Zalan stood frozen, rigidity taking over his bones as he waited for another sound. He was certain he heard something in the blind darkness. He felt like a monster was circling him, hunting him down without need of light. Zalan’s breathing quickened considerably, and he kept his eyes wide open as though it would help him see better. Zalan fumbled at his waist and realized he had no sword to use. He fell back to raising his hands out in front of him defensively.
“Hey! Get back! You hear me?” Zalan demanded.
He didn’t hear any new noises. It almost made him even more erratic. There was nothing to track, just an unnatural feeling slithering down his spine. His mind was on the fritz. Paranoia played games with his every sense. He balled a hand into a fist, prepared to strike at a moment’s notice. In that same moment, he decided he wasn’t going to be reactionary. With shaking arms, he blasted a bolt of lightning in front of him to scare whatever was around him.
Zalan blinked in total shock when the room lit up for an instant. In all his terror being trapped in the underground cave, he had forgotten that his Elemental Power could be used to produce light. He threw another bolt of lightning, smiling gratefully to see the cave flash in front of him. It was too short for him to get a good read on the cavern. He could only illuminate the room with what felt like the flash of a camera. Still, it was significantly better than nothing. The only thing he needed to be worried about now was how much energy he had. He would tire himself out if he kept using his Elemental Lightning Power every time he took a step. But he couldn’t stand being blind in the underground.
With a feeling of idiocy clocking through his brain, Zalan realized he could imbue himself. Placing lightning atop his body would be a much more reliable source of light. He let his power flow around him and the room lit up very slightly with a blue hue. Zalan breathed marginally easier. The light was still lacking. It was more like he had turned himself into a glow stick rather than a flashlight. Again, he was grateful for any kind of improvement that kept him out of total darkness. When his eyes were open, he needed to be able to see something. His mind went haywire, otherwise.
Carefully, Zalan began to take slow steps forward with arms raised. He had completely forgone the strategy of throwing pebbles ahead of him to search for traps. Something much more pertinent was at the front of his mind. He was looking for the source of the sound he heard earlier. There was no wind in the cavern that could possibly have been the source of the noise. And he had the Radiance Orb on long enough to know the underground wasn’t unstable and ready for pieces to break apart. The noise had to have come from something living.
He stumbled as he tripped over a piece of human skeleton, but deliberately did not look at it. He didn’t want to add any more haunting memories to his head and kept his eyes straight ahead. The dim light he was producing cast ghastly shadows that he avoided gazing upon for too long.
With a gasp, Zalan spotted something shift far ahead of him. All the panic and paranoia exploded in his head and he didn’t take a second to investigate. He immediately threw both arms forward and blasted with as much lightning as he could muster. The massive bolt charged forward and exploded a piece of rock. Zalan listened close as the pebbles settled on the dark path. Nothing cried out in pain. Zalan couldn’t be sure he landed a hit on whatever it was that he witnessed.
“If you’re human, this is your last chance before I go ballistic! Say something! Anything!” Zalan warned, looking slightly unhinged.
At first there was no response. Zalan tensed up, preparing to make good on his promise. Then, he felt the atmosphere shift ahead of him. Zalan threw everything he had at the sensation, bolt after bolt of lightning flying through the long cavern with seemingly no end. He screamed a war cry, more to bolster his own confidence than to scare off whatever it was. Blasts of electricity charged through the air and destroyed several stones sitting idly in the cavern. He continued, unabated by anything. Zalan was far too scared to let up without any evidence of something having been hit. His eyes were wide, scanning the area ahead of him for signs of monsters. Or human. Or something that had just died from his power. He was hoping for anything that would make him feel more comfortable in the cavern.
Zalan began to feel tired after exerting so much power at the ethereal feeling and stopped. He needed to make sure he didn’t expend all of his energy at once. He maintained the imbue on his body, illuminating the immediate area around him. He was still on edge. His limbs were tight, listening for whatever was haunting him in the cavern. His eyes flitted to every long shadow surrounding him, waiting for something to spring out.
He took a tiny step forward, trying to get a better view of everything he attacked. Something ahead of him in the darkness felt like it shifted again. Zalan threw his hands up once more, but this time he looked before he shot.
Far ahead of him in the cavern was a faint, dim veil of light that suddenly appeared. It was a little larger than a human, and looked somewhat translucent. The veil danced in shining patterns. It looked like a white-colored version of Aurora Borealis, casting an array of miraculous designs and shapes in the air above the cavern. Zalan gawped at it, baffled at how he didn’t notice it before. He stared from a distance, trying to figure out what it was. It faded away. Zalan continued to stare, immobile.
Zalan knew it disappeared before his eyes, but he almost wasn’t sure it was real. He knew his mind was in such a fragile state that he wouldn’t be surprised if he hallucinated the whole thing. He waited for another sign of its existence. The seconds felt like ages as he stared at a distinct spot in the darkness ahead of him. With a slight churn of his stomach, he started to believe he really did hallucinate.
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The light appeared again, making a strange sound as it manifested once more. Zalan took a good look. He was certain it was real this time. He wanted to test what it was at this point. Zalan closed one eye and aimed an arm at it. He let out a small bolt of lightning. The Elemental Power passed through the light harmlessly. Zalan tried to slow down his breathing. Whatever it was, he couldn’t affect it. Hopefully it was a trick of the lights instead of a monster that couldn’t be damaged. Against all rational thought, Zalan was desperately hoping that the magic floating light was the beginning of a new path to lead him out of the cavern.
