Trouble in the East
Chapter 29: In the Heart of Ice
What greeted the group was a small entry way made of snow and rock. It was a bit colder in here but thanks to their armor, the group would do fine even if their breaths were steaming in here. What lay ahead of them were stalactites and stalagmites, but not ones made of stone but solid ice there were like giant sharp fangs jutting out of the floor and ceiling. And thanks to their position they were blocking the way forward. "Wow, look at this," Tethi said. "I know the enemy is here but still…" The female Seedling then went silent.
The group went forward to the ice like projections just ahead. "Can we melt these with fire?" Sol asked.
"Might be a bad idea since melting these might cause something else to melt creating a problem," Nicholas replied. "I think we can slice through these."
He and a couple others did, clearing the way. The group continued but then they heard a nose. "What's that?" Miura asked. "It sounds like…"
They all then looked up and jumped back as a couple of the huge icicles on the ceiling shook loose and came crashing down. It could have been a nasty impaling right there. "Shit, that was close," Nicholas whispered.
"I'd hate to be on the receiving end of that," Levi commented.
"Maybe I should go ahead so if it does happen I can use my crystal to melt them," Sol suggested.
"Good idea, but be careful," Tethu said.
The male Lagora led the way forward now. A good thing to since it happened a few more times as the group went ahead with falling icicles. Luckily Sol was on it and with his crystal he was able to produce a small shield of fire that was hot enough to melt the deadly falling objects. The group then made it through this and emerged into the first main area. "Whoa… look at this," Miura stated this time.
The area the group had arrived at was somewhat square like with a couple of different paths to choose from. But these were all blocked by iron bars. The corruption like substance seen in the other five places was gathered in the corners here like a deadly sickness. However more icicle stalactites were on the ceiling including some kind of crystals growing out of the icy surface on some ledges that were by one of the pathways out from this room ahead. Finally in the center were some kind of ice statues. They had no arms and legs just blocks with heads of dragon like creatures with spikes. Esna and her male spirit love came out of their orbs to also see this. "So beautiful…" the female whispered. But then she frowned. "If it weren't for what's happened here…"
Suddenly, just like with the other five places, the group once again felt a presence, even though it was weak. "So… finally… you have… come…" went a male voice. But this one sounded a bit cold.
"This presence…" Tethu said and the rest became alert.
"Yeah, it's him alright," Lanayru stated. "It's the spirit who resides here."
"He doesn't sound… pleasant," Esna commented to her guy.
"Don't worry love, he may be cold but can you blame him since he's the spirit of ice? But he's a good being inside. You've just got to know him."
"So… Lanayru… is here… to…" went the voice from the second male spirit. "Pleasant…" This male didn't sound like he really thought it. "No matter… Go… free this place… find the map… to start…" The presence of this spirit faded.
"Not much help there," Tethi commented with a frown.
"Well at least we know enough to start," Nichola told the female Seedling. "We should be fine."
The group then went forward but that was when the first types of enemies were fought. It was the ice sculptures that came to life. They began to somehow rotate towards the group and shot a breath of misty ice from their mouths that came out in a stream. This attacked caused everyone to pull back. But the statues didn't follow as they were stuck in place. "Hey Sol, now's a good time to use your crystal," Tethi said to the male Lagora.
The said being grinned. "Leave it to me!"
Sol activated his crystal and shot a ring of fire that surrounded the group and spread out. It got all the enemies and since they were made of ice, that pretty much disposed of them easily and they all melted away. The doorway in front of the group then became unsealed as the bars retreated into the ground. Everyone then went that way through another small tunnel with more ice stalagmites and stalactites, with some of the former needing to be destroyed to open a way forward. The next room was more circular in shape with two paths that led to different areas. One was on the same level but another required climbing up some ledges. They were also blocked. But what made this room different was in the middle was a large, pointed, rotating structure that had two long protrusions on it. They were like giant blades and the whole thing was made of ice and crystals but created a huge deadly obstacle in the middle of the room. "Can you melt that Sol?" Miura asked the Lagora.
"Maybe, but something is telling me in my guts it won't work," he answered.
"So what do we do in this room?" Tethi asked.
"Wait I see something else in here," Nicholas then stated. He pointed out a total of five orb like things that seemed to be floating in midair and colored silver.
"What are those things; I've never seen those in any of the places we've been to," Levi said.
"I wonder…" the Anuban muttered. His eyes scanned the area and found all the locations. The male went forward and around the death trap in the middle of the room. One of these orb like things was at the edge of it and easy to get to. As soon as the male touched it, the thing disappeared but looking to where the group had to go next they saw a change had happened. Up at the top of the area that had to be climbed to reach the next doorway, the bars that were blocking it had moved up a bit.
"There we go, help me find the rest," he told the others.
It took a bit of effort to do. This was because one was hidden behind some icicles that had to be broken and one was right by the spinning death trap. But the remaining four were obtained and the way forward was opened. The group climbed up to where the bars had been and into another tunnel. This one was longer and even had a couple of moving spiked traps going back and forth on the path ahead. Since the floor was slick with ice and not made of snow and rock here, it was a little tricky, but everyone did fine. Then came the next room which was somewhat rounded in shape, even if the design was rough. There was a lot open space as the ceiling here went up quite high with some icicles hanging from the ceiling. The floor was ice which meant there was a slippery surface ahead. But in the middle were structures made of stone and ice that could be climbed up and creating a small area above the floor. But what was of real interest was that there was a basin, a large one, that had a roaring fire of blue colored flames in it. Finally nearby this was a chest that was encased by some kind of red colored crystal like substance. "I wonder if this is where the map is," Tethi said.
The group then felt the presence of the spirit appear again. "Fire… the special fire… use it…" went his voice before this presence vanished.
