Yuki is Mad at me, Again

We managed to reach the island, despite a minor setback; two sea monsters filled with dark energy. They must have been infected by the malevolent aura of the place, I can almost smell it and it's not a very disgusting scent. It is a rotten smell, but at the same time it's like a feeling that doesn't really smell like that.

“No one is dead, few are injured and you four are as good as new,” the captain speaks in an exhausted manner, catching his breath as he stands before us. “A deal is a deal, we brought you here safe and sound.”

We thank him and Raion gives him a large sack full of Zilberz and Ourez coins. Too expensive for me, but it's true that they provided us with shelter, food and safety throughout the journey. The best of all, it wasn't a trap as I thought, but there is something off about Captain Mina. He didn’t allow us to go a room of the boat, he let us go to the treasure room, but not that room, which he hides something there, something scary was there I could feel it.

The port of the island is still in acceptable condition, or at least the wooden planks are strong enough to support our weight. The houses, the paths, the entire place is completely abandoned, lifeless, not even nature seems to grow here.

We walk cautiously and don't sense anyone or anything around. Raion clutches his chest in pain and Daichi supports him. “We are very close, I can feel all the dark magic, how it is absorbing nature itself.”

“Let's not waste time.” I say without much enthusiasm, “Can it absorb us?”

“Not now, at least. Although I don't know how it will be closer to the center, or if we will stay here for a long time.” Raion recovers and walks forward alone without waiting for a response.

“We will stay here for a while, if things look bad, we will leave,” says the captain, he conjures nature magic to make a bonfire. The rest of the crew unloads food and alcohol to pass the time; they deserve that after fighting the sea beasts without letting us attack for our own good.

We catch up with Raion and the four of us walk into the island, not knowing what awaits us. It is a dead rocky path, filled with dry air and sand. The terrain rises a few metters as we walk, when we reach the highest point, we can see the vastness of the barren island.

“It seems to have no end…” says Daichi with a hint of fear in his voice.

I nod, but the place will not bring us down, “Let's not think about that. Let's walk without doubting ourselves, just as you said, Dai.”

“At least we will be able to see if there are enemies nearby,” adds Yuki confidently.

“Or if they grow out of nowhere, remember that night, the amoeba monsters, full of different animals.”

Yuki seems to shiver, the hairs on her arm stand on end, “No need to remember that, now they will surely appear, Kaiko…”

“He always likes to talk too much, give us three seconds and they will appear,” Raion speaks as Daichi nods. The three walk on without waiting for me.

“It doesn't make sense!” I refute them and catch up, “My words cannot change fate.”

“But your actions can, Kai,” says Daichi suddenly and pats me on the head. “Let your actions and ours change the fate of the world and what happens on this island.”

I nod and summon my sword; its turquoise silver glow seems to illuminate this island. “Get ready, they are going to appear soon.”

And so they appear all along our path, the beasts that seemed to be sleeping in the void itself, looking as black dots at all times.

We descend for several minutes into what seems to be a dry riverbed, where we are attacked by beasts similar to huge fish with hundreds of teeth. During a pause when they do not respawn, Daichi creates a massive pillar of earth and lifts us up to get out of the river.

The mountain in front of us gets bigger and bigger; I think we should be at its base in an hour. Although I have no idea how we are going to climb it, Daichi cannot make a 50 quilometter earth pillar. I imagine that the people who lived here before must have had a way to get inside.

As we reach the foot of the mountain, fewer and fewer enemies appear. We rest for a moment after three hours of hunting. Daichi use one of his crystals and stay around protecting from some monsters that respawn slowly.

We start to notice several ruins and structures worn out long ago. Everything here is broken and quite crumbling due to time. I notice that in some places has marks or symbols. “It's the ancient language of a tribe, no–,” Raion interrupts himself and then goes to another side, towards a half-arch sculpture.“I think there are two or three tribes… that lived together without problems.”

“Aren't there five in total? Or six… basing on your power,” I say and lie down on a column, needing to rest my legs.

