OLD-WORLD EXTRA

Chapter 263: CLIMB!

Chapter 263: CLIMB!

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"We climb..."

Sofia's voice resounded as her hand turned to point towards the mammoth's leg, its skin as rough as the bark of the trees.

Her fellow students offered no response to her statement, instead, their gazes quietly flickered between her and the towering mammoth.

Their thoughts were obvious.

Should they do it or not?

Was it even possible?

But time was a luxury they didn't have.

They needed to make a decision now if they were to survive and escape the flames.

Max was the first to move, as he screamed:

"You fuckers better not hold me back!"

The rest looked at each other, and then Sophia nodded towards them.

"Alright, let's go..."

They all began moving forward, leaving Elijah behind as he didn't follow.

He blankly stared at the advancing Sophie.

'...Why?'

'Why didn't I think of that?'

He noticed himself acting differently than usual...

No, it wasn't different, but rather he just felt dumber to the degree that he didn't even think of such an obvious idea.

'Aria maybe...'

Those worries left him with that conclusion, and he focused back on running, chalking it up to emotional interference.

After many steps, he arrived at where the group paused...

Just next to the mammoth's leg.

It rose like a monolithic pillar, a rugged expanse that stretched towards the sky.

Its surface uneven and rough, dotted with coarse patches of brown hair and folds of skin.

The leg trembled from one second to the next, which made it obvious how tough the climb would be, yet still, their goal appeared...

Achievable.

"I'll go first."

Elijah took the lead this time around and stepped closer.

'I can't have them above me...'

His thoughts were plain to see.

'Their misstep would spell my death.'

But no one complained.

The first step was the hardest, so the smartest of the six allowed Elijah to go uncontested, while the rest of the group opened a path for him simply because they were scared.

And what a path it was!

His fingers moved and grappled for purchase on the mammoth's surface.

The skin felt like ancient, weathered leather beneath his touch.

"Let's go!"

After psyching himself up, Elijah began to climb.

He pulled with his right and then his left while his feet found sturdy footholds amidst the terrain.

The patches offered some stability even during the mammoth's constant fits.

Sofia, her gray eyes focused, followed Elijah's lead, her body mimicking his movements.

Aria was about to step up, but Max took her place and jumped, hugging the leg like a koala. "I told you not to hold me back!"

She scoffed without replying and began to climb after him.

Quinn and Ava were next, as the last to approach was Arthur.

He stood there right before the colossal leg... His face conflicted.

"Move up, you dimwit!"

Ava was the first to notice his apprehension, as she was the closest to the ground.

While she didn't care for him, she still didn't want to see someone die in front of her.

'She...'

And her shout prompted him to flinch and look up at her.

"...A-alright."

Arthur, who didn't know her thoughts, confused them for care and excitedly began climbing, joining the group soon after.

Each step was treacherous as they ascended higher and higher.

But it was all about to get way harder.

As the highest, Elijah could see the other legs, and he...

'Ah... shit.'

He noticed that they were about to move.

"HOOOOLD!"

His warning out, and everyone immediately took heed.

They stuck themselves closer to the mountain-sized leg and held on to its furs for dear life.

Some screamed, others stayed quiet, but all felt the same thing.

Desperation.

This was what they all felt at that moment.

And they felt it even more in the next.

Everything shook.

It was as if the entire world was experiencing an earthquake.

Then in the next moment, a rush of air threatened to knock them off.

But they all managed to keep themselves balanced, their feet dug deep into the mammoth's

skin.

"KEEP MOVING!"

And their journey continued with Elijah's roar.

They all knew that their strength would wear out if they continued to stay in place so they had

to reach the top if they wanted to survive.

Arthur, still reeling from all that happened, struggled to climb.

He continued to clamber up, his fingers scrabbling for purchase at each step.

Ava was the same, although slightly worse as she didn't have his luck on her side.

A few missteps almost caused her to fall, but she kept up with the group.

Aria, the third from last, masked the unease in her heart as she set Elijah as her goal.

"That man 'ran' away from everything.

He left her, ignored her...

Acted as if she didn't exist.

They had to talk, at least before their eventual deaths.

Yet that task seemed almost impossible.

The mammoth's leg appeared to stretch endlessly above her.

A daunting path.

Was it truly possible?

Was her decision based on delusions?

Aria did not know.

For doubt had returned.

She found herself chasing after Max with all the strength she could muster.

Alternating between clutching tufts of fur and seeking refuge in the deeper crevices of the mammoth's textured hide.

Max, the one who stole her position, had his athletic prowess evident.

