When he opened his deep brown eyes, the first thing he saw was a massive stone bricked ceiling that stretched further into the mist than he could see.
He got up, wondering how strange the place was, glancing down at the grey, skin-tight jumpsuit he wore.
He looked around himself, seeing a few other people of various races around him, similarly looking around in bafflement.
One woman in particular caught his eye as she nimbly righted herself and crouched, scanning her surroundings for danger.
Her honey-coloured eyes peered at each of them as her lips set themselves in a thin line. Her curved body was accentuated by the tight grey jumpsuit, but also served to show off her lean muscle.
She maintained her stance carefully, her long, pointed ears twitching as if picking up minute sounds.
Since she seemed to know what she was doing, he decided to talk with her and see if she knew what was happening.
Walking towards her, he stopped when she bent her knees in preparation to attack.
"Woah, woah. Easy, easy." He said, lifting his hands to show he wasn't a threat.
"Who are you and why did you come to me?" She demanded aggressively.
"Well, seeing as you immediately got up and started scanning for danger, I thought you knew what was going on." He shrugged. "Was I wrong?"
"I can remember one single thing from before I opened my eyes." She dropped her guard slightly, her yellow eyes losing their sharpness. "You were wrong."
"Come to think of it, I don't even remember my name." He said thoughtfully. "What do you remember?"
"I remember how to fight." She said, at last deciding he wasn't a threat. "I don't remember my name either."
"You have a rune on your left shoulder." He said suddenly, pointing to the sideways 'V' stitched onto her jumpsuit in black. "That's Kenaz. The torch, or beacon."
She glanced at the rune, curious.
"Wait, you remember runes?" She asked suddenly. "I wonder if runes are important to why we're here."
"Maybe." He said, glancing at the rune on his shoulder.
It was an F, but the horizontal lines in the letter were angled down forty-five degrees.
"My rune is Ansuz. Vision." He said after a pause. "I wonder if they indicate abilities. Call me Ansuz for now. It's better than saying 'you'."
"Alright, I'll go by Kenaz, but how about we greet the rest of the people here?" She gestured to the other two people, both human, who seemed to be struggling to communicate and beginning to raise fists.
The left man looked sickly and thin, his black hair a rat's nest sitting atop his head. His black eyes filled with poorly-disguised hatred as he raised his scarecrow-like arms up in a guard.
The right man looked like a colossus, his massive muscles bulging with each move. He was bald, adding to the image of a colossus. His overlarge forehead pinched his facial features, making him look like a rat, but with perfect teeth.
"Hello." Ansuz said when he was relatively close to the pair. "Please don't fight. It would be detrimental to the entire party if we were a man down and we were attacked."
This halted their imminent brawl instantly.
"How do you know this?" The left man demanded, stepping forward to try and threaten him with his frail hands. "Tell me!"
"I don't, however it is a distinct possibility." Ansuz responded reasonably. "While there is a chance it is just us here, I think that there is a distinct possibility that other teams of people who were dropped in here as well."
"That does make sense." Said the colossal man on the right.
"Your rune is Hagalaz. Destruction." Ansuz said, pointing to the stitching on the man's shoulder that created an 'H' with an angled horizontal line in the middle.
"That sounds badass." He responded.
"And your rune is Isa. Standstill." Ansuz pointed to the second man's rune; a vertical line. "My rune is Ansuz, or vision, while her rune is Kenaz, or torch. Please refer to us by our runes, and we'll refer to you by your runes."
Both men agreed to Ansuz's suggestion.
"The piece of knowledge I possess is in regards to runes." Ansuz explained. "It seems that when we came here, we got to keep a single piece of knowledge. Kenaz knows how to fight; what do you two know how to do?"
"I don't know." Hagalaz said honestly.
"Like I'd tell you." Isa snorted in derision.
"Let him be that way." Kenaz suggested quietly when Ansuz glanced at her. "If he alienates himself that's his problem."
"It would also affect us negatively." He protested. "Having a poor team bond might cause us to lose more members."
"We'll deal with that when we get there." Kenaz responded, patting his shoulder.
"What do we do now then, Ansuz?" Hagalaz asked.
