by Jakob Tanner
Both Oliver and Will’s faces instantly lost their previous glowing excitement.
“Why can’t you?”
Then, what Sarah said next absolutely shocked Will and Oliver with awe and amazement, completely changing their perspective on what they believed was Sarah’s already impressive performance throughout the entire tournament.
Mustering up a cheerful response from deep within her, Sarah smiled and said matter-of-factly, “I need to graduate from climber academy first. I haven’t even been to my first class yet.”
86
The next day, Sakura strode into the United Floors Alliance meeting room.
The other alliance leaders of the different member floors were all there.
She purposely avoided all of their gazes, except for Queen Violet’s, who she offered a brief smile and nod to.
“Shall we sit down?” said the Caesarian emperor, awkwardly. “We have a lot to discuss, so we might as well get started straightaway.”
Sakura held back any snarky comments she wanted to throw at the Caesarian emperor and the rest of the council.
She knew it wouldn’t do any good.
And yet, she still couldn’t help feeling incredibly agitated.
Frustrated that this meeting was even happening.
Weren’t they in a room similar to this one only a week or so ago? Could this not have all been avoided?
She sighed as she thought of Max.
It had been three days now and the boy hadn’t shown any further signs of recovery. In two days, the healers would conclude that he wasn’t going to wake up.
Sakura crossed her arms and looked at her feet.
She thought this meeting was pointless. She should be back at the hospital wing, doing everything she could to help Max.
Only after a few more moments of contemplation did Sakura even notice that no one was talking.
She looked up and saw all the different leaders of the tower races looking towards her.
They were waiting for her to speak.
“Um,” said Sakura. “I thought we were having a meeting.”
The Boldrin leader—the one who had actively defied her at the last congregation of alliance leaders—stood up and said, “I can’t speak for the others, but I remain quiet and respectful now as an apology for not listening to you at our last meeting. I was wrong and I apologize.”
Sakura clenched her fists beneath the table where no one could see the anger seething within her.
The Boldrin’s apology didn’t heal her people’s injuries. It didn’t help Max recovery.
It was too late for apologies.
And then the Boldrin leader shocked her.
“I know it’s too late for apologies. My words will not heal the wounds of your comrades. I know that these words are not enough; but just so you know, unlike our last meeting, all of us here are now listening.”
Sakura let out a deep breath.
She wanted to hate the Boldrin leader with a passion, but he was saying everything right; which made her dislike him more.
Stop being so difficult to hate!
She then had another thought.
Cool it, she thought, looking deep within herself. You’re not just Max’s friend and mentor here. You’re the climber president for everyone in Zestiris.
It was true. She had to stay as impartial as she could. She couldn’t let her emotions sway diplomacy.
She had to think clearly.
She had to work to stop even more needless injuries and deaths from happening to her people.
To everyone in the tower for that matter.
She cleared her throat.
“The good news is one of our greatest enemies has had as great a setback as we have. With the loss of Mother, the Fallen Angels will be scrambling for a new leader.”
All the leaders murmured around the table.
Some were even foolish enough to sigh with relief at this statement.
The Caesarian emperor was not one of those people.
“And the bad news?” the Caesarian leader asked.
“The bad news,” sighed Sakura. “Is that the alliance is entering a new period of great volatility. Without Sabriel’s protection, we’re vulnerable to attacks from other S-rankers and tower gods.”
There were no sighs of relief or murmurs following that statement.
There was also an unsaid threat that Sakura chose not to mention.
The alliance had come together to push back the threat following Sabriel’s assassination, but even still, it was more fragile than ever before.
The more nefarious of the tower gods would use that against them; play the lower floors against each other.
After a brief moment of silence, Violet asked, “What do you propose we do?”
Sakura then looked at each and every leader in the eye before finally answering.
The answer was simple, but none of them were going to like hearing it, not even her.
Sakura cleared her throat and said, “Start preparing for the worst.”
87
Twenty minutes later, Sakura left the meeting hall of the alliance council.
She stood up from her seat in an effort to make a quick getaway back to the hospital, only to be called back.
“Sakura, wait,” said a voice.
Sakura’s eyebrow twitched.
Did we not just sit through a meeting? she thought to herself. What more is there to discuss?
She wanted to get back to the hospital so she could check on Max and see if there had been any developments in his condition.
She turned around to see the two Caesarian ambassadors—Regulus and Hermia—approaching her.
“We had an idea we wanted to approach you with,” said Hermia.
“Let’s step into a different room first,” said Regulus, noticing that a few of the other alliance members were eavesdropping on their conversation.
The three of them went to a separate room and Regulus made Sakura a proposal that surprised her to no end.
“Really?” she asked. “That’s a bold idea.”
