*It was a new day, Traveler woke up remembering the ground shaking over night but didn't pay extra mind to it. He took his phone and looked into it to see nothing too important yet so he got up and left Athena's place by himself.*
Traveler: "Where do i go now? Wait- huh!?"
*A portal opened out of nowhere and dragged him inside.*
*He was now met with a free fall of maybe 400 meters and a ton of obstacles in front of him.*
*BANG!*
*That's when he hit a random rock because he could'nt control it.*
Traveler: "AHH WHERE THE HELL AM I! OW!"
*He continued falling non-stop until at one moment he hit the ground face first.*
Traveler: **"I'm not waking up anytime soon..."** *Said in his mind as he just remained there for 5 minutes.*
*After a while, he got up and wiped his face of blood and clothes as best as he could. Then he scanned the area. It looked like a personal domain? The area was filled with a red sky and mostly nothingness rather than statues made of blood and some nature here and there. As he walked forward it began raining blood making the area more and more creepy.*
Traveler: "Where the hell am i...? What is this place!?"
*He kept pushing forward until he reached a mountain made of... people? No, they weren't people, moreover infected beings and other monsters. He soonly reached a throne made of blood with some spikes above it and there standing a scythe. Whose scythe could that be?*
Traveler: "What's this?" *He goes forward and sits on the throne instantly getting ejected out of it.* "OW! Could've gave me a warning!"
*As he looks around he notices a sign saying **'Only these worthy can sit on the goddess's chair. Peasants shall always be left behind.'** What could this mean?*
Traveler: "Oh... Well there's my warning sign... But those worthy? What does this mean?"
*He turns only to see him being rushed by hundreds of infected beings crawling on all 4's and some even on their 8's.*
Traveler: "Almighty Lord! What is that!?" *He unsheathes his blade ready to fight. How bad could these monsters be?.*
*The monsters charged at him and he began fighting each, one by one until eventually all of them went down or did they?*
*Electrifying sounds.*
*Some monsters regained consciousness.*
Traveler: "Oh for fk's sake!"
*He uses his wind powers to give the remaining resurrected monsters a final blow before they end up dying completely.*
Traveler: "Phew... That was hard..."
*Clap,Clap,Clap,Clap.*
?: "You impress me more by the second Traveler. Goodjob."
*This certain someone looked familiar.*
Traveler: "Izumi!? You made me go through this!?"
Izumi: *looking down as she slowly descends from flight.* "I needed to test your real strength Traveler. I am 100% sure there's more locked potential to what the girls could get from you. And they didn't dissapoint me. But i've seen more from you here. Welcome! To The Chamber of Blood! One of my own separate home where i come to meditate and do some extra caretaking here."
Traveler: *impressed* "Woah.. this place is massive! You built this!?"
Izumi: "This place is over a millenia old. I made it when i was around 200 something years old. I have to ask a favor from you."
Traveler: *still looking around* "What is it?"
Izumi: "I recently discovered a disturbance in the Chamber's 3 power systems. There are some places i have never went to inside the Chamber. And i need you to help me restore the balance between the 3 power systems here. Will you help me?"
Traveler: *not sure what to say* "Uhh... I guess i'll help. If im here why reject after all."
Izumi: "Thank you for your kindness Traveler. Follow me."
*She began walking slowly her heels echoing through the whole chamber as they walked towards something like a DoJo?*
Izumi: "Come inside."
*He looked around as he followed Izumi being very impressed by her designer skills.*
Izumi: "Down here."
*They went down some ladders around 50 meters underground where a big looking book was opened revealing 3 sockets connected to some sort of crystal cable that had Blood infused power, Shadow infused power and Ice infused powers. All 3 cables were malfunctioning with the light flickering every 2 seconds and by now earthquakes of around 3.5 magnitude continuously and mysteriously came outta nowhere non-stop.*
Izumi: "Don't mind the sudden earthquakes, they're caused by the instability down here. Up there you barely feel them. Anyways! You see this book here contains 3 sockets that are connected to some crystal cables each being infused with blood shadow and ice powers. We need to restore all 3 socket's powers to balance everything and for it to come back to normal."
Traveler: "Sounds like a tough job."
Izumi: *slight smirk* "You're saying? Even i struggle to keep things in check around here."
Traveler: "Does your children know about this place?"
Izumi: "No. Only the President Jess knows. I want to hide this from my children for their safety and to not worry extra. I want them to live much happier rather than in pain and suffering like i do you feel me? And it's something i would always like to cherish and wind-out after tough times."
Traveler: "Wow. I never expected to see this side of yours."
