Jerome felt his heart pounding in his chest as he gazed up at the towering giant that loomed over them. It was still quite a distance away, but it was mostly visible now. For a moment there, fear and uncertainty took hold of him. He had never faced something so ginormous. He steeled himself, shaking himself free of negative emotions. Fear had never helped him before and uncertainty would only make him hesitate.

Jerome held his hand out facing the Children, infusing essence into the fireball in his hand. After a while the blue flame became so dense that it threatened to explode on his palm.

There were still a few Children left from the previous group but Jerome left those to Selene and her teammates. However, looming in the distance, the colossal Child he saw earlier was steadily advancing closer.

Despite the absence of the moon and the deep shadows cast by the dense tree cover, the Sprouts possessed remarkably keen vision, allowing them to discern the Child's head rising above the treetops in the distance.

“Aren’t you gonna shoot that or something?” Selene asked, eyeing the flame with a hint of fear in her eyes. She released an arrow that sank into the head of a Child a few yards away freezing it completely.

“Or something,” Jerome said in a strained voice. It was taking all his willpower to keep the fireball from exploding in its compressed state.

The essence in the air around him was becoming chaotic already and the Children were beginning to notice. Jerome knew the amount of essence in the fireball was still not enough for what he wanted to do. He exerted more pressure, straining to curl his fingers inward like claws, causing the fireball to compress a little bit more. The blue flame shrunk in size, causing the concentration of essence it was emitting to rise and Selene gasped beside him.

“Jerome, I think you should let it go now,” she said.

Jerome could hear the fear in her voice. The fireball was now smaller but denser than it was before and the core became a lighter blue color. Around its edges was a white-blue veil.

“Just a little closer,” Jerome said looking ahead of him.

The colossal Child was closer now. It was enormous up close, looming over the team like a moving mountain. Its beady eyes were not as tiny as the ones on the smaller Children but were sizable and unblinking. The writhing tentacles on its lower face filled the air like a repulsive tangle of worm-like feelers, squirming and undulating in an eerie display of otherworldly power.

The giant Child stepped on some of its kind with its enormous foot, and the earth shook beneath it. It roared as it came within a few dozen paces of the team. Its voice carried a shockwave across the landscape that shook the earth beneath their feet.

Everyone was thrown backward at least ten paces but Jerome stood his ground, earth essence swirled around his feet holding him firmly to the boulder. Strands of blue flame slithered around him, some even cackling like electricity. The concentration of energy had reached enormous levels. Jerome tried to raise his hand but it was like lifting a mountain. He supported his right hand with his left and took aim.

Jerome let go of the flame and it shot forward like a laser, cutting through everything in its path with a blinding blue light. Enormous trees were cut in half and all the Children in front of them were sliced in two—some reduced to piles of hashed meat.

The giant wasn’t exempt as it was sliced in two and its guts spilled over like a giant tide, bathing everything and everyone in gore.

The laser sputtered out, having lost its fuel source, and Jerome felt true exhaustion for the first time in a while. His skin became dampened with sweat that mixed with the gore that had splattered on him. He sat on his haunches to rest a little but the world spun around and he hit the ground and blacked out.

“And ye say ye wer’ gonna face that, mate,” someone from the team on the ground said and everyone turned to Ajax.

