04 – This easy?

“Hello,” leaning against its staff, the robed alien waved at Julian and smiled.

Julien narrowed his eyes.

“What the fuck are you?” he blurted out, staring at the strange eyes, then at its head and eventually at the two small golden protrusions at the top of the head.

“That’s… rude man, come on!”

Julian sighed. “…who are you?”

The alien smiled awkwardly. “That’s better, see? I’m Cal’Eel, a Tharlaxian from the planet Tharlax. Nice to meet you. What’s your name?”

“Julian.” He said deadpan. “What the hell are you doing on Earth, Cal’Eel?”

“Same stuff as you? Wait, you are from Earth, aren’t you?” he said excitedly. “That would explain why you’re so confused about seeing me.”

“Yep. I’m a Human from Earth.”

“I see, I see.” Cal’Eer said in a sing song voice. Then his face slumped. “Newly integrated planet, always a mess.” He said, then smiled and his voice was once again full of energy. “I hope you didn’t take it too badly. I know it can be traumatic. You can”

“I didn’t. I was actually waiting for this to happen. Tell me, what is a Tharlaxian doing here?”

“Didn’t the tutorial tell you? I guess there is a different tutorial for every species… in any case: since Tharlax is an already integrated planet, the system sends the youngsters like me to a fringe world when they come of age. I guess it’s a way to forge stronger warriors or something. I don’t really know. Tharlax was chosen, or rather our governor chose, to be paired with Earth for this wave of people. There should be a few more worlds sending their young here as well, so you better get used to seeing aliens roaming around. Humans should still be the majority though, if the System ships didn’t kill too many of you.”

Julian nodded slowly. “Oh. I see. Thank you for the information.”

The alien nodded and turned to leave. He sat back down at the fire, noticing that the protection bonus was once again active. This gives me an idea.

“Hey,” he called out to Cal’Eer, who was walking away and going his merry way. “Wanna join me?”

The alien shrugged, and sat by the fire with him. “I guess together is better than alone, thank you for the invite.” he said.

“No problem. I don’t have food to share though.” Julian said. Checking his status he saw that the invulnerability was still on.

“It’s okay.” He smiled, “I just left the tutorial so I’m not hungry.”

They sat together for a while, chatting about the forest and what they saw on this floor. Julian learned that it’s normal to see frozen people like he did, and that they are invulnerable as long as they haven’t completed the tutorial.

“Don’t try to steal their stuff, though. It’s no use. It’s protected.”

Julian made a face. “The thought never crossed my mind.”

Cal’Eer looked at him for a while then laughed. After a short time spent in silence, contemplating the various thoughts that came to his mind while he watched the dwindling fire, Julian decided it was time to get up and do stuff. He had relaxed enough. There was still the matter of the levels to deal with as well. He looked at Cal’Eer who was playing with a small twig, exposing its tip to the fire and then blowing on it. The smoke rose up in a twirl, ascending in a spiral pattern guided by an unseen wind. Later, when I’m alone.

“Hey,” Cal’Eer began, “So, uh, this means we go on together, like a team?”

“Sure,” Julian said. This is unexpected, I only invited him to sit because I wanted to check the invulnerability. But it might be good. He’s valuable because he knows stuff. I’ll ditch him once I know enough.

“Great!” The alien said, and stood.

He was tall, so tall that Julian’s head barely reached his stomach. He was also very thin, looking like a fragile mummy, all skin and bones. However the way he effortlessly stood up even with such long limbs suggested that he was stronger than he looked.

They walked along the grassy hills, going Eastwards, towards where Julian hoped he could see the edge of the floor.

“What’s your goal in life Cal’Eer?” he asked.

The alien tapped his staff at every step he took. “I don’t know. Same as everybody’s, I think. Get to the top of the tower eventually and into the multiverse proper. Please, call me Cal.”

“I meant beyond that. What’s your plan with life? What do people do in the multiverse?”

Cal shrugged. “I don’t know what they do and, personally, I don’t care. I want to do my thing, you know, focus on what I like. For now it means going up the tower, then I’ll see what to do. I’m not really into all the fighting and power struggle that goes on in the multiverse though, that’s for sure. I just want to have a nice little job I like and have a quiet life. Have fun once in a while, but nothing crazy. What about you?”

“I want to become powerful so I can do whatever I want.” Julian said.

“That’s also fair.” Cal laughed. “We’re not so different, you and I. Same goal, different way to get there.”

His eyes narrowed. “I think we are. You want peace and quiet.”

“Yeah, but I’m not so out of touch with the world to think I can achieve that without becoming powerful. It’s just… there are many ways to gain power. It might take a little longer, but I want to do it in my own terms.”

“Then what if I said that I want to speedrun getting to the top?”

Cal shrugged. “You are free to do it.”

“Would you still follow me?” he asked.

The alien smiled. “You grew fond of me already?”

Julian said nothing.

“I’ll come along, for now. Hell, if you do all the work for me, why refuse a free ride?”

It was getting late when they reached the edge of the floor. During that time, Julian found that he could still access the skill menu and choose a new skill for himself, despite not being at a fire. He decided to do it while he walked, careful not to trip.

Julian almost whistled, but stopped when he remembered that he was not alone anymore. What a bother. Whatever, let’s see… these three are nice. Bastion of Stone and Plant based are very, very interesting. Very.

What do I do? The Bastion will surely help in a fight, but the other will definitely be invaluable in the long run. Hmm…

His hand went to the third option, the movement disguised as a stretch. He saw Cal perk up, but when he looked at him the alien began to whistle a happy tune and went back to looking at the far away horizon.

“Would you look at that, we reached the edge.” Cal’s voice shook Julian out of his musing, making him dismiss the menu.

The edge of the floor was close, and right ahead still hidden in the mists he saw the tall pillars that kept the sky from falling. He could see their base and, between them, the distorted reflection of the clouds above his head. The disc of the reddening sun was there as well, reflected on the glass surface. The whole wall was one single huge window, stretching from one pillar to the next and from the ground all the way to the invisible ceiling above the clouds.

His pace quickened. “I want to see.”

“You won’t like what you will see.” Cal warned him.

“I don’t care.”

The earth was a nuclear winter. Hidden beneath a sea of swirling scalding radioactive clouds. There were other towers in the distance, like the one Julian was in. They reached up into the sky, rising from the sea of clouds below and piercing another layer of clouds.

“There is nothing left for me on Earth. Let’s go.”

He slowly walked towards the closest pillar. Night was coming, but there was still some daylight left, and the clear sky meant that they could probably see with just the light of the stars. The pillar was huge, a humongous spear of steel that ran all they way up and down the height of the tower. Responding to Cal’s call, Julian moved away from the window.

There was a door built in the metal of the pillar. A sign with an arrow told them that these were the stairs for floor 2.

“This easy?”