He made agile movements, seeking out the sturdiest footholds and boosting himself off

them.

His muscles strained with effort as he climbed and fell.

Yes, he fell...

He was the only one in the group to fall.

Yet his fingers always found themselves gripped onto the mammoth's surface.

While he wasn't the smartest around, he more than made up for it with his strength.

So with every fall, he climbed back up even faster.

"CLIMB!"

And as they ascended, the world around them changed.

The forest, once a chaotic maze, once a dark prison... Slowly revealed a different perspective from the mammoth's leg.

"CLIMB!"

Its movements caused the landscape below to shift and sway, the once-imposing trees now

appearing as miniature forms, the distant sounds of the mammoths' steps reduced to faint

echoes.

The leg was a world in itself, one offering both a challenge and a path to salvation.

"CLIMB!"

And their climb was a battle against constant shifts of gravity.

Of wind.

Each step brought them closer to the creature's massive back, yet...

It didn't appear to be any closer.

They were getting higher.

"CLIMB!"

Yet everything appeared to be so far away.

They didn't stop moving.

"CLIMB!"

Yet they never stopped questioning themselves.

Every step, every action, every thought, everything, absolutely everything was filled with

uncertainty.

"CLIMB!"

Yet they still pressed on.

Their bodies grew tired.

And their minds too.

This caused mistakes to occur.

Lethal ones.

"CLIMB!"

Yet again... a few slips and falls didn't deter them.

They climbed.

"CLIMB!"

Elijah led them.

His screams spurred them on.

"CLIMB!"

High-pitched roars that kept them in line like no other.

An eternity passed.

Or at least an amount of time that felt like one.

"WE'RE ALMOST THERE!"

And they reached their goal.

It was where a massive monolith of flesh and fur bridged the gap between the leg and the

mammoth's colossal back.

They soon found themselves enveloped in a world entirely different from the one they knew

- a world perched on the back of a living giant.

Finally.

They had finally reached it.

"THE MAMMOTH'S BACK!"

The students roared in unison.

Although gasping for breath, they still allowed themselves a moment of celebration.

Even Sofia, a cold child, had been swept in Elijah's mood.

Thankfully for them, the movements of the mammoth weren't felt up on its back.

So some of them took that chance to relax.

They fell to the furry ground, exhausted and no longer able to stand.

Only Elijah kept himself straight.

His eyes flickered through the landscape before him...

'How?'

And they widened in astonishment.

A sprawling cityscape unfolded like a revelation.

It was a stark contrast to the chaos they knew of this land.

The structures were a blend of natural materials, mainly wood and leaves.

They resembled miniature versions of human cities, ones that were stuck in Earth's time just

after its rebirth.

So it was quite basic looking to say least.

Albeit still impressive as they seemingly adapted to the mammoth's uneven terrain.

Bridges spanned between buildings, and a network of pathways crisscrossed the vast expanse.

"Guys..."

Elijah, who finally got over his speechlessness, gestured for his fellow students to stand up.

"What?"

Sofia was the first to respond to his call.

She stood up and followed his gaze.

The cold child couldn't help but gasp in amazement, sharing Elijah's feelings.

Her eyes traced the streets and bustling activity below.

"It's like a whole world up here."

Elijah nodded in agreement, his eyes darting between the...

The people.

His mind tried to piece together the purpose behind this strange test.

Then suddenly, Emir's cryptic instructions echoed in his mind, as if it were a reminder of something he hadn't done.

'But I burned the trees... was that not it?'

'Maybe not.'

'...I've got to burn an MFT.'

He quietly muttered to himself, trying to decipher the meaning behind that acronym.

'Wait...'

'Mammoth Folk Tribes... Towns?'

The realization hit him like a thunderbolt.

'But why?'

'Just why would he want me to burn this place?'

His brow was furrowed in confusion.

'A-Am I supposed to kill those people too?'

'Or is it just the place itself?'

'I... don't know.'

But it soon relaxed.

"It doesn't matter."

Elijah whispered, his voice barely audible over the sounds of the bustling city and whooshing

wind.

"Yeah... it doesn't."

This was what he needed to do.

"Emir told me to burn this place..."

This before him was his target.

And being a Reaper's target only meant one thing.

Death was coming. Whether it'd be his own or those he had his eyes on.

Elijah would make sure to finish the job.

He wasn't saddened by that.

After all, death was only a natural part of life.

Killing was too.

And so...

As the thousand words came to an end, he stated his decision:

"That's what I'll do."

Elijah shall reap the souls of the damned.... "Nothing will be left but ashes."

This place would have its first and last campfire.