Goraldia: The Element Wielders

20: The Hidden Gate of Corzoth

As we walk along, I keep finding myself staring at her. She's so odd. She doesn't seem to care about being in another world, with the capability to wield water. I want to know more about her. I mean, what if she's corrupted, too? Her attitude could be an attribute of being like them.

Either way, we're trudging along in the forest past the village, and it's still early morning. Like, the sky is a dark blue, because the sun hasn't reached the horizon yet, early. This is all thanks to Ms. Strange, over here. One benefit, I guess, is we're more productive now.

Anyway, back to us sifting through the brush, stepping over sticks and rocks, and meandering around trees. When, out of nowhere (which is far more common at the moment than I care to admit), a massive explosion shoots up from the trees, off in the distance. It remains there for a second, waving around violently. Then it fizzles out, and the forest returns to it's natural silence, followed by the chirping of alien animals.

"That's gotta be her," I comment.

"Probably," Hailey responds.

"I wish we could do something, but it looks like she struck pretty quick before leaving. She's amping up. Poor people."

"Where are we going?" Hailey asks.

"Oh. Yeah. I guess I never considered that you have no idea what I'm doing...."

She smiles at me. The, you-finally-figured-it-out-grimace kind. 

"Well," I begin, scratching my head, "we don't have the maps anymore, so I don't know the exact spot, but I studied them pretty well, so I can get us to the right areas. We're looking for objects. Like keys. Although not keys. Artifacts. If I'm correct, my team is already headed to one of them, so if we head to the last one and backtrack, we'll have cut the time in half, and we'll meet up with them." I stand there confidently after finishing, and she just looks on, uninterested.

After a few, undoubtedly awkward seconds, I say, "C'mon, what does it take to impress you? Uh, not that I was trying to impress you. 'Cause I'm not into you. But that doesn't no one would be into you. I just...."

She just scrunches her face into a look of disapproval. 

"Um," I begin, "how about we get going?" She just nods.

Well there goes any hope of conversation. I'm not sure that's an entirely bad thing, though.

At around ten thirty, I assume, from the angle and light of the sun, we begin to hear rushing water.

"There's a waterfall nearby," I say.

"I know," she responds. "I can feel the water."

"Right..." I mumble as I turn away. Fantastic job making yourself look stupid, again.

"Plus I have ears, too," she adds. Humor. Ok, maybe there's a part of her still human.

"Let's just get to it. There might be something interesting there," I banter. "I also wouldn't mind a swim." 

We meander up to the base of the waterfall. Or at least, that's what we thought, until it came into sight.

"Well, damn," I let out. Up ahead of us is a lake at the base of the waterfall, like we expected. But the water, it's falling up. "Bet you didn't feel this," I comment, without looking at her. "Hang on," I say, then bolt off (literally) toward the base, or really apex of the waterfall, snatching up a rock on my way there. Planting my feet firmly on the ground, I launch the rock into the stream of water. I watch as it finds its way to the height of the cliff with the water. interesting.