"He must mean that blue fire up there," Tethu stated, pointing at the basin. The male Seedling then spoke to his girl. "I think your crossbow might be able to shoot some of it to that red substance."
So she, her guy, and Sol went ahead and the rest waited for them. The two Seedlings and Lagora had to fight a couple of the ice like statues that were in the way before reaching the basin on the raised ledges. Tethi then fired her crossbow at the red substance where the chest was through the blue fire. The bolt was alight and hit the stuff and the thing melted away. "Now let's see what's inside," Sol said as the three made their way to the chest.
They got it open and inside was the map and help it up so the rest could see they had it. "Good work come on back," Nicholas called to the three.
The group came back together and took a look at the map. Looking showed that they were only in the first section and this place was a lot bigger. "Looks like if we go back to that room we came from we can get to the next area," Tethu stated after tracing the path with a finger.
"Looks like we should also keep an eye out for these two," Nicholas added pointing at a drawing on the map of a bust that looked like some kind of humanoid head with its tongue sticking out. But what was interesting was that there was a lever on the tongue like one could pull at it to extend the appendage.
"What do you think they're for?" Miura asked the Anuban.
"Not sure, but they're probably important."
The group then went back the way they came to the room that had the spinning death trap in the middle. Only now from their position they could see a switch on the ceiling to hit that Tethi got with her weapon. Hitting it caused the second pathway in here to become unlocked. The group went down this new path which circled back to the room before. Only this time they were at the second pathway. Another switch was here that required Levi to hammer down with his weapon as it was a bit frozen in place. Doing so caused some stairs that led down to appear and the way to the entrance to become unlocked. They went down these and what greeted them was the next section. Here they could see the walls on their left and right as well as what appeared to be ice like crystals in the shape of tuffs of grass. The only way forward was through a doorway ahead which was taken. And in the next room was where things got interesting. "Whoa, look at this room," Levi said.
The next room was a huge one and squared in shape. There were a few ice type enemies in here along with a section that had water in it on the left. But what really stood out were three squares that had a bell like symbol on them. There was one on a block of stone already here. "Look at that bell, I wonder if there's some sort of trick to it," Tethi commented.
"Let's clear this room out first," Tethu said.
After defeating the ice type monsters here, they all took a look at the bell here. "Looks like it's on some ice; maybe we can move it," Miura suggested.
It took two in the group to do so but it turned out the Drauk was right. The bell attached to the block slid forward and into position at one of the squares with a bell symbol on it. The block of stone sank into it and now the bell was level with the group so they could ring it. The group then noticed something they hadn't when coming in here. There was a sign on a pillar. Looking showed it had a musical bar on it with two bell symbols indicating it had to be run like what was being presented. "Allow me," Nicholas told the others and hit the bell with his weapon.
Doing so caused one of the three doorways that led elsewhere, specifically the one on the group's right to glow orange red before sinking down into the floor, and opening up where they had to go next. Everyone went into the next room where they found the way forward had a space that was too big to jump across. But on the floor made of ice was a block that was perfect to fill in part of the gap and allow them to cross. It required some pushing to get it in place. After doing that, the group jumped to it and over the gap. It was then down a small flight of stairs and out to a room right next to the one before the bell one. They found this place had some traps shooting some kind of spiked balls across a body of water. But there was no bridge to cross the liquid and swimming would be a bad idea due to how cold it was. "What now?" Levi asked. "Should we create the bridge to get across with our crystals?"
"Wait, I see an orb; stand back," Tethi commented spotting one to hit. The female Seedling did so with her crossbow.
The orb activated causing a bridge to extend over the water. "Good shot there," Tethu told her with a grin.
The group was then careful to cross so as not to get hit while getting across the liquid. What was on the other side were some spiraling stairs that led them down to the floor below. What greeted them was a box on a floor made of ice and water ahead. "More again?" Levi asked. "Now what? We can't all fit on the box."
"No but I see something ahead to spin," Nicholas stated, pointing out some kind of fan directly across the group from the water. "I'm going to hit that with my crystal first."
The Anuban called on the power that lay within that and used it to blow some wind onto the fan to get it spinning. This not only caused part of a bridge to rise up from the water but also a door ahead to slide away and open up the path ahead. "I think I need to go ahead," the male said to the others. "Let's get that box onto the water and I'll be back."
"Just be careful," Miura whispered to him.
Once the box was in position, Nicholas jumped onto it. Using his crystal, the Anuban was able to blow gusts of wind that got him across the water and to the other side where the door had just been. It was here that the guy found a switch to pull and get the rest of the bridge up so the rest could join him. In the next area they found another box and more water. Nicholas had to do the same thing over the larger body of liquid to get another bridge up so everyone could be together again. From there it was across a gap after two orbs were hit to create a path forward and up some stairs. On the floor above the group found a second bell along with a sign that had the symbols it. But what was different was that the symbols that appeared on the sign were arranged like different notes in music. And the bell found on its block was a different size. "What now with this?" Levi asked.
"I wonder…" Nicholas said. He reached up with his weapon and was able to tap the bell. The group heard it was higher in the note pitch due to being smaller. "Yeah, I think I've got it. Let's get this in place."
It took a bit of figuring out since the block the bell was on had to be slid across some ice. But it was soon in position very quickly. "Now I'll ring the first bell, why don't you ring the second one like we saw on that sign Levi?" Nicholas told the male Serkah.
They did a practice run before ringing the bells for real. Doing so caused a door to move out of the way on the left just like last time. The group then went to the next area which found them in a room with snow on the ground and five torches on wooden blocks. But only one was burning with fire and in the middle of the other four with these forming a square. "Guess I'll need to light these up," Sol said and prepared to do so with his crystal.
The male Lagora shot fire at each unlit torch but they only burned for a second before going out. "Wait, is that supposed to happen?" Tethi asked.
"There's got to be more to it," Nicholas said, thinking as it was odd. "Maybe there's a clue in here somewhere."
