5 Ch 4: Decoding the Anonymous
The voice echoes around the sea. It was calling as if it was right near her.
'Forget what?' Ylona's head murmurs as her body float underwater.
[Remember…Don't ever let them know.]
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Kiarra—with 5 shards, is now on her way to find the second to last shard. While inside the cave, she discovers several treasures that shine brightly in the dark. She ought to grab one but she accidentally got caught by the magpie who was on its way to display more shiny objects. Kiarra got scared but got her hopes up when she saw that the magpie was holding a shard by its beak.
"Ah! It's a shard!" Kiarra exclaims while pointing at the shard. When the magpie saw Kiarra near its collection, it got outraged—thinking that Kiarra aimed to steal its possessions. It roared through the whole cave, making Kiarra's ear bleed in the noise that echoed in the whole cave.
"What a loud bird," Kiarra complains. Immediately, she unleashes her weapon—bow and arrows. She grabbed one arrow and aimed it at the beak. Suddenly, the magpie moved, causing the arrow to accidentally hit its chin. The magpie roared in pain as it tries to attack Kiarra with it's beak. She was almost close to grabbing the shard, but the magpie flap its wings at accidentally hit Kiarra, throwing her off through the cave's end. She grunts in pain as she holds onto her abdomen. The magpie went closer to her and starts attacking her nonstop.
Kiarra flew several arrows—hitting several parts of the magpie excluding its beak. It seems that no one wants her to grab a hold of the shard. She had gotten furious at this point that she fired three arrows at once. It hit its head, left eye, and cheek—but not the beak. "Oh, come on! I just want the shard!" Kiarra jumps through the walls and dashes through the magpie's back.
The magpie suddenly wiggled but Kiarra dug an arrow on its back—allowing her to stay still however making the magpie in pain. As the magpie started getting weaker from a lot of arrows embedded on its body, Kiarra made the move and headed for its beak. She reached out for the shard and eventually got a hold of it. Unfortunately, the magpie bit her hand, dropping the shard. She grunts in pain as the magpie accidentally stepped on it, trapping the shard on the magpie's feet.
"Curse you!" Kiarra shouts as she dug another arrow into the other eye,—blinding the magpie. The magpie once again roared and started wiggling even faster, dropping Kiarra on the floor very badly. Kiarra grunts as her back fell flat on the rocky soil.
She stood up soon when the magpie fell down on the ground and seemed to not be moving. She quickly grabbed the shard before leaving the cave and a dead magpie. "Woo-ho!" Kiarra shouts in joy as she had finally found the sixth shard. "One more…and were done." But her joys are soon to be shattered by yet another mischief.
"Come on! Give me a break!" Kiarra was exhausted—once again got caught in the magpie's trap. She ran as fast as she could, panting heavily until she had made it to the cliff. She immediately stops, almost falling but was lucky. The magpie rushes towards Kiarra and went to attack her, but she squatted down—avoiding the magpie's attack.
"Ha!" Unfortunately, her luck was not for too long. The rocks that she was stepping on broke down, eventually dragging her down. Kiarra shouted as the wind drags her from below. But then, her eyes gazed at something shiny. She looked down and saw the one thing she had been looking for. "THE KEY!"
She had just finished finding the last shard and was on her way to find the key when the magpie and her interact. The magpie saw the shards and immediately went to get them from her—the reason why Kiarra had been running nonstop. She went closer to the cliff and successfully hold the key. She struggled to get it out, but eventually released it after a few pulls. "Got it!" She delightfully said. However, she realized that she lost support from the cliff, leaving her falling once more—this time, dropping in the ocean.
"CURSES! Not again!"
Her impact was strong, almost looking like a rock has been dropped purposely on the water. Kiarra, however, did not let such fall ruin her success and quickly swam up. Unfortunately, a strange specimen tangled around her leg and dragged her back into the water. It was the same species that pulled and injured Ylona, but unlike her, Kiarra was able to get away faster. she unleashed her weapon and light her arrow with blue flames. Apart from its ability to unleash blue flames, the creatures weakness is its own strength, as thought in intermediate grades.