Izumi: *looking at the book* "I may look frightening, but i have a soft side as well. I don't like seeing others work too much when they work too much of course, not the ones slacking off. Proves a point why i scared the elevator crew at the beginning of our first meet. Only a word and it scares thousands."
Traveler: "Right! I remember when Athena and Mika firstly brought me to the Tea Party Headquarters. I might not remember the full story but that part i know. Anyways shall we get going?"
Izumi: *shifting look to Traveler.* "Uh yes! Let's make our way back up to the surface and we'll talk outside.*
*They turned back and climbed all the way up inside the DoJo and then outside of it.*
Izumi: "Alright the first location should be the mountain of ice just this way."
*She points towards the west revealing a very tall blue mountain made of ice.*
Izumi: "You needn't worry much about the mountain itself. If you can fly you can easily climb it in a way. If not then i can help. Have you mastered your flight yet?"
*He knows he hasn't mastered his flight from his wind powers yet. I mean hey he could fly! But last time he hit a random citizen when he did it!*
Traveler: "Eheheh... Not really... :'(. I still need to master my flight for now. I can definitely fly and have slight control, but i won't guarantee i'll fly in the right direction or fast enough if i try."
Izumi: "It's fine. We can walk as well if needed. There's a pathway until the top as well if you want to take it that route."
Traveler: "And how many KM's is that?"
Izumi: "Approximately 48KM."
Traveler: "Oh... Then let's keep walking i guess. How much can it take!"
*2 hours later and they barely walked 8KM.*
Traveler: *gasping for air.* "Water..." *He collapsed.*
Izumi: *looking behind her.* "Oh? You're dehytrated? Don't worry! I have some water on me. Maybe it'll help you."
Traveler: "Maybe!? Give me that shit!"
*He snatched the water bottle from her hands and chugged 1L down.*
Traveler: "Aah much better! Thank you! But don't you need water as well?"
Izumi: "Water or blood. Both work. My blood levels are over 100% so i'll be good to go for another 1000KM just by walking. Let's keep going."
*They continued walking and after 8 hours they made it to their destination.*
Traveler: *trembling* "Why is it so c-c-cold here...?"
Izumi: *wiping off sweat.* "What do you mean cold? It's just -12°C! It's very hot in here!"
*He collapsed again.*
Izumi: "Eh you'll feel better when we drop in. But might as well..."
*She picked him up and jumped inside the mountain. They fell for over 8 minutes until they eventually reached the bottom. At the bottom of the mountain there was -250°C. Yea definitely better from Izumi. She attached a random small type of toy torch to his shirt that would set the temperature to that person having the item would feel it instantly. She set it to 25°C so he would'nt feel much colder and she remained on the -250°C because that's like 35°C for her.*
Izumi: "Good. Now i wait for you to wake up."
*After 15 minutes.*
Traveler: *dizzy* "Where am I?"
Izumi: "At the bottom of the ice mountain sweetie!"
Traveler: "B-b-botto- and how cold is it in here!?"
Izumi: "-250°C? Why?"
Traveler: "Why am i not feeling any cold!? And what's this on my shirt!?"
Izumi: "Don't remove it. It's the thing that keeps you warm in here. It's a device made by Jess herself. It sets the temperature inside and outside of your body at a certain ° instantly. And it has a 2M long AoE as well i suppose. Let's keep moving."
*They made their way throught the icy mountain and soonly they found 5 Ice zombies and 1 Ice Golem. The enemy they should worry about? The Ice Golem.*
Izumi: "See that big thing? That's an Ice Golem. It's really powerful so i suggest you stay back against this and let me handle it. What you can fight is the Ice Zombies. These are easy to fight even for someone without an element. You have wind! So you should be fine! Let's see what else is there... Ah! There's the first unstable crystal that must be purified to restore stability to the ice infused socket back underground. Let's go and kill them alright?"
Traveler: "Aight! I'll stick to what you told me!"
*They rushed in and made quick work. Izumi took down the Ice Golem in 10 seconds and Traveler took down the Zombies in below a minute. Good record for him.*
Izumi: "Great Job! Tell you what. This is actually the worst part. So we were going to do it first. Rest are way easier than this."
Traveler: "I can see why it's hard. You cannot even move through here..."
*Izumi purified the crystal together with The Traveler and then the ground shook one more time as the balance for the ice infused socket was restored.*
Izumi: "Alright this is one out of three. Next one! The shadow crystal! And man will this be a pain. Grab ahold of my hand."
*He did as instructed and Izumi flew them out of the icy mountain.*
Traveler: "Woah you fly fast!"
Izumi: "Hundreds of years of training paid off i presume? Hahah."