“Think about it for a day,” said Regulus. “We can approach the situation tomorrow depending on your decision.”
The following day, Harold woke up in his hospital bed.
He turned and looked to the nearby clock. He grinned at the time.
In five minutes, Cecilia the nurse would be coming to do her morning check up.
Harold grinned to himself, thinking about how Cecilia regularly didn’t button her shirt up all the way.
The perfect morning medicine, Harold thought to himself.
If it weren’t for Cecilia, Harold would be losing his mind in this place. He still wasn’t allowed to leave. They were monitoring his vitals the nurse had told him.
“You saved me in that demon attack,” Cecilia had smiled at him a few days earlier. “Now let me save you.”
He sighed and watched the minute hand of the clock.
Three more minutes now.
He smiled and daydreamed about the conversation he was about to have with the cute nurse.
Knock! Knock!
Harold’s eyebrows furrowed.
Cecilia never knocked.
He opened his eyes from his happy daydream to see totally unexpected visitors.
It was the two Caesarian ambassadors, Hermia and Regulus, along with the human climber president, Sakura.
What the heck did the three of them want!? he thought to himself. They’re going to mess up my morning ritual with Cecilia!
“May we come in?” Regulus asked.
Harold crossed his arms and answered with a tilt of his head.
The three visitors stepped into his hospital room and gathered around his bed.
“What do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” asked Harold.
Hermia and Regulus exchanged a look.
“I told you he wasn’t going to be easy,” Sakura chimed in.
“Easy about what?” said Harold.
Regul
us sighed. “We have a proposal for you.”
“The answer is no,” said Harold.
“You haven’t even heard it yet,” Hermia cried.
“Harold,” Sakura said, “hear them out at least. Please.”
Harold turned back to Regulus. “I’m listening.”
“As you know,” Regulus began, “the alliance is entering a period of great turbulence. We’ve lost our greatest defender, Sabriel, the tower god.”
“Whose fault is that?” said Harold, keeping his arms crossed.
Regulus then replied in a way that Harold was not expecting.
“The fault lies with me,” said Regulus. “I was unwilling to budge and allow for change within the alliance’s structure for many years now and for that we’ve ended up in the situation we are currently.”
“So, you’re going to resign?” asked Harold.
“Not quite,” said Regulus. “But we were hoping you might join us on the council?”
Harold winced. “Sorry. I’m a retired climber who runs an antique shop. I’m not a politician. I have no interest in being one of the many talking heads on the council.”
“You wouldn’t be one of the many talking heads,” Hermia chimed in.
“Well, what do you mean?” balked Harold. “What else could I be? A—”
The realization of their proposal was beginning to dawn on the old A-ranker.
“You want me to replace Sabriel?” he gasped.
“That’s right,” said Regulus. “We want you to become a tower god.”
Harold was at a loss for words.
“What do you think?” Sakura asked.
The old man leaned his head back and smirked.
“How about that?” he mused. “I can be part of an institution I hate.”
The three leaders all exchanged glances with each other.
“The position has many benefits,” Regulus explained. “The astral core your team won would elevate you from A-rank to S-rank, giving you new untold powers. Beyond this, you would have more decision-making power on how the council and alliance is run. There will also be prestigious events with powerful men and women. Then there’s—”
“Wait,” said Harold.
Regulus perked up from his desperate ramble.
Harold’s face lit up with a silly smile and he said, “Did you just say events with powerful buxom ladies?”
“Erm,” said Regulus. “I think you’re twisting my words a bit.”
Harold nodded and stroked his chin. “I won’t lie, you’re beginning to intrigue me, but I have a few concerns. An S-ranker is still, by all accounts, a lesser tower god. Sabriel was SS-class.”
“Even still,” said Hermia, “a tower god on the side of the alliance—even a lesser one—would assuage a bit of our current difficulties.”
Harold went quiet and thought over the decision.
The other three all waited for his answer.
“I’ll do it,” he said. “On one condition.”
All three leaders shoulders fell.
“We’re offering you the chance to become a tower god and you’re asking for more!?” Hermia balked.
Regulus sighed. “What’s the condition.”
“I want to change how the entire United Floors Alliance Tournament is run,” said Harold. “I think the games should be held every four years, for one thing. Ten years is too long and too devastating to those tower races that have a poor showing. It incentivizes corruption and bad behavior. Furthermore, I believe each partaking tower race should nominate five climbers as they have always done, but then those different climbers will get randomly mixed into new squads. This way we’ll still have an exciting tournament, but the different climbers will get to meet, become companions, and work together with other tower races rather than seeing them as opponents. If you agree to all of that, I’ll be your tower god.”
Hermia let out a long sigh, suggesting she did not believe Regulus would go for such a proposal.
