Path of Dragons-Chapter 54Book 9: : A Painful Swim

Without his many advantages, ranging from an extremely high constitution attribute and the degree to which he’d cultivated his body, Elijah would not have survived being so close to the Elemental Maelstrom. Even with those advantages, he felt like he was being sandblasted and burned alive at the same time. The damage was significant enough that he was forced to keep Wild Resurgence running at all times.

Fortunately, Shape of Thorn was large enough to shield the more vulnerable dogs from the cutting wind. Jackson and Sophie worked overtime keeping their shields up as well, and Oscar worked his own magic to mend whatever damage they incurred. In short, the environment was hellish, even dozens of miles from the maelstrom itself.

Elijah hunched over, powering through the outskirts of the storm. The intensity of the ethereal weather was not natural, which was likely the only reason it didn’t do even more damage. Because it was laced with ethera, he was shielded by Aegis of the Elements.

“How much further?!” shouted Oscar, his voice barely audible above the howling elemental wind.

He raised his arm, shielding his eyes as he peered at the mountain in the distance. It hovered a few hundred feet above the ground, though even from a few miles away, he could see the glittering crystal staircase twisting its way to its base.

“An hour! Maybe two!” Elijah yelled back.

Though it was difficult to mark the passage of time so close to the looming maelstrom, Elijah suspected that they’d been at it for at least a day. Perhaps a little longer. Hopefully, reaching their eventual destination would give them a little relief.

Together, the group trudged along. The only positive was that the ground was uniformly level, having been scoured down to a smooth and unbroken plain, completely devoid of any other lifeforms. Even the elemental creatures who lived in the Crystal Fields refused to venture so close to the maelstrom.

Gradually, they crossed the space, eventually arriving at a structure beneath the floating mountain. Elijah only studied it for a few seconds, but he felt comfortable with calling it a temple. Partly because of the reverence with which the giants had spoken of the place, but also due to the architectural style. It didn’t look like any temples or cathedrals from Earth. Indeed, Elijah could best describe it as chaotic. Made entirely from red and black glass, it most reminded him of fulgurite, which was the result of lightning striking sand.

But despite its asymmetrical and alien design, it was also recognizable as a building, with an enormous door guarding entry.

As the group climbed the steps, the elemental storm increased in ferocity before, at last, Elijah yanked the door open and stumbled inside. Oscar and the pack followed, and Elijah shoved against the storm to close the door behind them.

It shut with a loud clang that sent a series of echoes reverberating throughout the structure.

From inside, the place looked even more fantastical. The elemental lights from the storm filtered through the glass to cast the entire space in shifting illumination. For the most part, the chamber was empty, but a large arch led into a hollow column at the center. Doubtless, it would lead to the staircase that would take them to the mountain.

Elijah could still feel dense ethera swirling around, but it was far less powerful inside. That allowed him to resume his human form. When he did, he sank to a seated position and let out a deep breath.

“Okay, that sucked.”

Maymay barked in agreement. Freddy joined in. And Escobar jumped into his lap and tried to burrow into his stomach. Meanwhile, Oscar sat beside him and said, “That was worse than I expected. Did you see that group of giants?”

Elijah nodded.

It had happened the day before. An entire party of earth giants had forged into the maelstrom, and before they could even reach the storm itself, they’d been ripped to pieces.

“Why did they do that?” Oscar asked. “They knew what would happen.”

Elijah could only agree with that assessment, but he didn’t have much of an answer to Oscar’s original question. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “Maybe they think it’s worth it. People on Earth used to do stupid and suicidal things too.”

In reply, Oscar could only grunt.

For the next couple of hours, they rested and ate. Elijah even broke out the coffee, which went down extremely well. More importantly, the buff it gave had been updated with the latest batch:

You have consumed a Complex-Grade beverage. The following benefits will be applied:

+25 Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Ethera. +30 Regeneration.

Duration: 42.3 Hours

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

That was an incredible buff, and one he expected they would need going forward. As they’d trekked through across the Crystal Fields, Elijah had also gained another level, putting him at one-eighty-one. Oscar and the dogs had progressed as well, though Oscar was cagey about just how much. At first, the secrecy was a little irritating, but then Elijah remembered that he hadn’t really been forthcoming with his own information. So, he couldn’t blame them.

In any case, he knew the coffee buff would come in handy with what they had in store. Because Elijah had also used the couple of hours to inspect the chamber. Though it was as large as an NBA arena, it was a simple enough place with only the column as a noticeable feature.

Upon the arch leading inside that column was a single phrase, which Elijah read aloud to Oscar.

“Control the fire within,” he mumbled. He glanced at his companion, asking, “What do you think it means?”

Of course, the words weren’t written in English. Instead, they used a system of hieroglyphs, though nothing Elijah recognized from Earth. The only reason he could translate it was because of the system.

“I don’t know,” Oscar said, though his voice betrayed a little trepidation. Elijah felt something similar. What if completion of the trial required a fire attunement? If that was the case, then only Escobar stood any chance of survival.

After only a few more moments, Elijah said, “I guess there’s only one way to find out.”

As far as he knew, they all needed to complete the trial or they’d never make it through the Elemental Maelstrom. From the knowledge imparted by the giants, passing each trial would bestow upon them a protective glyph associated with that element. Once they had all four glyphs, it would coalesce into what they called an Elemental Brand, granting them safe passage through the storm.

But that meant they needed to pass every test.

