Taol's Compendium of Nent

Chapter 22: Windbreak Canyon (Ventus)

Because of my current state, I was forced to return to Ventus’ capital, where I was quick to receive medical attention – because of this, I was forced to be in the infirmary once again. Only this time, I was forced in bed far longer than my first experience in the infirmary back in Petram. Due to the fact that my leg was broken badly, I was forced to be in bed for about four-and-a-half months…talk about so much time being lost. I hate that I had to end up there again.

Nevertheless, it was a somewhat small price to pay.

I remember when I first woke up from my somewhat catatonic state, and when I did, the nurse was quick to explain just what had happened with me – they had also noticed that the plague that had been mostly infecting my arms had now made a rapid spread throughout my entire torso. So, this was another sign of the magic advancing itself with another corrupt trace extinguished off the map…just great.

There was also something else that bothered me when I awakened, and it was the fact that I saw Tirza beside me, with her upper body on my bed as I could see her snoring off while she was sitting on a chair next to me. Was she here this entire time with them while I was being treated?

I still didn’t know how to feel about it, even to this day. But I did feel a great deal of guilt for making her continually worry to no end throughout this entire journey – these rushes of emotions are seriously messing her up, and I could tell by how much she has changed over the past three years. Still, I had to look towards the positives of the suffering I have been by managing to deal with the dangers of the Skyward Temple.

This just meant that there was one more continent left that had a trace of corrupt magic – Candor. As for Inanis, that place, especially at the unexplored region which allegedly leads to the Edge of the World, was a literal bastion of dark energy, which was probably a total minefield now that I think about it.

Nevertheless, recovery would be on the slow end, and after spending so much time in bed, I was finally able to get myself back on my feet after taking some time doing some physiology treatment. With that, me and Tirza would prepare for our leave the next morning, and considering how we didn’t have to pay a visit to the Skyward Temple again, it was time to make a fast track to Candor – after consulting with Master Altum once again, he suggested that we take the same path to the temple via the Great Wind Current, but continue moving up north to the Windbreak Canyon, where the final step to reaching Candor would be at our grasp.

The Leap to Candor.

That’s…some name.

Either way, once we got the answers that we needed, we would quickly make our move and fly through the current to arrive at the temple, and with that, we would quickly move past it without any form of hesitation stopping us as we decided to take a better look at our options to reach the canyon through the air – there was nothing but skies and floating lands around us, but we were also aware of the fact that we were still above the clouds, so a thought came to my head as I was left wondering just where could this canyon possibly be.

What if the canyon lied below the clouds?

And considering how we’d be essentially diving through the clouds as we fall, the winds are bound to be fast as lightning…with that, I knew that this was a decision that I had to take – Candor didn’t have floating landmasses to begin with, so this seemed like a reasonable option. With that, I would ask her to follow my lead as I immediately jumped off the landmass and made a nosedive into the clouds.

I’ll admit, I did not think about how terrifying it was going to be, and soon enough, I found myself screaming as the wind blasted down on my face – seconds later, I heard that all too familiar yelling behind me as Tirza followed suit just moments after I made my move. With that, I immediately stretched my arms out as my suit acted up, and with that, my wings were brought forth and I immediately found myself blazing through the clouds as I was pulled out of my diving state. In an attempt to copy me, I could see out of the corner of my eye that she did the same, and sure enough, she would be gliding behind me as the screaming ceased.

Things took a turn for the relaxing side from here on out as we began to gradually make our way below the clouds with a slow descent, and sure enough, we could see nothing but land all around us from here on out, and as for how the whole place looked, it seemed like as if the entire area was slightly on the mountainous side – there was definitely grass everywhere, and at times there would be ledges scattered here and there which crudely cut up the lands, and between the ledges lied nothing but dry, dead land all the way at the bottom, which would probably serve well as an easy grave if anyone fell between them.

