Hunter contemplated the drop as he sat at the edge of the cave. A full moon shone high above them, and its luminance was enough to bathe the lake and its surroundings in a soft glow. The sun set a bit too quick for Hunter’s liking, but he felt an odd sense of safety permeating him, relaxing him. It felt easier to think now that everything seemed to have calmed down.
The pterophids seemed to have forgotten about them. He’d volunteered for corpse duty at the pterophid colony entrance, and the corpses remained. Having removed his jacket, he used it to further compress the corpses. He left it behind, hoping it would increase the odds of the impromptu barricade holding if the turd-birds decided they were up for round two.
It wasn’t just the barricade which inspired a sense of cautious optimism about his safety. Over the last hours of daylight, he noticed some strange things about the lake and its surroundings. No noise reached them up there, save the odd bird call far in the distance. A few critters had climbed up to the cave, only to regard them with either curiosity or placid indifference. The lack of hostility, or even plain-old survival instinct, from the local wildlife was so odd to Hunter. This was a stark contrast to the constant danger they had faced all day.
But he wondered if the pattern these creatures exhibited stretched all the way around the entire lake. No aggressive sounds were audible. Any of the wildlife approaching the lake to drink did so with no apparent fear for their safety, and no predator came to attack them. He’d seen a few rhino-hippos appear as well — Bella had told him they were called Brontogons — although from the distance he could tell if they were as big as the one he’d encountered earlier.
None of the animals appeared to mind predators nearby, and neither did the predators appear to have any interest in their usual prey. It was all a bit too civilian, in Hunter’s opinion, and not at all what he would expect from an untamed wildland through which a beastwave had passed through earlier that day.
It couldn’t have been natural, but he also couldn’t quite see the problem with it. With cautious optimism, he let his mind and body settle for the night. The lieutenant’s wounds had stopped bleeding, but he wasn’t in great shape. Joe was also feeling pessimistic about his and the lieutenant’s odds.
Hunter needed a mental break. He knew he couldn’t afford to be distracted, so he forced himself to relax. They’d wake him if anything happened.
What he’d felt as his mind started to still, drifting from the world of forming and feeling, was the curious sensation of a subtle wind buffeting him through the rock walls of the cave exit. He studied the sensation for a moment and realized it wasn’t air he was feeling.
It was etherium. Again, the immaterial substance was surprising him. It was moving, and there was a lot. More ambient etherium than he’d ever felt in his life — not surprising, as ambient etherium was something he was still only tuning into. But at the moment, it was clear as day. His study revealed the etherium lacked a charge, yet its abundance in that area must be dozens of times greater than back home—or he wouldn’t sense it. Was it always this abundant on Skyhold, and he just hadn’t had the time to relax and notice it?
This could be evidence of proving the researcher’s hypothesis about an etheric source for the beast waves. It also might explain how the wildlife here might develop some etheric mutations — like the brontogon whose eyes glowed like miniature suns and could conjure enough explosive power to lift a serpent which could have weighed as much as a heavy tank.
Curiosity burned through him. He wanted to jump down from the cave and study these phenomena. Why was the etherium moving in the direction it was moving? Was the volume of etherium he was feeling localized?
He had to know, and before he could convince himself to stop, he was sitting at the edge of the cave and contemplating the drop into Lake Striptease — a name granted by Jeren after Bella had complained about how the possibility for a bath was right in front of them, and yet they couldn’t touch it. Not yet.
As the urge took him, and he studied the steep descent into the lake, he noticed outcroppings studded the wall. They were thin, but not too thin.
He had an idea, but he couldn’t quite trust his eyes to tell him to the truth, not in the dull glow cast by Skyhold’s moon.
“Careful, Hunter,” he whispered to himself. Hunter maneuvered off of the cave’s edge. He found a solid foothold, and then another, and then another. He focused on the climb downwards, the sensations of his fingers and toes and the strain across his muscles took up his entire world. Within a minute, he was standing on one of the shallow outcroppings below.
He looked back up at the cave. He could make out the footholds he used to get down here. They were easier to see from below than they were from above. From down here, he could also see that there were quite a few vines stretching up above the cave entrance.
How tough were those vines? Could they support his weight?
“Hey!” he called. He waited a few seconds, and no one answered, so he called again.
Jeren appeared at the edge of the cave, looking around.
“Hunter?” he asked. “Where are you?”
“Look down,” Hunter said. Jeren looked down, rubbing his eyes.
“Are you insane?” Jeren yelled. “What if you got stuck, or fell?”
“What’s going on over here?” Bella asked as she appeared beside Jeren, and looked down at Hunter, and then back to Jeren.
