Laurence left his room and began walking towards the mess hall. The group would be meeting there, and then once they had made sure they were not missing anything they would head off. It was a simple procedure, they just needed food, clothing, and shelter for the journey. Everything else could be scrounged or hunted until they got to the twenty fifth floor. The next fifteen floors were the crucible that prepared those of Heaven rank. Many would try to ascend, or at least die trying. Unfortunately for Laurence and his friends, or perhaps fortunately, they were all destined to climb the floors of the great tower, they would either live as gods or die. There was no room for failure.

As he reached the mess hall, he could hear noises. The tunnels of Spring Street were lively. Far livelier than usual, but that was expected. The group that had made the greatest name for themself in the history of the gang were leaving to ascend what many members of the gang thought was a myth. They knew that these children, these young adults, were stronger than belief, almost super human, but there was some inherent sense of distrust at the idea that there were worlds layered above them that was a tough pill to swallow. Laurence could understand that. Many of the children were brought up on the streets. They were the children of prostitutes or foundlings, or simply from families too poor to actually support them anymore for one reason or another. They had nowhere else to go, so Spring Street and all the other gangs in the city took them in. The gangs were where the down and out children found their homes, so it became very difficult to believe that there could be something worlds greater than them. All they knew were the streets. Laurence was different. He knew of the myriad worlds that were just beyond the steles, he had seen them with his own eyes, and he had documented every new thing he could within his codex. Even now, when he would find a new item or see a new kind of person he would write about them. There was simply nothing that would not be of interest to him. He had even taken time out to write his musings and ideas in the codex. It became the physical extension of Laurence’s experiences.

He arrived in the hall and saw the gaggle of people surrounding Yun, Louisa and Cleo. Winoa stood to the side with Jim and Orwell, but Laurence could not see Nae anywhere. It was unusual because although she was classically an ice queen, she was also the matriarch. Nothing went on without her being able to see it happen, and so the fact that five of her best men were leaving and she was not there to see them off was incredibly strange. Laurence did not dwell on it however, he just walked over to Orwell and asked.

“Orwell! Where’s Nae? She normally wouldn’t miss a scene like this for the world”. Laurence understood the concept of tact, but the process of enacting it always escaped him.

“Oh, hello Law,” Orwell replied, a light, far-away smile flitting across his face. “She’s seeing a doctor. It turns out that there might be a new member of the gang soon”.

“Oh? Is the child injured or something?” Both Jim and Orwell laughed. Winoa, on the other hand, frowned and took Laurence to the side.

“Are you an idiot, Law? Nae might be pregnant. She and Orwell could be having a baby if everything goes to plan, so be polite”. Winoa flicked his nose, even though she was over a head shorter than him, she had no fear of the boy. Laurence smiled, confidence was never something Winoa had been lacking. He liked her for that. No rubbish, no bickering, just a straightforward person who could tell when Laurence was not picking something up.

He walked back to the group and smiled. He still had not mastered a natural smile, but he was getting there. The people found his normal smile much more natural now, it was still slightly off, but that was not something he could help. Jim nodded at him and Orwell smiled back.

“I assume Winoa scolded you about the situation with Nae and me?” Orwell said.

“Consider me thoroughly told off,” Laurence replied. He looked at Jim, “Is everyone ready?”

“Yeah, we’ve got the bags of food in the corner of the room. Clothes are ready, in another bag, as are the covers, bedding and tents. Have you got another one of your boxes to put this all in? Or are you going to carry it all yourself”.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got that all sorted out. I don’t want anyone else in the gang to see it though, they might get antsy”. Jim raised his eyebrow, but nodded and moved on. It was simple for him to trust Laurence, he had relied on him so often that it was second nature at this point.

The group mingled with the rest of the gang, saying goodbye to everyone, but soon Orwell ushered them out so that the six could get their items in order. It took a while but eventually they were all alone. They sat at the table in the centre of the room and Laurence threw a bag at each of his friends. Without a second’s thought, Yun opened the bag and poured the rings out unceremoniously. The rings clinked and rolled out in front of all of them, spiralling, spinning and stopping. The glint of the rings, and the aura that they produced immediately caught the eye of everyone in the room. They were beautiful.

“Each one of you has three rings in your bag. These are to help us in the future. One is a defensive ring; it can instantly transport you a kilometre in any direction you wish, but it takes a week to recover. The second is an offensive ring, it’s designed to let out a shockwave that can knock away anything within a five metre cone in front of you. It should even knock away a Heaven ranker, but that’s not tested. The third ring is a storage ring. There is over a hundred cubic metres of space in each ring, and it’s as stable as I could possibly make it”. There was silence as everyone comprehended what Laurence had given them. They were priceless gifts, beyond the value of anything that they had held before. It was a great gift.

“Don’t get me wrong,” he continued, “I’m not giving you these because I want to spoil you. Rather, I am giving you these because I want you to survive. If any one of you survives a situation that you would not have with the rings, then it increases the chances of all of us surviving. You know me. I’m not an optimist about these things. I’m a pragmatist”.

“So what do you want in return?” Cleo said, her pale forehead frowning in thought over the rings. “I know you, Law. You would not do this expecting nothing in return. It’s not like you. Not only that, I cannot imagine that procuring all these rings were cheap. It must have cost you more than all the money we had together, and the storage rings alone must have cost you at least five diamond shards. I don’t want this if we’re just to become your indentured servants”.

“I don’t expect anything, Cleo. These are to help you survive, and in turn that will help me. Sure, they aren’t entirely altruistic motives, but by Babel I intend to keep us all alive. You, and everyone else at this table are my friends. You are the people I trust most. I lose any single one of you and it’s going to be hell for us to find a replacement”.

“But you could find a replacement”. Cleo stood up, ready to throw the bag back at Laurence. She looked at it one more time before closing her hand around it. She was obviously biting her lip, trying to hold back another comment. He could tell that she was trying to deny the use of the tools to herself, but they both knew that her denying the rings was shooting herself in the foot. Not only would she be able to carry less, she would be two abilities less in a situation that called for her escape.

“Cleo, you know that you would probably be just as fast to find a replacement as Law would be if one of us died or split off”. Said Winoa. Even with Cleo, she was still as abrupt a person. She simply did not give face to people, it was a foreign concept to her, to the point where stepping on toes had become her specialty.

“That’s a hateful thing to say Win. You know I would...” Cleo trailed off. She was not going to lie in front of everyone. It was a fair comment, even if it was a pain on her ego. “I would at least wait to see if you came back if you went missing. I’d wait a few weeks, what are those in the long run? It’s not like we’re on the clock anymore”.

“It's not a problem, five companions is safer than four and we both know it. No one would feel bad if something happened and we were replaced. Law is just less tactful about it, as usual”.

At that Cleo cracked a smile. Winoa was right about Law being tactless, he knew it, but did not mind. It cut a lot of corners in conversation that he was not willing to put up with.

“Is there anything else we need to go over?” Jim said. “If not, we should pack up and get going. The gateway awaits!” There was a momentary silence as no one brought up any more topics. There was a lot to think about, but no one had anything else to mention. They all knew that it would be hard from this point on, that some of them might get injured or even die, and that they had no idea what they would encounter. They were truly going in blind, but as far as Laurence was concerned, they were prepared.