Following the shape of the valley, Rufi and I left the Gallery of Envy and found ourselves walking into a wide field of snow. I thought there'd just be a staircase back here, I thought looking around for any sight of monsters. Something in the distance seemed to trigger my Spirit Sight, so I activated it to investigate further and then gasped. In the distance a fierce blizzard raged at the edge of the field, creating a kind of dark wall between the storm and the rest of the crystal-lit field. But that wasn't what frightened me.
The whole thing's a monster… In my spirit sight I could see the lines of mana pumping through the storm like the veins of a living organism, the whole thing was alive. And as I gawked, my eyes suddenly widened. It's coming this way!
I started running towards the other edge of the field of snow. There weren't really any thoughts in my head except fear. I had seen something my brain still couldn't comprehend, and now my whole body was screaming at me to flee, to run as fast as possible. My whole body began to burn as I pushed myself as far beyond my limits as I could go. The storm darkened the sky as it swept towards us. For one brief moment I caught sight of the stairs that would lead down to the next floor, before my whole vision was coated in layers of gray and white, and I was hurled to the ground in a sudden gust of wind.
I struggled up, my hands stinging from the sleet and cold, Rufi clung to my neck, hunkering down from the wind as I tried to press forwards, hoping that my sense of direction hadn't been ruined in the fall. A few minutes passed and I felt the strength ebbing out of my limbs, my mind numb and foggy, like it too was caught up in the storm. I tried to keep pressing forwards, but I felt like I had been walking for days, my feet were leaden sinking deeper and deeper into the drifts of snow. I stopped for a moment, my hands on my knees, my breaths heavy and ragged, when Rufi leaned up and nipped at my cheek. Fresh blood dribbling out of the shallow cut, I put my hand up in shock, then my mind rushed back to me.
What am I doing!? I'm a freaking skeleton, why am I still in this form? I let the flesh drain from my bones, and my mind suddenly cleared. I was no longer cold, no longer tired. Whereas before I had felt like I was on the verge of death, now I suddenly felt like nothing much was amiss. The snow was a little deeper, and the wind was rather annoying, but other than that the storm suddenly seemed to present no real difficulty. Is this all just the effects of being undead? I wondered, stunned at the sudden change. I continued forward a few steps, still thinking about how close I had felt to dying, when the storm suddenly blew over, the sky cleared, and the warm blue of the overhead crystals reached me once more.
I watched the storm go, seeing its pulsing veins in my spirit sight. Had it only come because I was in my living form? There were too many unanswered questions, and no one around to answer them, so I just shook my head and turned back towards the staircase. I wasn't too far from it now, and made it into the stone corridor without too much trouble. Just what was that? I thought again, taking shelter in the staircase. I looked at my hands, remembering the numbing sensation and the ice and the wind and the feeling of strength ebbing out from my limbs. A layer of ice suddenly coated my hands and I started back. It quickly disappeared, but that only made me narrow my eyes in suspicion. "Status," I called.
[Name: Pick one! ;)]
[Race: Night Skeleton]
[Sex: F] [Age: 17 (Current form: 1)]
[Lvl. 9]
[HP: 610/675] [MP: 45/450] [SP: 65/550]
[Skills: Dark Slash lvl. 7, Dark Vision lvl. 10, Spirit Sight lv. 4, Dark Magic lvl. 8, Improved Balance lvl. 9, Improved Reactions lvl. 9, Corrupting Touch lvl. 10, Corruption Magic lvl. 3, Evernight Touch lvl. 3, Evernight Well lvl. 1, Summon Weapon lvl. 3, Living Form lvl. 4, Read Memories lvl. 3, Ice Magic lvl. 1, Drain Energy lvl. 1, Wind Magic lvl. 1, Mind Numbing lvl. 1, Cold Resistance lvl. 2, Mental Resistance lvl. 1]
[Titles: Undead, Blessed of Melphinoe, Dragon-Slayer, Infused Knowledge, Survivor of Arthuss, the Immortal Storm, Contracted Familiar: Rufi, Last System Backup: Night Skeleton lvl. 9]
What the…Ice magic, Wind Magic, two new skills, and two resistances? That's a little too good for just walking through a storm don't you think? But I remembered what Moira had told me about how the system picked up new skills just by experiencing them. And then I remembered the mana veins of that storm. I guess being inside the magic is pretty different from just getting it shot at you…I had been shot at with ice magic several times since I had entered this floor, and even defeated ice monsters, but the system hadn't picked up any skill seeds then.
I took a glance at my titles just to check that nothing had changed, then froze. Oooh, ooooooh. This is that guardian that Moira mentioned! She had said something about 'true immortality' so this must be it! No wonder, I can't even imagine how you'd kill a storm like that, it's more like a natural phenomenon rather than a real monster…And she said I wouldn't encounter it. I crossed my arms with a scowl, adding one more reason to the list of why I couldn't trust Moira. Well, whatever, I got a hell of a ton out of it for just walking through it, though… I looked at my MP and SP gauges. Maybe that was actually a bit of a close call…
I took a seat against the stone of the staircase to rest. I didn't feel that tired, but there was no way in hell I was entering a new floor with my mana and stamina as low as this. I leaned my head back against the wall wondering if there was a way I could sleep. Skeleton stamina was great and all, but I was coming to miss the regular habits of my previous human life.
"Mrow, Mroww," Rufi pawed at my chest.
"What is it girl?" I asked, picking her up and bringing her to my face. "You want something?" She stretched forwards and licked my bony cheek, before twisting her face to the side. "Mrow?"
"You want me to go back to being human…er…elvish?" I asked, remembering the ears of my living form.
"Row!" She chirped happily, nodding her head. I looked around, nervous. The last time I had been in my living form the storm had come to consume me. But even with my spirit sight I couldn't see anything approaching, and everything I knew about the dungeon so far, seemed to indicate that the staircases were fairly safe. I considered for a moment before finally relenting.
"Alright," I turned back into my living form. "I just can't say no to you, can I?" I petted her for a while, before she curled up on my lap to go to sleep. Mmm…this is…nice. My eyelids drooped, and before I could think about what I was doing, I drifted off into sleep.