The drifting light faded away for a few seconds and returned once more. This time, Zalan decided to approach the kaleidoscope of lights dancing in the air. He was very deliberate in his steps, moving in such a way that he never had to take his eyes off the lights that faded in and out. At first he only moved when the light faded away, as if to sneak up on it. Then he decided that the fact he threw lightning at it left him no chance of stealth.
“Hello?” Zalan called.
There was no response. As much as it unnerved him, he continued to make his way toward it. He was almost upon it now. It floated about a foot above his head. He had no idea what the light was supposed to be. Feeling as brave as he was curious, Zalan removed the imbue from his body. The dimly lit veil was the only source of light, providing only enough illumination to show Zalan’s face in the darkness. It faded away. Zalan waited patiently, the earlier jitters having been replaced by a powerful curiosity. The luminescence reappeared in the same spot. The way it moved, it looked like the light was calling for something. Or someone.
Zalan felt compelled to it. He had no reason for it. But he felt like there was something he was meant to do. Something that was meant to secure his future. It continued to dance, seemingly unaware of Zalan now being so close to it. Hesitantly, Zalan slowly raised an arm toward it. He reached out a finger. With a trembling arm, he stretched his hand out and breathed deeply. With effort not to close his eyes at the same time, he poked it.
His finger passed through. He couldn’t feel a thing. Then, the veil of light faded abruptly, much faster than it normally did. Zalan couldn’t tell if he’d done anything to affect it. It seemed like he didn’t touch it at all. But it definitely reacted to his hand.
He waited in the complete darkness for it to return. It remained gone for a few seconds longer than Zalan expected. He swallowed hard, his throat going dry. The darkness was settling in around him. He began to regret having reached out and disturbed the seemingly miraculous light. He didn’t want to be the only source of light again.
The room exploded in a white flash, brighter than when someone gained a Level. Zalan fell to his back and screamed as a substantial creature beamed brightly before him, floating where the light was floating before. He was blinded, the sudden light was too much with his darkness calibrated eyes and he had to blink several times to adjust to the new brilliant ray of white floating there. He was holding out one arm, ready to strike with lightning as soon as he got a good look at what lay behind the light.
It was a large creature floating above him. It had diamond hands reaching out of its robe made entirely of radiant white light. It looked like several LED bulbs were turned to max power on the outside of the robe. The bottom of the robe had no feet sticking out, simply billowing faintly like a breeze was going through the cavern. The top of the robe partly obscured a head that was made totally of hot white light. Zalan stared at it in awe. It looked vaguely familiar to something he had seen in the Lost City of Xagon. And something he had read about, in the days leading to the lost city. He swallowed hard, knowing exactly what he was looking at.
“A Bright Elemental,” Zalan addressed it fearfully.
The Bright Elemental floated a slight bit lower, as though approaching at the call of its name. The white head behind the hood shifted forward to better get a look at Zalan. Its blinding eyes shined upon him expectantly.
Now that the Elemental had fully revealed its form, Zalan could clearly see the entire cavern. The creature brightened the underground more than any of Zalan’s lightning or even the Radiance Orb. It felt less claustrophobic in the trapped space when he could see so far in every direction. The paths led further out into darkness in either direction. Zalan couldn’t tell if either way would help him get out. The Elemental made a noise and Zalan twitched on the floor in fear.
“Do you seek my challenge?” the creature asked. Its voice came out bright, like wind chimes.
It was off putting. Zalan remembered the first Elemental he met was much more sinister sounding. He assumed they all had that veneer of evil wrapped around them. But it still felt grand and awe-inspiring. Like a massive monster that could kill him with a swipe of its claw. He had the distinct sensation that his life was in its hands. The only reason he still lived is because it chose for him to live.
Zalan also recalled that the second Elemental challenge was exponentially more difficult than the first. He almost died of blood loss when he gained his power of Elemental Lightning. He didn’t think he would survive a Bright Elemental’s challenge. He also had no idea what kind of power it would grant. He cleared his throat uncomfortably and brought himself to his feet.
“Do you seek my challenge?” the Elemental repeated, sounding less patient this time. The entire cavern shook slightly at this second question. Zalan knew he couldn’t stall any longer. He ran a hand through his hair.
“I… I’m more interested in finding a way out than taking on the challenge right now,” Zalan said.
“They may be one and the same,” the Bright Elemental replied.
Zalan looked at the Elemental quizzically. Was the challenge to escape the cavern? That would mean that it was immensely difficult to get out. Zalan looked around the brightened cavern, bones strewn across the floor. He wondered how many were as a result of the Elemental’s challenge. He didn’t want to risk joining them. But at the same time, he knew he could always get out with the Homeseeker. Would that be cheating?
“You seek no challenge,” the Elemental concluded during Zalan’s contemplation. It began to fade away. Immediately the cave began to return to its natural, darkened state. The darkness closed in on Zalan.
“Wait!” Zalan pleaded.
The Elemental waited, its robes of light flowing around it. It flickered, preparing to leave at a moment’s notice. Zalan felt he had no choice. He needed the light to better find a way out.
“I’ll do it,” Zalan said reluctantly. “What is your challenge, Elemental?”
The Bright Elemental’s face was too bright to see clearly, but Zalan could feel that it smiled behind its hood.