Chapter 19
Ketauro
“Vashoh’!”
It took Jared a second to recognize that Rohlwig had said the kill command and that the high-pitched alarm had stopped. He slowly put down his arms and opened his eyes.
The Beast was gone. Jared breathed out a sigh of relief.
Rohlwig hurried over to Jared and helped him to his feet. “You okay?”
Still too stunned to speak, Jared nodded.
“That was Sepra.” Rohlwig took a step backward and looked around with a worried look on his face. “I don’t know how it got in here, but I think it’s time to get you out of here. Its brothers might not be far behind. The sooner we get out of this simulation, the sooner we can get off of Cira.”
Danielle asked, “Wait. You mean that was the real Sepra?”
Rohlwig reached out. “Yep.” An olamshi flew into his hand.
The real Sepra? Jared asked, “How did it get in our simulation?”
Rohlwig put away the olamshi. “It just walked in no doubt, but the real question is how it got into the Cira complex.”
Jared then asked, “Where did that olamshi come from? You already got the olamshi that started the simulation, didn’t you?
“The olamshi I just got,” Rohlwig patted the outside of his robe to indicate the olamshi he had put in an inside pocket, “was the one I used on Cira to start the simulation and consequently to end it.” He held up one finger. “The first olamshi was only part of the simulation. It’s gone now.”
“Well, follow me.” Rohlwig pointed to the trail behind Jared and the others.
He was about to take a step when Paul asked, “Wait. How can the simulation be over? We’re still in this forest.”
Jared was also wondering why Rohlwig said he had ended the simulation when they were obviously still in the same forest.
“Well, the simulation was a simulation of this very forest, so it looks the same.” Rohlwig waved his hand, indicating their surroundings.
Jared blinked in surprise. What?
“You see, I not only used the olamshi to create a simulation, but I altered it to open a portal that would bring us here when the simulation ended.” Rohlwig held his arms out to his sides. “Quite an amazing piece of Diestro, if I do say so myself.” He smiled and let his arms drop.
“So where’s here?” Danielle asked.
“Earth.” Rohlwig nodded once. “Tiersda—”
“We’re going to see my mom?” Paul stood up straighter. Jared could tell he was excited about seeing his mother.
Jared wondered what that would be like—to get to see his mother—but then tried to put it out of his mind. There was no point in dwelling on impossibilities.
“Yes. There’s more I’d like to train you on, but Cira isn’t secure.” Rohlwig looked at Jared, Danielle, and Paul, as if he was surveying them, and then nodded. “But, I think you’ll be fine moving onto the next phase of your training with Tiersda.
“By the way, you can take off your larises.” Rohlwig pointed at Jared’s hand.
Jared had forgotten he was wearing a laris. He rolled his eyes, realizing that he could have used it against Sepra. What was I thinking? He mentally whacked his forehead with the heel of his hand. I wasn’t thinking. That’s the problem. He made a promise to himself that he would try to be more prepared and aware of his surroundings.
Not more than a second after he made that oath, he heard a rustling noise, and then someone with long, dark hair grabbed Paul.
Paul screamed. “Help!”
Jared was about to reach out and grab the attacker’s arm to free Paul, but then something odd happened. The stranger kissed Paul on the cheek.
What? Who is this? Jared wondered.
“Paul,” the woman sighed and then relaxed her hold on Paul.
Jared grabbed the woman’s shoulder and pulled on it to get a good look at her face.
As she turned to face Jared and the group, Jared realized it was Paul’s mother, Tiersda. (He recognized her from the HST.)
He stepped back. “Sorry, Tiersda. I didn’t know it was you.”
With tears streaming down her face, Tiersda turned back to face Paul and hugged him again. “I’m so happy to see you.” She released him, stepped back, and then, eyeing him up and down, said, “Let me have a good look at you.”
Paul kept his arms at his sides but smiled. He seemed uncertain how he should feel or hesitant to show how he felt.
Jared shook his head. He didn’t understand why Paul felt so awkward. If it were me, he told himself, I would have been so thrilled to see my mom that I would have hugged her and not let go for a long time.
However, Jared was sure Paul would become as close to her as he was to Ferran once she and Paul got to spend a little more time together.
Tiersda wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her brown robe. “Well, I’m sure you all don’t want to keep standing around here and watch me bawl my eyes out. Let’s go.”
