Once they were out of Choi Han's vision, Adara made a motion pointing to her back. "Get on."
Cale pulled a face. "What?"
"If you get on my back, we'll get there faster," she explained.
Cale didn't seem convinced until he remembered how fast she had run when sparring with Choi Han and got on.
"Hold on tight," she warned and sped off. He was thrown off, digging his nails into her shoulder to be able to stay on. She laughed as she hopped over trees that had fallen down and scared the wild animals living there. His nails were only digging into her harder, but she did not quite mind.
Unfortunately, due to her speed, they arrived at the cave quite fast so she could not enjoy running that much. He hopped off, his face a little pale, but otherwise perfectly fine. The cave entrance was covered in vines, it would've been difficult to find it, had she not known about it from Cale in advance.
"How did you know where to go?" he asked, trying to find the exact entrance.
She shrugged. "The sound of the wind is coming from here."
Cale nodded, pushing the vines away. As soon as they saw the entrance, however, they both started to frown.
"Damn it," Cale cursed.
The cave entrance was small. They had put on their usual fancy clothing, it was much simpler than the other things they had, but it was still not casual. They would get dirty.
Adara let out a big sigh. "Fuck it, let's go." She said as crouched down to the cave entrance and crawled in. They crawled it through for a few moments, Adara muttering curses under her breath. She genuinely liked what she had on today. 'I swear to the fucking God of Death' was a curse she repeated often. And something about 'crazy fucking Ancient Powers with their stupid trials'. Cale could only think about how vicious she was. There were now traces of two people crawling through the cave entrance. Behind them, a few metres away, small reptilian footprints followed.
As they crawled for 5 minutes, the silence filled with mumbled vicious curses, the cave started to become wider. And Adara stopped cursing.
The sudden silence made Cale anxious. Why did she stop?
She started to speak again, but she did not curse. "It is so pitiful," she muttered instead.
"What?" Cale asked.
"Taylor. He must've been desperate. He crawled through this small cave to get something that he thought would restore him to the grandeur that he once had. I think it is just so pitiful." Her voice was cold, Cale could not see her eyes, but he guessed they were colder. Since you had to stack the Rock Tower with your own strength, Taylor had to come here personally. Which for them took around 5 minutes, took much longer for Taylor.
As they continued walking, the cave became wide enough for them to stand up and walk. The further they went, the louder and louder the sound of the wind swishing became. It was the sound that came by when gusts of winds crashed into walls. The sound of the wind was calm but furious. Those two shouldn't have mashed together so well.
The Sound of the Wind, she thought. Thinking of the 3rd Ancient Power Cale was planning on getting— and if she could— she too. She smiled. I will be even faster then. From behind her, Cale started to walk faster. "You wanna get on my back?" she asked. "We'll get there faster."
He shook his head, maybe a bit too fervently. "No, I'm fine." While he could tell that she enjoyed running, it was not as pleasant for him. She went so fast that he thought he would fall off. He had feared that he had hurt her shoulders due to how hard he was holding onto her, but when he watched her it seemed like nothing had hurt her.
They walked for a couple more moments before they stopped. "Oh," Adara said, the sound small in the face of what was in front of them.
A large underground area with a vicious wind tornado was in front of them. The walls of the cave were slowly crumbling the sound echoing around the area. It seemed as though if they were to step into the area they would immediately be smashed against the walls. The centre, however, was calm, as it was the Eye of the Storm. She could see why the Novel had said that Taylor and Cage struggled for a week.
Adara and Cale stared at the tornado for a moment and at each other for another moment. Before stepping into the vicious tornado with no hesitation. Adara's jet-black hair fluttered as did Cale's bright red hair, their now dirty clothes fluttering with them. They raised their hands and were about to summon their silver shields, when they heard a voice.
It was a child-like voice. One full of worry. "N—no! You will get hurt! You two are extremely weak!"
But they could not pay attention to this child's voice at the moment, since if they did not summon their shields now they would be a bloody mess on the walls of the cave.
Two large shields with silver wings appeared, engulfing Adara and Cale. The wings were shining so brightly they could be considered holy surrounding the two, while the large shield blocked the wind.
They turned around at that moment, their eyes widening as they saw a small black dragon near the back of the path that they came here through. "What the hell are you doing here?" they asked at the same time. She guessed that the dragon would be following them, but she didn't think he would show himself.
The Black Dragon, however, could not say anything in response. Instead, he slowly crept back into the path. "I was... just passing by," he said in a low tone though it pierced its way through the wind.
Cale clicked his tongue, before turning back to the tornado. The cave's wind had a 3-hour cycle of strong wind and a 3-hour cycle of weak wind. At this moment it was starting to get weak. Though it would get stronger as they approached the centre.
She turned to the tornado too, looking at the centre. There was a half-stacked rock tower in the middle of the tornado with numerous other rocks surrounding it, it looked like there was no wind there. And an old man had to walk through this every day? She snorted but the smile fell from her face quickly. Oh gods, they're all crazy.
