The Lake of Blood; The Blood Lake; The Red Sea; The Crimson River.
It had many names that had been passed down over the years. Rumors about the thing beyond it existed. However, there was truly nobody that ever actually crossed it. Only monsters came from the lake, and only monsters went back into it. The first few miles of it were tolerable, and even a child could walk through them. Although, the pillars of core that punctured through the surface of the sea of blood would dissuade any toddler from journeying throughout the hellish scene.
Currently, there was a massive city flying over that vast expanse of divine blood, with countless unknown horrors hidden within it. This floating stronghold was known to the Climbers as Middle Town, but was truly named the Accursed Port by its founder. That port now traveled well beyond the safest reaches of the ocean. It had moved away from the shore, and was now moving over the unexplored.
Many pillars blocked the path of the wall, and each pillar was sent crumbling into the ocean of blood, where they sank into the bottomless depths and vanished for whatever was left of eternity.
There were a pair of legs dangling recklessly over the side of the massive wall of the city. They did not belong to any of the Climbers who resigned themselves to working as guards, or the newcomers who had been abruptly transported.
Worthy was staring at the burial ground of a drowned world. Beneath the crimson tides, a lost civilization was lost. There might have been someone that could survive delving into the sea of blood, but they were no doubt going to be torn apart by the terrible abominations that slept in the sea.
They'd already seen several of them emerging, and they were much worse than the mindless, bloody-thirsty beasts they were all used to fighting. There were some creatures who expressed an alarming level of intelligence, trying to meticulously deconstruct the defenses of the Accursed Port's walls, striking blindspots in the defenses.
Others waited for people to have their guards down before unleashing attacks that were undeniably lethal from deep within the red tides. Because of how many Climbers were killed by surprise attacks from the depths of the red sea, few people were insane enough to sit on the edge of the wall.
Hell, there were not many people manning the walls in general nowadays. The only times Climbers rose to such a high elevation was when they were needed to combat the persistent avian attackers reigning the skies above.
"When I dragged you across the floor until you learned how to hold a dagger, never in my wildest dreams could I have predicted you'd become suicidal." A man approached the child with his hand resting idly on the hilt of a broadsword.
His eyes were lazy, unbothered by the seemingly endless landscape of blood that engulfed the tapestry of the world around him.
Looking over his shoulder, the child let out a despondent laugh, regarding the tall man.
The signature bandana wrapped around his head was freshly cleaned, showing no sign of the grotesque battle the man had joined recently. Unlike all of them, this fellow was insane enough to go into the sea of blood and challenge the monsters that rested under the surface. Supposedly, he fought blind during those bouts.
"Suicidal? I don't think I'm quite there yet. Maybe come back later, by then I might not value my life as much."
Cross tilted his head a little, and then released a dry laugh of his own. Worthy presumed that it was the best laugh the man could muster in his exhausted state.
"However, I'd be lying to you if I didn't say I felt like shit. …Then again, don't we all?"
"You're aging a little too fast for my taste. We haven't even been here for too long, and you're already giving me war-time quotes." This was a joke, of course. Albeit, it was one laced with truths. Worthy did feel years older compared to when he first entered.
Turning back to face the sea, it felt a bit nostalgic.
"You know… This is where I first arrived. Not this far out, but this Lake of Blood. I walked through it for… well, I don't know how long anymore. In the end, I made it out of this horrible place without meeting any abominations. Saw signs of one, but nothing ever came of it. I'd bet it was among the swarms we faced when the mountains appeared. This and that happened, and I ended up meeting you, Ms. Esme, that piss-pants noble, and War."
"I never quite understood your hatred for the noble boy. He is surely a coward, but the way you looked at him made me keep a close eye on you during the first few days of us meeting. I was almost certain you'd look for a chance to kill him in his sleep. I'm willing to bet War assumed the same."
Worthy looked incredulous when told about the suspicion they had about him during their initial introduction. "Wow, I have to say, it's amazing I hadn't thought of that. Maybe I actually could get away with it now, since there's so many other things people are paying attention to."
Cross, at least, recognized this as a joke. The corner of his mouth twitched up in an apparent smile.
"You'd have to be a little faster to pull that off, sadly. Still, I hope it never comes to that. Robert is a good kid. Lost, I'd bet. A good kid nonetheless. You are too. And don't worry, I won't ask where you gained the extra dozen pounds. Be careful how much you're eating, though."
That remark made the boy laugh.
It was a nice laugh, especially after his encounter with the wraith. Ever since then, something had been swelling in his chest.
Burdens.
Worthy felt the weight of the burdens the wraith had bestowed upon him—the entire existence of that lonesome wraith.
