TS5: Chapter 37 (Patreon)

The water shrine was a simple pagoda that stood atop a waterfall overlooking the valley. Water poured from its base, falling unbroken to the valley floor, an impressive mile and a half below. On the steep climb up to the pagoda, Thorn and the others paused to look back over the view, spotting Old Iron Village on the hill in the center of the valley.

“It’s a beautiful sight,” Velin said, her eyes tracing the mountains on the horizon. “It really does look like Angoril.”

Taking a deep breath of the clear mountain air, Thorn couldn’t help but smile.

“I wonder if this is what Angoril was based on. I know that Titans create worlds, so it’s entirely possible that what we’re looking at is the inspiration for Northern Angoril.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.”

Noticing Vesna, Pel, and Borish walking over, Thorn turned away from the view to meet them. After the fight with the wolves, Pel and Borish both seemed more at ease with Thorn and the rest of the team, though why exactly that was, Thorn wasn’t sure.

“Prime Ascendant Thorn, can we speak with you for a moment?” Vesna asked.

Nodding to Velin who stepped away to give them at least the illusion of privacy, Thorn gave Vesna his full attention.

“Sure, what do you need?”

“We wish to have the opportunity to prove ourselves,” Vesna said, his voice displaying a hint of nervousness.

“What do you mean? What does that entail?’”

Licking his lips, Vesna looked at Pel, almost as if he didn’t know what to say. With a shake of her head, she stepped forward to answer Thorn’s questions.

“We’ve been talking, and as embarrassing as this is to say, we don’t think we’ll get the chance to show our abilities because of how strong your retainers are. Typically, this only happens in situations where every single slot has been taken up by an Ascendant, but you brought retainers capable of fighting on the same level as Prime Ascendants. I know this is an impudent request, but given how strong your group is, the three of us likely won’t have any accomplishments of our own by the time the puzzle closes.”

Taken aback, Thorn looked around at the team, as if taking stock of them for the first time. While Pel’s words were unexpected, he could easily understand the fear that she and the others had. Mina, Velin, Alph, and Stello were easily as strong as Kitsek or Joresh, and while Corvo and Kendall weren’t quite as powerful, they both had their own strengths that would allow them to stand out when the team fought. Adding Akira to the team composition, there wasn’t a lot that Pel, Vesna, and Borish could do to stand out.

While that wouldn’t have been as big a deal if the team had been comprised of members of their respective families, they were the only representatives of their families who had managed to make it to the puzzle and if they didn’t produce a significant result during their year in Urmag’Tal’s Puzzle, it would be a wasted opportunity.

“What do you have in mind?” Thorn asked, returning his attention to the three Ascendants.

This time, it was Pel who looked nervous. It was clear that she didn’t want to offend Thorn, as doing so would put their entire trip in jeopardy. With an encouraging smile, Thorn held up his hands.

“You don’t have to worry about getting on my bad side,” he said, “I’m open to listening to whatever your suggestions are. Whether I will act on them is an entirely different matter.”

Firming up her resolve, Pel bowed slightly, all of her words coming out in a rush.

“I would ask that you allow us to take the lead in attacking the water shrine. Please allow Borish to be the primary front line fighter, what you have been calling a tank. Vesna can act as the main striker, and I would like to be the team’s strategist for this fight. We are willing to step back if we fail, but we ask that you would allow us to continue in these roles if we prove ourselves.”

“You are asking for a lot,” Thorn said, his voice heavy. “You would be monopolizing the primary positions of the team, and when our overall performance is evaluated, wouldn’t you be the ones who benefit the most?”

“We wouldn’t leave you without benefits,” Borish said hurriedly. “Our families would compensate you for everything you lose.”

“And beyond that, we would owe you a tremendous favor,” Vesna added.

