March 3, 2019, 5:13 pm. The end of a long day's flight.

While I'm keen to explore, and thus level my Explorer subclass, it can wait until tomorrow.

I mean, I'm still going to keep my eyes open for anything interesting. And if the sheltered valley we're descending into happens to be unnamed, what's going to stop me from naming it after Papa?

Not much.

Especially since Rufka doesn't use the Explorer subclass and Rose's new status means he doesn’t have a subclass yet. Neither of them are certain exactly how it works. To be fair, that's true for every subclass. While Tipan's explained that investigating areas new to me will slowly level Explorer and Raz insists that preparing meals can level any number of hospitality subclasses, there's no consensus on how much any action contributes. It doesn't help that there's no clear tracking mechanism such as Skill levels or Integration points.

As we enter the sheltering walls of the valley, the flame I've been using to keep them warm flares, a sudden burst of fire that fills our invisible sphere.

I panic as I cut off all my magic, letting our invisibility drop. And my flight.

Rufka catches me before I've fallen more than a couple of metres, but I'm barely moving.

"Wow. You okay Lex?" Rose asks as he follows us.

They're not hurt. Well, not badly. Only a couple points of health… but I know how much worse it could have been. If not for the contingencies when I burned Rufka…

Smoulder boops me in the cheek from her spot on my shoulder, breaking me free of my thoughts. Rufka's also still holding me, not saying anything, simply being there.

Thanking them, I take a deep breath before answering Rose, "I think so. Just had an unexpected change."

"What happened?" he asks.

"I don't know. I think…" I take a moment, thinking about it. What did happen? Replaying the event in my mind using Facet, I'm able to accurately break down what happened. The cold I was negating suddenly disappeared. The flare was my flame operating at the same strength but without the opposing force. "I think the cold disappeared. It was like pushing against a door that was suddenly flung open."

"Huh. You're right. The cold's gone. Well, it's still cold. But it's not causing Health damage. It's normal cold."

We pass into silence as we approach a pool at the bottom of a small cascading waterfall, both of which are frozen over. Even the rock I shape our shelter for the night out of is frozen, requiring me to use Ice manipulation in addition to Stone and Earth.

As I stack the extra ice I've separated from the building behind the house, I reflect on the fact that my power’s never created an explosion of ice when it's flared up. In fact, it's almost always been fire. Is it the nature of fire that's causing the problem?

The evening is less animated, each of us feeling the weight of being cut off from the others. Being able to message people anytime I want has really been spoiling me.

And somehow, it's worse than when we were brought from Earth. I hardly missed my cellphone. It's probably because this time, I don't have a whole new world, full of mystery and magic to distract me. Or maybe it's cause Sab was the only one I interacted with and missing her is different than my cell.

Rose and Rufka start playing a game of cards inside the shelter as I go outside to stretch my magical legs. My power hasn't been growing in crazy strides lately despite the fact I haven't stopped using it. Revelling in it even. If not for my practice with my aura, I’d be worried I’m stagnating.

As I start sculpting a literal ice-castle, similar to the one I can form with my spell, from the frozen pond, I continue to think about how I could have avoided the flare. Was there a way to detect the sudden drop in external pressure?

Looking up, I can see a veritable sheet of snow being blown sideways over our sheltered valley. Huh. Yeah, I'm going to say I probably should have predicted leaving a snowstorm would reduce how much power I needed to keep them warm. It didn't seem that strong when we were in it.

I settle in, watching the snowstorm overhead with Smoulder curled in my lap. Then I see a flash, lightning splitting the air as I feel the mana-pressure intensify.

Damn. Looks like it's not just a regular snowstorm.

Running inside, I start delving deeper as I tell the others we have a mana-storm coming. They both jump up, running outside, as much to get out of my way as to verify my claim. Discussion about creating effective mana-shelters with Tipan leads me to create a chamber a hundred metres below the surface connected by a zigzagging shaft.

I run back out to the others to tell them I'm done but they're staring up.

Following their gaze, I discover the mana-storm is passing over us. Other than a smattering of snow drifting over the edge of the valley, we're completely untouched. "What the…"

Rufka shrugs.

Rose offers me a broad grin, "My guess is the valley's a lost Stronghold. Claimed by someone who wasn't interested in building a city. Or didn't want to stay."

"Shouldn't there be a notice or something?"

Rose shakes his head, "Not if it's completely open. Don't know why they'd leave it open without charging a fee though. Maybe they didn't expect visitors this far out."

"Huh. I've never seen an Ice-themed mana-storm before."

"Should be interesting. It's a lot closer than it was back in the first dungeon, isn't it?"