Alice's father carried the greatest burdens of all. Out of all the burdens powering the city as it made its way across the deadly ocean, the burdens of the man who pushed the weight of a dying world on his daughter was extreme. With that terrible weight, the child was given a tool to destroy the heart of the Blood Marauder.
Sadly, he had no clue how to utilize burdens. He was not Alice, who could efficiently manipulate them and make use of them. So, he assumed that the fragment of Alice in his mind would be quintessential when the time came.
Because if not, he and everyone else was going to die. Perhaps War would survive long enough to see the entire world end, and join the abomination on another floor whenever it managed to recreate a gateway. However, that was assuming War has the abilities to contend with it.
Already, he was faced with a dangerous enemy in the form of the Bone Mountain. Within it, his abilities were hindered. He failed to destroy it.
Against something infinitely more powerful than that mere Bone Mountain Monster, War would perhaps be more powerful than he was back then. His superheated flesh would perhaps melt away, leaving nothing but his Divine Armor in a puddle of what was once War Reaver.
He had the power to prevent this possible future.
That was his duty, wasn't it?
Suddenly, Worthy chuckled, although Cross had not said another joke. It was poetic to think about it. It'd been put in front of him since the moment he entered the tower.
[Child of Rule Breaker Coward & Climber Evangelica: Worthy.]
[You are the third of your bloodline to enter the tower.]
[You will be bestowed a Reward according to your situation.]
He was the child of a person who left the Tower, as well as the child of someone who died in it. It was something the Tower had acknowledged, and deemed important enough to mention. Supposedly, it was something worth noting.
That is why it personalized his Reward, it granted him the [Guide] Reward, which has showcased the ability to evolve.
'What did it say again?' Thinking, the boy summoned forth the messages again.
[Reward - Guide: You are subconsciously aware of the path you must take. The towers may guide you, should you prove you are worth leading.]
[Reward - Guide Initiate: Your initiative has been noticed by the towers. 'Lost' is an alien concept to a pathfinder who leads others. When in doubt, you may always guide oneself to mundane places.]
[Reward - Guide Acolyte: It is easy to become lost beneath a sky with no stars. You are blessed with a mind that can conceive a map of the world without being its ally. Paths will find you, so long as you desire to know what path to take.]
It is when he received the [Guide Acolyte] Reward that everything changed. When he looked for something simple, and that altered the trajectory of his life forever. It destroyed his mind, and witnessing Alice's memories through the walls of the Tower caused him to receive a fragment of her in his head, which mended it back together.
However, one thing he noticed after a while was a simple fact. The [Guide] ability was passive. He'd never activated it once in his life, because it had no means of being activated. Following his intuition, he went in whatever direction made the most sense to him at any given moment.
That led him to where he is now. A boy with burdens weighing in his heart that were too much, and yet he carried them.
He was a Guide, and it was his duty to lead people. Previously, he joked about how he hadn't led anyone to any location of note. He'd just been following, rather than following a path of his own. It was him who'd led his group in the direction of Deadman Walkyr, sure, that was hardly anywhere of importance. The teleporter would've gotten to them one way or another, as long as they went closer in that direction.
'How things have changed so fast…' He had a lot more responsibility now. Because the weight of a thousand people's lives were on his shoulder. It was not from the burdens bestowed upon hom by the wraith. Instead, it was the reality that if he did not destroy the heart of the Blood Marauder, everyone was going to die.
Which, in hindsight, made it a bit counterproductive for him to be sitting in a location where he could be easily attacked.
"To answer your question, though…" Finally turning back to Cross, who'd been taking in the sight that most would not hesitate to call haunting, but he seemed to find breathtaking, Worthy explained himself. "I hate all nobles, because they're assholes. Each and every one of them, without fail, had some kind of quality that's just annoying. Piss-Pants isn't too bad comparatively… I just don't like him. I've got a gut feeling about him, and I want to follow it."
The mercenary with the headband regarded the child for a while. He was either believing the child was unreasonably petty or cared little about it, since he was still only a boy.
Whatever conclusion he came to, he kept it to himself.
"I'm no judge. Just make sure you get down from here before we get too close to the sea foam. You know there's always something terrible sleeping underneath those things."
To that, Worthy nodded. He didn't see Cross often, but he was fond of the mercenary. Cross trained him in preparation for his fight against Walkyr, and was frequently seen around Esme.
In fact, he'd learned recently that Cross owed Esme something from a bet they made. So, she is looking for the man.
Right when the boy went to tell him that the healer was searching for him, he realized the sellsword was long gone.
One couldn't catch the swiftest man on the First Floor, even if debts were owed.