Izabelle was a timid beast summoner, petite and slim for her age. After the introductions and conversations, Jael and the group began to make considerations about the next door. No one else had made it this far, and after some contemplation, they entered another chamber. This room was circular and at the centre of it was an altar. It had three exits and beside each exit door, another altar with writings on them. Jael went to the central altar and read;
The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars:
One path leads to the awakening of a deep slumber.
One path leads to the destruction of the world.
One path leads to the dimension of a new fate.
There are three paths to the heaven, but all paths are one.
“We better read all the altars before we do anything else,” Vaan said. And so they read the Altar of the Sun:
The fiery flame of the Sun reaches the soils of the World as the heaven cries for the punishment of the mountains. Showers of Stars enlighten the Heavens and the Moon howls in the endless gloom. The World is burning as it looks beyond the horizon.
Jael read the Altar of the Moon:
The cry of the Moon is endless and unwavering. The waves plead for the conquest of the world. The Sun redeems the World from the storms of fate and the Stars clash at the sight of the Moon’s oblivion. The World’s particles scatter to the Heavens as it dies slowly.
Finally, Izabelle read the Altar of the Stars:
The Stars’ wrath cannot be denied. The Heavens tremble in the rage of their wails. The World is depleted and utterly poisoned. The Moon brings cheer to the spirit of the World and the Sun’s fire consumes itself. The World awakened into a star and it suddenly burst and sparkled throughout the cosmos.
“I do not understand any of it,” Vaan said.
“Let’s review these scriptures and then we shall decide which door we should open,” Rakkar stated.
And so, they spent hours deciphering the riddles. Frustrated with the riddles, Gobbir recklessly tried to open a door. “Stop!” Emil said. “Don’t be foolish, it might kill us!”
“I think the right path is the Sun because it is the third altar, and since the central altar’s third statement is ‘One path leads to the dimension of a new fate.’ Don’t you think?” Vaan said.
“We can’t just assume the third because of organisation, there should be a deeper understanding,” Rakkar replied.
“I agree with Rakkar,” Jael said, though he had no clear idea which of the three it might be.
After a few more guesses, Izabelle shouted. “Everyone, I got it! The right path is the path of the stars!”
“What makes you say that?” Jael asked.
Izabelle explained, “The Sun, Moon and Stars are all but a decoy. We are from the world, and therefore we should consider the statement about the world. In the Altar of the Sun, it says that ‘The World is burning as it looks beyond the horizon.’ It means we should look afar, and stars are the farthest from the world. In the Altar of the Moon, it says that ‘The World’s particles scatter to the Heavens as it dies slowly.’ It means that it is smaller and plentiful, like stars, they look smaller and they are plenty. And in the Altar of the Stars, it says that ‘The World awakened into a star and it suddenly burst and sparkled throughout the cosmos.’ It says the world sparkled, like a star which sparkles at night! All of those characterise the stars in the cosmos!”
“Wow, you’re certainly smart! It’s worth a try!” Afirra said. With no better answer, they decided to open the path of the Stars. They cast open the door and entered the room beyond. Before them lay an altar, similar in form to the other three. There were etchings as well:
The Stars captured the beauty of the heavens. The Sun delighted, and the Moon revelled at it. The World stood innocent as the heavens poured its honour.
A hologram of the imperator Piorus appeared. “Congratulations for solving the riddle and completing the Labyrinth. The Sun led to summoning a monster called Ygdalla which you would have to defeat in order to pass, while the Moon leads to the destruction of the floor resulting to disqualification,” the hologram said and it vanished in an array of shimmering sparks. Then a glowing light portal opened. Everyone entered, and it returned them to the amphitheatre.
“Oh, my goodness! I was right!” Izabelle shouted in delight. A referee came along, and everyone was given instructions about the following day’s obstacle. Everyone celebrated and shared in their enthusiasm and eventually parted ways.
“Today we succeeded. Tomorrow we are again rivals. Good luck on this Salamanka Grand Race,” Jael said. They returned to the inn, ate, and slept early. Tomorrow there lay new challenges.
