Defiance of the Fall

him before being struck down? But he had never heard of anything like it.

Incongruous emotions clashed in his mind, memories of a life in the heavens, and memories of a life on the ground.
But the memories of soaring among the clouds soon shattered, turning into crystalline shards that floated away.

He was elated at grasping the truth, but his eyes widened in horror when the wings on his back disintegrated, turning into shards just like the false memories.
Without any means of flight he plummeted toward the forest below, and a large thud echoed out across the desolate mountain as he slammed into the ground.

The wounds of the warrior had worsened, but he was at least alive.
The false memories were gone, and his pursuers were half a world away.
A sense of freedom once again filled his soul, and it allowed him to rally the energy to keep going.

Dreams of his boundless future started to form as he walked across the unknown forest, but he suddenly felt the creeping unease return.
He started running to escape the mounting dread, but it only worsened as time passed.
What was happening to him? Who was messing with his mind, his perception of reality?

And what else about him was false? Something was no doubt the origin of the undeniable unease.
He looked down at his hands and froze in place.
Were these hands really his? Or were they figments of his imagination just like his wings?

The answer soon presented itself as the hands fractured and turned into crystal shards that started drifting toward the sky.
But as more and more of his body fragmented and split off from his body, the heavier his apprehension became.

These memories that were left in his mind, were they real or more figments of his imagination? They turned more and more disjointed, and soon enough they were filled with nothing but short bursts of faces and places that he couldn’t name or place.

’

Am I even real?

A swirl of crystalline fragments floated into the sky, and a ripple spread out as they breached the surface.
The small crystals kept falling until they fell onto the bed of the tranquil pond, joining the millions of other ones just like them.

——–

Ogras found himself standing on top of the teleportation array, and he took a deep breath beneath the mask before sat down and went over his final gain of the Tower of Eternity.

“Reality is a perception,” Ogras muttered with a frown.

A surge of energy inundating his body as his understanding coalesced, and he felt a new path opening up before him.
He had gained the Seed of Mirage from the inheritance trial, and he had quickly incorporated it into his fighting techniques as a means of distraction.

But was the way he looked at the concept too shallow? What if false could be true, and true be false? How could someone defend at something that was neither real nor fake, while simultaneously being both? His eyes stayed closed for another five minutes until Ogras finally took another deep breath and opened his Dao Screen.

Seed of Mirage (High): Dexterity +15, Intelligence +35, Wisdom +10

It looked like he had gained 5 Dexterity and Wisdom along with 20 points into Intelligence.
It wasn’t a huge amount, but it did push his somewhat lacking Intelligence a bit further.
He had never planned on focusing on the attribute even though it was beneficial to some of his skills, but he would gladly take it when it came for free.

Only after having secured his gains did he bother to check in on his surroundings, and his expression immediately soured when he saw what was going on.

“Shit…” Ogras muttered as his eyes met the hundreds of glares from the mob waiting outside the protective shielding.

Had something happened to Zac’s climb that emboldened these fools? Or did they have a false sense of security by their numbers? They would find that numbers were meaningless in a battle of powerhouses, and if they got swept up by the chaos it was their problem.

’

At least they couldn’t target him until he stepped off the platform, but he knew that was only a temporary protection.
The human cockroach would have to find a more permanent solution for their trio.

The array suddenly shuddered, and a pale Galau appeared the next moment.
No apparition appeared upon his exit, but he still sat down with closed eyes as he took out a pill from his Cosmos Sack.

“You’re late,” Ogras grinned beneath the mask, quickly pulling himself together.
“Just missed my Apparition, and it was a pretty good one.
By the way, do you have a tool to check what level that guy has reached? Hello?”

“Ah?” Galau suddenly said.
“Mr.
Azh’Rodum? It has been a while, I am glad you are fine.
What did you say just now? You want to see the tower ladder?”

“What happened to you?” Ogras asked with a raised brow.
“Trouble at the desert town?”

“Ah- well,” Galau said with a weak smile as his hand reached for his spatial pouch again.
“Negotiations fell through at the last moment.
I got a bit greedy I am afraid, wanting to make a big profit right before I left.”

This face turned even whiter the next moment, and he looked ready to puke.
Ogras looked on with incomprehension before his eyes widened in understanding.
He quickly reached for his own Cosmos Sack, and a second later his expression was an exact copy of the merchant ’s.
So many barrels of fine liquor gone.

“It’s that bad?” Ogras asked, trying to find some solace in the sorrows of others.

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Almost a third of his barrels remained though, and most importantly he still had the treasure he got for defeating the fifth floor.
That thing alone was worth more than everything he had stashed away combined.
Together with what that asshole provided in the inheritance he stood a chance to open up two of his hidden nodes in one go, provided that he would survive, of course.

“It’s worse than I expected,” Galau confessed with an almost crying expression, but he still took out an opaque crystal.
“At least I could keep some of m- WHAT IN THE HEAVENS?!”

“What?” Ogras asked with a frown.

“He’s reached the 71st floor,” Galau sputtered, incredulity evident on his face.
”Almost at the gates to the 9th floor. ”

“Monster,” Ogras snorted with a shake of his head, even though he wasn ’t as calm as he let on.
“We ’ll see if it ’s enough to deter the group of starving Gwyllgi waiting outside the gates.”