"Hold up. Why am I the one deciding this?" Ansuz raised his hands, as if he could ward off responsibility. "I'm not the leader."
"You're the one who has the most level mind, you were able to break up a fight, and you haven't given us any reason not to trust you." Kenaz responded.
"Why can't it be you, Kenaz?" He asked.
"Because I decided it would be you." She laughed. "And an unwilling leader is less likely to try and abuse their power."
Ansuz sighed, accepting his fate.
"I think our first move should be to explore the area, together." He suggested. "We'll need food, water, and possibly weapons. We have none of those things near us, so it'd make sense for us to search for it."
All three of them agreed and they began walking in the direction Ansuz indicated.
"What is that?" Ansuz asked, pointing off to their left, towards a large structure he spotted.
"I don't see anything." Kenaz said, straining her eyes in the indicated direction.
"Me either." Hagalaz agreed, peering into the distant fog. "Perhaps your rune is the reason why you can see more than us."
"Ah. Vision." Ansuz nodded. "Maybe. Should we check it out?"
Kenaz and Hagalaz agreed, while Isa remained silent.
Ignoring Isa's venomous glances towards Hagalaz, he led the way towards the large structure in the distance.
By the time they arrived, they were all sweating, hungry, and tired.
"Let's find the entrance and see what this is." Ansuz suggested, scanning the castle-like structure. "There might be food inside."
At the prospect of food, all of them perked up slightly and two pairs went around the circular structure in opposite directions, arranging to meet on the other side. Ansuz went with Kenaz and Hagalaz went with Isa.
Arriving on the other side took a long time, but it was impossible to determine the actual quantity without an accurate time piece.
Hagalaz arrived alone, hurrying over to them when he saw them.
"Isa went inside alone!" He exclaimed. "He wouldn't listen and went in first!"
'Did he know something?' Ansuz wondered, but followed Hagalaz to the entrance that was just beyond his line of sight.
The entrance looked like the gaping maw of some prehistoric beast, stalactites hanging and stalagmites growing from the floor like teeth. The mist poured ominously from the entrance, thickening the mist around themselves.
"Well this is creepy." Kenaz said, waving her hand through the thick mist, creating ripples.
"Well, we do need to find shelter." Ansuz reasoned. "But I'm not sure if this would count as a shelter."
"We still need to find Isa." She responded.
"I might not like him, but we do need him" Hagalaz agreed.
Ansuz led them through the maw of the beast, into the ever-thickening mist, carefully watching for any possible threats. As they walked, the mist accumulated into droplets on their jumpsuits, soaking into the fabric and hanging on to their faces and hair.
"Stop." Ansuz said suddenly. "We're at a crossroads. It looks like this might be a maze."
"This might be bad." Hagalaz said. "For all we know Isa dead in some dead end somewhere."
"Or he could have finished the maze." Kenaz suggested optimistically. "Let's see if we can finish the maze and then find him if he's not at the end."
Ansuz glanced at the three possible directions, trying to tell which would lead them to their objective. He couldn't see the end of any of the tunnels, and since he had no clues, he was going to pick a random path.
Before he could pick a random tunnel, Kenaz moved towards the left path.
"Let's head left then." He decided, carefully setting his feet upon the wet ground.
"You'll have to lead us, then." Kenaz said. "We can't see a thing beyond you."
"Alright then." Ansuz nodded, leading them down the center of the massive tunnel.
He led them until he came across another crossroads, once again following the Kenaz who kept drifting towards certain paths, heading to the middle path this time.
She continued to act as a pathfinder, instinctively feeling the paths they should take, bringing them deeper and deeper into the labyrinth, while he acted as a guide to the paths, ensuring they wouldn't run into something.
"Why does it feel that you know the way?" Hagalaz asked suspiciously.
"I'm following what I can only describe as an attraction." Kenaz responded, drifting towards the right path, cocking her head to the right and listening intently. "Do you hear that?"
"Yeah I hear that." Ansuz responded. "It sounds like Isa shouting."
"Let's hurry, then." Hagalaz suggested. "If we can hear him, he might be in trouble."
