After reaching the island with the Guild supported crews and ships, Ezekiel could easily say that things were not going to plan. Having to run away from a legion of Adept and Apprentice Tier Wild Spirits thanks to George’s curiosity and recklessness was simply the final nail in the coffin. Of course, having Fiana and Sasha as support helped, but it was still annoying. Especially since they had to write out reports for that bitch, Ginny.
Regardless, it was now the third day since their arrival on the enormous caldera island. They had yet to encounter any Legendary Spirits, but the Church and the Island Hoppers knew it was just a matter of time. The fact that they hadn’t gotten much word from the other Guilds on the island did make things more worrisome.
The current expedition consisted of a Fleet with over a hundred ships. Crews from multiple Guilds and Cathedrals, many from different islands, had gathered to take part in this expedition. Given the sheer importance of finding a Temple of the Void, and the value of the treasures within, this was understandable. The sheer size of the island, as well as its location within the Desolate Lands, meant that it was too dangerous for a single Guild to explore, as they were essentially mapping out an entire Island.
Nearly half a dozen Legendary Hunters were on the Island, but the distance between all of them meant that getting back up would be difficult. Unfortunately, given the amount of ground they needed to cover, it was determined that this was still the best method for finding the Temple of the Void. A signal for the Com Slates had been determined, and whichever group found it first was contract bound to report it.
Ezekiel stared out into the jungle near the edge of the caldera that the Sanafalls Scholars and Island Hoppers had been camping nearby. Given that their intended path towards the center of the island, the first place they were determined to look, was now cut off by several packs of Wild Spirits, they would be relocating to a different area. This one would hopefully be outside the territory of the Spirits they had pissed off the day before.
It was a frustrating situation, as the Guilds would usually just fight them off. But that was not an option on this island. Not only were there too many Spirits to fight off, but the other half of this island was full of Umbral Beasts, and even a couple of Cruor encampments. If the Guilds and the Church fought the Spirits, then it would mean that the Cruor would likely outnumber them. Resulting in the Cruor having total control of the Island.
It was determined that it would be best not to disrupt the shaky balance for now. Perhaps, when they had greater numbers, they could attempt to clear out this island of the Cruor. But doing so had its own risks. Such as sparking open conflict, as opposed to the more subtle back and forth skirmishes at the borders here and there.
“Ezekiel, hey!” Sasha’s voice called out from near the base of the hill leading to the caldera’s edge. Turning around, Ezekiel saw that she was waving him down. It seemed like they were moving to their new secondary camp area.
“Coming.” Ezekiel called back. He leapt down the hill. Sliding a few feet as he landed on an area with an incline. Coming to a stop in front of some boxes, he reached down to pick them up. “Where are these going?”
Sasha pointed out one of the enchanted wagons that were being pulled. Ezekiel started loading them up as Carrian and Ginny gave orders in the background. Ginny, of course, assigned Ezekiel and Sasha the most menial and annoying task of carrying whatever couldn’t be put into wagons.
As they and over a dozen other Mages, Hunters and Scholars both headed out, Ezekiel couldn’t help but look over their base camp one more time. A small village had essentially been set up around a magically formed and reinforced dock. It would be their main supply depot for incoming supplies. The current expedition was expected to take several months, so there would be teams switching off and on between secondary camp and base camp, to keep people fresh and get the tired ones out of the danger zones.
With a sigh, Ezekiel turned around. Either Carrian or Ginny would be following after them in a day or so. Hopefully they would have the main parts of the secondary camp set up again by the time one or the other arrived. However, the destruction of several supplies at their previous secondary camp was something that would set them back quite a bit. Ezekiel knew that the next few days were going to be tedious. Hopefully, Carrian would oversee the secondary camp until it was finished.
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It took nearly a week to finish the secondary camp. Luckily Carrian did indeed oversee the construction, else it would’ve taken even longer should Ginny have been there to get on Ezekiel’s nerves like usual. Even so, the amount of work that was needed to not only reach the secondary campsite, but to also clear the area before setting it up made things difficult.
Unlike the base camp, and even the previous secondary camp, this camp was placed in a relatively open area, as it was put halfway up the hill to the edge of the caldera. As opposed to within the caldera at the base of the inner cliff. This was decided to be best, as a small checkpoint inside the caldera would make more sense, since they now realized that it was far too likely that the Wild Spirits in the jungle were likely to destroy any temporary buildings.
