Azarias raised his hands placatingly when he saw Enza and Athalia's shock and anger. "Come on, come on. There's so much fun to be had here on the third stratum. Why think about the past? Aren't you excited to hear about the game I've designed?"
"You… You're supposed to be dead."
"And yet, here I am, just like Houdini…"
A war of emotions was taking place in Athalia's brain. Right now, surprise was winning out.
"How the hell are you on the Mountain? Every use of the tram is tracked. Even if there existed a way to use it secretly, you jumped into the Chasm after what you did. You died… Nobody has ever come back from the Chasm."
"Did you see me jump into the chasm with your own two eyes?"
Enza replied this time. "Kismet swore he saw it happen. Besides, we searched the area thoroughly. You weren't in Alavieska, nor in the canyon between the city and the tram station."
"Kismet's eyes deceived him. He must have been tired. Although you're correct that I didn't activate the tram to make it to the Mountain… I figured out my way across. It was something I'd wanted to try for quite some time."
Athalia's initial surprise of seeing Azarias alive was fading, and the anger was hitting her full force.
"God damn it, it doesn't matter how you got here, I'm going to kill you right now!"
She pulled out a bamboo blowgun, pointed it at Azarias's head, and fit her lips over the mouthpiece.
Enza's eyes flashed. Her arm shot out and knocked the blowgun out of Athalia's mouth. "Hold on. I'm as angry as you are, but we can't attack him. If he's survived here alone for so long, he's a lot stronger than the Azarias we remember."
"Enza, he has to die."
"I know. But think about it… even if we could kill him right now, it wouldn't be a good idea. It doesn't seem like he's lying about running the game; it was confirmed by the villagers. If we take out the host, there won't be a game at all. There's no clear precedent for the consequence of that, but I'd wager we'd end up as permanent citizens of Hymylä. The best course of action right now is to proceed with the game. Think about it this way—the quicker we get started, the less time we'll have to spend looking at his disgusting face."
Athalia gritted her teeth and put away the blowgun.
Azarias made a thumbs-up. "Staying calm under emotional stress…"
"Just start the game already."
"Hold on, both of you. What we have right now is a useful opportunity. I'm sure there's a lot you want to ask me, so how about an information exchange? Each of you may ask me one question. I will only ask one question of my own. It's a two-for-one deal."
Athalia and Enza met eyes.
"I think it's worth it," Enza whispered.
Athalia whispered back nervously, "I don't know what information we could have that he lacks… Perhaps he wants to know the details of Alavieska's current situation? Since nobody knows what he's planning, it seems risky to tell him. However, we can still agree to this exchange, only with a condition."
She turned to face Azarias. "We agree, but if we don't like your question, you have to ask a different one."
Azarias nodded. "Fine by me. Now, ask away."
Enza took a step back, allowing Athalia to ask first, which surprised her slightly.
She realized she hadn't thought of what to ask.
There's so much I want to know.
More than anything, why…
More than anything, how could you…
To commit the crime you did, and then leave without facing consequences…
But Enza's right, as much as I don't want to admit it. I need to stay calm and make the most of this opportunity. My question shouldn't focus on anything I'm too emotional about; he would read me easily and twist his answer. I shouldn't even ask if he's found any signs of a cure for Sariel, as tempting as it is. I should ask about a hard fact of the Mountain…
Athalia suddenly gasped.
How did I not notice?
The whole time they had been talking, Azarias was facing them.
Athalia pictured what his eyes could see.
From this distance, he could surely see all the way to the start of the road, and beyond the church…
"You're facing opposite us, and not covering your eyes. You can look at the sight behind the church without issue. However, you don't appear to be a citizen of Hymylä; you aren't wearing their customary attire. Until now, the understanding has been that one must be a Hymylän to gaze upon it. How'd you get around the rule?"
Azarias stared at the lines on his palm.
"A rule…
"All rules are born of humans. Do not kill, do not steal, do not cheat. These ideas are creations of consciousness; the natural world breaks them all the time. When a murderer kills someone, their judgment won't come from an indifferent universe. The blood on their hands won't magically turn to acid and corrode their skin. If anything, it might feel pleasantly warm. However, nature's indifference doesn't mean the killer has gotten off scot free. They've already crossed the tripwire. The rule they broke didn't dole out their sentence; it didn't have to. It only needed to curse them. The curse of looming exile. The knowledge that if anyone finds out what they did, their life is effectively over.
"I just said that all rules are born from humans, but that doesn't mean all rules depend on human actions. There's another kind of rule; the kind that cannot be broken so easily; the kind that is an observation rather than a suggestion. If a person observes an aspect of the world behaving in a predictable way, they can assign a rule to it. Two plus two will always equal four. Four plus four will always equal eight. Even the most evil human cannot break this rule."
Azarias broke eye contact and looked thoughtfully over Athalia's head, to the church and beyond.
"The 'don't look' rule was created when the third stratum was reached for the first time. When the first Explorer exited the church, they immediately felt a pressing sense of doom from behind. The others felt the same way. We quickly agreed amongst ourselves that not looking was a hard rule.
"Specifically, we treated it like the second type of rule—like a law of physics of the third stratum; enforced by the Mountain rather than ourselves. It went unspoken that if one looked, the consequence would be severe and automatic.
