Chương 15: The Climb

Time until next Elemental Storm: 2 Days and 8 Hours Ethan snatched the last seed out of its pedestal, and fell onto his back. His chest rose up and down with every breath, and a passing wind made the cuts across his body ache worse than before. His armour had also taken a few stabs, but he'd at least healed the wounds underneath. Now if only life force could heal objects, I wouldn't need a change of clothes every other day. He sat up and looked at the last seed, which had a symbol of a tree on it.

The wind rocked it around his hand, before he clenched it. Wait, wind? He jerked his head towards the tunnels, where the wind was coming from. Along with the wind came a sound, like a thousand wrappers being crinkled together far away. Oh no. He stood up and tried to find a way out. Four tunnels lay in front of him, each going in a different direction. He couldn't tell which ones led up to the surface, not from the map at least. So, he made a guess instead. Life reinforcement!

He strengthened his muscles and ran into the first tunnel, climbing up it as quickly as possible. He should've been more alert, however, because the tunnel ahead suddenly filled with water, carrying him along with it. Ethan's hands caught on rocks, but they slipped off, forcing him with the tide back into the room with the pedestal. It carried him almost to the edge of a cliff, and Ethan had to dig his nails into the ground to stop himself falling off.

He spat out water once it passed, and looked back up at the four choices he had. Three of the tunnels leading out of the room were leaking water now, and only the one in the middle remained. He took his nails out of the dirt, some of them bleeding or having been fully torn off. He had to rip them out before he could heal new nails in their place, but at least the pain was temporary. Stupid shrine giving me the illusion of choice, he complained, as he headed down the one tunnel that he could.

The tunnel led down, but eventually split off into multiple paths that he could take upwards. Eventually he would reach above ground, but he hoped it would be out of a hole that was far from the rainfall. If there even is a place away from it, He thought as he crested a small climb. He took a moment to catch his breath, but the same noise of water flooding the tunnels started coming near him. No… No, come on, this isn't fair… Boost, his finger muscles dug into the dirt, grounding him in one place.

And Ethan closed his eyes, ready for the wave that was coming. The sound of flooding grew until it was right next to his ear, but he never felt it hit him. Slowly, Ethan opened his eyes, and saw the tunnel around him was fine. What the….? Oh, damnit. The sound was coming from below him. There must have been another tunnel carved there that his map hadn't caught. Are you kidding me? It's one axis the map can't show and its made me waste time twice! Ethan yanked his fingers out of the dirt and continued upwards.

Life reinforcement made the process faster, but it couldn't completely get rid of it. The rain was getting louder and faster, and Ethan was losing hope that he would ever make it up. He crested another hill, fit through a hole and came out in front of another climb, tired. How much more… Do I need to… go? It was always harder up than down, he should've known. But his pride just had to force him to search for both seeds on the same day.

Now you're going to die down here, Ethan, where no one will even find your bones. Happy? He grunted and started the climb, only stopping when he saw a droplet streak through a rock in front of him. Is that my sweat? He thought at first, but the droplet had a tail that went all the way up through the tunnel. He heard the sounds of dirt and gravel breaking apart, and his heart dropped. Please, no…. Whatever blockage up there had been holding back the water, broke.

A wave of crashing water and rock came for Ethan and he dug his hands into the dirt once again. Water buffeted him like wind, but a thousand times stronger. He tried to clench his hands, to cling tighter to the ground, but the dirt broke apart, and his fingers were dug up with it. Ethan slammed his hands apart on each side of the small tunnel. He pushed his legs to the walls too, but both started grinding down from the force of the flood.

The skin of his hand was shredded against the uneven walls, and his muscles finally bent under the pressure. His legs gave out too, and Ethan was sent floating down to the depths with the flood. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The water flowed fast. Every slightly sharp turn became another wall that Ethan hit before being carried even further down. He kept his mouth shut the whole time, but the impact made him leak precious air.

His eyes proved no better. The scenery was just too bright and too fast. The crystals shone their light through fuzzy water, and when he crossed a handhold or hole he could've gone under, he was too slow to grab it. The further he went, the more he lost control of his Talent, and fear took control of his body. I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die! the voice in the back of his head told him. He was helpless, utterly helpless, with no one around to save him. Stop it! You're not dead yet, are you?

Just ignore the pain, or you'll never find a way out! Some sane part of him still worked, and Ethan found solace in it. He activated his Talent once again, scanning around himself for living creatures. If anything had survived, he wanted to follow it. His eyes did pick up a faint signature coming around a bend, and betting on it, he sent a Boost through his arms. This might break my fingers… But he was ready for it. As soon as the water crossed the bend, he saw a hole come up.

He stabbed his arms into the dirt, and they sunk in just deep enough to halt his movement. With a solid foothold, Ethan took a look into the hole, it was filled with water as well, but he could see life force beyond it. His lungs were almost empty, so Ethan had to work fast. He took one hand out of the dirt, and slammed it further ahead with a Boost. And then he took the other hand, and did the same. Bit by bit, Ethan Collins moved into the tunnel, and his hands hurt with every impact.

