into her flesh, clasping her hands and swaying with her knees and hips alternately.
“Only eighty five percent?” Snapped Sara.
“Yeah. While I have excellent dynamic vision, I couldn’t see all angles of the building. As long as they don’t have a secret room to put the person into, we should be facing five people”.
“What are the five targets?” The answer given seemed to be acceptable to the bounty hunter, so she moved on.
“One child, a girl, I assume she’s their Golden Child. Two humans, both male and subservient to the fourth person. One Azure clansman, she’s the one who controls the two men. Finally there’s a Kimbramancer from Avalon”. At the mention of a person from Avalon, Quentin gasped. The great clans of the tower all knew of the Avalonians. It was hard not to know your natural enemy.
Quentin explained to Sara and Laurence that the people of Avalon thought it sacrilegious to try and achieve perfection through the Books. They instead used a force called Gi to survive and conquer. Gi seemed to be the antithesis of mana, because when the two came into contact they would quickly neutralise each other and turn to salt. For that reason, and several others, Kimbramancers were regarded as too alien. They were too different, and they hated the clans.
“You can always tell when someone is a Kimbramancer, because they have animal bones as piercings all over their bodies, and wear nothing but leather. It’s something to do with the way they make tools in Avalon. It’s all bone and leather”. Quentin finished, pulling on his fringe. “If any of us come across the Kimbramancer, just use a projectile. They neutralise mana, so any enchanted stuff that any of us have will be pretty much useless”.
“So, what is the plan of attack?” Said Laurence. “Shall I still punch in through the front and you guys go through the back?”
“When I was flying over, I didn’t see anywhere that they particularly protected. So they might be hiding the object or person in plain sight, or in a secret room. Punching through the front will likely draw them to you, so you’ll be in the most danger”. Louisa responded. She cared too much about people, which Laurence was having trouble working out if it was a weakness or a strength.
In the end they followed the plan they set up. Quentin and Sara crept round behind, and about five minutes later Laurence and Yun began moving towards the building. They moved quickly, but not quietly. Their job was, amongst other things, to be a distraction. They began picking up speed and quickly reached the nearest pillar. Springing from pillar to pillar, the boy and his dog blasted towards the building at increasing speeds. As they landed in front of the house, Laurence realised his speed was too great and he tried to stop. His shoes began to smoke as the friction of the floor became too much for his clothes to bear. He lost his footing and crashed through the door, crushing one of the people in the enemy team. He rolled over and looked up at the room he had ended up in, but before he could take a proper look around, Yun landed on top of him. He pushed his friend off him, and quickly rose to his feet. Looking around, he got a quick understanding of the area he was in. The two of them were in a large hall, filled with clutter and the writhing corpse of a human man. The room was far too empty for Laurence to feel comfortable. It was odd that they would not cover their easiest front to attack, he thought, but it quickly dawned on him that his team might have been second guessed. He flicked out his hammer and finished off the twitching corpse on the ground. It was a subtle difference, but the moment his hammer was formed Laurence’s eyes dulled and his body relaxed.
Quickly pulling out his red book, Laurence looked at the map on the first page. Excluding his own, and Yun’s there were eight names. Each of the names had an italicised letter beside them, dictating allies and enemies and three names with ‘E’ beside them were bunched together. From what Laurence understood there was little chance that the Kimbramancer would want to stay for very long with the other members of their team, so Laurence assumed the one on their own, named ‘Yveth Rudh’ was the one that they would have most difficulty fighting.
He looked at the map once more then said “Yun, go help the rest of the team. If you finish things quickly then come back, but I will hold off the Kimbramancer for you guys. If we can take out the team, then we don’t have to think about anything other than finding the object”.
Yun growled in assent and bounded towards the rest of the team. With that decided Laurence discarded thoughts about the rest of his team. He already knew they would win as they were attacking a bunched up group of fighters from all sides with greater numbers and equivalent skill. It was going to be an absolute victory.
He took a few steps before putting his book away and called out. “I know you can see me”. He said. Since he had entered the room he had felt eyes upon him, but the owner of those eyes had decided not to reveal themself as of yet. They had waited for him to open himself up to attack, but he had not. Perhaps him barrelling in had not been the best idea, but the speed he had been travelling had allowed him to enter the room at a speed beyond that of what a normal person would expect.
A tall woman walked out of one of the two existing corridors. She was bone thin, to the point where the skin was stretched out like parchment across wooden spikes. She had two bone yellow piercings through each nostril situated like tusks, and bolts of bone through the skin going up her arms. The piercings seemed to stop at her leather tunic, which was skin tight over her upper body and loose past her boyish hips. The woman, Yveth, stuck out her snake-like tongue and licked her lips at the child before her, revealing one more piercing through the tip.
She looked down at Laurence and pressed her hands together then raised them over her shaven head in some sort of bowing motion. Finally she opened her mouth. “Child, I pray to the Lady that you are at peace with yourself”. Her nasal voice echoed through the room towards Laurence. “For my clan has a blood feud with the practitioners of that thing you had in your hands”. She spat the last sentence out with a venom that was surprising to Laurence, then ran at the boy.
Laurence raised his hammer, blade out in front. His father’s words once more echoed in his head. Laurence, raise your blade. As long as you can keep the point of your weapon between you and your enemy they have to get through that before they get through you. He kept his blade level and quickly thrust towards Yveth as she approached. She slipped to the side of Laurence’s blade and dodged the hammerhead, reaching a meter away from the boy. It seemed like this was her range of combat so he quickly pulled himself back to a more comfortable distance.
