Turning to his side, Kael pushed through a narrow crack in the collapsed cave wall.
'I must be reaching the center of the mountain soon.'
What was meant to be a short trip to inspect the troll cave had turned into something tedious. He had been walking for well over three hours now, almost in a straight line toward the heart of the mountain.
It was dark, cold, and perhaps nerve-wracking for a normal Luminaire, but Kael found it almost amusing. There was a strange comfort in knowing that hundreds of meters of stone separated him from the outside world.
He gave one final push and squeezed through the tight space. The moment he took his next step, his foot sank deeper and then deeper.
Kael's gaze snapped to the ground below.
"Huh?"
The silence around him broke, replaced by the rush of air surging past his ears. The wind grew stronger with every heartbeat. It was not the air that was moving. It was Kael, falling.
He twisted his body, showing flexibility far beyond that of a mortal, and locked eyes on the golden rod floating where he had once stood. He flicked his finger once, sharply. The rod responded at once, bursting toward him with a speed that rivaled what he used in battle.
Barely a moment passed before Kael reached out and caught it, gripping it firmly with his right hand.
"Ugh." A low grunt escaped his lips as the sudden halt of momentum tore at his muscles.
After confirming there was no immediate threat, he took a moment to assess his surroundings. Behind him rose the mountain wall, stretching as far up and down as the light could reach. In front of him lay only darkness.
'It's hollow?'
He looked around the open space, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a gold coin. He gave it a quick glance before letting it fall into the abyss. A moment passed, then another, before a faint metallic clang echoed through the vast space.
'Almost fifteen seconds…' He adjusted his grip on the rod. 'That would make the drop around a thousand meters.'
He made a mental note of the opening he had come through, then flicked his fingers again, signaling the golden rod to begin its descent.
The walls around him were solid rock, marked with thick cracks that spread like a spiderweb. Now that he was no longer walking, the silence deepened until all he could hear was the steady pulse of his own heartbeat.
'I should be reaching the final hundred meters soon.'
Having no idea what rested at the bottom, Kael had taken his time, choosing a slow descent instead of rushing.
"Can't wait to stand on solid ground again."
He turned his gaze downward.
From Kael's bird's-eye view, jagged silhouettes of rocks and trees began to take shape below him.
"There are even trees here?" He raised an eyebrow. "And a river?"
A river slithered along the ground like a serpent, glimmering faintly in a dim light.
'Should be close now… thirty meters left, perhaps?'
Just as he passed the thirty-meter mark, a strange sensation wrapped around his feet. It felt as though he were stepping into water, the cold pressure coiling around his legs.
Without warning, every instinct in his body screamed at once. With no time to think, Kael grabbed the golden rod and tried to pull himself back above the invisible line, but it was already too late.
Every muscle in his legs tightened as an unseen force began to drag him downward with the crushing weight of a mountain.
While the rod stood still in the air like a monolith, the pull had grown unbearable. Every muscle in Kael's body strained not to snap.
A sharp pain surged through him, and warm blood began to drip onto his face from above.
Kael clenched his jaw until his teeth threatened to crack. The skin between his index finger and thumb split open under the pressure, sending a hot sting through his arm.
"Tsk…"
He gritted his teeth again, this time out of frustration rather than pain. For a brief moment, he tried to hold on, but the strength in his hand was already gone.
And then he let go.
With nothing left to resist the pull, Kael snapped downward, plummeting with a momentum that should have been impossible in such a short distance.
The world around him blurred into streaks of darkness and stone. With no time to think or form a plan, he did the only thing that came to mind and activated Point Aegis mote.
Less than a second later, he hit the ground, feet first, then his back, then his head.
His skull slammed into a boulder with enough force to shatter bone, yet it was the stone that broke instead. A thunderous crack tore through the hollow as the boulder exploded into splinters that scattered across the cavern floor.
What came next was not silence or calm but a blinding detonation of white light, as if his very vision had been set on fire, his visual cortex flaring in agony. A piercing, high-pitched ringing flooded his ears, growing louder and sharper until it swallowed every other sound.
