41 – The calling of the voice

Lucader881

PRENOTE: Fixed some errors in the Status – I forgot to change them in some previous chapters, I’m sorry. Also changed some skills to make them more clear. All the notes you see in the status are Julian’s ‘mental’ notes.

The conflagration that resulted from the ludicrous amount of energy-dense magical crystals was extremely powerful. In fact, in his altered state of pain and panic, Julian had failed to properly grasp the power that would result from the detonation of more than a dozen F+ Crystals and several dozen F rank ones. The explosion rocked the cavern, pulverizing the crystals on the walls and destroying the monster so thoroughly that not even dust was left. Julian was sent flying against the wall with great violence but was protected from the impact by his invulnerability that, fortunately for him, seemed to consider the explosion and the impact of his body against the wall as a result of said explosion one single event and protected him from taking any damage.

He groaned and pushed himself up. The cave was still shaking, and crystals were falling down from the ceiling, and a loud rumbling noise could be heard coming from the long tunnels. Crashing sounds and intermittent quakes told him all he needed to know: the cavern system was no longer stable. He ignored the Runes, the status and everything else and just started to run towards where he had extrapolated the exit was, hoping to get there in time. And as he looked towards there, both in the mental representation of the tunnels and in real life, he felt the sensation that called to him from afar, the very same that he had used as a compass to find the exit, as if as a confirmation that he was going in the right direction. Wading in the almost total darkness, illuminated only by the faint light of his torch with its horizontal plume of flames that lagged behind him as he ran, he left the initial cavern and entered the side tunnel. The ground had not stopped shaking, instead growing increasingly unstable, with wide cracks opening at random and widening rapidly. Crystals fell from the ceiling, and more than once did Julian have to roll on the ground to avoid a hit. The exit was growing closer.

Julian stopped running for a moment and looked carefully. A huge lump of debris was about to fall from the ceiling just before the opening of the unexplored tunnel that should lead to the outside, showing the telltale dust and small rocks falling before a whole section of the roof would soon follow.

Julian decided to risk it. He didn’t have the time to play it safe, and without his crystals, most of the tech he had stashed in the Oasis was going to be useless to get out of here. He had to act. Cal was waiting for him. The faraway beacon that was the origin of the strange sensation was tugging at him. With a deep breath he began to sprint, in hopes to outrun the debris, but right as he began to run he saw the rocks begin to fall. The whole ceiling was coming down in great chunks of stone and huge crystals, sharp as glass, but he was too fast now to stop. He had to try to go through, hoping that he could make it at least alive. He rolled, avoiding a big rock that would surely have crushed him, but as he landed, he looked up and saw a crystal, sharp and aimed right at him, falling fast.

His quick thinking saved him. He immediately took out his shield and initiated a Parry, and felt the crystal slam against the unstoppable momentum of his metal shield in a deafening ring before exploding in a shower of shards that fell harmlessly on the ground around him. He sighed in relief, but he wasn’t out yet. He pushed himself to his feet, struggling to find a balance, and ran. He realized too late that his torch had been left behind, but a faint light at the end of the tunnel filled him with hope and he didn’t stop to retrieve his lost light, instead choosing to run towards what he hoped was the great outdoors. It only now occurred to him that the cave was full of glistening points of white light, previously either unseen or not even there at all. Items, system-issued, out of reach now that he was running for his life. For a moment he was angry at the system for so blatantly hiding the loot from him, and indeed it occurred to him that he hadn’t seen many items scattered trough the various floors that he explored, but another quake made him refocus. Struggling for his balance, he jumped a crack that had opened on the ground and took a rushed decision when the tunnel split into two different branches. He didn’t have time to consult his mental image of the place and chose to follow his instincts and the light that he hoped was that of the sun outside.

He was right. The tunnel led him up towards a small opening, and in the blinding light of day he could see the blue sky and a few scant clouds rushing by. He took in a great breath of fresh air and looked around. He had resurfaced from a small mouth of stone in the side of a great hill overlooking a huge field of crystals. They were tall, impossibly tall, some taller than a skyscraper and others tilting in dangerous ways, creating arches and small passageways like a forest of trees: like a forest some crystals laid straight while others had fallen but were still being kept somewhat upright by the rest of their neighbors. Except these weren’t trees, but crystals as thick as a football field at times – there was one in the distance that was thicker than it was tall – and they were pink and yellow and glistening in the midday sun. The air smelled of plastic and chemicals, and while it was cool it was also oppressing and stale. As a faint wind blew through the field of crystals, they seemed to sing a dissonant tune, ominous and ever-present like a constant alarm in the back of Julian’s mind.

And so, he descended the hill amidst the sharp and dangerous crystals, following the strange sensation that called to him ever more strongly, looking for places where the soil offered him some purchase and avoiding the slippery surfaces of the crystals whenever he could. But it wasn’t easy, and the lower he went in the valley the more the crystals seemed to have overgrown everything like a shiny moss, a decay that crystallized everything forever hiding its shape beneath the pointed ends of its glass domes.

