Uru's Third Temple

by A F Kay

  Before trusting them, Ruwen needed to confirm they were Uru’s Champions. He thought back to his first conversations with Uru. Hopefully, she had a similar conversation with all her Champions.

  Ruwen faced Kaylin. “What is the strongest part of a tree?”

  “The root,” Kaylin said, emphasizing the last word.

  Now that Ruwen thought about it, that was probably common knowledge. He needed to be more specific.

  Ruwen faced Mica. “What sea do you swim?”

  “The sea of lies,” Mica said.

  Ruwen’s heart thumped in his chest. He turned to Una. “And the shore you seek?”

  “Truth,” Una said.

  “Uru help me,” Ruwen said.

  Kaylin laughed. “Didn’t she tell you? You are the help. You’re here to take us home.”

  Chapter 17

  Ruwen knew the “she” Kaylin meant. Uru. “I’m taking you home?”

  Una stepped forward. “You weren’t told about us?”

  Kaylin put an arm up to stop Una from walking any closer. “May we join you?”

  “Do you mean up here or our group?” Hamma asked.

  “Both,” Kaylin said.

  Ruwen glanced at Sift, who had dropped his fighting stance. Lylan stood next to him.

  Lylan signaled in Shade Speak. Risky. Support. You.

  Sift flashed two signs as well. You. Stink.

  Ruwen didn’t respond to the signals, and he had to force himself not to smell his armpit. At least Lylan took this seriously, and she would support whatever he decided.

  Ruwen turned to Hamma. “What do you think?”

  “What can they take? I feel like we could benefit from their experience,” Hamma said.

  “True,” Ruwen said.

  What about you, Rami? Ruwen asked.

  I thought you’d never ask. The three from Uru are in Io’s memories. They are telling the truth about belonging to Uru.

  Wait, are you only telling me things when I ask?

  For something this important, I would have told you anyway. But the more I help, the less you think for yourself. You can’t get used to relying on me.

  I know. Once we’re back in our realm, you go back to cryptic answers.

  Ruwen bowed with arms crossed over his chest. “Well met and welcome.”

  The four walked out of the water and up into the cavern.

  Una walked up to Ruwen. “Seriously, she didn’t tell you?”

  “This entire thing kind of took me by surprise,” Ruwen said.

  “Is something wrong with your face?” Jagen asked Ruwen.

  Ruwen touched the cloth strips around his head with his wrapped hands. He must look creepy.

  “I can answer that –” Sift started to say.

  “No! Nothing’s wrong with it,” Ruwen interrupted.

  “You sound a bit young. Have you been,” Mica paused as if looking for the right words, “Ascended very long?”

  Ruwen thought about all his days in Blapy. Did he count those? While it felt like he’d Ascended years ago, it had only been a handful of days. “About four…” Ruwen paused, shocked at how much had happened to him in such a brief time.

  “Decades?’ Una asked.

  Ruwen shook his head.

  “Years,” Mica offered.

  Ruwen shook his head again.

  “Months?” Kaylin asked, concern in her voice.

  Ruwen cleared his throat, suddenly very self-conscious. “Days.”

  “This can’t be him,” Una said. “He’s still wet from the tub!”

  “Mica said it’s him,” Kaylin responded.

  Jagen laughed. “How did you make it here in less than a week? I didn’t leave my training compound in Malth for five years. How did your tutors lose you so quickly?”

  “Uru doesn’t handhold her Champions like Izac does,” Kaylin said to Jagen.

  “That might be true, but four days has got to be a record for dying,” Jagen said.

  “We’re not dead,” Mica said.

  Ruwen didn’t mention he’d already died. On his first day. They already seemed upset, no need to give them more reasons.

  “This can’t be good,” Una said.

  Kaylin bit her lip.

  As Ruwen thought about it, he got angry. They were upset that he had just Ascended, but he hadn’t asked them for anything. They had come looking for him. He didn’t owe them any explanations, and they could save their judgmental comments for someone else.

