Awakener's Guide to Climbing the Tower

The room she entered was small but clean. A narrow bed stood against one wall, covered with a faded blue blanket. A wooden basin sat beneath a cracked mirror, and a wardrobe occupied the opposite corner.

Misha closed the door behind her then she inspected beneath the bed and went to open the wardrobe just to make sure no one was there. She walked toward the window and checked behind the curtain next.

King floated through the closed door while she examined the window latch.

[You are aware that monsters generally do not hide inside wardrobes nya.] He hovered near the ceiling with both tails drifting behind him.

"Yes, but people do. Monsters usually attack from the front. People hide, lie and wait until you’re asleep." She pulled the curtain shut.

[Your opinion of humanity remains appropriately low.] He sounded almost approving.

"Try getting betrayed by someone you trust, let’s see if it won’t change your view on others." She crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed. The mattress groaned beneath her weight. Then she rested both hands against her knees. "King... that boy knows something about me."

King settled in the air near the window, his golden eyes turned toward her.

She looked up at him. "He knew about my skill, my possession."

[He actually made a valid observation. You’re not exactly subtle nya. Your eyes glow and your movements change.]

"Still, that doesn’t explain how he knew what it was." Misha frowned. "And he estimated ten minutes during a siege... while monsters were attacking from every direction."

King paused for only a moment, then he lifted one paw and began licking his fur.

Misha narrowed her eyes as she noticed his pause. "You think it’s strange too."

[I think mortals occasionally notice things.] King dragged his paw over his horn. [It’s rare, but not impossible nya.]

She folded her arms. "But that’s not a denial too."

King looked offended. [Do not mistake my refusal to indulge your paranoia for uncertainty nya.]

"But how did he know the exact nature of my skill?" She pressed. "Out of every possible explanation, he settled on possession."

[Perhaps he possesses an appraisal skill nya.] He lowered his paw. [Or an analytical trait, or maybe eyes capable of recognizing spiritual displacement.]

Misha blinked several times. "Can people really have skills that specific?"

King stared at her for a while. Then he slowly raised his chin. [Anything is possible inside the Tower nya.]

"That is an extremely unhelpful answer." She sighed and rubbed one hand over her face.

Maybe she was overthinking things and was simple searching for hidden meaning in his every actions and words because the name Solmere had placed a shadow over him before he ever shook her hand.

Caius had been calm and reliable during the quest. That should have reassured her. Instead, it reminded her of Yara.

Yara had been calm and reliable too. She had smiled, guided them, and stood between danger and the people following her... right until she did not.

The thought killed what little comfort Misha had managed to find.

She removed Twinfang from he sheets at her thighs and placed both daggers on the bed within reach.

Misha decided to accompany the three students until they reached Exodus. Nothing more.

They wanted to climb, and she needed enough people to satisfy the portal requirements. Their interests happen to align.

Once they reached Exodus, they could go wherever they wanted, so could she.

"I’m not going to babysit three children," she muttered to herself as she removed her boots. Then she paused as she felt a heavy weakness spread through her legs.

The borrowed warmth of the stamina potion had begun fading. The strength it had pressed into her muscles withdrew slowly, leaving everything underneath exposed.

A deep ache spread through her back. Her arms felt heavier, and her legs suddenly seemed as though someone had packed the bones with wet sand.

Misha remained sitting for several seconds. Then she pressed both palms into the mattress and pushed herself upright. Her knees protested immediately.

She gripped the bedframe until the weakness passed.

King watched without speaking.

Misha straightened before he could tell her to rest. "I’m going to take a bath."

[You are trembling.] King’s gaze moved toward her legs.

"I’m taking a bath anyway." Misha headed toward the bathroom.

She washed quickly, scrubbed dried blood, dust, and sweat from her skin. The water clouded faintly around her before flowing through narrow channels in the stone floor.

Afterward, she washed her clothes and hung them beside her bedroom window.

By the time she returned to the bed, her hair remained damp.

She had not bothered changing into proper sleepwear. The bathrobe provided by the house hung loosely around her body, tied at the waist with a faded cord.

Laying down carefully, she placed one dagger beneath the pillow and the other remained beside her hand.

[You checked everything yet you did not place anything against the entrance nya.]

"You’re guarding the entrance." She pulled the blanket over herself.

King’s pupils narrowed, his wings shifted against his back. [I am doing no such thing nya.]

"Wake me if anyone tries to sneak inside."

King looked offended. [I am a Guide, not your personal guard dog nya.]

"You’re a cat."

[Which makes the comparison even more insulting nya.]

