Chapter 76 - 76. Climbing

"Finally decided to act like a man then? Took long enough." Onyx gave a shake and pushed Asher up to his shoulders. For a moment it felt like Asher was weightless and about to plummet. But the next second he was on Onyx's shoulders and could see two easy to hold hand holds on the rock face. "Grab one hand in those and curl your fingers to lock them in. When I step down you will fit your feet where I put them then step down like a ladder." Onyx was already on the move.

Asher felt that his bodyweight was resting more and more on his hands until he felt that his feet were being grabbed one by one and placed in to grips. He felt that the closer he hugged the rock face the less likely he would be to fall.

"Stop hugging the wall like that, if a wind picks up you will be blown in to the river. Just rest back a little bit and let your body weight put stress on where you are holding. It will lock your hold better so you don't slip when you step down." The advice sounded easy enough so Asher tried to copy it.

When he leaned back and bent his knees a little he could feel that his balance was better and that the chance of falling with slightly lowered. "That's it, now pull that right leg out and slide it down the rock until it catches on the next grip. A good climber doesn't need to see it but only needs to feel it."

"I'm not an expert, just give me some time and I will be moving." Asher was breathing much more heavily than he wanted to. The possibility of falling was something he was not used to. After holding on for a minute he could feel that his heart was starting to slow down and fall in to his normal jogging rhythm.

Feeling this he unhitched his foot from the grip and slid it down like he was told. He could feel his foot catching on the next grip after just a little distance down. It was the perfect highest for him to grasp. "No released the same hand and move it down too. It is just a slow back and forth as you move down the cliff" Onyx's voice sounded distant, Asher refused to look down and check since looking down was always the worst choice.

He just kept taking deep breath after deep breath while moving in the way he was told to do. 'Just keep going and eventually, I will be at the bottom and can find a tree and fall asleep under it for the next three days while I wait for Art and Jane.'

Asher was giving up and telling himself whatever he needed to tell himself to get to the bottom faster. Onyx had already reached the bottom and saw the boy mumbling to himself with every single movement he made. 'This Kid is crazy. A natural born climber, but crazy.' His thoughts were very different than those of Asher's.

"Stop there!" Onyx yelled fairly loudly at Asher making him grip on to the wall for dear life again. "You can let go."

These words sounded like this camp counselors had just told him to jump to his death. "What do you mean let go? I refuse to jump. I am still a kid. I have to find true love. I need to show the world my master chef level food. Who is going to be top hero if not me?" Asher rambled off the things he wanted to accomplish in life and why he shouldn't jump. "I have so many reasons not to let go."

"Can one of the reasons you have to let go be stepping down so that we can hike back to the camp…" The monatone voice Onyx used had one singular meaning. He was basically saying he was done with these antics.

Asher braved a peek at the ground and realized his feet were just inches off the ground and all he had to do was step done once more. "Ha! See I told you I could climb this cliff." While Asher had his moment, Onyx continued to wonder what mental problems this kid had.

"How did you get here?" Laura appeared out of nowhere right next to Asher. Onyx had only seen a blur pass by him with a slight breeze.

Laura was looking very confused while staring Asher down. She had even stopped eating the popcorn she held in her hands. "I ran around every trail until I finally took the right one all the way here. It's impossible that you managed to get her first when you started after me.'"

"Well, I just stuck to the right. Eventually I was on the top of the cliff." The casual way Asher answered caused Laura to not fully grasp his words. She was about to turn to the counselor with Asher and ask to try to climb when she realized what he had said.

"You mean you already climbed up to the top too? You said your power was luck or whatever. You must have lied!" She was bouncing around in annoyance thinking that he had a better power than here which let him get to the top almost instantly.

"You must be one of the other early arrivals. This kid has no power that could have flown him to the top, I asked my sister. You're more than welcome to try to climb up now. I will stay here and watch, give me a shout when you get stuck."

Laura did not miss the fact that he had just said "when you get stuck" This was assuming that she would fail the first time. "I will be at the top soo. It should only be a few minutes since I have the speed to get op there faster. She showed off her speed by rapidly climbing up the first quarter of the cliff before she lost the momentml and was completely still.

"Why do they always rush up at first." Onyx shook his head while he started to climb up after Laura.