They took another step forward, sticking close together so that the shields could protect them better. The hard wind was clashing against the shield and Adara frowned. The sound of the wind clashing onto their transparent silver shield was as if it was a real metal shield. She sighed, trudging forward regardless, a smile growing.
The sound of the wind made the Black Dragon turn to look at Adara and Cale. "But... you two are both weak." In the dragon's eyes, Cale and Adara were having a difficult time even if the shield and wings were protecting them. There was some wind that the shield could not protect them from, namely the wind that seeped through the bottom of the shield, it was so strong that they were being held back. However, they both continued to step forward. That was when the dragon saw it.
Cale and Adara were smiling. The human and the half-human were smiling. These two weak beings, who were nothing compared to the strong tornado. The weak human, who was weaker than even the kittens he was travelling with, the human, who was the weakest out of everyone he was travelling with. And the weak half-human, who was stronger than the human but didn't have the strength to surpass most of her group, the weak half-human who he couldn't sense any mana from, only the scent of death. They were both smiling. Smiling, while pushing through the wind.
The Black Dragon had never seen a silver shield like the ones they had. He had never seen such silver wings either. The dragon took a look at his own wings, realising that they were not the same. Theirs were extremely beautiful. He was curious about how they could summon such a shield since none of them had any mana.
Yet, his attention wasn't solely focused on the holy and wonderful shield, nor the wings. His full attention was on the smiling Cale and Adara. And they only continued to smile.
It's not that bad, Adara was thinking. It was slow because the wind continuously pushed them back, but it was not difficult. Compared to how she had to travel a distance while gushing blood from numerous places, it was child's play. It really is nice to earn something without putting in too much effort, she thought with a wider smile. She knew Cale was thinking the same thing.
And it was actually quite nice since there were no physical or mental strains while they used the Indestructible Shield. There would be a strain if it were to break— physical or mental she did not know— but it was not in any danger of breaking at the moment.
It only got briefly pushed back if the wind was strong. But, compared to the number of times she thought they would be pushed back it was fine. She and Cale had lowered the strength of the shield and enlarged it as much as possible, with the idea that they would shrink it every time they got pushed back. But this shield was working fine so it seemed not a problem.
She turned to Cale. "You hear something?"
He shook his head.
The novel said that you would hear a voice once you got close to the centre, it was supposed to be an old man's voice. They were both waiting for that voice.
Her face scrunched up slightly, the tornado was getting stronger. But her eyes widened when she heard a voice, that was not hers or Cale's.
"I regret it."
It was a different voice compared to the Gluttonous Priestess's.
"Ahem, I regret it."
It was a sad old man's voice.
She sighed. First an obnoxious priestess, and now a sad, sad old man. I wonder who will be next. She rolled her eyes. Why did Taylor think his voice is sincere? It's not.
"You two, with the power that I am familiar with, I am hoping that you do not get this power."
You two, she thought. Good, that means I can also get it. But something else struck her as weird. With the power that he is familiar with? Her face scrunched up again, the wind was getting stronger. The sound of the wind clashing onto the shield only grew stronger, her hair was a fluttering mess behind her. What power do both Cale and I have? Is he talking about the Indestructible Shield? Did this old man know the Gluttonous Priestess? Too many thoughts were filling her head. She ignored it, only pressing forward.
"I pretty much betrayed my comrades! I was a terrible person! Ahem, I stayed alive on my own and got old. How shameful am I?"
Pretty damn shameful, she thought, annoyed at his whining voice. She would not have wanted to be alone in the world, but to be alive? It is the best thing ever. She has had too many attempts on her life to not value living. But she could not focus on that, she had to get closer to the middle. But it was difficult to even take one step. Cale was having as much difficulty as she was.
"I was always hoping for everyone to come back to life. However, my wish was something that could not be achieved. I could only lament and cry! That was why I could not finish my rock tower."
"How annoying," Adara and Cale muttered. It seemed they both thought his lamenting voice to be annoying. Fuck sincere, she thought, sincerely judging Taylor's judgment of character. He sounds like he wants to die. Adara can't say she hadn't thought about it, in the four years she was gone, in the four years she refuses to talk about. But she found she wanted to outlive her enemies, not give them the satisfaction of getting rid of her. Epicureans are more my style.
She took a step closer to Cale, trying to minimise the space between them so it was easier to protect them.
"This restoration strength is useless. It is only capable of protecting myself. It is not helpful in any other way. I am trash!"
She rolled her eyes. People take the insult of 'trash' way too seriously. You could be called trash for everything and anything. And Adara had done everything and anything to be called trash. But wanting to live? How does that make you trash? I just want to live. I want to not die. And yet he is calling me trash. How absurd. Her gaze focused on the centre of the tornado. It is so close. Five more steps. Just five more steps.
The sound of the wind clashing became stronger. It was hurting her ears. But she realised something while trying to take another step.
"I did not die even when the wind cut me like a sharp blade."
