Path of Dragons-Chapter 58Book 9: : The Glyph

“My mom would be so angry,” Elijah muttered, holding the small shaving mirror at arm’s length as he used it to inspect the results of his labor. The glyph had been burned into his chest, and though he couldn’t make any sense of what it meant, he could feel the ethera circulating through it.

“Why?” asked Oscar, who sported a similar marking on his own chest, though it wasn’t visible beneath his ragged shirt. Even the dogs had gotten one.

Elijah shrugged. “You know what? I have no idea. I never actually asked her. But she hated tattoos,” he admitted. It was an old-fashioned opinion, though after her death, Elijah had shunned body art because of his mother’s disdain. She never actually judged anyone for having tattoos – at least not so far as Elijah knew – but she’d made it clear that she would never even consider getting one for herself. She didn’t even pierce her ears.

“I remember when Alyssa – my sister – got her ears pierced when we were in high school,” Elijah said with a shake of his head. “Mom was so angry, but she never screamed or complained or anything like that. She just radiated disapproval. Alyssa was so stubborn that she went the next day and got more piercings. She even got a tattoo during college, but I never saw it.”

“What about you?” Oscar asked.

Elijah shook his head. “My body is a temple,” he proclaimed. Then, he added, “I was way too scared of my mom to go against her. And then there was a car crash and…I just…I don’t know. I just never felt right about anything like that. Maybe she rubbed off on me. Or it might’ve been because I didn’t want to dishonor her memory? I don’t know. When I say it out loud, it seems kind of dumb.”

“I met a woman who could give tattoos that could enhance things like Regeneration,” Oscar revealed. “I bought one, but it disappeared when I reached the next stage of body cultivation.”

“That’s kind of cool. Maybe she has a Tattoo Artist class.”

“Had. Their village was raided by bandits a few weeks after we left. When we came back two months later, it was abandoned.”

“Oh.”

“We killed the bandits.”

“I…do you want to talk about it?”

Oscar shook his head, his hand settling onto Jackson’s head, which in turn, rested on the man’s lap. “They weren’t good people,” he answered. “They deserved to die.”

“Does that happen a lot?” Elijah asked. “Bandits, I mean.”

He’d encountered a few situations like that. The most recent example was Bloodrock Bay, which played host to pirates who terrorized the seas for thousands of miles. However, he’d also heard plenty of stories from people like Carmen that made it clear that many people had resorted to banditry in order to survive.

With a shrug, Oscar answered, “Sometimes. I don’t spend much time in towns. People don’t usually respond well to me. I think it’s the dogs.”

Elijah almost laughed, though he felt a little guilty for the urge. The dogs were easily the most approachable part of Oscar’s presence. They were adorable and friendly, and humans had long become conditioned to accepting canine companionships. The real problem was that Oscar looked – and smelled – like a homeless person. Which he was, as far as Elijah could tell. But he suspected that if Oscar took the time for self-grooming, the reception to his arrival in various towns would probably be a lot better.

But he didn’t say any of that.

Instead, he just nodded along and muttered something about unaccepting people. In the meantime, he looked around at his surroundings. Most of the pillars had been partially melted by the battle, but the pools of lava had cooled only a few minutes after the flamewrought duelist’s death. The environment was still swelteringly hot, but it was still safe enough to let them rest and recover.

Unfortunately, that had also given Elijah the opportunity to inspect the lone casualty of the battle.

He held up his Cloak of the Iron Bear and frowned as he looked through the holes that had burned through it.

“Damn.”

He’d already tried it on, and he’d discovered that none of the effects would activate. He’d outgrown the item’s attribute bonuses, but he knew he’d miss the Temperate trait. It had begun to waver a bit – especially in extreme environments – but it had still maintained enough usefulness in normal temperatures that he sorely regretted its loss.

However, measured against Jackson’s survival, he didn’t mind it so much.

“You’re so pitiful,” he said, reaching down to pet the almost hairless dog. Jackson whined, then shivered. “At least you’re healed, though.”

He let out a bark, and three other dogs joined in. Before Elijah knew it, he was mobbed by happy animals. That one of them was almost entirely hairless was irrelevant.

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For a while, Elijah just sank into the simple pleasure of a dog’s enthusiastic companionship. While, the pack might have been hyperintelligent – for canines, at least – they were still dogs. And dogs loved people, especially when those people usually came bearing treats and affection.

As it turned out, Elijah needed that catharsis, and probably more than he cared to admit.

But in the end, he could only enjoy it for so long before the reality of their situation came back to bite them. So, when the area started to heat up, he pushed the dogs away and said, “I think we probably need to get out of here sooner rather than later.”

Oscar agreed, and as Elijah tugged on his shirt, he scouted the way back. Unfortunately, that meant they would need to endure the same dangers that had haunted their way to the top. Before they got going, Elijah took a look at his status, noting that he’d gained two levels since entering the Primal Realm. It wasn’t the rate of progression he’d found in the Chimeric Forge, but it was still quite an impressive feat.

Doubtless, Oscar and the dogs had gotten more, if only because lower levels tended to go faster than the ones that followed.