They increased their pace, their feet disturbing the water upon the stone ground as they hurried to find the source of the faint sound that echoed throughout the tunnels.
As they continued, the mist began thinning, allowing Ansuz and the others to see more and more clearly the moist stone that was covered in a thick layer of moss, as well as the lush, moss-covered stalactites that had formed on the ceiling.
In front of them, they saw a doorway spilling light from a source within.
Passing through the doorway, the group took in the devastated room. Pierced by spears of ice, frosted by conical regions that were scratched as if they had been sandblasted, still-smoking craters peppered the area, .
"What the hell happened here?" Hagalaz asked, shocked at the scene of an intense battle between fire and ice.
"I have no clue, but I think Isa is still alive." Ansuz said, following the trail of destruction. "We should hurry. We don't know if Isa is bleeding out or severely hurt or even if he's alive or not."
They picked up the pace, running through the massive room, finding more and more destroyed areas, along with several frozen corpses.
"Yeah, whatever that is, I'm glad I didn't meet it." Kenaz said, looking at a frozen corpse of a one-eyed dog that seemed to be made out of tentacles.
"Come on!" Hagalaz exclaimed as they passed by the corpses until they came to a final door.
Behind that door was Isa, impaled by a piece of stone shrapnel. Around him stood hundreds of frozen sculptures, many shattered, while a number remained perfectly preserved.
"You idiot!" Yelled Hagalaz as he dashed towards Isa.
"What happened here?" Ansuz murmured, surveying the multitudes of statues. "Hey, does anyone remember how to treat someone?"
"I might." Kenaz said suddenly. "Let me try."
Ansuz left her to take care of Isa's wounds as he investigated the room. There was no moss on one wall, while the other walls all had thick blankets of it, indicating that something was either removing it or it moved regularly.
He scoured the wall for any sort of pulley, lever, button, or pressure plate, in hopes of activating whatever mechanism could move the wall.
Nearly a third of the way across, he felt a stone give, sinking into the wall nearly up to his elbow.
With a deep rumble, the wall began to sink into the ground, causing dust to rain from the ceiling, adhering to their wet clothing and fill the air.
Behind the wall was a massive altar made of quartz and outlined with gold, brilliantly reflecting the light from the room. Upon the top of the three-tiered circular altar was a small object that Ansuz couldn't recognize.
Cautiously investigating the altar, Ansuz circled it several times to check for traps before he climbed it to take the small item that laid at the top. During his search for traps, he discovered what he thought was hard-crusted bread and waterskins.
He turned away from the food, climbed the altar and tentatively plucked the small spherical object off of the altar and walked back to the Hagalaz and Kenaz who had finished tending to the now-conscious Isa.
"How is he doing?" Ansuz asked, examining the thumbnail-sized ball he had picked up.
It was a perfectly spherical eye, without the roots or any other external muscle. The pupil was ash grey, and the iris had a vertical gradient of blue on the bottom and yellow on the top, creating green in the middle. It was not squishy at all, to Ansuz's surprise. In fact, it felt like glass as he rolled it between his fingers.
"He'll live. Maybe." Kenaz said, breaking him away from his scrutiny of the eye.
"Great. Our efforts weren't in vain." He glanced at the unconscious body of Isa and wondered if Isa would change to better suit the environment. "I hope he'll adapt to this environment."
"What do you mean?" Hagalaz asked curiously.
"I mean his personality is unsuitable for the situation we're in." Ansuz explained seriously. "He's been argumentative, petty, and now goes and runs off on his own, nearly dying in the process. He doesn't seem to consider the consequences at all."
"You may be right." Kenaz said, getting up from beside Isa's body and walking to Ansuz. "But he still cleared the area. He is strong, but he is unable to think ahead."
Ansuz offered her the weird eye and she took it, eyeing it curiously.
"What's this?" She asked, finishing her inspection. "I doubt my inspection of it will yield more insight into what it is than yours will."
As soon as she said 'inspection' a blue light lit up and displayed a window in front of them.
"What the hell?" Ansuz muttered, shocked as he read the information on the window.