Letting the silence hang for a moment, Thorn considered the pros and cons of the three Ascendant’s requests, quickly realizing that there wasn’t much for him to lose by agreeing. While it may be true that he would be reducing the share of the reward that he, Velin, and Mina would receive, that would be balanced out by the favors owed to him by the three magister families that Vesna, Pel, and Borish represented. Truthfully, Thorn wasn’t here for the rewards of the puzzle, but to learn what Urmag’Tal had to teach him, and the only reason he was bothering with the shrines was because he thought they might help with his affinities that had not yet been mastered. With some amusement, he noticed that his silence was starting to freak out the three Ascendants.

“That’s fine, but how do I know that your families will honor your words?”

Excitement flashed through Vesna’s eyes as he quickly produced a token that bore the symbol of his family and passed it over to Thorn.

“Though the Quilla family is already indebted to you, I will give you my personal token. If you present this to my family, they will understand that you have done a favor for our family that must be repaid.”

Seeing Pel and Borish both produce similar tokens, Thorn smiled and accepted them.

“Good, from now on, you can take charge during our challenges and we will support you.”

Bowing again, this time deeply, Pel couldn’t hide the excitement in her voice.

“Thank you, Prime Ascendant.”

“You can call me Thorn. It’ll take too long in a fight if you have to yell ‘prime ascendant’ every time. Come on, let's enter the shrine.”

The entrance to the shrine was a wide stone doorway with carved door posts depicting various water scenes. There were animals from the ocean playing in waves, fish from ponds leaping to catch bugs, and all manner of swirls and eddies that raced this way and that. The carvings were so lifelike that the doorway seemed to be alive and as the team entered, Thorn felt the concentration of water elemental mana in the air increasing considerably. It felt as if they had stepped into a pool, though breathing wasn’t a problem, and the air took on a faintly blue quality as they walked into a wide room with a beautiful blue and green tile floor. As the last member of the group walked through the doorway and stepped onto the tiled floor, the door slammed shut behind them and mana swirled together, forming a vortex at the center of the room.

“Be on your guard,” Velin called out, summoning her vines as the rest of the team gathered close.

With a crash that sounded like a wave breaking on the shore, the mana cleared abruptly, revealing a woman of otherworldly beauty in a long blue dress floating in the air. Remnants of the gathering mana continued to swirl around her, taking the form of hundreds of silver fish that darted this way and that as her deep blue eyes drifted over the group.

“Is it that time already? A new group of challengers has arrived to test themselves against me, but only time will tell if you are worthy of it.”

Floating forward, her dress rippling behind her, the woman’s eyes landed on Thorn, and her expression brightened.

“You must be the leader of this group. You are, after all, the strongest. I am Lyssia, the Lady of the Waves. I guard the Water Shrine of the Valley of the Elements, and it shall be against me that you test your mettle. There are two different types of challenges, solo and team. Which would you like to initiate?”

Thorn waved his hand at the rest of the group.

“We would like to initiate a team challenge.”

For a moment, Thorn imagined that he had seen a faint disappointment on Lyssia’s face, but then she smiled, causing the entire shrine to light up as the silver mana fish around her danced.

“Allow me to explain how the challenge shall work. Each shrine has six levels, each harder than the last. This is true for both the team challenge and the solo challenge, but otherwise they are considerably different in nature. The team challenge requires ten individuals, but the solo challenge, as its name indicates, requires just one. The team challenge will grade you based on teamwork, and how long it takes you to complete the challenge, and can be attempted as many times as you wish.”

With a wave, Lyssia caused dozens of the silver fish to melt together, creating a simple screen that flashed with blue before transforming into a map of an undersea world. There were three main paths on the map, along with half a dozen smaller paths that joined them together. Looking at it, Mina’s expression grew strange and she glanced at Velin.

[Is this supposed to be a MOBA?] she asked in the E.V.E. channel.

[Hah, that’s what it looks like,] Corvo replied.

[What is a mooba?] Thorn asked.

[MOBA. It’s like a tower defense game of sorts.] Velin said.