The current camp was placed near an outcropping that overlooked a small stream. It cut through the wall of the caldera, and allowed water from the mountains further in to escape into the ocean. Ezekiel was confused when he saw it, as it didn’t match any of his poorly remembered geography lessons. But then he remembered that magic was a thing, and the strange geography was likely due to the Spirits making their homes more comfortable.
The camp itself was fully fortified with stone wall lines with reinforced spikes. The inside had half a dozen small areas for sleeping quarters, alchemic research, cartography and record keeping, tool maintenance, and a medical area. It was relatively cramped, but it wasn’t meant to hold more than a couple dozen people at once. If anything really bad happened, then the vanguard team was to retreat back to the beach and the base camp at full speed.
After the camp was built, however, then it was time for a new path to be scouted by the away teams. Ezekiel, of course, volunteered to take part. However, Carrian immediately shot down his request.
“It’s nothing against you, Ezekiel, but for right now, given your luck, I’d like to have at least a little bit of success before the next big thing happens.” Carrian said. His voice lightly teasing as the rest of the current camp team laughed at his expense.
“He’s not wrong. Your luck is fairly chaotic.” Shine said. Their attempts to sooth Ezekiel’s frustration and embarrassment were not successful.
“Doesn’t mean I don’t want to be out there searching for the Temple. Do you have any idea how much it could help us progress?” Ezekiel said back.
Shine was silent. Ezekiel realized that he’d said the wrong thing after he felt guilt coming from Shine. It seemed like the Void Spirit still felt that they were holding Ezekiel back.
“Please stop feeling guilty. If not for you, I’d have no spells to use. You’ll reach my pace in no time. Trust me.” Ezekiel said.
“Right!” Shine tried to sound enthusiastic. But it was often hard to hide something from someone you literally tied your soul to.
“For now, you and a few others will do some nearby investigations. I want the immediate surroundings mapped. I’ve already done a scan of the nearby water, the stream included. But the forest nearby may have some herbs and other resources that we can start cultivating. Better to have food on hand than to have to wait for resupplies all the time. Just in case.” Carrian finished saying before he began assigning teams for tasks.
There were nods all around, and even Ezekiel had to agree that this was likely the best course of action. It would keep him from making his final breakthroughs quickly, but he’d already delayed that with the construction of the secondary camp. It wasn’t like Shine could send him their mana just yet. As it was, Shine’s soul was only barely capable of reaching Step nine of Tier one.
Apparently, surviving for two months on an island where everything wants to kill you was a good experience for soul growth. Regardless, it would be some time before Shine could support him with their mana directly. Though Shine was close to reaching Step seven. They just needed a couple more weeks without doing any expenditure on their own. That, or Ezekiel could try and flood them with enough mana to break through in one go, but that was stressful on the soul, and took time to recover from.
For the time being, Ezekiel put thoughts of improvement out of the way. Much to Fiana’s argumentative grumbling. But since they were just going to be gathering supplies from the surrounding area, she admitted that trying to push him too far too fast would be a bad idea. Thus, Ezekiel got to work with Sasha and a couple of his fellow Hunters.
A separate team left to begin construction on the simple elevator system they were going to install at the caldera edge. Then, they’d begin scouting if it wasn’t too late in the day.
It didn’t take Ezekiel’s team too long to find a number of fruit trees that the Life Mages would be able to cultivate within the camp. Although mystical fruits would’ve been better, a source of vitamins would help ensure that people stayed healthy without constant mana use. They also managed to find some wild tubers that would be a good source of energy.
Part of the party also took time to map out the area in more detail. Just in case they needed to find something specific later on. As well as to mark out the territories of the lower Tiered Spirits nearby.
A slight rumbling spread out from one particular direction.
“OY! Over here! I found something good!” One of the Hunters called out. The rest quickly rushed over. They reached a small clearing surrounded by a relatively thin wall of stone a few feet high. “We got meat and eggs on the menu now!” The Hunter cried out in joy.
Inside the ring of stone were half a dozen birds that were panicking and trying to escape their entrapment. They reminded Ezekiel of the dodo and were a fairly common food source in the Archipelago. They laid eggs a little bit faster, and more regularly, guaranteeing at least one egg or more a day. But they were quite a bit larger, being slightly larger than a turkey. Their eggs were similarly scaled.
