I'm hating myself for this but I actually forgot to post this chapter on time and this caused me to lose one day on the win-win schedule, great, there goes my exposure.
6-7 months without fail, and it finally happened.
Anyway, here it is, enjoy, while I'll grovel on the ground in anger for a bit.
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/Crackle…/
/Huaaa…/
"Huff…"
Atop the boulder where the mage previously stood, his motionless body could now be seen with a spear lodged in his chest.
Above him, the ceiling slowly cracked, full of holes from their fight…
From behind, cold wind seeped into the cavern, cutting and stinging his wounds like salt.
Beneath him, the cooled-down rocky path slowly broke down as the lava pool expanded.
/Crackle…/
Rocks slowly fell as the cavern trembled slightly, it was about to collapse.
"..."
Without any time to waste, he got up, ignoring his wounds, he made his way to the mage, pulling his spear from his body before moving on to the exit.
He jumped through the small gap leading outside and raveled at the new world…
/Shine…/
"Hm?"
That was when something attracted his attention, the very first time looking back ever since he started his adventure.
From the mage's body, whisps of energy slowly floated upward, moving in a spiral before fusing into one continuous line, like a string.
"..."
He didn't think, he didn't have to as his body moved on its own.
He pulled the bow from his back and the string sprung forth in a flash, binding itself to the relic.
/Pull… Toin-oin!/
He tested the bow once, feeling a strange power within it.
He knew how to use it.
/Turns…/
But now, with everything done, it was time to resume his journey.
Towards a new, even higher sky.
…
Beyond the lava cavern, a new mountain stood... A gray but calm one.
Thin and weak mist was everywhere, with faint white light shining from up above.
The more he walked, the stronger it became.
Around him, gigantic statues like the ones from before slowly became more and more frequent, and the monstrous sights of their clashes became common.
Two knights swung their swords in the distance, a large wolf jumping in the air to devour a sun-like chakram, strange creatures he had never seen before crushing each other to dust at every mountain he climbed.
The world around them was collapsed, broken, shattered, and their screams were looked away in stone for all eternity.
Their lingering powers still remained, causing the rocks around him to float, or maybe that was just part of it all.
A battlefield frozen in time, even gravity wasn't excluded.
/Climb/
However, that was none of his concern.
Using their bodies, he climbed higher, and from the frozen rocks of an enormous dragon's breath, Dale ran up above.
Higher and higher, the mist became thinner, weaker, and the light became stronger, wider… And then… It vanished…
"..."
That was when he saw it, the top.
A grandiose palace of blue and gold stood atop the highest peak of them all.
Even amidst this all-encompassing mist, the sunlight seemed to breach through it, shining at its peak.
Yet that… Was only an illusion.
The Palace had long fallen into pieces, its pillars could be seen deep in the mountains, and its colors had dulled, becoming gray and lifeless.
That temple Dale saw at the foot of the mountain when he began his climb, was likely part of this Palace, a part that fell and slid down over the centuries, millennia, or maybe even longer.
As time itself seemed meaningless in this mountain.
The carvings on its stone were now worn out, its ceiling had vanished, and all of its structures had collapsed who knew where leaving only one behind.
A grand hall…
All around him, several mountain peaks stood where tall statues of long-forgotten warriors had been raised.
/Whispers…/
Just by looking at them, Dale had the impression he could hear them, and feel their slumbering powers.
He looked at a knight in heavy armor, his sword stuck on the mountain as he looked at the horizon.
There was a certain heat to this man, a sense of longing, a watcher gazing at the past he could not change, like a father looking at the picture of a child he lost.
Albeit faint, he could see it, faint embers seemed to be falling around it.
He then turned to the side as he continued to climb, looking at a rather strange woman.
She had no weapons nor armor on her, but as he looked at her, he felt a great sense of… Familiarity.
She looked brunt and narrow-minded, the type to rush first, punch, and then ask questions...
Strangely enough, there was space for one more statue, but it was now broken.
It seemed like there were many other statues around the mountain top, but from his angle, they were all out of sight.
"Huff…"
/Squint…/
By squinting his eyes, Dale saw something else next to each statue, something that might've surprised him otherwise…
People.
Like the ones he met before, they waited, and sometimes, they looked at him… But did nothing else.
Whatever they were, from relics of the past to guardians of the Palace, they didn't seem to have any interest in him.
Maybe because he was meant to meet someone else...
