Olimpia

Joxin heaved in a breath, his legs burning as he tried to stand motionless for a moment to gather strength but could not prevent the exhausted quivering. Heaving out a sigh of effort, he pushed himself up the next step without lifting his head from where it hung.

His world consisted of the step behind him, which was singing a siren song, trying to convince him to collapse back onto it, the step ahead that was very close to becoming an insurmountable goal. And then there was the step he was on, which, no matter how much he focused his willpower on it, refused to move on its own like a platform or expand for him to lie down and take a break on.

"Cursed Ancestors, I hate stairs." Joxin gasped. Then his heart jumped into his throat, and he froze in place, a primal fear taking hold of him. The entire structure he was on was quaking as a distant rumble sounded overhead. Long seconds passed, and Joxin didn't dare to move until the tension was finally broken by a voice calling out to him.

"The Cursed Ancestors want you to stop your bitching, and start climbing," Bellous called back, not sounding alarmed or tired in the slightest… and he was the one practically carrying Sathera with what had to be minimal support from Jim. I doubt he even stopped for the shaking… maybe he'll get winded and take a break if he has to carry both of them.

The mental image of Bellous huffing and puffing as he balanced Jim and Sathera on each shoulder flashed through his mind with vindictive glee. Stifling his amusement, Joxin hesitantly stepped forward again, half expecting the stone to collapse from under his foot. When he wasn't resting as he plummeted to his death the next moment, Joxin sighed as he resigned himself to his place in life and returned to plodding along, carefully ignoring everything he couldn't control.

At this point in the climb, they had to be somewhere over two hundred feet straight up on the circular stairwell… Or at least it felt like it. From Joxin's vantage of the dark cavern, he really couldn't tell how high he was with the spotty illumination, but Joxin believed that at any moment, he should be rounding the bend and seeing the end of this nightmare.

The thing was, he'd been thinking that for what had to be the last ten minutes, and he was starting to have thoughts that he really had died. What better personal hell could the old gods place on Joxin for not believing in them than convincing him he had to climb an endless flight of stairs.

I haven't seen Bellous and Jim in a while… They always seem to be just out of sight. Shaking his head as if he could fling the thoughts out of his mind like he was shaking out water from his hair, Joxin ended his little break and grunted in effort, taking the next step. And the one after and after and after and then… stopped, taking another little break. Why was I ever excited to see this monstrosity… Joxin thought, cursing himself as he huffed for air.

He felt an urgency to keep pushing in the back of his mind, but his body could only perform so well while being sustained by the shitty green mushrooms and water. While it hadn't happened yet, soon enough, the goblins below them would be marching up the stairs after them. It was only luck that the first twenty or so feet of their staircase collapsed after the destruction of whatever Sathera shattered in the jade cavern.

Even as Joxin covered their rear while Jim and Bellous dragged Sathera up the stairs, the stone under his feet was falling away. The goblins hadn't even gotten up after the twisted energy washed over them in a strong wave, knocking everyone to the ground. Pretty much all the goblins he could see were flopping around where they fell, having a seizure.

It might be weird, but Joxin hated that moment as much as he treasured it. Joxin would rather experience the resigned acceptance of watching the goblins marching up and surrounding them while Sathera — and then Jim when the energy all but vanished, and she still hadn't come out — rushed into the jade corridor a hundred times than run through that courtyard filled with collapsed enemies a single time again. The overwhelming anxiety of dancing through the flailing goblins while desperately searching for the base of the stairs took years off his life.

It was one thing to accept an inevitable death was moments away and stand firm against it, and a whole other thing to stand firm against death while having the option to retreat in the back of your mind. The chance to live will shatter the stoic composure of most when death is the alternative.

And then there was the pain and suffering of reality. Any relief he felt at having an opportunity to escape quickly vanished after the first couple dozen steps they rushed up as they outran the destruction. Once the excitement was over and they were outside of bow range, Joxin realized he still had a whole staircase to climb. Thus began their stomping trial up the sweat-streaked stone.

He had no idea how long they had been climbing up this too-open, absurdly tall, circling stairwell with only a waist-high railing, but it felt like hours had passed. Tilting his head, Joxin looked up, not seeing Bellous, but knowing he had said something, he gasped, "What?"

"The gap between the railing and the next ring closes up here," Bellous rumbled, "We shouldn't have much longer to go."

"Haa~," Joxin sighed in relief as he let his legs jitter him to a seated position, "Take a five-minute break. We don't know what's up there, but we'll probably have to run or fight." Joxin could hear Bellous's silent disagreement, forcing him to ask, "What?"

"We hear fighting," Jim said from where he was next to Bellous.

"Fuck," Joxin said, heaving himself up to his feet, steadying himself against the short railing before sucking in a long breath and turning to march up the stairs. Why was their fighting up there? Joxin had no idea, and he didn't really care.

However, anyone fighting against the monsters filling this place was bound to be more friendly than the goblins. Even some kind of large underground worm boring its way through the earth would be better than more goblins because there was a decent chance it would ignore them, and that was the least likely idea running through Joxin's head.

