Freedom

It hadn't been long before Dante's lungs began to burn as he climbed up that staircase. His mouth and long since dried up from his ragged gasping, and it refused to produce more spit to replace what had evaporated. His ran his sandpapery tongue across his lips and tasted salt.

Each step grew in intensity until his legs felt numb and rubbery under him. Sweat soaked his already grimy clothes, pouring down his back in sticky rivers and causing his shirt to cling uncomfortably to his flesh. He had given up fixing his bag whenever it slipped from his shoulder. The only thing keeping it from falling free to the floor was the crook of his arm desperately clutching the banister.

Shandrin, on the other, hand, sashayed up the stairs ahead of him without so much as a sheen of sweat on her soft, smooth skin.

They had exchanged few words on their climb, Shandrin merciful in that regard. Dante was grateful that he was allowed to save his breath and focus on lifting his feet from one stone step to the next.

He had lost track of how long he had been climbing when he spotted a landing and doorway up ahead. Gratitude filled him. Even he, with his limited education, knew enough numbers to count the steps left between him and relief. Soon, there was only a handful, then two, then one, and finally, he stood on the landing.

He slumped sideways against the cold stone wall, his sides aching with each labored breath he sucked in.

"There may not be ceremony," Shandrin said as she opened the door, "but there is tradition. The climb is part of that. If you can't make it up the stairs, you aren't ready."

Dante wanted to reply, but he couldn't muster up the air to do anything but wheeze pitifully.

The door opened, revealing a room with a tree in its center, stunted from growing in the room. Its branches stretched toward the ceiling as though desperate to break free from its prison. Flowers bloomed among the branches, hinting at spring in spite of the warm, summery air outside.

The floor of the room was cracked as roots tore through it, rising above the stone like cresting waves. As Dante entered the room after Shandrin, his legs gave out on him, and he pretended he had tripped on the uneven flooring so he might look slightly less pitiful. With his bag flumped on the ground beside him and his limbs sprawled out awkwardly, he still was quite the pathetic sight.

"This is the Reiuom," Shandrin said with a wave of one arm toward the tree. She turned and smiled down at Dante, somehow angling her face in the perfect direction so she seemed to look directly at the crumpled boy in spite of her blindness. "You go ahead and rest while I find what you need."

Shandrin hummed softly to herself as she made her way toward a low branch of the tree. She lifted one hand and ran her fingers through the green leaves until they brushed against a delicate flower. Two fingers slid inside of the flower and retrieved something small.

The size made it hard for Dante to get a good look at it, but he was sure that it was nothing like a Chimera. It was far too tiny.

He closed his eyes as Shandrin made her way back to him, disappointment settling heavy in his chest like water in his lungs. He felt cool fingers brush his greasy hair away from one ear and opened his eyes curiously right as Shandrin slid something hard and smooth into his ear canal.

Dante let out a startled yelp and jerked away, clawing at his ear and shaking his head in an attempt to dislodge whatever she'd shoved in there. But instead of falling free, the object wiggled deeper into his head as though alive. He cried out again, this time in horror, and then once more in pain as he felt something sharp tear into the depths of his ear, followed by an aching pressure that filled his head as though it were about to explode.

"Calm down, Dante," Shandrin pleaded. Her voice sounded muffled in Dante's ear that was now clogged with the foreign object she'd placed inside of it. "If you relax, it will be easier."

Dante whimpered and resumed clawing at his ear. Relaxing wasn't even an option at this point. The pain in his head was searing, as though Shandrin had dropped a live coal into his head. His back arched and he screamed as a new layer of pain rippled through him, filling his muscles and bones. The soreness from his march up the stairs was forgotten, overridden by this blinding ache that felt like his flesh was being seared off of his body.

Shandrin's pleading voice was far away now. Her hands clutching at Dante's clothes felt somehow distant, as though Dante had left his body behind. His agony rose like a crescendo, his voice following its intensity.

And then it ended as though it had never happened. Dante returned to his senses feeling numb all over. Shandrin was hunched over him, shaking his body with a strength he hadn't expected her to have.

"I'm okay now," Dante said. His voice cracked from its rawness, turning into a whisper for his last word. But even though his voice was raw, his throat didn't seem to hurt. In fact, all pain in his body had vanished.

Shandrin gently let go of him, and her smile was caring but pained. "I should have better prepared you," she said in a gentle voice.

"I doubt I would've listened." Dante sat up and rubbed at his head. "So, when do I really get my Chimera?"

"You already have it," Shandrin said. "Your Chimera is created from part of the Reiuom fusing with you." She held out her hand, palm up, and that familiar device appeared in her grip. With it so close, Dante finally got a proper look at one, and he was disappointed to find that he couldn't read a single letter on its keyboard. "Focus on it. Believe in it. Imagine how it feels." The Chimera vanished from her hand. "As long as you keep your focus on it, the Chimera will manifest and be real to you. It will vanish only when you stop focusing on it."

