Six months after they found Laurence the group arrived at the next stele. Unlike the steles before them, a town had formed around this site. It was a preparation zone of sorts that allowed for Challengers to rest safely and ready themselves before taking the second last step within the Saint rank.
Being an oasis in a rather arid region of the plane, there was a large amount of foot fall that was non-challenger based through the town, however the density of Saints within the town was something special. Being a Saint within the town was the norm, and there were even small regions for all eight of the surviving clans to rest up and catch up with some family members. The group being as disjointed as they were, they traipsed after Winoa towards the Zephyr clan resting zone.
“Daddy!” she yelled as she saw an older man sitting down with a long polearm resting over his knees. He was oiling the blade carefully, but stopped to look up when he heard Winoa’s cry.
“Is that my baby girl?” He propped up the polearm and began walking over to the group when the young woman tackled him to the ground.
“I’ve missed you Daddy!” Winoa stood up and smiled bashfully at her father before turning back to her friends. “Guys, this is my father, Dayed Zephyr. He’s a windlord and an early floor explorer”.
“So he’s not a Challenger?” said Jim. “I’d say I was surprised, but I don’t actually know much about the inner workings of the clans. My father never told me much about them when he was sober”.
“Challengers are rather rare in the clans,” Cleo said, “My family would only let people enter the tower at all if they could reach Sainthood before they turned twenty. They claimed that there was no point in releasing a member of the clans to the world if they had no chance of reaching Heaven before they had burnt out their potential”.
“That’s a little bit cruel isn’t it?”
“The clans are known for it,” Cleo replied bitterly. “I should know”.
“Are you going to introduce me to your friends, Winoa?” Dayed said, looking oddly at the teenagers before him.
“Of course! On the far left, you have Jim, he’s a member of the Caesar clan, sort of. He practices Order, but never actually came from the clan. Next is Law, he’s a member of the Absolution clan, his daddy is Bloody Gus, the demon of the Absolution clan, but he practices Creation and Destruction. Attached to Law’s arm is Cleo, a Heaven ranker of the Ignis clan”.
“I’ve heard about Cleopatra Ignis, wasn’t she a runaway who shamed the clan?”
“Runaway? RUNAWAY?” Cleo shouted indignantly, “I was forced out because I’m a fourth child and have more potential than the entire clan has been able to produce in a decade. I’m just proof that the stupid system around people's birth is worthless and they don’t like it”.
Dayed frowned at Cleo’s words but seemed to hold his tongue. “I seem to have touched a nerve there, my apologies”.
Cleo snorted in response before Winoa continued. “Next to Cleo is Yun, he’s Law’s brother and a Heaven ranker of Creation. Yun, would you say you’re the strongest of the group?”
“Not any more,” he growled before glancing at Laurence with pride.
“He’s a man of few words. Finally, next to Yun is Louisa, a member of the Vermillion clan”.
“Vermillion? But you’re not a bird!” Dayed looked on in shock. “Did the clan finally complete the scripture?”
“No, I was gifted it,” Louisa replied. “It’s not something I intend to share with anyone except my nest, I must apologise”.
“No harm, no foul,” Dayed replied. “You’re a rather eclectic bunch aren’t you? Well how about you all stay in our south villa until you’re ready to pass into the gate. That way you can ready yourselves for the challenge”.
“Jim? Louisa? Winoa? How does that sound for you all?” Laurence asked. There was something odd about how Dayed was acting, but he could not put his finger on it.
“I like the idea for resting for a day before going in, but we have Yun’s realm. We can just rest up there,” Jim said. “There’s no point in wasting the Zephyr clan resources when we have somewhere to go”.
“Agreed,” said Louisa. “You can stay here if you want to Win, but I intend to stay with Yun”.
“Fair enough, so should we bring up the bigger issue now? The Lupe?”
At Laurence’s mention of the Lupe, the group all nodded and turned towards Dayev. There was a moment of silence before Winoa spoke “Daddy, there’s something we need to pass on to the clans, something that needs their attention immediately. We’ve discovered that the Lupe plan to release the Fallen Morning from its prison in some sort of attempt to come into providence”.
“You’re joking right,” Dayev said nervously. “The fallen morning is a myth, and even if it wasn’t then we would stand no chance. There’s no Hephaistia clan now. We have no Creation Heaven ranker...” he trailed off and looked at Yun. “It can’t be true, there’s no way that they would be crazy enough to release an ancient evil. Everyone knows that doing anything like that is just insane self-destruction... why am I even talking about this. The Fallen Morning is a myth. He never existed in the first place”.
“We’ll get you proof. The Lupe are doing something evil anyway, they’ve been kidnapping Golden Children for something and taking them to the Valley of Kings on the next floor. I don’t know about you, but I intend to stop that,” Jim said. “I’ve not had the best life, and I sure as Babel don’t like the clans, but I cannot stand the idea of letting those people die when I could have saved them. No one deserves to die because of their birth origin”.
“I’ll agree to that,” said Laurence. “We’re stopping him whether you send the message back to the clans or not”.
“Don’t worry guys, I’ll go back with my dad. I’ll see you at the valley one way or another. You don’t have to worry about me”.
“We know you’ll be fine, Win. Shall we spend one more night as a group before you leave?”
“I’d like that, Law. Thank you,” Winoa replied.
The group left Dayev alone for the rest of the evening as they retreated to Yun’s world. The evening was spent simply, with the group talking and relaxing. Laurence spent most of the time in Cleo’s arms, but could not help but notice the feeling of the group. There was a slight sense of foreboding hanging over the group that made everything slightly more urgent than normal.
They knew that this would likely be the last fully rested night they would get to experience before the situation with the Lupe was over. They all intended to use it to the fullest. Jim drank and flicked through his Book, while Winoa idly played with a Lute that Yun had made for her. Yun continued to teach Louisa about his transformation ability, but she seemed to be missing some final step. Only Laurence and Cleo were truly relaxing. They both found that it was very difficult for either of them to not relax in each other’s presence. Laurence knew without a doubt that he found Cleo’s presence soothing, and he thought that she felt the same, but it was hard for him to tell. He knew that she certainly did not dislike his company.
For the rest of the evening, Laurence spent it absorbed in Cleo’s presence, eventually splitting off from the rest of the group to go to her room. He would have taken her to his own room, but it was far too messy for people to even really be in. Strewn across every surface were partially completed objects and rare materials. Laurence was even lacking a place to sleep within the room as his bed was covered in rocks. It was why most nights he slept with Cleo. The comfort was secondary.
Still like nervous school-children, the two of them crept into the room and closed the door, hiding away from prying eyes. They quickly devolved into tearing off each other’s clothes and beginning their full contact tussle once more.
The next morning, the group got together early and walked towards the gateway to the next floor. After the completion of the test they knew they would begin going their separate ways, and even though they would be meeting up again, it was clear that no one felt entirely happy with the situation”.
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