Chapter II.4: Recall
Raindrops hit the pavement in a steady rhythm as the spectre approached us with silent steps, examining us. "And then, there were five," said the spectre. "You've come along well, all of you."
The sleeve of his translucent robe brushed against me as he passed. He was truly here. Not some mere apparition, as he had been at Corundia. The one who guided me. Who reassured me. Who led me here.
For once, Rose looked unnerved. "A spectre," whispered Avilin, one hand outstretched. "A spectre... pardon the expression... in the flesh."
His eyes glowed beneath his hood, raindrops rolling down his robes without soaking in. "You needn't look so surprised," the spectre told her calmly. "It's not by chance that you've all gathered here, after all."
"Hey, question?" called Metatyph, tenatively raising his hand. The rest of us all fell silent as the spectre turned to face him. "SO um... who are you, exactly?"
With growing apprehension, we watched as the spectre approached Metatyph, who took a step back. "I am Mystery-of-the-Fallen-Sea, but Myste shall suffice," said the spectre quietly, a faint chill in his voice. "I am a spectre. One of an ancient order which has nurtured adventurer guilds from the shadows."
He began to pace around us, looking each of us in the eye. "One by one, each of you answered the call," continued Myste. "The jubilant Witch Fuwaa. The intrepid Scheil. The hardy Metatyph. Avilin, heir of Avalon, you now have the means to restore the guild to glory."
The clocks said that dawn was breaking, but the rain-clouds puffed and swelled, blocking out the rising sun's rays. As the rain began to pick up momentum, we adjourned to Avilin's bar.
Rose, Metatyph, and I took a seat at the table while Myste leaned against the wall, watching us silently. I opened my mouth-I had many questions for the spectre-but he simply shook his head. Not now, he seemed to be saying.
"So Typh, how did you get here?" asked Avilin as she poured us mugs of ale. "Last I heard, you were with the guides-in-training on their retreat."
Metatyph nodded. "We were camping near the Dungeon when the Eater of Worlds attacked us," said the boy, grimacing. "Most of the students were slaughtered right away. I've been on the move ever since."
Al frowned. "How come you didn't come back to the guild?" she asked. "I've been hiding in the city tunnels for weeks and never saw you."
"I- I'm sorry," stammered Typh. "Instructor Andrew tried to contact the guild, but got nothing. We eventually realized that the guild had fallen. I've been looking for you ever since, hoping you somehow escaped." He smiled weakly. "Glad you did."
Avilin sighed. "What a mess," she muttered. "Anyone else survive?"
Metatyph looked into his mug. "I managed to grab Darren, and we escaped to the Living Tree." A deep breath. "We hid in there for a few days. Darren's catching some sleep in that brick dugout over there."
That meant my house. Great. "You made it to Lady Elysia's tree," said Avilin thoughtfully. "Probably no sign of her, right?"
Typh nodded. "Some chasms opened up west of the tree. And of course, dryads flee as soon as the Corruption sets in."
"Damn," muttered Al, pacing around the bar. "We'll have to go hunt for her later." Her eyes fell on Rose and me. "Oh, right. Typh, this is Scheil Rose Guriri. As the sp... as Myste said, they're here to help rebuild the guild."
"Witch Fuwaa, at your service," chirped Rose happily. "I specialize in rope and... shall we say..." She fluffed her hair. "And building stylish buildings."
"I'm Scheil from Corundia, across the sea," I said nervously, shaking Metatyph's hand. "Nice to meet you."
Metatyph smiled warmly. "Glad to meet you both," he said. His voice was subtly cheerful. "The name's Metatyph Tempest, former Guild resident. Not formally an adventurer, but I look forward to working together."
At that moment, a ball of blue-white flame floated through the wall and flew to Myste's side. Blinking, I recalled the blue-white flames that had surrounded Myste on my first night in Terraria. A wisp!
We watched as Myste and the wisp exchanged a few inaudible words. Then, the spectre nodded, and the wisp came to rest above Myste's head. "Aria examined your defenses, and finds them deplorable," said Myste quietly. "We ought to build a tower in case of raids."