{Artifact: Vision of Elements}
{Type: Item(Consumable)}
{Alignment: Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Metal, Arc, Light, Shade, Frost, Magma, Blood}
{Rarity: Legendary}
{Description: Only those who can see the truth will understand the workings of the elements. After use, user of Vision of Elements will gain the ability to see the movement of the elements and spirits, user will also receive an alignment with most elements, as well as great ability to control them.}
{Restrictions: Only those with the rune [Ansuz] can use this item, must have never touched another legendary item, must not have prior elemental alignments.}
{Penalties for use: None}
"It looks like this was meant for me." Ansuz noted, reading the restrictions.
At that moment Isa awoke to see the empty altar and the screen above Kenaz's palm.
"That was supposed to be mine!" Isa shouted angrily.
"Can I see that for a second?" He asked Kenaz.
She wordlessly handed him the artifact.
"Tell me, Isa, do you see your name on this?" Ansuz held the artifact close to Isa so he could easily read the bright white text. "And besides, Isa, even if it was supposed to be yours, we saved your life and found it before you could."
"I could have sold it!" Isa yelled in rebuttal.
"Oh? Now, how would you know that?" Ansuz asked quietly. "What information do you have that we don't?"
Isa belatedly shut his mouth and refused to answer any further probes.
"Should I use it?" He wondered aloud to himself before turning to Hagalaz and Kenaz. "Do you have any problem with it if I use this?"
"Not at all." Hagalaz shrugged. "It was you who led us through the maze to save Isa, and it was you who found it anyway."
"I agree." Kenaz nodded. "Without you, we wouldn't even have come here. It's all yours."
"Thank you." Ansuz was happy they didn't adopt the same attitude as Isa. "Now, how do I use this?"
He thought for a moment.
"Should I eat it?" He asked himself aloud, purposefully saying it loud enough for Isa to hear.
"Don't you dare use it!" Isa raged, conjuring a spear of ice and sending it towards Ansuz's chest.
"So that's how I use it." Ansuz grinned, popping the tasteless, glass-like eye into his mouth and swallowing, easily dodging the spear.
Isa's eyes bugged and he slumped forward in defeat, yelping when it aggravated his wound.
Ansuz felt a pleasant stream of heat suffuse his body, concentrating itself in his head, making him feel comfortably warm as the colours around him grew more vibrant.
"Damn it!" Isa exclaimed furiously. "I hoped you'd die from absorbing it."
"That's a possibility?" Ansuz asked curiously, slightly surprised to see Isa's body tinged grey.
"Yes." Isa nodded. "It's a shame you didn't die."
"Should we just abandon Isa?" Ansuz asked the other two.
"If he's unrepentant and actively wishing death upon us, then perhaps it would be for the best." Kenaz said, in mock-regret.
"I concur." Hagalaz sighed with genuine sorrow. "If I hadn't witnessed him attacking you, I'd disagree. I had hoped he'd come around, but this is unforgivable."
"As soon as you heal, we will be ejecting you from the party." Ansuz said. "I'd feel guilty about ejecting a wounded man."
He walked to the area behind the altar and pulled a few loaves of bread from the small pile they laid in, along with a few waterskins.
With his arms full, he turned back towards his companions and handed out the food to them.
"How did you know you could sell artifacts?" Ansuz asked as they ate.
"Is it not a given in situations like this?" Isa demanded irritably. "This is just like a game. Just as you have an inspection skill, you also have other skills. Figure it out yourself."
"Whether or not we leave you with food will hinge on how you answer my question." Ansuz said sweetly.
Isa responded with silence.
"How do you know things like this? We all had our memories wiped, right?" Ansuz asked, taking his silence as assent.
"I still have all my memories of my life before this." Isa glared at Ansuz.
"Ah. Your rune makes sense then." Ansuz chuckled. "Isa represents standstill. It can also represent egomania, blindness, betrayal, and deceit. I'm guessing his rune is also the reason why his memories weren't wiped. His rune protects him from changes. It also perfectly captures his personality."
"Hmm. All we have to go off of is your knowledge, but it does make sense." Kenaz said thoughtfully. "I guess this was unavoidable if your conjecture is true."
