CHAPTER 38: Cold Wind Blows...
On our way back we received a quest update,
Objective Complete! “Spooky Ghost Stories: The Bennington Triangle” – Objective Completed: “Big Feet”— Find where the mysterious Bigfoot hides.
I met eyes with Brenden who received the same notification based on his body language, “Now what?”
He looked only somewhat relieved, “I ponder that as well, Sir Rrrick.”
We paused, waiting for another notification, but it never came.
“Well, I guess we meet up with them and brainstorm.” I said as we continued our trek.
When the final side-quest was completed we were hoping our main objective would reveal itself through the system, but of course, we weren’t so lucky. We reached town before the others and took a seat in “Ye Ole Townhall”.
Within an hour or two, Cole and his group finally returned. Cole entered the building first, excited to see us, “Hey guys! I saw you were busy... Where’s Jim?”
The room grew heavy. To my left, Brenden’s head fell and his body sagged as he fought back tears.
Cole knew it already, but he needed to hear it.
“We lost him to The Stalker. I stored his body in my inventory. We were going to bury him in here but it doesn’t feel right. I don’t know what happens when you close a dungeon, but he deserves to go home.” I answered.
Cole looked confused and angered, “You stored his body in your fucking inventory?!”
I approached my brother and the others attempting to answer softly, “Yes, I didn’t know if it was possible, but it’s better than letting his body rot or get torn apart outside while we figure this out. Do you have a better idea?”
Dejected, Cole looked down, “No... Sorry, Rick. Fuck!... He—he was a good kid.”
“Yeah, he really was.” I agreed, placing a hand on my brother’s shoulder, “We need to figure this shit out, come on everyone, sit. I cooked some Beast Venison up while we waited. Good shit, you guys try any yet?” I asked, receiving a gang of quiet no’s and head nods, “Woo, you are all in for a treat. Here, eat up and tell us about, big feet?”
Cole grinned as he took some venison, “Yeah, you’re a fucker you know that. Oh, man... This is some good shit, kid! What the hell do you have to kill for this?”
I chuckled, “Splitjaw Bucks and a Doe. The Doe’s are actually way more fucked up, so steer clear. So? I was right about something.”
Alice chimed in, moaning in delight as she spoke with a full mouth of steak, “Mmm... Yeah, you were! Not on the bare feet, but the calls.”
Cole interrupted, “Yeah… Stupid shit... We fought a few variations of Bigfoot’s and Yeti’s. Then—”
Alice stole the reins, cutting him off in return, “He’s acting like it was stupid but it worked, and he was having a blast. After cutting our way through a horde of them we found a Smallfoot on the other side of these broken trees and it led us back to their village.”
Cole, seeing the question on my face, added, “Yeah… A Smallfoot. A fucking baby Bigfoot, we killed it’s father, who was part of the horde. It was obvious this dungeon or whatever made them to fuck with our emotions. I swear, dumbest shit I’ve ever seen. He led us back to their home. They stay in giant wooden structures, shaped like feet.” Cole added shaking his head in irritation.
Brenden looked to me and I nodded for him to go ahead, “We also ran into a rrridiculous imitation as well. Not exactly what you dealt with, but just as bewildering. The Stalker, was a spoof on serial killer. And I mean cereal as in, C.E.R.E.A.L.”
The man standing quietly in the back spoke up, I think it was the first time I heard him say anything, “What a crock of shit.”
I butt into the conversation, “Yeah, I wasn’t too happy having to fight a blueberry and a corn flakes cereal mascot either, and those weren’t the only forms it took, but it isn’t a crockpot of shit, Mister?”
His demeanor changed instantly, “Oh, no. Sorry, I didn’t mean what he was saying was bullshit, I meant this entire thing is, sorry. And it’s Martin, Martin Beck.”
Martin looked to be around 45 years old, wearing ripped clothes so I assumed he was more front line fighter like myself, since Alice was their tank. He was a short guy with mahogany hair, all buzzed to the same short length.
“Rick Weston. Nice to meet’ya, Martin.”
“Same. So, now that we dealt with all of these ridiculous mysteries, why isn’t it finished so we can leave?” Martin asked, sounding and looking defeated.
The girl sitting beside Alice finally spoke up as well, “Hi, I’m uh, Brandi Billings. That’s Brandi with an i not a y, and well, we obviously need to solve one more mystery. Hopefully just one.”
“Nice to meet you Brandi,” I said waiting for Brenden to say something.
The wind outside picked up and the walls hummed with each gust.
