An archway of black rock, stark and imposing, stood out against the gray and brown tones of the surrounding mountain. The arch seemed almost unnatural, its smooth, dark surface in sharp contrast to the rough, jagged rock surrounding it. The stone appeared ancient, weathered by time yet retaining an eerie, otherworldly presence.

The funny thing was that we found the "black" rock the next day by noon. Now we just stood looking at it, ideas in short supply.

"Touch it again," she said, "but this time I really feel for it."

"The quest didn't say anything about touching it." I sighted.

"Well, obviously, I'm hoping it has some sort of backup."

I reached out again, fingers brushing the smooth, cold surface of the black stone. Guess I expected a hum or a faint pulse of energy—something to hint at the ancient power the archway seemed to promise. Instead, there was nothing—just the cold, lifeless texture of the rock beneath my touch. I pressed my palm flat against it, searching, straining to sense even a flicker of the force I imagined had shaped this dark, unnatural arch. But it was silent, empty, as if whatever power once resided here had long since vanished, leaving only a hollow relic behind.

"Nothing. It's clearly dead," I finally said. "The lightning is supposed to power it up, if I had to guess."

"Is there anything else that can power it up?" she asked.

"Well, lightning," she looked at me, rolling her eyes. "From a storm, I mean, would be an obvious solution."

"Kinda cold for that," she mused.

"Unfortunately, you're right."

"There has to be other ways; how do you produce electricity in your world?" she asked.

"In complicated ways or using already-made parts like motors."

"You had to have started with something more simple."

"I mean, sure, if we had a lot of copper wire, we could build a dynamo, but even if we did, its power output would be negligible. If this thing needs to be recharged, a dynamo is never going to do it."

"Maybe it doesn't need to be recharged; its purpose could be more like a key proving it's you." she said.

"I guess that's also a possibility, and a more hopeful one. If power output doesn't matter, there could be an option." My mind was racing, wondering if we had the materials on us.

"You're going to keep me in suspense?" she said.

"Sorry, I was thinking if we got the materials."

"Try to think out loud," she mused.

"Well, the classic experiment we do in school is power up a small LED light with lemons." Looking at her puzzled expression, I added, "Lemon is a fruit."

"Well, I already found a flaw in your plan," she teased.

"It doesn’t have to be a lemon—any sour fruit will work; the more tart, the better. Do you know of anything around here that grows that could fit the description?"

"There was a vine the ursine used to squeeze over the fish they ate; it was pretty sour. Obviously, I can't compare it to your fruit," she added.

"It will have to do."

"What else?" she asked.

"We need some wires to connect the lemons to the archway; it doesn't have to be wires, but something metal and as thin as possible."

"I have some hair pins; are they thin enough?"

"It's perfect. Now we need copper."

"Coins, easy," she interrupted.

"Yes, and the last part is zinc," I added.

After some thought, she added, "Can it be anything else? I don't think we have zinc on us."

"Well, it has to be something that gives electrons. Wait, is the fire starter the ursine gave us made of magnesium?"

"I have no idea," she said while searching our bags for it.

After she found it, we both inspected it, but I couldn't really tell what it was made of.

"Never seen magnesium, but it does look different," she added.

"It's not like we have any other options. Try to find some sour vine while I try to prepare the rest."

She nodded and headed away.

Assuming the sour vines weren't as juicy as the lemons, I searched for a dimpled rock so I could pour the liquid into.

It had to have a straight base since I couldn't risk it wobbling. It actually took awhile to find one, but eventually it was done.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

The rest of the time was spent trying to straighten the clips and make little wedges at the edges to act as a clip.

While waiting for Alira, I attempted to cast a lightning bolt again. It was a bit embarrassing to keep failing in front of her, so I tried to limit my attempts to when she wasn’t around. Naturally, nothing happened, but that was no surprise.

My latest theory was that the magic part could be like a muscle, and I strained it. Ok, really, really strained it. So I was trying to ease into it; once a day I would try to cast something even if it did nothing. By now I was trying two times a day, and I was planning to increase it over the next couple of days.

The chances were extremely low, but it kept my spirits up.

Then I had another idea. Alira seemed to be running late, so might as well test the static electricity angle.

I rubbed my hands together vigorously, trying to generate even a hint of static electricity. The cold air around me made it harder, but I kept at it, feeling the faint tingle in my fingertips. Once I thought I had enough, I reached out, fingertips trembling, and touched the surface of the black archway. A shiver ran down my spine as I made contact. For a split second, I hoped for a spark, something to acknowledge the effort. But there was nothing—just the cool, smooth surface of the archway, as lifeless as before. Disappointment settled in, heavy and cold.

Still, the archway must have been hit by lightning in the thousand years it had been sitting here, so just a zap shouldn't trigger it. It must require some electrical charge over a period of time. Hopefully a very low electrical charge.

It's not like the goddess could predict the power of my bolts, so if I were to design such a system, the voltage wouldn't matter, only the time.

Eventually, after a few hours, Alira returned. She seemed in a good mood, so things were looking good. She emptied her backpack and it was filled with thin vines.

