They woke with some bright chatter, everyone packing up quickly at Trenton’s behest. Typically, Walibeld was the one trying to keep everyone in line, but with him gone, it naturally fell to Trenton to pick up the slack. Everyone seemed to unanimously agree that he was best fit for the role, no one questioning his decisions, or giving him any back talk. It made it easy to keep the group together and focused, everyone following Trenton with full faith.
For the next week, they trekked their way across the sands, trudging their way over never ending sand dunes, skirting along large walls of sandstone, and climbing when they no longer saw a path forward. It was strenuous work, the sweat accumulating on their skin doing little to keep them cool under the blazing sun’s light, but they had little else they could do save just pushing forward. Luckily, they had plenty of water, so they were able to keep themselves incredibly hydrated, the water actually keeping them manageably cool, somewhat.
The worst sections were when they had to climb. It turned out that Kiva’s magic didn’t work well in the desert, the arid environment making it difficult to grow any plants. This meant that Millie, Kiva, and Leo had no good way to climb. And since they didn’t have the time to waste on everyone slowly struggling up several hundred foot cliffs, Garrote and Trenton had to take turns helping everyone up the cliff, training their magic and body respectively.
Late in the evening on their 7th day traveling through the desert, they were met with an impassable wall, a massive stone hunk extending several miles either direction. It would take them way too long to travel around it, which meant that they’d have to climb again. Trenton was already sore from some climbing earlier that day, so he wasn’t looking forward to even more strain that day.
“We could stop and rest here, give you both time to rest, and climb in the morning,” Kiva said, leaning forward to look at Trenton and Garrote, who were staring up at the steep wall.
“Sure, we could. Or we could simply not be cowards. It’s definitely the largest one so far. Imagine what the stars would look like from so high up,” Garrote said, egging Trenton on.
Trenton was hesitant, but tempted to agree, “The sight would be something. Plus, it’d probably be safer up at the top. I imagine fewer creatures would be willing or able to climb so high up,” he said, Kiva giving him a worried look.
Garrote looked over at Trenton, a coy smile spreading across his face, “Wanna race?”
“Race?”
“Yeah, see who can make it to the top first. You take Leo, and I’ll take Kiva and Millie. That should be about even weight wise.”
“...you won’t win.”
“We’ll see.”
Leo held on around Trenton’s shoulders, his whole body dangling a little off of the ground. Trenton definitely had the harder task here, having to physically move himself and Leo up the face of the cliff, their success dependent on both Trenton’s ability and the natural terrain of the cliff. Garrote, meanwhile, could simply hover straight upwards, completely unburdened with both the awkwardness of carrying another person and having to scale around the grooves of the rock.
Despite this, Trenton was confident. His physical strength was far greater than Garrotes, his training up to this point having been extremely intensive on his physical form. He would end nearly every training session with Walibeld injured from pushing himself too hard, his body unable to keep up with his iron will. Even now that Walibeld was gone, Trenton had been using what time he has before they go to bed to train his strength, typically through lifting large hunks of stone he summoned up from the ground. So in essence, it was a pretty fair match.
Trenton braced himself against the wall, holding onto some perfect handholds he’d just made, his eyes locked on his destination. Off to his right, some 10 feet away, Garrote stood with his eyes closed, his palms raised up to lift himself, Millie, and Kiva once the signal had been called. It was on.
Kiva held up her arm, counting them down, “3…2…1…GO!”
Trenton leapt into the air, practically throwing himself up the cliff, Leo shifting violently on his backs, the movements making it difficult to hold onto Trenton. Everytime Trenton’s momentum started to level, he’d slam his body into the rock, forming handholds to keep going, leaving behind a very obvious trail. Trenton’s entire body burned from the strain, his already worn muscles only tearing further, but he’d be damned if lost a meaningless competition.
Off to his side, Garrote struggled behind. He was rising at a much steadier pace than Trenton, but it was slow, the three bodies dragging down on his magic. Even as they rose, they wobbled, Garrote sacrificing stability for faster movement. Yet every time he looked like he was about to drop someone, he refocused, calming their incessant shaking. His control was pretty incredible for the circumstances. Trenton looked down to see Garrote’s progress, shifting his gaze from his own ascension to ensure that he was winning. Just as he looked away, however, he felt his hand slip, his whole body entering a sudden free fall, Leo still clinging close to him.
Trenton, still calm, flipped around, driving his hands into the stone wall, forcefully forming long grooves for himself, slowing down via sheer friction and strength, Leo barely holding on. When they came to a stop, Trenton and Leo were both fine, if a little shaken, but they’d lost their lead, Garrote ascending past them in the midst of their free fall. Trenton redoubled his efforts, driving himself to his very limits and beyond to ascend the cliff, the several hundred foot drop below him barely even crossing his mind as he ascended. It was close as they neared the top, Trenton’s express pace quickly catching up to Garrote. However, just as Trenton reached the lip, Garrote touched down, Millie and Kiva following in tow. Trenton hauled himself over the ledge, allowing Leo off his back once they were on sturdy ground again.
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Garrote looked at him smug, “You should’ve stayed focused. I would’ve lost no question if you’d just kept going.”
“Yeah, well, gods damn my hubris. I’ll get you on the runback. You’ll see.
The top of the cliff was actually a great place to stop. It was spacious and flat, its edge weaving around in a curved pattern to surround a large gaping hole in the center, a mix of sand and stone some 50 feet down creating a nice little groove. Trenton thought to sleep in the hole, its walls serving as solid protection from the elements, but Kiva assured him it wasn’t a great idea.