His foot then brushed a bit of the snow away from one of the torches he was standing by revealing a section of the floor was a different color than the blue grey stone that made up the rest of this surface. "Wait a sec…" the male stated and began to brush some more of it away. What Nicholas revealed was a stone square with a single circle in the middle.
"Did you find something?" Tethu asked, seeing this.
"Maybe, help me look by the other torches."
The group did so revealing three more squares but with different amounts of circles in the middle. Looking at these showed the order the torches had to be lit. "Let's try this again," Sol said and lit the areas in the correct order. Doing so caused a part of the wall on the group's left to retreat into the ground revealing the way forward down some spiraling stairs.
They went down and found their first locked door. But beyond that was more water and they could also see torches out on the liquid while being placed on small stone squares. But they burned with a light blue kind of fire, almost the exactly color of ice. "What kind of flame is that?" Tethi asked, seeing it.
"I don't think fire," Nicholas commented. "I think it's something else and seeing it I've got an idea."
Using his crystal, the Anuban blew the wind to the torch and directed the blue like fire out on the water. What happened was that this substance caused the water it went over to freeze, creating a bridge of ice to the other side where a small chest could be seen. "I'll go check it out," he told the others.
The guy made it and found a small key, the first one found here. Nicholas figured this could be used on a locked door right by the stairs the group had used to get to this floor. The male made it back and it was used on this very door. Everyone then went into the next room where the floor was entirely made of ice. "There's nothing in there," Levi stated while looking in.
They went pass the entrance of the room and then a wall came up behind them to block them off. "Here we go again," Sol groaned.
What came up from the ice were one eyed enemies that looked like small masses of ice with spikes. They moved slowly on the ground. "Batter up!" Nicholas stated and struck at one with his weapon. A tiny bit of the ice was chipped but all this blow did was send the enemy sliding on the ice like a hockey puck. It ricocheted off the walls and didn't do anything. "That's not working," Tethu said after picking himself up since the Seedling had to roll out of the way of the monster since it had come his way.
"I agree; bad idea," the Anuban replied.
"Here, allow me," Sol said and used the power of his crystal to launch fire at the monsters. Their icy layer melted revealing them to be small four legged creatures with two yellow eyes and a rounded mouth like a canon with four legs.
"Now let's try this again," Nicholas growled and struck at one with his weapon which got rid of it in one hit.
The rest were quickly killed which caused the way back to become unsealed as well as the way forward. "Not so bad this time," Tethi commented.
The group then started but those in front had to thrusts their arms back to stop the others because what lay ahead was no floor but water. "Damn, that was close," Nicholas growled as they had almost slipped into the icy cold liquid.
"Should me and Levi create a bridge with our crystals?" Miura suggested.
"Wait, I see one of those torches on the water that can freeze the liquid," Sol stated, pointing it out on the group's right.
Nicholas brought out the power of his and used it to blow the substance from the torch over the water to freeze it and create a bridge to the other side. The way forward was blocked but all it took to move forward was to blow wind at another fan like object to unseal the doorway. Beyond that was more water and more of the special torches. Nicholas knew what had to be done. "Wait here, I'll be back," he told the others.
It took a bit longer but the male eventually was able to create a bridge from one side to the other end on the far side of the room so the rest could join him. From there it was up another set of spiraling stairs. It was here in the next room the third and final bell was found. But the way to get it across wasn't just ice, there was water all well which meant Nicholas would have to freeze a path to get it across. But there was no sign or anything here that showed the order this bell and the other two would have to be hit in order to move forward. "What do we do now?" Tethu asked.
"Here, let's look on our map," Tethi suggested and the group did, seeing there was one more room right nearby they hadn't gotten to yet.
It was decided that Sol and a few of the others would check the room out. What awaited them was a room full of snow with a few enemies and two lit torches. Once the monsters had been taken out, it was found that the snow was hiding something. So the Lagora used his crystal to melt the snow and reveal what the group had been looking for when it came to ringing the bells. They then returned back to the others where Nicholas used his crystal to create a bridge of ice to get the bell and them across the liquid. The bell was then put into position and all three were rung in the correct order. The final door that the group hadn't been through yet opened and that allowed them to go down some stairs to the floor below. Here there was a hallway but there were some open doors. The group then felt the presence of the spirit appear again. "Well… you have gotten far…" he stated. "The first one… is up ahead…" The presence then faded.
"First one?" Miura asked, frowning.
"I think he meant that thing that was on the map," Nicholas replied. "You know, the drawing of that bust with the tongue sticking out?"
The group decided to first go to the end of the hallway and see what there was. It was a good thing they did because at the end was a picture carved into the wall. It had six flame like symbols on it but of different colors, three being light blue, the others being red orange. Then it was back down the hallway and through a door on the left which was the only place the group could go. There they found a large purple colored carpet. And there on it were torches ready to be lit. Only two were currently one burning with regular fire, the other with the strange blue one that could freeze water. Nicholas here used his crystal to light all the torches. This not only opened up a new path but also caused the first bust, the same one that was drawn on the map to rise up from the ground. Everyone went over to take a closer look at it. "So what, do we just grab the tongue and pull?" Tethi asked.
Levi went up and found that he could do just that. The second the appendage was fully extended out, the group heard something click and then the sound of things moving in the walls that they couldn't see. "Er… is that right?" Levi asked a bit nervous.
Finally the noise stopped and then the group felt the presence of the spirit again. "That's it…" he said. "Find the rest… Help open the way… for liquid…" The presence then disappeared.
"Wait… didn't the rulers here say something about a special kind of liquid having dried up?" Tethu then asked as those words reminded him of that.
"Yeah… I think I do remember that to," his girlfriend commented.
"Alright then let's look out for more of these," Nicholas stated.