“Yes, but in this part of the island, I think there were three. My Zkan does not recognize anything, but it suggests that three original tribes lived here; The Heimomaanz, the Tlazot Kanz, and the Kabilasiliz."

I only know that the first one corresponds to mine, the other two I have no idea, I don't remember. “Yours, the creation one, the yellow energy and the last one is the energy of nature, mine and Daichi's, the Kabilasiliz.” Yuki explains and sits next to me. “It's better to rest before going up, by those rocky stairs.” She points ahead and to the right, anticipating my question, I see that there is a very narrow path made of stones that goes up and zigzags up the entire mountain.

“You don't have powers to make us fly, do you?”

Daichi laughs and starts eating something to recover energy. “It exists, but no, we don't have it, it's not our attribute.” And I remember that it's true, his attribute is earth and Yuki's is ice. Mine is fire; the one I don't know is Raion's, maybe he doesn't have one and only has his strange linking magic. I’m from the tribe Earth with the attribute fire, I was hoping to have earth attribute too, but it doesn’t seem this way.

As we climb, I slide my hand over one of the symbols and it gives off a faint glow. I am left dumbfounded when my ring on my right hand also lights up… could it be from this era or this place? I would like to know more, but it will be another day to investigate and know more.

Halfway up, there is a platform for resting; it seems that we are not getting any closer to the top. We climb, each step is one more step in our battle. When we rest a bit, Raion is explaining what he feels, I just want to get there already…“We must destroy the Core, the heart of what is causing the anti-natural magic.”

“Eh? And that? New information?” I sit in front of him and steal a bit of bread and he looks at me with disgust.

“We already talked about it… There is something—”

“You always say something, you never explain anything well,” I interrupt him just to annoy him.

Yuki elbows me and he continues: “In the center of the island… There is a Core, the nucleus or heart of what is happening. That horrible thing we must destroy.”

“So it's the same thing we've been saying for a while, Daichi and I break many bones and hunt the monsters and Yuki and you destroy the Core-whatever.”

“You always make it seem easy…” The prince rolls his eyes and then gets up, “Shall we continue?” I nod and get up too.

“Yes, my prince,” Daichi almost always speaks formally, I look at him and he averts his gaze. Something is going on.

The truth is, I don't understand what is happening, as if I need another part, or two parts of a big puzzle to understand what is going on.

When we finally reach the top, my heart and lungs can't take it anymore, the same happens to them. The only one who seems to have better breathing is Daichi, “Despite the alcohol you are perfect, damn Dai…”

“Do you think I'm perfect?” he replies, winking at me and raising his eyebrows several times, insinuating something.

I take a step back and some rocks fall off the cliff, “I didn't mean that.” I am about to lose my balance, but Daichi takes my hand and rescues me.“You are very close… again. Yuki, help me,” I look at her with puppy eyes, but she averts her gaze and drinks a potion.

“I'm fine here,” she says with a wicked smile, one of those that makes you fall in love and lead you to perdition; Daichi pulls me and then hugs me, I feel all his strength and muscles suffocating me.

When he lets go, we look at each other. We both know that behind these rock pillars, our final challenge awaits us, our last battle, will begin.

“Everyone takes one of the potions I made,” says Yuki determinedly and we oblige, “We have four each, then they lose their effectiveness, use them carefully. Remember that everything has its limit.”

Daichi nods and is the first to drink it all at once; he is about to burp but holds back when he sees the prince staring at him. “Everyone has their abilities, powers, everything we can use to the maximum?” he looks at me, while I open my Minnex. They nod and turn around to go through the rocks.

“Actually…” I say shyly, the three start to turn around, “I never set my Stats Points.”

“You didn't do WHAT?!” Yuki is fuming; I can see her energy coming out of her arms. “What do you mean? I told you to do it every time I saved you! You said you would do it later!!!”

“Okay, Yuki, okay, breathe” Daichi and Raion try to calm her down. I know they are right.

“Sorry, I never knew where to put them…”

“You survived all these days without attributing the stats? You are completely crazy.” I scratch my neck nervously and focus on what to choose.“You have one minute to do it!”