Yveth followed, sticking to Laurence like glue. Every step he took back she took one forward and struck towards him. He dodged and twisted but could not find a moment to break free from her assault and go on the offensive. He could feel each strike coming closer and closer to hitting him, but there was very little he could do to fend Yveth off. Each step back he tried to bring his hammer to defend by pumping mana through his muscles, however with every strike Yveth seemed to pull the mana out of Laurence’s muscles and waste it. It was infuriating to him because no matter what he could do, the woman would graze her hands against his skin and sap his power. In desperation he ignited his inner flame and slammed his hammer into the ground, separating the two of them.
With a moment to take a breath he pulled his hammer back and thrust forwards, flicking his hammer to the side he saw the woman push towards the head of the weapon. At the same time Laurence rotated his inner flame formation to restore his stamina and trueformed the air in front of Yveth’s mouth into stone. She blocked the hammer and breathed out, or at least tried to, but the hammer was not an enchanted weapon like she expected and did not turn to dust on contact; instead, her hand was crushed as one of the bone piercings in her arm shattered. The stone around her mouth however did turn into salt. Before she realised it she had breathed in a large chunk of rock salt and sputtered to get the material out of her mouth. Her brow furrowed in rage at the fact that a child was surviving for far longer than he should be, but anger cleared her mind and focused her spirit.
Yveth took ten steps back and breathed in deeply. Laurence could tell that she had something planned, but real combat experience was something the boy sorely lacked. The only people he had ever fought who were as strong or stronger than him were his father, the Orik and now Yveth. It was truly bothersome for him, but he knew that he was growing because of it so he welcomed the challenge.
Watching the woman dive back into the fray they clashed once more. Laurence quickly realised that when his skin was touched by the Kimbramancer his mana was drained and turned into salt, but when his weapon made of his soul and mana collided with the woman she became injured. He could not understand why, but his hammer seemed to be immune to the Gi that Yveth used.
Tossing the thought aside, Laurence began to probe his enemy’s defences. With each step forward Yveth took, he would either thrust towards her throat then swing down towards her abdomen and attack there instead, or stab at her heart and flick upwards. No matter what he did, the best result Laurence got was a seared leather top when Yveth predicted the third attack wrong and corrected it a beat too slow. The battle was slowing, but Yveth still had complete control of things. No matter what Laurence tried he could not stop her advance, and if he ever replaced the air in her mouth, she would just break from combat and regulate her breathing. It was becoming more and more clear that Laurence was sorely outmatched in this fight. He knew, but he realised that until his allies came back from their engagement he was pinned down in a fight he was destined to lose.
After five rounds of fighting Laurence managed to get a second hit against Yveth, causing her frown to deepen. She should have won against the boy by now, but he was holding out simply through the fact that his skills were awkward to fight against and she could not deal with the weapon in his hands. Yveth was used to making every weapon that had even the slightest amount of mana turn to salt with simply a touch.
In frustration Yveth took a step back and spat out the word “Gidan”. The skin on her fingers receded even further, to the point where the bone was effectively protruding from within her flesh. Her bones began to shift shape, becoming denser and sharper with each passing moment. Finally the sides of her hands thinned down to sharp edges, tapering off into points at the tip of her fingers. What used to be fully functioning hands were now sharp blades on the ends of disturbingly long arms. Yveth raised one hand and licked the edge, allowing the blood that spilled to drip down her arms and spill on the floor. She closed her eyes in reverie at the sensation, but through all this Laurence simply looked on. Even now, with her face flushed and eyes closed he could not see a clear way to attack without getting hit back.
Yveth dove back into the fray with renewed vigour. Each swing of her hand would dig into Laurence’s flesh, ripping off small chunks and layers. Within seconds the boy had his arms dyed red. Even his jacket had tears and holes peppering it. Yet through all this, Yveth could not quite end the combat. Laurence was slowing down, but he was not letting Yveth land a killing blow. Instead he was dying by inches, being exposed to death by a thousand cuts.
Once again Laurence was driven back by the woman. The whole fight had been going for less than five minutes but they had traversed up and down the room over twenty times, with each pass tearing up the room more and more. As the seconds ticked by Yveth’s frown deepened, her forehead was beginning to resemble a pit of spikes because the boy’s endurance was so great. His mana reservoir seemed to be endless but she knew full well that that could not be the case. He would run out eventually, and the moment he did she would seal the deal.
Taking a swipe at Laurence’s head, Yveth did not expect it to connect but the wind pressure pushed Laurence back, forcing him to stumble over the debris on the floor. As he fell backwards something dawned on him. He quickly slammed his hammer down on the ground once more, peppering the Kimbramancer with stones. She pulled back for a second, but that was all Laurence needed to finalise his plan. Perhaps he could change the terrain of the arena to his advantage, either by forcing Yveth to nullify what looked like stable ground, or just by shifting the floor nearby. Laurence rolled back and flipped onto his feet , shunting some of the ground near Yveth to the side while covering the rest around her in basic runes and glyphs. No matter where she stepped there would be a pitfall.
Yveth smiled. In her mind it was time to go for the kill. Over the last minute, Laurence had been feeling the stress of combat more and more. His mana reservoir was finally beginning to empty itself to the dregs, but still he held on. His perseverance would make his Gi so much more powerful when she consumed it. Laurence readied himself to see if the trap would work, but it failed. It seemed that for her to collapse these spells she needed to go through either a thin layer of clothing or be touching the spell bare skinned. Her feet were protected by thick leather boots, so Laurence quickly realised that this image of death incarnate was coming in for the final blow. His last ditch attempt to sway the fight in his favour had not worked and now he was going to pay the price.
