Alike in Dignity

He had changed much since I last saw him. Back in that most horrifying of rooms in the first challenge Adam had emerged as a flayed, wet, nude man, and you couldn't even be sure of the last part. It was still clearly him, for what parts of him were not covered by cloth were scabbed and dried open muscle. Seen in this way it looked like he must be in agony- and the many bandages and rags soiled in intramuscular fluid and blood only served to reinforce the image. But he stood there and his form was, if anything, relaxed. He leaned on a long staff which may just have been a simple fallen branch of a tree, and when he spoke I could see splotches of blood where the corners of his mouth split apart and re-knit with every word.

"Adam! You made it out," I said. "It has been a journey. We will have to talk about it. As you know well there are nothings in the walls," Adam said. "Nothings?" I said. "At first I would call them things. But as my studies deepened, I realized that things, which is to say items that exist, are exactly what they are not. Therefore, nothings. Perhaps I should no longer say 'in the walls' either, but I… like the term," Adam said. His voice held just a tinge of what might have been pain or despair, but he wasn't raspy like Hannah had grown, nor was he in any other way otherworldly in his speech. If not for his actual appearance he would sound more or less like sad young man, on the higher end of the register. "You seem… grown," I said. "Yes. I have. I understand your meaning, you are not referring to literal growth. I have… learned. Perhaps it is not the exactly right word. But there were thoughts implanted in me when I was made- language, simple tactics, instincts- and I nonetheless have the neuroplasticity of a child. Add in the Journal with its Knowledge attribute, and I have found myself… growing, quickly," Adam said.

The people behind him were shuffling and looking on confused at this unexpected reunion. As I looked to my side, Anna was also wide-eyed, though subtly enough that I only noticed it because of our friendship.

"You've made friends?" I said. "Yes. I have. Manners should be followed if the situation is not so dire that doing so would cause great harm. Friends of the Guild of Adventurers, meet Alex, my first friend. I have mentioned him to you, at least, Louis," Adam said. "You have to be fucking shitting me. The Guild of Adventurers?" Anna said.

A man with the gear of a ranger and the face of a veteran accountant stepped up to us, maybe in his early 30s, with short hair and a polite smile on his face approached.

"Didn't trust myself to get the possessive particle right. I'm Louis, the Guildmaster, though that's really just a name of the class," Louis said. "Anna. Just a sorcerer. Did you consider the Adventuring Guild?" Anna said. "Thought that'd make it too obvious. Alas," Louis said, "So, what is this place? Is it safe?" "Seems so. We've stayed two nights here and were planning to set up a temporary base. It's going to be really cramped with fifty more people though," I said. "We'll figure something out. Those house tokens have to be spent eventually, I guess. Are you in charge here?" Louis said. "No. I mean I guess I represent our spellcasters, but we're a pretty egalitarian bunch," I said. "Friend Alex, I really think you will want to hear what I have to say. I have all confidence our mutual friends can resolve their issues on their own," Adam said. "Right. Go inside, look for Artemis. She's our you. And as a representative of the Council, welcome to the Adventuring Guild," I said. "You have got to be fucking shitting me. Adventuring Guild?" Louis said, then chuckled. With a wave and a shrug, he went back to The Guild of Adventurers, who reluctantly started setting up camp outside the inn, with a few curious folks walking towards the entrance along with Louis.

"You can tell Anna whatever you can tell me," I said. "Ah, the famous transitive property of trust. Very well, it is not some great secret. I suppose it might be, but one we might have a great benefit in sharing," Adam said.

Then he walked towards a shaded area in the woods away from the bulk of the crowd gathering before the Hanging Donkey. We sat at the shade of what looked like a willow tree going through its goth phase with thorns and black streaks in its leaves, but in the morning sunlight it hardly had the menace it would at night.

"We met someone from your area of the first challenge. They explained how you managed to save more than 100% of the people there. Or, rather, they explained that some wizard guy did some wizard stuff. When I inquired further, it became clear that they were referring to you," Adam said. "Wait, hold on. You said you were exploring the place between. Do you know how to get there?" I said. "In theory. Please understand, Alex, that I very nearly did not make it out myself. Traveling through Nothing is, technically, impossible. One of the properties the space in the walls lacks is space. Isn't it so frustrating to talk of?" Adam said. "But you got out through it? Is it because of your- whatever happened to you?" Anna said. "Ah! The inevitable question. I was quote unquote born this way. Alex tore me out of the Tower's womb, at least from a certain point of view. It turned out to be the right thing, my… induction wasn't completed. So instead of a false purpose I was given a Journal and leave to do as I will," Adam said, "But it is a long story and you have friends in peril."