Dante watched her display with interest. He chewed his lower lip, excitement kicking through his veins. Mirroring her, he lifted one hand and then stared at it, believing in his Chimera and willing it to be real. He imagined the cold weight of dark metal in his hand, pictured the glowing screen covering the top third and the plethora of buttons dotting the lower two thirds of its surface. He just hoped that he could read his.

He focused harder, squinting his eyes as he willed the device to be real and physical in his hand. And then, a moment later, it was.

It was lighter than he'd imagined, and his was different than Shandrin's in that a familiar alphabet spread across the buttons. What was strange was that he didn't know how to read that well, yet he knew what each button did from a glance.

"Good, just like that," Shandrin said. She stood, the fabric of her clothes cascading down her body to return to their perfect smoothness from before she had knelt beside him. "Now that we have your Chimera, we should take you to see Tristan."

She turned and headed out the door. Dante gathered up his bag without even looking at it and kept his gaze locked on his Chimera, as though scared that looking away for even a moment would make it vanish again.

Descending the stairs was significantly easier. But it was more than the usual difference between going upstairs and down. Dante's body felt lighter and stronger. He felt like he could run down the stairs, race back up them, and then run down them again without even getting winded.

"You'll find that the Chimera will grant you a variety of powers," Shandrin explained as she led the way. "You may now feel stronger, faster, hardier, or more agile, and these abilities may increase more quickly than you're used to."

Dante was only half listening, his fingers prodding at buttons on his Chimera and marveling at the new windows each opened.

"You also understand all spoken language, and all beings that speak will be able to understand you as well," Shandrin continued. "Written language, on the other hand, can only be read if you take the time to learn it."

Well, that's not going to happen, Dante thought to himself. He pressed another button that was simply labeled "tunnel," and a message appeared on the screen. "What is your desire?" it prompted, with a black rectangle below it blinking in and out of existence eagerly.

Curious, he began to type, both hands holding his Chimera as he trusted his feet to carry him safely down the stairs without the need of sight or bannister.

"There are other abilities it grants, of course," Shandrin continued, oblivious to Dante's exploration of the Chimera. "I'm sure we'll teach these to you in time. And some must be added to the device through modifications."

Dante read back his handiwork silently in his head. "I want to show Jemma my Chimera." Satisfied with what he wrote, he submitted his answer.

The solid stone wall to his left vanished, revealing a sandy beach several hundred feet below. A salt-heavy scent wafted on the warm air. A seabird flew past Dante and Shandrin at arm's length as though it didn't even see them.

A few feet later, and the beach was cut off and replaced by a different world with a mountain cliff at roughly the same height as where Dante stood on the steps. He eyed the distance between the stairs and the mountain, wondering if he could made it, and then he eyed the distance down and wondered if his increased physical abilities would keep him from dying if he fell.

Shandrin whipped around as the tunnel opened, revealing its string of worlds leading deeper into the old worlds. The sea breeze tugged teasingly at the tight fabric of her dress, threatening to tear it free from her body. "Dante, don't!" she warned.

Ignoring her cry, Dante took a running leap toward the cliff. He launched himself from the stairs and soared over the beach below. It was only in the middle of his leap of faith that he realized how bad an idea this was. He was up too high and had no idea what the extent of his powers were. His legs kicked air below him and his arms spun. His Chimera was clutched tight in one hand, and he wondered what would happen if he lost his focus on it while jumping. Or worse, if he was dangling over the edge of the cliff into the beach world and his Chimera vanished, would the tunnel close and cut him in two?

His chest hit the cliff, his arms flung over it. The air in his lungs was knocked clean out of his chest, and he breathlessly scrambled to seek a hold with his hand that wasn't holding his Chimera.

"Oh Dante," Shandrin said with a sigh. Her tone was more annoyed than anything. "Stay in that world and don't go any further. I'll come find you and bring you back."

"Don't bother," Dante grunted. His empty hand found a patch of grass with roots burrowing deep into the hard earth, and he used that as leverage as he heaved himself up on his elbows. He took a moment to lay there on his stomach, marveling at how easy the jump had been, and then he stood and brushed himself off. "I'll be back. I promise," he said.

"Dante!" Shandrin's tone was biting.

"I'm sorry, Shandrin!" Dante called behind him as he raced off through other worlds laid out before him like a path. "I just need to do something first. I never said goodbye to Jemma, and she's going to be so jealous!"

She yelled something else after him, but he couldn't hear her. Instead, he continued running back toward his home.