Regardless, it wasn’t long before they were once again battling their way across bridges of fire. However, this time, everyone was far better at controlling their ethera, so the journey was a lot easier on the return trip. What wasn’t easier was swimming through lava, which necessitated a significant recovery period for the dogs.

Elijah spent that time cultivating.

He knew that if he was going to take the next step, he needed to be able to hold his ethera perfectly still for an indefinite period of time. He could keep it dormant for hours – maybe even days – at a time. But eventually, it would break free of his control. In that respect, it was much like holding his breath, and to his annoyance, he hadn’t quite progressed to the point where he could simply do without.

After a couple of hours, during which a couple of the dogs had joined him, the time to depart came. And so, they began their journey down the stairs until, at last, reaching the temple.

There, they found a surprise.

A group of fire giants were camped within the confines of the chaotic structure.

“Giving up, eh?” barked one with a laugh. He was the largest among them, and clearly the highest level. “Soft.”

“Sure,” Elijah said. “We’re not big, strong giants like you.”

“You mock us?” the giant demanded, pushing himself to his feet. Despite the heat, they’d been gathered around a campfire that danced above an inscribed stone. It burned no fuel, so Elijah could only surmise that it was the result of some form of artifice.

“I would never,” he responded, sarcasm dripping from every word.

The giant started forward, but one of his companions grabbed his arm. Elijah heard a few whispers and the word cindrandir, and with each passing second, the fire giant’s coal-black face went slack.

Not one to let an opportunity to pass, Elijah said, “And just so you know, we passed this test. So, good luck with it.”

With that, he and the pack headed to the other side of the temple, where they settled down to continue their recovery. The combination of the descent and the lava swim had taken it out of the dogs, and only Escobar seemed unaffected. Elijah summoned Blessing of the Grove and, after dishing out some food, went back to his cultivation.

He felt like he was on the verge of passing an important milestone, but he just couldn’t quite figure out what that might be. Still, he continued to follow the same pattern of dragging ethera into his channels, where he held them perfectly still. As he did so, he became painfully bloated, but he refused to stop until he felt his channels on the verge of rupturing. Once there, he simply stopped everything.

The flow of ethera ceased. His apertures closed. And his entire body remained entirely inert. Even his heart stopped beating.

Seconds turned to minutes. Minutes, to hours. It was only a day later when, at last, he released his hold. Even as a sense of euphoric freedom enveloped him, the local ethera went wild, disturbing the dogs sitting beside him. They’d been mimicking his technique, and the sudden disturbance interrupted their efforts. That, in turn, added more chaos to the mix.

Bits of ethereal lightning manifested as the disparate attunements clashed. The localized storm only lasted a few seconds, but Elijah felt that the power it created was incredibly dangerous.

Indeed – it reminded him of the Maelstrom outside, though far less potent.

“Sorry,” he said to the distressed dogs. Sophie barked at him. Freddy joined in. Knowing how to make amends, Elijah grabbed a couple of hunks of dried whale meat from his satchel and tossed it to them. Of course, that brought the others’ attention, so he fed them as well.

Oscar ruined the fun by saying, “You spoil them.”

“Not arguing otherwise,” Elijah admitted. “Dogs are meant to be spoiled. Like kids.”

“Children are not meant to be spoiled.”

“Agree to disagree. So long as I don’t have to deal with sugar-induced manic episodes, I mean.”

Oscar just shook his head.

After a little while longer, Elijah asked, “So, are we ready to head to the next one?”

As he spoke, he pointed to a spot on the map. It was only a couple of inches away, but given the scale, it meant they’d likely need quite a while to reach their destination. And given the conditions outside, it would doubtless prove quite an onerous a journey. Still, it was one they needed to undergo, and delaying wouldn’t make it any easier. With that in mind, once Oscar agreed it was time to go, they wasted no more time before once again forging into the outer bands of the Elemental Maelstrom.

However, to Elijah’s surprise, the effects weren’t quite as destructive. His first idea was that his recent advances – and the attribute bonuses that came with them – had pushed him over a threshold. It had happened before, and it wouldn’t have been surprising if he’d done so again. However, it didn’t take him long to discard that idea and settle on something even more obvious.

Wyrk had explained that the purpose of the glyphs was to allow them safe passage through the maelstrom, but Elijah had assumed that the effect wouldn’t take hold until they had the whole set. Clearly that wasn’t the case, which suggested that, as they conquered each temple, they would gain the ability to move more freely through the Elemental Maelstrom.

As relieving as that was, Elijah couldn’t allow himself to dwell on it. After all, the elemental forces swirling through the atmosphere were still quite deadly, and he needed to focus on the task at hand. Otherwise, he would fall behind in his healing, and the dogs might be grievously wounded.

With that in mind, he hunched his back and trudged toward the next challenge. The trip took a little longer than anyone anticipated, so it was three days before they caught sight of a change in the terrain. At first, it was just a glimmer on the horizon, but soon enough, it manifested into an enormous body of water that he knew played host to the next temple.

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