"It probably was unavoidable." Hagalaz agreed. "But why did he have power over ice?"
"Answer his question and you'll get to have water when we leave." Ansuz said to Isa.
"You start with a free common rune in your inventory, dumbass." Isa responded scathingly.
"And how do you access it?" Ansuz asked patiently.
"You just say it with the intention to open it." Isa growled. "This is basic shit."
"Inventory." Ansuz muttered, ignoring Isa's insults that he continued to throw at them.
Inside Ansuz's inventory were items, just as Isa said, arranged into a four by four grid, however he had two items. He experimented for a brief amount of time before finally figuring out he just had to reach into the box he wanted the item out of.
Pulling out both items, he inspected them.
One was a piece of bark that looked like a rough imitation of a gauntlet, its 'fingers' were little more than twisted wood that ended in a point, and its wrist covers looked like little more than dry bark that would be used as tinder.
{Artifact: Wooden Claws}
{Type: Armour(Treant Set Item)(Durability: 50/50)}
{Alignment: Wood}
{Rarity: Common}
{Description: One piece of the four pieces of the Treant set. A pair of gauntlets that slowly regenerate durability over time. Grants mediocre defense for its grade in return for a mediocre piercing attack.}
{Restrictions: Can only be applied to the hand, must not have conflicting alignment(fire)}
{Penalties for use: None}
'I guess I can't use this because I posses an alignment with fire.' Ansuz thought, holding the item as he inspected the other. 'Or any artifact that possesses a restriction to an element.'
The second item was a thumb-sized, resplendent rainbow crystal that shimmered dazzlingly when he moved it in his palm.
{Artifact: Shimmering Rainbow Crystal}
{Type: Item(Reward Item)(Consumable)}
{Alignment: Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Metal, Arc, Light, Shade, Frost, Magma, Blood}
{Rarity: Rare}
{Description: A precious jewel that, when consumed, will grant the user a mediocre boost in affinity to many elements, as well as improve the user's constitution and Mana capacity.}
{Restrictions: Soulbound, must possess omni-affinities}
{Penalties for use: None}
{Reward from being among the first one hundred people to acquire a legendary artifact.}
"Hey, Ansuz." Kenaz glanced at him, smiling. "Thanks to you handing that legendary artifact to me, I got an achievement item."
"I did too. What a strange system." Ansuz nodded, promptly swallowing the beautiful rainbow crystal and enjoying the slight heat that once again suffused his body.
"You got an item for touching that eye?" Hagalaz asked suddenly. "Damn it! Why didn't I touch it?"
"FUCK" Isa screamed out, enraged. Everyone ignored him.
"Unfortunately, all you can do is regret." Ansuz said, feeling genuine regret for his companion. "If we find another legendary, how about it goes to you?"
"You do deserve it." Kenaz agreed. "You've received very few benefits from travelling with us."
"Well, if you put it like that, then I won't have to regret." Hagalaz responded, his massive shoulders quaking as his laughter shook the room. "But, seeing my free common artifact, wouldn't it be best to avoid consuming an artifact now?"
"Are you referring to the massive amounts of restrictions that were on my artifact?" Ansuz asked, confirming his conjecture when Hagalaz nodded. "Perhaps it would be better for you to wait, while at the same time it might not. It could be important for you to have an artifact if we're to get more to survive, while it might simultaneously cause you to be unable to use the artifact when we find it."
"I don't know what I should do!" Hagalaz exclaimed, torn.
"How about this. If we encounter another group with hostile intentions, you'll use it and help us fight them off, but if we find another legendary artifact in the mean time, you'll use it." Ansuz suggested, laying Hagalaz's worries to rest. "While it might lead to you having a disadvantage regarding your familiarity with the artifact, you could still turn the tables with regards to combat."
"I'll do as you suggested." Hagalaz said, pleased. "Thank you."
"It benefits all of us, so why are you thanking me?" Ansuz asked.
"Because it benefits me." Hagalaz responded, his laughter echoing off the walls.
"I think I'll avoid using both my Shimmering Rainbow Crystal and the common earth artifact I received. It'd be best for me to wait until I have a legendary artifact as well." Kenaz said after a momentary thought.