I'm about to answer when I feel a thud followed by slush and liquid dribbling down my back. Rose is wiping the remains of a snowball off his back as well, while I can feel Rufka behind me in the direction the snowballs came from. Turning around, I find Rufka hefting a new set of snowballs, already in the process of unleashing them on us. The snowstorm above is temporarily forgotten as we engage in my first snowball fight on Akilo.

We spend half an hour chasing Rufka down before I decide to cheat. Imprisoning her in a cage of Ice, Rose and I take our revenge before settling down to stare at the storm again.

"Mum said she created a few shelters like this when she was young. Places for people to recover, far from home." Rufka tests the strength of her cage, cracking one of the walls with a well-placed kick.

"Oh. Do you think this is one of hers?" I ask, reinforcing the wall without getting rid of the crack.

"Nope. We would’ve got a notification that said something like, 'You owe this respite to Genitha, the Crimson Archmage,' or 'This shelter provided by the Crimson Death.' She's not exactly humble." Rufka winds up, repeating her kick. Now that I've reinforced the wall, the crack only expands slightly. But with the amount of force she put into it, Rufka sends herself flying into the wall behind her, cracking it as well. It didn't even damage her Health.

Rose and I exchange a knowing glance at Rufka's last comment before I say, "Noooo. Really?"

She just rolls her lower eyes before returning to her escape attempt.

By the time she's broken through, Rose and I are back in the temporary shelter. I'm chatting with him, ready to turn in for the night, when she pushes through the inner door. I can't help but laugh when I notice her fur is frozen around her feet. I take pity on her, thawing her out before she can track all that ice into bed with me. Instead of seeking revenge, she draws me down next to her before passing out.

Huh. Guess that took more out of her than I expected.

With a helpless shrug and a quick goodnight to Rose, I follow her into dreamland.

When we wake in the morning, we try to find the Nexus point that should be located somewhere in the valley to add it to our destination list (for when teleportation is working again). Unfortunately, after half an hour of searching, we haven't found it. And my map of Nexus points doesn't help much either. There's one in the valley, but the map doesn't pinpoint where.

Deciding to mark it on our map, we ascend to survey the aftermath of the mana-storm. Not much has changed, though there are a few trees missing. And a new bush.

The rest of the morning is uneventful. Even as I try to name the mountains, I keep getting informed they've already been named. I guess this isn't as 'middle of nowhere' as I'd been hoping.

It's nearly sunset when I spot something that stands out in the mountains. "Is that… a skyscraper?"

"What? Where?!" Rose turns in place, following my arm. But, of course, he can't see it.

"Looks like it's scraping the sky, alright." Rufka immediately changes course, taking Rose's hand and spinning about in a circle with him twice before releasing his hand and flying off toward the tower.

"She's on target, at least," I mumble to myself.

"Right behind you," Rose says while straightening himself out.

As we get closer, it becomes apparent that the towering object I saw wasn't a skyscraper. At least, not as I'd imagined it. Instead, it's a massive slab of stone that stretches a couple hundred metres from the top of the mountain where it rests.

Still, it's the most interesting thing we've seen since this morning, so we decide it's worth checking out.

Once we're a hundred metres out, Rufka notes, "It's covered in writing. Names, I think."

Upon closer inspection, we confirm Rufka's first observation. Analyzing it only indicates that it's a stone with writing. Physical inspection reveals a plaque on the face which explains exactly what we're looking at.

"Our lives forever changed when Vaus' judgement struck Akilo. This monument stands as testament to those who did not survive the change. May their loss not break us but be the fire in which we forge our future. Gone, but never forgotten."

"A memorial. I didn't think K'tharn made memorials."

"We… don't. Not public ones." Rufka runs her paw over the surface, walking around the corner of the memorial.

"Who do you think made it?" Rose asks, staring toward the peak.

"Someone who couldn't do more." Even if we're successful at bringing the Builder's abandoned cities home, this will be nothing compared to the lives lost on earth.

"They created a monument with millions of names on it. How'd they even know them all?" Rose wonders.

"No clue. The System, maybe? You think-"

"Hey Lexi, Rose. You need to see this!" Rufka calls from somewhere on the far side of the memorial.

Neither of us delay, racing around the memorial, ready to fight. Though Rufka probably would have led with a thundering attack instead of revealing her position to get our attention.

She's standing a short distance from the memorial peering off the edge of the mountain.

Joining her, it only takes me a second to see what got her attention. There are a few buildings in the furthest depths of the valley. They're not the current style of Aetherium buildings, built of monster skin and bone, but a dull white stone with pink veins running throughout, each standing a dozen stories over the empty streets. They're partially overgrown, but there's a solid city block that looks to have been scoured clean. Then I discern the shape of more buildings, stretching along the valley. They even stretch halfway up the mountain on the far slope. There are a couple other places where the foliage has been stripped away, but only grey stone buildings lay beneath.

