Elik’yar, the Avatar of Alistair, hovered in the air at will. The past month had been a rather enjoyable season as they took on the form of a great dragon, a beautiful one with reflective green, blue, and purple scales. Only a few climbing teams met them at their usual position on the 14th floor, but each one turned and fled as they realized the true danger they were in. The last one had been a week ago, and the floor had been quiet since.

  Such was another season where no one advanced.

  Elik’yar didn’t mind the loneliness. They had multiple millennia of existence, and patience was something they knew very well.

  Still, during seasons like this one, they enjoyed silently visiting the lower floors to keep an eye on Climbers. Sometimes they made themselves known. Mostly they just observed.

  Their current experience was a special observation. They had orders directly from Aliyar to watch, and they immediately understood why.

  The lord’s interested Climber, Ardwyn Thatcher, had just entered the ninth floor with his team. That wasn’t particularly interesting, they had to admit. But what was interesting was that he was chasing a member of his group. Someone who had just killed a person.

  A person who was a non-Climber. A civilian.

  Floating high towards the temple’s ceiling, Elik’yar easily kept themselves hidden from the Climber’s sights and senses. It wasn’t too difficult when the Climbers all were only tier two classes, and their equipment borrowed average power from Alistair. They weren't quite at the power needed to recognize such a hidden aura.

  A presence shifted in the air beside them and Elik’yar craned their neck in bowed reverence.

  “Hello, Creator.”

  Aliyar stood in the air beside the large draconic form of the Avatar as easily as standing on a firm piece of stone. His hands were neatly resting on the small of his back as he looked down at the group of Climbers huddling together and talking.

  He stared and watched silently for several minutes. Aliyar then smiled and nodded to the group. “Fascinating, aren’t they? Despite the dangers ahead of them they continue to persist. Enemies, power, time are all working against them but they are choosing to advance. To challenge their preconceived notions about what it means to be weak and push past their own barriers in the hope of coming out the other side better. And stronger.”

  Elik’yar remained silent as they surveyed the group. They knew it was best to let their Lord speak unimpeded, even if it was more reminiscing and hope-filled than commanding or informative. Despite their long existence there was still much to learn, and Aliyar was the source of all knowledge and power in and around Alistair. Though, they had to admit, any amount of time in his presence was time worth spending.

  “Yes, Lord,” Elik’yar agreed. “They are an interesting bunch to follow.”

  As the two observed, the Climbers below began fighting. Initially they didn’t move, but soon started following the Climber that killed the civilian. They were faring decently well, albeit not as impressively as others they’d witnessed in times past for the ninth floor. This particular season was a stout one, full of powerful enemies and challenges that the current generation of Climbers struggled to combat.

  Elik’yar paused their musings when they noticed the climbing group wasn’t stopping to collect their earned treasure from the fallen monsters and instead continued to advance in the floor. That was interesting. Did they not care about their winnings? What an usual choice. They could always leave after several batches of monsters. Typical Climbers did not tend to treat Alistair that way.

  Unless…

  “You’re starting to see it,” Aliyar said. A playful smile adorned his ethereal face.

  “They aren’t here for items,” Elik’yar said. “They’re here to clear the floor?”

  “In a way. Come.”

  A flash of magical light engulfed the pair as the environment shifted further down the huge temple’s space. They were moved along the floor’s directed path from this portal’s starting point, ahead of the Climber’s current position. Elik’yar could still see them fighting as their strategy morphed into one that involved them moving ahead faster.

  The Avatar let loose a deep and loud rumble in its long draconic neck. “They truly are bold to think they can easily advance through this floor.”

  “Not quite. Though they are bold.”

  The large dragon’s head tilted to the side in an almost amusing fashion, as though thinking on the Creator’s words.

  Aliyar continued. “They didn’t enter wanting to clear the floor. In fact, they didn’t want to enter at all. The Climber ahead of the others, the Barbarian, was seeking personal retribution and is using the unique properties of Alistair to do so.”

  Elik’yar growled, their wings unfurling as though threatened. “She dares to make a mockery of the challenge?”

  “Again, your assumption is close, but not quite exact. She is seeking a warrior’s death through the challenge of the highest floor she’s yet to clear and was told was too difficult for her and her group.”

  The Avatar’s wings relaxed, and they lowered their head. But they did not speak to interrupt.

  “That was the original intent after killing the civilian, at least,” Aliyar continued. “But then their leader, the Ruby Magician, offered a choice. A deal. To clear the floor together and keep her alive to help him and his sister. His offer was to not force her out of Alistair and for her to help them if they lived. If they failed to finish, he would allow her original desire to come to fruition.”