The group then took the new path that had been opened up from earlier. But they had hardly stepped into the room when the way behind them was sealed shut. "Damn!" Sol exclaimed after this happened.
The entire floor of this room was covered in snow and from it emerged a group of enemies. There were bi-pedal canine like monsters with glowing yellow eyes and white colored fur. "Get ready; here they come!" Nicholas barked.
"Let's go!" Tethi exclaimed.
It didn't take long to defeat the enemies. When they were all down, the way forward opened up revealing another hallway. This one was short and led to some stairs that went down. At the bottom of these was a door that the group went through. But what they saw made them stop short. "Whoa…" Levi said.
"This is…" began Tethu and stopped.
"What is this…?" Nicholas asked in shock.
What was before them was a cylinder shaped like room. But it stretched high up to the ceiling. At each level for the floors there were some kind of bridges to help cross the gap in the center. Pipes and waterways to carry the special liquid mentioned were on the walls but at the moment had run dry. Right in the center was some kind of large cylinder shaped stone column made up of sections. There were other doors that led elsewhere and some had been blocked by ice. The group felt the presence of the spirit here pop up. "The main area… you can use… it to reach… where I'm at…" he said. The spirit sounded stronger now since this place was being freed but still was weak. The presence then faded.
"Yes but how? This is huge," Tethu pointed out.
"Here, let's look at the map again," Nicholas replied.
After looking at it and figuring out where to go next, the group went through one of the doors that wasn't blocked by ice. Here they found a two block structure to pull out of a wall. It was then slid into place so the group could use it to cross a gap. Behind where the blocks had been was a chest that had a small key. There was nothing more in this room that could be done so it was back to the one from before. This time the group went to a door on the left of the previous one but it had ice blocking it. "Leave this to me," Sol stated and melted it with his crystal.
The group went through it and saw there were three different ways to choose. They took the right way as the door there was locked. The key they had just gotten was used on this. In this new room the group saw there were a couple large chunks of ice and a few enemies that had to be take out first. Once they were defeated, another statue that was like the drawing on the map appeared. The tongue was pulled and then Levi had to use his hammer on a cracked wall to destroy it to reveal some stairs that led up. Taking them, the group found themselves in a larger room that was cave like. But what else was in here was the real cause for them to stop and look. Tethu let out an impressed whistle at what was hanging on the ceiling. "Damn," Nicholas said. What they were, were massive icicles that were right above stone platforms that could be used to get to the next door. But these were covered by thick ice.
"Should I melt them?" Sol asked.
"That might actually be a bad idea," Nicholas replied, looking closely at the ice on the ceiling. "But I've got another idea. Tethi, hit those hanging things with your weapon. Maybe you can knock them down."
The female Seedling took aim and fired at one. The shot made the huge mass of ice hanging down to shake. It took another bolt to knock it off and come crashing down on the stone area bellow it. Both chunks of ice shattered, clearing that place. "This is more fun this way!" she exclaimed with a grin.
Once the stone areas were cleared, the group could use them to get to a ledge that was higher up and beyond their reach. There was a huge amount of snow though that looked suspicious. "Okay, melt it away," the Anuban told Sol.
The male Lagora did revealing a chest. Inside this was another small key. This was used on the locked door here to get to the next room. In this new area there was snow and rock. But what was of interest were certain sections of the floor had large stone circles that had patterns on them and only two were raised up. The rest were in the lowered into the ground with only the tops visible. "Another puzzle, I think I can handle this," Levi said and went forward.
"Hey wait!" Nicholas snarled. It was too late as some more enemies popped out.
"Damn it, guess we gotta help," Sol grumbled.
These enemies looked like floating white heads with glowing yellow eyes. But they were more a nuisance and easy to beat in one hit. "Now, let's take a closer look at what we have," Nicholas said.
Looking showed the way to get to the next door was too high up on a ledge. It was true that the crystals could have been used to reach it but something was telling the group in their guts to try to figure this out with the stone circles in here. "I'll try pounding the one up down," Levi stated.
The male Serkah went over and pounded it in with his hammer. This cause the stone circle in front of the next door to rise up and block the way but also caused another to rise up and to be used like a platform to reach the other side. "Looks like you'll need to do so again," Miura pointed out.
Levi went over to the new one and pounded it down. Not only do the way forward become unblocked, but another statue with a tongue to be pulled out appeared. The group pulled at it and like before with the last one, the same thing happened. They then went through the new door and found them in the large circular room that went up and up to the ceiling but they were now higher up. Looking ahead showed the walkway went forward and stopped, leaving a large round hole in the middle that looked big enough for the huge stone circular column seen before to rise up and fit. The group though saw they would have to take the door on their left to move forward. "It's too far to jump the gaps," Tethu stated.
"Here," Miura offered and created a section of earth using her crystal to help create a bridge which was ranforced by Levi and his crystal of stone.
The group crossed this and entered the new room only for the way back to sealed shut. "Uh oh," Tethi said.
The room the group was in was a large squared one. But in each of the corners was a green colored square with a smaller square raised up in the middle of each. In the middle of this room was another square but it had an elaborate design meant to represent the element of ice. But then in the top left hand corner the square began to glow and a figure began to emerge. "Get ready, we've got another fight!" Miura stated as everyone drew their weapons.
The enemy this time appeared to be a weathered old humanoid with a large staff, almost like a walking stick being clutched in the right hand. But from the looks of the robe and skin color that was white, this was a monster that used the power of ice to attack. The enemy then began to move but in a fast and frantic way. "What the hell…?!" Nicholas asked.
Suddenly the monster launched an attack of ice which caused the group to scatter. It then disappeared into the square it had emerged from. "Ugh, this thing's fast!" Sol grumbled.
Nicholas's ears twitched and heard the sound of the enemy beginning to emerge again. The Anuban whirled around and saw the monster was from a different square and launched a blast of wind at it. The enemy quickly disappeared before the attack made contact. "Shit; I missed!" Nicholas snarled.
