Chapter Forty-One
Jackson didn’t think trying random objects in the hopes that they would work would be a good idea. They needed to pick something that had some relevance in order to have any chance of not spawning another elemental to fight.
“What would even represent air, anyway?”
“That’s a little open to interpretation. A triangle pointing upward could represent air,” Melanie said.
Jackson arched an eyebrow at her, chuckling. “How do you figure that out?”
She glared at him, but there wasn’t much heat to it. “I did just say it was open to interpretation. Besides, I don’t have a triangle. I think we are going about this the wrong way. Why did the stone work?”
Jackson pointed at her. “You’re the one who figured it out. Why do you think it worked?”
“Just as you said, an object that relates to the element.”
Jackson rubbed at his jaw, and once again he groused to himself about how much he hated puzzles. He bit his tongue and chewed on it lightly as he thought.
“Well, why does the stone represent earth?”
Melanie looked at him blankly before responding, “Because it’s a stone? It’s pretty much part of the earth, Jackson.”
Jackson acknowledged her with a wave. “Well, that’s kind of what I’m getting at. It’s part of the earth. What if that’s what matters? Not the representation, but something that is part of the element itself.”
Melanie’s eyes lit up. “I think you’re right, but it’s not like I can just place air on the plate, Jackson.”
Jackson thought back to a portion of the riddle the runes had laid out.
Winds that whisper.
Jackson walked to the plate on the altar that represented air and gave it a thoughtful expression. Could it be that simple? There was nothing for it but to try. He bent down and blew a light breath of air across the plate. Nearly instantaneously, a gust of cold wind blew across the cavern, ruffling their hair and kissing their skin.
Jackson grinned and looked up to find Melanie smiling at him. “Look at you. Not just a pretty face.”
He felt his face heat up, and he glanced away from her. “Well, yeah, of course. Lazarus, can you read the next set of runes, please?”
At this point, Jackson felt it was almost pointless to do that since they had pretty much figured it out already, but there was no sense in taking any risks. Lazarus read out the next clue,
“Flames that dance, with heat so bright, third to come, dispelling night.”
Jackson nodded his head a few times. “Right, so we need fire. Seems clear. Do you have any fire, Mels?”
“No. We can make some, though.”
Finding some sticks in the cavern wasn’t too hard; there were some near the back, where a small tree was seemingly growing out of the stone. Two rocks, one looking much harder than the other, and Melanie’s survivalist skill quickly produced a flame. She placed a small burning stick on the plate for fire, and a wave of heat blew through the cavern, washing over Jackson's skin and causing sweat to bead up briefly.
“Another one down, one more to go. It’s clearly the water one. Laz, can you read out the last clue? I would hate for us to mess something up due to making assumptions.”
The spirit provided, “Waters flow and cleanse with might, last to call, bring forth the light.”
Melanie had brought some water with her on the trip in a small backpack she carried their stuff in. A little drizzle of it on the plate, and a stream of water burst forth from the cavern wall, the sound of rock cracking echoing throughout the cavern.
Then reality seemed to warp and flash, twisting around them as if some kind of god were using the world like a puzzle cube. Soon they found themselves a significant way up the mountain, facing another stone arch, with one behind them.
You have passed the first trial! Do you wish to proceed to the second?
Melanie and Jackson confirmed that they did, and as before, the arch in front of them began to shimmer. When it settled, before them was a frozen lake. Frigid air, as cold as the heart of a winter storm, blew out from the portal, causing Jackson to shiver. The ice of the lake glimmered like polished sapphire, and deep greens and light purples snaked through the ice like glowing veins. Jackson could feel his nostrils freezing as he approached the shimmering portal, inhaling the crisp air.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Lazarus frowned. “You two are going to need to manifest your auras while you fight. Jackson, you’ll probably be okay with your journeyman constitution, but keeping in contact with your spirit will help.”
“How do you know there’s going to be a fight?” Melanie asked.
“A feeling. Of course, that feeling is based on centuries of experience, but feel free to ignore it if you like.”
Melanie let out a silvery laugh, “Fair point. Give me a minute to touch my aura. Do I need to manifest it?”
Lazarus shook his head in the negative. “You just need to be immersed in it. It will naturally protect your body from the elements. Not as well as warm clothing would or an enchantment, but it will keep you from dying at least.”
Jackson did as the spirit suggested, tapping his spirit, as he had come to call the process of seizing it.
Then they entered the portal that shimmered within the arch, the frigid air beckoning them forward, a cold hand in the form of air.
Jackson felt as if he should state the obvious. It was cold. It burrowed into them and surrounded them like a wet blanket on a cold winter day. In the center of the lake, a swirling mist picked up speed, with translucent snowflakes twisting and snapping together like jigsaw pieces. In the air, an axe began to form, forged out of frigid ice, translucent and radiating a horrible cold in the form of a white mist.
