Chapter 20: The Great Wind Current (Ventus)
1299 Words
The Great Wind Current…I could see why locals call it that – I could literally see the current cutting through the skies, with the current itself basically paving its way to the Skyward Temple. It was the equivalent of going through a tunnel to reach your destination…except you have to fly within the current. Just how long was this current, exactly? Just why did it need to have ‘Great’ at the start of its name? Just that one thought alone did leave me rather shaken.
Tirza did actually look rather scared as well, now that I remember it – I could see her shaking about in place as she stared at the wind current that we had to cross and fly along. She was far from her usual, gutsy self. She was fine with any other place but in the air, when her feet are basically dangling about with no ground underneath her. Well, safe to say she wasn’t alone in that thought process at the time.
However, we had to progress, and there was no other way to reach the temple, so our hands were tied for this one. With that in mind, I would take a deep breath and close my eyes before taking the leap of faith, with me jumping off the edge and out into the current as I stretched my hands out, and what I felt…wasn’t the feeling of wind blasting up into my face as I was expecting. When I opened my eyes…
…I was flying!
I was actually flying! My wings were out, and here I was, being guided by the current itself! Of course, I didn’t have any excitement doing this – if anything, I was basically screaming my lungs out as I flapped about in place, and it didn’t help that while I was in the current, everything around me was just clouds and skies. It wasn’t long before I heard more screams behind me, with the dark elf following me just a few feet away as she found herself in the same state as I was, but soon enough, knowing that I shouldn’t risk myself flying out of the current due to my erratic behavior, I forced myself to keep still and allow myself to let the wind glide me through the area…as much as I hated to do that.
Of course, Tirza didn’t catch on to that – when I turned back to see just how she was faring, she was basically flailing around and kicking her legs about, with her moving all over the place within the current, and just like that, I knew I had to say something or else she would fly out of the current and to who knew where.
In a very patchy, fear-induced voice, I called out to her, yelling to her that she has to keep herself still, though it was probably hard to reach out to her when she herself is yelling as loud, if not louder, than me. With a slight bit of that fear in me turning into frustration, I screamed even louder than I could possibly muster, making my voice sound just a bit hoarse as I told her to keep still, and just like that, my voice reached her ears as she grew still as a stone, and within seconds, she quieted down and imitated my current posture as we began smoothly gliding through the current from here on out.
Well, I wasn’t expecting to let myself go like that. It was strange…
But in the end, I never really thought too much about it – I’ve managed to grow a relatively short temper after those anguish-fueled three years of exploring the first half of Nent. When you have this parasitic magic flowing within your veins, it’s easy for one to get easily frustrated and mad when things don’t go their way. And I was certainly no exception.
As we kept flying, we began to feel the fear slowly begin to fade away along the winds as my heart slowed down more and more…and suddenly, my fear was gone. I was instantly reminded of that day I ventured out into the Spatium Plains back at Flos to begin my entire expedition. No more was I filled by fear. I was filled with exhilaration. It was almost as I mentally returned back to my younger self from three years ago.
And of course, intending on repeating history, I found myself letting out a joyful laugh as we soared through the skies, with the both of us being guided by the wind. She didn’t understand why I was acting like this, but I certainly knew that the sudden shift in emotion on my end was something that was totally justifiable in my eyes. I needed this feeling of high spirits again – it was something that I had been deprived of for a long time.
Only this time, however…while it felt similar to what happened at the start of my journey, there was something nostalgic about returning to this emotion of pure excitement. I think I had shed a tear while we were gliding through the currents…I guess I really did miss that feeling, huh? The feeling of going where the wind takes you? I wonder if this is what it means to be a true adventurer. Not just an adventurer for the Exploration Team…but an adventurer in your own right. To be this free…to be away from everything in the world…
…must be some life to live.
I immediately snapped out of my momentary loss in concentration as I quickly looked around to see if I had missed anything, and thankfully, that wasn’t the case – what I did notice, however, was a floating landmass ahead of us with a giant, pyramid-like building before us. This was it. The Skyward Temple was upon us. I didn’t know what was going to happen once we were inside, but I knew that it was going to be bad for my being all the same.
It was fun to recall everything which I enjoyed in this expedition – it was nice to be motivated by something which I thought was long gone within my own thoughts and memories. To have a moment like this was something which definitely helped me by a great extent. Once we were basically inches away from the temple, we would be shot up high into the sky, and with that, we were no longer controlled by the current as we used our wings to carefully glide our way back to the ground with relative ease – it was easy to learn how to use these things, thank goodness for that. With that, our journey through the Great Wind Current was over and all wrapped up.
I have to say, it did take quite a while. It didn’t feel too fast and quick while we were moving around and about with the current moving us – no wonder they gave it such a title like ‘Great’. With the current successfully traversed and with no wind blowing against us, the wings would automatically retract and hide themselves within our wind catcher suits as we found ourselves standing before the temple – the next trace of corrupt magic awaited us.
No, it awaited me.
I could tell that this was something I had to approach alone – and even then, I didn’t want her to be involved anyway. This was my responsibility, and I definitely didn’t want her to go through the same pain that I was going through.
With that, once we managed to relax ourselves, we would loosen ourselves up before getting a move on, with the pyramid towering over us as we moved.
Out with the positive, in with the negative, I suppose…
- Writer