The group heard the enemy emerging again. "Wait for it…" Tethu stated slowly.
The monster then came out and was about to attack when Sol got it with a quick blast of fire from his crystal. The thing with the stuff let out a funny noise of pain and disappeared. "Good, it can be hit," the Lagora commented.
The enemy emerged again and Tethi shot at it with her weapon causing it to disappear again. But then it changed tactics a bit. It quickly moved from square to square in here and shot out ice. "What now?" Nicholas growled after rolling out of the way of the attack.
The answer was seeing four versions of the monster emerge from the square. "Wait, there's more now?!" Levi exclaimed.
"No wait… something's off," Miura stated.
Looking showed three of the figures weren't solid but similar to holograms. Only one was solid. That was the one that was attacked and it took several more hits before this being was defeated. Once the monster was, another of the statues seen on the map emerged from the center square but this one was much larger than the ones seen so far. But the tongue could still be pulled. They did so and they heard a massive click like sound. The room then began to change a bit with some kind of basin emerging from the walls and ground. These parts came together to form it along with a waterway and pipes on the walls and ceiling emerged to with the open ends at the basin. This would allow the special liquid to flow into it and then be distributed throughout this place and to the Icers. The group then felt the presence of the spirit who dwelt here and it was stronger. "Well now… you are doing good…" he said. "Keep it up…"
The presence then faded away. "So where now?" Tethu asked.
"Let's see…" Nicholas replied and the group looked at the map again.
The group left the room and they saw a kind of lift had appeared from one of the walls. Looking at how it was moving they saw they could use this to reach the lower area of the large circular room. But the first item of business was melting the ice in front of a doorway so the stairs that went up could be accessed later. From there it was a ride on the lift down to the where the large stone cylinder started. The group melted the ice blocking a doorway they hadn't been through yet. Next to it was some kind of caged off area that had a large colored circle also made of stone that was raised a bit out of the ground. The group went through the new door and found themselves in a more cavernous like room with a few torches that had to be lite and ice enemies that blew the stuff from some kind of hole. They were exactly like what had been encountered before. "Shall I?" Sol asked.
"Light it up man," Nicholas told the male Lagora.
The said guy used his crystal and not only melted the enemies away but also unlocked the door that would get the group to the circle. Only Levi and a couple needed to go on ahead. This small group went through the door and found the circle. "Pounding time!" the male Serkah stated happily.
Levi did so and the huge stone cylinder rose up high into the air. They noticed that some of the sections of it were made of ice that looked like they could be melted away to lower the level of this. The small band then made their way back to the others. From there, they went to the lift where this was and rode it up to the first section of ice. From there it was up to the next ones after Sol melted the first ice sections. Once all four were, the huge cylinder of stone was lowered to a section above the group hadn't been to yet. From there it was through a door behind them the group hadn't been through yet. This next room once again had mostly snow and ice blocking some stairs that led up. "Let's head on up," Tethi stated and went forward.
The female Seedling then came to a screeching halt because snow like monster emerged from the stuff. "Go take care of them," Tethu told Sol in a tired voice.
"On it," the Lagora replied and disposed of them with some fire.
Once the enemy was cleared from here it was onto melting the ice that blocked the stairs and up those. At the top was a new room. This one was made of stone that was laid out in patterns and not just roughly cut or a natural formation. The colors from the lighting was making the stones have a purplish tint. There were also some kind of statues in here as well that went up the ceiling and acted like supporters to keep that part from collapsing. However from behind them can lizard like enemies that were white in color and lizard like. But they were more hunched over than Miura and had spikes running from the top of the back all the way to the tip of their tail. They were all wielding some kind of sword as well. "Damn, one thing after another!" Nicholas growled as the one nearest to the Anuban engaged the male.
Tethu had to roll out of the way to dodge the opponent he was going against as it shot ice from its mouth at the male Seedling. "They can do that?!" he exclaimed.
"What a pain!" Miura stated as she crossed weapons with her opponent.
It turned out even with these, the group were able to beat these monsters. Doing so caused a huge statue that was like the drawing on the map to appear. The group pulled at the tongue and knew that with this, it was one step closer to restoring this place. As soon as the sound of the pipes emerging stopped, the group felt the presence of the spirit emerge. "Well, well, you're almost there," he said, his voice showing the male spirit had almost his strength back. "But don't lose focus yet. You guys still have the one who came in here and messed things up."
His presence then faded and it was then heading out of the door and then up some stairs that took the group to the final level. Here they could see the door that would lead them to the room the spirit who dwelt here. But like with the other five places with the previous spirits, it was locked. "Well there's the door, but we don't have the key," Tethi stated.
"Well there is one room on out right I don't think we've been to yet," Nicholas commented, and pointed it out. "Let's try there."
The group had to take a small jump down to the level to reach the door. They then entered the room and it looked very familiar but it had more squares. "Wait… we've been in a room like this before, haven't we?" Miura asked.
"And that means…" began Tethu but then from the corner square came the monster, and exactly like one that had been fought before.
"Get ready; let's go!" Nicholas stated.
The enemy this time after disappearing and rematerializing appeared at a square that was too far away to reach in time. So Tethi shot at it with her crossbow. The opponent with the staff moved to another square but it was closer to the group and Levi managed to smack the monster good with his hammer. The monster then did the same trick of bringing up illusion copies of itself with only one being the real body. But this time there were more to deal with. "Which one is it?!" Miura hissed, her eyes frantically scanning.
"This one!" her guy shouted and launched a blast of hardened wind from his crystal at the real body. The enemy took damage and the same thing happened one last time. This ended the fight and caused the final statue with the tongue to appear along with the way forward becoming unlocked.