Aria, I gathered, was the wisp's name. Avilin fetched some paper and pencils from the chest and brought them to the table. "Let's draft some blueprints first," she suggested. The spectre nodded and took a seat.
Rose stood up as they sat down. "In that case, I'll be off to gather supplies," she said jauntily, putting down her empty mug. "So long, good chums!" Opening her umbrella, she skipped out the door and into the rain.
Typh and I got up as well; it didn't look like we were needed. "Come on, I'll introduce you to Darren," said Metatyph. Nodding, I followed him outside. I still wanted to talk to Myste later, once he had a moment.
The sky was brightening to a cool silver as rain splashed down our clothes and around our feet. Drab, some might call it-but to me, soft and beautiful.
Crossing over to my house, we entered to see a guide asleep on my bed. Metatyph gently shook him awake. "Hey, Darren. Wake up."
Stirring, Darren sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Huh? Typh?" he mumbled. He was very young for a guide, no older than nineteen. Blinking, he stared at me warily. "What's going on? Who's he?"
Up until now, I'd respected all the guides I'd worked with. This one? Not so much. "Scheil, owner of this house," I said stiffly, reluctantly shaking Darren's hand. "I... I'm here to help rebuild the guild, I guess. What were you-uh-doing in my bed?"
His head drooped. "Sorry, sir," muttered Darren, looking down at his lap; he seemed afraid that I might punish him. "I was exhausted from the long journey, and Typh brought me to the nearest place. I... didn't mean to intrude."
"No, no, it's fine." How long had the guild stood? How many guides had the guild sent out to neighboring lands over the years? A legacy of knowledge and skill, passed down from teacher to student for eons... but now, the guild's guides were gone. Except one.
"I... I wasn't at the top of my class or anything, but I know most of the crafting supplies," said Darren tenatively as Metatyph helped him over to the table, setting a bowl of hot soup in front of him. "I... I guess I could serve as the Guide for the new Avalon? If it's all right with everyone..."
"Of course it's all right."
Back outside, the rain was thinning out. Behind the bar, I saw Avilin at the top of a low slope, standing next to a large glass tank filled with water. There was a small compartment on the side of the tank, near the top. "What on earth is this?"
Avilin tilted her head back to me. "Haven't you heard of liquid generators?" she replied calmly. I thought for a moment. The books from Corundia's dungeon had mentioned liquid generators, yes, but I'd never looked into how they functioned, let alone how to build one.
"These will work, but they'll be very slow," said Myste as he joined us, watching Al's progress. "Water in the input compartment flows into the main tank with twice the volume. But, one still needs to refill the input compartment regularly."
Over the next few hours, Myste and Avilin began crafting more stone bricks with Darren's help, while Typh and I harvested stone for them. This wasn't too hard; there were a number of exposed stone veins along the river.
Around noon, Typh set down his pickaxe. "That should be enough stone," he mumbled, sitting down on a stump and taking some food out from his pack. "Say, where's Rose?"
As Al and Myste began laying bricks, I glanced around for Rose's beacon. Not in the field-not in the bar-not in her house. I sighed inwardly. Where did she run off this time? "I'll go fetch her."
Under Rose's house, I discovered a large pit, sort of like a basement. There was a deep, vertical shaft leading straight down into the underground. A hellevator, perhaps? Was this what Rose had been doing all along?
Taking one of Rose's spare umbrellas, I donned a mining helmet and leapt down the shaft.
The wind swelled into the umbrella as if it were a parachute, slowing my fall. Dirt yielded to stone; grass yielded to moss. How deep was this shaft?
Suddenly, the tunnel opened into a massive space, larger than any cavern, than any house. I was so astonished that I nearly lost my hold on the umbrella. I felt as if I had fallen beneath the edge of the world. Down, down, down; I descended into the abyss-screaming all the way.
