Inch by Inch

No one stared when they left the bureau.

No one glared. No one cheered.

For all intents and purposes, little had changed as they left the dirty and chaotic building behind. His coin purse was lighter. Ana was paler. Kane and he now carried all of their bags. All they got from their trip was a small leather tag that was awkward to keep and expensive to replace.

Jay was ecstatic.

They were adventurers!

He spun to face his team. “We need to celebrate.”

Only one face stared back at him blankly. Kane was looking off to the side at a wagon passing by.

Jay didn’t let their lack of reaction cool his excitement. “We should go out. Find a tavern or a music hall.”

Ana tried a smile, but it was clear she was still a bit shaken from the clerk’s stories.

As he tried to find the perfect activity, a shape in the upper corner of his vision drew his attention. A smile grew on his face. It was perfect. “What about the Wonder? We could visit it today.”

That got more of a reaction. Even Kane focused back on the conversation.

Jay calculated some numbers quickly in his head. It was likely to be more expensive than the tavern, but... they needed to celebrate. Visiting the Wonder would be memorable, a proper way to mark the official formation of their team. The caravan had been full of talk of Lauchia’s Wonder. They had all heard the stories about it. Ana needed something to take her mind off the clerk’s warnings and anything that got Kane actively involved was a positive. It could be a team building exercise.

Plus, he really wanted to give it a try.

There was just one problem.

Jay brought his knee up to catch the bag before it could slip out of his hands. “Let’s sort our accommodation first.”

Thankfully, as they were in the ‘adventuring’ district already, and with Vasily’s boost, it didn’t take them long to find a suitable dorm. Officially, all the large residences for adventurers were the same. Each was built using the same designs, using the same funds, and sponsored by the Lauchia council. In reality, no two buildings could be exactly the same.

The three of them took some time to scout their options and ask questions of the locals. It was a luxury they were only afforded due to arriving before the crowd. They weren’t the first from the recent granting ceremony to register as new adventurers — Lauchia had a ceremony of its own and the locals did not need to travel — but they were among the first. Most of the locals didn’t see a need to move into the dorms and pay for accommodation, however.

In the end, they narrowed their choice down to a dorm built entirely from red stone. It wasn’t the newest built, but it was close. The furnishings were slightly worn, but the neighbors had positive things to say about the manager. Perhaps most importantly, the dorms had an orderly reputation, something that the newer buildings seemed to struggle with. It was the best available that wasn’t already fully booked by a guild.

However, all this research had taken time.

Spotting signs of Ana’s boredom and her glances at Lauchia’s Wonder, Jay made a snap decision and passed her some bronze.

“What’s this for?" she asked, staring at him suspiciously with her eyebrows furrowed.

“We passed a food stall a few streets back. Do you want to order while Kane and I book a room and put the bags away?”

Ana’s nose scrunched in confusion until she looked at all the bags in his and Kane’s hands. Her eyes widened as she noticed where her own luggage had gone.

“Oh...” Ana slipped the bronze into one of the large pockets at the front of her outfit. She shrugged off her smaller backpack and handed it to Kane. Then she left without another word.

Jay sighed and looked at Kane. Wasn’t he meant to be the dozy one?

Kane shrugged back, adjusting Ana’s bag so it wouldn’t fall before getting distracted again. All it took was a faint noise from across the road and he was gone. Grumbling under his breath, Jay tapped Kane’s shoulder and entered the dorm.

Fifteen minutes later, Jay was back on the city streets, nibbling on a stick of fried meat and stretching out his tired arms. Walking was so easy without a spear to manage.

It felt nice to have the freedom to walk around again after traveling for so long. Sure, they could leave the wagons during the breaks, but not without restrictions. They could never lose sight of the wagons. Their time was limited. Scheduled. It wasn’t the same as being able to walk through a town or city as they wished, taking whatever streets caught their fancy.

Jay wasn’t the only one to feel this way. Their path wobbled back and forth when Ana spotted a shop she wanted to check out, as he followed faint tugs, and if Kane wandered absently and they followed.