As I take in the scope of the city below us, Rose mutters, "Could it be K'letta?"

"No way. Mum says K'letta was destroyed."

I point at the memorial behind us. "It was."

Rufka looks back then nods. "We have to look closer. Mum's going to be so jealous if it is K'letta."

"So, what's K'letta?" I ask as we descend. Slowly.

Rufka tries to answer, starting several times before Rose says, "It's like Rome back during the Roman Empire on Earth. The centre of civilization before the barbarians destroyed it. Or mana-swarm in this case."

"Close enough," Rufka agrees, her bow pulled taut as we fly over the exposed buildings.

We're passing by a building that reminds me of a town hall with a statue out front when I do a double take. Is that?

"Hold on. I think that's Uthica!" I don't wait for them to acknowledge me, already moving to inspect the statue. Uthica's crouched, one hand reaching down, two holding a spear and the last a shield. I feel like I'm staring at a statue of a sister I've never known. Analyze only says 'Statue of a K'tharn' and there's no plaque to tell me why there's a statue of Uthica in a city that fell before she became powerful.

I can't help but grip her hand, pausing time to give myself an extra moment before the others intrude. Suddenly, I wish she were here.

Uthica is the kind of person we need. Someone who faced the end of her world before building a new one from the ashes.

Who am I compared to her? I've barely had to struggle for my strength. I've just been lucky.

Rufka arrives right as my Pause ends.

I'm still holding Uthica's hand but suddenly I feel like a massive dork. I'm holding the hand of a statue!

I tear my hand away, causing the statue's hand to move.

At first, I expect the statue to shift into a combat stance before attacking us. But the statue doesn't go Creator Sentinel on us. It remains still.

"Did you see that?" I ask, not sure if I was imagining it. It was only a couple millimetres.

"Yeah. You didn't do that on purpose?" Rufka asks.

"Not exactly," I don't want to admit I was holding the statue's hand for comfort. That's supposed to be Rufka's job.

"Maybe it's a hidden door!" Rose exclaims, his hand reaching for the statue’s. I feel oddly jealous when he takes its hand. Then he starts twisting and pushing it, but it doesn't move. He even hangs off it, his feet dangling gracelessly.

I can't help but snicker as he kicks his feet.

"Maybe it's a System thing," He grouses, letting go.

There was no notification. But maybe he's right?

I grab hold of the hand, pulling with far less force than he was using. But it moves immediately. A few more millimetres are all it takes to trigger a clicking sound from the base where Rose is staring up at me.

"What the-" Rose stumbles back as the stone disappears from beneath his feet, revealing a staircase leading directly between the legs of the statue.

"Looks like you were right," Rufka congratulates Rose with a pat on the back before stepping forward.

"Maybe we should…" I start but she's already ducked out of sight.

"Guess we're going in." Rose shrugs, following right behind her.

Damn. I rub Smoulder's sleepy head, waking her enough she knows we're going into potential danger as I charge after the others. If this is related to Uthica, there's no way I'm getting left behind.

However, they've halted at the bottom of the stairs, inspecting a familiar door.

It's not exactly the same as the door in the basement of the church, but the message is: “This node has been claimed and sealed by Uthica of clan Halterin in accordance with directive 24.1 of the Lathian Conclave.”

Even as I read the first notification, I'm met by an unexpected follow-up.

"Explorer Subclass has received enough experience to level. Equip subclass to check its progress."

As excited as I am that I've managed to level my Subclass without even having it equipped, the System doesn't stop there.

"Hidden quest completed. Discover 3/3 of Citizen Uthica's hidden contingencies, have proficiency in Eastern Vausian, Lower Methian and Astreum."

Uhm. Okay. So, no reward? That seems weird. Also, I've never needed Lower Methian. I'm pretty sure no-one in the Aetherium speaks it these days.

"Hey Rufka, you ever have a quest complete that doesn't give a reward?"

"I've had a couple where they just gave useless unlocks or other quests. Like that?"

"No. I mean that there's no reward. Wyonna, do you know what's going on?"

[Wyonna] "Not sure. Maybe the interference is getting in the way? Or maybe the subclass levelling was the reward?"

"Huh. So, Wyonna doesn't…" I waver as my vision gets blurry.

"Lexi. Are you-" Rufka's voice fades as my vision goes dark, nearly invisible words flash past as I lose consciousness.

"Quest Reward: Loaded. Would you like to-"

"Confirmation received. Citizen Uthica's Legacy Primer Downloading."