“Welcome to day two of the Salamanka Grand Race! Here is a list of the top three leading mages who finished day one the fastest: first mage is Repa, second mage is Filchner, and the third mage is Julia. Surprisingly, they are in the same group. How great is that? Will they be the three winners for this year’s race? We will stand watch for this competition! In the meantime, here is our Imperator Piorus to deliver the second obstacle.”
“First of all, congratulations to the 32 mages who passed the Labyrinth. Now is the second day of the Salamanka Grand Race! The next part of this competition is called Terrania,” Piorus stated and began to explain the mechanics for the race.
“All 32 mages shall be teleported to a very large mass of different terrains. You will be grouped into four, making eight teams. Every team should assign a team leader and produce a team name. If you wish to be grouped with your friends, you may do so by picking a set of special wrist watches. There are 32 watches available for the eight teams. After the 32 mages have been grouped, Terrania will activate.” Piorus then called his secretary, Emerdine, to explain.
“This obstacle is a die-rolling game. You either win by skill, or by luck. Every watch has a button at the centre. The leader needs to press it in order to roll the dice. Also, there will be a button for the hologram monitor for each member of the team. Everything about the game is shown there. The dice we are going to use are numbered one-twenty. When a team leader rolls the dice, the number that appears from it will count how many stops the team will move.
“There are a total of 150 stops for this massive board game. Each stop has a challenge. Challenges will be shown on the team table monitor. The team will have to finish the challenge in order to roll again. If the team fails a challenge, they will lose a life. There are only five lives for the whole obstacle. If you lose all of your lives, your team will be eliminated. If another team reaches a stop where there is an existing team, the team who reached second will have to move one stop back. This race will run simultaneously. Every team will not have to wait for another team to finish a challenge. The first team to be grouped will be the first to roll. The first five teams to reach the end of the obstacle will advance to the final obstacle which will be held tomorrow.
“If you have further questions, please inquire using the monitors on your respective watches later on. Thank you and I wish the best of luck to all of you,” Emerdine explained.
“We need another member for the team,” Jael said.
“Yeah, we can’t get one from Gobbir and the others, they already have four. Let’s go get Izabelle,” Vaan replied.
Jael agreed, and they looked for Izabelle. When they found her, they came to her and invited her to be a part of the team. She accepted and so they waited for the start of the second obstacle. They saw Rakkar and the others and wished each other luck.
The announcement for the start of the second obstacle rang out across the course. With a loud shout, Imperator Piorus exclaimed, “Let Terrania Begin!”
One by one, the 32 mages were teleported to a hut just at the outskirts of Terrania.
Nine people were already there. Eight tables formed a line inside the hut. Four watches rested on each. The watches on the first table had been already claimed by the first group, the group of Repa. They called their team Bullets. Only three watches had been taken from the
second table but it was clear they were waiting on a final member. The remaining two mages were friends, so they chose the third spot and waited for another duo. Jael and the others went to the fourth table and took the watches and wore them. They chose Jael as their team leader and they named their team Phoenix. After a few minutes, Rakkar and the others came. Rakkar became the leader and their team was named Voyager. Other mages successfully arrived, and the Terrania activated.
Terrania was a large stage of differing terrain. Rivers, lakes, mountains, volcanoes, forests, swamps and who knew what else. The teams were tasked to cross the terrains and reach a certain stop. “All right everyone, the eight teams arranged in order: Bullets, Quasar, Hurtlock, Phoenix, Voyager, Templars, Speed and Resentment. All of you know the rules about this obstacle. Bullets will have to roll first,” the announcer said.
The Bullets’ leader rolled the dice and twelve came up. They tread a desert path and upon arriving on the 12th stop, a monster appeared. “Defeat me in order to roll again,” the monster said, and it split into four smaller copies of itself. The Bullets easily defeated the monster, and they rolled again.
Meanwhile it was Phoenix’s time to roll. Izabelle summoned Osona and rode atop the grizzly bear. Jael pressed the dice button, and a hologram appeared in front of their team. Eighteen. “Nice Jael, what luck!” Vaan said. And so they crossed the desert and across a stream lay their stop.
