Some are given a chance to climb but they refuse: they cling to the Realm, or the Gods, or love. Illusions. Only the ladder is real. The climb is all there is.
“For my wedding, he gave me three petrified dragon eggs. He believed - the world believed - the ages had turned them to stone. How many centuries had it been since dragons roamed the skies? But I dreamt that if I carried those eggs into a great fire they would hatch. When I stepped into the fire, my own people thought I was mad. But when the fire burned out, I was unhurt. The mother of dragons.”
