Curse of the Crystals

Chapter 5: Into The Empire - part 1

It took Jacob a while to confirm whether or not the crystal had been affected by his earlier rock-throw. After all, he was trying to hold-on to the rope for dear life. The cold wind making his eyes hurt upon trying to stare too much didn't exactly help either, forcing him to blink multiple times before finally being able to confirm what he was seeing. Yeah!" Jacob's victorious reply was huge relief to hear.

Ambrose hoped the next part of his plan would work just as well. "Try dousing it in the oil and igniting it next!"

Trying his best to get his numb fingers to work along with him, Jacob barely managed to take out the first flask of oil. Despair washed over him when it almost immediately slipped from his hands while his legs suddenly cramped up, forcing him to use both hands to cling to the rope that served as his only lifeline. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, as he fought the instinct to try climbing back to safety. However, he knew what he was doing this for, and he knew it was worth any risks he needed to take.

Having found the source his courage once more, he managed to take out the second flask, and soon managed to splatter its contents over the crystal. A third and fourth followed, as Jacob's efforts were fuelled by his newfound determination. He struggled for quite a while to ignite the torch he planned to drop onto the oil, as he needed both his hands to use the tinderbox, which forced him to hold-on to the rope with nothing more than his already cramped up legs and what little extra support his upper-arms could offer him. His heart skipped a beat when it looked like the torch had gone out during its fall, but he soon noticed a small flame spark up.

Not long after, a fire erupted from between the rock formation at Giant's Fingers. It was small enough to prevent the fairly high-up rope for breaking due to the heat, but with some luck, it was still big enough to break this weird crystals. The heat from the fire, after the cold from the freezing outdoor temperatures, formed a stark enough contrast for these odd minerals to suffer from it. Ambrose didn't need to wait for Jacob to get a confirmation that it was working, as a loud shattering sound suddenly echoed through the hills.

Jacob soon shouted in triumph. "It shattered like glass!"

Ambrose smiled. However, he knew that this was only a small victory. After all, there was always a chance that the crystals were only a side-effect of the same thing that caused the weird illness, rather than that they the origin... For now, the best they could do was to wait, and to periodically climb the rope to check the situation at Giant's Fingers.

The first sign that things were progressing was confirmed after three days. During all that time, they hadn't moved the rabbit cage. On day four, they were even able to place them closer to Giant's Fingers. Anita woke up on the sixth day, which was the biggest relief of them all. Their abilities to care for someone that didn't wake up were limited, despite have some methods of forcefully giving her water so that she wouldn't die from dehydration. Anita had severely weakened, but it looked like she'd be able to recover.

Almost two entire weeks after destroying the crystal, they were able to cross the now thick layer of snow all the way back to Giant's Fingers itself. Ambrose was eager to investigate, and Irwin had volunteered to come with him, along with his oldest two sons and a sled. Ambrose was going to see if the remaining crystal shards still had any of their original illness causing properties. If they did, Irwin and his sons would bring him back to the village to recover. It was better to be safe than sorry, after all.

As Ambrose approached the rock formation, he soon spotted the crystal shards from up close. They somewhat resembled the rare obsidian type of rock he once saw, but were more purple and more crystalline in nature. It was difficult to explain, but there was certain alien beauty to them. Ambrose carefully got closer step by step, but he seemed to experience no difficulties whatsoever.