[Relocation in 3… 2… 1…]
What the—
The wind was so strong we could barely stand. I activated my Elemental Shield at once and looked around, startled.
We were standing in a paved plaza, looking up at a weirdly tilted chonky wooden horse with a staircase coming down from it. Its head was pulled back too, like it was trying very hard to be majestic.
Llewellyn yanked me under the staircase, just as some sort of metal sign came rattling by, smashing everywhere as it was blown away by the wind.
Penguin, who'd been staring up at the horse in awe, chirped and hid in my pocket, startled.
"System," I asked, "where are we?!"
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[System Notification: Location detected! Troy Historical National Park, Turkey.
Recommended Action: Proceed with caution.]
-
Troy National Park?!
Shit, the wind was getting stronger, the environment around us distorting. We watched a red gazebo tumble away in the wind.
I activated Exploratory Analysis.
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[System Notification: Exploratory Analysis activated!
Analyzing: Distorted Realm
Detected Elements: Air, Earth, Wood
Threat level: High]
-
Three Elements. Goddamn it. Not an easy one.
"There's no time to lose," Llewellyn said. "Let's look for the Knot."
He was right.
We rushed down the wooden walkways going through the ruins, shields up against the wind, trying to figure out where the Knot was. Bricks fell down from the ruins, crashing on the stones below.
Fuck, if a historical site got destroyed with us here, I didn't even want to think what kind of trouble we were going to be in!
"Can you sense anything?" Llewellyn asked.
I focused, trying to feel for the itch in my chest, but we must still be too far.
"Not yet," I called back, ducking as another piece of debris flew past. "I can try activating Intuitive Drift, but I have no idea how it prioritizes what to do. If it decides that the Knot is not important, it might drag us somewhere else!"
There was no linen closet here, but still! After the auction, I wasn't sure I'd trust it with anything urgent.
"Fair enough," Llewellyn said, loud above the wind.
We pushed forward, shields up, fighting through the gales battering the ruins.
I really hoped the wooden walkways wouldn't collapse; they creaked way too ominously under our feet as we ran.
More bricks tumbled down from a nearby wall.
Fuck, this place was falling apart.
Suddenly, the itch exploded in my chest.
Finally!
I grabbed Llewellyn's arm. "This way!"
Unfortunately, a second later—
CRACK!
—the walkways started exploding right under our feet, as if hit by grenades.
What the—!!!
Llewellyn rushed closer. His arm locked around my waist and a second later we were jumping on gusts of wind, trying to escape the exploding planks.
Shit!
Some notice would have been great!
"Going to go higher so we can cut through the other side!" Llewellyn called.
"Not with all this wind!" I yelled, but Llewellyn had already leapt higher.
Fuck!
The aerial view was insane, but the last time we did this was when I'd been dropped right into that Dungeon with Mondwyn Harbor! And I hadn't recovered from the shock yet!
Penguin chirped too, holding onto the edge of my pocket with his tiny flippers. He couldn't fly, only glide in his sugar glider form, so unless I was forgetting something, this was likely his first time being this high up, and the wind was strong!
I looked around, trying to locate the Knot, but between the wind and the distortion, I couldn't see anything.
Llewellyn touched down on another walkway that seemed intact and we started running immediately. Behind us, wood started exploding again.
Finally, the ground opened up into a semicircular depression—a small amphitheater by the look of it, and...
The Knot hung there in the air, suspended directly over the center.
Are you kidding me?!
It would have been bad if we destroyed any of the buildings here, but even worse if we destroyed Troy's amphitheater!!!
"System," I asked. "How old is this place?!"
[System Notification: UNESCO World Heritage Site detected! Current structure identified as the Odeon. Estimated age: 2,100 years. Surrounding area identified as the Ancient City of Troy. Settlement history exceeds 5,000 years.]
"..."
Shit.
Just as we got closer, a wooden plank that covered part of the amphitheater was blasted upward.
Penguin screeched, and I somehow managed to jump out of the way, avoiding the debris.
I needed to focus, go inward, and make the Threads visible so I could start flagging, but we had to get off the walkway to fight; it was too narrow here! If we did that, however, we'd be summoning monsters right in the middle of the ruins, destroying a World Heritage Site.
Why couldn't we just get normal Knots! Without the international incident risk attached!
There was nothing for it; we didn't have any options.
"Let's get off the walkways," I yelled to Llewellyn.
I jumped off them, stepping to the side, and closed my eyes, letting the sensation of the itch pull me under.
As always, it burrowed deeper, scraping at my sternum, pulling toward my own center until—
Click.
I opened my eyes and my vision changed. Colors blazed brighter. The ruins lit up with Threads—Wood, Earth, Air—all spiraling toward the Knot like veins.
All exactly above the amphitheater.
God-fucking-damnit.
[System Notification: Elemental Insight is active! Flag for prioritization?]
Llewellyn had already taken out his sword. I materialized my Moonlight Sword too and flagged an Air Thread.
I'd hoped it would diffuse the wind.
Unfortunately…
Cracks opened everywhere in the Threads all at once.
A split second later hundreds of tornado-like creatures erupted all around us—too many to count.
What the—
"System," I yelled in half a panic, "why did it flag so many Air Threads at once?!!"