“You did that?” Nina called out from behind me. I turned to look at her and there she was, sat on the floor with her legs crossed. She looked better than a few hours ago. She would be up and running after a few more hours.
“I wanted to try something out. I found it strange that the blizzard outside wasn’t pouring into this place so I thought the wall had something to do with it,” I explained. I expected her to find my predicament humorous but she gave me a frown and a deep sigh.
“The storm outside isn’t normal,” She confirmed my suspicion.
It was time for me to press on the matter at hand. I needed to know everything about the storm outside and it seemed like Nina had the answers. As I was about to ask my questions, Nina began to explain what the storm really was.
The storm was not a natural formation, instead, it was created artificially using magic. She then explained that the magic needed to make a perpetual storm like the one outside was too much for any normal magician to bear and thus the cultists resulted in making a sort of shrine. A shrine powered by the magic of many magicians to fuel the perpetual storm, it would last as long as the beacon had magic.
Her explanation made sense if taken in simply but I was not the type to accept a simple understanding of what is unfamiliar. The first thing that caught my attention when she explained to me the storm was its absurd perpetual nature. This magic was ridiculous, able to form storms like these without even touching the natural processes, simply needing more ‘power’ in the form of magic power concentrated into a shrine that acted as the source, the eye of the storm.
Second were the magicians. Magicians, as far as I could remember from the nonsensical books I read, were users and conjurers of various kinds of magic. Yes, there were more types of magic that I didn’t bother trying to understand because it was too much nonsense back then. Thirdly, was magic itself. It was a fascinating concept, a power to do the supernatural and defy science itself. It was like a variation of psychic power but I doubted it needed a sensitive brain.
Gah.
I thought I could take it all but I still wasn’t ready. I felt a slight spike of pain in the back of my head. This was the sign for me to take a rest. I had been up for a day, went through an overload, and now I was being fed more information that still sounded like nonsense to me. I needed to get used to this world.
I figured that I would take a year at most to adjust to this reality.
But I hated waiting as much as I hated losing thus, I was going to push myself over my limit just so I could achieve whatever I needed to.
Yuna turned around and ran into the arms of her older sister, embracing her as tight as she could. I watched as the two consoled each other as if they had just met after many years, maybe this was the case. It was time for me to ask them what had happened, why were Yuna and their mother down there in the first place.
I walked towards them, stood firm, and spoke.
“I want to know what exactly happened,” I bluntly said, “I need to know. I can’t understand or help you as much as I could if I don’t even know why we are here in the first place,” I said. The two of them looked at each other and Nina sighed deeply.
“My mother was someone important a few years ago. When she fell from grace, I was separated from the two of them. It wasn’t until five months ago did I learn that they were kidnapped by the Ironites, I spent everything I had left and recruited a party of adventurers to help me but..” She paused for a moment. It wasn’t sadness that leaked from her at that moment but anger. It seemed to me that she was betrayed by the people she recruited.
I waited for her to continue. People tended to speak and tell their stories clearly as long as you don’t intrude and give them time.
“We were only a day away from the mountain when they turned on me. We took up camp near a river that flowed from the foot of the mountain and decided to rest for the day. I was fast asleep but I had my suspicions before then. They didn’t kill me for some reason although they could have done so easily in my sleep, maybe they thought I was not worth the trouble so they just stole everything when they were sure I was fast asleep and left,” She said.
"At least they left my purse alone so yeah," She ended.
It seemed to me that the people she hired were mere criminals. They stole everything but left her purse and dagger. Now that I thought about it, her purse also had a few bandages and some small glass containers that contained colored liquids inside. I haven't been able to determine what those were but I figured those things helped her survive until she reached the complex. Her story definitely had a lot of holes but I figured that she left out a lot and just summarized what had happened to her. She conveniently left out what kind of occupation her mother served, what caused the fall from grace, and many other things. Pressing on these questions would lead me nowhere, despite her weak will, she wanted to hide bits and pieces of her life from me, I could tell that much.
An awkward silence fell. Yuna and Nina started bonding with each other while I thought about what to do next, taking into account the past Nina had explained to me. No matter where I viewed our situation, we really needed to get out of here. Whatever country encompassed this territory and the people therein are to be considered hostile and the “Ironites” whatever the hell this cult called themselves were to be eliminated on sight lest a tragedy like this would happen again.
I had no map but I had a sense of direction, without a doubt one of the best in this cursed world of fantasy. Nina seemed familiar with the land so she was to become our main guide.
“So you basically have nothing left, correct?” I broke the silence.
“Yes,” Nina admitted.
"Well then, It's not a problem. We do need to go now, the more time we spend cramped in here, the more time we give our enemies to eventually close in on us," I said. Nina nodded. Yuna looked back and forth between the both of us, I could tell she was confused.
"But.. my legs are still weak," She said as she tried to stand up. Well, it was true. Of course, I had a solution for her problems.
"I'll carry you, no big deal," I said. Nina's face turned red, I believe I was embarrassing her too much. first, she slept for hours on my lap and now I wanted to carry her. I hoped she did not get the wrong idea.
"Wait w-wait! aren't you pushing yourself too much?" She said. Her voice echoed with shame. "You've already done so much for me. Just let me rest for a while more and I'll be better in no time!"
I looked at her with an unimpressed expression. Yuna also looked at her the same way, her little sister had no objections with my proposal. Clearly she was the most open between the siblings, clearly.
Or maybe it was just because she was still a child and she was yet to be thought the meaning of shame. I shall see to it that she remains as open-minded as possible, without making her insensitive.
"B-But,"
"No buts," I said, "No buts!" Yuna copied me. As far as I could tell, she didn't want her older sister to push herself too much. Well, she had no problem if I was the one pushing myself too much but I guessed she already knew that carrying her older wouldn't even make a dent on me. Not after seeing the aftermath of me hurling two chunks that punched two holes through the wall.
Outvoted, she had no choice but to comply. It took us some time to prepare though we didn't really have anything to bring other than Nina's bag. Before we set out, I made the siblings stand side by side in front of me. My eyes glowed a crimson hue as I unleashed a portion of my psychic energy around their bodies, forming a multi-purpose barrier that would protect them from the cold and any physical harm. As long as I was around, the barrier would hold. the barrier was a weaker variant of my passive. It wasn't strong enough to defend against an orbital strike but it could withstand the equivalent of an aerial bombing raid.
I just thought it was overkill to give them the same level of protection as I, also it was harder to maintain. I doubted this fantasy world would have lumbering, massive ships in orbit.
"Ready?"
"Aye!" Yuna was enthusiastic. The same couldn't be said about her older sister though. She was on my back, her arms wrapped around my neck. I felt her body pressed against me and she was blushing red. Yuna was constantly teasing her, making fun of her red face.
I held Yuna with my right hand as we stepped out of the safety of the wall. It didn't really dawn to me until much later that this was the beginning of something big.
Adventure awaited.
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