CH429

After getting out of the floor, each life mage worked to heal themselves one final time, just in case any poisonous effects hadn’t ended with the section, before they all looked to each other, wondering what to do from there. Things had just gone about as far from expected as they could, so they needed to know what they’d do next, they were just waiting for someone to speak first.

Of them all, Ben had it the worst for the simple fact that he was cheating, reading their minds to know how they each felt instead of listening to whatever they might say, only to be faced with the horror of his earlier success.

Convincing them each to go, he’d stroked their desires for strength and power, and now he was paying the cost of it. None of them wanted to leave. Maybe they would have felt different if things had been more dangerous overall, but given the ease they’d gotten through the first floor, as well as how harmless the second had ended up once they’d worked things out, it had left Sachel and Sonya at least with a misplaced sense of security, while Thera and Steph were both of the mind that they could handle whatever there was to come.

Which we absolutely don’t know is the case.

For his own part, he was torn. All of the benefits of climbing the tower remained, but it felt like the risk had exploded. He would have felt better if he was picking up any sign of hesitation from the others, but the most he was getting was Sonya’s internal debate about her personal desire against the risk of the unknown and how going farther could endanger her niece.

But together, I don’t think there’s anything I can actually say on this floor to talk them into quitting here. Shit, okay, going to try to not panic and figure this out.

The second floor was admittedly a terrible place to end things given that the potential to get a blessing was there so long as they completed the third, and if things went poorly on the next floor then he was sure he’d be able to talk them into leaving there. It would be a loss for everyone to not make it to the top, but a level or two wasn’t worth dying for.

“Okay,” He began, pulling all attention to him. “Clearly things didn’t go as planned and that’s on me. I’d assumed that the tower was a set number of floors and it looks like I’m wrong, which means there’s no way to know if any of the other three will be what I think they are so obviously this just got a lot more dangerous so does anyone want to get off here? Nobody is going to hold it against you, please prioritize your own lives here.”

He asked it despite already knowing the answer as he rubbed his head, trying not to show his stress as not one person said they wanted to go.

“Okay, fair, we’re pretty close to getting the blessing so why don’t we talk about this again after the next section? For now, why don’t we take a little break?”

And I’ll try and deal with the sudden crushing weight of it all.

He’d convinced each one of them to join him for one reason or another, which as far as he was concerned meant that their safety was his responsibility. Never mind the fact that he was the only one without life magic, if any of them ended up hurt or worse it would be another thing to haunt him. He couldn’t let that happen.

“Not like I have much choice in the matter though, do I?” He asked himself as he pulled a pan and ingredients out of his bag to make a meal for the lot of them as they all chatted, with one common theme among them all. How well everything had gone.

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“It really seems like you’d be able to manage this yourself, Thera,” Sonya laughed as she wrapped her arms around her niece. “Seeing you in the clinic is one thing, but actually joining you for something like this is so much better. Of course, maybe this is one thing we’ll keep from your mother.”

“I doubt she’ll worry too much aunty, are you forgetting who forced me into my first trial?”