He muttered incomprehensible words to himself looking as scared as a fish out of water.

~~~

“He’s waking up,” Jerome heard someone say.

His eyes snapped open and he quickly stood up reaching for his weapon.

“Settle down, settle down. It’s just me,” Selene said with her hands raised.

Jerome relaxed. “For how long have I been out?” He asked and sat down.

Everywhere was covered in yellow gory innards that stunk so much it could potentially wake the dead. He looked down at himself and frowned, looking away.

“We don’t have much water,” Selene said. She didn’t fair any better than him. “What you did back there was…amazing.”

Jerome sighed thinking about what to say to that. He decided against it and changed the topic.

“What about the others?”

“They went out in search of water. Some are still around though…looking out for the Children,” Selene said. “My mother didn’t know anything else about the Mother.”

Jerome’s gaze turned to her at that.

“She said she wasn’t opportune to enter Terra Praeta but father was,” she said looking away.

The wind blew the stench away from them for a while, giving them a moment of relief from the stench.

“Father’s actually a Saint now…has been for a while so…there’s no finding out anytime soon,” Selene continued.

“What does being a Saint have to do with finding out?” Jerome asked perplexed.

Selene looked at him and smiled. “Have you met Elder Thorlin Vorthe?” she asked.

“No, but I’ve seen him,”

“Well, he’s a Saint. Probably the only healthy Saint there is in all of Vorthe,” Selene said and Jerome raised an eyebrow clearly not getting her point.

“It takes a lot to break through to the Saint Realm from the Sage Realm,” She continued, “The risks associated with taking that step are perhaps not worth it. So many don’t try. The ones who do, end up having one leg in the grave.

“The power in their bodies becomes unstable and they age rapidly. Faster than they should. They have to be isolated to enter deep meditation so they could preserve themselves.”

At this point, Selene’s eyes were distant and red. She wiped away tears and cycled to calm her nerves.

“I’m sorry about your dad,” Jerome said. He’d never consoled anyone before but he knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of it. He did not like it. “Thank you for telling me about him,” he said again, with a slight smile this time around.

Laughter broke out a few yards away from them, announcing the arrival of those that went in search of water. The Sprouts got closer and bathed them with buckets of water.

~~~

“So this contraption can help us find daylight, you say,” Selene said, looking at the piece of metal in her hand. It was connected to a long string of metal that was wrapped intricately around another piece of metal that was placed on top of a stack of leaves.

Selene looked at the smiling Jerome. Maybe she had overestimated the kid a little too much. She looked over at her teammates who just shrugged at her. Their only interest in this was to watch a show and have a laugh.

‘Nothing spent, nothing lost.’

They had cleaned themselves up as best they could but it was still a chore to breathe properly without smelling the stench from their own bodies.

“Ahem,” she called Jerome's attention. “Are you sure this can find daylight?”

“It’s the first step in finding daylight, yes,” he answered undisturbed. “We just have to prepare ourselves for a little pain…probably.”

“O…kay. What have I got to do in this?” she asked, pointing at herself, trying to exempt herself from whatever this…all of this was.

Her teammates laughed at that. They had never seen their team leader so uncertain about something. Even afraid. Jerome smiled at her. He moved his stinky hair out of his face and tied it behind him before walking up to her. He examined the piece of metal in her hand to make sure all was well. Once he was satisfied, he grabbed hold of the other end of the metal.

“You channel ice essence through that end, and I’ll channel fire essence through this end. Problem is, both energies have to be balanced,” Jerome said.

“Balanced,” she repeated not getting the gist of it.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Do you know how I’m capable of creating blue flame?” Jerome said, opening his other hand, palm up and a white-blue flame sprouted on his palm.

“Well, it’s white-blue now but do explain,” Selene said looking at the flame. She was a bit uncomfortable with her proximity to the kid and hoped he didn’t get the wrong idea.

Jerome was busy looking at the flame on his hand as though seeing it for the first time. He could tell it had evolved. But how it did was a mystery he couldn’t wait to solve.

“Fire is made by burning fuel in air,” he said, closing his palm and putting out the flame. “No air, no fire.”

“What I learned to do was burn the amount of fuel in relation to the quantity of air being consumed by the flame. Therefore reducing wastage. Do you understand?”

Selene nodded absently, not fully understanding but getting the gist of it.

“So the same amount of heat and cold, is it?” she asked.

“Hmm,” Jerome answered nodding. “Are you ready? We go on three. One… two… three.”

They poured their essence into the piece of metal at the same time, making sure to observe how much essence they were pouring in with their perception. Selene felt the hairs on her arm stand on end almost immediately.

“Lightning! Heavens, it's lightning!” she screamed.

Her teammates quickly lost the smiles on their faces. Some of them even came forward to have a look at what was going on.

“I can’t see no lightning,” Bram said in that heavy accent of his as he bent over a little, looking intently at both their hands.

Nia pushed him out of the way wanting to get a look at what was going on too. She went a step further bringing her hand closer.

“Ooh,” she exclaimed, “I feel it!”

“Let me get a look,” someone else came forward and had to drag Nia away from them.

Jerome smiled at their antics. It reminded him of the family he used to have. They had a bond with each other that many others rarely have.

“This is nice,” he said looking from person to person, committing their smiles and laughter to memory.