Nodding in understanding, Ansuz turned once more to the belligerent Isa.
"Anything else we should know with regards to this system?" He asked, sweet as honey. "Answer me and I'll give you this artifact."
Isa's eyes lit with greed and he hurried to respond.
"There is also a status screen as well as a shop, you just need to say their respective names with the intent to open them." Isa spoke as fast as he could, his eyes never leaving the wooden gauntlet.
"Thanks." Ansuz dropped the gauntlet next to Isa and turned to his screens that he summoned with a word. "Status screen."
{Rune: Ansuz}
{Race: Human}
{Mana: 1500/1500}
{Health: 500/500}
{Stamina: 250/250}
{Physical Status: Healthy}
{Mental Status: Slightly Tired}
"Fascinating." Ansuz said after he finished reading over his status screen.
Kenaz, who was reading his status with him, opened her own and glanced back and forth between his and her own.
"Your mana is massive." She said, shocked by the number that was displayed by his screen.
Ansuz looked over at her screen and saw that his numbers did indeed dwarf hers.
{Rune: Kenaz}
{Race: Elfin}
{Mana: 500/500}
{Health: 100/100}
{Stamina: 150/150}
{Physical Status: Healthy}
{Mental Status: Tired}
"Looks like it's the effect of the Vison of Elements." Ansuz laughed. "Don't worry, your mana will likely catch up to mine."
"What about me?" Hagalaz asked, displaying his status.
{Rune: Hagalaz}
{Race: Human}
{Mana: 100/100}
{Health: 100/100}
{Stamina: 100/100}
{Physical Status: Healthy}
{Mental Status: Tired}
"Since artifacts increase our abilities, I think it's safe to assume that your abilities will also increase as we find artifacts for each other." Ansuz replied. "Until then, it looks like you're our weakest link."
"That's not a good feeling." Hagalaz said, scratching the back of his bald head.
"You'll get over it." Kenaz responded, without a shred of sympathy. "And besides. we're a team, remember? A team protects each other."
"Isn't it strange how we can pull knowledge as if from thin air, but we don't question why we know it?" Ansuz broke in. "It's like our memory was wiped only superficially. Language and prior experiences seem to remain, however we seem to be unable to recall them except with muscle memory."
"Just why are we here?" Hagalaz wondered philosophically. "Perhaps we are here purely because some entity decided we would, wiping our memories and deciding we would survive for their entertainment."
"Perhaps." Ansuz agreed. "But does that reduce our desire to live?"
"No." Kenaz said firmly.
"So, to survive this, I'm guessing we either need to survive a set amount of time or kill every other person that was transported with us." Ansuz reasoned. "Since there is no timer, I'm guessing it's the latter. If I'm right, we need to steel ourselves to take lives."
"I don't want to become a murderer." Hagalaz said, staring at his massive palms. "I don't want blood on my hands."
"And yet, if we are to survive, we may need to get our hands dirty." Kenaz sighed. "I like it about as much as you do, but it seems it will be unavoidable."
"Let's get some sleep." Ansuz said, laying a comforting hand upon his companions' shoulders. "We're all tiring and ruminating on murder isn't going to help us go to sleep."
"Would we not need to set up a sentry?" Kenaz asked. "We're sleeping in a landmark, you know."
"That's true." He responded. "I'll go first, but how long should I keep watch?"
"In the shop there's a reset timer." Kenaz said, pulling up the screen and pointing. "There's nine hours on the timer, so how about we take three hours each, both to keep track of Isa and watch for the possible other teams. I'll take the second watch."
"Alright then." Ansuz nodded, seating himself upon the altar, facing the entryway as well as Isa, who still couldn't easily move from his spot.
He patiently sat, sitting on the altar, unmoving, as he tried to move the powers the system said he now possessed.
He tried for nearly an hour, feeling he was on the verge of success.
After an hour and a half, according to the shop reset, he successfully moved the power within him, feeling it rushing through himself like a cool stream, cycling through his body.
He maintained the rotation of the mana, enjoying the sensation as he tried to figure out how he was supposed to turn the internal power into an external cast.
