Maleki:

Miko brought his hood to the side to block the wind, “The air swells in the middle. It will be strongest there.”

He was right, it wasn’t quite a pit because the field was primarily flat, but water would no doubt pull to the center with the angle and fall into cracks that lead to the caverns below. The sharp winds were slowly cutting into this mountaintop. That explains why the rocks are so smooth and spherical; they’ve been carved away by time and this monstrous storm. The ground was flat, but that wasn’t the odd thing. Five pillars rose out of the ground like the dots on playing dice. They were each separated a hundred feet apart, the center one being at the heart of the storm. Turning my head, I spoke closer to Miko’s ear, “I’ll try going around.” He nodded in approval of the choice, so I stuck to the rigid outer wall. This whole peak was circular, so sticking to the outside where the winds weren’t as harsh was safer than heading towards the center point. Our fields back home were as large as this mountain’s flat peak; at least those were covered with soft grass and weeds instead of rough snow-covered ground. After getting halfway to the other side, the dark maw of the storm flashed with lightning, filling the sky with bright searing fire that cracked like a whip. Every part of my body recoiled in a jolt of fear from the sound; thunder soon followed and stung my piercing ears. Falling backward, I recovered just long enough to let my side crash instead of piling my weight on top of Miko. Ears ringing, and in a daze, my back and arm took the brunt of the damage from the short fall. My screams could not have been heard by anyone other than Miko, who was gripping the skin of my shoulders tightly as he attempted to fight the pain that clashed with our eardrums. My palm found the cold mountain ground and pushed up halfway as Miko clung to my back. I stood tall, dazed from the lightning strike, as my body screamed at me to give up as it writhed in pain that I sought to ignore.

Across the field from where we entered was a tall gate made from the same material as the pillars: black and white stone with silvery metal. These pillars and the gate reminded me of the architecture in the temple back in Quavoris; so did the fiery death trap, now that I think about it, but the sweat in my eyes and eager beast prevented me from ever getting a good look at anything else. My head pounded from the pressure of fighting my body’s pleas, but I continued to the tall, shiny metal gate. It was at least twenty feet tall, connecting with the height of the mountain’s barrier wall. Drawing closer, I turned my back to the storm and gripped the gate, hoping it would open up. My body convulsed, shaking from the shock of touching the metal.

“Maleki!” Miko yelled through a wounded breath. “The metal absorbed the lightning strike…We have to find another way.”

Headache was an unfair word. I leaned over myself with my palms gripping my knees from the electrocution. Finding my breath, I looked inward at the pillars. They were made of the same metal, but near the middle of each tall pillar was a black sphere with four symbols.

“These pylons — the gate — spheres — runes.” Miko attempted to explain, but the winds splintered directly at our faces, preventing the words from forming into a fully coherent sentence. Fortunately, I could translate the gist of it, having spoken ‘Miko’ as a second language for a long time. We need to get out of here and soon; if this storm gets any worse, we might get charred by lightning. The barrier wall was smooth like the rock of a waterfall, so I couldn’t climb it and bypass the gate. We have to figure out this trial without any shortcuts, it seems. Miko seems to think the spheres are the answer, but that means I have to get closer to the eye of the funnel. I still hadn’t shaken off the shock, nor had the pain left my ears or spine, but the sooner I could set Miko down, the better. Every ten steps, the wind speeds seemed to increase. Slight changes, but the increments added up, and by the time we were near the closest pylon, I had to step strategically and position all my weight forward just to stay upright. Using my scythe as a walking stick, I dug the butt of it into the ground and pulled myself forward. These last ten steps would be difficult to cross, so I needed every tool to my advantage. When I carried Miko, I wore my pack in reverse, which allowed the wind to divert along the sides and pass through my arms. Our packs weren’t particularly heavy, but wearing them like this allowed me to lean forward and counterbalance some of Miko’s added weight while the curve of my spine did the rest.

Stolen novel; please report.

I fell to my knees in front of the pylon and allowed Miko to inspect the sphere more closely. The black globe sat on a pedestal within the pillar but was misshapen so that it could not be forced or blown out of its containing metal structure.