She let out a snort. "You Ancient Power Owners are all so fucking chatty." She looked at Cale, they both had the same idea. They both curled up, decreasing the size of the shield. It was smaller but stronger. It was now easier to push through the wind.
They took one step.
"Restoration is a cursed power."
Two steps.
"My heart was always beating. But I could not move on."
Three steps.
"It was because I was afraid of death."
Four steps.
"I was afraid of pain because I had always been injured, and I was even more afraid of death, the end of that pain."
Finally, Cale and Adara took the last fifth step.
It was quiet inside the windless area. It sounded like it was raining around them. The wind from outside was swarming the area around the calm centre they were in. "The Eye of the Storm," she muttered, but even that seemed too loud. She summoned her shield back into her heart, the holy silver light that had engulfed her and Cale disappearing. It seems peaceful here.
The annoying old man's voice invaded her ears. "I chose to throw everything else away so that I could continue to live." And his voice did not come another time.
And I will gladly do the same. Except, she hesitated. Maybe not everything.
She and Cale looked at each other. Viciously sly smiles rested on both of their faces. They crouched down in front of the half-completed rock tower. It looked like a normal rock tower, except for the fact all the rocks were black. As black as the Man-Eating Tree. Also, like the Man-Eating Tree, these rocks have existed since Ancient Times, so they were very different from normal rocks, just like the wind surrounding this area was not normal.
"He did not give us many options to make it aesthetically pleasing," she mentioned, inspecting a square-like rock on one side but oval-shaped on the other. They were going to make it nice and pretty but as soon as they saw the rocks they changed their minds.
"Not at all," Cale replied, another rock in his hand. He sighed, stacking the rocks with the help of Adara.
One rock at a time, the Rock Tower grew in size. It did not take long. Even Taylor had completed this part quickly. But Cage, who could not come in this windless centre, and instead waited outside, suffered quite a bit. This central area was a place where only one person could enter, supposedly. But Adara had managed to get in, and she could still not fully understand it. But she did not think too hard about it.
Cale picked up the last black rock and gently put it on top of the Rock Tower. At that moment, the black rocks slowly turned white. Cale and Adara got up from their sitting positions, staring at the area outside their windless one. The wind was dying though. No longer was the sound of the wind clashing onto the walls. She could even hear the confused noise the dragon made. She turned back to the Rock Tower, now they had to listen to the old man.
"I tried to fight with them. However, I did not know that I was so weak against pain. They were not people who served the lord. I only realized that after we all went our separate ways and I ended up alone."
The words of the old man piqued her interest. What had the Gluttonous Priestess said? The words flooded into her head. 'The people in the Forest of Darkness who called themselves Servants of the Lord only gave me terrible food'. Her chest became heavy with an unexplainable feeling. Adara and Cale both felt, at that moment, as if they had learned something they shouldn't have known. Something they should never tell anyone else. They both frowned.
Because only Cale and Adara could hear the voice, the dragon hesitated as he stared at the two weak beings who were silently staring at a white rock tower.
"I piled the rocks. I piled them up hoping that I could turn back time, hoping that I could be happy. But then I destroyed it. I hated my selfish self for thinking about my own happiness after betraying my comrades and running away."
He should not have left his comrades, Adara thought. But he should not feel guilty either. He is a good person, at least on the inside.
"It is human nature to be selfish," Cale and Adara said.
The old man was quiet for a couple seconds and Adara and Cale thought it had ended. They thought he had reached the end of his story.
But no, the old man started sobbing. "Ahem. My older sister said the same thing. She was a really wonderful older sister. She was more reliable than anybody else. Ah, my older sister." He sobbed some more.
Adara was getting impatient. She would've felt empathy if he was still alive, or if it had happened recently. But he had died in Ancient Times, more than 10.000 years ago. She felt no empathy, only impatience.
"I'm going to go crazy," Cale mumbled from beside her. She agreed. He was tapping his foot on the ground impatiently and she found the tapping noise more interesting than the old man's sobbing.
After a while, the crying subsided, and he started speaking again. "You two, both of you with the familiar power. You are both so rude. That rude personality of yours makes me think of my older brother. I am very envious of how rude you are." He paused. "I do not know how you both got the power. But it does not matter." He then said the words that they were waiting for.
"Break it. Both of you. Then you will overcome your limits.
~~~
[F̶u̶n̶ Fact]: Long ago, Adara was practising her telekinesis by lifting her dinner plate up and down. It was perfectly fine since she always ate dinner alone when she was that age. But the problem was that she had just learned telekinesis that day, and she tried testing her limits. She accidentally broke the plate onto the floor, making a mess of it. She couldn't throw it away anywhere, so she fervently searched for a book that would explain how to get rid of stuff. That specific spell however was outreaching her abilities. So she spent all night practising it, to get rid of the mess on the floor, she got it in the early hours of the morning. She thinks of the memory sometimes, laughing on the inside at how nervous she was to get rid of a mess on the floor when she could've just lied to one of the servants as to how it happened and been done with it.