“Why is the Oberon heir subjecting himself to unnecessary danger, alone, without warning us?” she asked her squad mate. Jeren shook his head and shrugged.
“There’s a vine up there,” Hunter said, pointing above the cave. Bella squinted, but then her eyes widened.
“How far up?” she asked.
“Not too far. I think I can climb to them.” Hunter said. That urge flooded him with adrenaline and other things that dulled his reasoning, but he needed it and wouldn’t question it, having found a potential solution.
“I think we should wait until it’s brighter out,” Bella said. Hunter shook his head. He knew it was dangerous, but he needed to do this now before he doubted himself, so he started climbing.
“Hunter?” she asked. “Did you hear me?”
“Am I not technically in charge while the lieutenant is out of commission?” He asked as he climbed, feeling for the rocks he’d found on the way up. His arms were burning, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle.
“Technically, you were always in charge—”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“—Shut up, Jeren,” Bella said.
“What’s going on here?” Joe asked, limping over to join the others. “What’s he doing up there?”
Hunter pulled himself above the roof of the cave, straining and grunting as he lifted himself up to the next hold. The climb was tougher than he thought it would be, but the vines weren’t too high up. He figured he should be fine.
“If you fall to your death, you know we’ll just have to deny that you were ever here with us, right?” Jeren asked.
“Nah, remember how the lieutenant radioed ahead to base camp? They already told them that Hunter was going to be coming with us.”
“Shit, they sent out a search party, right? Do you figure they might be in the area?” Jeren asked.
Bella laughed.
“Right,” Jeren sighed, “the beastwave.”
“Hunter, what inspired you to free climb at this time of night?” Joe asked.
“Vines,” he growled, his muscles burning as he strained to support his weight. “One…Second…”
He found the perfect foothold and pushed himself up with all his might, stretching to grab the nearest vine. He grasped the vine, surprised by its rubbery texture. His grip wasn’t light, and although it was pliable at first, there was more resistance as the vine compressed in his hand.
His foot slipped from under him.
“Shi—uaaaaahhhhh!” he yelled, panic gripped him. As he fell, he felt the strangest pull in his stomach, something between anxiety and a pleasant tickle. It reminded him of the feeling he had when he fell from the ship.
He was falling too fast for the team to react. He watched the lake approach him and glanced back at the vine, which continued to detach from the mountain face until it stopped. The sudden deceleration pulled Hunter’s shoulder from its socket, but he still plunged into the lake.
Thankfully, the lake wasn’t shallow. And even in his agony, he could feel the intensity of the etherium down here was a significant fraction more than it was up above. The movement of the etherium was faster down here as well. A soft blue and purple glow pulsed from the depths below, along with a surge of etherium which dwarfed that of the giant brontogon he’d encountered. He felt goosebumps and the water all around him rippled.
Hunter panicked and swam towards the surface as fast as he could with one arm. Breaking through, he gulped in deep breaths of air. He wasn’t too far from the shoreline. He waved up at the team, hoping that they’d see he was okay.
“Are you alive?” He heard a voice echo, but he couldn’t tell if it was Jeren or Joe who had said it.
“Yeah!” he yelled as loud as he could between heaving breaths, swimming awkwardly towards the shore. Whatever pulsed at the bottom of the lake didn’t seem interested in revealing itself. Maybe it had just been a warning?
A few beasts watched him as he approached the shore, none of them showing any signs of concern about his presence. As he pulled himself across increasingly shallow ground, he breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed. He wanted to lie down and close his eyes, but his shoulder was still screaming at him. Gritting his teeth, he adjusted his arm, then yelled as he pushed the shoulder back into the socket.
The surrounding animals glanced at him with curiosity. He continued to breathe fast and deep, doing his best to calm himself down.
He figured that he’d be safe for now, but could he rely on things staying that way forever? What if there was another beastwave, or what if the last one hadn’t ended, and it reached the lake?
Hunter considered the drop from his new vantage point. From his new vantage point, Hunter saw the drop didn’t look as high as it had from above, but he was sure that a fall without the vine breaking his momentum would at least render him unconscious. The surface of the lake wouldn’t have been as forgiving. He’d heard that hitting a body of water at sufficient velocity is just as deadly as hitting concrete. Thankfully, the team had a safer way down, so long as the vine stayed stable.
Eyeing the vine, he saw it move. He squinted. It was hard to see anything against the mountain’s rock wall. From the cave, he saw the dark shape of someone climbing up the vine he'd pulled free. He was confused, considering that salvation was in the opposite direction. Then he saw the silhouette stop at some vines further up, and more vines fell to the lake. Some didn’t make it all the way down, but Hunter realized that the ones that did would allow them to create some supports for Joe and the lieutenant.
