Chapter 23 Hidden

In the middle of the storm, the ground covered island was rough under me, but some patches of grass made it a little more comfortable as I sat staring ahead. I had immediately tried wind step, but only having 20 steps and a huge storm wall to test out brought it to a quick halt. Sure I could test with my right hand in the storm wall to see if there were any other openings, but that would take hours and that was being generous. Not to mention the whole 1 minute cooldown between rounds of 20 steps.

No, there had to be path to follow.

I walked to the centre and looked at the now inactive pedestal. Might as well give it a try.

I used word of sparks and on my left hand an erratic orb of static and sparks formed. I could shoot it out, but for now I touched it to the pedestal. A crack sounded followed by a pop. Yet nothing happened.

Fun way to waste 200 mana. Whoop Dee Doo.

Still, I had loads of mana. The cooldown though, revealed a bigger problem. I could keep channelling the thing for a short while, but after that I needed a full minute. While that was fine for now, what if I had to hit more than one target in less than the span of a minute to get out. Then, I would have to time my usage to perfection.

I ruffled my hair. Not that any of that mattered.

Nothing seemed an obvious target yet.

I tried Wall of Gales next. A three metre by three metre wall of rushing winds appeared where I pointed and pushed my palm forward, the wall moved through the pedestal.

Still nothing. Though it was a good experiment. Knowing the wall could be moved might be useful.

Lastly, I tried Rune Seeker.

Next thing I knew, my eyes shifted and the whole cavern took on a different light. Everything looked a bit more, vibrant? Well, whatever the effect, it looked quite cool. Movement caught my eye and I spun around only to see butterflies made out of pure light flutter by. Their cyan colouration sure was beautiful to behold, enough so that I almost forgot to look around for runes before the 20 seconds ran out. Luckily, just as my sight returned to normal, I saw another glow of cyan etched into a stone.

Jogging to it, I saw nothing with my normal sight. But I knew it was there, so lifted my left hand and whispered to bring forth the orb of static from before. I touched it to the stone.

This time the sound of crackling echoed through the cavern as the rune became visible in normal light.

Grinning, I placed my left palm on it.

The effect was immediate as around the stone circling the pedestal, three new sparkling runes appeared. Almost immediately two of the three runes disappeared, though the biggest one remained. What was that about?

Never mind, I ran to the remaining one and touched it; where all of a sudden in a spiral around the cavern there were orbs of lights scattering about. Twenty to be exact. Like it couldn’t be more obvious.

I stood up and was about to cast my Wind Steps to get up to where the last orb hung close to the storm. But something in me hesitated. Not of fear mind you. It just felt like there were more to be gained here...

I flicked through my skills and came to the one that might work in the situation.

It had ranked up through this whole thing of gaining a Primary class. It did tickle my fancy, though. Why would a skill rank up, not just level up, especially only after gaining it shortly before. It made me think everything about this Star Cartographer class was stooped in mystery.

Whispers Edge I [Expert]

Your senses are comparative to an ancient blade that cuts through the obscuring mists of the forgotten secrets from this world. You have honed those senses to a fine edge, a second nature that grants a serene focus to see what is hidden around you.

+10 Perception [Passive]

+10 Insight [Passive]

[Active] Upon activating Whispers Edge, you greatly focus to glean the secrets in your vicinity. (1 minute)

+50 % Chance to see the things hidden from view and perception. [7 hour cool down.]

Great! Extra chance and the cooldown was down by 2 hours. Still... that 7 hour cooldown was like an itch between the wings on your back. No easy way to get around it.

So, I had to be sure.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before activating the ability. Even with my closed eyes I could feel the cavern, could feel the wind rushing around the outside. Then to my left I felt the two runes that had disappeared before and suddenly felt a dance of wind tugging at me to follow as it swirled up and into the middle of the storm’s wall. Quite far from where the twenty orbs led to.

I opened my eyes and looked in the direction. Marking it out as something of note.

I closed my eyes again and sent my senses in different directions, but there wasn’t anything else at the moment.

So, I moved to where the two hidden runes had been. The feeling I felt made it clear they were connected.

Still, they disappeared within only five seconds at most. So, even running to one proved itself out of the question and that wasn’t even to mention the 1 minute cooldown for either Rune Seeker and Sparks.

But, I had an idea.

I quickly went to where the first sparkling rune had been. I used Word of Sparks, lighting it up and then touched the rune with my palm while still channelling the small arcs of lightning.

The other two runes lit up and I immediately turned my hand toward the one and fired a bolt of sparks, then again to the other one. Unlike before the two runes lingered. So I had the chance to run to them. Like with the previous rune, I touched my left palm to it and clearly felt something shift in the connection between the runes. Satisfied, I hurried to the other and plopped my left hand on it. But this time it did nothing. Confused, I started to worry.

I only had about fifteen seconds left on my Whispers Edge effect. Then I wouldn’t be able to feel if something changed in the connection to the runes and could only feel it again seven hours later...

Frantically, I tried turning my hand to better align with it.

Nothing.

Man!

“Um... Um!”

I flung my right hand onto it and activated Wall of Gales. Not, that I think that would have helped really. But good thing, I felt the shift right before my ability faded away and started its uber long cooldown.

