Tara's eyes flutter open with her entire body aching. Tara groans as she sits up. She recalls her vision going black so she must have passed out during the fall. Tara looks up but she can't seem to find where the hole at all. Her eyes adjust to the darkness unnaturally fast before she realizes that there are small crystal lamps. Like stars, they're hovering in the sky and twinkling with a faint indigo blue light.
Unlike above, where there were many buildings, in this ancient stone chamber there is only a single towering altar. It's far from where Tara is but even from where she was sitting, she could see innumerable staircases from at least three of the cardinal directions.
Where am I? Is mother okay? Who will watch over Zewan if I can't get out of here? A million thoughts race in her mind. Panic and fear felt heavy in her chest. Tara's finding it hard to breathe, clutching her chest.
As if sensing her distress, a lamp floats towards her, washing over her with the blue light. Tara feels herself relax and calm down as if a haze that had overcome her mind had been blown away. She immediately crosses her legs, putting her hands together and closing her eyes. While she couldn't send out her senses like her mother, she could figure out if something was weird about where she was. A strange pressure is bearing down on her having invaded her mind and soul.
Tara quietly revolves her aural energy and the weight lightens by a lot. Tara stands up and stretches, feeling a little better. The lantern that floats to her bobs around her as she begins to walk towards the altar. Tara holds out her hands together and, as if it has a mind of its own, the crystal lantern hovers gently above her palms. A wisp of indigo energy swirls within the clear crystal.
Tara carries it within her hands until she reaches the base of the altar. The lantern twirls around her body before stopping just above her head. Tara's hesitant to take the first step but curiosity gets the better of her.
Nothing strange occurs and it feels like forever as she continues to climb. There's a tugging sensation on her body after she crosses the 50th step.
The feeling that only gets stronger as she climbs only to vanish by the 91st step. As she takes the 92nd step, the stone below her foot turns fiery red. A warmth pulses through her body.
Shocked, she steps back and the glow disappears. She takes two steps this time and after red comes a deep cyan blue. Tara can feel her blood shift like waves.
"That's weird..." Tara says to herself, finding it odd that each step did something different to her body. She continues onward, finding the zircon brown step made her bones feel heavy while the phalto green step makes Tara light on her feet. On the sterling silver step, she feels indestructible while on golden yellow as if she can travel a great distance in a flash.
Stepping on the cloud white one, Tara believes this is the light step. Her vision feels sharper than before like she can see through all sorts of illusions. When she steps onto the last one it turns night black. A feeling of calm, like when the lamplight covered her earlier, runs through Tara's body as she finishes the climb.
A hundred steps in total with the last eight being elemental. As she crosses onto the altar, the crystal lamp starts to whizz around excitedly. Tara giggles at this, happy to see the strange little thing so full of energy. Directly in the center of the altar is a bright purple bubble of energy. Within the bubble was a floating decagonal box. The top of the shape is cobalt blue while the bottom is a phlox pink.
Tara carefully steps towards the bubble, that forceful pull returning with intensity. She trips on a loose stone as she struggles against the pull. Stumbling, she places a hand on the bubble that was calling her. There's a faint spark of white light enveloping her hand--it's her aura, she realizes. Tara pushes against a squishy surface but can't break through. The small crystal floats over her hand causing her aura to be eclipsed by a pale indigo light. With the two energies combined, Tara pushes down on the strange bubble.
She passes through as if stepping through a waterfall. Once that trial is over the lamp floats directly over the box. Tara follows behind and the box is about the size of her head. Each panel of the box is a different color with symbols on them.
'A puzzle box?' Tara asks as she reaches out and takes into her hands. Tara turns it over several times trying to figure out where the lines connect. Eight sides for each element right? Tara fiddles with it to connect each panel in order from Fire to Dark.
Tara loses track of time as her hands flutter about. There's a click as she finally places the Dark plate in the right place. The Fire plate pops back from the top.
A dark blue--almost black--light shoots out and strikes into Tara's stomach close to her navel. The box immediately hovers out of her hand before splitting into a four sided cobalt box and a phlox sphere. The bubble compresses into the shape of a pyramid and the three begin to circle around her. Before Tara can try to examine what happened, the energy in the crystal turns into a wisp. It swirls around her body before absorbing into one of the shapes. Suddenly hundreds of thousands of indigo crystals dim and are shooting towards the items.
A whirlwind of indigo energy surrounds Tara with each shape expanding until they are connected to the whirlwind. Combined they form a royal purple that turns into a huge pillar of light. Tara looks up as the pillar pierces through the ceiling of the chamber and into the sky above. Tara felt as if this energy wouldn't hurt her. Her brown eyes radiate white as she raises a hand. Unknowingly to Tara, behind her, an image of a giant woman appeared, raising a bluish-black arm at the same time. The energy divides between her navel, brain, and heart. It was not overwhelming but gentle. When the process is finished, the phantom fades.