The lack of elemental abilities, and general higher levels of intellect, meant that these were all standard animals, not Spirits in the shape of the food source animal. Mistaking a Spirit for such was rare, but it did happen. Though it was usually reptilian or amphibian animals that were mixed up.
“Nice find. I see two males and four females. We should be able to set up a proper coop when we get them back to the camp.” Another Hunter said as he patted the first Hunter on the back. “I think that we can knock these birds out and head back to camp. Each of us carries one. Agreed?”
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“Agreed.” The gathering team exclaimed. Then the Tempest Mage in their group came forward. Taking a small bundle out of their Void Pouch, she unwrapped a handful of dust. It was a substance that a number of lower Tiered, or non-combatant, Tempest Mages tended to carry around. It was a poisonous powder that could easily spread out across the wind. It affected animals and Spirits alike. The effects were determined by the dosage and were good up to Tier two in large amounts. But the best it could do was cause temporary paralysis.
Everyone carefully held their breath and backed away. The Tempest Mage’s Spirit directed the wind to make sure that the Mage wasn’t affected. Taking a small pinch of the powder, the Mage threw it into the encircled area. It slowly drifted down invisible paths until it went into the beaks of the panicking birds. They were twitching on the ground by the time she put the powder back in her pouch.
“It’s a shame I couldn’t catch the rest of them. But I couldn’t make a circle big enough to get them all faster than they could run away.” The first Hunter said in disappointment.
“There were more?” Another Hunter asks. “Maybe we can take a look to see where they ran off to? These birds tend to stay in fairly large flocks, after all. Not many Spirits like to eat them.”
“Ezekiel. Sasha.” The oldest Hunter in the group called out. “Take a quick look around. See if you can find any tracks. We’ll start heading back with these. Don’t spend more than twenty minutes looking. Head straight back to camp after you’re done.”
Ezekiel just nodded his head. But Sasha and Tuff looked upset.
“Why do we need to go looking for birds?” Sasha asked.
“Because I have seniority, and you two are the newest members. Go. Look. Be back at Camp within an hour. If you’re not, we’ll send a search party, but you’d better be in trouble. If not, you will be, when we find you.” The older Hunter said. The rest just chuckled, but Ezekiel just sighed. He grabbed the back of Sasha’s coat before marching away.
“You might want to look in that direction first. I saw them fleeing that way.” The Cavern Mage who captured the birds said. He was pointing off to the side of where Ezekiel was dragging Sasha.
“Thank you.” Ezekiel said. He changed direction.
The rest of the Hunters all headed back to the camp after grabbing the birds. It’d take them about half an hour to get there from where they were. But the powder should keep the birds from moving for an hour or so. They could take their time.
Ezekiel and Sasha, however, started marching in a different direction. One that brought them close to the ocean. They looked for several clues, but there were none to be found in the underbrush of the forest around them.
“Shouldn’t we start heading back yet?” Sasha asked after nearly twenty minutes of searching. “We haven’t found anything. So, I don’t see much point in continuing to search.”
“Just a little bit further. Maybe there’ll be tracks on the beach.” Ezekiel said.
As they broke through the tree line, they saw that there was a small ledge that divided the forest and the dirt covered ground from the sand covered beach. The drop was roughly six feet or so. But it was slanted, with rocks and logs pressed against it. So, Ezekiel could easily see the birds hoping up or down from the beach. The tracks leading into the distance fully supported this.
“C’mon. We’ll follow the tracks for a few minutes then turn back if we don’t find anything.” Ezekiel said. They still had a few minutes left before the twenty-minute marker. So, he felt that it was fine.
Sasha grumbled a bit. But a few soft chitters from Tuff encouraged her to go on.
“Question: How do you intend to capture the birds? We don’t have any knock-out powder.” Shine chimed in as they continued forward.
The small party hadn’t even been walking for a minute before they reached a small cave mouth leading under a cliff face at the end of the beach. Yet another unnatural geographical formation made by magic. But this time it seemed to be a bit strange. It was clear that water would leak into the cave at high tide, but even if it was artificial, it should’ve had a pool that they could see. Unless it went much deeper than they could see.
“Can you and Tuff sense how far this cave goes?” Ezekiel asked Sasha.
The Cavern Mage and her Spirit focused for a minute.