But then everyone in the room was shocked to see Regulus’ eyes brimming with tears.
The grumpy ambassador wiped his eyes and said, “I think that’s a beautiful idea. I’m happy to oblige that request.”
“Really?” Harold said.
He couldn’t believe the grumpy Caesarian man actually went for it.
And in that moment, he briefly imagined his old deceased friend Travis looking down on him.
I did what you wanted, Travis.
I showed everyone what humanity could be.
So much so they want a human tower god to sit on the alliance council.
I hope that’s enough, Harold thought to himself. I hope I’ve done enough that maybe you can forgive me.
“I guess I’m not getting out of this one then, am I?” Harold sighed to himself.
It looked like he wouldn’t be going back to his shop any time soon.
His days of retirement had come to an end.
88
Casey sat in the waiting room with only herself and Toto to keep her company.
Sakura was at another meeting with leaders and diplomats of the alliance and Sarah had dozed off on the chair beside her.
Casey hadn’t wanted to wake the E-rank girl up.
They all needed as much sleep as they could get.
And that included poor Toto, who had bags under his small eyes.
The gerbil had seen that Casey was avoiding sleep and seemed to have joined her in solidarity.
It had been fives days now and Max still hadn’t woken up from his injuries.
The doctor hadn’t been to see them since they spoke a few days back.
Casey sighed and watched the nurses and other healers go to and fro through the hospital wing.
She worried she wouldn’t see the healer again until this fifth and final day was up and that he would only have bad news to share.
Coincidentally, just as she had been thinking about the healer, the man stepped out from the emergency ward and approached Casey.
His face was cold and stony.
Unreadable.
And yet Casey felt this horrible pit in her stomach, like he was approaching her with terrible news.
She stood up straight away.
“Is he better?”
The doctor’s face remained unreadable.
“No, not yet,” said the man. “We were hoping he would have recovered by now. We’re changing our tactics slightly and would encourage visitors to see him now. We’re thinking being near friends and loved ones might help improve his recovery. Would you like to go see him?”
Casey’s eyes widened at that.
“Of course,” she said.
All these days waiting, she’d been wanting to see him.
Hearing only what the doctor had told her and not being able to see him had only made the waiting worse.
“One second,” she said to the doctor and she went over to Sarah to wake her up.
She wouldn’t want to be asleep for this.
Casey shook the girl’s shoulders, but Sarah didn’t break her slumber.
“I guess you can come see him when you wake up,” she sighed.
Casey returned to the doctor who told her to just go on through the doors and that Max was in the room “second door on the left.”
She followed the doctor’s instructions and found herself hesitating outside Max’s door.
Toto made some noises, encouraging Casey to step into the room and see Max.
But there was part of her that was scared.
She was scared to see the boy she cared so much for. She was scared to see him in such a fragile state.
This isn’t about you though, she said to herself. It’s about Max and doing everything you can to help him recover.
She took a deep breath and mustered the courage to step into the room.
It was dark, a hint of light came from the edge of the closed blinds.
There was a beeping sound from a heart monitor.
Max lay on the hospital bed, unco
nscious.
He looked almost peaceful.
But she was sure he was feeling anything but serenity.
Sakura had pulled her aside the other day and voiced her suspicions to her. That the hidden figure of the mercenary team—the one Max had fought—had actually been his long lost sister.
She couldn’t even imagine what that must feel like.
To find the person you’ve been looking for and for that person to then injure you in this way.
Casey couldn’t fathom the turmoil that must be going on in Max’s head at that moment.
She took a step towards Max and she gently reached out her hand and placed it on his.
If Max didn’t wake up in the next few hours, the doctors had explained, he was never going to wake up at all.
She held his hand and tears welled up in her eyes.
C’mon Max, she thought. Please wake up.
More than a year ago, Casey woke up in her bedroom at her family’s apartment with strange feelings of anxiety.
It was the first day of climber academy.
Toto tried to nudge her out of bed, gently pushing his head into her cheek.
Casey rolled out of bed and went to the bathroom to shower.
“You better step it up, Casey,” hollered her mother. “You’re going to be late for your first day!”
As much as Casey knew that becoming a climber was the best thing she could do to help her family’s financial situation, she was still struggling to be excited for her first day at the climber academy.
Sybil and Cyrus were going to be there, she thought to herself, and they were going to be...well...calling them jerks would be an understatement. It was pretty much guaranteed they were going to make her feel horrible.
Add having no friends into the mix and Casey suddenly found herself not just dreading today but the whole school year ahead of her.
After her shower, she quickly got dressed.
“C’mon, Toto,” she said, picking up her gerbil friend and placing him on her shoulder where he liked to perch. “Our year of misery awaits!”
She grabbed a banana from the dining table and hurried off to school.