  Elik'yar was surprised. Something that is rare for them. “A sacrificial climb? I don’t recall one happening for some time. It has been for treasure or advancement for over a decade. Not one of more complicated purposes.”

  “Ahh! Now that is not true. Remember the Ruby Magician’s first climb. The first time you met him.”

  Elik’yar thought back to Ardwyn’s meeting. When Aliyar gave the order to leave their post and meet him in the second floor. The Climber didn’t enter the floor for more typical reasons. It was to chase after the false follower, the one who betrayed his teammate. He advanced for answers. For justice.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “This Climber is more than unusual,” Elik’yar said. “You knew this would happen, too.”

  Aliyar smiled again. “Eventually, yes. It was in his nature. But once the pieces were laid out, it was easy to put together.”

  Together the pair watched the group progress to the end, moving to fight the boss. Watching, waiting, processing the events the only way two unending beings could.

  The dragon bristled in the air above as the Climbers recovered and regrouped after defeating the floor boss. There were stronger Climbers, yes, but this particular group’s progress and successes were noteworthy. The Avatar understood that, now.

  “They succeeded,” Elik’yar said. “And now have the opportunity to advance. With such young connections to Alistair, too.”

  Aliyar pulled the two back to the entrance, back away from the eyes of the Climbers. He lowered himself to the ground and the Avatar followed. Lying on the ground before them, still in death, was the body of the civilian.

  The Avatar’s draconic form craned their neck down and sniffed the body. They unfurled their wings and huffed. “This person… I recognize their scent.”

  Aliyar stretched out a hand and the magical representation of the person’s soul floated above their body, appearing like a small, slowly circulating cloud. It was speckled dark grey, nearly black, like ash thrown into the night sky.

  “Interesting,” Aliyar said. “This person was briefly part of Zarath’s flock. His true allegiance was to another organization, though it appears he tried to infiltrate Zarath's company. He was not part of the following that was removed. And his soul is deeply corrupted.”

  Flicking the soul away like it was dirty, Aliyar regarded it no longer as it dissipated into nothing, its energy absorbed into Alistair like the many cycles of monsters and other creatures within the tower.

  Elik’yar bowed deeply, their chest meeting the stone floor in reverence. It was not often to bear witness to a person’s soul, and then for that very soul to have judgment passed on to it. Whether good or bad, it was a rare occurrence that the Avatar was humbled to witness so soon.

  Aliyar began to walk away from the man’s lifeless body. “We must continue our objective, Elik’yar. The time has come.”

  The draconic Avatar slowly walked behind the Creator who was taking his time meandering through the floor. “Yes, Creator. What shall be the next move?”

  Aliyar smiled. “That seed that was planted within Ardwyn. It has begun to sprout. His sister has taken on the mantle of Ruby Magician despite being offered another class. That pleases me, as I was hoping she would follow his path despite being shown another way. It is time for others to also be given alternate paths.”

  “Of course, my Lord. What other offerings should we provide? The other towers can be stingy on their paths.”

  “Quite right! But we all share a common collective that transcends all of the tower’s individual, unique magic. The time has come to share that with the Climbers. I believe you know what to do.”

  Elik’yar bowed once more. They did know what needed to be done. They would never question the Creator’s command, but they did wonder what would happen once the magic connections between the towers were no longer hidden. It would be a large, complicated process that would take decades to fully integrate, but as the Lord so eloquently put it the seed was beginning to sprout. So Elik’yar needed to help water the seedling for proper growth.

  Flying ahead to the end of the floor, the Avatar dove through the portal back to their home that resided within Alistair’s inner domain. The class connection needed to be established. There were offerings to be made, discussions to be had, and magical roots to be planted that required all of their effort.

  Then, slowly but surely, the Climbers of the wondrous city of Alestead would be grateful for the assistance personally bestowed upon them by the Lord himself. For soon they’ll start to see just how diverse climbing was intended to be.

  *****

  William yawned again while ignoring the uncomfortable seat of his large pack. The sun hadn’t even rose over the horizon, but he was glad he made the decision to come out early. There were already three people behind him, and the official wasn’t even set to come until daybreak.

  The early bird gets the worm, as his father would say. He never understood the sentiment as a child but now as an adult, it’s paid off more times than not for him.

  Ever since coming to the famed tower city he felt like he was always behind. Others his age were coming to climb, taking a chance on their life and limb for power, fortune, and prestige. Following that idea was too risky for his tastes, but he respected their dedication. He enjoyed being a tailor’s assistant while earning a respectable wage in the comfort of indoors, helping the owner and customers of all backgrounds. Working with his hands gave him great pride, and his efforts were often fruitful with praise from the owner. Still, most of their clients were Climbers, and William wasn’t oblivious to the stray judgmental look they would cast his way for working with clothes rather than fighting monsters.

