From Moving Crates to Killing Gods-Chapter 21: Up

"Why not stay here?" Coco asked, voicing the question I’m sure had occurred to all of us. "It’s safe inside the Ward. The Corruptors can’t reach us."

"For now." Brow’s thought carried a heavy weight of knowing. "But as I said, it fades. Each season, the light retreats a little more. The barrier shrinks. And outside..." Images flashed through our minds. Corruptors gathering near the barrier’s green glow, patient and eternal, waiting for the inevitable failure.

"They know it’s weakening." I realized aloud. "They’re just... waiting."

Mira’s jaw tightened. "We’re not waiting for anything. We’re moving. Now. If we don’t reach the gathering point, Darien’s team might leave without us."

"Would it be so terrible to be away from Darien?" I asked, earning another sharp look.

"Yes." she replied firmly. "Because Finn is with them, and Finn is our only way back to Argent."

She was right, of course. As much as I resented it, we needed the Navigator, and the Navigator was with Darien. Our survival depended on rejoining them, whether we liked it or not.

Brow drifted toward one of the tunnel entrances, his blue glow brightening in what seemed like an invitation. "This way. We will guide you to the vertical tunnel."

We gathered ourselves and followed the jellyfish elder into a narrow maintenance tunnel. Unlike the routes we’d taken to reach the chamber, these passages sloped upward, climbing through the infrastructure of the ancient mall. The walls were lined with corroded pipes and severed cables, remnants of long dead systems.

Occasionally, Brow would pause at junctions, communicating silently with other Bloops that appeared from side passages, as if consulting on the best route.

"What is this place to you?" I asked Brow as we navigated a particularly tight corner. "Why stay here when everything around you is dying?"

The telepathic answer came with surprising clarity. "It is home." Simple and profound. "Before the Ward, we drifted alone, afraid. Here, we found others. Safety. Purpose."

Before I could ask more, Brow halted at a large circular hatch set into the ceiling. With a gesture of his tendrils, the hatch creaked open, revealing a vertical shaft beyond.

"The path to the ceiling." he announced. "But beware. The way is broken."

We climbed through the hatch one by one, emerging into what must have once been a stairwell. But calling it that now would be generous. The metal stairs had collapsed, leaving only fragments attached to the walls at irregular intervals. The shaft stretched upward for at least five levels, with dim light filtering down from somewhere above.

"Well, this is... suboptimal." Phinyx observed, staring up at the ruined structure.

"That’s one word for it." I agreed, assessing the remnants of the stairs. Some sections were still intact. Others had been reduced to twisted spars of metal jutting from the concrete. It wasn’t a staircase anymore, it was an industrial obstacle course designed by a sadist.

Mira was already analyzing the challenge, her eyes calculating distances and handholds. "We need to find a way up."

"And how exactly are we supposed to climb that?" Petra asked, gesturing at the treacherous ascent. "None of us are climbers."

"No." I said slowly, an idea forming. "But we might not need to be." I looked around at our group of supposed misfits. Petra with her ability to make surfaces stick together. Phinyx and his vibes that could potentially affect perception and sensation. Yami who could project a single note. Coco who could transform water. Rolen who could communicate with the Bloops. Kira who could make plants grow and feel water. Mira and her blade of light.

Each of us had an ability Darien had dismissed as worthless in combat. But this wasn’t a fight, it was a puzzle.

Just like us, orphans designed for specific roles in Argent, now forced to become something entirely different out here in exile. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"Alright." I said, tossing the yo-yo up and catching it with new determination. "Let’s get creative."

I pointed at Kira. "You’re our foundation. I need the thickest, strongest vine you can grow here at the bottom. Don’t worry about it holding yet, it can start thin."

Kira nodded, pressing her hands to the damp stone. A thick, woody vine began to grow, clinging to the smallest cracks and imperfections.

"Mira." I continued. "You’re our climber. The moment that vine is long enough, you start going up. Create handholds with your light blade on the stone surface.

Petra, you make the vine stick to Mira’s back. It’s only so that she doesn’t need to worry about holding it while climbing."

Petra eyed the growing vine with skepticism but moved behind Mira, readying her hands.

"Phinyx." I said. "Your job is the most important. You need to give the wall a vibe. Not for us, but for any threats." I gestured upward into the darkness. "Make the walls of this shaft radiate a vibe of ’emptiness’. We need Corruptors to feel deeply uninterested in breaking the walls and disturbing us."

Phinyx grinned, a flash of excitement in his eyes. "A vibe of pure emptiness. I can do that."

"Yami, you’re our comms. One sharp note to Mira when the vine is at its limit. Two when she can keep on climbing."

"Coco, you’re on hydration. Keep Kira’s throat wet. She’s doing the heavy lifting."

"Rolen, have the gloops light up the tunnel."

It was a weirdly simple plan. Not a machine, but a living organism, all of us synchronized... assuming Mira didn’t slip and plummet.

We watched Kira’s vine sprout and lengthen like a rough, living rope. When Yami sent the single crisp note, Mira started her ascent. With a trained fluidity we lacked, she used her blade to carve out handholds as she climbed. The vine, bonded to her back by Petra’ s ability, trailed behind like a wooden tail.

She started climbing, silhouetted against the faint green light of the sky. For a long, long moment, she disappeared from view. We could only hear her grunt from time to time. A while passed. Then, the vine shook twice. The all clear signal.

"Phase two." I whispered. "Kira, grow it thicker." Kira focused, and the single vine began to branch and swell, forming rough knots and loops at intervals. It was slow, but it was working.

A tense quiet settled, broken only by Kira’s strained breathing and the distant, haunting winds of the outside world. Phinyx stared intently upward, sweat beading on his temple as he maintained his unsettling vibe.

Finally, we had a thick, knotted vine Mira had secured. A way up.

We climbed one at a time. When it was my turn, I picked a solid knot overhead, gripped it, hoisted myself up, then repeated the process.

I climbed onto the final ledge and collapsed at Mira’s feet. One by one our ragged team came out of the pit. No explosions, no roaring flames, just a climber, a vine, a vibe, a few glowing gloops, and some juice.

Mira looked down at us, chest heaving, then at the rope we’d built from nothing. "Darien’s crew brought a hammer." she said softly. "Seems we’ve come armed with one very peculiar screwdriver."

I wiped sweat from my brow and managed, "Sometimes the screwdriver’s just the tool you need."