"Not so tough after all," Sol stated and pulled at the thing that needed to with help from Levi. Doing so caused the final set of pipes and other things for the special liquid to flow through to come out.
It was then through the next door and finding the chest that held the key that would get the group into the room the spirit was waiting at. "Guess this is it, the last one," Tethi said after Nicholas pocketed the item.
"Yeah and saving the ones who live here," Tethu added. "But… what then after we finish? Did we fully do it?"
"I doubt it," the Anuban answered.
"What makes you say that?" Miura asked him.
"Well for one thing we haven't had any trouble from those two that attacked at the tournament. Plus I find it a bit odd that we have been freeing these spirits and yet despite the monsters at the end, we haven't really been stopped by anyone."
"So… maybe there's something more?" the Drauk said.
"Most likely. But whatever it is, we'll deal with it."
"Yeah, and give it to 'em!" Levi stated with his usual grin.
"Then let's go and free this place," Tethu said.
The group made it out of this room and saw all the pipes and channels that had emerged. Now the only thing missing was the liquid. Everyone went to the door where the key would be used and Nicholas got it unlocked. They went in and took a look. This place was large but had a number of crystals made of ice to form a room that was sparkling and shinning. At the very center was a structure that was in the shape of a giant snowflake. This object was right above a stone square to form a pool. Clearly this was the source where the liquid would flow from but right now there was none of it. And the corruption like substance was all too present in here as well and even looked like it was clogging up something. "So that it; it's the source," Tethi said, spotting it.
"Yeah, but no liquid, we'll need to get it flowing again," Tethi stated and stepped forward.
Suddenly the group felt an all too familiar feeling of the final enemy here. "Not yet, get ready," Nicholas growled, drawing his weapon.
But nothing came out which puzzled the group. "Wait… where is it?" Tethu asked.
"Well, well, none of you have changed," went a voice. And one the group was familiar with.
"Wait, I know that voice…" Nicholas growled and everyone in the group whirled around to find who was talking.
It was Rommane and Cragma, both still as they had appeared at the tournament. The group all glared in anger and got their weapons ready. "Come on, let's take them," Tethu whispered to the rest.
"So then these are the ones mentioned?" went a different voice, this one female.
"Not much if you ask me," went another male one.
The group saw two more enemies emerge. One looked very much like the figure they had seen just before entering here and even though the body was covered by a black colored cloak, it was clear this was some kind of female from the body shape. On top of that, they looked a bit too much like an Icer. However the second person was a male of an unknown type of race. But the shape and thee way his cloaked form with armor showed it was a male in addition to the voice. "Wait… do we have…?" began Tethi as the rest in the group came to the same thought at once.
"High Commanders… two more of them," Sol said.
"Oh good," the female in the black cloak stated. "Then I don't need to explain it fully."
"It doesn't matter how many there are, we're still going to free this place!" Nicholas snarled, taking a step forward to attack.
Miura looked to her guy with worried. The Anuban seemed a bit off as he never took the first steep like this. At least as far as she knew. "Oh? Eager to die?" one of the commanders asked. More specifically it was the new male.
"I don't plan on it." Nicholas held his weapon at the ready.
Suddenly the female who was an enemy snapped her fingers and ice sprang up from the floor. It was fast moving and before the group could react, this ice had separated them into groups of two with Tethi, Tethu, and Levi one side and Miura, Nicholas, and Sol on the other. "Wait; she can use ice?!" the male Seedling stated.
The wall of ice went high and was wide so the six couldn't be reunited. "I'll melt it!" Sol stated.
Before he could use his crystal, the Lagora was forced to move seeing some ice spikes shot at him. Sol was barely able to dodge them. "Not this time," the enemy who had used the attack stated.
"Not good!" Miura exclaimed.
"So what; all of you are gonna actually fight us?" Nicholas growled.
"Oh you just wait and see," the enemy taunted in response.
Just then the group felt a surge of power as from the center of the room an orb appeared like when the final enemy in the other five places emerged. It was white in color and mixed with black. First a serpent like body emerged, wrapped around the orb like a snake. It was completely made of ice with the corruption like substance seen before being on the inside of the material and the body had sections rising up like ice crystals. Then came the left arm being thin and clawed while also made of ice. Then came the right arm which at the end had something that looked like an ice spiked ball where the hand should have been. Finally the head emerged revealing a mouth with sharp fangs and red colored eyes going across the face in a line. There were seven in total and the enemy let out a roar, frost and ice emerging from its mouth. "Good luck," went the voice of the spirit who lived here. "You're going to need it. That thing is one of the enemy's creation and this situation shows that they're playing dirty. Even so I know you guys can do this."
"He's right, let's take this down," Tethu told his girl and Levi as they got ready to face the ice monster.
"Time to fight," Nicholas growled as he, Miura, and Sol got ready against their opponent.
The main enemy started by throw its head back and shooting a fast moving blast of icy wind from the mouth. It required Tethu, Tethi, and Levi to roll out of harm's way. "I don't think water here will do good!" the female Seedling told her guy. "That thing will just freeze it!"
"Yeah, I agree; it'd be a bad idea," he commented.
"Let's see it like this!" Levi exclaimed and with his crystal summoned a few rocks that floated in the air. The guy swung his hammer at them to launch the things as projectiles at the enemy.
The monster swung its right arm and the weapon at the end was able to break the stones into pieces as the spikes were able to puncture them. Looking showed that parts of it were chipped but they quickly reformed again. "It can regenerate?" Tethi groaned.
"Maybe just the weapon," Tethu suggested.
Meanwhile with the others they saw the cloaked figure they were fighting against hadn't drawn any weapons of their own. The other three enemies were watching. "What, you're going to take us all on?" Nicholas growled.
"Oh yes," the enemy replied dangerously and shot ice spikes that she formed in the air. They moved fast and the three going against the cloaked being were barely able to roll out of the way.