It took some concentration and dexterity for Alira to squeeze the juice into the stone 'cup', but soon it was almost full.

The wires were suspended above another rock near the archway, and they were all well connected, which would be too optimistic, but they were touching each other. All that was left was to dip the anode/cathode into the juice.

Slowly, I lowered the copper coin on one side and hopefully magnesium on the other side, then took a step back.

"I don't see anything? Did it work?" Alira asked.

"The voltage is too low, so see anything, but if nothing happens, I will try to test it on my tongue after."

I almost held my breath as the time began to pass. Counting, we reached 30 seconds, and nothing was happening. At 45 seconds, I was starting to worry.

As we were nearing the minute mark, something finally seemed to change. The black stone was beginning to take on a faint blue tint.

"It's working," Alira enthusiastically declared.

"I can't believe it," I said out loud while the air under the archway was starting to become visibly fogged.

"Believe it!" she exclaimed, emphasizing the final word.

The air slowly turned from fogged to the dark blue hue of the archway. A portal stood in front of us now.

"Do we jump?" Alira looked at me expectedly.

I hesitated, "It's a thousand-year-old portal; it might have been damaged."

"So we went to all this trouble crossing the continent to just stare at it?" she remarked.

"Was just making sure that you know the risks."

"I think we should hurry before that battery of yours fails."

She wasn't wrong; the wires that were touching the archway could come undone at any time because of the changes to the stone.

Finding some courage, I stepped forward, looked back at Alira, smiled, and jumped into the portal.

If I thought the last portal ride was painful, this one somehow beat it easily. The only small mercy was that I lost consciousness pretty quickly.

When I came to Alira, she was frantically pacing near me.

"Hey, how long was I out?" I managed to say.

She quickly turned and came to hug me. "Oh, thank you, Elune; your pulse almost dropped to zero after we arrived."

"That bad, huh? I did pass out from the pain in the portal, so I kind of figured it would be even worse," I said.

"You felt pain in the portal?"

"Wait, you didn't feel any discomfort from the portal?"

"No," she answered.

"Seems I'm allergic to portals; I should avoid them in the future." I tried getting up, but she held me in place with a hand on my chest.

"Take a few minutes first, please. You were pretty close to..." She didn't finish the sentence; she just looked at me.

"Sorry for worrying you... again."

"I'm sure you worry about me as well all the time," she tried to sidestep the subject.

"Not really; I worry mostly about me as well these days."

The heavy lines of worry on her face seem to lessen somewhat, yet no smile appeared.

I tried looking where we are, but the position I was in made it difficult. I could only see darkness besides her face.

"Is it night already? How long was I out?" I asked again.

"An hour maybe, hard to be sure. We must be in a cavern of sorts, as it should still be day outside, but it must be gigantic, as I can't even see the top. The archway is behind us; it's our only source of light. Other than that, I didn't dare go very far. Had to keep an eye on you, even if there was not much I could do."

Since it was against the doctor's orders to get up, I brought up my stat screen, fearing other corruptions.

Strength: 7

Agility: 5

Stamina: 7

Perception: 2

Intelligence: Recalculating...

Charisma: 8

Spirit: 2

Faith: 0

I bolted up from exitement.

"I thought I told you to take it slow," she said.

"The stat screen... it changed; it says recalculating instead of error," jubilation evident in my voice.

Her demeanor changed, and she visibly relaxed. "I'm really happy for you," she said.

Tentatively, I raised my hand and cast a lightning bolt at the ground in front of me.

Nothing happened.

But I was pretty weak, so I tried again, and finally I felt the tingle forming on my finger and the blue crackling light forming and heading towards the ground.

I jumped out of joy; however, my landing was not the smoothest as my knees were still weak. Thankfully, Alira caught me and set me down gently.

"Well, it's official; I'm never taking another portal again," I said.

She smiled, which had been getting rarer these past few weeks, so it was very nice to see.

Searching through the pack, she gave me some hardtack.

"You need your strength; eat it," she said while keeping her smile.

It tasted like crap, and it was hard as a rock, but it was light, so we brought loads of it. I really had to learn to conjure food; this was just unacceptable.

But it did have carbs, and after a few minutes I felt strong enough to stand again.

"Have you tried to start a fire?"

"We used all the magnesium on your little contraption, plus there's no wood, so we would have to burn clothes."

"Give me a piece of cloth and your sword." She loocked a little ticked off to hand her sword but did it anyway.

I wrapped the tip of the sword with the cloth, then I concentrated on making a small flame above my finger, as I did in the past when starting campfires. With the cloth ablaze, I made a few steps forward.

"Either there's something wrong with the fire or this place," she said.

Indeed, the fire reached our eyes but did not light up our surroundings at all. My money was on the darkness being magical somehow.

Taking another step forward, I received a new message.

Quest Notification: Find the location of the Forge of the Gods.

Objective: Second Clue: Use your lightning bolt skill on a black rock you will soon encounter. - Complete

Reward: Final Clue: Find the entrance through the darkness.