She kept her eyes on Paul and, putting her arm around his waist, pulled him away from the group. Jared, Danielle, and Rohlwig followed her.
Wow. She’s not excited at all to see Paul, Jared joked ironically to himself.
As Tiersda led them through the forest, she expressed how much she missed Paul and made comments like, “I can’t believe how grown up you look,” and “You’ve become quite a handsome young man.”
Paul seemed to be enjoying the attention. He was staring at his mom and listening intently to every word she spoke.
Jared began wishing his mom could see him. She’d say the same thing that Tiersda was saying about Paul, to him.
Tiersda took the group out into a large clearing. When they reached the middle, Tiersda said over her shoulder, “It’s good to have you all here.”
She stopped and then turned around to address the group. “I think it’s time to do some more training. What do you say?”
She looked at Paul. He nodded eagerly.
Jared was ready, too. “Alright.” He rubbed his hands together.
Tiersda held up two fingers. “There are two things I need to go over with you before we continue your training.
“So far in your training, you’ve learned that words are an important—really the fundamental—part of our technology. But, I wanted to let you know that you don’t always have to speak Amatay out loud for it to work.
“You were taught to speak the words out loud because it’s easier to focus and say the words correctly when you’re first starting to learn Amatay. I just wanted you to be aware that vocalizing commands isn’t absolutely necessary because, for the next phase of your training, there will probably be a time when you’ll need to know that.”
Jared was glad Tiersda had addressed that topic. After she brought it up, Jared thought he remembered seeing someone do something with Diestro without saying anything. He couldn’t remember if it was from the HST, during his stay in Teruvisa, or while they were being trained, though.
Tiersda looked at Paul, Jared, and Danielle with a smile. “Now, you’ve already learned how the Light touches everything like an enormous, intricate web—everything is connected. Well, I want to show you that we can also be connected to everything around us.”
Tiersda held her hands out in front of her, with her palms up and cupped together, and then said, “Varq ho inela.”
A small cloud formed just above her hands and darkened. Rain drops began falling into her hands. After a moment, the cloud disappeared.
Tiersda whispered into her hands, “Whey oh astohna.”
The water spewed from her hands, curled like a wave, and then evaporated.
Tiersda showed everyone her empty hands. “When you learn more about Diestro and how to master Amatay, a grand connection between yourself and nature is possible. As you saw with my little rain cloud demonstration, I was able to connect to the very moisture in the air and manipulate it.”
Jared watched the mist dissipate into the air with awe. So far in their training, th
ey had only talked about controlling the elements. He understood how it was possible and all the theories and laws about it, but that was the first time he had seen it. He wondered how long it would take him to be able to do what Tiersda did.
Tiersda added, “As we move onto the next portion of your training, try to be conscious of this connection—the connection between the Light that is all around us; the Amatay we speak and think; Diestro, our technology to harness the power of the Light; and all forms of life and matter. That is the only way you’ll be able to unlock the MSIs.”
Jared, inspired by Tiersda’s demonstration and words, thought he could almost feel the web of Light surrounding and touching him.
“Now, onto your training.” Tiersda took a few steps away from the group and turned to the left. She clapped her hands together. “Wemana poriyu faso.”
When she stretched her arms out wide, Jared heard and felt a low rumbling. Then, with an earsplitting CRACK, the earth cleaved in two a short distance in front of Tiersda. The crevice grew longer and deeper until Tiersda and the others were standing at the edge of a canyon that stretched deep into the forest.
Tiersda lowered her arms, and the rumbling stopped.
She turned around. “The next skill you need to learn is how to fly.”
Jared wasn’t sure he heard her right. “Fly?”
“That’s right.” Tiersda smiled and held a hand out toward Rohlwig. “If you would, please, Rohlwig.”
“Gladly.” Rohlwig stepped forward, facing the canyon. “Here’s how it’s done. When you jump, pretend that you’re diving.” Rohlwig put his arms straight up above his head. “But, you’ll be going straight up into the air, of course.
“As you jump, you must envision yourself in the air, almost feel yourself weightless before you leave the ground, and think or say the command ‘votunlae.’” Rohlwig dropped his arms. “Then, when you feel yourself accelerating, you can use your arms freely. To steer, just lean in the direction you want to go. To stop, simply press down with your heels. Watch me do it once, first.”
Rohlwig reached up and then jumped. He rocketed out over the canyon and then circled back around. He landed easily and made an exaggerated bow.
