^ Chimera mountain
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Mikyla groaned as she tried to pick apart the riddle. She'd asked Sam so many times to repeat it that she swore that she could perform the whole rap, acoustics included, yet none of it made sense. Each line seemed to tangle further than the last into a Gordian knot of befuddlement and a Chinese finger trap simultaneously.
With a heave a distraught, Mikyla shook her head as she pointed at Sam to cue the riddle once again. She scrolled over word by word in her head as Sam made an orchestra out of the whole thing but the words just kept blurring and the more she tried to unravel the meaning, the more she got lost in the semantics.
"Why can't I get it?" Mikyla forced every syllable through gritted teeth. "The last riddle was so much easier. In hindsight everything makes sense with the hallucinations and desires not to mention the obvious warning about the two paths with one being dusted with brazen! But I can't get this riddle at all! I mean, what does 'a nurtured shrike' have to do with lightning? Isn't that a giant bird?"
"What about the fire riddle?" Sam offered lightly. He tried to remain upbeat in the situation but the erratic terrain in companionship with the stress emanating from Mikyla was causing him to become slightly frazzled. "You know, the first one. Could you solve that?"
"The one where you fainted after running?" Mikyla smirked, the creases of her upper lip foreign on the solemn face.
"Fainted?" Sam feigned shock. "How could a Noble like myself faint from a tiny bit of physical exertion? I'm not a Dregblood!"
Mikyla rolled her eyes. "You'd be surprised how nimble Drows can be."
"Heh, yeah coming from the Dreglover." Sam had a glint in his eyes. "I mean, you did seem pretty surprised when that Drow Lavender punched you in the face."
"Shut up!" Mikyla flushed red and despite annoyance of intermittent darkness, she was glad that the light wasn't frequent enough. She just wished she could have a hint of some sort. Being accustomed to the darkness and then being blinded for the cycle to repeat itself indefinitely wasn't something she was getting used to. On the contrary, the small irk only seemed to get worse with time like a leaky ceiling dripping slowly but surely, on and on, pushing the limits until oblivion.
"Yeah, well." Sam shrugged. "All we have to do is find a portal, right? If we can find the portal without the riddle than it's a win and if we find the portal with the riddle it's still a win. I say, stuff the riddle and just look for the portal."
"That'd be nice and all but- it's hardly likely that we'll just stumble upon the portal."
"The portal that looks like a spiral?"
"Yeah."
"A faint blue tinge that flashes with a faint cooling glow?"
"Yeah."
"A swirling disk that has an amniotic trance to it?"
"Yeah." Mikyla repeated with slight annoyance. "You sound like you haven't seen one before. It's not exactly hard to miss but with the amount you can see or rather the amount you can't see in this realm, I suppose just searching for it would be-"
"Like that one over there?" Sam pointed over Mikyla's shoulder.
Sure enough, when the next lightning bolt struck, Mikyla caught a glimpse a blue pearl glinting in the distance. It looked so near but with the amount of mountainous silhouettes in the distance, she knew the trek would be a lot longer than she would have liked.
Mikyla shook her head in disbelief. "It looks like you've done it again."
"Huh?"
"First with the gryphons, I mean, I didn't expect them to just let us go by asking nicely, perhaps next time ask them to drop us down instead, but again, just by looking for the portal you found it. It's just incredible."
"Well..." Sam put both hands behind the back of his head. "I don't want to brag or anything but I am pretty amazing aren't I?"
"Pretty amazing at being a drama queen."
"Don't say it like that!" Sam poured.
"Let's get going then!" Mikyla sprang to her feet.
"Yeah." Sam agreed and again Mikyla couldn't help but smile at his positivity. He really was just like Sade but she hated to be around him.
She hated it because he was too familiar yet too different. She hated him because as much as she wanted to loathe his guts for all the slander, incompetence and transgression, she just couldn't. She hated him because he made her purpose for being.
Shaking her legs, Mikyla felt the blood start to circulate once again throughout her body and wash away her harbored thoughts. Mulling over the riddle hadn't given her any clues and like Sam said, if they could get to the portal without it then it was still a win. Nonetheless, she was certain there was more to it than a hiking trail, after all, the first trial was being almost burned alive and the second was being plucked as food for flying beast. She just hoped whatever it was, she would survive. But then again- that was the whole point of the test.
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Streaks of amber flooded across the sky as if burning the blackness that swallowed it soon after. A raging battle with cries of thunder fueling the fight, Mikyla felt that the more they climbed the mountain, the closer they got to the nexus of the war between gods. Lightning bolts struck the earth more often than not and Mikyla was only thankful for what seemed to be Sam's impregnable luck. How they had not been electrocuted so far was anyone's guess but as sparks caused geysers of molten rock to decorate their path, Mikyla crossed her fingers that the natural world was their only danger.
As the duo slowly ascended the obsidian mountain to the portal that seemed ever out of reach, Mikyla's fear wasn't the only thing that manifested itself as hazardous weather and sporadic terrain. The land had remained barren and desolate for the majority of their quest, the only company being the remnants of what used to be a forest, the ashen wood a reminder of the first fiery realm.
Thirst gradually became a threat, physically and mentally where Mikyla had more than once mistaken a patch of molten rocks to be an oasis that haunted her. Each time the same figure arose - a shadow of her past, yet not. The same ebony skin tone that encompassed the hollow-prosaic eyes. The same unsnarled hair that framed the cold hardened face. The same person she was but not the same. The person she had hoped would lay dormant in the crevices of her nightmares.