About halfway down, I started picking up signals from Rose's beacon again-jumbled, scattered signals. 500 feet below me...300 feet below me... then 250 feet above me. 50 feet east... 150 feet east and down... 400 feet above me.
Adjusting my mining helmet I saw skeletons and slimes falling into the darkness before being cast up into the air again, falling endlessly. Giant worms exploded into blood around me, reappearing miraculously unharmed before exploding again. What was happening? I might still be a novice at Terrarian physics, but I was pretty sure this was abnormal.
Without warning, my feet touched solid ground, knees buckling. Breathing hard, I closed the great umbrella and got up, staring around Overhead, I saw Rose, trapped in the same falling cycle as the skeletons. "Rose?" I shouted up to her. "What's going on?"
Again and again, Rose fell; each time, before hitting the ground, some invisible force would cast her high up into the air. "You too, huh?" she laughed weakly, helpless to break her fall. "Hey... throw me some gel, could you? I... I'm out of torches."
Fumbling with my pack, I took out a large clump of gel and threw it up to Rose, who managed to catch it in midfall. "Thanks," she gasped as she was flung high into the air again, striking a torch. "Catch."
She tossed a round hand mirror at me, which I managed to catch. "Turn around, close your eyes, and count to thirty-aagh!" Once again, she was flung back up into the air.
"Wait! Why?" I cried. Much as I had hated what she did in Corundia, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Was there nothing I could do?
"Just do it!" she urged me as she fell once again. "After thirty, look in the mirror. And I-and whatever you do-don't open your eyes early!"
Reluctantly, I did as she ordered, and began to count. As I closed my eyes, I felt that power, that feeling surge inside me again, like tiny claws inside my blood. And yet, it didn't hurt, didn't throb...
As I reached the count of ten, the smell of fresh blood filled the air, warm and swollen. A faint vibration under my feet slowly rose into a deep, circumsonous growl. Something was approaching-a nameless thing that was too large to describe-
At fifteen, I heard Rose scream, then abruptly fall silent. "R-Rose?!" I cried out, shaking. No. She had said to keep my eyes closed. And yet-I felt as if that thing, that terrible prescence was staring down at me, eyeing me as its next prey...
At twenty, the prescence began to retreat. Slowly, its growls faded, the scent of fresh blood receding, the fear draining away...
Thirty. Opening my eyes, I spun around... and Rose had vanished without a trace. Searching the ground under where she had been, I found her beacon.
She was gone. That terrible prescence had taken her. Shuddering, I curled up into a ball, wishing that warm feeling power would return. Then, striking a torch, I looked at the mirror that Rose had tossed me.
The mirror did not show my surroundings or the torchlight; it reflected me, and only me, as if I was standing in a white fog. On the edges was written a single word: Recall.
"Recall...?"
The moment I said that word, the mirror glowed bright. I would have dropped it-but I could not move my fingers or arms, as if my body had been frozen in time. Sparks of blue-white light flew from the mirror, enveloping me, blotting out my surroundings...
A cool breeze filtered through the links in my chanimail, the sun setting on the east horizon. I yelped as water splashed down around me, nearly dropping the mirror. I was in the fountain. The fountain on the surface which marked Avalon's focus-point.
That was Rose's last gift to me. Not just a mirror, but an escape. An escape from whatever terrible fate had claimed her. Climbing out of the fountain, I headed for my house, growing tired.
Before I reached my front door, however, I caught sight of the finished tower in the distance, built on top of the liquid generators. My jaw dropped.
This was a tower to rival anything I'd ever built. Encircled by a lava moat, the tower's gray walls were over twice the height of Avilin's bar, an observation deck overlooking the field. Inside, a spiral staircase rose around a central wooden beam, which had been decorated with trophies.
"So, what do you think?" said Myste quietly from behind me, causing me to jump. "Impressive, no?"
NOTE: For those curious about what happened to Rose, it's a server glitch where part of the map fails to spawn, leaving a massive square hole. Objects in this space will appear to fall endlessly, including other players.