I glanced at Brenden and already knew exactly why he hadn’t said anything, “This is my dear friend, B-Rend.”
He was staring innocently at Brandi. I could see the crush setting in before he said a word. Brandi was likely around Brenden’s age, but I couldn’t be sure. I felt like the more I age the younger everyone looks. She was short with an average build and natural golden-blonde hair, chopped at shoulder length. I say chopped because her hair looked like it was actually chopped with something other than scissors. Something must have grabbed onto her hair and she had to cut herself free, or she cut it before that happened.
“Achem. Yes, I’m Brenden, Brenden Bensen. Pleasure to meet you, ah both.” He finally croaked.
Her high pitch voice chirped back with a smile, “Nice to meet you, B-Rend!”
His face turned red at the smile and use of his nickname.
Before it got awkward for anyone I made sure to keep talking, “You’re right Brandi. There has to be another mystery, I feel like we’re just side-questing right now. ‘Kill these enemies, find this place.’ They aren’t the main objective.”
Debris blew into the room through the Bill-sized hole in the wall.
Cole spoke up, “If these are side quests, then what the hell would the main quest be?”
“I’m pretty sure we talked about everything we know. None of us are historians on Glastenbury. Who would be?” Alice said, having to speak up over the violent wind hammering the side of the building.
As everyone tried figuring out what we could have possibly missed, I felt something strange deep within my core.
I cast Manasight while walking outside.
“Rick!” Cole tried getting my attention, but I held my hand up for him to give me a minute and continued walking into the raging wind that was slowly turning into a thunderstorm.
I watched the Wind Mana fly through the air. The gusts came from every direction but the Mana within traveled differently. All of the Mana here traveled in the same direction, disregarding the natural wind.
It has to be something.
Multiple colors of Mana danced beside me, intrigued, I continued to watch.
A deep royal blue that I hadn’t seen yet made up most of the Mana. I watched as the darker color stretched from the ground, absorbing the light blue streaks that matched Brenden’s Ice Pebble. A calming yellow fell from above, swallowed up by the brilliant blue streaks that now stretched as high as the eye could see.
I stepped toward my private light show, almost missing the quick spike of power as the beam straightened into the sky.
CRACK!
I hopped backwards, narrowly avoiding the lightning strike.
“Whoa, that was neat. At least I won’t ever be hit by lightning if I have the spell running.” I walked back inside to an angry older brother who doesn’t like being shushed, a young friend who knew I was onto something, and a group of confused people who thought I was absolutely insane.
Brenden interrupted Cole before he could start another argument, “What mystery have you solved sir?”
I laughed before answering, “Nothing yet, but get ready to head out. I think I’m on to something.”
“What does that even mean? We aren’t going out into that mess on a hunch. Please, share more Rick.” Cole said, surprising me for once with a show of restraint.
“If I’m right then we should all get a quest update when I voice it. If I’m wrong, then you can all stay here while I go look into what I saw.” I made sure I had the rooms attention before continuing, “It has to do with the wind. I have an ability called Manasight, it let’s me see the ambient Mana throughout the environment.”
I received the notification as soon as I said it had to do with the wind. I saw everyone lose focus as well so I took a break to read the notification.
Quest Update! “Spooky Ghost Stories: The Bennington Triangle” – Main Objective Found: “Four Winds”—Solve the Mystery of The Four Winds
After a moment I continued, “Anyways, the wind Mana is acting odd, once it hits a solid surface it shoots straight up then travels in one direction.”
Cole’s attitude was nowhere to be found, “I never should have doubted you. That was always a mistake growing up and still is now I guess.”
“Let’s do it!” Brandi shouted.
“Indubitably!” Brenden followed.
Brenden and Brandi, is that why he has the crush? Because her name starts with a B? It’s definitely a factor. We’re gonna need to chat at some point.
“Alright. Come on.”
Martin stopped us before heading out, “What about Bill? If this is the last thing we do here, then we should figure out what to do with him now. We can’t leave him in here. Even though he is a dickhead.”
“I can try something. I was going to wait until we finished but I think you’re right. It may be best to do it now. I have Sheet Music that gets rid of certain status effects, it’s worked with the normal Dissonant before but he has a different type. I have no idea what it means, but let’s give it a shot.”
“Sheet Music?” Cole asked, “You don’t know how to read sheet music. At least not good.”
“Stats, bro.” I said, as we walked to the cabin where Bill was housed.