Unfortunately, the large statue on his path had long since vanished, with only its base now remaining.
Maybe each statue represents a path someone can take to reach the top, the pinnacle of their challenges...
But what did it mean for his to have none?
Was he the first to make it this far, or was he too late to make it?
It wouldn't be unlikely for someone to have climbed before him…
Perhaps… He was wrong about all of this, and these warriors are not protectors but mementos of their former selves…
If they remained, then they would be remembered, if not, then…
…
/Grab… Pull!/
With one last pull, and one last gasp, Dale arrived at the top.
"Huff…"
/Crunch... Crack.../
He now stood at the staircase leading to the grand hall, they were so old that they trembled and shattered with each step he took.
Large trees had taken root in the ruins of the Palace, covering it under their canopies.
Maybe it was thanks to them it hadn't fallen as well.
"!"
Suddenly, as he climbed the staircases, he felt a strange feeling, a sense of fulfillment, power, desire, devotion, holiness… And much more.
He looked at the end of his path, where amidst a pair of torches, both now extinguished, laid a throne exclad in shadows.
Or better put, what he saw wasn't the throne, but its shadow.
He had never felt like this before, a sense of complete utter completion…
Just a few steps more… And he would become whole again.
/Step… Thud!/
"?..."
Yet, fate was cruel.
One step toward his fate, he was faced with a cold hard stop.
An invisible gate was preventing him from advancing further, pushing him back against his will.
It whispered to him in strange enigmatic words he couldn't quite understand.
But their meaning was loud and clear.
He wasn't ready.
/SLAM!/
/DING/
Furious, angered, and betrayed, Dale smashed his fist against the invisible wall, causing the chime of a bell to echo throughout the entire mountain with each punch.
/BAM BAM BAM!/
Again and again and again… Until his fist grew red.
As a form of mockery, his still warm blood managed to pass through the barrier, but his fists did not, such cruel fate...
The invisible wall never vanished, it was like a dream, one he could not wake up from.
In here, he was powerless…
/Thud…/
He fell to his knees, breathing heavily as his stamina depleted.
The exhaustion of his journey had finally caught up with him, and his injuries begun to worsen at a noticeable pace.
Without purpose, his body collapsed, at this rate, he would fall, just a step from his target.
"?"
That was, until he noticed a strange booklet on the side, half buried in dirt and covered by one singular tree root.
There was a bony hand next to it half fused with the root, but the moment he touched it, the hand turned to dust, scattering into the wind.
Perhaps there was once a body here, but like the hand, it had already vanished, consumed by the root or merely pushed aside by it.
The body of someone like him, a being that had reached the end.
/Shatter…/
"?!"
However, the moment he grabbed the book, it broke apart, disintegrating in his hand as he desperately tried to put it back together…
But with each movement, the situation only got worse.
Floating pieces of paper now occupied his vision, fragments of the truth he could use to reach his goal…
/Shua…/
"!"
The wind brushed by, scattering the pieces down the mountain and beyond, and Dale could do nothing but watch as all his hopes flew away…
He sat down, looking at the horizon as his body broke down, and for a moment, he wondered, the first time since he had begun climbing…
What was he even doing here?
/Shua…/
"?"
Amidst his thoughts, the corner from one of the diary pages fell on his legs, it had a single phrase:
'... Sometimes, the hardest of problems… with the simplest of solutions… And I was… of a fool to realize it on time…'
The ink was mostly faded but the meaning was there.
A meaning so strong it was conveyed onto the paper, now transferred to him, shining light into his otherwise cloudy mind.
He could understand it despite having never seen such language... He knew which page it was, it was the very last one.
The ending of one adventurer would be his hope for a new beginning.
/Tremble…/
So even as his body trembled and he lost his breath, Dale got up again, determination filling his lungs as he took another step… Then another… Towards the invisible gate.
/Touch…/
Standing in front of it, he could still feel it, the gate that blocked his way…
But this time, he had a solution…
/Grab…/
Instead of punching it, he grabbed onto the pillar on the side… And climbed it.
He barely had any strength left but he kept doing it, one arm, one leg, another arm, another leg…
He maintained this rhythm until he reached the top, it wasn't very far, he could've done it with a single leap had he not been so stubborn before.
/Pull… THUD!/
He pulled himself over the edge and fell with a large thud!
His entire body hurt, screaming in pain…
/Smile…/
But strangely enough, he did not register it very well. Instead, he smiled.
He did it.
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Notes
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