"Come now, is that all you got?" she taunted with a laugh. "And I thought you had beaten five of those creations!"
"Bitch!" the Anuban snarled and summoned a blast of wind from his crystal that was shot at the opponent.
She moved and to the ones fighting her, it was so fast it was like one second the cloaked being was in the pathway of the attack, and the next she was not. "No way… she's that fast?!" Miura asked.
"Idiot, you keep telegraphing your attacks like the novice you are, you'll never land a blow!" the enemy stated.
Nicholas just stared in shock, now losing his resolve a little. "Don't listen to her!" Sol told the first male as the Lagora could see the Anuban wasn't himself now from the body language.
"Back off!" Miura exclaimed in anger and shot some earth from her crystal at the enemy. The opponent moved with a twirl of her cloak and more ice spikes emerged that acted like swords. The being came in towards the Drauk and these and spear collided in a ringing sound of metal. "I guess you're first!"
Miura shouted and threw the enemy back. The spikes were thrown at the Drauk who countered by spinning her weapon in a circle to act like a shield. Nicholas still looked a bit uncertain. "NICHOLAS!" his girl shouted at him to make the Anuban snap out of it.
Elsewhere with the other three, they had rolled out of the way of monster they were fighting. The latter had launched an attack of ice. "Too bad we don't have Sol, he could be a big help right now!" the female Seedling said.
The monster then rose the arm that had the weapon attached to it up to the ceiling. "Now what?" Tethi asked.
The three fighting this enemy saw what looked like ice being gathered at the tip of the weapon. This formed into a spiked mass that became bigger. It only took some seconds to form what looked like a massive spike. The monster threw it at the three. "LOOK OUT!" the female Seedling yelled.
Levi planted his feet into the ground. His hammer was raised back across his body. The Serkah then swung with everything he could at the incoming projectile. The hammer and ice met in a clash of ringing metal and sparks. The guy was scooted back but then with a heave of strength, Levi sent the projectile back. The Serkah did end up on his back but he had done the trick. The ice missile made contact with the monster. The projectile shredded through some of the ice on the right side of the face, destroying that section. The enemy was knocked to the ground while Tethu and Tethi helped their friend up. "Heh, got 'em!" he stated happily.
"Now's our chance!" the female said and the three went, hacking at the ice that made up their opponent.
After some hits, the thing rose up and sent a blast of icy wind that knocked the three back. "Let's keep this up!" Tethu exclaimed.
Meanwhile the other three were still fighting against the cloaked female. But they weren't doing well. "Damn it, what is with this person?!" Nicholas snarled as he couldn't land a blow on her.
The Anuban was then kicked and hard in the stomach which made him stagger back. Sol came in with his weapon and fire to make the enemy back off. All he got was for the enemy to lazily move back. The female was mocking them. "You okay?" he asked Nicholas.
"No of course I'm not!" the guy spat. "This bitch is just toying with us!"
Miura looked to him again, now even more worried about Nicholas. "Ranged attacks then!" Sol exclaimed.
All three of them fired a combined attack of earth, fire, and wind from their crystals. It didn't do much good as the enemy move and was able to avoid the blasts. She went after Sol and formed more ice spike like swords to attack. The Lagora tried countering as best as he could but in the end, got stabbed by the ice and sent back with a yell. "First blood drawn," the cloaked female said with an evil tone.
Just then the sound of the monster roar from the first time it got hit caused the ones not yet damaged to look and see what Tethu's group was doing. "Looks like some of us are doing okay," Miura stated and looked to the other female with a grin.
The latter didn't say anything. Instead she drew from the depths of her cloak her actual weapon. Looking showed it was some kind of sword that could be wielded with one or two hands. The handle and guard made that part of the weapon look like a lance with the latter being pointed like a crystal snowflake. However the blade part was straight and of medium length and mix of icy blue and black in color for the metal. "I'll end this quick," she stated.
The enemy then leapt forward. "She's fast!" Nicholas thought in his head. The being in the cloak was targeting Miura this time.
The Anuban tried to move as best as he could in another attempt to maybe even so much as touch the enemy. But due to being damaged a little, the guy was too slow and his Drauk girlfriend was on her own. Miura tried her best to defend, but the enemy moved and managed to get past the Drauk's defenses, knocking her weapon out of the way. Miura was able to roll out of the way of the attack, but just barely with the enemy's blade missing her by centimeters. "Damn!" she hissed.
Meanwhile with the other three, the monster they were fighting off against was trying a new attack and summoned three shining orbs of ice that floated around its body in a circle. "Now what?" Tethu asked.
The answer was these orbs were shot out to three points that one could draw a triangle in-between them. And these orbs happened to stop so that they were floating and in a sense locking the trio in. They glanced down and saw the ground they were standing on suddenly glow white. "MOVE!" Tethi exclaimed and they all rolled off the area just in time.
They saw a mass of ice spikes rise up right where they had been standing. "That was close," Levi said.
The enemy raised up the arm that had the weapon. "INCOMING!" the female Seedling shouted and the group of three moved as the monster brought that part of its body down. None of them got hit, but they saw their opponent had gotten the weapon stuck into the ground.
"Now's our chance!" Tethu said. He and the other two ran up and began to hack and slash at the ice that made up the monster's body. Then Levi gave a very powerful hit with his hammer and a part of the ice body crumbled away revealing a crimson colored orb about at the chest level of the enemy.
"Wait… that looks like…" he began but was cut short as the monster managed to get its arm free and knocked the group back with another blast of icy wind.
The enemy rose up again, throwing the head back to let out a roar. "That looks like a weak point," Tethi said slowly.
"C'mon, let's end this," Tethu stated, getting his sword at the ready. Levi and the female Seedling came up to stand by his side for one final attack.
"I hope the others are okay," the second male then said, glancing at the ice wall that separated them from the other three.