We found Bill lying awake in the center of the pentagram, “Grab him and drag him outside. I don’t know what that shit is but nothing can disrupt me until it’s over. Let’s go to the next cabin.”
“Of course Sir Rick!” Brenden responded grabbing the man by the rope between his hands and feet.
Brenden dragged Bill roughly down the steps then up the others with a smile as we moved to the next cabin with everyone following closely behind.
I didn’t waste anytime.
I started strumming as soon as I sat.
The performance was by no means as good as the previous, I suppose because I didn’t pour my emotions in as much as I did before, but it was still performed to perfection according to the system notification I received on completion. The song did something to Bill, once I reached Theme B he screamed in pain and didn’t stop until the song was complete.
He passed out when I started the Coda; I finished the song anyways, receiving the same notification and buff.
I walked up to Bill and attempted to check his player tag but I couldn’t pull it up, I nudged him with my foot a few times to try to wake him up.
Deep laughter filled the cabin and everyone around froze in fear, “Nice song. It was my sister’s favorite. You thought you could get rid of me, with a song? HA, HA, HA! This man offered his soul to me of his own free will. He received power, but not the kind he wanted.”
Everyone’s hair spiked as if we were locked in a charged static room, “Voldrix… What’s up buddy? What did you do to him?”
More laughter, “You think I’ll explain everything like a child? You think so lowly of me? HA, HA, HA!”
“Well yeah. I mean, you demons love hearing your own voice. You all love to monologue.” I said seriously, staring the demon down.
“Yesssss. We actually do. HA, HA, HA! This beacon is mine now, and I will have your family soon. I have a horde walking up that little hill of yours now.”
“No!” Screams erupted around me, I remained still as Cole removed a dagger and cut Bill’s head almost clean off.
The room was shocked into stillness and silence. I searched for words as I tried to figure out how my brother could do something like that to another human, “Why Cole? We could have tried again...”
“You just murdered Bill!” Martin yelled in panic.
A shaking Alice yelled at the same time, “What is wrong with you! Fuck!”
I asked why, but I knew why.
It’s his family up there, his children, his wife… I would kill a thousand evil fucks to get her back.
“Let’s go.” Cole said rushing out of the cabin covered in Bill’s blood.
Everyone looked to me, scared and confused. Brenden just looked disheartened as I spoke, “You guys, just, stay here. I’ll take him and go close this shit. We need to get out. He told Bill how to get to camp. That means, the Demon knows where his family is. Brenden I need a second.”
I beckoned Brenden to follow me outside then turned to him and whispered, “Hey, I need you to—,”
“Sir, you need not worry, I understand. I just wish he let us try again first, but I understand the urgency. I will take care of things here. Go, close this dungeon, I’ve had my fill of adventure.” Brenden said.
“Thanks B.” I said grasping his forearm to do the old medieval knight hand shake thing he enjoys.
Cole paced at the bottom of the hill and I yelled down pointing in the opposite direction, “This way!”
He followed me into the woods Northwest, it wasn’t 5 minutes before the disembodied voices started surrounding us.
“Turn back…Go away...Leave me be...” The words whispered on the wind. I kept Manasight engaged to keep heading the right way.
“Someone HELP!” The words were screamed from behind, trying to draw us away.
“Come on Rick!” Cole turned to start running toward the screams.
I ran to catch him and snagged his arm, “No. It’s bullshit Cole. Just stay with me. We need to finish this.” I instructed him, waiting until the anxiety died down in his eyes.
We walked in silence for another 15 minutes until Cole finally broke the uneasy reticent forest with an unusual hushed voice.
“I—I just killed him.” He sounded, haunted.
I looked back to my big brother, it was the first time I’d seen him shook in my entire life, “Yeah, ya did.”
He looked up at me with tears building in his eyes, “What else could I do?”
I shook my head in frustration. I know he was expecting to be coddled, but there’s no room for that in this world, not anymore, “I don’t know, not kill him? We could have tried the song again, or kept him tied up and let him go when we leave the dungeon. There’s always something else, but I don’t have the answers. I’m just as lost as you, but don’t let it haunt you. From the look of it, he was too far gone. It’s just, now we will never really know.” I took a deep breath and tried to be better for my brother, “Look, you’ll be aight. Let’s just get the fuck out of here and make sure everyone is safe. That’s all that matters right now.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
His vision hardened, “You’re right. Thanks.”
Whispers begged us to turn around, told us we were going the wrong way, and tried to jump-scare us into leaving. None of it worked. A few non-talking ghost mobs showed themselves. They appeared as lost hikers from afar, but close up they were ugly and decayed, wraith-like creatures.