Stomping up the stairs, Joxin went up two rotations before he saw the others. In the dim green light of the glowing mushrooms placed in little alcoves on the center portion of the stairwell, Jim looked like a week-old kill that some animal left for later but never returned to eat. On the bright side, at least there was some color to the man. As a step above Jim was Sathera, and she was so pale that Joxin would say she was a corpse if her chest wasn't moving.

Finally, turning to the last member of their group, Jim was surprised. Despite how his voice sounded like a rumbling mountain, unwavering and relentless regardless of everything that had happened to them, his body was soaked with sweat, and he looked like he was at his breaking point.

It would not be a breaking point where Bellous would give up. No, Joxin couldn't imagine that. It would be the braking point where his body gave out, and he physically couldn't take another step.

Stopping at Jim's feet, Joxin tilted his head and listened, immediately hearing the faint sound of clashing metal and a scream. Locking eyes with Bellous, Joxin said, "Stay with them, I'll go take a look."

As Joxin stepped between the limbs and bodies of those sprawled out on the steps, Bellous rumbled, "You want the torch? And what if you don't come back?"

"No, I won't need it, you might. And if I don't come back in ten minutes… well, I guess go up the stairs cautiously… or do what you think is best," Joxin spoke without looking at the man, his fists clenching at his side. Bellous didn't respond, but the heavy pressure that filled the stairwell told Joxin that Bellous understood what he wasn't saying.

"If you're gonna kill me," Jim cut in, blowing the tension away like a gust of wind removing dust hanging in the air, "then throw me over the side of this railing. Make the bastards clean me up."

A teasing smile playing on his lips, Joxin said over his shoulder before he rounded the corner, "Go ahead and throw him over the side. Maybe the fall will beat the idea of remembering his bracers into his skull."

"Har har," Jim called back dryly. "If you weren't so much of a coward, you'd come back here and say those words to my face, then we'll see who's still laughing."

"What? Are you going to force me to shut up by shoving your forearms into my mouth until I choke to death? Or maybe you want me to take another chunk out of your arm to make it even?"

Joxin could hear Bellous chuckling before Jim replied before he was out of easy speaking range, “…Low blow, Joxin. Low blow." Suppressing the childish comeback of how Jim would know the low blows best down there… or maybe something about he was just trying to get to the meat of the issue, Joxin put his game face on.

His legs were still screaming at him, but with a new purpose — the burning was something Joxin could ignore. The reason was simple, instead of wallowing in the pain and trying to outrun a nebulous threat, he had a tangible goal before him.

It was a slight difference in his mindset, but it made the last few flights of stairs all the more bearable as he doggedly climbed. Like a cat slinking along the wall of a house, Joxin moved through the floor of the latest cavern, and he found himself stepping out into a stone chamber.

Bare bones were the best way to describe the space, as all that was inside it was a small retaining wall with an opening for the flight of stairs placed in the center of the room. Around the stairwell, there was a good ten feet to the walls of the room, and as he poked his head up and looked around, Joxin saw a sizable archway that five men could walk through abreast to his left.

While he may not have spotted any goblins, that didn't make him any more relaxed. In fact, it only put him more on edge. With every step he took, the sounds of battle only grew, and at this point, Joxin wouldn't be surprised if he stepped around the doorway and came face to face with the struggle. Or that some goblin spotted him the moment he left the room.

Creeping forward, Joxin moved to the entrance, then poked his head around the corner, seeing… a patch of mostly flat stone faintly lit by the same green mushrooms growing everywhere else. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but… No, rather than expecting, he longed to see something more than another cavern. Even a pitch-black room would be a welcome surprise at this point.

Moving a little farther out from the archway, Joxin turned his head to the left, following the sounds of battle. All that was visible from his position was a single tall figure standing at what looked like a cliff's ledge, which wasn't exactly helpful. Turning the other way, Joxin saw haphazard rows of half-collapsed tents filling the back of the cave and what looked like a lumpy and uneven rear wall.

Trying to keep one eye on the figure standing over the conflict, Joxin studied the tents, ensuring that no one was about to pop out of them and surprise him. Minutes passed, and once he was confident it was empty, Joxin stalked forward, quickly darting across the chamber until he reached the far wall.

Freezing in the deeper shadows, Joxin's tense body gradually relaxed, his mind finally letting go of the image of someone calling for him to halt. After a few deep breaths to focus, Joxin started moving along the wall until he reached the lip of the chamber and the couple hundred-foot drop off.

Joxin's eyes pricked with heat, and his heart lurched as he looked down… seeing legionaries fighting far below him. He had never been so grateful to see another human before, except the moment was marred by the fact they were losing. Their lines were broken in the trench down below, and a melee was taking place as hundreds of scattered goblins rushed forward, trying to overwhelm a few score of legionaries.

Looking closer to the wall, Joxin noticed more legionaries fighting on the path leading up to this cutout, desperately fighting to carve through or hold back the hundreds of goblins blocking their way. He couldn't say which one it was, mainly because neither side was making much progress.

Eyes locking on the tall figure standing at the top of the curving path, Joxins hand fell to the hilt of his sword as he looked at what had to be a dark elf. Turning to look at the backlines of the mass of goblins below them, Joxin would bet his life the elf was the one commanding them… What was one more suicide mission?