Chapter 67: Ch. 67 – Four Keys and Five Challenges

A battlefield of two armies of God-ranked beings stretched out for millions of kilometers, and world-destroying attacks were launched every few minutes. If not for the emptiness of this region of space, many worlds would have been consumed by the constantly shifting battle lines. Despite the mighty powers that were being wielded for destruction, that expended energy would allow new Life to form here in a dozen million years.

 

From the vantage point of the deck of Joyano's boat, I watched the battle unfolding below us disinterestedly while Joyano and I played a game of chess. Occasionally, I would feed plump sunoo berries to Alkatyenia, who had her head laying in my lap as an almost mirror image happened across from me, but with Joyano and Golunda. Istar and Suwae sat off to the side, chatting lightly as they drank tea, and the only sign of Zahe was his black metal cube ship, that worked as his mobile workshop, which was floating off the portside.

 

"Azazii's commanding skills have improved again," Joyano remarked.

 

"Her current opponent is five hundred thousand years her junior; she should be leading her forces to exterminate her enemies directly," I complained, taking one of his knights with my bishop.

 

"The fact that she hasn't pressed her advantage is why he made the comment. She's able to reign in your fiery blood and not overcommit her forces," Alkatyenia retorted.

 

"She knows that we're here; all her actions would do is draw out the cowards sooner," I replied.

 

"The Fairy Queen is right, as usual," he said, replacing my queen piece with his own and checkmating my king. "Even if you can see your opponent's pieces, it does not mean that you can anticipate their actions, let alone the hidden ones that we all know are waiting."

 

I sighed, flicking over my king, and leaned back against the couch. "Patience has never been my strong suit. If something needs to be done, it needs to be done then and the consequence can be sorted out when they appear."

 

"Which is why you are known as the Seven-Clawed Chaos Storm Dragon," Joyano taunted.

 

I bared my pointed teeth as gray flames appeared around me, but Alkatyenia simply raised a hand and placed it on my cheek, saying, "You're too easily goaded, my love."

 

With a snort, the flames vanished, and I replied, "I wouldn't have taken it too far."

 

"You would have," Istar chimed in as he usually would in these moments.

 

"Thank you for your words of wisdom, Istar," I said dryly, making the others chuckle.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The comforts that a hot shower could bring were undeniable, especially when you are sharing it with a beautiful woman. My new markings also ran across my back and legs, but unlike the Soul Burn on my brow, I could hide them at will. When they were visible, my strength was enhanced passively and also made it easier to channel my Soul Power through my body. Raven was more accepting of them since I could hide them, but I kept them active since she would often trace the never-ending chain when she was relaxed.

 

While we could skip breakfast to spend the morning together and alone, our stomachs made us come down after midday. No one was around and I could vaguely sense that Katye was down in the valley, so I assumed that all of them had gone for a walk through the forest. We grabbed a few pieces of fruit to eat then walked over to the garden that I had transported from the field where Raven had set up our original garden. I helped her water the plants and then we laid by the pond until the others returned.

 

An hour or so before sunset, Madi came running up along the river while Katye and Echo walked up slowly. She headed straight for us and leapt up, forcing me to catch her, but that had been her goal. She giggled happily as I made her float in the air then landed her gently on the end of my lounge chair.

 

"Aww, Auntie K said that you had more markings like your fire mark," Madi pouted.

 

"Oh, did she?" I asked with a smile, glancing at Raven since she had told me to hide them when we heard Madi coming.

 

"Go ahead," Raven chuckled.

 

With a thought, the gray markings slowly appeared on my arms and legs. Madi watched them appear with excitement and even poked them a few times. I gave a wry chuckle as I gently knocked away her hand.

 

"That's still my skin, Madi," I chided.

 

"Sorry... what do they do?" she asked.

 

"They make me stronger."

 

"How strong?"

 

I chuckled wryly, "Very strong."

 

"Can you pick up the rover?"

 

"Probably."

 

"Do it," Madi cheered, throwing her hands up in the air.

 

"No," Raven answered before I could. "If she doesn't put it down right, she could break something."