They attacked with intangible axes or scythes that dealt psychic and cold damage. Their weapons passed through all of my own, so Two-Step was put to through the ringer. They stunned me the first few times I locked eyes with their glare, but Cole made quick work of them with his magic. Before, I wasn’t sure why he had chosen that class out of all the options available to him, but after seeing it in action, the class fit his style and personality perfectly. He used it to devastating effect
When he held up his hand, different runes appeared on the back of it or sometimes in the air in front. He spins through multiple elements and runes until accepting a combination, then is able to place them underneath or in front of enemies. Once touched by an enemy, the trap sets off a random magical explosion from the ground, the effect different based on the runes chosen. He had two other magical attacks that I believe were linked to his gear. One let him channel fire out of his staff like a flamethrower. The other sent out 3 small blazing white fields of lightning that crawled over the ground until hitting an enemy or whatever else they ran into.
We found more low-tier, throwaway weapons, and since Brenden can charge more than stone pebbles, I had a perfect use in mind for them.
I found a common pair of Iron Boots laid up in a hollow tree that sat right off the trail, the only reason I was able to spot them was thanks to Manasight. The boots had an armor rating of 15 and gave a 5% boost to movement speed, and 10% physical damage reduction. Nothing to write home about, but they were better than the torn sneakers I’ve been wearing.
I could tell we were finally closing in as the wind changed directions.
I lightened up to Cole after thinking more. I was spared from killing Linda, but I almost did out of anger which would have been worse than this. Plus, I could have stopped the killing blow on Bill.
I still don’t know why I didn’t.
We shared our adventures with each other so far. He told me how hard Dad pushed everyone to get stronger, which surprised me. I mean, the guy is 65, but apparently he was out looking to fight most of the day and he dragged everyone along with him. Cole blamed it on me being slow to get home but, fuck him.
We both gained a level, Cole finally hit 20 and I went to 25. He was indeed jealous of my stats but I had to believe there were others with much higher stats and better titles.
There has to be other titles that give boosts to stats gained per level, probably tons.
Cole had his own titles that empowered spells and his ability to work with magical items. He also had a title that boosted his Sage profession and helped with identifying higher level items.
As the chatting slowed, I cut off Manasight. There was no need for it anymore as we both took in our intense view.
In the distance was a wide, stationary tornado, taller than anything I’d ever seen.
Unlike a normal twister, there were no trees, no twigs, leaves, not even water or dirt inside of it. It was a clear tornado made of raw Mana, the wind was so violent that it needed nothing within to show how powerful it was. With Manasight engaged, the view took my breath away, it truly had a magical presence.
We approached a large field, empty of everything but the roaring wind and constant lightning strikes.
I turned to Cole, hollering over the screaming gale and booming thunder, “Stay here! If I need help I’ll wave my left arm! Left Arm!” I waved my left hand at him.
I turned on Manasight and stepped forward.
As soon as my skill responded I saw the telltale sign of future lightning strikes lighting my way, one was right on top of me.
I slid forward and to the right, avoiding the strike. I continued confidently through the storm, I don’t think the dungeon was prepared for someone to have the skill I possessed. I was glad I purchased it as it made steering through the massive lightning bolts easy as pie.
I wish Brenden was here to watch. Then he would see why it’s a good skill to have, little shit.
As I approached the twister the wind disappeared. It was as if there were a ten-foot wind barrier surrounding the Mana tornado. In the center of the tornado there looked to be, a statue of some sort? It was too difficult to make out what it was through the thick concentration of Mana. I reached into the twister, quickly yanking my hand back.
The wind shredded my entire arm down through the muscle. I popped a health potion and watched it heal.
The howling wind was deafening as I prepared myself for pain.
Fuck me.
I cast Retaliating Wind and Shell and stepped into the tornado.
I glanced over my shoulder to see Cole running into the field, thankfully he ran back into the woods when a lightning bolt slammed the ground in front of him.
Shell ran out in seconds as I fought against the wind, trying my best to create drag and anchor myself to the ground. It felt like I was tossed into a garbage disposal as my skin peeled away and blood slowly swirled around, dyeing my surroundings pink.
I reached the center, what I first thought to be a statue was actually an ornate stone pedestal with an unremarkable cube resting atop. I went with the obvious choice and grabbed the cube which weighed almost nothing. I stashed the cube and turned to leave.