He remained vigilant as he pondered the question, finally deciding to ask Isa once they found another artifact that wasn't useful to them.
For the remaining hour of his sentry duty, he sat there, enjoying the comfortable feeling of cool mana coursing through his veins, comforting him while simultaneously keeping him awake.
Before he knew it, his time for sentry duty was up.
He rose, finding it was much more difficult to keep his mana flowing through his veins when he was moving. Each movement caused it to ripple and grow sluggish, fighting against the flow within his body.
Deciding to set a little challenge for himself, he tried his best to keep his mana rotating as he walked towards the sleeping Kenaz.
Although he failed at the halfway mark, unable keep the turbulence within the flow of mana from disrupting it entirely, he was able to learn how to control it, to an extent.
'I think that knowing how to control it within myself will be very useful for when I want to control it outside of myself.' He thought, shaking Kenaz awake.
'She's cute when she's asleep.' As she awoke, the thought struck him, making him slightly uncomfortable.
"Damn it." Kenaz cursed, rubbing her eyes. "If there was no light I wouldn't have taken so long to sleep."
"Try getting the mana inside you to flow through your body." Ansuz suggested. "It takes a bit of trying, but once you get the hang of it you'll feel more awake. Plus, it feels cold and refreshing."
"Alright, I'll try it, but only if I don't think it'll make it more difficult to keep watch." She nodded in thanks, making her way to the altar that Ansuz had sat upon.
"Good luck." He said as he laid down upon the cool, hard stones.
He awoke to Hagalaz's large palms on his back, pushing him about.
"I'm up." Ansuz said hastily. "Move me about any more and the friction from the stones will break my skin."
Hagalaz chuckled, moving to the sleeping form of Kenaz, who woke as soon as he put his hand on her.
They sat in companionable silence, eating their staling bread.
After they finished their meal, Kenaz got up and kicked Isa's wounded shoulder to awaken him.
Isa shouted in pain, sitting up and shying away from Kenaz, who had raised her foot to kick him once more.
Although Ansuz felt it was a little cruel, Isa had tried to kill them, so he felt it was also justified.
They divided the bread and water Ansuz had found, placing it into the rather convenient inventory they had found they possessed.
As Ansuz waited for the other three to properly prepare to depart, he continued his previous challenge of walking while circulating mana.
He took steps slowly, forcing his mana to remain calm and flow without ripples as he did, rapidly gaining control over the previously-elusive mana.
"I tried doing what you suggested." Kenaz said, having finished preparing. "It kept me awake after I got the hang of it."
"I'm glad." Ansuz said, genuinely pleased that his companion could manage the same feat he could. "Did you suggest it to Hagalaz?"
"No." Kenaz responded. "Should I have?"
"Well, since we all have mana, why shouldn't we all learn how to utilize it?" Ansuz suggested reasonably.
"That's true, but how would we control it outside of ourselves?" Kenaz asked thoughtfully.
"I planned to ask Isa about that, in exchange for something." Ansuz admitted.
"Watch this." Kenaz said suddenly turning to the helpless Isa.
She mercilessly gripped his wounded shoulder, digging her fingers into Isa's wound, drawing blood and causing him to turn white.
"Tell me, how do you manifest your mana outside of your body?" Kenaz demanded while continuing to increase the pressure she applied to his wound. "Tell me and the pain will stop."
"You-you send the mana through the part your artifact influences!" Isa screamed as Kenaz dug her fingers into his wound slightly before abruptly pulling her hand away.
"Mission accomplished." Kenaz grinned sweetly at him.
Ansuz stood, shell-shocked by her ruthless attitude that appeared out of nowhere.
Hagalaz edged slightly away from her in fear.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Gasped Isa, pale as a ghost and sweating profusely.
"It's your fault you chose to try and kill Ansuz." Kenaz said mildly as she wiped off the blood that stuck to her fingers.
Isa looked at both Ansuz and Hagalaz, hoping for help.
Both men ignored him.
"Don't worry." Kenaz said with a creepy smile. "As soon as you recover, we'll be rid of you."