  Ruwen took a step toward them. “I don’t know who you were expecting, and I don’t care. I’m willing to take you with me because no one should be left in this forsaken realm. But don’t mistake my inexperience for weakness or my youth for ignorance. I am taking my friends back home, and if you want a ride, you keep your doubts to yourself. They aren’t productive, and I won’t tolerate it.”

  Shocked silence filled the cavern as the four warriors blinked in surprise.

  Kaylin smiled. “Forgive us,” she said with a bow. “We have been trapped here, some of us for hundreds of years, and we are eager to return home. I apologize for our behavior.”

  The other three bowed as well.

  Ruwen nodded, a little surprised by their reaction.

  Kaylin pointed at the tunnel that headed toward the mine and looked at Una. “Was that here for you?”

  Una shook her head. “No. This cavern held the dungeon boss, and the underwater tunnel was the only way in.”

  “That’s how I remember it as well,” Mica said.

  “Interesting,” Kaylin said, and then looked at Ruwen. “Do you know where it leads?”

  Ruwen nodded at Sift.

  Sift spoke up. “A three-hour walk ends in a narrow cavern.”

  “Three hours puts it in the mine,” Mica said, rubbing his forehead.

  “You didn’t explore further?” Jagen asked.

  “We only wanted to see where it went, not bring a fight back here,” Sift said.

  Kaylin faced Ruwen. “We can’t stay here. The longer we wait, the more enemies we’ll find in the dungeon. All the current fighting is drawing even more attention. So we either fight our way out now or take the tunnel to the mine and go around them. Mica, tell him about the mine.”

  Mica winced. “A Dread Lord rules the mine. I’ve never seen it, but I’d guess it’s strength around upper gem level: Sapphire or Diamond.”

  “You’re talking about Fortifying level,” Ruwen said.

  “Yes,” Mica said in a surprised voice. “Did you study Cultivation before Ascending?”

  Ruwen avoided the question by asking another. “Will your weapons work on him?”

  “Probably not,” Kaylin said. “They aren’t Spirit dense enough.”

  “I might be able to fix that,” Ruwen said and then turned back to Mica. “You said before my spatial warping makes me a beacon. What does that mean?”

  “Your Core is so large it distorts the area around you,” Mica said. “You’re a walking feast for everything in this terrible place.”

  “Will this Dread Lord notice me?” Ruwen asked.

  Mica rubbed his forehead again. “If he sees you, absolutely. I’m just not sure about the sensing. I don’t know how that works here.”

  “Why can you see it at all?” Ruwen asked.

  “My main Class is a Spatial Mage. Enough years and some capabilities become part of you. I can’t do magic here, but I can see dimensional warping.”

  Ruwen looked at Kaylin. “What are the odds of making it through the dungeon?”

  “Decent, I think,” Kaylin said. “Although we will suffer for it.”

  “You mean physical damage?” Ruwen asked.

  Kaylin nodded.

  “I can’t damage my Meridians or any of their paths,” Ruwen said.

  Kaylin narrowed her eyes. “That is significantly more difficult and probably impossible.”

  Ruwen turned back to Mica. “If we encounter the Dread Lord?”

  “There are a lot of variables. Dread Lord
s wish to break into the divine levels, to become Dread Gods, so they spend much of their Spirit on Fortifying themselves. If we encounter the Dread Lord when he’s low on Spirit, we have a chance.”

  Jagen tapped his shield in thought. “His army encountered resistance here, and a battle wages. It’s possible the commotion will draw him to the dungeon to help. He might not even be in the mine.”

  “Unless he comes up that tunnel,” Una said.

  “That’s possible,” Mica said.

  “So what will it be, Ruwen?” Kaylin asked. “You’re our passage home, and we’ll follow your lead.”

  Rami was looking through her indexes for the way home, so Ruwen focused on getting them out of this situation unscathed. Both options sucked. Fighting their way out the front seemed risky and painful. With that many enemies, it would be easy to get blindsided by a blow that damaged his Meridians or their paths. The mine had risks as well, but the possibility existed that they might go unnoticed. Also, if they were discovered, there should be fewer enemies, maybe even just one, and that would make fighting easier.

  “The mine,” Ruwen said.

