Broken Faith

Lesson 24: Never run. Never hide. You are who you are, so revel in it.

Your legs ached. Your shoulders ached. Your everything ached.

You hadn't even been running that long, but every step made your lungs want to burn up from the inside. It hurt. Everything hurt. And to make matters worse, you were still inside Goa. You hadn't even scaled the final wall yet.

It was close though, you thought as you ducked behind a barrel to avoid a passing patrol. Close enough for you to be running in it's shadow at this time of day.

A shadow that was gradually shrinking by the minute.

You had to hurry.

It was too risky to go via the gate. It didn't matter if you were friends with the guards there, security would be tighter than you could ever imagine.

They didn't want to risk any trash escaping into the city after all.

You skidded to a halt, still panting, and whipped your head back and forth. Left? Right? Which way would be best? Think... Listen! There were footsteps to your right, so you must go left. And you sped off again.

Edge Town had never been so empty. All the times you'd been there it had been bustling with people, everyone wanting to mill about and go about their day in the most opulent way they could afford. Now, mere hours after sunrise, it was so silent you could hear a pin drop. A silence that made your feet echo that much louder as the wall loomed closer and closer.

They would spot you climbing it. That much was guaranteed. It was so tall, and you only had so much chain, that someone was bound to notice you once you were halfway up. And the longer you left it the greater that chance became.

The lawless district... That was probably the best shot you had for making it up as high as possible. If they spotted you there, there was a high chance that they would just ignore it. If it didn't pay, they didn't lift a finger. Which was fine by you.

The wall looked so much taller when you finally reached its base. Even if you craned your neck up and up until it hurt the top never came into view. You gulped.

And to think you were scared of that rockface so many years ago. This was worse. Way worse.

But... you had to try.

Keep calm, heart. Keep calm.

You shuffled backwards, releasing your metal arm from under your cloak. How ironic was it that the one thing that was a reminder of your horrible life was also the one thing that could help you escape.

Your head's running wild. Focus!

Yeah. Focus. Focus. Focus...

Clang!

The sound of metal firing into solid concrete almost deafened you. It had never been that loud before, had it? Or was this your imagination exaggerating things again? You hoped it was the latter.

The chain retracted.

A sudden realisation that you should have started from on top of a building shot through your mind. But you shook it away. It was too late for that now, you'd already started climbing.

You'd done this before. Even if it was only a fraction of the height.

You could do it again.

Feeling the chain get taut, you slowly started retracting. The key here, as you'd learnt, wasn't to go fast. That would just make you unstable, and potentially send you spinning into an unsuspecting rockface. It was easier in the long run to go slow and properly walk your way up.

The problem was it ate up your time.

You didn't have time to try and avoid minor scrapes. If you left this too late people could die. The stakes were way higher than your wellbeing.