We had made our way back to the boat.
"Everything go okayCHA?" asked Korcha.
Serge and I looked at each other before turning back to face Korcha.
"In a manner of speaking." we replied simultaneously.
Serge told Korcha to head to the Earth Dragon Isle next. He told me that Earth Dragon Isle was like a desert. I found it interesting that throughout the many differentislands of the El Nido region, there was such a varied climate. Serge said that was interesting, though most people didn't think about it much. People were pretty laid back, living as though they were in a tropical paradise, which in many ways, it was.
On the way to the next isle, Serge pointed out the town of Guldove, which was Korcha's hometown. Korcha said we could talk to Steena, should we not find my sword on Earth Dragon Isle. It sounded as good as anything I could come up with, so I agreed.
"Here we are." said Serge as the dull sand colored island came into view.
We landed, and Serge and I climbed out of the small boat. We had to cover our eyes from the sand, which the wind was whipping around at the time. We walked a short ways into the island, when Serge stopped.
"We have to stand in the middle of that sand pit." he said.
"Are you sure?" I asked, hesitant to jump into a sand pit.
"I've done it many times before. We'll be okay." he replied as he hurried forward and dissappeared in the middle of the sandpit.
"Well, I guess I have no choice." I said as I followed suit.
When I opened my eyes, I was sitting on a small ledge overlooking a small cavern. There were waterfalls composed entirely of sand. It was actually quite a beautiful picture. Apparently, I was a little too engrossed in the scenery because when I stood up, I slipped on the sand, and tumbled down to the cavern floor. Though the sand cushioned the fall, it still stung.
Serge told me why the sand always came down as a waterfall. He said that there were spots in the cavern that would shoot sand back up to the surface. From there, it would come back down through the sand pits scattered across the islands, thus the sand waterfalls were always there.
When we made our way to the main chamber, we looked around for my sword. After searching for a short time, having not found it, we decided to leave. Before we could though, a small earthquake hit. As we turned back to look in the main chamber, we saw an odd looking whirlpool in the sand. It would appear for a short time, then dissappear before returning at another spot. Every time the whirlpool appeared, a small quake would hit. Obviously, this waasn't natural, so we decided to investigate. We climbed down to the lowest level, where the mysterious whirlpool kept appearing. Upon its next appearance, we ran over to the disturbance. As soon as we were within ten feet or so of it, something jumped out of the whirlpool! It appeared to be a giant skeleton with some sort of orb-like monster between the top and bottom halves. Serge and myself jumped backward from shock, and then quickly grasping the situation, we pulled out our weapons, prepared to fight.
I charged forward, with a powerful strike, but stumbled as my weapon passed right through the creature. I rolled back onto mt feet on the other side and quickly yelled, "It's made of sand! I can't hit it!"
Serge decided to attack the orb monster in the middle. Though he was able to do damage, the orb immediately healed itself after the attack. Obviously, weapons were useless, thus we resorted to magic.
Serge cast Luminaire, with no effect. I tried casting Deluge, and it too seemed to have no effect. After casting the spell though, the sand composing the beast seemed to harden.
The legs then sank into the sand, causing a damaging earthquake. Upon their return, I told Serge to try another melee attack. He charged the legs and scored a solid hit!
"The water hardens it!" I said as I attacked the legs as well.
I hit the legs soundly, but it countered with an earthquake attack. The torso approached Serge and spikes flew out from its chest hitting Serge. Serge and I then hit the legs with an X-Strike. The legs then absorbed some of the life from the orb in its midsection.
"We have to take it out quickly!" I shouted as I cast Ice 2 on the creature once more, making sure it stayed vulnerable.
Serge attacked with a cyclone slash, causing a critical hit. The legs caused an earthquake again as the torso hit me with the spikes this time. I cherged forward, sword thrust forward, shattering the lags with my blow. The orb and the torso remained as they floated in midair. After the legs were gone, the torso began using an umbilical cord thing, that would attach to one of us and steal our life. Each time it would do that to one of us, the other would have to cut it off. The torso's attack's became much more fierce once the legs were gone. It took longer to destroy the top half because it would take life from us as well as the orb. After a little while, it took the last life of the orb as it died and fell to the ground. And just as it did with the legs, it attacked more frequently and fiercely once the orb was gone. But, with less to heal itself from, we soon finished it off.
"It's always something." I said as I cast some healing spells on us.
"Let's head back to the main island. There are a few places we could search there." said Serge.
So, we headed back to Arni village. It was getting late, so we stayed there for the night, and set out the next morning after a hearty breakfast. We headed through the mountain pass, but instead of heading west to Termina as I expected, we headed north to Vipor Manor.
"There's someone here who might be able to help us." said Serge. "His name's Dario. He's an extraordinary swordsman. More than that, the Manor has quite a treasure room. Perhaps your sword is there."
We walked up to a most impressive building, where there were many children running around and playing outside. We walked up to the front door, where we were greeted by a maid. Serge said we were here to speak with Dario. the maid had us wait just inside the door, as she went to get Dario. A few minutes later, we were greeted by Dario.