In an instant, the monster was severely injured and Kiarra was successful with her escape. she quickly went up the shore and attempted to climb up, but noticed that the surface was too sharp for someone to climb on. She had no choice but to let the key fall, but how? The answer, use her bow.
She aimed it carefully towards her target and to her expectations, the key fell into the water. She quickly jumped back and when she was about to grab the key, the creature came back and caught the object first. The monster swam back down deep until it was no longer visible. Kiarra followed the creature down and once more tried to attack it but found a strange looking item not far from the creature.
It was in a rectangular shape, with a hole on the west side that is similar to a keyhole. It was then that Kiarra realized that this was the door to finish the test. She looked at the timer, she had 30 minutes to finish and all she had to do was to open the door. But first, she has to retrieve the key from the creature who stole it.
But because she was not immune to water breathing, she has no choice but to swim back to grab some air. Once she was back to the water, Kiarra hurriedly searched for the monster and luckily, she found it circling around a cave, this must be it's lair she thought. She hid behind the rocks as she formulates a plan to grab the key from it's tentacle.
While the monster was busy circling around, Kiarra moved to another rock next to her and carefully stretched her arrow. Once the timing was right, she lets go of the string and the bow run straight through a boulder just above the creature. The boulder fell and trapped the monster, giving time for Kiarra to grab the key. Unfortunately for her, the monster's tentacles is filled with sticky mucus that eventually made them stuck to each other.. The monster used this opportunity to attack Kiarra but was fast enough to dodge all of them.
Kiarra knew that the only way to be separated was to use blue flame, but the problem is that if she ever uses it, her hands will have to suffer the consequence. She has to think thoroughly for this. Then, she thought of something: if she gathers all her aster to her hand, it can create a barrier that will protect her hand when she uses blue flame. But this can cost almost all of her energy, since it was the only way, Kiarra has no idea left.
She concentrates her energy to her hand, slowly creating a bubble on her hand. With this she uses her other hand to unleash an arrow with its tip burning in blue flame. The bow pierced the monster's tentacles, burning the mucus and allowing Kiarra to escape with the key. As quickly before the monster could jump back to take revenge, Kiarra went to the door and unlocked it, and just before the monster could take it's blow, she immediately closed the door, thus labelling her as a passer.
- - - - - - - - -
Ylona's eyes opened as her head tries to recollect the past events that happened. She quickly swam out oft he water to collect some air, breathing slowly as her body moves so that she could stay floating in the water. She looked at the cliff above to see how high had she had been thrown.
Instantly, she starts looking for the shards. It would be bad if she lost them now that she had just found all of them. Luckily, they were safe in the place where she puts it. Now that this concern is done, the next agenda is to find the key.
Below her, Ylona notices an unusual light. She jumps back to the water to investigate. Whether it be the key or something else, as long as it has value—will be beneficial. As Ylona swam, she felt something odd that alerted her. She went deeper and deeper into the ocean but the light was unreachable. She thought it might be some prank laid by Alpha—she knew that woman does it all the time. But as she looked further, she saw something that catches her eye—a chest lying underneath. She concluded that the key might be located inside and moves closer to the chest and opens it.
As soon as she opens it, a gust of wind flew at her again, but it was weaker and unlike the last time, it did not blow her away. She got more suspicious but eventually continued the search. She scrapped from top to bottom but she found no key. It seems that it was a false alarm—meaning that the key is located elsewhere.
As she was about to swim up, some sort of vine got a hold of Ylona's leg. She turned and tries to break it apart, but it was strong. Unknown to her, the vines were something else than just a normal vine. As she continues to break it, it suddenly moved and started dragging her away from the surface. The creature was quite fast, making Ylona unable to budge away. Ylona attempted to get her scythe, but the creature moved to a big rock causing her arm to get injured when she protected her head from the rock—some parts of her leg were also scrapped. The creature stopped when it reached a cave and instantly threw Ylona inside. It left soon after creating a web-like mucus over the entrance.