  Chapter 18

  Almost three hours had passed since the group had left the dungeon cavern. Ruwen had instructed Fractal to reabsorb Nak, and he’d lost contact with the dungeon as soon as he entered the tunnel. Sift, Lylan, and Kaylin had scouted ahead, and Jagen guarded the rear. Ruwen walked with Hamma while Mica and Una walked in front of them, and Juva and Slib behind.

  Ruwen had spent the trip creating new battle forms with Rami. If they ran into the Dread Lord, he wanted to do more than launch a lance of fire. He thought about asking everyone to stop so he could test the recipes but decided not to risk an accidental release of Spirit the Dread Lord might notice.

  Lost in his thoughts, it surprised Ruwen when Slib cleared his throat. Slib walked on Ruwen’s right, and Hamma had disappeared from his left.

  “Uh, Ruwen. Juva thinks…” Slib started to say and then trailed off.

  Ruwen said nothing, unsure what this was about.

  Slib looked straight ahead as he spoke again. “Juva thinks I was like that for less than two days, but it felt like a thousand years. I’ve never experienced pain like that, and my mind fragmented. I spent most of that time hiding in old memories, anything to numb the pain.”

  “I’m sorry, Slib. No one should suffer like that,” Ruwen said.

  Slib smiled sadly. “It’s just…I understand some things now I didn’t before.”

  Ruwen remained silent, giving Slib space to speak.

  “I figured out why I hated you so much,” Slib let out in a rush.

  That surprised Ruwen, and he spoke without thinking, old anger flaring briefly. “I never deserved any of it.”

  “I know that now. I can see the source of it sitting in my heart like rotten fruit.”

  “What is it?” Ruwen asked, a bit of anger still in his voice.

  Slib looked at Ruwen. “Jealousy.”

  Ruwen locked eyes with Slib, shocked. “What? Are you kidding me? You had money, popularity, status…everything I didn’t.”

  “Not everything,” Slib whispered. “Mages fill my family tree. My dad, grandmother, great grandfather, on and on it goes. They were all Mages.”

  Ruwen realized what Slib had discovered.

  “Intelligence is the hardest stat to increase before you Ascend. Strength and Constitution are easiest, Charisma and Wisdom can be learned to some extent, and Dexterity sometimes improved. But the ability to understand quickly, see patterns, and remember what you’ve learned is mostly static from the day you’re born.”

  Ruwen nodded. Your base stats, the ones you Ascended with, were the basis for your Class and the foundation for your life. You could improve your stats as you leveled, but your base stats always played the largest part in your capabilities. Slib could add points to Intelligence, but his base Intelligence would never change. The truth was, while his Mana would increase and things would come easier to him, it would take many levels to match Ruwen’s base sixteen Intelligence.

  Slib continued. “My family spent a fortune on tutors and elixirs, but nothing changed…nothing changed the fact I’m the dumbest person in my family for generations.”

  Ruwen felt bad for Slib, but it didn’t balance out the years of bullying or the fact that Slib’s family tried to kill him multiple times.

  Slib let out a long breath. “Wow, that is hard to say out loud. Listen, Ruwen, I’m only telling you all this, so you know I’m sincere.”

  Slib stopped, and Ruwen did as well. “Thank you for healing me, even though I didn’t deserve it, and I’m truly sorry for the way I treated you. I don’t know what this madness is all about, but you are the center of it, and I plan to help as much as I can.”

  Slib stuck out his hand.

  Ruwen stared at it. Slib had made the last few years miserable. His actions, even seen through the prism of not meeting his family’s expectations, didn’t make it much better. But all that felt like a different life, and those problems were small compared to Ruwen’s current issues. The truth was Slib wanted to start over, and if he meant it, his family would make a better ally than an enemy. And Ruwen knew he needed allies if he wanted to survive.

  Ruwen gripped Slib’s arm. “To starting over.”

  Slib smiled with relief. “Juva was right. You’re a good man.”

  “Hey,” Sift said, walking up to them. “Is this what took you so long? Holding hands the whole way?”

  Hamma walked up from behind. “No. He was thinking. You know how slow he walks when he thinks.”