“Nice, they’re a troublesome lot,” Selene said, also smiling, “You don’t wanna get pranked by them. That’s when you know they’re not nice.”

Jerome chuckled at that. Two Sprouts were bickering with each other now, arguing about who could learn to wield lightning force better if the lightning was enough to absorb.

“Forget about absorbing it,” Jerome said. “The energy we’re producing is too little for that and that’s why you can’t see it as well,” Jerome said.

“Should we ramp it up then?” Selene said and pushed her core a little bit more.

“Oh no, wait!” Jerome yelled. “We don’t need too much. What we have is more than enough for now.”

Selene looked at him and nodded. She would have loved to see the lightning with her eyes. Maybe absorb a strand or two and show these pipsqueaks around her that she could create lightning. She almost humphed in her excitement. How dare they doubt her?

She looked around at her teammates with a smile on her face. Her excitement was becoming evident but she quickly caught herself and schooled her features. It would be improper for her to act like her dickheaded teammates. That was enough fun for the long night.

~~~

Jerome was elated as he examined the magnetized piece of metal in his hand. What he just did was from some articles he had read in his previous life. Simply put, the Seebeck effect is a phenomenon in which temperature differences between two ends of a conductor can create electrical charges. The electrical charge being created was what was used to magnetize this piece of metal. And now he had the last component he needed to make his compass. He could just imagine what science would be capable of achieving in a world like this.

Jerome had been absorbing a special ore in the earth using Suzie when the Itakars came around. He had wondered at some point when he was crafting his new wings how the quantity of the liquid steel had increased. But after flying into this area, Suzie had reacted to something and led him here.

It made him wonder if there was a mine under Blade’s Edge Canyon that he had unknowingly absorbed during his slumber. Now there was a large quantity of liquid steel, flowing inside his body.

Jerome smiled. He sliced off some parts of the magnetized metal and stuck the remaining thin strip into a piece of wood. He had made a small container out of metal and filled it with water. He dropped the magnetized strip of metal that was stuck in the piece of wood into the container and watched it point in a certain direction.

“We go that way,” he said pointing right.

“But your metal is pointing—” Ajax was saying.

“That’s North,” Jerome cut him off, pointing North, “My metal will always point North, but the sun rises in the East.” He pointed East again.

“Okay everyone, let’s move out,” Selene announced and everyone started packing up camp.

They had had enough time to rest because Jerome had insisted they stayed there so he could mine more of the special ore he was absorbing from the earth. After crosschecking that they left nothing behind, they started their long walk due East.

Jerome scanned his core as they trekked and noticed a metallic blue glow to it. He smiled to himself at that. Just being here in Terra Praeta was enough to speed up the growth of his core at twice the rate it was growing before.

“And what’s making you happy?” Ajax asked with a frown.

Jerome looked at him. “Never mind. You don’t have to worry about me,” he said with a smile. He was going to be creating a lot of things from now on and he was looking forward to it.

Ajax scowled at Jerome, pointing his index and middle finger at his own eyes in a ‘V’ shape and pointing them at Jerome—a gesture that said, ‘I’m watching you.’

“You really wanna have a taste of those white-blue flames don’t you, mate,” Trudhorn said to him.

“Ajax. Yer’ the man,” Bram said patting Ajax on the shoulder. “I believe ye can take him down,” he whispered in Ajax’s ear, “Go for it.”

Ajax glared at Bram and pushed him aside. “Why don’t you go try it yourself,” he muttered.

“What? I was just being a good friend,” Bram said with pretend hurt. “Don’t ye want the encouragement?”

“Encourage him to his wheelchair,” someone said and everyone burst out laughing.

~~~

“And you’re sure about this?” Hedon asked.

“Absolutely. His long hair was what gave him away. Not many boys in Farryn have such long hair,” the scout responded.

Hedon nodded and asked, “And what were they talking about?”

“The distance was too great for hearing, Young Lord,” the scout said.

“So they were just heading in a direction…all of them,” Hedon said absently.

“Yes, Young Lord,” the scout said again.

“Let’s follow behind them. I want to know where they’re headed,” Hedon said, “Maybe they’ve found a way out of the night.”

A hopeful expression appeared on the faces of the Sprouts around him. If the Itakars had found a way out of this hell hole, they had better do the prudent thing and follow them from behind.