Vasily’s Task was fainter now as he diverted from a set goal and began to relax. The tugs rarely led to anything important, but when Jay could figure out the targets, he took note. Most were provision shops, but the sense drew him to the odd tavern or craftsman. While they wandered, they never lost sight of their destination, and it didn’t take long before they arrived at the base of the Wonder.

“Shit, that’s tall,” Ana said, head cranked all the way back.

“Mmm,” Kane agreed, head at the same angle.

“Fifty... six meters and sixty... seve-six” Jay paused. The Wonder was messing with his head. Unlike all the man-made buildings around, the rock was jagged and uneven. The peak of the Wonder wasn’t smooth and as he peered up, the certainty he had of its height changed with every bump in the stone. He didn’t even want to know how tall it was. The knowledge that it was tall enough to loom over the city walls was enough.

It was an impressive Wonder, and not just for its height. Speaking honestly, height aside, the Wonder wasn’t all that much to look at. It was a dull gray color. He’d been told that the rock grew larger every year, but unevenly. It left the Wonder’s surface pitted and craggy. Long ravines and outcrops traced their way up the surface, sliding back and forth under the netting and lines fixed to the surface.

However, the simple truth was that Lauchia’s Wonder could have been the shape of a giant dog poo, and it would still be loved.

A queue snaked its way around the Wonder, eventually disappearing into the bright golden building at its base. It was a long stream of people waiting in line, but constantly in motion at least. The three of them hurried to join the queue before it grew longer.

Like all construction in Lauchia, the golden building at the Wonder’s base was built from stone. It encircled the Wonder and, as they queued, Jay couldn’t help but stare at the pattern of the stone. It might have looked like solid gold from a distance — likely the effect that Lauchia’s council had been going for — but up close blemishes across the surface reduced the effect. The stone wasn’t a perfect gold either. Small patches of dark navy stone were scattered like shadows cast by the golden fireworks of the surrounding rock. It was a golden base, a trophy stand, supporting all the scaffolding and netting above.

It was also, as they reached the front of the queue and Jay saw the prices for the first time, a good warning to visitors.

“At these prices it should’ve been made from gold," he muttered. Ten bronze per person was a lot. Thirty bronze between them all was two weeks of accommodation for the team. It was a week’s worth of quality food.

Ana elbowed him and pointed to a sign beside the prices.

Adventurer rate: 6 Bronze *Proof required

Ana raised a judging eyebrow even as he smiled in relief. The weight of the tag in his pocket was all the more comfortable.

After paying, they were led through to a room full of cabinets. An attendant called for them to remove everything from their pockets and place it in one of the provided drawers. Each drawer was lockable, and the keys were to be given to another attendant behind a desk at the room’s exit. A sheet of paper on the wall warned that the city took no responsibility for anything lost to the Wonder. The whole process was very strange and new.

Jay gingerly placed the tag beside his money pouch and locked his small drawer. He didn’t want to put it away, but losing it was not something he wanted to risk.

Handing the key to the attendant, he left the room and stepped out of the building and into a tunnel of nets. Thick rope hung suspended six meters and forty centimeters above the ground, supported on all sides by pillars driven into the ground. The netting, with square gaps forty-five millimeters wide, hung between these pillars and ropes. The edges were fastened to the ground by pegs. It was all very secure. These nets were not for fish after all.

Each step he took forward was lighter. Jay couldn’t help the smile on his face. After a few paces, he began to bounce. Giggles, laughter, and the occasional surprised shriek filled the air.

Bounces turned to full on jumps as he continued, moving faster down the tunnel of nets now.

Then, with one last step, he flew. His left foot left the ground and all the weight was gone. It was freeing. The burden he’d borne his entire life was gone. Weightless, he rose in the air, soaring mid-step with his hands out to balance him for another bounce.

For an instant, it was perfect. He ascended, one leg forward in a mighty leap.