“No. I can sense that it goes deep. And there’s a few twists and turns. But I can’t sense how far it goes. At least twenty feet past the curve back there.” Sasha said. She pointed to a portion of the wall near the back that Ezekiel hadn’t noticed. The cave was so smooth and well-worn that he barely noticed the bend near the back.
“We need to report back. This is something strange. Screw the birds. Carrian needs to see this.” Ezekiel said. There was a hint of urgency in his voice.
“Agreed. This cave creeps me out.” Sasha said. Tuff nodded along.
They couldn’t tell if this was man made, or Spirit made. Either way, it was bad news, as it would’ve taken at least mid-Adept Tier magic to carve this out alone. That, or a swarm or lower Tier Spirits that worked together. Either way, it was potentially a very bad thing for their camp.
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It was a few hours later that saw Carrian and a larger team of Hunters, each armed to the teeth, standing in front of the now partially submerged cave. Looking toward the beach, Ezekiel saw that there was a steady flow of water flowing into the cave.
“You were right. This is definitely not natural, nor is it a good sign. Most likely, there is a nest of Spirits living underground near here.” Carrian said. “Can anyone tell me how deep it goes?”
Usually, Carrian would sense the flow of the water going into the cave. But the number of twists and bends made this difficult. Especially since he was trying not to disturb it to the best of his abilities.
One of the Cavern Mages spoke up.
“I can sense that the tunnels go out at least a few hundred feet inland. They also go a couple dozen feet down. Can’t see what else is past that.” The Hunter said.
“So, we’re expecting possibly a kilometer or more of twisting tunnels. Perfect.” Carrian sighed in frustration.
“Ah! Sorry sir. A few hundred feet is where it opens up. I can’t sense tell what’s past that since there’s a hollow area with no earth for me to sense.” The Hunter chimed in again.
This information did not make Carrian’s mood much better.
“We’re going to have to send a message to Ginny. She’s the strongest Obscure Mage we have right now. She’ll be the only one besides a few Cavern Mages that’ll be able to investigate without getting caught by whatever is down there.” Carrian said. His eyes were closed, and his face was scrunched up. He really didn’t want to give Ginny additional responsibilities.
“I want five Hunters guarding this cave from a distance. Anything that comes out is to be reported right away. Any powerful Spirits are to be run from. Do not engage in any fights if you can help it. Understood?” Carrian shouted.
“Yes, sir!” The Hunters all replied.
Carrian picked out who he wanted to have guarding the cave. Then he and the rest went back to the camp. He would have to send a runner to have Ginny come to the secondary camp. They needed to get this investigation started as soon as possible.
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The next day saw Carrian standing in front of the cave with Ginny and another large group of Hunters. Ezekiel and Sasha were nowhere to be seen, as they only wanted Adepts to be involved for now. If it was deemed safe enough for Apprentices later, then they might get involved.
“Why don’t we just collapse it?” Ginny asked with disinterest as she looked at the cave. It was now low tide, and the cave was fully opened, even more so than when Sasha and Ezekiel had found it.
“Because that might make whatever’s in there angry.” Carrian said.
“Fine. You four!” Ginny said as she pointed at four Adept Hunters. Two Cavern Mages, A Tempest Mage, and a Radiant Mage. “We’re heading in. Get your stuff ready. We’ll go in twenty minutes.”
As the Hunters got their things ready, Carrian leaned over. Using his magic to make sure he wasn’t overheard; he gave some additional instructions to Ginny. She looked frustrated, and almost like she wanted to argue, but didn’t.
“Alright! Let’s move out!” Ginny called the other Hunters that would be accompanying her. They entered the currently dry tunnel with haste. They’d only have a couple hours before the tide came back enough to flood the cave again. They couldn’t block off the entrance to stop this either. As it would give away the fact that someone had made changes to the cave structure.
Watching the team head into the cave, Carrian turned to the rest of the Hunters.
“The moment they get out of there, I want someone to let out a signal. I don’t care how you do it, you get me informed.” With that said, Carrian marched back to the secondary camp. He still had to organize the rest of the Hunters in order to perform today’s tasks.
“The work never ends.” He muttered under his breath.
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Several hours after Carrian had returned to camp, there was still no sign of the team's return. He was just about to gather more Hunters to head to the cave when he saw a flash of lightning streak into the sky. It then branched into multiple streaks heading upwards. It looked a lot like a tree.