He laughed.
His impulsiveness had once more born fruit, more than he’d expected.
----------------------------------------
“There’s something big under the lake,” Hunter said. “I was glowing blue and purple, and I could feel—”
He paused, realizing he was about to reveal his sensitivity.
“—the water behaving strangely. We should be careful around here. Let’s not spend too much time in the water,” Hunter said.
“Even the water is behaving strangely? What the hell, Skyhold?” Jeren whined.
“Apart from the great mystery at the bottom of the lake, I can’t help but feel pretty safe around here,” Joe said.
“If we are where I think we are, then we’re not out of danger yet. But we are closer to base camp than when we started,” Lieutenant Pellar said. They had built a small shelter near the lake after everyone got down from the cave. Hunter couldn't believe the pterophids had come through here to build their nest.
Feeling completely secure, they relaxed and began to make plans.
“How long do beast waves last for?” Hunter asked.
“Anywhere from 12 to 24 hours,” Bella answered, “And if you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking, then yeah, that’s something I’m worried about too.”
The lieutenant grabbed a nearby stick and drew a rectangle in the sand. He drew a small X at one point, a circle at another, and a few triangles.
“This is the valley,” he said, circling a sizeable area in one corner of the box. He drew a line close to one triangle. “This is the river where we found Hunter.”
“Then this is about where we found the original entrance to the cave, where we hid from the beastwave,” Bella marked another spot with her finger.
“Yeah. You notice the valley extends far in this direction,” the lieutenant said, moving the stick away from the mountain, “but there’s a smaller valley between these two. It leads around this mountain, and towards—”
He tapped the smaller circle he’d drawn earlier.
“Lake Striptease,” Jeren whispered. The lieutenant sighed.
“Indeed.”
“So there’s still a chance that the beastwave can reach us?” Hunter asked.
“There’s a chance. I guess the Merciful Cloud’s crash landing triggered this wave, but they’re heading in the wrong direction. Once they realize that they’re fighting gravity to scale mountains, I think they’ll try to find another way through — and that’s only if the wave is still active.”
“Are we closer to the Merciful Cloud than we are to the base camp?” Hunter asked.
The lieutenant shrugged.
“I can’t be sure. All we know is the general direction of its descent, but it could be miles away from us and I wouldn’t recommend that we search for the survivors. This leaves us with a choice to make.”
“Which route do we take towards base camp?” Hunter said.
“Exactly.”
“I vote we take the shortest path,” Jeren said, and Joe nodded. Bella tilted her head as she considered the choices.
“That’s two votes for the shorter path,” the lieutenant said. “Hunter?”
“I’ll agree with whatever you guys choose.”
“What happened to all that ‘am I not technically in charge?’ business?” Jeren asked.
“I didn’t feel like explaining,” Hunter said. “Seeing as how I was the only one at risk, so I didn’t see the problem.”
“I vote we take the long way. I know there’s at least one supply cache along the way. The slight delay will be worth it to have new clothes and a full belly,” Bella said.
“2 for, 1 against. I vote for the shorter path,” the lieutenant said. “I’m not sure how much longer I’m going to last. I’m pretty sure I have infected wounds.
“Right, didn’t think of that,” Bella said, eyeing the lieutenant’s legs.
“Then it’s decided, we’ll take the valley,” the lieutenant said, “but let’s get some sleep first. We’ll head out just after sunrise. Bella and Jeren, you guys fight over who gets first watch.”
With that, the lieutenant went under their small shelter, lying flat on his back. He was snoring soon after. Hunter laid down close by, using his arms as a pillow. However, no matter how much he tried to relax, sleep wouldn’t come.
The ambient etherium was too distracting. The feeling was almost hypnotic. In fact, Hunter realized this whole time, it wasn’t just the etherium affecting his skin that he could feel; it was as if he could feel it all around him, the same way he could feel the etherium in a construct.
He was struck by the idea that his sensitivity extends outwards from him, like a field. Like an aura. The thought was intriguing, and obvious in hindsight. Yet his father had recorded nothing like it in the journals that he’d finished.
Thinking of the journals, he hoped they were still secure aboard the ship. He didn’t know how bad the damage to the ship was, and hated to think about the possibility that the explosion had exposed his room to the air, with the briefcase being lost somewhere in Skyhold’s forests.
He knew that Aera and Trey had survived. The shield was too strong, and the bridge had plenty of safety features, especially around where they’d been standing while they observed their approach to Skyhold. Feeling a sudden anxiousness about getting in contact with them, he accepted the fact that he wouldn’t be getting any sleep.