Rohlwig stood up and held his arms out. “Ta—da. Now, let’s have you give it a whirl.”
Jared was excited to fly. I’m actually going to fly! He’d always had dreams about being able to fly. If he could’ve wished for any super power, it would’ve been the ability to fly. So far, the closest he’d ever gotten to flying like in his dreams was in the sublevel.
Jared flexed his knees and glanced over at Danielle and Paul. They were getting ready to jump, too.
Jared looked out over the canyon, took a deep breath, and then pictured himself soaring through the sky, imagining what it would feel like. He jumped, reaching into the air, said, “Votunlae,” and then felt himself slingshot up into the sky.
“Yeah!” he cried out in exhilaration. It was even better than he dreamed. I can fly!
Jared held his arms out like airplane wings, leaned to the left, and started banking. He completed his turn and headed back toward Tiersda and Rohlwig.
When he got closer, Jared brought his legs forward and pressed down hard with his heels. He abruptly stopped and started falling down into the canyon. Without panicking, he reached up, said, “Votunlae,” and hoped he’d be able to start flying again without being able to push off from the ground.
Fortunately, he shot straight up. Phew! I did it. It would’ve been embarrassing if I would’ve had to parachute down to the bottom and then fly back up. He pointed himself toward Tiersda and Rohlwig.
When he reached the end of the canyon and wanted to stop, he didn’t push so hard with his heels and gradually started to slow down. As he neared the ground, he pushed a little harder and slowed down even more.
He hit the ground a little harder than he expected and stumbled forward, but he managed to stay on his feet.
Regaining his balance, Jared smiled broadly at Rohlwig and Tiersda. That was the best thing I’ve learned so far. Jared jabbed a fist into the air in triumph. “Awesome!”
Jared couldn’t adequately express in words how he felt, but he didn’t need to. Rohlwig and Tiersda both nodded, acknowledging that they understood how he felt.
Paul and Danielle landed as roughly as Jared had but fortunately stayed upright. The three of them looked at each other and then laughed and cheered.
Once he settled down, Jared was ready to try it again, but Tiersda said, “The next phase of your training will help you hone your skills with using Diestro.” She smiled. “I’m sure you’ll like—”
“Anyone for a game of ketauro?” Ferran had appeared on the canyon rim and was walking toward Tiersda, Rohlwig, and the youths. He held his arms out.
What’s Ferran doing here? And, what’s ketauro? Jared grunted, “Huh?”
Ferran ran up to Tiersda. They embraced and kissed.
After only a few moments (though Jared thought the kiss was dragging on), Tiersda took a half-step back and, still in Ferran’s arms, said, “I’m glad to see you. So, this means everything is ready?”
Ferran nodded.
“Ready?” Paul asked, stepping closer to his dad.
Ferran gave Paul a hug. “Hi, son.”
Jared didn’t want Ferran to get off the subject. “Yeah. What’s ready?”
“Oh, just some things I had to do before I could come here to help you get your passwords for the MSIs.” Ferran seemed to be purposefully evading the question.
He’s hiding something. But what? Jared prodded a little more. “Oh yeah? What things?”
“Just things.” Ferran changed the subject. “So, let’s get started.”
“Okay...” Jared accepted that Ferran wasn’t going to tell him anymore than that. “What are we going to do?”
Ferran stated, “Play ketauro.”
Jared was curious to find out what that was. “What’s ketauro?”
Tiersda addressed Jared, Paul, and Danielle. “It’s a training exercise we’ll use to help you find your individual passwords so that your MSIs can gain access to the decoder and Teruvisa’s new systems. It’s a game that has been used in training ever since the Founding Masters’ time, although, we’re changing the purpose a bit this time to fit our needs—to get the passwords.”
“A game?” Jared was confused as to how a game would help him figure out his MSI’s password.
Tiersda nodded. “Yes. As you compete in ketauro, you should become focused enough to unlock the passwords embedded in the chips. You can’t get the passwords by learning a Diestro command or skill; it’s mostly subconscious. But now that you’ve learned enough Diestro, as you use your skills without thinking about using them, the passwords will come to you.”
Jared was excited. They were finally going to get the passwords—the final key to unlock the new systems.
“Before we start, let me explain the rules.” Tiersda held up two fingers. “Ketauro is played with two teams. The object is to get the ball, called the tauro, to your team’s side of the canyon without touching it with your hands; any other body part is fine.”