A bulletin board appeared with something written on it:
Conjure wind to put down the stone on the large rock. Beneath is a candle. You need to let the candle die and then you may roll the dice. The stone must be dislodged by wind only.
Vaan tried to move it with Earth magick. It didn’t budge. “Well, it is written that only wind can detach it,” Jael reasoned. “Why don’t we blow it away?” All of them took deep breaths and tried to blow away the rock, but with no Wind mages on their team, their efforts were futile. Though they succeeded in rocking the stone, it did not move. Team Phoenix gasped from their efforts.
Jael had an idea. “Frekkis, use Feather Form and try to lift the stone since you have wind magick.” Frekkis cast Feather Form and tried to lift the stone but it was too heavy. She too gave up.
“Frekkis, try to use your super speed… run around it, don’t hit the stone, the wind from your speed may remove the stone,” Izabelle said and Frekkis did as she said. She rounded the stone with Full Swift and it budged ever so slightly. “Nice!”
Vaan cast two large rocks as wind-breaking panels on both sides for Frekkis. She could then step and dash, increasing her momentum ad capturing the wind. The stone eventually shifted, and with a little more, detached. Jael lit the candle, and they waited for it to be consumed.
“What a race! All eight teams are hustling and everybody is working together! In first place is team Hurtlock, they are currently on stop #33. Just behind them is team Bullets and they are on stop #31. On third place is team Phoenix making their way to stop #28. Other teams try to catch up! Let’s see what happens with Terrania!” the announcer said.
After hours of treading Terrania, the Templars had lost all of their lives and were eliminated. Seven teams remained. They had almost reached the middle section of Terrania.
The announcer stated, “Ladies and Gentlemen, here is the current status for Terrania! Team Bullets is currently in the lead at stop #78 still having five lives. Second place is team Voyager at stop #65, they also have five lives. Very close to them are teams Speed and Hurtlock at stops #63 and #61 respectively both having four lives. In fifth place is team Phoenix at stop #54 they have five lives. The sixth team is Quasar at stop #44 having three lives and last but not the least is team Resentment at stop #41 which also has three lives. Unfortunately for team Templars, they lost all of their lives and were eliminated. Who will win? Who will advance to the final obstacle? Let’s watch as Terrania decides who the rightful mages to enter the final challenge are!”
Jael’s team had successfully completed challenge stop #54. It was time to move on. Jael pressed the button, sending the dice rolling, and eleven came up. They walked, but it was not all that long before a high mountain rose quickly, in the middle of their path. There was murky, impenetrable forest surrounding the mountain, and the path led clear through it. “We will go across the mountain. There might be beasts lurking in the forests and we can’t afford to waste stamina. Izabelle, Frekkis and I have high jump magick. Vaan, can you carry her with your Upheaval?” Jael said.
“Yeah. Can you turn your bear back to its doll form? I can’t imagine how we could carry a fully grown bear with us,” Vaan said. “There’s a hassle.”
“Manikka!” Izabelle shouted, and her bear went back to its doll form. “Let’s go,” Izabelle said with a smile. She jumped up onto Vaan’s back, wrapping her arms around his neck. Jael cast Rokka, soaring high above the mountain on his flickering flame updraft. Frekkis cast Feather Form, and she drifted in a cloudlike transparent spirit state above the peaks. Vaan cast Upheaval, carrying Izabelle with him across the mountain. When they crossed the mountainous divide, from their lofty reaches they could see the other teams at a distance. When they reached stop #65, team Voyager was already there. They exchanged cursory greetings and returned to stop #64. Here the ground was marshy and gave easily underfoot. Any misstep led to a foot slip, dropping a hand’s span into slowly sinking mud, and everything around them shimmered with damp humidity.
Their hologram watches activated, all four holograms appearing. In sync they announced the beginning of stop #64’s challenge.