Ylona, who ended up in a pile of rocks, stood up to swim to the mucus. Normal people would have ended up suffocated at this point but Ylona had a device to make her breathe in water as long as she likes. It was located inside her chest. She touched the mucus and saw how sticky it was to her fingers. It will be hard if she touched it—it will be harder to escape. Ylona took time to think, and while doing that, she had to do something with her injury.
Ylona had been circling around the cave, looking for something that may help her escape. But all she found was nothing but dirt, rocks, and some skeletons of dead preys. Too much time wasted and she might end up lying next to the skeletons. Remembering a faint lesson, Ylona suspected that only flames could melt it—a blue flame* exactly. But where could she get one? Looking at the location of the cave, there are most likely no blue flames near. Only places like on seaweeds or corals can you get a blue flame. She looks through an opening from the mucus took looks for some seaweed that might help her achieve the blue flame.
To her luck, she found one—about 5 miles from her location. But the problem is how will she go there if the only way to do it is to exit the mucus? She has to find another way. After running through some calculations, she got and idea Unfortunately, Ylona had to wait for the creature to arrive back.
A few minutes passed, Ylona heard a loud roar coming miles—To her guess, it was indeed the creature that lured her in. It swam in circles, as if it was guarding the cave against harm—or maybe guarding so that she won't be able to escape. Ylona proceeded with her plan. She went close to the mucus and did the next step. Her eye glowed blue as the creature eventually stopped and went closer as if it was being brainwashed*. Listening to Ylona's orders, the creature opened its mouth and burst out a ball of blue flames on the mucus that eventually melted them—allowing Ylona to escape.
She quickly left the creature inside with the mucus placed inside the cave after manipulating it. She swam from every direction, looking for the key, but it seems that it was not in the water. Ylona continued the search, unwilling to give up since she now only has an hour and a half to finish the test. Ylona went to the shore and walked around to look for the key. She went from every place possible but it seems that the key was nowhere to be found. She grabbed the shards and built them into a diamond—just like the one the Alpha showed before the test.
Just then, a light suddenly reflected from the centerpiece that hit Ylona's eye. She distanced it from her and immediately reverted back to the reflection. There was no source of light here except the sun. But the problem is that the sun was opposite of where the reflection hit her. Something must be in the sky. Using the diamond, Ylona looked at the centerpiece and caught glimpse of something from above. She felt that something was above and so, she has to fly. But how? She doesn't have wings nor enchantments to make her fly. Then, she found the solution.
Ylona went in stand-by as the magpie flew above the clouds. Using the magpie to fly was her option. Now she has to find a way on how to get it to carry her. Her position is near the cliff—she considers this the best spot for her plan. As the magpie got closer to the cliff, Ylona grabs a shard and run towards the cliff. When the magpie saw the shine of the shard, it quickly flew to Ylona. As she planned, she threw the shard on the cliff— the magpie dashed before her and the moment it flew from the cliff, its beak quickly got caught of the shard—a success for the magpie.
At also the exact moment, Ylona immediately run to the cliff and jumped—landing on the magpie's back as soon as it got the shard—a success for Ylona this time.
Holding another shard, Ylona threw one up in the air. She grabbed onto the feathers as the magpie flew very quickly, catching the shard by its beak. The sequence continues until she was close to the shiny object. To her expectations, that's the shiny object she caught a glimpse of was the key, hanging on nothing—until she noticed a door-like surface that blend match with the sky.
She expected it was useless if she didn't mind it and planned to kill the magpie if her suspicion that it was a key is wrong, but it seems now that it was not useless after all. She used the sixth shard to get closer to the door, and to her luck she managed to get close—but not close enough.
With the last shard on her hands, Ylona threw the shard as high as she could. The magpie followed the shard as quickly as it saw it. Ylona jumps from the bird the moment it caught the shard and fell all the way to the key.