Like soccer. Jared was good at soccer, although he wasn’t quite sure how well he’d do while trying to fly from one side of the canyon to the other. This should be interesting.
Tiersda added, “However, the way to really excel in ketauro is to use your skills with Diestro to move the tauro, not just kick it. Oh, and by the way, don’t worry about being gentle with the tauro. It’s indestructible, so you can use anything to move it, such as a tahsil or explosion.”
Jared began thinking about what skills he could use to move the tauro without kicking it. A sword... a shield. What else?
“Well, I think that’s it. Let’s go ahead and split up into teams.” Tiersda put herself, Ferran, and Paul together on one team. Rohlwig, Danielle, and Jared were on the other.
Tiersda waved an arm over her head with a circular motion. “Ena’ulae fe
rra keey hezsha.”
Jared suddenly found himself with Danielle and Rohlwig on one side of the widest part of the canyon, which was about the same width as one of the circuits used for flying shuttles around in Teruvisa. On the other side were Paul and his parents.
Tiersda flew out to the midpoint between the two rims of the canyon. She had a shiny, silver ball under her arm.
Her voice resounded in Jared’s head. (He assumed that everyone else could hear it, as well; after all, beoveh could be used to talk to multiple people at the same time.) “Now, put on your larises and get ready.” Tiersda held up the tauro in the palm of one hand. She waited until Jared, Paul, and Danielle had on their larises, said, “Ketauro,” and then let go of the ball.
Rohlwig immediately jumped into the canyon, diving head first past the tauro, then stopped in midair. The ball rebounded off his head and shot up above the canyon rim.
Tiersda flew toward the tauro, streaking across the sky, and when she reached the tauro, she bicycle-kicked it back toward her side of the canyon.
On the way down from its high arc, Rohlwig zipped over to the tauro and trapped it in a floating containment bubble. He began moving the captured tauro toward Jared, Danielle, and his side of the canyon.
Jared, wanting to help Rohlwig, thought, Ketauro doesn’t seem too tricky. They’re kicking and heading the ball. I can do that. And, I know how to make a solum, although, I’m not sure how Rohlwig’s making it float. I think I’ll jump in and give it a try.
Jared was about to fly over to Rohlwig and the tauro when a black whip wrapped around the bubble a few times. When the whip cracked, the tauro was flung in the other direction.
Jared’s eyes followed the whip as it retracted into the sleeve of Ferran’s robe. I want to learn how to make one of those.
Jared wanted to help even more because, since Ferran had joined the game, Rohlwig was outnumbered, but he hesitated when he saw a small, dark cloud form over the canyon where the tauro was.
He thought it was odd that a cloud would suddenly appear in that location, especially since there wasn’t another cloud in the sky.
Then, a second after the cloud appeared, large hail stones rained down into the canyon and began pelting the tauro, Tiersda, Ferran, and Rohlwig.
I don’t want to go out there now. Jared decided to wait for the hail storm to stop.
Within moments, the hail stones turned into balls of fire. To protect themselves, Ferran, Tiersda, and Rohlwig curled up into balls and floated like robe-covered balloons.
After several hits from fireballs, the bubble around the game ball broke, causing the sphere to plummet toward the ground, and then the fire-hail storm stopped.
Is the tauro controlling the game? Judging by the timing of the firestorm, it almost seemed to Jared that the tauro had made the storm appear to release itself from the solum, but he dismissed that theory. Nah. That can’t be. Tiersda, Ferran, or Rohlwig must have made the hail appear.
Jared jumped into the gorge, chasing after the game ball. However, his robe started furling behind him, and he began slowing down. No. I need to go faster.
Jared grabbed the edges of his robe and pulled them in close around himself. He immediately began picking up speed, but he realized he might not reach the tauro before it hit the ground.
As he shot toward the canyon floor, he didn’t remember if, in the rules, Tiersda had stated anything about whether or not the tauro was allowed to touch the ground. But, even if he was able to get to the tauro as it bounced off the ground, he wondered, How will I take control of it without grabbing it?
Jared got an idea. He would try to bat it upward with a tahsil. It just might work.
When Jared was inches from the tauro, and the tauro was about 15 feet from the ground, Jared swung his right hand—the one with the laris on it—upward. “Tahsil!”
The sword of light missed the ball because the tauro dodged his swing. Oh, man.
