Chapter 05 ~ Fortress.
Several long minutes passed with nothing but the rhythmic thud of their feet on the dirt path and the ragged sound of their breathing. Momonda's face was flushed, her pink hair now a tangled mess, and beads of sweat ran down her temples.
"I can't," she panted, her voice strained. "I can't run anymore."
Ahead of them, crowning a grassy hill at the end of the road, stood a fortress. Its grey walls were cracked and ancient, with thick veins of grass and ivy creeping up the sides as if slowly consuming it. It wasn't a royal castle, but a time-worn bastion. A wide, dark stone doorway beckoned to them from its base.
"We're almost there," Zeno said, also sweating, though less than her. "Just a few more meters."
That was the last straw. Momonda's legs gave out, and she collapsed to her knees, gasping for air. "I'm telling you... just let me... catch my breath..."
Zeno's blue eyes darted back. The goblin horde, dozens of meters away, was also visibly tired, their charge having slowed to a weary, stumbling jog. Even their chanting had faded to a ragged pant. He looked back up at the fortress towers. The distance from here to there is about twenty meters...
He placed his left hand on Momonda's trembling shoulder. She looked up, her expression a mix of exhaustion and annoyance. "What do you want now?"
With his right hand, Zeno snapped his fingers.
Snap!
In a flash of blue light, they both vanished. A comet of azure sparks shot from the path with impossible speed, arcing through the air toward one of the square stone towers at the top of the fortress. With a soft whoosh, the sparks coalesced, and Zeno and Momonda reappeared on the roof of the tower.
"Huh..." Momonda managed, looking around, completely stunned.
Zeno was far more tired than before. He was down on one knee, breathing heavily. They were standing in a small square space, about two meters wide, surrounded by sturdy stone battlements. Suddenly, Momonda's cheeks puffed out. She scrambled to the stone edge and promptly vomited over the side.
Zeno let out a weak laugh. "Haha! That always happens to people the first time they teleport."
She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and spun around, her eyes blazing with anger. "You foolish, treasure-obsessed idiot! Did you just bring me along so these goblins could kill me?"
"That's just part of the adventure," he said, holding up an index finger with a weary smile. "First, look around you..."
"Huh? What do you mean?" she grumbled, turning her head.
Her anger and exhaustion evaporated. The view was breathtaking. Mountains, near and far, rolled across the horizon. Green plains stretched out like a blanket, giving way to the impossibly distant, snow-capped peaks of another range. She could see country roads snaking through the landscape, and in the distance, their town, Spring's Whisper, a circle of stone walls containing a cluster of little wooden houses.
Down below, the goblins had stopped, shaking their heads in confusion, looking left and right for any sign of their prey before giving up and starting to talk amongst themselves. A gentle breeze swept over the tower, rustling her long pink hair as her blue eyes drank in the magnificent, natural beauty of the world.
"You'd better sit down," Zeno advised. "The goblins will start looking our way eventually."
She did as he said, sinking to the stone floor. Between them was a square wooden hatch set into the stone.
"I've never seen a view like this directly before," she said quietly. "Not without a description or a picture in a book."
"Seeing it in real life is much better, isn't it?" Zeno replied with a smile. She nodded, a small smile of her own gracing her lips.
He raised his hands and looked to the sky, his passion reigniting. "There are so many fantastic sights and places that ordinary people can't see, they only hear stories about them. Can you believe we're only five kilometers from town? And yet, we're living this danger, this adventure."
She watched him as he spoke, his eyes shining with excitement.
"I want to be an adventurer because adventurers are the freest people in this world," he continued. "I want to be nominated for the adventurer's test and get my license. Only then can I travel the world without my mom worrying, and I can leave town for days, not just hours. Wouldn't it be amazing to see the secrets and wonders of this world?!"
Momonda smiled. "Yeah, yeah, and get money and treasure."
Zeno's expression turned dismissive. "Is that what motivates you?"
"Isn't the goal of an adventure to get treasure?" she countered.
"Yes, but I find the fun in the adventure itself, not just the treasure."
"Then you take the adventures," she said slyly, "and I'll take the treasures."
He laughed. "How would that even be fair?"
Her gaze fell on the wooden hatch. "This is for going down, right?"
"Looks like it," Zeno agreed.
"By the way," she asked, "where do we have to go next?"