Despite Sam's detached yet reassured manner to the trials, his confidence in the test as a healthy part of life was something that more than ruffled Mikyla's feathers. As they delved deeper into the lightning realm, he didn't fail to point out the chilling figures that posed as shadows whenever they sky was benevolent to illuminate their struggle ahead. It was as if the surroundings were pruned to create ghoulish silhouettes and the more Sam brought them to light, the more Mikyla's unease rose to the surface. It wasn't that Mikyla feared the shadows themselves; it was what Mikyla feared they could become. It wasn't the angst of being alone- it was the fear that they weren't.
On cue, another fork of lightning stabbed the earth just to the side of Mikyla, showering her in ashen debris. The fizzling light caused Mikyla to cower behind shaded eyes but as the static afterglow subsided, Sam was quick to point out yet another fiendish obscurity.
"Look Mika, that one looks like a snake!"
Mikyla frowned. "Sam will you just stop with your shadow watching? Besides it looks more like a lion than a snake."
"Huh, whadya know? I guess you're right." Sam paused for the anticipated following rumble of thunder. "I guess it does kind of look like a lion but perhaps more like a griffin now?"
"What?" Mikyla pinched her nose in disbelief. Shadows didn't change like a non-Newtonian fluid. "Sam, what are you trying to pul-"
Another wave of a deafening roar cut Mikyla off but this time it didn't have the same smoothness of thunder. This time, the roar was harsher and jagged, almost paralyzing.
"Sam," Mikyla began as her throat tightened with familiar anxiety. "What was th-"
Suddenly, another prong of lightning answered Mikyla's question. She watched as the shadow slowly flickered into existence, its tail a serpent and its muzzle open wide, atramentous fangs scabrous and serrated. Mikyla willed her eyes to follow the path to its origin and stared death in the face as they realized they weren't alone. They were met by a chimera.
"Sam," Mikyla's voice quivered. "Don't make any sudden mo-"
It was too late. Sam was already dashing towards the thickets of cauterized woodland, Mikyla finding herself soon following suit as paws scratched the rocks behind her.
Mikyla felt herself being propelled forward by the sonic boom of the chimera's roar. Her muscles tightened as she lumbered down the path she came but she did not care if she retraced her step nor did she pay attention to the stakes of lightning burying themselves around her. She was running. She was doing something she finally felt she could accomplish. She knew she could run.
It was the blind leading the blind. With Sam's sense of direction, Mikyla could only rely on his absurd luck to not lead them astray. The mountain path curved into a spaghetti of small roads the nearer they reached the bottom and as Sam pelted his way in a zigzag, Mikyla began noticing scenery she had no witnessed before.
Were they lost?
It didn't matter. As long as the chimera was hot on their heels, it didn't matter one bit.
Branches snagged Mikyla as the thickets grew denser. The path underfoot was barely noticeable and Mikyla could only rely on the snapping of twigs and the breath of death behind her to act as her compass. Sam had taken a winding path into what seemed like the heart of the woodlands and in the gloom the shadows appeared to elongate as of trying to snatch the Nobles as prey.
"Shadows..." Mikyla scrambles her mind. The word was familiar and as her feet drummed a steady rhythm against the floor, her memory was jogged.
Ideals with action, but a pitiful shadow, of the worlds true like
"Split up!" The words flew out of Mikyla's mouth as soon as the plan formed in her mind and with that she took a dive to the left in the hopes Sam would take the right.
It worked. Mikyla could hear the beast chasing after her. All she had to do now was face it. Face it with courage. Face it with bravery that the fire trial was all about.
Twitching her fingers, Mikyla stopped and turned, digging her heels into the ground. She stared down the chimera as it pounded towards her, its jaw flared open to reveal a row of razored fangs so large it almost blocked out the rest of its body. Mikyla gulped as she worked out she only had a few seconds left but as another sheet of lightning exploded into the grim sky, instinct took over.
With a flash, Mikyla's magic tome was unsheathed and with the same glow from before, it flickered to a page that was needed most.
Phoenix Fire
Mikyla licked her lips as she began to chant, the words once again dancing off the tip of her tongue, distracting her from the oncoming hound. The beast snarled in retort to the spell but Mikyla did not falter until the final word was said and a wall of fire erupted between them.
The fire spiraled in the pattern Mikyla ordered, its glow casting shadows along the forest floor. The shadows stretched and mingled, creating shapes that terrorized Mikyla herself. She heard the chimera roar in fear too and the sudden army of demons and with a push of mana, Mikyla commanded the longest flame to pillar towards the chimera, casting a looming hand, claws larger than the beast instead. The chimera ran.
Through the flickering flames, Mikyla watched as the chimera vanished into the darkness until she realized the pain her chest. Wincing, Mikyla breathed hard as she drained the fire of its life force, surprised as she felt tendrils of energy slowly start to trickle into her.
Suddenly, a snap sounded from behind Mikyla and she spun around, tome at the ready.
"Woah!" Sam placed his hands up, barely visible in the embers that fizzled where the firewall once stood. "That was so cool! How did you think of it?"
Mikyla shook her head slowly amazed at how quick Sam's attitude could change. Of course, he never believed he was in any real danger to begin with.
"The riddle..." Mikyla sighed as she slid down to lean against a tree. "I told you they're important."
"I guess you're right but-" Sam paused as he lifted a finger towards a tree in the distance. "Hey look! A snake! I thought this place didn't have any animals in it."
Mikyla blinked and sure enough, with another flash of lightning, Mikyla saw the outline of a snake before her eyes widened.
"Uhhh Sam..." Mikyla gulped. "Chimeras are part Snake too, right?"
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Word Count for Chapter 20: 2259
Total Word Count: 32894
Authors Note:
Hope you liked the UNEDITED chapter 20! Don't forget to press on those magical stars to light up Mikyla's future path and leave a comment telling me what you like so far or what you don't like. Thanks for reading so far.
Happy reading
~ Dracollavenore