From Moving Crates to Killing Gods-Chapter 74: Two Lakes

Under the morning light the wasteland looked a little monotonous, a landscape of rocks and sparse vegetation. We’d been traveling for hours toward the fourth outpost, our feet dragging against the soil and our minds alert for danger.

There were more interesting sections in the wasteland where multiple ruins could be seen, but here the landscape was as boring as it could get.

I pulled out my notebook during our rest, flipping to the page where I’d sketched the pattern for the Sense spell. Twenty small spheres stared back at me from the page, deceptively simple in appearance yet maddeningly difficult to maintain in my mind simultaneously.

After mastering Mend, I thought this would be easier, but Intelligence at level 14 apparently wasn’t enough to hold twenty distinct magical constructs in perfect harmony, or I was missing something.

"Still working on that?" Kira asked, settling beside me on a flat rock. She wiped sweat from her brow.

"It’s driving me insane." I said, tapping my finger against the page. "Pulse was a simple sphere. Quickstep was three complex spheres. Mend was one sphere but incredibly intricate. This is twenty simple spheres, but I can’t keep the mental image of that many things at once."

"Why twenty?" she asked, looking over my shoulder at my drawings.

I shrugged. "The book doesn’t explain anything about it, just the actual how. Twenty spheres because the dude that made the spell liked that number, I suppose."

"And you really think this spell will help more than the others?" Her tone was curious.

"Mend was practical for training. This is practical for survival." I closed my eyes, trying again to visualize the pattern. "If I can detect Corruptors before they’re close to us, we’d gain another advantage over them."

Also learning spells just to increase my intelligence would be useful nonetheless.

The spheres began to form in my mind, one, two, three, four. Each a perfect orb of mental energy. I could feel them hovering in my consciousness, their surfaces smooth and uniform. Five, six, seven... The concentration required was immense, each new sphere I implemented after seven, threatened to destabilize the others. Eight, nine...

A firm pressure built behind my eyes. The world started tilting slightly as if I were standing on unstable ground. A faint ringing snuck into my ears.

"You’re swaying." Kira said quietly.

I blinked hard, steadying myself, only then realizing my nails had dug into the notebook. My jaw ached from how tightly I’d been clenching it.

"I’m fine." I muttered, forcing my breathing to even out. "Just strain."

Across our small resting area, Phinyx sat cross legged, eyes closed in meditation. Coco was checking our water supplies, frowning at the diminishing levels in our canteens. Finn stood at the perimeter, eyes scanning the horizon for threats or landmarks.

"We should move." Finn called over his shoulder. "We’ve still got a lot of ground to cover, and we can only work when the sun’s out"

I nodded, closing my notebook and tucking it away. The Sense spell would have to wait. Despite all my progress, despite my intelligence reaching level 14, some challenges remained stubbornly beyond my grasp. It was humbling to realize that even with everything I’d achieved, there were still limits to what I could do.

We resumed our journey, the terrain gradually changing as we moved further from Argent. The rocky ground gave way to softer soil, and occasional patches of new vegetation appeared, plants with leaves that curled away from our approach, flowers that seemed to pulse with an internal rhythm.

"This area feels different." Kira observed, kneeling to examine a cluster of plants. "I can feel a lot of water moving below here, there’s a water source nearby."

"Water." Finn said with expectation, his head tilting slightly. "So there’s water ahead, and silver. Though it’s... strange, it feels a little different."

"Water would be good." Coco said, shaking his nearly empty canteen. "We’re running low, and I am dying of thirst."

We adjusted our course, following Kira’s direction toward the water source. The vegetation grew thicker as we approached, the strange plants giving way to more familiar reeds that typically grew near water. The ground beneath our feet became softer.

Then we saw it. Two lakes, one filled with normal water and another lake filled with dark water, its surface perfectly still and reflecting nothing, not even the cloudy sky above.

The dark lake was much smaller than the one we’d encountered during our exile, but it was almost identical, a pool of liquid darkness that seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it.

"Another one." Finn whispered, a tremor in his voice.

We all remembered the last time we’d seen such a lake. During our exile, we’d used our abilities... or rather we just stole a boat to cross the dark surface. But halfway through the lake we awoke a massive snake like creature.

"We need the water." I said finally, breaking the silence. "Just be careful with the dark lake, don’t get near it. Who knows what would happen if you fell inside."

Coco approached the edge of the normal lake, he was probably really thirsty. He knelt and began carefully refilling our canteens.

I took the opportunity to pull out my notebook again, determined to make progress on the Sense spell while the others were occupied. Twenty spheres. It was simple with individual spheres, but a nightmare when more got added to the mix. I closed my eyes, trying a different approach. Instead of building them one by one, I imagined all twenty simultaneously, like points of light arranged in a sphere around me.

One, two, three... they came into existence in my mind. Four, five, six... holding steady, but taking most of my concentration. Seven, eight... my head began to pulse. Nine, ten... sweat ran down my temple. Eleven, twelve... the pressure built behind my eyes. Thirteen...

"Allaran!" Finn’s urgent voice shattered my concentration. "Something massive is moving inside the dark lake!"