I looked back to the direction where I had felt the secret lie. There were no orbs showing the way.

That settled it. It was just much more certain now, no way you would have found it without Whispers Edge. What did it mean?

I had no choice but to file that little conundrum away for later deliberation. Next moment, I flung up my first Wind Step and starting bouncing up towards the side of the storm. I stuck my right hand into the typhoon, and like before a small hole calmed around my hand. I slipped through it into a small room with two lit up spheres of light hovering next to a stone lid with two halves. Each inscribed with a rune. The two from below.

Like those two, I touched them with the correct hand and what would you know. The lock clicked open.

I lifted the lids and inside there was an amulet.

In the middle a gem hung between two hands holding it. The one had a more raw strength look and the other a more graceful touch cradling the emerald gem.

I picked it up and whispered, Identify.

Amulet of the Emerald Twins

Though long forgotten, be sure this one has an old tale intertwined. It flows in the great winds and glide across the thunders. Let it be a close companion in your grand dance with the storms.

+20 Stealth & Reflexes in the presence of strong winds or lightning.

[Secret]

Mysterious indeed. I grinned. A nice find. Though, it struck me as odd that my current insight wasn’t high enough to unveil the secret. Still, it would open up in time. Quickly I flung it around my neck and reopened the hole before jumping down. Barely a minute later, my Wind Step led the way up to what was certainly the exit of the chamber.

The unexpected part came from when I stepped swirling winds of the steps. For a brief moment I would feel the Amulet kick in and my steps were more sure. That would definitely come in useful in a battle situation.

As I reached the top and stuck my right hand in the storm, the way out became clear. The tunnel was narrow but relatively straight and before long I saw the place where I had picked my two ways for my Primary class.

Further on, I saw Zalia sitting at the fire shivering like crazy.

No doubt that her trials had lots of water.

I threw a few more wind steps and bounced down to the middle circle before lightly jogging to Zalia, her wet clothes clinging to her lithe form.

I was about to ask Zalia about what her trial entailed, but she spun and shot a glare at me.

“Don’t ask! I do not want to talk about it now.”

A chuckle bubbled out of me as I said,

“Sure. Though I am curious―”

“No.” She grunted with meaning.

“Fine,” I said, looking at her neck where an Opal amulet hung. “But, aside from that it was a little unpleasant. I see you also found the hidden amulet in your trial.”

Upon me saying it, Zalia gained a small tug of smile on her mouth as she said,

“Somewhere in my ordeal, I suddenly felt a pull deeper into the waves. When I dived down, there was this beautiful clam that shone like a rainbow. When I touched it, the amulet was revealed. It was quite pretty.”

I smiled.

“Well, it sure looks extra pretty on you.”

Zalia giggled and again lifted her hands to the fire to dry up.

“Not that I’m going to be talking about my experience any time soon, but how did your trial go?”

I wanted to make a joke about it, but then I remember the shocking pedestal and the pain from it reminded me with utmost clarity how quite horrifying those few minutes were.

Still...

“While it had its lows... The rest of was actually quite extraordinary. This huge storm circled a wide cavern. Something to witness, for sure.”

Zalia nodded enthusiastically the whole time and finally chimed,

“I completely understand! My trial was so beautiful besides what I... um went through.”

I offered my hand to Zalia, who took it as I helped her up. With that we went to the fire where she mewled happily at the warmth of the fire.

“We better get you dry.” I said as she nodded. “We can’t go outside like this. So just relax a bit.”

Silence filled the chamber. Well apart from Zalia’s audible shivering.

Though, after a while her breathing eased and she finally took a deep breath next to me.

“So, what happens next?”

“I guess we go to the dungeon. The one that holds these lands under its wintry grip.”

A slight pause followed.

“Do you think we are ready?”

I sighed. To be honest, I didn’t think we had what it takes to go into that dungeon. However...

“I don’t... No we don’t really have a choice. I have a huge obligation, one I cannot afford to delay. So I have to go in there. Secondly, your people can’t go on like this.”

Zalia nodded, but stayed silent.

No argument presented itself. We had to go into that dungeon.

We spent the night around the fire. We couldn’t risk going out onto snowy plains at night.

As Zalia slept gently to my side, I went ahead and cooked all the raw meat I had and salt them.

It took a while, but after a few hours, I fell asleep.

A soft feeling moving against me woke me. I opened my heavy eyelids and blinked a few times.

I realized, through the night Zalia had leaned against me. Her cheek pressed into my shoulder and the swell of her chest against my arm made me sit up blushing. My sudden movement made her wake up.

“Mmm... is it morning yet?”

Well I didn’t know, so I tapped one of the buttons on HUD and small little sunshine emblem popped up.

“Yeah.”

It’s then that she realized she had been sleeping against me. Her cheeks flushed and she got up, stretching like a cat.

She quickly set of towards the exit and I followed her. It took some effort, but within a few minutes, we stood outside. A gentle breeze blew against us, with the sun shining for the first time in what felt like days. The slight warm it brought was welcome.

No hesitation followed.

We marched in the direction of the cave that would lead us to solve the mystery of the winter’s grip.