Some of his fingers were bound to be twisted, and blood from his nails bled out into the water as he followed the tunnel downwards and then upwards again. But he kept on digging into the dirt, until he moved away from the stream of water, and couldn't feel its force tugging on him anymore. He finally let go of the dirt, and swam up to where he could see the surface of the water break, and popped his head out with a gasp. Sweet, fresh air filled his lungs as Ethan finally took in his new surroundings.

He found three other monsters there beside him, soggy and barely alive. They turned to Ethan lazily once he came up, but didn't have the strength to fight him. But if they could, they would have. Ethan came out of the water and onto a ledge, relishing every breath of air he took. Most of his belongings had survived the trip as well, all except his spear and flashlight, which he'd lost during the tumble through the water. He should've been glad to be alive, but he instead just felt angry.

He'd been basically helpless throughout the whole shrine, only just making it out on sheer luck. Every step of the way, he felt as if he was doing something wrong, or why else would it have been so hard? His rage poured over to the monsters. He couldn't let them live, and he needed their life force to heal his aching arms. Three quick Boosted smashes over their chests did the monsters in. He greedily took their essence before repairing his mangled arms and sitting back down. Now he just needed to wait out the rain.

Hours passed, and Ethan slept, but the rain never ceased. He swam back down the water to see if it was still coming through the tunnel, and always found the answer to be yes. The wait felt longer than before, too much longer, and sitting in the dark didn't help Ethan feel any better. He would've left as soon as possible, but the breathing problem persisted. Maybe I can send life force into my lungs? He thought, but all that did was bring the organ back to top form.

Enhancing it was no better, it just strengthened the muscles and made it tougher. What Ethan truly needed was to return them to a state of oxygenation, so they could spread it across his red blood cells. When the lung experiments didn't pay off, Ethan decided to work on his blood directly, but he couldn't introduce oxygen into them when there was none. The results were simple. His healing wasn't reversive. He couldn't heal back his body to a point in time where it was in a state of having oxygenated cells.

He could only speed up his natural regeneration quickly, ensuring in the process that scarring didn't take place as much. But there had to be a way to access the former. Raphael had told him of life practitioners that could heal back limbs in their entirety. Not just reattaching the body part, but growing entirely new pieces of it. But what's the trick? Do I just need to be a higher rank? He gave up once he'd exhausted every avenue.

The only thing left for Ethan was more waiting, and more trips down the tunnel to see if the rain had finally let up. The only upside to the situation was that he didn't need to hear it crashing outside as loudly. He could sleep or train for a few hours, and then check again to see if it had cleared up. Time until next Elemental Storm: 2 Days and 4 Hours Dive into the water, see if the water's cleared, come back up.

Time until next Elemental Storm: 1 Day and 23 Hours Dive into the water, see if it's clear, come back up. Time until next Elemental Storm: 1 Day and 18 Hours"COME ON, ALREADY!!" Ethan shouted into the skies, but no one was there to hear him cry. Time until next Elemental Storm: 1 Day and 12 Hours Dive into the water, see if it's clear, c— It was clear. Ethan blinked his eyes against the unimaginable. The water was clear. He popped his head out of the water leading into the tunnel, and widened his eyes.

The rocks were still wet, but the water had been reduced to a trickle at best. He could finally get out. Ethan grabbed his belongings in a rush, strapping them to his body and climbing out into the tunnel. His hands slicked against the rock, so he focused his Boost into them for a white-knuckled grip. And then he finally climbed up. Each step upwards bolstered his confidence, but also stoked the fear in his heart. What if he ran into monsters? What if the water started rushing back again.

Was he really free to go back up? Or was this another moment of fake mercy? He didn't care, and he went up the rocks until his hands hurt from the Boost. Life force flooded the arms in a different fashion, healing up the wounds and hardening the callouses forming on Ethan's hand. Up and up, until finally, he saw light break across the surface of the tunnel. He could see green in the distance, and the light being blocked by a distant canopy of leaves. His heart started to beat quicker, and Ethan sped up.

The sounds were getting louder too. Birds beating their wings, branches rustling, clean air blowing, golems stomping, screeching, a giant treant falling not too far away… When his legs finally landed on a wooden ramp leading up to the trees, only then did Ethan notice the noises he'd been tuning out. Above ground, the jungle was in a constant state of drizzling. Rain broke through the canopy, thunder cracked the skies and lightning lit up what was underneath. And what was underneath was total anarchy.

So many treant and golem corpses lay across the spike pits, rotting with death essence. And more joined them, as a hundred battles played out in echoes around him. The timer counting down to the Elemental Storm became more than a timer for Ethan at that point. The carnage surrounding him was a promise of what that day would bring, once the storm finally arrived. Two more seeds. I just need to get two more seeds on their pedestals.