Then came the pain. Not a headache, but a concussion of agony so violent it felt like his skull might burst, the kind of pain that would drive any mortal mind into madness or self-destruction.
Yet through the storm of light, ringing, and searing pain, Kael remained conscious, his thoughts flickering like sparks in a furnace, refusing to go out.
"Arghh…"
Unable to move under the crushing pressure, he could only lie flat on the ground, fighting to keep his consciousness from slipping away.
But for better or worse, the pain soon faded, taking Kael's consciousness with it.
—
Barely able to open his eyes, Kael began scanning his surroundings as best he could. To his surprise, he could actually see something.
To his right, the serpent river flowed, splashing droplets into the air as it crashed against small rocks. The water glowed with a faint luminescence, casting a soothing green light across the cavern walls.
Kael's neck muscles tensed as he turned his head with immense effort.
As his head shifted, the crushing pressure that had been pressing down on his face began to ease. It was far from comfortable, but even the slightest relief made a difference.
He lay still for a moment, breathing heavily until his pulse finally steadied.
'Nothing broken?'
The thought surprised even him. He had released the golden rod fully expecting broken bones.
His gaze drifted toward the sharp rock fragments scattered in front of him.
'Seems like the Point Aegis mote saved me this time.' He sighed inwardly. 'I'll have to thank Emberveil Gale Demon Paragon, personally if I ever see him…'
With no other defensive mote, Kael had been forced to activate the only one he possessed: Point Aegis mote.
Its ability was simple, yet its applications were seemingly endless. The Point Aegis mote's defensive layer was rivaled by no other within its rank, even surpassing some rank five motes in durability. That alone made it extraordinary.
A rank two mote outperforming rank fives was absurd, yet not entirely impossible. After all, it was a mote once wielded by a Paragon in their younger days, and anything less than remarkable would never have been used by one of them.
But like everything, heaven made sure it had its flaws. While the mote allowed Kael to crush a boulder with his head and live, its weakness lay in that very design. The Point Aegis could only harden select parts of the user's body at a time, depending on their command. A hand, an arm, a leg, or in Kael's case, his head.
And while it could make the skin nearly impenetrable, it could not protect what was within. The organs, the blood, the fragile bones still suffered to some extend beneath the surface.
Kael opened his eyes, gazing lazily at the luminescent river.
'In this case, a rank two mote that could defend the entire body would have done a better job.'
Even so, the Point Aegis was by no means weak. Its strength was undeniable, worthy of a Paragon's use. Its simplicity made it flexible, and because of that same simplicity, its cost was negligible. Kael could not have asked for a mote more suited to him.
While Kael could usually estimate the time through intuition, that sense had fallen into shambles the moment he lost consciousness. With no sight of the sun, unease began to build within him.
Even so, he managed to push it aside.
'Is this caused by a Luminaire? Or perhaps a natural phenomenon? No… that can't be. I've never read about anything like this. There's no way I'd miss something this major. But a Luminaire? How could that be possible? This map hasn't been used in over five hundred years. Why would anyone come down here? And the entrance… it's a thousand-meter drop.'
Unable to move, Kael was forced to do the only thing he could. Think.
'There aren't many who could climb down that. So, a Luminaire? But they'd have to fly. I've never heard of a Luminaire capable of flight below rank three… so is that it? This forcefield was created by someone above rank three? That is, if it was even made by a human. No… wait. There's flowing water. There has to be another way in.'
Kael's perception of time grew even more distorted as he began theorizing, creating ideas only to destroy them moments later.
He was brought back to reality when he tried to turn, only to realize he could not move, as if frozen in time.
'Well, whatever it is, it'll have to wait.'
Just as he was about to start analyzing the strange pressure weighing down on him, he felt a deep vibration travel through the ground.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
His eyes snapped toward a nearby tree crown, watching as the leaves trembled and danced with each heavy impact.
His expression turned cold.
Something was coming.