“LIFE MAGES! THREE OF YOU WITH ME! NOW!” Carrian cried out as three Life Mages, Two Hunters and George, all ran forward. Carrian picked them up and stepped onto a platform he’d made of frozen water vapor he’d pulled from the atmosphere.
“You as well, get up here!” Carrian shouted at one of the Apprentice Scholars. A Death Mage that had been in the Alchemy station. “Fiana’s in charge until I or Ginny get back!”
Without another word, Carrian and the four other Mages were off. The speed was nearly too fast for Ezekiel to see. Fiana quickly started directing people to begin packing the more valuable items for travel. Just in case something bad had happened and they needed to do another retreat.
The atmosphere in the camp was somber as everyone began performing their tasks.
“Do you think they’re going to be okay?” Shine asked Ezekiel as they started packing up some equipment from the tool maintenance station.
“I’m not sure. I think Carrian will be able to handle any threats that pop up. But we just don’t know what that team ran into.” Ezekiel replied.
The two fell into silence as they continued to work. Ginny might’ve been a bitch. But that didn’t mean they wanted her or any other Island Hoppers to die because of a grudge.
It was three hours later, just before the sun was starting to set, that the entire party returned from the cave. Carrian looked fine. A little out of breath, but otherwise unharmed. Similarly, the Life and Death Mages he’d brought looked tired, but uninjured. As did the Hunters left as guards.
The same could not be said about Ginny and her team.
One of the Guards had a blank look on his face and was missing an arm. His Spirit was nowhere to be found. Clearly there had been casualties. The rest were rough. Cuts and bruises that had clearly been recently healed. Some even had bandages on them, meaning that more mana was used to purge the wounds of foreign mana than to heal them.
The fact that the Death Mage was also tired meant that there was something with a Death attribute in the cave. They would only look so tired if they had to expend a significant amount of mana and concentration. Since they hadn’t killed anything, that meant they were purging Death mana. Something Ezekiel had personally experienced. Even if he was unconscious at the time.
Ginny in particular looked nearly as bad as the man who’d lost his Spirit. She too was missing an arm but had also lost a foot. Yet she had rejected help and had clearly marched all the way to camp with the makeshift wooden prosthetic that one of the Life Mages had made. Her little bat Spirit was missing a wind, and her face was cut open and covered in bandages. Ezekiel couldn’t tell if she had lost her eye as well.
Fiana approached as the Hunters all filed into the medical area. Additional Life and Death Mages moved to provide additional assistance.
“Sir, do we need to make a retreat?” Fiana asked.
“No. But we will be fortifying this camp even further. We will be reinforcing this position with more Hunters once the second fleet arrives.” Carrian said. He was glaring into the distance as if lost in thought. “That cave is too valuable for us to abandon.”
Carrian’s words drew attention from everyone in the camp. A Hunter’s Spirit had died, and several limbs were lost. Whatever was in the cave must’ve been extremely valuable if they weren’t leaving it alone.
“Sir... What did that?” Fiana asked as she waved toward the medical area.
“... Adept Death Worms. I think I killed most of them but couldn’t get too far into the cave to be sure.” Carrian replied. Several Hunters flinched back after hearing that. Ezekiel and Sasha just looked confused, however. Seeing their responses, one of the other Hunters spoke up.
“Death Worms are an arthropod Spirit that are tied to the Death element. They are a rarity, not only because arthropod Spirits are rare, but because they only appear in places where a massive amount of death has occurred.” The Hunter explained. “They usually only appear at low Tiers in graveyards, or in Ruins where humanity was wiped out. But in the latter cases, the Cruor usually kill them all since such areas are mainly in the Desolate Lands. They’re vicious Wild Spirits that try to kill anything and everything they sense.”
“Indeed.” Carrian said, having moved over to join the conversation. The hunter who had been talking dipped his head nervously. But Carrian seemed impressed by his explanation. “Given the location, and their strength, this means that there is certainly the Ruin of a city or town nearby. We’ll be sending teams to search the top of the bluff to see if anything is there. If not, then we’ll see if there are any deep-water areas close to shore that might’ve had a small port set up.”
With that said, the camp got to work getting ready for a proper investigation of the area. What had originally been a secondary camp for explorations into the caldera had now turned into a second base camp to investigate the bluffs as well.
Their main goal was still to reach the center of the island. But they couldn’t just leave the possibility of another entire Ruin laying right next door unchecked. Too much might be lost if they didn’t, so they had to prepare.