Misha settled deeper into the pillow. "Then think of it as part of your duties as a highly qualified Guide."

[I will consider allowing you to be robbed as part of your character development nya.] He began cleaning one paw.

Her mouth curved slightly. "You won’t..." Her voice had already grown softer with exhaustion.

King stopped cleaning and a short silence followed. Then his voice came quietly from the windowsill. [Sleep, troublesome human. No one will cross this room without my permission nya.]

Misha’s shoulders loosened against the mattress. "Hm... that sounded very guard-dog like..."

King’s wings flared in outrage. [Then I shall revoke my protection nya!]

A small chuckle escaped her lips. "I know you won’t..." her words blurred into a tired murmur.

===

Sometime after midnight, the bedroom door opened.

The hinges gave a faint creak before stopping halfway.

King’s eyes opened at once. He remained curled on then windowsill, his dark body nearly indistinguishable from the shadows gathered around him. Only his golden eyes moved as Caius appeared in the narrow opening.

The boy did not enter immediately. He stood at the threshold with one hand resting against the door, his gaze searching the room until it found Misha asleep on the bed.

Her bathrobe had loosened slightly at the collar. One bare leg had escaped the clothing, her knee hooked over the pillow she had somehow dragged between them. Damp strands of hair lay scattered across her cheek.

One hand remained beneath her pillow that was under her head. King knew she was still gripping the dagger hidden there.

Caius seemed to notice too. His eyes stayed on the faint outline of the weapon. Something softened in his expression, though it carried little amusement.

[You were warned nya.] His voice did not reach the sleeping woman.

Caius gave no indication that he had heard him and that did not reassure King.

No bloodlust came from the boy. There was no hostility in his posture, and no mana gathering beneath his skin. Still, he had entered without permission.

King narrowed his eyes. He could wake Misha now. She would probably react by driving a dagger toward the first shape beside her bed, which would be both reasonable and mildly entertaining.

But Caius had already revealed that he could somehow look directly at King. That alone made him worth observing.

King remained still, though a thin layer of power gathered invisibly around his claws.

Caius stepped into the room and eased the door shut behind him. His movements made almost no sound. It looked natural like the way professionals moved after spending years learning how lightly a heel needed to touch the ground.

King’s gaze sharpened. Boys his age did not usually walk like that even if they tried to sneak in as quietly as they wanted to.

Caius crossed the room and stopped beside the bed.

Misha shifted in her sleep. Her brows drew together, and her fingers tightened beneath the pillow. For a moment, King thought she might wake on her own. Instead, she turned her face farther into the mattress and mumbled something too faint to understand.

Caius went still and a strange look crossed his face. Relief came first, then it was followed by something heavier, something that did not belong on the face of a boy who had met her only that morning.

King had seen that expression before. Mortals wore it when looking at something they had already lost.

Caius lowered his gaze.

The blanket had slipped down at Misha’s waist. He caught its edge carefully and pulled it over her exposed leg, then higher across her chest. His movements remained slow, giving her every chance to wake before he came any closer.

Unfortunately, she did not. She remained asleep with a loose strand of hair clung across her mouth.

Caius lifted one hand and hesitated before touching her.

For several seconds, his fingers remained suspended beside her face, trembling so faintly that an ordinary observer might not have noticed.

King was not an ordinary observer.

The boy finally brushed the strand away with the back of two fingers. The touch barely disturbed her skin.

Caius’ hand stayed near her hair. His expression softened until the composure he had worn all day nearly disappeared. For that brief moment, he did not look like the reliable Solmere heir directing strangers across a battlefield. He looked tired, older than eighteen, and unbearably sad.

Then his fingers curled into his palm. He pulled his hand away and stood.

King’s eyes followed him as he returned to the door.

He should have woken Misha, he knew that.

The troublesome woman had specifically ordered him to do so if anyone tried to enter the room. As sovereign, King was under no obligation to obey orders issued by a mortal. That remained his official position.

Caius opened the door. Before stepping into the hallway, he looked back with his gaze settling on Misha one last time.

"This time, I’ll make things right." His voice barely disturbed the darkness. There was no confidence in the promise, only certainty sharpened by regret.

King’s tails went completely still as he stared at now closed door.

[This time?] His golden eyes narrowed to thin slits.

He had expected Caius to be suspicious but he had not expected familiarity. The boy watched her like someone confirming that a ghost was still breathing.

King rose to all four paws. He leaped from the windowsill and landed soundlessly beside Misha’s pillow.

She would be furious once she would learn that he had allowed the boy approach her while she was asleep. Perhaps it would be wiser not to mention that part.

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