 

"Sorry, but Raven is right," I agreed.

 

Madi pouted, but there was a limit to how much we would give into her demands. Thankfully, Katye and Echo walked up about that time, and we were able to avert a meltdown from the young, spoiled child. The five of us ate dinner as usual and Katye tucked Madi into bed while the rest of us stayed downstairs.

 

"We should make a still. I miss drinking," I complained while Raven, Echo, and I lounged and watched the night sky.

 

"You don't even get drunk anymore," Raven retorted.

 

"And? That doesn't mean I can't enjoy the taste... and you two were rather cute the last time we drank," I chuckled.

 

"Jok yu," Echo retorted which I had learned translated to, "Fuck you."

 

I laughed, remembering the sight of Raven and Echo cuddled up together, holding each other close, but I did not push either of them further, or I could be sleeping down here whenever Katye and I came back from the labyrinth. Despite their stand-offish natures, Echo and Raven had warmed up to each other and could even be called friends at this point. There were a lot of similarities in their personalities even if their interests were different, so it had only been a matter of time before they would accept each other.

 

Katye came down about twenty minutes later and asked, while draping her hand over Echo's shoulders, "Are you ready, Becca?"

 

"Sure," I said, grabbing the bag at my feet, then stood up.

 

I kissed Raven goodbye as Katye did the same to Echo. We walked into the kitchen together, and I opened the path to the cave. While we headed for the labyrinth, I dug around in my bag and pulled out a smaller bag then handed it to Katye. Inside there were a few sheets of paper, some charcoal sticks, a walkie talkie, and a flashlight, so that she could make a map when we split up.

 

"Look at this," Katye said, shining her flashlight on a large crystal like the ones up at the entrance.

 

"If it's the same as upstairs, it shouldn't take too much mana," I replied.

 

She placed a hand on the crystal, and it lit up a moment later. A chain of tiny light crystals continued down the corridor to the right and left on the ceiling which shined down on the blue-gray stone walls. There was a strange energy that radiated off the bricks which I recognized, even if I did not regularly use it, yet it was the large message on the wall that drew both of our attentions.

 

"This is your true trial and your path to your future. If you can't complete the labyrinth within the remaining time, you will be of no use to me and you won't survive what is left to come. I have given you both more than enough time, so you can train as much as possible, but when the countdown is complete, this place will be gone, and it will return to its true appearance.

 

"Days: 2080, Hours: 15, Minutes: 47, Seconds: 29... 28... 27..."

 

"The fucking army you threw at us wasn't a trial?! Asshole!" I yelled at the words carved into the rock, throwing a fireball at the wall.

 

Katye chuckled, "Tori sure likes his games."

 

Despite the scorch marks, the countdown continued to tick away, changing the solid stone wall with every passing second. 

 

"Two thousand eighty days... that's what, five years?" I asked.

 

"A little over five and a half... roughly the time that we have before Diyoza's ship lands and destroys the valley," Katye replied.

 

"Have I mentioned how tired I am of these imposing deadlines?" I sighed.

 

"You and me both," Katye replied.

 

"So... right or left?"

 

Katye shrugged, pulling out a sheet of paper, "Right, I guess... not like it really matters."

 

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"Be careful... There is something about the walls that gives off the Space element. I have avoided it because it can be very dangerous if used improperly."

 

"What about Ishu? Can you summon him?"

 

"One way to know for sure," I replied then pricked my finger and summoned Ishu.

 

"You summoned me," Ishu said after he made his usual grand entrance.

 

Rolling my eyes, I stated, "Yes, I did. What can you tell me about this labyrinth?"

 

"It's made of neplatne rock... expensive material, normally used for expanding the inside of buildings to allow them to be larger than the outside structure would be. It depends on the level of enchanting, but the amount that I can sense could open a space of two and a half kilometers to twenty-five kilometers in the area of a meter by meter outside," Ishu replied.

 

"Metric system... really? Even other worlds are smarter than America and don't use the imperial system," I complained with a smirk. "What else?"