She managed to get hold of the key—almost slipping but survived. She watched as the magpie flew away, leaving her with no choice but to hold on to the key. Using her force, Ylona moved the key to the left and opens. She pushed the door, allowing her more space. She slowly got inside and took a break from the exhaustion. After taking a rest, Ylona made her way to the tunnel in front of her—where she shall end this test once and for all.
- - - - -
Kiarra waved her hands up as the wind takes her down to the surface. Seeing that Ylona was already there, she calls for her attention and when she was finally down, Kiarra ran towards her and gave her remarks. With a few minutes to spare, Kiarra went on a stroll and on her way, she accidentally bumped into someone. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!"
"It's alright. I wasn't focusing on my surroundings."
Kiarra looked up and faces a young lad holding a squirrel in his hands. It was unusual for her to have this interaction given that there are hardly any animal in sight. But she can't help to adore the tiny animal in front of her. "It's so adorable!"
"Would you like to hold her?" The boy asked.
"It's okay. I was about to leave anyway, don't want to waste you and your pet's time."
"Oh! This isn't my pet." Kiarra was stunned at first, then the boy explains that he had just found it right after he finished the test. It was standing right next to him, moments later, the squirrel kept following him so he has no choice but to carry it otherwise someone might accidentally stepped on it. "It must've think your its guardian. It looks like a young one."
"I was thinking the same thing." Just then, the squirrel jumped down at the boy's hand and ran away. Both their eyes followed the squirrel until it was no longer in their sight. At this moment, a bell rang signifying the end of the second test. "It ended. Shall we g—"
To her surprise, the boy right next to her disappeared like a bubble. Kiarra looked around but his traces were no longer visible, as if he was never there from the beginning. She decides to go back to where Ylona is, trying to forget the unusual scenario that happened. Once Alpha was done with her closing remarks, everyone went to their respective rooms—taking a rest for tomorrow's new challenge. All expect for one person.
The curtains flew gently with the wind as Ylona stands atop her window after throwing her blade to a target unknown. Her eyes were sharp, her hands gripping tightly to her scythe as she glares at a certain location. To whom was she glaring at?
Not far from her maybe the answer to this question. A gentle figure stands by and unspecified surface, it's cape flying like her curtains. It's face was covered by the shadows, unwilling to be seen nor known. The figure slowly stepped back from it's place, the shadows made their duty and embraced the figure until it was no longer in sight.
Chapter 5:
-The Echoes Call
Guide:
1. Blue Flames - Blue flames are considered stronger fires than the normal ones. Fires in Asteria have different types:
Red fires that are only found inside a Pinjay's eye. (Pinjays are birds in Asteria known to have multiple colored eyes. It is said that if you have it's eye, you can bring anyone to life however, it is not applied if this legend is true or not). This type of fire is the rarest.
Blue fires that works only on water and is capable of creating something called 'hot ice' in which if you use in your hand freezes the outside while melt the inside of your hand.
Green fires used by healers to remove weak contaminations inside the body. In Asteria, there is a practice called "Inner Melting" that uses this type of fire wherein the healer will open a specific part of the victim's body and place the fire inside (The fire will look like a string with it's tip of a snake's head). It will take about 5 minutes before it completely eats all the disease. Unfortunately, green flames cannot remove black flames.
Yellow fires which functions as a barrier destroyer capable of melting the strongest of barriers to be made. This however, requires a lot of Aster and training to be perfectly used. This will be used in future chapters.
Purple fires that comes with a barrier, placed on walls to avoid destruction. If the fire is put out, the barrier will also come out.
Orange fires or what we called the standard fire that is used to cook foods and light a campfire.
Colorless/White fires that can cause blindness, only to be used when casting powerful spells/enchantments. This was used by the goddess of light to create the 2nd sun. And;
Black fires which are considered contaminated and can destroy a creature's physical and internal with the use of right dark spell.
Note: Know that Auras are different from Fires.
~Excel~