“Let’s pack up and leave immediately,” Hedon said and the team of Sprouts moved into action.

~~~

Jerome and the Itakars walked many miles East stopping to rest from time to time. They sent scouts ahead of them and one of the scouts returned with news of a missing partner. The whole team took off to find out what happened.

“He went missing around here,” the scout said.

“Darryn is smart, Tega,” Trudhorn said. “He would survive. Trust him.”

Tega nodded choosing to believe in his partner.

“Perhaps he chanced upon an exciting adventure!” Ajax exclaimed from up in the trees.

“Not now, Ajax,” Selene retorted searching the grounds with the others for clues.

“Oh, but I am serious. There’s an adventure awaiting us!” Ajax exclaimed again and laughed.

Now everyone was beginning to get pissed. Selene would have loved to go up there and give her brother a good beating but she knew he was only trying to be hopeful.

“It’s incredible!” Jerome exclaimed. And everyone turned to him. He had climbed up the same tree at some point and was looking into the distance.

Everyone rushed up the tree to get a glimpse of what they were seeing and the sight took their breaths away. A tower far in the distance could be seen reaching up to the heavens. But a kind of heat haze clouded their vision, preventing them from seeing clearly. More important was the sky above the tower and beyond.

“Daylight!” Someone screamed, “It’s daylight!”

Joyous laughter filled the air as the team embraced themselves bouncing on the soles of their feet.

“It is incredible. The books mentioned something like this, yes?” Bram asked excitedly. “Ajax, ye read the books, yes?”

Ajax frowned and glared at Bram. “Selene read the books!”

Jerome looked from one friend to the other amazed. There were books written about this place and they didn’t bother reading them? They had access to knowledge about this place and just passed it to someone else. Jerome frowned but said nothing. It wasn’t his place to tell them what they should have done.

“The tower wouldn’t explore itself. We should move,” he said and got ready to jump down from the tree but nobody moved.

Everyone looked at him. And then at Selene. Jerome felt awkward for a bit but quickly schooled his features.

“Oh, my bad. Sorry,” he said. He wasn’t their leader.

Selene’s gaze was fixed on the tower, unblinking. Jerome could see recognition in her gaze, and hesitation. He wanted to ask about it but decided to wait since no one else was asking.

“It's called the Tower of Solon,” she said at last. “There wasn’t much information about it but it’s supposed to be a place filled with horrors and abomination.

“The records state that every treasure that could be found in it has been wiped clean,” she said and looked at them. They quickly lost interest after that. “It also stated that when you come across the Tower of Solon, you can’t avoid it.

“To move on, you have to conquer it.” she looked each and every one of them in the eyes.

“So we’re stuck in a loop. Quite possibly an illusion,” Jerome said.

“Until we conquer it,” Selene said to complete his words.

Everyone grumbled. This was a thankless job, a waste of time and resources… energy too.

“Can’t we just skirt around it?” Nia asked.

“It’ll always be in front of us no matter what direction we take,” Selene said, shaking her head. “The books said that the path to the Tower of Solon is a path well traveled.”

“I’m guessing that means a lot of people travel the path to this tower,” Bram said with a frown and Nia gave him a pointed look as if to say, ‘Duh’.

Bram’s statement was obvious but there was definitely more to that statement: a path well traveled.

“We still gotta find Darryn though,” Jerome said, reminding everyone of the reason they came this way in the first place.

They all jumped down and started towards the tower and Jerome got to work creating three more compasses with the thin strips of metal he cut out of the first one.

Ajax watched him work. Jerome held his hand out in front of him and a chunk of metal appeared out of thin air. It took the shape of a rounded square with a depression to hold water.

“That’s awfully weird,” Ajax said slowing down to match his pace.

“Is it now?” Jerome smiled at him.

The older Sprout grumbled.

“I’m seventeen, you know?” Jerome said. “Not sixteen.”

“Makes no difference,” Ajax said with a frown, though his eyes were smiling. He extracted his sword from his spatial ring and said, “My sword can cut through anything. Living steel or no.”

Jerome smiled. Ajax probably wanted to apologize for not caring about leaving him to face the giant Child.

“Just so you know, I’m fair in everything. So, I’ll give you the chance to hit first,” Ajax said.

And there we have it.

“Apology accepted,” Jerome said with a smile and the older Sprout grumbled, walking away.