Tara closes her eyes as she looks within her body. It's then she realizes what those three shapes represented and why the pillar energy went to those places. Her navel was the hub for cobalt spiritual energy. Her brain held phlox shaded psychic energy. Her heart pulses with the hum of violet painted physical energy. As she revolves her aural energy, instead of the faint wisps, three tiny threads begin orbiting around each other throughout her body.
Tara feels stronger than before as she grips her fist. Her sight has improved so much that she can see an opening in the ceiling caused by the energy pulse. She hops up onto the top of one of the columns with ease. Tara squats, channeling aural energy so fast that a flicker of white now covers her whole body and she jumps up.
Tara soars through the air and on her first attempt nearly makes it. She falls fast back to the altar but the second she crashes back into it, her unstable aura flickers again. Whatever ancient material the altar was made of easily withstands the impact. Tara can't help but smile despite the failure. Her strength was so much more powerful now that she underestimated herself. She could easily escape now!
Di was currently hiding in what had been a den for an Aural Beast. She had wanted to go after Tara but the moment the lord of land had appeared.
A giant red Magma Snake instantly attacked her. Di was able to fend off the beast which shared her same level because she had techniques and skills. Still, she wasn't able to get closer to where she had lost Tara. It had been a day or two but she wasn't worried. A glass bead dangled from a bracelet was still intact. If it broke then that meant something horrible had happened to her daughter.
It was then that a pillar of purple energy appeared in the direct center of the city, even piercing through the force field with ease. Panic seizes Di's throat. Ignoring how she hadn't rested enough, Di flashes towards the pillar. The giant Magma Snake also heads toward the fading light and the two come in from different directions.
Just as they were about to clash, a terrifying pressure erupts from the opening at the center. The Snake wants to roar but not a sound escapes from its maw. Di watches as she sees a tiny brown hand appear on the edge of the rocky opening. Ignoring the consequences, with a parent's fury she revolves her aural energy to the absolute limit and blasts off to grab her baby.
Di crosses the distance, pulling Tara up against her body as they land on the other side of the opening. As soon as Tara is in her arms, Di's body releases waves of tension that her body goes slack. Tears of joy streamed down her face.
While she hadn't been worried Tara had died, she had no idea if Tara was hurt. Finding out her daughter was without a single scratch lightens her heart. If she hadn't exhausted her aural energy she would have noticed a change about Tara.
Tara snuggles into her mother's embrace, finally feeling safe after what felt like a few hours. In truth, the time passed differently in the chamber. The Magma Snake, furious that it had been suppressed by some mysterious force, decides the two human prey weren't worth it.
Di leads Tara back to the little nook she had formed, the two resting for the remainder of the night. By dawn, Di is back to full form. It was only then that she realized something was different.
"Starlight, show me your belly." Tara obeys and lifts up her shirt. Di places her palm just above Tara's belly button.
A forest green illusion seal appears much to Tara's surprise. Question marks were etched on Tara's face, as Di finds that Tara's aural energy has gone through a qualitative change. It is more pure and thicker than it should be--enough that when she broke into Skin Igniting, she'd be leagues above other midtiers.
"There is something your father and I have been keeping from you. It's nothing bad but more so to keep you safe. Being my daughter and Grandma's favorite out of all of her other great grandchildren, many of them wouldn't fear stirring up unnecessary trouble." Di admits as she replaces her hand onto the top of Tara's head.
"Not a word of whatever you witnessed or what we found here is to be spoken about. At least not until we've returned home, for I'm certain many of the neighboring families and even the Eightsword Martial Academy will investigate this previously ignored area of the jungle. Once we're back, I'll explain the seal to you, I promise."
Tara nods, understanding that what she experienced was bizarre and powerful. With her changes, Tara can keep up with her mother's slowest speed with ease. They exit whence they came to find Casian waiting for them. He immediately gathers them into his arms with a tight hug and tears in his eyes.
"All the groups are together. I only sent them home once that pillar appeared." He informs them as they start to head home, "Ideally, we can catch up with them quickly and avoid any other families closer by."
While there was peace on the surface between the different families, grudges and rivalries were common. Thus any expeditions for the younger generations were kept top secret. And though the Hufangs were one of the more powerful families, Casian had been right to be cautious.
Several prominent families gather scouting parties with only those at high tier Blood Directing level able to get past the force field. In the coming weeks, all the powerful families in the Riversword Kingdom, as well as the students from the Martial Academy, would visit. Skirmishes, riches, and loss would cover the ancient ruined city.
However, the family that would benefit the most in the future would ultimately be the Hufangs.