*Outside the mountain she flew them to the next island where they witnessed the crystal already there unguarded.*
Izumi: "Stand your ground. We're either ambushed or fooled."
Traveler: "Fooled for what? The crystal is right there!"
Izumi: "You'll see what i mean."
*They approached the crystal. And when they tried purifying it the crystal just.. vanished.*
Traveler: "W-what!? It vanished!"
Izumi: "Told you. We gotta keep looking for it atleast 5 more times. 4 times it'll vanish and the fifth time it'll let go of jokes. That's the trickster for ya. I hate it too. It's so fkn stubborn."
*They kept looking for the crystal as they found a trail. A black one.*
Izumi: "Hmm.. a shadow trail. Let's follow it."
*They followed the shadow trail and the crystal appeared again. And then dissapeared again.*
Izumi: "That's 1. Next."
*As time passed they found it one more time and again.. and again.. until the fifth time.*
Traveler: "Gotchu now! Hah!"
*They purified it together and a even stronger earthquake shook the ground stabilizing the shadow infused socket.*
Izumi: "That's 2 crystals! Great! The last one is just heavily guarded. It should be on the blood island. Follow me."
*She flew them to the blood island where they found the crystal surrounded by an army and someone?*
?: "Well well well. If it isn't Izumi Winters."
Izumi: "Huh? Who are you!"
?: "Call me.. Graham. 4th of the Emperor's Banishers."
Izumi: "What are you doing in my chamber! You should'nt be here!"
Graham: "You know? This crystal... Shiny, very small and it being part of you. You should know that i can do a lot of stuff to it."
Izumi: "Don't you da- OW!"
*Graham struck the crystal weakening Izumi in the process.*
Traveler: "Izumi! Are you alright!?"
Izumi: *getting up* "I'm fine."
Graham: "Ahahahah! Look at you! This crystal is in my hands! And will be taken to Titan Madoro for experiments. Your precious daughter and son will forget who you are in just a small amount of time! GET EM!"
*The army of monsters rushed forward.*
Izumi: *sighs heavily as she nods to The Traveler.*
*Then Izumi and The Traveler spring into action. Izumi slices and dices through hundreds if not thousands of monsters as her wings even show up signaling she's in OverAnger state.*
Izumi: "Ahh! GIVE ME MY CRYSTAL BACK!"
*The Traveler held his ground with struggles as he was pushed back a bit by the monsters attacking him.*
Traveler: *sighs* "I can't.. hold on for longer..."
*But he pushed through. He thought of his friends knowing if he dies now, everyone will be sad.*
Traveler: "No.. not TODAY!"
*He put his sword in the ground as it changed colors from it's usual self to a more cyanish color.*
Traveler: "Take that!"
*He bashed the ground and the enemies in front of him were frozen.*
*Graham was a bit stunned seeing the Traveler's power.*
*But before he got to react he was in front of him from that far back freezing the arm he had the crystal in.*
Graham: "No! The CRYSTAL!"
Traveler: "Take it Izumi! NOW!"
*She flied through enemies grabbing the crystal and knocking Graham down his hand breaking with the ice from The Traveler's ice powers.*
Graham: *groaning in big pain.* "Retreat! I'll be back! Your nation will regret for going against me Izumi Winters! YOU'LL SEE!"
*He dissapeared as well as his allies.*
*Izumi descended and immediatelly came towards The Traveler.*
Izumi: "Are you okay!? What happened there!"
Traveler: "I-I- don't know! For a moment i was fighting then after a time my sword began glowing cyan! And i started freezing enemies!!!?"
Izumi: "Could this be... You must have received the blessing of the President. She's the one giving away Ice amulets. But for you.. it seems it awakened deep inside your body.. just like your wind powers."
Traveler: "But mine we're given by the God of Wind.. i don't know if they're also part of my body or not... I have a Wind Amulet."
*She takes a closer look at his neck and she does see a wind amulet there.*
Izumi: "Hmm.. there's a chance your amulet will be able to hold multiple elemental powers. But for this time they came from your insides. Soonly enough they'll be transferred to your amulet. Let's purify the crystal together and then we'll get back to our place."
*He nodded and then they began purifying the crystal together again. This time the ground didn't shake. But the stability was fully restored.*
*Back inside the underground*
Izumi: "The power is now balanced and stable. Thank you so much for your help Traveler. I could'nt have done it without you. You can leave now through the portal behind you. I must tell Jess we were attacked by another Banisher. Safe travels!"
Traveler: "You too Izumi! Bye!"
*He took the portal and returned to Duran City in the middle of the road blocking traffic.*
**To be Continued**