With that in mind, Elijah led them into the column and up the spiral staircase within. Soon enough, they exited the temple and were once again exposed to the outer edges of the maelstrom. The elemental winds were no less biting, but with Elijah in his human form, he had the ability to heal much more effectively. The tradeoff, of course, was that it required quite a bit more ethera.

Thankfully, he had the False Grove from his Antlers of the Wild Revenant for that.

The spiral of the staircase widened, with each revolution expanding the diameter of the circle by dozens of feet. And soon enough, it was as wide as a football field. That meant that it took quite a while before they finally reached the base of the mountain and entered a cave that had been hacked into the porous rock.

The second Elijah stepped inside, a wave of intense heat washed over and enveloped him. He coughed at the acrid scent of smoke, then covered his mouth and nose with one hand. Behind him, one of the dogs sneezed.

“I don’t think we want to just wait around here,” Elijah said. “Whatever happens, I think we’re supposed to keep moving forward. I’ll do what I can to keep everyone alive, but if you have any abilities that’ll help the pack, don’t hesitate to use them – especially if it looks like I’m losing ground. I’m not a real Healer.”

Once Oscar nodded in agreement, Elijah led them forward. The walls of the cave were made of volcanic rock that reminded Elijah of pumice. However, instead of the relatively light and brittle stuff he knew from Earth, the cave walls were incredibly hard. And when he laid his hand on one side, it was like touching a stovetop.

As they progressed through the cave, the heat continued to mount until Elijah felt like he’d stepped into an oven. Moreover, the smoke in the air had grown much thicker with every step, and Elijah was certain that if he hadn’t possessed superhuman durability, he’d have already passed out from smoke inhalation.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to worry about that – for now, at least.

Slowly, the cave wound around the base of the mountain. The incline took them higher and higher until, after an hour, they reached a dead end. Before them stretched a pool of molten lava, maybe twenty feet in diameter.

“What now?” Elijah coughed.

Escobar barked, racing up to the edge of the pool. Without hesitation, he dove into the lava. Elijah let out a shout, grabbing at the little chihuahua, but he was too slow. He watched with wide eyes as the dog disappeared beneath the glowing surface of the molten rock.

“What the –”

Escobar surfaced, paddling furiously as he barked with undeniable happiness. Then, he dove once again.

It was an invitation, and one that left Elijah more than a little trepidatious. It wasn’t that long ago that he was a normal guy, and the idea of jumping into a pool of lava definitely would have resulted in a quick and fiery death. But now?

Elijah knew he could survive it. Not only could he do so in his chardandir form, but he suspected that swimming through lava would probably activate the Ocean Native trait that came with Shape of the Sea. He knew he wouldn’t use either, though. Not unless he had no other choice. Instead, he would remain in his human form so he could keep the dogs and Oscar alive.

“I’m not going in there in my armor,” he said, already undressing. He’d lost way too much of his wardrobe from environmental effects, and he wasn’t about to lose another set of armor. So, he took a few minutes to undress, and Oscar did the same. As they did, Escobar frolicked through the lava like he was having the time of his life.

Maybe he was.

Whatever the case, once Elijah had undressed, he wasted no more time before diving in. And the second he hit the lava, he discovered two things. First, it was a lot thinner than actual molten rock. Not quite on the level of water, but certainly not nearly as dense as molten rock. That let him dive in without issue.

But then the other thing hit him.

“Oh, fuck fuck fuckity fuck!” he shouted as his whole body felt like it caught fire. Blisters formed on his reddening skin, which healed only a moment later from the influx of vitality that came from the ongoing Wild Resurgence. “Shit that hurts!”

Oscar dove in as well, and the dogs followed. Their whimpers hurt almost as much as the lava, but Elijah knew he couldn’t spare the time to comfort them. Instead, he kicked over and dove deeper. It didn’t take him long to find Escobar, and he followed the chihuahua down for almost forty feet before they entered a small tunnel.

As Elijah swam, he continuously cast his healing spells. Ray and Maymay were the least durable of the dogs, so they required more healing than the others. But none of them – save for Elijah, Oscar, and of course, Escobar – were in decent shape. Elijah poured on the healing, using Dragon’s Echo as he cast one instance of Nature’s Bloom after another. Three whole facets of his mind focused on healing the dogs, while the rest dealt with the pain or guided him forward.

The tunnel dipped for about a hundred feet before starting to rise. Soon enough, it became a vertical shaft. Along the way, Elijah felt dozens of fiery eels swimming around the shaft. They didn’t seem aggressive, so he mostly left them to their own devices.

However, he did keep an eye out, if only because he knew how quickly the denizens of Primal Realms could attack.

Thankfully, none of them did.

The shaft was more than a thousand feet long, and Elijah quickly exhausted the ethera associated with False Grove. Even as he greedily drank the ambient ethera through the apertures in his mind, he rapidly spent the energy in his core. The dogs flagged, but Oscar used some sort of ability to revitalize them.

And that combination gave everyone the opportunity they needed to reach the top.

Elijah burst free of the surface, then quickly climbed over the lip of the circular opening and rolled over onto a jagged surface. Soon enough, Oscar and the dogs joined him.

Even as he lay there, gasping for breath he really didn’t need, he continued to heal the dogs and Oscar. And by the time they returned to full health, the vast majority of his ethera was gone.

That was when he sat up and looked around.

“Well, that sucked just as much as I expected it to,” he said.

Oscar grunted in agreement.

Follow current novels on freewe(b)novel.c(o)m