Oblivious to the conversation happening between Thorn and the others, Lyssia continued to explain the rules of the challenge.

“To pass the first level, all you have to do is make your way to my location. However, there are two additional conditions. First, protect your shrine from my minions, and second, destroy each of my towers along your path. You will begin at the shrine located at the  south western point of the map, and I will be waiting for you at the north eastern point. Every ten minutes I will summon another wave of minions and will send them down the three main paths toward your shrine. Once your shrine is destroyed, you will have lost the challenge, but if you can reach me, you will clear the first level of the group challenge.”

Spreading her arms out, Lyssia transformed the screen back into hundreds of small silver fish.

“Will you challenge me?”

“We will,” Thorn replied, taking a step forward.

“Then enter, and show me if you are worthy of the challenge.”

Mana swirled once more and Lyssia vanished as the silver fish darted toward Thorn and the others, enveloping them in a storm of blue light. When the light cleared, they had already arrived at the shrine on the map. The air was thick and the light carried a blue tint that made Thorn and the others feel as if they had stepped into the deep sea. Around them were colorful rocks resembling coral, and colorful plants that waved like anemones and before them lay three wide paths, one heading north, one heading east, and the last heading northeast, directly toward the shrine where Lyssia was located.

Though the paths couldn’t have been that long, it was impossible to see more than a few hundred feet away due to the concentration of water mana in the atmosphere, masking what lay at the other end.

“How do you want to handle this?” Velin asked, looking at Thorn.

Shaking his head, he gestured to Pel.

“Pel is the one who should be answering that question. What do you think, Ascendant Pel? How would you like to handle this challenge?”

Looking down each path one at a time, Pel thought for a moment and then held up three fingers.

“It’s clear that we need to split into three teams if we want to defend against the minions that the Lady of the Waves will send, but I believe that there might be a trick to this.”

“Oh? What do you mean?”

Biting her lip, Pel closed her eyes for a moment and lowered two fingers, leaving only her index finger extended.

“The requirements for this challenge is just meeting the Lady once more. All she said we needed to do was reach her location, not fight against the minions she will summon. Rather than focus on trying to defeat them in combat, we only need to reach her before her summons reach this shrine. Each wave will be created ten minutes apart, so we have time before they come to us. My suggestion is that we should create a team that will rush down the center path, reaching the end as soon as possible. At the same time, it would be wise to leave a team here to ensure that we don’t lose our shrine while we are making our way forward.”

Sharing a glance with Velin, Thorn saw her nod, a small smile on her lips.

“Sounds like a good plan. Akira and I can stay behind if you’d like.”

“We’ll need another team to cover the other path,” Pel said, stopping when Thorn shook his head.

“The two of us will be enough. You should get started. Team, I’m putting Pel in charge, so make sure you follow her commands. Borish, Vesna, I’m counting on you to lead the charge. Don’t disappoint me.”

As the team set out, Thorn stood in the doorway of the shrine, watching them charge down the center path. Just before they passed out of sight, he opened up the team channel, pinging Mina and Velin.

[Keep an eye on things and let me know if you need any help.]

Thanks to the connection between their E.V.E.s, Thorn could keep track of the team’s rough position, creating a basic map using the image that Lyssia had revealed earlier. They first met the enemy ten minutes after they had left, in the center of the map where there was a rocky gorge that split the central path and a single bridge spanning the gap. Judging that he had approximately ten more minutes until the enemy arrived at his location, Thorn got a handful of cookies from his dimensional storage and shared them with Akira.

“How do you feel about taking the southern path?” he asked, handing her a cookie to nibble on.

“I can do that, master. What sort of enemies are we going to be facing?”

“They look like fish men,” Thorn said. “This is the image that Velin sent back.”

Just about six feet tall, the fish men had humanoid bodies and catfish heads with webbed feet and hands and dull green and blue scales. Each wore a bit of armor and carried a trident, and padded forward with single minded determination, intent on attacking everything in their path.