They packed up their camp and started heading toward the mountains in the distance. Chuck still had many questions but evidently wouldn’t be getting any more answers. He still thought it was all a waste of time and didn’t make any sense.
If it was so important for the champions to secure the altar, then why make it so difficult to get there? It sounded like he and Tess were the first champions to show up in a very long time. Chuck also didn’t think there was anything special about himself so didn’t think the champion title was deserving. He owed most of his success to his trusty pickup.
There was no road this time for them to follow so the drive toward the mountains was a lot rougher than before. Chuck was increasingly worried about the aging pickup. It took a day to reach the foot of the mountain which included a few breaks and driver switches.
As they got closer, they could both see their destination. Peeking over the top of one of the mountain peaks was two white obelisks. This was as far as the tired pickup could go as the rest of the way was both steep and rocky.
It looked like there was a goat trail going in the general direction of the altar so they decided to follow it. First they packed up what supplies they could and grabbed their weapons. There had been no sign of monsters so far, but the Caretaker had said it wouldn’t be that easy to reach the altar.
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R2 followed them up the trail although at a slower pace. Chuck just hoped R2 would be able to make it all the way up. He had a feeling they might need R2’s help reaching the altar. Everything was eerily quiet as they trudged up the trail. They started running into areas of snow as they climbed higher and higher and it got steadily colder.
Neither of them had winter gear to speak of so had to endure. Not much grew on the mountain but they had a nice view as Chuck looked back the way they came. He could just spot the pickup, standing out from the rest of the bland wastes.
He didn’t know if he would see it again. Chuck had a feeling the altar itself would transport them which meant his pickup would probably be a permanent fixture here. As long as it got them out of wherever here was and back home he didn’t care. Honestly speaking, it sounded like it was on its last legs anyway so he doubted it had much life left in it. He silently said goodbye to the old pickup and continued climbing.
Once the ground turned to snow, R2 had an easier time keeping up with them although they lost the trail they had been following. Instead, they just tried to go in the direction of the obelisks while making their way around the mountain.
They finally made their way around and could see their destination. It appeared to be in a valley on the side of the mountain below the snow line. The obelisks were huge and had to be magically constructed. They almost seemed to be made out of white marble with strange symbols carved into them at intervals all the way to the top.
Tess mentioned that she still wasn’t able to see any creatures roaming around which made Chuck nervous. Where was the danger that the Caretaker spoke of? They hadn’t seen a single monster yet. It would be great if they could just walk right up to the altar and be done with it but he didn’t think it would be that easy.