From the axe, a hand formed and sculpted ice with a fist around the axe’s handle. Following it was an arm, and then a torso, and soon there was a head with the features of a warrior king, each strand of his impressive beard delicately woven and sculpted from snow and ice. The rest of the body formed, and before them stood a massive wraith of snow, ice, and swirling air. A cloak of mist hung about him.
Jackson analyzed the monster immediately.
This is an Ice Revenant Level 70.
That wouldn’t have been too bad, except snake-like creatures shot out from the icy mist that radiated from the revenant. Jackson analyzed them as well; there were six of them.
These are Ice Wraiths, Level 50.
Jackson blew out a breath, which turned into visible white air instantly. If it weren’t for him tapping his spirit, he was certain that he would be freezing right now. Even so, he was still very much aware of it. He couldn’t pay it too much attention, however, because the ice wraiths chose that moment to snake towards them, their hissing filling the air like cold water over a hot pan.
Melanie wasted no time shooting them with arrows of emerald force. The wraiths exploded, and Jackson considered that threat taken care of. He shouldn’t have. More of the little wraiths simply streamed out of the revenant. The revenant himself lifted his axe and, in a smooth motion, threw it directly at Jackson.
Jackson smoothly dodged to the side and blurred towards the revenant.
“Jackson, look out!”
At the sound of Melanie’s voice, Jackson turned his head. Which was precisely when the axe the revenant had thrown slammed into his chest. Right, so it was enchanted to be self-returning. Wonderful. In addition, ice began to spread across Jackson's chest, mixing with the blood that had burst forth from him. The pain sucked, but his regeneration was already combating it. He removed the axe from his chest, the ice cracking and breaking as he did. The bloody hole in his chest, exposing his organs and broken bones, was already knitting together, healing at a rapid pace.
You were inflicted with a critical wound. Your Phoenix Regeneration has leveled up.
The revenant had not stood idle, and suddenly he was before Jackson, swinging a crushing fist at his head. Luckily, Jackson was not alone, and Melanie’s arrow slammed into the revenant, exploding with emerald energy as the revenant was blown backward. It landed on the icy lake with a thud, cracking the ice as he slid backward. The axe jerked out of Jackson's hand, flying towards the fallen revenant. His ice wraiths, which Melanie had been doing a good job of destroying, managed to dodge a few of her arrows and slammed into the ice near Jackson's feet.
“Well, that probably isn’t good,” Jackson muttered.
He was right. The ice underneath him blew apart with a resounding glacial boom. Jackson probably looked very cartoonish as he looked at the churning, swirling icy water below him and fell right into it. He had never before been submerged in water that was below zero degrees. The cold shattered his concentration, and he lost a hold of his spirit, which meant he was definitely feeling it.
It was overwhelming his senses; it was so cold that it was burning him, as if he had been dipped into a campfire. Jackson could not panic; panic would mean death. Focusing, he tapped his spirit again, but this time empowered a veilstrike as he bashed the ice that was in front of his face with brutal force. The ice exploded upward, and he swam up with it, clutching at the edge, his breaths heaving in and out, blowing frigid air like he was some kind of ice dragon.
Jackson managed to pull himself up, but an ice wraith latched frozen teeth onto his neck, pain lancing through his neck, his crimson blood spurting from the wound. He hissed and reached up with a hand, gripping the ice wraith's body and ripping it out of his neck, flinging it away from him.
You have sustained a minor wound. You have been poisoned with frost venom and will not be able to move until your regeneration expels the poison.
Jackson's body locked up, and he felt himself sliding back into the frozen waters. He was lamenting the fact that he was going to drown and wondered what Bob would say when he reappeared in his camp. Melanie was there, though, and she grasped his locked-up right arm, her face in a tight grimace.
“Not yet, Jackson. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”
She hauled Jackson up until his body was lying on the ice—the cold was his only friend. His regeneration was fighting any damage the cold could do, but it still did not feel great. Jackson wanted to yell from the pain of it, but he couldn’t as he was completely locked up.
Jackson needed to tap his spirit, but the frost venom was acting like a barrier between him and his Domain. Melanie twisted a second later as the revenant threw his axe at her. She didn’t take her eyes off the axe as it twisted around in the air, freezing power flowing from it. The axe flew back towards her. The druidic ranger shot the axe with several force arrows, knocking the axe away from her. The revenant still got a hold of it, though, and he blurred forward, a few ice wraiths also launching forward in time with his movements.
Melanie flowed around the wraiths and the revenant, showcasing her unarmed combat skill and her skill in the sanguinary arts. She kept dodging, dancing around the revenant as it swung its axe at her. The ice wraiths could not seem to touch her, despite being multiple of them. Jackson could see her weaving through all of it, the massive wolf's head forming in the sky.
Even with her skill, she couldn’t manage to dodge forever, and the axe bit into her shoulder as a wraith latched onto her leg.
Melanie cried out in pain as her body locked up and she fell to the ground.