Zeno pulled the map from his green satchel and spread it over the hatch. He traced their route with his finger, his eyes widening when he reached their current location. An 'X' was marked right over the fortress. "So the drawing was pointing to this castle? I thought from the sketch it would be just a stone hut or something." He folded the map and put it away. "Whatever. There are always differences between maps and reality."
He put his hands on the hatch's handle and pulled. He strained, his face turning red, but it wouldn't budge.
"Let me try," Momonda said. She placed her hands on the hatch and pushed instead of pulling. To her surprise, it swung open with a loud creak. She lost her balance and tumbled through the opening.
"This is not what I expected!" she screamed as she fell into the darkness below. Pointing her hands downward, she yelled, "Breeze!"
A powerful gust of wind erupted from her palms, smashing into a stack of old wooden crates below and cushioning her descent. She landed softly on her rear. "Safe..." she sighed in relief.
Above her, Zeno was already climbing down a metal ladder fixed to the stone wall. He hopped down the last few rungs. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she said, annoyed as he helped her up. "Just almost broke my neck if not for using my ability at the last second."
They both turned to look forward. Past the splinters of the shattered crates, the stone path ahead was choked with thick, ancient spiderwebs, teeming with spiders of all sizes.
A look of pure horror washed over Momonda's face. "I take it back! Adventure isn't fun, it's terrifying!"
"At least clear the path for us with your wind," Zeno said.
"Oh, you're right," she realized. She held out a hand and a steady breeze flowed down the corridor, tearing through the webs and sweeping all the spiders away. The path was now clear. She looked smugly satisfied, but Zeno was just staring at her strangely.
"What?" she asked.
"I'm just surprised by your stupidity when you have such a flashy ability," he said bluntly.
"I never trained my ability for combat," she retorted. "So when I'm scared or stressed, I completely forget I even have it."
They started walking down the now clean, dim corridor. "Is that why you were asking for help when those delinquents were messing with you?" Zeno asked.
"Sort of," she admitted. They walked in silence for a moment before she continued. "When we were in elementary school, some boys from our school came to ask me out. My friend was with me. I refused, but the boys insisted, so I had to use my ability to get them off my back. Rumors spread, and they started calling me the 'cold-hearted wind witch.' My friend advised me to only use my power when I absolutely had to. She said a girl's duty is to ask for help when she's in trouble. That's what I was trying to do this morning, after all these years."
She glanced at him, a sarcastic glint in her eye. "But someone nonchalantly told me I didn't look like I needed help. How noble of you, buddy..."
Zeno laughed. "That's weird. If it were me, I'd be flying all over town with my ability."
"My friends say that's not ladylike and won't attract boys," she said. "They'd just call me a witch."
"And who cares about attracting boys?" Zeno said with a smile. "What's the point of being with someone who can't accept you for who you are?"
Momonda stopped for a second, processing his words. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"Sometimes," she said, "you say nice things."
He smiled and turned into a vast, circular chamber. In the center stood a single, ominous black sarcophagus. Three identical grey doors were set into the dark grey walls. Zeno's eyes scanned the room, lingering on the ceiling. In the middle of it was a large, square opening covered by crossed metal bars. Maybe for ventilation, he thought. I can see the room above us through it.
His blue eyes moved to Momonda. She was approaching the black sarcophagus, a look of nervous curiosity on her face.
She placed her fingertips on the black sarcophagus, its surface cold and uninviting.
"There's no way there's something inside... right?"
With a hesitant breath, she slowly pulled the lid open.
The inside was lined with faded red velvet, occupied by a single skeleton. Momonda let out a sigh of relief. "Just a skeleton," she whispered, glad it wasn't a zombie or mummy that would talk to her.
Just then, a voice whispered right in her ear. "Hello."
"Aaaaaah!"
She leaped back, her heart pounding, staring at the skeleton. But the skeleton hadn't moved. Zeno was standing right beside her, laughing uncontrollably. She raised her hands in exasperation. "I really should throw you out of this castle!"
Suddenly, they both froze. A new sound echoed in the chamber: the rattle of chains, a low mumble, and the scrape of metal on stone. It was coming from behind one of the three doors.
Zeno and Momonda exchanged a look. He shook his head slightly, a worried expression on his face, a clear sign that this time, the sound wasn't his doing.
The scraping of chains sounded again, louder this time. They both whipped their heads toward the door it came from, Zeno's face now etched with concern, and Momonda's with pure, unadulterated terror.