“Looks like we're soon to arrive,” Vis announces, stopping to observe the view. Astraea takes one final glance at the map before she rolls it up and gives it to ?elare, who stores it in his satchel. In the distance is a mountain tall enough to pierce the clouds. As they approach, buildings come into view surrounding the base and extending a short distance up it.
“The Terras family, which I am soon to be a part of, resides here. We will have to pass through, allowing us to ask for the climbing path,” Hunter explains as they approach. Ten minutes later, just before they enter Terras territory, a loud voice from an elderly man stops them.
“Hello! I was told to expect you four here. Thank you for arriving exactly on time; there is no designated path to the summit. The Church of Air views the difficult ascent as a tribute to the Air Elemental, so they either push through it or simply use air magic to get up more easily.”
Hunter, ?elare and Astraea glance at each other, concern evident on their faces, but Vis responds with enthusiasm.
“Thanks, you’ve saved us significant time. Hunter, you need to meet with the family after, right? Let's hurry up then, don't want to keep them waiting!”
Hunter is snapped out of his thoughts by the mention of him, and he replies hurriedly, “Oh, yes. I suppose that makes sense. Let's depart.”
He gestures for the rest of them to follow him, each person thanking the messenger as they pass by, who waves as they go.
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The buildings and rocky ground they pass create a greyscale atmosphere, only exemplified by the piles of stone debris lying around. The earth element Hunter can sense permeating the air creates dust particles, causing ?elare to cough intensely. He moves to the front of the group and jogs, so everyone matches his pace and they rush through. Around them, people of all ages are shattering, altering and creating rocks.
Eventually, the rocky ground gives way to a minute layer of vegetation and ?elare breathes a deep sigh of relief, the others granting him a brief respite. He looks at them and comments, “I was the only one affected. You three are shockingly resilient.”
He gets three responses.
“I grew up in a desert. There was sand absolutely everywhere,” Vis states, chuckling.
Hunter says, “I came from a swamp. Similar situation.”
“My body is not trained to undergo such reactions,” Astraea finishes, and they resume travel. It is trivial at the beginning, being a shallow slope for them to walk up, but the incline escalates gradually over the next two hours. Finally, they reach a cliff face extending thirty metres up.
“You guys confident in climbing?” Vis asks, looking up at it. Hunter and Astraea nod, but ?elare’s face betrays anxiety.
Vis notices and says, “Or we can walk around for a while and see if there's an easier way up.”
And this they do. They travel parallel to the cliff for another hour, stopping at a point where the top is lower, and ?elare speaks.
“I’m sorry for holding everyone back. I think this is the best we are going to get, so we should climb here. It only looks to be around twenty-five metres.”
Vis responds, “Very good. I'll go up first and carve out an easier path, as I'm the strongest here.” Hunter raises an eyebrow at this, but doesn't object as he continues, “Astraea, you go last in case someone falls. The other two can decide amongst themselves. See you at the top!”