With my health dropping deceptively fast, I attempted to drink a health potion just to have the vial shatter when I removed it. The liquid mixed in with my blood and skin. I felt some of the potion heal my body but it promptly shifted high above, forcing me to Blood Cycle.
I pushed with every bit of power and energy to reach the exterior before my ribboning muscles left me unable to move. Something inside of me rumbled as I experienced firsthand, the pure violence of wind partnered with the lethal display of lightning, together they conveyed absolute wrath.
I fell.
My feet were a mangled and bony mess, only the soles of my boots and toe strap remained. With a mental command, the boots were sent to my inventory as I used my one good arm to drag my top half out of the twister.
As soon as I had an arm and my head out of danger, I drank my last potion and blood cycled. The wind destroyed my eyes, blinding me somewhere along my crawl. All I could see in the darkness was my HUD, which was even more disturbing to me for some reason.
I really hope my eyes heal... Unlike my goddamn pinky finger. Still don’t understand why that happened.
As I gulped the last bit of potion in the darkness, I noticed Arthur’s health bar tick down a few times. It wasn’t a lot, but it was something. With stubborn determination and a little dose of grit, I fought to my feet as my muscles and skin attempted to repair through the ongoing damage. I stepped out of the crimson tornado to receive a notification.
First, I opened my inventory to see what the cube was and why it seemed so important.
Repose (Needs Repair)
Unique Relic
Prevents Dimensional Breaches
Slowly Repairs Damaged Zone
Weakens Nearby Incorporeal and Extradimensional Enemies.
Humans who feel lost instinctively drift toward the protected zone. (10 Mile Radius)
Once used to stabilize a spatial tear in reality on a world devoid of Mana. After centuries the forgotten relic eventually fell to degradation, leading to disruptions in the reality it was created to protect. Storms gathered. Space and time twisted. A region sealed away and the dead denied rest.
My mind reeled at the portion that read, “a world devoid of Mana”.
What the fuck does that mean?
Was it here before all of this?
Did someone create it long ago or did someone just leave it there?
“Holy shit, Rick! You crazy little bastard, what did you do?! How are you not dead!” Cole was at my side, holding me on my feet as my body attempted to magically grow back muscle. One of my eyes finally repaired enough to get a glimpse of my surroundings.
Hooo. Thank Baby Jesus.
The sun situated brightly above, warming my body as I released a long held breath. The distant sky was blue as far as one eye could see.
Cole stood in front of me, covered in blood from head to toe. My voice was gravelly as I asked, “Are you okay? What happened?”
“Jesus Christ, I’m fine! What is wrong with you?! It’s literally raining your blood right now and you ask about me. You’re fucking insane, you know that, right?”
“Heh, lil bit.” My health stopped regenerating from the potion, but at least I could somewhat see out of both eyes, “Have a potion I could borrow?”
“Of course, here, take it. We have visitors.” Cole grabbed my shoulders as I downed the potion, manually turning me around.
In front of us were two ghosts disguised as hikers. Conviction’s Claw appeared in my hand.
Cole tightened his grip on my shoulders, “Friendly, sheesh. Calm down, killer.”
My vision cleared to see both apparitions wearing a genuine smile.
The girl wore a 1950’s curly bob hairstyle on top of her head and the traditional red and black plaid flannel. The man who did the speaking was wrapped in a vintage leather hunting jacket with a canvas deerstalker hat plopped on his head, “It’s not much, but take this please. It’s the least we could offer. Some of us have been trapped in here for centuries. With the heart of the Triangle removed, we can finally find peace. Thank you Rick, and thank you as well, Cole.”
The incorporeal girl walked forward to hand me a plain silver chain necklace. I had so many questions but before I had the chance to ask, they turned and took a few steps, vanishing like, well, like a ghost would.
I identified the chain.
Solivagant’s Chain
Epic
+10% Increased Movement Speed
+15% All Elemental Resistances
+5 To All Stats
Increased Damage against incorporeal enemies.
As soon as the ghosts disappeared Cole turned to scold me, “You crazy fuck!”
Phantom pain covered my body from head to toe, “Yeah, I know. Let’s get back, we can leave now but we need to leave through the entrance portal.”
“You’re wrong there little bro.” Cole pointed a finger, and I turned to see a portal at the edge of the field, “It popped up as soon as you stepped out.”
On the other side of the portal, Brenden and Brandi waved energetically with jumbo smiles on their face, standing on an asphalt highway.
“Good, that saves us some time,” I responded then whispered to the universe, “Thank you.”