Noya turned her head towards the group for a moment, and in that time they noticed that her pupils were extremely dilated. Not only that but her iris were abnormally large, to the point where the scelera in her eyes were barely noticeable. Because of this it was hard to determine what exactly she was looking at. She casually turned her head to observe the rift once again.
"How do you know me?" Jayson asked.
"I know a lot of people, including you Avery." Noya stated. "Your father was a very interesting man."
"You met my father? But he never wrote about coming here."
"I didn't meet him here, it was actually someplace on the air continent."
"The air continent?"
"I would love to tell you the story, but I do believe that you all are pressed for time."
"We are. I was told that if I came here I'd find something that would help us get to Aestus.
"Yes, and there it is." Noya replied while gesturing at the rift.
"...What is it?" Jayson asked.
When Noya gestured towards the rift, she diverted all of their attention to it. By the time Jayson asked his question and looked over to Noya again, she had vanished.
"What the..."
"Moya disappeared the same way before." Shaedon said.
"Thank you for talking to my sister." Noya whispered into Shaedon's ear as she appeared behind him.
"AHH!"
Shaedon shouted and stumbled forward into Avery's arms. Everyone was visibly stunned and confused with what was happening before them.
"How'd you do that?" Tanner asked.
"Do what?" Noya replied playing clueless.
"Hey you said it yourself, we're pressed for time so can you please tell us how does that thing help us get to Aestus." Jayson exclaimed.
"Well pardon me Mr. mixed blood. 'That thing' down there is a rift. A distortion of space caused by an overabundance of essence within a very small area. These very rare anomalies are capable of transporting matter across space within no time at all."
"So if we walk through that..."
"It'll take you where you want to go." Noya assured.
"Is it safe?" Avery asked.
"I think so."
"You think?"
"If you're going to use it I'd recommend doing so soon, because anything that contains a large amount of essence usually ends up attracting some unwanted visitors."
"Jay?"
Jayson glared down towards the rift, contemplating on what he wanted to do.
"Noya, do you know how long it would take to get to Aestus if we walked from here?" Jayson asked.
"Aestus is about one thousand miles to the southeast of here. Therefore walking there would cost you around thirteen days depending on the pace you're walking with."
"..."
"Bluejay?"
"Every minute that passes the people of my homeland are killing each other because of a disagreement that has spiraled way out of control. Mother Merina and everyone else have faith in me to bring back help and assist in ending the war. If using this rift means I can complete the goal of my mission sooner, then I don't believe there's anything left to ask."
"...I'll trust your judgment bluejay." Avery stated.
"Same here." Nakayla said.
"I still don't understand but whatever you choose is good to me." Tanner said.
"Learn to think for yourself." Camie said while gently pushing Tanner.
"Alright, then it's decided." Jayson answered.
"Yeah I wish you came to that conclusion a bit sooner." Noya exclaimed.
"Why?" Avery questioned.
"Something's here."
Noya squated down and placed her palm on the rocky surface of the ground, quietly taking in information from the vibrations in the ground.
"Encountering a rift is normally fairly dangerous." Noya stated. "Not because it itself is dangerous, but anything that contains such a heavy concentration of essence will naturally attract some interesting creatures."
"Creatures like what exactly?" Jayson asked.
A light rumble was felt rippling through the Earth, followed by another and another. With each rumble becoming more and more noticeable, the group all glanced off in different directions trying to locate the cause of it.
"What is that?" Nakayla asked.
"If you've made up your mind, I suggest you all go now." Noya exclaimed. "I won't be able to assist you when it arrives."
"When what arrives?!" Avery questioned.
"I believe it's a terra golem."
"A what?"
"I don't hear it anymore." Tanner said.
"...That's a problem." Noya replied.
Jayson noticed a shadow growing beneath all of their feet which prompted him to look above.
"Not good, EVERYONE MOVE!" Jayson shouted.
Without warning the golem came crashing from the sky on top of Jayson and the group. They would've gotten flattened if Noya hadn't stepped in at the very last second. Just before the golem landed, Noya used her air essence to push all of them off the edge of the cliff towards the frozen lake. She then caught them with small wind vortices before they landed on the ice. She gently rested them on the surface all while protecting herself as well.
"Sayu are you okay?!" Avery questioned while jumping up and going over to check on her.
Shaedon winced in pain and held his forehead which was dripping a bit of blood. He was struck with a piece of rock that exploded from the ground when the golem landed.
"Anyone else hurt?!" Jayson questioned as he inspected Shaedon's cut.
"OOOOOUUUUUWWWWAAAAAA!!!"
The heavy, deafening roar from the golem echoed through the nearby mountains and shook the very ground around them. This behemoth stood over four stories tall and was appeared to be giant boulders that were being held together by earth essence which was glowing through the cracks in its body. It's yellow eyes menacingly peered through the dust around him down towards Jayson and the others.
"TO THE RIFT NOW!" Jayson shouted.
The group quickly gathered themselves and sprinted towards the rift which was sitting at the center of the lake. Avery held Sayu in her arms, and Jayson was running behind everyone in an attempt to protcet them from any attacks. While they were running however, the shadow of the golem flew over their heads as the monster jumped onto the lake and landed on the opposite side of the rift. Cracks extended through the ice in all directions with the largest one stopping just under the rift.
"Stop! Stop!" Jayson commanded as he slid to a halt.
They all stopped running towards the rift and looked beyond it at the towering golem who stared them down without moving forward.
"What's it doing?" Tanner asked.
"It's probably trying to figure out if you're all a threat or not." Noya answered as she appeared from behind Nakayla. "Despite their menacing appearance, these guys only attack when they feel threatened."
"Then let's just quietly slip into the rift and not bother the big guy." Avery suggested.