Between one second and the next, Jay lost all sense of control. He began to tilt forward. The ground became up. It was 4.37 meters away.

He panicked, moving his arms to try to stabilize. That was a mistake. He began to spin, rotating even as he went head over heels. The numbers came fast. His stomach lurched. Everything he tried to correct the movement made it worse in another direction.

His hip connected with the net above and it engulfed him as he sank up.

Jay scrambled for the lifeline, grabbing onto the rough rope like he was drowning. He hooked his hands, legs, anything he could into the net. For a moment, he hung there, bobbing up and down in the net as he stared at the ground and took deep breaths. The peace didn’t last long.

“SHIIIT!”

Ana shot into the net a few paces behind him with twice the speed he had. She hadn’t been spinning, but had curled up into a ball to brace for the impact. It didn’t look very effective. Groaning, she let her legs go and scrambled to get a hold of something.

It seemed that falling still hurt, even if you hit the sky, not the ground. Jay couldn’t help but start laughing.

Once secure in place, Ana turned a scowl towards the laughter. Upon seeing him hooked into the net like a cat stuck in a tree, she blinked and started laughing too.

“Your face!”

“What about you? Are you a football or something?”

They both cackled at each other. Jay eased his death grip on the net. They hung in place for a moment.

Slowly, he unhooked his legs, and pulling on the net above to lever himself, tried to fall or float upright.

“Woah!” Ana gasped, sliding to the side as his pulls shifted the net above her.

Her movement shifted the net above him until he was spinning again. It took them both a minute to realign themselves, and they burst out laughing again at the sight of each other when they had.

Their laughter came to a halt as a small child rocketed through the air beneath them, bouncing off the floor and gracefully pulling themselves forward with the nets. They turned to each other with a similar resolve. No one liked being shown up by children.

“Where’s Kane?” Jay asked, attempting to straighten himself up again.

Ana scoffed. “Back in the hopping area.” She was trying a different approach now, trying to run along the netting with her hands.

Jay grabbed for a section of net off to his left with his right hand. Pulling gently, he began to spin back towards the entrance of the tunnel. He was starting to get it now. Careful movements. Every movement had an opposite reaction.

As Ana said, Kane stood to the side in the part of the tunnel where people were hopping forward. He seemed stuck, unable to decide between watching his feet and body as he bounced in place or the passage of others moving closer to the Wonder.

Sighing, Jay turned and locked eyes with Ana. “Race to the Wonder?”

Ana grinned and took off. He cursed and raced to follow.

The net tunnel ended 20.49 meters ahead. It released the incoming stream of people into a wide area, a giant cylinder constructed with scaffolding and netting between the Wonder and the gold trophy base around it. In this expanse, people floated in peace, carefully navigated or swung around at speed on ropes. Attendants wearing gold outfits flew about, rescuing those in trouble and safeguarding the Wonder itself.

Jay and Ana ignored all this. Their focus was on the race.

Ana began to pull ahead. Her method of running upside down along the netting using both her hands and legs was quick.

Jay was slower, especially at the start as he tried to copy the child from earlier and ‘ricochet’ off the net to the ground and back. As he got the hang of the technique though, he started to catch up.

It took a lot of concentration. There was a slim gap between pushing off the ground and reaching the net. He needed to both remain deathly still and plan his next action in that gap. As he got faster, that gap became shorter and shorter.

Then Ana was out of the tunnel, soaring towards the dull and pitted rock ahead.

Jay was too slow. He wasn’t going to make it.

Frowning, he pushed off the net with only one hand. It slowed him down, but it meant he would get an extra ricochet before leaving the tunnel. His knees complained as he slammed down into the ground, but it worked. He was able to just grab the frame holding the net’s tunnel on the way out. Pushing off the stone, he shot towards the Wonder and the ground before it.

Ana was steadily growing closer to the rock face, but she was stuck in her course through the air. With nothing to push against, she couldn’t get any faster.

5.38 m.