 

"Nothing else by just standing here. Another property of the neplatne rock is that it restricts the senses by overwhelming them with the Space element."

 

"I guess you finally have a place to train your Space spells," Katye said.

 

"You can use the Space element?" Ishu asked with surprise.

 

"I have twice before, I believe, but it's something that I have avoided practicing since it can be dangerous in the wrong environment," I replied.

 

"It would be interesting to see if you use just the element, or if you can comprehend the 'Void' itself."

 

"I'd guess it's just the element currently. I've made little progress understanding 'Yin' with your training and meditation, but my focus had been on other things recently."

 

"You really are more beast than man," he said, disinterested.

 

My brow twitched with annoyance, but I kept my mouth shut since I would still likely need his expertise throughout the night.

 

"Well, hopefully, the radios will work down here. I'll let you know if I find anything interesting," Katye said then turned and headed down the corridor to the right side.

 

"Come on," I sighed at Ishu as I pulled out my radio, a sheet of paper, and a charcoal stick.

 

Ishu and I walked down the left side corridor in silence, but that was preferred when he regularly insulted me if he did talk. I sketched out the route that we took, though it took several minutes before we made it to the first corner. As soon as we turned the corner, there were two paths that we could choose from, one along the outside wall and another that moved inwards. Although it was far more likely that our goal was at the center of the labyrinth, too many years of playing video games had made it practically a compulsion to fully explore the maze. It was a good thing that I did since after we rounded the second corner, about twenty minutes worth of walking away from the first, I found something in a dead-end.

 

There were ten bronze braziers floating in slowly revolving patterns above my head when I stood under it. There were three defined paths with four braziers that were always in the center equally spaced between each other. The other six stayed in a constant position versus the center four and they had two symbols emblazoned on them while the inner ones only had one. A pedestal stood under the center most point with a simple message on it.

 

'Form the Ten Elements and receive the first key of four.'

 

"What do you make of this?" I asked.

 

"It's a trial," Ishu replied dimly.

 

"I know that genius. What do I do? Launch Fireballs and Waterballs at the braziers?"

 

Ishu gave a snort of annoyance as he grumbled, "Mindless beast."

 

"Do you want me to stop summoning you so that you are forever bound to me?" I snapped.

 

"Even if I can return to the Cycle of Rebirth, my next hundred lives will be nothing of value or enjoyment. I would rather remain in the Yin Realm until my True Soul is eroded away and free myself completely."

 

I sighed, remembering how different our past lives likely were. My own versus this new reality that I found myself in were very different, so I could only guess how hard his had been as a former slave and assassin.

 

"Channel your mana into the pillar to recreate the Ten Elements. This trial was made for you," Ishu added after a moment.

 

"Thank you," I replied while pulling out my radio and asked into it, "Hey, Katye, do you hear me?"

 

"I think the expression is, 'do you read me', but yes, I do," Katye retorted.

 

"Smartass... I turned my second corner and found some kind of puzzle that requires the Ten Elements to release a key. Make sure that you are checking the dead-ends."

 

"If I find any, but so far, nothing has branched off from the path that I've been following."

 

"I've only seen one that headed inwards, I believe. My guess is, that the maze isn't the hard part, but rather gaining access to these keys. I'm going to see what I can figure out from this one then I'll backtrack to the other path."

 

"Sounds good. I'll let you know if I find anything," Katye replied.

 

I re-attached my radio to my belt then turned my attention to the pillar. When I placed a hand on it, the braziers slowed their rotation further and lowered so that they were closer to me without touching the ground. The first mana that I channeled was, of course, Fire which caused a bright orange and red flame to ignite in one of the braziers. Now that it had an element, the brazier landed gently on the ground behind me, but when I removed my hand from the pedestal to look at it better, the flame went out and it floated back into the air.

 

"So, it all has to be done at once," I mused while flipping my map over and sketching out all of the symbols on the different braziers.

