Chapter 4
Lysaria stumbled along after Hectar pointing her finger and shooting essence every time she got the chance. Hitting trees was easy for her, she kept trying her best to hit and was only successful some of the time. She pointed at a branch and for once hit her target, the big branch shook when her essence struck making pine cones rain on the group.
Looking in every direction other than at her group she decided that was enough practice for now. Dakar said loudly," as I was saying! when we arrive at the crevice we should try and climb down the side." Thana said," Noo, I think we should walk around until we find a safer way to the bottom." Hectar broke in" and I think we should find something else to do, like maybe build something."
Lysaria said," wait we can make things to get essence?" Hectar said," yeah I heard from my guardian if you focus completely on crafting or finding things to challenge your mind you can ascend that way." Dakar butted in he said," if we kill things to accend it's much quicker though." Lysaria said," Well it is really quick but I have already died, and trust me you don't want to go through that
Lysaria said," my guardian didn't know much about the ceremony, they said that they had ascended only once and done it by building houses and even a bridge." Lysaria said," let us go and find something other than monsters," Almost immediately she had the sense that she should head in a different direction."
Lysaria said," something weird is happening it feels almost like I'm being told to go this way," she gestured to their right into the thick forest. Dakar said," My guardian said the arbitrator will guide you towards whatever we seek, If we seek a strong enemy then we will find a strong enemy." Lysaria thought she understood, no wonder she had found a giant bear.
Lysaria led the way pushing aside branches and doing her best to avoid getting her hair tangled in the leaves. She pushed a long branch with her left hand watching the branch bow as she pushed on the branch for a moment. Letting the branch goo she stepped forward and continued on not a care in the world.
Hectar yelped he said," hey watch it that hurts, don't be frapping me with branches." Lysaria said," oh I'm sorry I didn't see you there." Her tone must not have convinced him because he jogged past her and got in the lead. Ahh yes, she thought a new meat shield, perfect incase of ambushes.
Lysaria felt bad about her thought, she was only thinking of herself. Feeling like a bad person she said," Hectar wait a moment, Hectar waited while she used essence to cut down a long sturdy branch. She shaved off the point with a blade of the essence before handing him the long wooden spear.
She said," have you used a spear before?" Hectar said," well the stick can't be that difficult to use, all I need to do is point and stab?" Lysaria said," when you stab focus essence through your weapon or it will be useless." Hectar squinted his eyes at his new weapon and after a moment the whole stick shown in green light.
Lysaria said," you learned that much quicker than I did, Hectar said," oh yeah, Maybe I can be shooting essence at things just like you before long.?" Lysaria said," I can shoot essence but I'm still horrible at aiming, I need practice." Thana said," well as long as your not practicing with me around that pinecone hurt."
Lysaria was so focused on the conversation that she bumped into Hectar, He sighed, "We are here," She said," sorry about that, And thanks for stopping me that could have been bad to stumble into that cave." He said, " yes the cave that goes uphill and is 100yards away."
Lysaria turned to the rest of her group who were laughing, She could take a joke. She said," Alright, laugh it up, I guess I deserve that." Lysaria turned to the dark entrance of the cave, she wondered what was inside, She could see something glowing on the walls, bugs?
Walking forward she stepped past Hectar and sauntered to the front of the cave. She was right, they were bugs, in the dim light of the entrance the back of the bugs glowed filling the cave with a blue light. From behind her Dakar said," light take me,! bugs that glow, are they some sort of monster?"
The cave brightened as 4 bugs the size of her head glowed brightly before scurrying across the floor at her. Lysaria yelled," Bug! She stumbled back and stood beside Hectar, the other two people stood behind them, why hadn't she thought to cut them some spears.?
The bugs slowly ran across the floor, each one covered in a Glowing shell, Hectar stood forward jabbing at a bug, the slow speed of the bug allowed him to accurately strike the hard shell. Lysaria said," channel essence or your spear won't do any damage," She thrust her essence charged spear into the back of one of the creepy bugs." She pointed at another and broke its shell with her essence.
The bug collapsed dying with her second essence orb, an interesting name but somehow it fits She thought. Hectar shouted," Get it off, get it off, the bug is biting me." She had been so caught up in what she was doing that Lysaria hadn't been paying attention to Hectar. Hectar was laying on his back with a bug on his chest.
He was flailing his arms shouting "get it off!, get it off!" Dakar rushed in picked up Hectars spear and stabbed at the last bug trying to keep it from climbing him. Lysaria held her hand to the side of the bug on hectares chest and channelled an essence orb. The bug let out a high pitch screech before letting go of hectares essence soaked chest.
She used the long stick to stab the bug in the soft underside finishing it off, before Turning to Dakar. Dakar and Thana we're hitting the cracked shell of the last bug, with one final strike Thana finished the last of the creepy bugs off.
When the final bug died all of the bugs turned to green essence flowing towards each of the party. Hactar gasped as he said," you, you were right, pain sucks that bugs claws dug into my chest. Hectars body shook, Lysaria looked over his body, His wounds were healed but that couldn't have been pleasant.
Thana said," The essence really is beautiful, Dakar said," I love how it sparkles and glows, Makes me feel shiny" Hectar said," why are you all soo happy, did you not just see me get my chest torn by a bug?" Dakar said," look at your vessel, Hectars eyes grew wide." he said," light take me! I earned 30 essences."
Lysaria only gained a pitiful 10 essence putting her at 160, She said," alright let's go in." Hectar said, "You are crazy if you think I'm going to lead this time." Lysaria sighed, "Alright I will lead, She crept into the large cave walking along carved tunnels."
Dakar said," it looks like this place was created, not dug by water," The group walked into the cave until they could no longer see the sunlight. Lysaria said, "oh wow the cave is so beautiful with all of the small bugs to light it up." Her voice echoed through the hall and bounced back in a pleasant-sounding cadence. The cave had water flowing down one wall that sparkled with the light from bugs who were on the wall next to the water causing a dazzling display of light.
Hectar said," keep an eye out, there better not be any more of those creepy big bugs." Dakar said," it was only one bug don't get so riled up you should be happy you got so much essence." Hectar said," next time we get attacked by bugs I'm going to let you go first."
Thana said," Look at this wall, It must be some sort of puzzle." Lysaria ignored the bantering of Dakar and Hectar before walking to Thana who was standing next to the far wall looking at some flat stone."
Thana said," Behind this stone lies the key to success solve the riddle to learn the rest. The stone said," A word I know, six letters it contains, remove one letter and 12 remains. What is it? Lysaria said," Ohh cool a puzzle, Twelve she thought no that word is too long, All of these types of puzzles had a little trick to them that required a simple trick. She said," ah-hah a dozen," Thana said," I don't think it worked."
The cave wall shook, dust falling from the ceiling as a door opened on the flat side of the tunnel. Dakar said," well that was easy," Thana said," you can't take the credit, you didn't even help solve the riddle." Lysaria walked ahead of the group entering the tight passage. She had to hold her spear ahead of her and realized the thing was completely useless in these tight quarters.
Hopefully, she wouldn't need it, Walking 20 steps and rounding a corner she left the dark smooth hallway and entered a house-sized. The room was lit up by glowing essence flowing along the roof. She was mesmerized and stopped in place, Ouch! watch it with that spear" She turned glaring at Hectar whose cheeks were glowing a bright green. Sorry, I didn't mean to poke you with my spear."
Hectar said," oh look another puzzle and this one doesn't have bugs," Hectar gently pushed past a still upset Lysaria, She turned and examined the floor. Light take her what kind of puzzle was that The puzzle covered most of the floor with dozens of square tiles.