"But the truth is, this no-looking rule is closer to the first kind. If you look behind the church, the universe won't punish you at all. Your punishment will come from a human—you. The source of that punishment is a jogged memory. Oh, and please don't let that encourage you to look. The rule very much applies to both of you right now. I'm sorry if it's disappointing, but I'm the only one who can get away with breaking this rule.
"…During that first expedition here, I also felt that sense of dread from behind me. However, I didn't feel it the same way the others did—I felt a placebo version of what they were experiencing. Apparently, that pressing feeling is so strong that it's almost like your neck refuses to turn at all. Luckily, I partially trained that habit out of future Explorers…
"Anyways, I had no physical symptoms like that; I was just emotionally influenced by how seriously the others were taking it. When I finally came here alone and with a clear mind, I didn't feel the slightest bit of dread, so I turned around and looked. What's sad is that it was only what I already knew. Just another hell to relive."
Athalia was stunned.
Is the danger behind turning around mental? I always thought it would trigger some external event. How could it be dangerous just to take in information… Hold on, did he say the source of the punishment is a jogged memory? Meaning, by looking behind the church, you'll remember something you've forgotten?
Something that didn't matter to Azarias because he remembered it already.
Earth.
The only Alavieskan with any memories of Earth is Azarias.
If I look back there, will I remember Earth, too?
Why would that be dangerous? All this time, hasn't that been the Institute's goal? To climb the Mountain, to learn how we got here and what this god-forsaken place has to do with Earth… and after we know enough, to break our way out. If I got my memories of Earth back, we'd have a whole new life's worth of memories to examine closely. It'd be a massive gain… How could memories from Earth hurt me?
And what about the citizens of this village? If the hazard behind the church is related to regaining memories from Earth, what do I make of them being able to look safely? Does it mean they're like Azarias, humans who still have all their Earth memories?
No, that doesn't make sense.
Athalia could see the crowd out of the corner of her eye. Even though each villager was covered in their own uniquely chaotic assortment of colors, they all seemed to blend together into a blob. Athalia found it impossible to believe that each villager could be an individual with an entire life's worth of memories, even though she knew there were past Explorers amongst the crowd.
And then there's how they act. The uniquely terrible 'loss prize' they manage to think up for the loser of each game…
The fact that no one has ever recognized the face of an Explorer who was sent to Hymylä by that riddle-telling sphinx. They lose everything that defined them…
None of that can be human.
Hymyläns can't be human.
While Athalia was lost in thought, Enza was pondering Azarias's words for herself. She had gone down a similar train of thought as Athalia.
All this does is bring up more questions. Why is everything that happens on the Mountain like that…
Speaking of questions, I can't forget to ask my own.
"How can I reach the fourth stratum?"
"I was wondering if you'd ask that. There's good news and bad news, so I'll give you the good news first. In the time we've been talking, I've confirmed the fourth stratum's existence. Can you guess how?"
Enza furrowed her eyebrows. "What? You haven't left our sight since you appeared…"
"I did it through a simple process of elimination. The most common view at the Institute is that the fourth stratum lies behind the church. It's a reasonable guess… There isn't a clear way up from here, so the most logical answer is wherever cannot be seen. But I can tell you personally that the fourth stratum isn't back there. The physical area behind the church is limited, and I've searched it all. Additionally, I've explored the village. I've mapped out its perimeter; it doesn't extend that far to our left and right.
"It truly does seem like we're standing on the summit of the Mountain right now. We reached the third stratum over a decade ago and have made zero upward progress since then. However, this simply cannot be the top. There's a single message that makes it our destiny to climb higher than this.
"It's that hourglass that floats in the sky over Alavieska, continuing to run down… The fact you two are out on an Expedition tells me almost all I need to know."
The seventeen words on the hourglass appeared in the minds of Athalia, Enza, and Azarias.
If the Mountain has not been summited when the time runs out, the Memory Tournament will begin!
"If the time had run out completely, you and I wouldn't be here. The Memory Tournament would have already started. I have a feeling I'll know when that happens, no matter where I am."
He smiled at Enza before realizing he hadn't truly answered her question.
"Reaching the fourth stratum, eh… That was always my passion to start with, so it's good you're keeping the flame lit. But the way you phrased it makes it seem like you intend to go by yourself. Nothing's impossible, but if anything is, it's that. Reaching the fourth stratum will be the Institute's crowning achievement if it is done. All the progress we've made has taken the work of a group, so why would this be any different? Besides, it's way more poetic if everyone reaches it together."
He paused. "However, I must act as a good teacher should. If one of my students possesses ambition—a dream so vivid they can't stand to loosen their grip on it—who am I to go and crush it like it's nothing? If you manage to reach the fourth stratum by yourself, you'll have proved me wrong, and you'll get to enjoy that feeling for the rest of your life. Even if I already took your chance to be the first to ever go on a solo expedition, the fourth stratum's the real prize. I just have to apologize that all I can do is confirm the fourth stratum's existence, not help you find it."
Enza was shocked.
His story about the sight behind the church makes a lot of sense. He really hasn't gone insane out here… I even believe his logic… It seems to prove that the fourth stratum exists. Now everything just rests on me.
"I accept your answer. Now, what is your question for us?"
"How much time is left on the hourglass?"
Athalia and Enza glanced at each other in confusion. They were both thinking, "That's all he wants to know?"
"There's about a year left on the hourglass. In one year, if the Mountain has not been summited, the Memory Tournament will begin."