  Sift tapped his temple. “Not enough power up here to walk and think at the same time.”

  Ruwen narrowed his eyes at Sift but didn’t take the bait.

  Kaylin joined them. “The exit is a few minutes ahead. Lylan is watching it.”

  “Did you see into the mine?” Jagen asked.

  “It looks like a natural fissure,” Kaylin said. “Thirty feet across, and I couldn’t see the ceiling or ends. No obvious exit.”

  Mica spoke up. “We are traveling north, so left would take us deeper into the mountains, and right should lead us out of them.”

  “Let’s pass out what weapons we have,” Kaylin said.

  Jagen removed a homemade backpack and dumped it on the floor. Talons, fangs, and other parts lay in a glowing pile. These weapons were noticeably less bright than the ones the group of Champions carried.

  “Everyone take something, and I’ll see if I can reinforce it,” Ruwen said.

  Lylan had returned the two swords she’d taken from House Captain Juva, and the Sword Dancer stood against the wall and didn’t come over. Hamma ran her hand over the Staff of Chimes and didn’t move either. Sift had Io, and Ruwen didn’t plan on using a weapon. That left Slib.

  Slib picked up what appeared to be a spine. Just shorter than his arm, the evenly spaced vertebrae looked like spikes. It didn’t have much Spirit in it, though.

  The wraps on Ruwen’s hands made them difficult to bend, but he couldn’t remove them because he might blind his friends. He held them out. “Let me see if I can strengthen that.”

  Taking the spine, Ruwen kneeled. He set the spine on the ground and placed a hand on each side. “Everyone look away, just in case.”

  Ruwen closed his eyes and entered a meditative state. His Core flowed, casting Streams of Spirit to his Meridians, and absorbing them as they returned. He wondered how to go about doing this. Entering one of the Fortifying poses would saturate the area around a Meridian, but he didn’t want to have to rely on that. Plus, those poses were uncomfortable and awkward. The density of his Spirit, coupled with the Core Velocity, made the Spirit much easier to manipulate than before.

  Using a mental finger, Ruwen touched his Core and then touched his left hand. Nothing happened to the weapon, although some light bled through the cracks of his wraps. How could he get the Spirit outside his body? If he used a Meridian like Air to force it out, he would be back to
poses and forms, something he didn’t want to rely on.

  In frustration, Ruwen jabbed the spine with his mental finger. Why couldn’t he just get the Spirit to go here? To his surprise, the spine immediately turned a bright white.

  “Slib, here you go,” Ruwen said, scooping up the weapon with his hands.

  Slib squinted his eyes. “Thank you.”

  Ruwen cycled through the other Champion’s weapons and then charged the extra weapons lying on the ground. “Just in case.” He pushed a talon the size of his hand toward Sift. “Give that to Lylan.”

  Jagen returned the extra weapons to the backpack.

  “Hamma, let me see your staff,” Ruwen said.

  Hamma handed it to Ruwen, and he repeated the process. Nothing happened to the staff, though. Maybe the fact that it didn’t originate in the Spirit Realm made it impossible to charge. But Rami and Io had Spirit. Maybe he needed to try harder.

  This time he ran a finger across his Core and touched the staff. It vibrated, grew bright, and then seemed to absorb the Spirit. The staff had already been grey before coming into this realm, but the swirling clouds that had adorned its surface now all glowed white. He wondered if this changed the weapon and if it would be any different once they returned home.

  Ruwen repeated the process for Juva’s two swords, although they only required a touch of Spirit. The House Captain looked at them with awe and carefully placed them in their sheaths, thanking Ruwen profusely.

  Before getting up, Ruwen filled his Baton of a Thousand Uses with Spirt as well. It never hurt to be prepared.

  Ruwen stood. “Let’s go. If Mica’s correct, we want to go right, toward the plains.”

  Kaylin nodded, and they all followed her, trying their best to remain quiet. When they entered the fissure, they all moved to the right. But five minutes later they had to stop as the fissure narrowed drastically and ended in solid stone.

  Ruwen frowned under his wraps. “We’ll try the other way. Everyone keep their eyes open for a tunnel leading out of here.”