4.7 m.

3.9 m.

Jay kicked off the ground with as much force as he could.

3 m.

1.89 m.

93 cm.

He could nearly reach out and touch her shoes now.

64 cm. 31 cm. 5 mm.

“Yes!”

A slap against stone signaled his defeat. The sound from his own touchdown was only seconds behind. He groaned, even as he scrambled to find a good hold on the craggy rock. It was harder to grip than the rope net, but easier to maneuver with when you had a hold. Unlike the net, it didn’t flex underneath his hands.

Jay didn’t know what he expected from the Wonder. Kavakar’s Big Bush felt like any other shrub. The stone under his touch didn’t tingle or shoot sparks through him. It was just stone.

“I pick dinner tonight.” Ana demanded, scrambling for a hold herself, but not letting that take away from her victory. Her eyes were bright and free of all that worry from earlier. Floating free in the presence of the wonder, her hair formed a halo behind her.

“Sure," he laughed. Those meat skewers had been good. He scanned the enclosed space at the base of the Wonder. One of the pillars with ropes tied to it caught his eye. People were using the ropes to spin around the pillars at speed. There was a collision between two swingers as he watched, which looked painful, but it still felt like fun. “Race for that pillar next?“

| i i i ¦ i i i | i i i ¦ i i i |

They got food from another stall on the way back to the dorms. It was a filled pastry this time, something Jay didn’t recognize but enjoyed anyway. They couldn’t stop talking about the Wonder as they ate. Even Kane had a lot to discuss about the experience.

Kane had eventually made his way into the tunnel and out into the open area around the Wonder. By that time, Ana and Jay had been competing to see who could make the fastest lap around the Wonder, but they paused their competition to link back up with Kane. The feeling of weightlessness seemed to create an infectious joy in everyone — once they’d gotten over the fear of free-float anyway.

The dorm manager, a burly, jovial woman, recognized them on the way in and gave them a friendly wave.

Everything was looking up. They were in Lauchia. He was an adventurer.

“What is this?”

“Hmm?” Jay asked, looking back at Ana. She had stopped in the doorway to their room. “Oh, our room? Not bad huh?” He pointed at the wall corner coming jutting out into the space. “The floor’s bathroom is on the other side of that. We got a reduced rate because the room can’t fit a full six.”

It wasn’t a huge room, nor a very comfortable one. Two bunk beds took up one half of the room. The bathroom corner and a single bed took up the other half, and a small stove in the middle separated both halves.

“Where’s... where’s my room?”

Jay looked around the room. Wasn’t it obvious given where her bags were? He pointed it out anyway. “We figured you’d want the single bed?”

“No, my room,” Ana insisted, her voice rising.

“What?” Jay asked again before understanding came to him.

“Ana, I can’t afford private rooms for everyone - I can only pay for this for two weeks. Besides, we’re going to have to work in the hinterlands someday. We won’t have any wagons or rooms then.”

Ana stared at him wide-eyed.

“What? It’s normal. I don’t think any guilds even give apprentices private rooms!”

Ana was pale. “I... I need to think.” She spun around and hurried away with short steps.

The door hung open behind her.

“Crap,” Jay muttered, stomach turning as he sat up. He wasn’t sure if he should run after her or not. “I think I messed up.”

Why? Why today? Everything had been going so well.

He looked over at Kane, who had claimed the two bunks closer to the door. “Should I go after her?”

Kane stopped unpacking his one bag onto the upper bunk. He looked up at the wall towards where Ana had gone. “No. Give her some time.”

Jay groaned and collapsed on his own bunk. “What about you? You okay with this?” He waved at the room.

Kane exhaled heavily.

Jay slowly sat up, turning towards Kane. That was not a ‘no issues’ sigh. That was a ‘we have a problem’ sigh.

“Everything okay Kane?”

Kane stared at the equipment on his bed. He reached forward and picked up his sword. After an agonizing wait, he spoke.

“I don’t want to fight anymore.”