 

It was obvious that six of the ten elements were a combination of the four single symbols, and the brazier with the fire had only had one symbol on it. I placed my hand back on the pedestal and channeled my mana into it. First was Fire which landed behind me then I changed the element to Earth. I could hear the sound of stones clinking on metal and another brazier floated down that had a small pile of rocks, landing in front of me which was the same distance away as the Fire one. Next, I used Wind which called down another brazier to land at my right and, while I could see nothing inside it, I could hear a light, swirling breeze. The last element I added was Water and the last of the single-symbolled braziers landed to my left. When the fourth one took its place, a circle of white light shined from the ground which connected all of the braziers. I tried channeling both Fire and Earth mana, but there was no reaction from any of the braziers, so I knew that I was doing something wrong.

 

This time when I pulled my hand off, the four braziers stayed on the ground, but the white circle dimmed until it was completely gone. Something about the bronze vessels radiated the elemental energy that they contained, making them far easier to sense. I sketched out the circle and marked the directions that the braziers landed in.

 

"So, what can you tell me about combining the elements?" I asked Ishu as we walked back to the other pathway that we skipped before.

 

"It is a higher form of magic than what I have seen you use. It requires fusing the elements on a fundamental level, not simply using two separate elements at the same time. From what I saw of the trial, it is based off the Four Cardinal Elements which are the most common elemental affinities. There are many possible outcomes from fusing the same two elements depending on the intent of their caster, so it will take some trial and error to figure out which specific six you need."

 

"Well, it's not like it would be easy if he gave us six years to do it."

 

"Although your elemental magic is on the level of a Master based on strength, your skill in wielding it is only between a Senior Disciple and Journeyman. Those at the Journeyman Rank spend ten to twenty-five years training to form a single dual-element which is the mark of a Master. Although the Grand Master Rank is marked by a triple-element, it would be unlikely that they would have six dual-elements."

 

"Yeah, but I'm not exactly normal I would imagine. I haven't had the powers for a full year yet, so I don't think I quite fit your standard mold."

 

"You may be correct. I have noticed a number of mysteries about your body and your knowledge, yet have never detected a lie from you."

 

"Why lie? I need answers from someone, and you have the most knowledge of those that I can talk to. Besides, there isn't really a lot that you can do against me," I replied with a shrug.

 

"True."

 

We fell back into silence as we walked through the empty halls of the labyrinth. The new path led to two, so I followed the path along the other one I had taken which brought me to a true dead-end. I was forced to turn around after noting it in my map, but Katye radioed me after finding her first trial. What she found was another test of the elements, but hers focused only on the Four Cardinal Elements, as Ishu called them, and she had to balance them while the area would change around her. I was curious about it after seeing the other trial, but that would have to wait for another day.

 

After a few more turns, I found another split in the road and I took the outside one again. I found a new trial that looked simpler than my first. There was only a single pedestal with ten thumb sized grooves around the message.

 

'Purest mana condensed; ten crystals made in this place are needed to release the fourth key of four.'

 

After Ishu explained that it involved yet another Master to Grand Master level of skill, one to form mana crystals, but this one involved unattributed mana, so I did not even bother trying it. I wrote out what the note said as well as Ishu's impressions and mentioned it to Katye over the radio then promptly walked away. A short time later, Katye called in her second trial which was some kind of test where she had to gather floating gemstones that were constantly changing colors and moving away from her hand, requiring her to use her Superspeed to catch a single one. The true challenge was that she could only put them in ten at a time and, if they were clustered together for more than a second, their patterns would change... and only twenty gemstones could be placed in one bowl. Just the idea of what she described made my mind hurt, but it was the missing trial that we need, so I knew we were drawing to the end of the labyrinth.

 

The door to the treasure room was every bit as imposing as you would expect. Two silver guardian statues that looked like a mix of ancient Aztec and Greek designs by their armor, each holding a spear that crossed the golden door. They stood over ten feet tall with their heads just below the ceiling and their eyes lifeless, yet somehow, I knew that they would react to any attempt to break into the vault that they protected. Outside of their range was a familiar pillar which I walked over to and read.

 

'When the four keys are brought to the altar, the final test will be unleashed. The trial will activate as soon as you bring them forward, take heart and steel your resolve.'

 

 

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