All we had to do now was to find the highest peak within these cliffs, and from there, we would be able to make our move to Candor – knowing that we couldn’t maintain our altitude much longer, we would make a gradual descent closer and closer to the ground, and with that, we would hit the grass rather safely as our wings swiftly retracted. Now that our little flight trip was out of the way, we had to continue the rest of our journey through Ventus on foot.

The good news was that this wasn’t going to be as long or as grueling as any of the other continents that we had ventured through up until this point – the bad news was that we were clearly lagging behind due to my injuries which I had sustained back at the Skyward Temple, so we knew that it was best to just get a move on and not waste any time.

Considering how I knew very little about the Windbreak Canyon, I didn’t know how far we were from the highest peak of this place – it looked like we were absolutely surrounded by silent lands and ledges at some areas to separate the land. I had to assume that if we’re going for the highest peak of the canyon, we would have to reach the end of the canyon itself. That did sound about right, considering how we had to reach Candor anyway. Wouldn’t it make sense for the Leap to Candor be basically bordering said continent?

With that thought process in mind, we would make our move as we began what we assumed to be a long trek through the Windbreak Canyon.

Thankfully, what we didn’t know was that we would take about two to three weeks to reach the highest peak of the canyon – the last thing we needed was for this journey to last months on end, which would’ve been demoralizing to say the least.

Things would remain relatively silent from here on out as our walk through the rather open lands went by mostly undisturbed – the only obstacles that we had to face were the occasional wild animal that we had to shoo or kill as well as a lot of overnight rests in our tent.

I think this was the first time since our experience in the tundra back at Novus did we ever feel like this journey was on the calmer side – and there was also the fact that I had to undergo nightmarish trials in the landmark before the canyons, that being the temple as mentioned earlier. I think this is like a reward of sorts – calmness after the storm.

Once again, the views were breathtaking – watching the sun meet with the horizon every dusk and dawn was always something worth waking up or stopping for. Times like these are what kept me going and it will most likely keep me going. The feeling of seeing another dawn and another dusk is what most should strive for, if you ask me.

Doesn’t sound like it’s too much to ask for, don’t you think?

And so, days would pass, and days would soon become weeks, and at last, we would find ourselves basically staring at the end of the canyon which was on the other end of the horizon from our point of view – we could see nothing but open sky and endless clouds past the final ledge of this place. We would speed things up a little so that we couldn’t waste any more time by just walking slowly, and soon enough, we would finally arrive at the spot a few hours later, just as the night sky was beginning to take its reign.

Arriving at the end of the canyon, we decided to just relax a little and just take a look at the view of what lied ahead before us – no more floating lands, no more soaring through the skies. Well…no more soaring through the skies UNLESS there were mountains in our way, then maybe catching the wind might be of great use to us. But for now, Candor looked to be a place where we have to spend most of our time on foot, as annoying as it sounds.

But hey, this healed leg of mine could definitely use some exercise, so maybe this wouldn’t be so bad once this whole journey was kickstarted into action. Admittedly, looking out into the view of the night had left me zoned out as my thoughts ran free in my head once again.

How long has it been now? Four years, perhaps? Maybe it has been four years…it feels like I’ve spent a whole year exploring each continent that I have been thus far. So maybe it has been almost half a decade…which means that I’ll end up spending exactly half a decade in this entire exploration…I can’t believe time has went by so quickly. I know I keep saying this, but how does anyone keep track of time when they’re so far into their adventure?

It feels like time has become just a secondary afterthought now.

I’ve been so focused on wanting to see out the end of this expedition, but maybe I’ve been too focused in my desperation to return home – in the end, I’ve completely forgotten the fact that I’ve changed so much with all that time being lost. What bothers me is whether or not I’ve changed for the better or for worse. Maybe at times it felt like I changed positively, maybe at times I changed negatively.

A part of me told me that I never changed at all…and instead, what changed was what I thought of myself and the world around me.

That sounded like…the most logical thought I have thought of in a long time, honestly.

We would set up a tent a fair distance away from the ledge, and after having a quick dinner, we would finally knock ourselves out as we prepared for an eventful tomorrow.

And boy, was it going to be eventful…