"He won't let you do that so easily. He wants to consume the rift, and if you approach it he's going to think that you want to do the same."
"Consume the rift?" Camie questioned.
"A rift is made out of light essence, the rarest form of essence to ever exist. It's been said that light essence can prolong a being's life among other spectacular things."
"So that's why he wants it." Nakayla said.
"Well we can't just let him consume it, we have to get through it first." Avery stated.
"I'll distract him." Jayson said. "I'm going to run around him and hold his attention, while I'm doing that you all can run through the rift."
"Jay-"
"I'll be right behind you Sayu. Be ready to move on my signal." He said as he ran off.
"What a selfless kid." Noya said.
"He's too reckless." Avery replied.
"This ice isn't slippery at all, we can run on it normally." Mano exclaimed as he dragged his feet on the surface.
"Even though it's called 'the frozen lake', this ice is being held together by a strong gravitational pull, not low temperature. So the properties of this ice is unique." Noya explained.
While they were talking about the ice, Jayson swiftly made his way around the perimeter of the lake. Moving at an absurdly fast pace, the golem immediately noticed him and ignored the others.
"Hopefully this works." Jayson thought to himself as he struck sparks from his gloves.
He ignited the sparks into flames with both of his palms then quickly balled his fist and brought those flames behind his body. Bright red particles began to emit from Jayson's arms while he continued to run at an amazing speed.
"I've only ever tried this once, but I should be fine. Flame propulsion."
The fire essence Jayson was storing in his arms was released into the existing flames once he opened his palms again, creating an explosion which engulfed the nearby area around him. Jayson emerged from the flames, being propelled by the fire into the air and keeping his forward momentum.
"Whoa!" Tanner said in amazement.
"I think that's your signal." Noya stated.
"C'mon kids, let's go!" Avery exclaimed as she too was caught off guard by Jayson's distraction.
The fiery display from Jayson was more than enough to attract the attention of the golem. With how Jayson was maneuvering through the air, you would never guess that this was only his second time attempting this. He precisely flew through the air circling the golem, annoying it like a bothersome mosquito. It began waving its arms around in an attempt to swat Jayson out of the air, and grew more irritated with each missed swing. One of them however came dangerously close, but Jayson skillfully dodged it by flipping onto the golem's hand and running up its arm. He striked the spark gloves together once again, then directed a burst of fire into the face of the golem.
"AAAGGGHHH." It roared as it stumbled back just a bit from the impact of the flames.
Jayson leaped off of its arm and continued to propel himself through the air with his flames. At this point the others had finally arrived next to the rift but were hesitating to enter.
"Do we... just walk through?" Nakayla questioned.
"Yes and I suggest you do it quickly." Noya replied.
The rift itself was eerily quiet which made Avery and the others slightly nervous.
"GO!" Jayson commanded while breaking the suffocating silence they were all trapped under.
Shaedon was the first to have his confidence build to a point where he could blindly run into the rift and disappear.
"My little brother had to beat me to it." Nakayla said as she too ran into the rift.
She was followed by Tanner, then Camie and Mano.
"BLUEJAY! LET'S GO!" Avery said as she and Sayu finally run in as well.
"Good." Jayson said with a sigh of relief.
In that brief moment where Jayson lowered his guard, he became unaware of the golem's next move. The cracks between the pieces of stone in which the golem was comprised of began to glow even brighter than before. A cloud of dust was then ejected from all of those cracks into the air, and began to spiral around the golem. With Jayson now paying attention to it, the dust swarmed around him ensuing panic, which led to him falling back down to the ice.
Cough. Cough.
The dust continued to swarm Jayson, flying into his eyes, nose and mouth as he desperately tried to escape the cloud. After a few seconds of struggling Jayson began to suffocate due to the amount of dust he was inhaling. He stumbled around without any way of escaping the cloud and with his eyes shut to prevent any more of the dust from going into them. Covering his mouth and nose while coughing heavily, Jayson fell to his knees, losing hope of escaping this dire situation.
"...Dammit." Noya said to herself. "I've already interfered once, so my punishment is coming either way."
She gracefully waved her hands in a circle while taking in a deep breath of air.
"Ekrixi." Noya said as she pushed her hands forward, releasing an intense burst of wind.
The dust swarm was blown from around Jayson and Noya continued to keep it contained while he recovered. He coughed up dust particles and used his water essence to moisturize his eyes with the sweat from his palms.
"On your feet mixed blood."
"I have... cough cough... a name yanno."
"Doesn't matter. Tell me, what color is the rift?"
Jayson gathered himself and glanced over to the rift which was now faded from its white color to a dark gray now.
"It's gray now." He answered.
"That's bad, you need to catch that. Once it turns black it's going to fade out of existence and you won't be able to use it."
"What?!"
"You need to hurry."
Without hesitation Jayson struck the back of his hands together to create more sparks, then with a quick burst of fire he began to propel himself forward using his flames once again. At an even faster pace than before, he closed in on the rift which was quickly losing its color.
"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon."
Exactly when the rift turned black, Jayson reached it, shooting into one side of it and unfortunately penetrating straight through without traveling anywhere. His flames fizzled out, leaving him to crash down onto the ice and rolling several yards. Wincing in pain, he peered up to witness the final moments before the rift completely disappeared. Leaving him alone and separated from the others.
"OOOOUUUWWWAAAA!!!" The golem roared.
"If he wasn't angry before, he sure is now." Noya exclaimed standing over Jayson and looking up towards the creature.
"Why didn't you-"
"Get up. I can help you get to Aestus, but we have to deal with him first."
Jayson tried his hardest not to let his frustration spill out of him as he punched the ground and pushed himself onto his feet. He staggered back and forth as is legs were still aching from that landing.
"Look alive mixed blood, this may be difficult."