The ground looked uneven, not great for setting up their tents, and monsters also tended to like crevices like this one, using it to seek cover. It was likely that there were tons of small critters hiding in little cracks down in the crater. It would just be best to leave them alone. When his section of the camp was set up, Trenton did his nightly exercise, about an hour or so of strenuous lifting, no breaks. He’d go for longer, his training with Walibeld would always last for around 12 hours, but he simply didn’t have the time. It was just as important to get good sleep as it was to keep his body sturdy. Trenton finished his exercises, deciding to take the first guard shift alone.
The whole time he was on shift, his eyes were mostly turned to the splendor of the heavens. He’d feel anything approaching long before it got there, so the only real threat would be anything flying in. Well, that was how it was supposed to work, anyway. Back when Kullisates attacked them, he hadn’t noticed it until it was practically on them. It bugged him, irked him to a problematic extent. What had happened? He figured that the only real explanation was that it had jumped. Trenton couldn’t feel things traveling through the air very well, nor the water, so if it had jumped, he reasonably wouldn’t have been able to notice the rumbling until it was too late, exactly what had happened. It wasn’t a sure explanation, but it was the one that soothed him just enough to keep moving forward.
Trenton turned his gaze back upon the sky, his whole head having lowered from the sudden burst of emotions associated with the disastrous event only a week prior. Just like Garrote had thought, the stars were beautiful, their smear of colors holding Trenton’s gaze aloft to admire them. It was terribly cold, even by their fire, and Trenton’s body ached all over. But even still, he was rather pleased, the stars soothing his many pains.
When his shift was about over, Trenton unwound himself from his many blankets, heading over to Garrote’s tent to wake him up. But just as Trenton reached to open the flap on Garrote’s tent, he paused, something off to the side catching his attention. He couldn’t feel it, nor could he hear it, but instead he saw it, a faint golden light from off to his side peeling over the ledge. It was coming from the crater in the center of the cliff.
Trenton slowly approached the edge, careful to keep quiet. If it was a monster, he’d like to get a jump on it before it saw him. He might not even have to wake up everyone else that way, if he could find a way to kill something quietly, of course–not an easy task for Trenton. But when Trenton saw what was actually producing the light, he was completely taken aback, his preparations to fight quickly washing away to plain confusion.
Down in the large crater, dozens of spirits of every element were dancing and swimming in a large oasis that certainly wasn’t there a couple hours prior. There were also a handful of tables, lawn chairs, and umbrellas stuck into the sand, hotspots meant for relaxation and luxury, the tables spread with the most unique foods Trenton had ever seen. There were even streamers and lights on strings hanging from edge to edge, their soft golden glow the light that Trenton had noticed initially. It looked like a party.
Despite the fact that all of the spirits were messing around, laughing boisterously and splashing in the water, Trenton couldn't hear anything, the sounds of their party completely nullified by some unknown magic. But Trenton couldn't see any dampening runes, so he had no idea what could be causing the effect. In fact, Trenton couldn’t feel anything, either. Somehow, they were blocking his geoesthia, something he didn’t even think was possible. He wasn’t sure how they had even gotten there without Trenton noticing. He’d been on guard shift for several hours, and he definitely would have noticed them set up, but there was little he could do about it now.
Trenton quickly rose everyone from their slumber, keeping them quiet so as not to disturb the spirits. He wanted to hear from Millie before making any sort of move. Spirit human relations were supposed to be pretty tense, so Trenton wasn’t incredibly excited to interrupt their celebrations. Everyone slowly worked off their drowsiness, stumbling forward at Trenton’s request, their weariness quickly fading to surprise as they joined Trenton in peering over the edge.
“I don’t believe it,” Millie whispered, her eyes wide.
“Why? What is it? How did they even get down there?” Kiva asked, stifling a yawn with her hand.
Millie looked up at Trenton, her eyes full of wonder, “What day is it?”
Trenton worked the days over in his head, trying to remember how long they’d been traveling for. The night of the ball was August 18th, and they’d been traveling for 63 days, this being the 63rd night, which meant that this was the night of October 6th, exactly 7 weeks since the destruction of Aria. Trenton relayed as such, working the numbers over in his head to make sure they were correct.
“I can’t believe I forgot! I wasn’t keeping track of the days, so I had no idea when it was,” Millie said, digging into herself for some unknown reason.
“Forget what? What happens on October 6th?” Garrote asked, a little more awake than the others.
“Every year on October 6th, the spirits from the homeland mingle with the rest of the world. Those spirits,” Millie pointed down into the crater, “are all within the homeland right now. This little bubble is a small portal into a segment of the homeland. They appear all over the world throughout the night, their locations completely random. They always show up in the Dwelling, so I never even considered the ones that just appear out in the wilderness,” Millie explained.
“Go join them, Millie. We’ll stay out here. I don’t think spirits would take kind to our presence,” Kiva said, encouraging Millie forward.
“No, you don’t get it! On this one day, the spirits come out of hiding to mingle with the humans again. This is the one day every year that your presence isn’t just welcome, it’s encouraged! Come on!” Millie shouted, climbing down into the pit.
Trenton and Leo exchanged an apprehensive look. Everyone knew that spirits hated humans. It made no sense that they’d choose to mingle with humans. They were already so far out in the middle of nowhere. These spirits were probably trying to stay away from the rest of the world, hiding in their own little nook. However, before they could say otherwise, Garrote jumped off, plunging into the spirit homeland, slowing himself to a stop on the ground. He’d gotten better with his magic pretty quickly, already able to move himself around with relative grace. Kiva shrugged, quickly climbing down after Millie. Trenton and Leo sat there for a moment, hesitating to step forward. There was no one left to stop them, but neither was excited about the idea.
“We’re going to have to clean up, aren't we?” Leo asked, still looking down into the pit.
“Looks it. Come on, we can at least try to avoid a fight,” Trenton said, slowly lowering himself over the edge.