It turned out Sol, Nicholas, and Miura weren't. They were really struggling to just stay alive, and fairing very badly in terms of keeping up with their cloaked opponent. Her sword had blood on them and the group of three had gotten cuts. The crimson liquid was dripping from the metal. "Why do you keep resisting?" the wielder asked in a voice that carried annoyance that Sol, Nicholas, and Miura had lasted this long. "Why not just surrender and let me end it?"
"Because…" the Anuban managed to pant out as he was breathing hard from the fight and blood lose. "Unlike you, I have something to fight for and keep going…" Nicholas then went to his right knee, holding onto his weapon for support.
"Oh really? Look at you, barely able to stand. None of you have yet to put so much as a scratch on me."
"Damn… I don't know how much longer me and the others can keep this up…" the Anuban thought in his head.
Sol then shot some fire at the enemy who used her ice powers to move out of the way of them. This allowed Miura to quickly get to her guy's side. Nicholas was the worst out of the three in terms of cuts and blood loss. "Honey…" she whispered with worry.
"Heh, I must be a pathetic sight, huh?" he asked, trying to make light of the situation.
"Not in my eyes…"
Nicholas struggled to get back to his feet again. Sol ended up getting knocked back by the enemy who used an icy blast to do so. The Lagora spat some blood out of his mouth. "Damn, she's tough," he said.
"If we make it through this…" the Anuban began.
"When we make it through this," Miura corrected him, her attention turning back to the enemy who was slowly approaching the three.
"If we do, I'm going to need a lot more training…"
"I'm getting quiet tired of how persistent you guys are with lasting this long," the cloaked female stated. She brought her swords up to attack. "Ready to die?"
Just then, a loud roar made all four of them look towards where the other three in the group were fighting the monster. Even the other cloaked figures looked as well in surprise. They had still been watching all this time and hadn't moved to attack. "Wait… did they just?" Sol asked as the roaring sounded different this time.
"I think so," Nicholas replied with a grin.
What had happened was that Tethu, Tethi, and Levi had kept dodging the monster's attacks, the one they had been fighting against. The three then shot attacks from their crystals in a combined attack. Their enemy had tried to fight against it, but in the end it was too much for even the monster. The thing was knocked down and the group of three attacked the weak spot with everything they had. The thing then shattered and the monster disappeared in a whirl of snow and ice. The thing then reappeared above them but its movements were jerky and off. "The other cloaked figures noticed as well. "Wait…" Rommane said.
The monster tried to attack but then the corruption like substance began to shot out of its body and it threw its head back to roar in pain. "That's it; we defeated it," Tethu whispered.
The monster began the writhe and roar as more of the corruption like substance shot out of its body in places. "Impossible! They defeated it!" the female cloaked figure fighting against the other three stated.
Nicholas, Miura, and Sol got tired smiles and they turned to look at their opponent. "Now then…" the Anuban said.
"Hmph! I have no choice but to retreat. But don't clap yourself on the back just yet! The only reason why you're still alive is because the others beat that thing! If not for that, you wouldn't be getting off so easily!"
The other three cloaked figures suddenly moved and were by her side. "They don't know how lucky they are," the new male High Commander stated.
A portal of some kind then appeared, being in appearance to some kind of vortex. "And one more thing before we go," the female enemy said to the three she had fought. "You better not be going and forgetting my name. Considered it a small reward for surviving even if you three are better off dead. The name is Semira. And the next time you hear it, it'll be the last one you hear! This, I promise!" The four stepped into the portal and disappeared with it closing. The ice wall she had also brought up then cracked and fell apart so the Anuban, Drauk, and Lagora could get back to the other three. Meanwhile the monster exploded like the other five before had, taking the corruption like substance in here with it.
The two Seedlings and Levi came over. "You look like you've been through hell," Tethu stated.
"We'll live," Miura replied, helping support Nicholas. Sol was the better off of the three and able to walk, even if there was pain from his wounds.
"At least this is the final place freed," Sol said. "But now what?"
"Well I'll be damned," went a different male voice. "You guys actually did it."
The group looked to see the spirit of this place had arrived. Esna and Lanayru came out in their orbs to see him properly. His eyes were white in color and his hair was spiked all the way up. The color of that was ice blue and the ends were made of ice. The clothes were like that of a kimono robe for a male and white. But at the shoulders and knees were armor pads that were light blue in color and spikey to offer some protection. "I see you haven't changed that much, Kyoji," Lanayru said.
"Neither have you," the second male commented. He then turned his attention to the rest. "I suppose I should congratulate you on a job well done. You did free me and this place from evil."
"Shit, this one sounds like a jackass," Nicholas muttered to Miura.
"Still, I have my job to do in return and hand over the crystal your group will need."
Kyoji brought his hands to gather and they glowed with an icy blue color. In the center the crystal for ice appeared. It floated to Tethi who caught it and it attached to her clothes like the other five had for the other members of the group. "That's the last one," Esna said. "But… now what?"
"First, there is this," the spirit of ice stated. His hands glowed again and where the pool was a fountain rose up from the ground. Liquid from it began to flow out. It shown like glass even if it was clear like regular water. The liquid filled the pool and then began to head out to where it was needed.
"That should help the Icers and cure them," Levi said.
"And now with these crystals, how are we supposed to use them to defeat Neltharon?" Nicholas asked. "And how are these High Commanders plus the monsters we faced connected to him…?"
"Maybe there's a clue back at your home," Tethu suggested. "We do need to report to the rulers there that we succeed in getting them."
"After we recover from this," Miura said. She looked to her Anuban boyfriend, then Sol, then herself as they were all still bleeding from their wounds.
"Then I will let you out," Kyoji replied and the group was soon teleported out of this place. But even with this spirit and place freed, the journey for the group wasn't over yet. The real one was about to begin.