Miko found my ear and cupped his right hand to block the fast winds, which would ordinarily have worked had my ears not been crackling from the thunder and lightning. That feeling still hadn’t left my body, isolating near my chest — the shock from the fear of the sound and the shocking tendrils of the electric jolt when I touched the metal. “Spin — sphere — hold tight.” He explained, which I heard in pieces. Miko slid off my back as he released his crossed legs from around the top of my waist.

Preparing myself, I knew what to do. No reason to fear what must be done. I grabbed the black circle with both hands as the electricity entered through my fingers and spread out quickly through my arms and remaining limbs, shaking my entire body forcefully. The seconds seemed longer, and I found my strength, turning the sphere so that a new rune faced us. Nothing changed, not even the wind.

Miko grabbed my arm as two beads of sweat slid down both sides of my forehead. My eyes were stuck forward as my body refused to move. His grip tightened, shaking me more un-naturally than the metal did and waking me from my stupor. I looked over to my brother, who was digging in one of his pockets. Miko pulled out a compass, the one I had given to him when he was suffering from his first episode of blindness. His pointer finger found one of the four cardinal directions as he faced it toward me. Then he placed it on his side, now having my full recovered attention. Pointing it from side to side, the arrow found north; Miko pointed towards the directions as well to be sure I understood. I did. The first rune that was already there was wrong, and so was the second since nothing changed within the towing spire of metal and white stone. We had one guess left before the last one would be correct by default. Again, I summoned whatever remaining power was left in me that wasn’t sapped from the previous turning of the sphere and brought my hands out in front of me. Tiny snakes of lightning sparks connected to my hands off the black sphere, binding my hands and the metal together like magnets. Bright lights filled my eyes and clouded my vision, but I focused on the bones in my fingers, imagining the combined force being enough to crush the sphere. The pylon fought back with a creak, but it was already done; the sphere had turned. The rune in the middle lit up a soft blue, the colour of the lightning that crackled earlier in the sky, and then then the pillar thumped a wave of energy that shook across the ground. Though I was more dazed than before, my eyes found Miko’s, containing excitement from the successful turn.

Now that we know one correct direction, the remaining ones should be easy. I collected myself and then Miko. His weight seemed heavier than ever after two shocks, but I burdened it nonetheless. The bottom of my scythe’s shaft found a crack in the ground, supporting my body as it gained composure. The storm raged above us, twirling in an even more violent fashion. Droplets of water prodded my skin as my scythe dug into the ground to allow a step forward. We made it half the distance to the next pillar as a drizzle turned to rain, soaking us at the top of his chilly mountaintop. Suddenly, the tempest roared, and a downpour of winds collided with my shoulders, forcing me to one knee, only held up by the tight grip on my weapon.

Miko grunted underneath the strong force, “Microburst.”

Digging my fingers into the cracked rock, I pulled my left side down and swung the blade of my scythe into the ground in front of me. Then I brought both hands to the weapon’s shaft and started dragging us forward like a game of tug of war with the wind itself. The winds cut at my arms, pulling my sleeves back to my shoulders. Thin scratches flicked open at my skin as small pieces of rock were flung at me at high speeds. Miko tucked his neck, but I continued forward to the next pillar. We reached it, falling to the floor and holding on to the chalky white stone for dear life. Bringing myself to my knees, I reached a deep squat and gripped the electrified sphere again, picking it up out of its bind and twisting it so the rune would face west. My head peered to the sky, feeling the tremble of the ground and watching the storm as its black core expanded. Three shocks had worn my body, and now the sky seemed to shift sideways. No, that’s not right. I was falling. My body collapsed, and my eyes crossed back and forth as they focused on the field in front of me. The remaining two exterior pillars were in my view, and I could barely make it out, but the pillar facing the east had blue-lit runes. That meant we only had the north one remaining, but I couldn’t even raise the top of my hands off the ground.

Miko said something aloud, but the void above us thumped with energy after the second sphere’s adjustment, and all I heard was, “Stay — be back.”

“No!” My screams were lost in the torrent of winds. He can’t even move his legs; he’ll be swept away.