He walked for what felt like days, and the sun stayed there, at the zenith. It shone with a dull light that was bright and ever-present but seemed to cast no shadows. Julian didn’t know if it was because of the crystals, but the eerie atmosphere that it caused was beginning to unnerve him. He was feeling increasingly uncomfortable and paranoid, always looking around and chasing shadows and reflections in the crystals that looked like moving figures of people, waiting in ambush. Before long he couldn’t take it anymore, despite his rational brain knowing why the light was like this and why the reflections danced like that, he couldn’t shake off the feeling of oppressive malice coming from the crystals like they were evil unmoving entities that, if they could, would end his life in an instant.

He decided to go to the Oasis to rest, restock his rings in preparation of his fight to come, and get away from this hellscape even if it was for just a moment. The portal opened and he, exhausted as he always was whenever he opened the Oasis, stepped inside and collapsed sprawled on the soft sand. The air caressed his face, and the evening sun cast long shadows of the palm trees from the far away horizon. He took it all in, conceding himself a moment of respite, and felt invigorated and born again.

Alright. Rest time over. Cal needs saving.

He got up and approached an unassuming rock formation that poked out of the sand, close to the lake. He touched it, feeling for something on its regular surface until he found the small button he hid underneath it, and pressed it. A hidden elevator appeared, sliding up from the sandy beach with barely a sound. There was a small present downstairs, stored safely in his underground facility that he built with Cal. An explosive present that needed to be delivered.

***

“Shit,” Julian said as he left the Oasis, “I forgot to level up!”

He shook his head and smiled, but the smile was quickly replaced by a frown as the ever-present ambient light of the crystals assailed his vision. Taking a deep breath and regretting it – the air tasted the same as before but his short stay in the Oasis had made the smell even more unbearable – he sat down and materialized some firewood from his storage rings. He hastily kindled the fire, watching with feverish hurry the icons beneath the MP bar until the invulnerability icon appeared. Then he called upon his Status and examined it, going over the stats.

Okayyy what do we do? I need to maximize survivability of course; I don’t know what kind of defenses I will find where Cal is being held. Let’s see…

However, despite his efforts, Julian found it hard to concentrate. I’m fucking wasting time here; I need to get going. Fuck it, dump it all in Endurance and Vigor.

That’s a lot of runes I will need for the next level up. Whatever, I’ll think about it later. Skill selection.

“Give me Parry.”

“Freehand.”

“Tome of Holy.”

Immediately after he was done, he got up and looked at the horizon. It was hidden by the multitude of crystals that grew beneath the dull blue sky, but as he looked in the direction of the strange feeling that he could still even now feel, a small light seemed to shine in the distance. It wasn’t there before, he was sure, and now like a beacon it told him the way. It whispered things to him, a little voice in his ear that spoke words he could not make out. It was far, but not impossibly so, and with every hasty step that Julian took the light grew closer and closer, until with a sweaty brown and short of breath, almost devoid of SP, Julian arrived at an open field. Behind him the crystal forest was like a wall, with small openings into the strange and dangerous maze of many colors, but ahead was nothing but rolling sand dunes. Upon these dunes were small growths of yellow crystals, smaller than a thumb, that looked soft like chalk but were dangerously hard and sharp to the touch.

The light, in the distance, pointed at the top of a large stone formation that stood on its lonesome, like a sharp giant spire of black stone, in the middle of the desert of deep orange and yellow. A ring of bright yellow crystals was indeed surrounding the hill, where they grew the densest, while inside that ring no more could be found. There was only flowing sand moved by the incessant wind, and the steep climb up the black stone. The light seemed to speak.

Julian approached the wall with confidence, wiping his brow and taking a large swig of an SP potion like it was water. He had so many potions in his rings that he could afford to do that, after all. He began to climb, moving with haste but also with enough care that he was quite confident he was not going to fall. He counted on the now superhuman strength he had thanks to his attributes to make the climb faster, and whenever he looked back, he was quite satisfied with the progress he made. However, the summit was far and the climb steep, and at the back of his mind the image of Cal suffering in a cell deep down in the dungeons assailed him. Roughly halfway up he stopped, the SP potions had become ineffective again and he had to take a rest or he was going to faint due to a depleted SP bar, and looked around. He could now see the top of some sort of building at the summit of this rocky hill that had been hidden from view as he approached. Steep walls, like a castle made of the same stone of the hill, supported a slanted tiled roof as black as the castle itself. One small window overlooked the plains, and he wondered whether he had been spotted coming here on the sand dunes or not.

I’ll just have to risk it. I can’t wait any more time.

With the SP bar once again full, Julian set out again. The castle grew larger as more and more of its imposing structure became visible. Where could they be holding him? Julian wondered, as he stared at the point of light inside the castle. It was calling at him with almost clearly audible words now, but they always seemed just out of reach, enticing him with the promise of power and revenge.

By the time Julian was standing beside the great walls of the castle on the hilltop, a decision had been made. I’ll go check the light out first, see what it is. They will never expect me to take the detour. Then, I go save Cal.

He knew that he was just rationalizing things, however after hours spent climbing with that voice in his ears, Julian was no longer able to resist its call.