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "What can you tell me about the Nothing?" I said.

Adam took a long, steadying breath and I couldn't help but notice some of the looser bandages around his neck flutter slightly from his inhale. Then he took out a notebook, and searched through it with a bandage-wrapped finger.

"Ah, there. As good a place to start as any," he said.

"To define Nothing has been a source of great frustration. Indeed, initially I assumed it had some connection to my lack of life experience, or some abstract attribute of Mind not tracked by the Tower directly which I lacked due to the manner of my creation. But as I discussed it with others I found that they had as hard a time wrapping their head around it as I did. Nothing is the space between the walls of the Tower, but it is not a space. It is darker than pitch, perfectly black, but it, of course, cannot have any color. Indeed any attribute you might try to assign to a place it lacks. Though I have not tested it precisely, I expect that it only overlaps reality in two ways- time and the life/death dichotomy. I theorize that both of these have been enforced by the creator of the Tower- Time in order to not de-sync different portions of the challenges in different timelines, and the possibility to die or survive the experience, so that it might be a part of the challenges we can explore.

Regardless of his intention, both of these are a boon to us. If we could drop out of this timeline, or cease to exist in a life-death dichotomy, we would essentially be removed from the challenge and/or existence. As such I have spent the majority of the First Challenge exploring the Nothing. From this I have learned a few things. First, the Journal is more than happy to award experience, title and ability from such explorations as well as defeating the denizens of that non-place. This further reinforces the idea that the Nothing is meant, at least in part, to be explored by those of us who dare to do so.

Second, and this is my most important discovery, travel through Nothing is possible. More than that, it can be used to bypass otherwise hard restrictions in the rules. I have entirely avoided the third-day elevator challenge by entering the nothing and moving to the finals hall. Indeed, It only took me a handful of steps to get there. I nearly died.

In case this notebook is found, I shall attempt my best to explain travel through Nothing. It frustrates me that I was somewhat able to use it instinctively in the first hours of my life, as repeating the process took me all the way to the end of the First Challenge. For people lacking such instinct, first you have to understand that it is impossible. Second, answer this question- how do we do that which is impossible?" Adam said. I was taken aback for a moment when I realized he actually expected a response in this break of his speech.

"Magic," Anna and myself said in unison.

"Exactly that. Magic. And yet, it was clear from the beginning that the Nothing is somewhat of a 'backstage' area of the Tower. While we are not technically barred from entering it, everything about it suggests that neither the Tower nor its creator shall offer you any aid while you are in there. The people of Earth I have brought this idea to found the idea that they'd been getting aid before laughable, but I do not have their context and thus lack their preconceived notions. One of the most obvious ways the Tower aids us is by providing us with structured, ready-made spells. Any sufficiently advanced spellcaster shall begin to notice that spells do not need to be formed as they are in the tower," at this he looked up at us once again.

"Mana, visualization and expression. I've had the thought that you could make new spells by making new sigils and chants, but that seems so much harder than using the pretty damn good ones we get here," I said. "Yeah, pretty much. If what Adam is saying is true, though, there's no way there's a 'Pass Through Nothing' spell or something," Anna said.

"Just so. Or, perhaps one exists, but at such a high level that it would be unwise to look for it or cast it. I would imagine we would gain access to it when we were 'supposed' to discover Nothing as a part of the main plot. And yet, I needed it then, and you need it now. So what was I to do? Visualizing random sigils and making random sounds was, of course, out of the question. The human voice-box can create hundreds of sounds, and express them in millions of words, which can be ordered in uncountable ways. And the imagination is without any limit I have been able to find. I nonetheless made attempts to create a spell that would allow me to traverse Nothing, with no success. The only time a spell I created did anything at all it nearly killed me and I still do not understand what it did. What finally worked was a type of a work-around.

Artifice and enchantment are tools provided by the Tower to allow us to create magical items. Moreover, it allows us to see the effects of the items by viewing them in our Journals, rather than enforcing experimentation. Helpfully, more than half of magical items I have managed to find have been formed by defensive runework. Adjusting it to protect against consisted of three stages- first, I had to understand defensive magic. Second, I had to understand what qualities of the Nothing made it so dangerous to navigate. Third, I needed to make the items in question. The prototype was 123 meters of bandage inscribed with silver thread. I was finished mere hours before the end of the challenge, and used up the refined mana of 32 enchanted items. And when I passed into Nothing, it was still the most mentally challenging experience I have had."

"Adam, we have to get hundreds of people out of there," I said. "I doubt they will all be able to make it. But I understand your meaning. We must try," Adam said. "So where do we start?" Anna said. "Do you know where you may be able to find about 120 kilograms of crystallized mana?" Adam said.

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