One chance for this challenge. It was a point gathering minigame, defeating waves upon waves of monsters. There was a catch, an opportunity to stake some points or lives before the challenge. They could gamble one life and then whatever points received from the challenge, they would advance depending on their points. If they gambled, there was a chance they could advance 45 stops ahead. Each monster defeated would give them two points. Every sixth wave would be worth five points with a total of eighteen waves in all. Or they could reach ten points–five rounds–no life would be spent and they would have the opportunity roll again. The gamble could be stopped at any time by pressing ‘END’ on the hologram.
Jael and their team considered the options. “Should we gamble?” Vaan said.
“If we won’t, then we can roll the dice again after five rounds. But if we do, we can immediately get to stop #109. I think it’s worth the stamina,” Jael replied. Izabelle agreed and so they said ‘YES’ to the hologram and the challenge holograms activated, beginning the process of summoning their magickal opponents.
“I’ll go first,” Jael said, and he patiently waited for his opponent to spawn. A wild boar appeared. Jael unleashed a spray of fiery magick, easily burning the boar to a crisp and it vanished. Then the second monster appeared, a shaggy lion with the horns of a buffalo. It snorted and roared, charging Jael. Again, it was easy for Jael to finish it off with a single blow. The third monster was a large scorpion while the fourth was a rather ordinary sized mammoth and the fifth monster to arrive was a two-headed komodo dragon. Each fell easily before Jael’s magickal might.
After defeating the komodo dragon, round six chimed. A centaur appeared, half man, half horse. Its fiercely muscular lower body was entirely horse, while its upper torso was of a human, but no ordinary human. Tousled thick body hair hung in tangles from its belly where it joined from man to horse, but the man atop the was truly beastly. No easy foe. The centaur could use magick as well and with one fell word it summoned a massive hammer. The magick of weaponcraft.
It raged toward Jael. Jael was unprepared for the physical assault. The centaur’s hammer made contact. He was thrown to the other side of the marsh. Thankfully soft ground met him, and he splashed into a shallow pond of murk and muddy veins. He scrambled to his feet, now drenched in water. However, Vaan had already charged into play. He immediately cast Earth Shower on the centaur, but it was to no effect. The surrounding marshlands were soddened and the only eart
h that Vaan could seize was clay-like and easily dashed aside. The centaur rushed Vaan and its hammer changed into a large morning star. He hurled up an earthen shield, but it was not enough to protect him from the blow and he crumbled, falling unconscious with a soft moan.
“Vaan!” Izabelle shouted. The morning star evolved once more, and it unravelled, shaping itself around the centaur, covering it completely in protective enchanted armour. She cast her bear doll and Osona charged forth from magickal stasis. Frekkis too tagged along and together they attacked the centaur. Frekkis with her swift legs slashed the centaur from the left and from the right while Osona battered the centaur with its might. With one mighty blow from the centaur, Osona disintegrated back into a doll form. Frekkis and Izabelle, the only two left standing, exchanged quick glances. She leapt into action to protect Izabelle, and upon realising there was no chance to stand against it, grabbed Izabelle and dragged her out of the way at full speed.
Izabelle gasped. “Can you penetrate its armour?”
Frekkis immediately cast Berserker Slash. Her claws slashed through the air across the space between her and the enemy, creating thin, concentrated blades of ranged wind. The centaur’s armour was too tough for a wind blade. He roared, striking Frekkis down in retaliation.
Izabelle, on the edge of the marsh, remained standing. She plunged a hand into her pocket and drew out one last doll, this one soft and spherical. “I hope it works!” She cast Polukka and a dolphin summoning splashed out into the shallow marshland pond. “Polukka,” she said, giving the dolphin a little pet on the head. “I know the water is too shallow, but you are the only thing I have left. Can you damage him a bit?”
Izabelle’s dolphin nodded. It screeched underwater and spiralling sonic waves of water spurted forth and struck the centaur. At first the centaur was not affected, but the waves built in power with time. When it made moves to attack Izabelle it was blocked by the waves. With its physical, brutish might, the centaur strode step after step through the waves caused by Polukka. Immediately Izabelle shouted, “Manikka Encagement!” and held the small spherical ball aloft.
Teliko Mageia: Curse of the Frozen Flame Page 9