  He didn’t mind, though. That life suited him just fine.

  Until it didn’t.

  When the owner failed to come to work a few days ago William found himself out of a job. It was the strangest thing, too, as the man just never appeared. He went by his known residence and it was trashed, as though a thief came in and tossed the place. He reported the disappearance to the city guild who then seized the store. That was when reality dawned on him that he wasn’t employed.

  So, several days of searching followed by begging led him to do the unthinkable - obtain a class and become a Climber. He came to the conclusion that the change of employment might not be a bad thing, especially if he could earn some decent coin. If it didn’t work in the first few times, well, then he could always pursue being a Mapper or Packer. They were protected by the city guild and given a less, albeit fair, wage.

  Another yawn drew his attention back to the stand directly in front of him. The sooner the official would come, the sooner he could find out just exactly what the tower Alistair destined him to become.

  It wasn’t long after he wrestled with his internal musings that the official showed up, the sun just starting to crest over the distant mountains. Most of the people in line clapped and cheered in a very lackadaisical, lethargic way. Like everyone had rolled out of bed and decided to obtain a class at the same late witching hour.

  “Good morning,” William said, trying to sound chipper in the hopes of convincing his body to wake up.

  The official smiled as he sat out a few objects on the wooden table. “Good morning! I see we have some early birds this morning coming to get their worms! We can go ahead and get started when you’re ready.”

  William returned the man’s smile and stretched while standing. It was nice to see the man was both in a good mood and understanding of their time.

  The official walked William through the relatively simple process of obtaining a class by means of pointing out a few strange items settled on the desk. He handed William a palm sized opaque orb, which he grabbed and held without issue. Back on the desk was a large, open box of grey colored sand. The man said all he needed to do was hold the orb and the box would show what class was chosen.

  William thought the process was a bit odd but was soon lost in wonder as the orb’s cloudy appearance began to shift and swirl. It was beautiful, like a small magical cloud resting in his palm changing into various symbols and magical runes. He glanced at the box of sand and noticed that the shifting was being mimicked so the official could see and record the results.

  “Huh,” the man said, squinting his eyes and leaning down towards the sand.

  “What?” William asked. “Is something wrong?”

  The man didn’t answer, just kept staring at the constantly morphing sand. He quickly opened a book also sitting on the table and began rapidly looking between the box of sand and the book as he flipped through pages.

  William didn’t know what was going on. He wasn’t being hurt, though, so he decided to just let it play out. He was too tired to put up much of a fuss. Whatever his class would end up being was fine with him. He wasn’t too picky.

  Finally the sand stopped moving, though the official kept turning page after page in his book. William looked into the orb in his hand and saw a strange symbol on it. It was two fists wrapped in linen in a sort of cross formation with a series of small runes set in a circle behind it.

  William quickly woke up looking at the symbol. The symbol of a magical class. His magical class.

  As he looked closer and thought harder, he didn’t recognize the runic sign. He knew what Fighters and Rogues mostly looked like, which would likely be the class involving two fists. That wasn’t one of the Magicians or Sorcerer classes, either, since theirs were mostly staves or wands or elemental symbols. A Hunter also was obviously out. Those typically had bows or more woodland images like leaves or axes.

  So what in the hells was his?

  “Uhh, I’m sorry,” William said. “Do you know what my class is?”

  The official was still rifling through his book, urgently scanning the pages. The person behind William sighed and muttered something under her breath but he ignored her.

  “Excuse me?” William repeated.

  The man flinched and stared at William. He looked… afraid?

  William had a sinking feeling in his stomach something was wrong.

  “I’m sorry,” the official said, “I’ve never seen this before.”

  “What is it? Please tell me!”

  The man worked his mouth but didn’t speak. He then shrugged. “It doesn't make any sense! It follows none of the prepared classes, and there is no recorded runic symbol for this class!”

  William took a deep breath. He wasn’t sure if his mind was still half asleep or not, but he wasn’t fully understanding what the man said. “That’s normal though, right? Every person’s symbol is different.”

  “Yes, but the runes should have a foundation that is clearly one of the starting classes! Your runes are… unclear! And do you see this symbol? Made up of crossed fists? I’ve never seen or heard of anyone having that! Fighters or Rogues or anything!”

  William felt like the man slapped him in the face. “I’m sorry, this is all pretty new to me. What do you mean unknown? And that you’ve never seen this before?”

  The man started to panic as he ran a hand through his hair while his other one was used to point to the grey sand. It slowly morphed again, and then the book he was referencing began to softly glow. The official slowly grabbed it and read it with shaky hands. “The description states that you have a class called Monk! Which shouldn't be possible, considering... well, considering it means that you have a brand new base class!”

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