Jared didn’t have enough time to try to hit the tauro again, so he quickly got his feet underneath himself in order to votunlae. But, he wasn’t fast enough.
Fortunately though, when he landed, the ground gave way like a trampoline. He sank into it until his momentum stopped, and then he was catapulted straight back up into the air.
Jared heard Rohlwig’s voice in his head. “Good try, but you could’ve been squashed.” As Jared shot past Rohlwig, Rohlwig caught him in a net of light and began reeling him in. “Next time you have an idea, maybe you should let me in on it. I would definitely have advised against doing that maneuver.” He chuckled.
Jared shrugged and laughed to himself. Yeah. He figured he’d get better at the game, though.
At that point, Jared looked down. Ferran was standing next to the tauro at the bottom of the canyon. The ground had returned to its rigid state.
Jared wondered if Ferran was the one who made the tauro move out of the way of his tahsil and if Rohlwig was the one that saved him by making the ground into a trampoline.
Rohlwig turned his head. “Danielle, get over here. We could use your help.” He pointed in her direction. “Raukish.”
An earthen walkway, formed from the rocks and dirt of the canyon wall, jutted out from the cliff to where Jared was. The net holding Jared vanished, and Jared and Rohlwig landed on the dirt platform.
As Danielle ran toward Jared and Rohlwig, Jared looked down into the canyon. Ferran blasted the ground under the tauro, and the ball rebounded toward Tiersda, who was standing a few feet away from Ferran. She kicked the ball into the air, and then the two of them began kicking the tauro back and forth to each other as they floated upward.
Jared wanted to jump down there and steal the tauro away but decided to ask Rohlwig if he had a plan. However, before Jared could ask, a huge, black, vulture-like bird swooped down, snatched the tauro in its beak, and then headed up and out of the canyon near Paul’s side.
Paul pointed at the long-necked bird. “Tordistrem!”
A beam of light hit the winged creature. It squawked, faltered, flipped over, dropped the tauro, and then flew away in an erratic manner.
Jared turned his attention from the bird to the tauro, which was falling fast. He turned to ask Rohlwig what to do, but Rohlwig wasn’t next to him anymore. Then, he saw Rohlwig fly out of the forest on the other side of the canyon, holding onto the trunk of a pine tree he had uprooted.
Diestro sure can make you strong. As Jared marveled over Rohlwig’s display of strength, he wondered how long it would take him to be able to use Diestro like that.
When Rohlwig reached the tauro, he batted the game ball back toward Jared and Danielle and then dropped the tree, letting it fall into the canyon.
Jared prepared himself to jump up and kick the tauro or head it toward his side of the canyon, but Paul was flying like a rocket toward the ball.
He’s going pretty fast. Jared realized that Paul would get to the tauro before it reached him. He needed to fly out and try to get it.
He looked at Danielle. “Come on.”
Danielle nodded, and they both flew toward the tauro, but, a second later, Tiersda flew up out of the canyon and caught the tauro with a tornado spinning around on the palm of her hand.
Jared wished he was a Master so that he could do stuff like that, too. Man. I need more training, he half-joked to himself.
When Tiersda tipped the whirlwind toward her team’s side of the canyon, and the tauro shot out, Jared darted toward the game ball. I’m all over it.
Jared heard Rohlwig shout, “Faatubada! Keey raukish ulae!” and then saw the earthen walkway—the one Danielle, Rohlwig, and he had been standing on earlier—shoot past him. Whoa. What’s he doing?
The walkway passed the tauro and then tilted so that, when the tauro hit it, the angle allowed the tauro to bounce off of it and down into the canyon.
“Dive!”
When Jared heard Rohlwig’s command, he darted toward the tauro.
Paul and Danielle were right beside him, but Jared w
as determined to get to it first. He closed his eyes and tried to lunge himself forward even faster.
A second later, he opened his eyes and saw that he was right above the tauro. It was like he had omporulaed while flying. It caught him by surprise, and he only had a split second to react.
He swung his arm up. “Tahsil!”
His light sword struck the tauro at the same time as two other tahsils. The impact created a blinding light and a deafening ring.
Jared felt himself floating and became enveloped in cold. A moment later, his sight returned, but he was completely submersed in water. He held his breath and swam up to the surface. He was surprised that wearing a robe didn’t weigh him down—it was like the robe didn’t absorb water.
When Jared’s head broke the surface of the water, he gasped for air. Then, he looked up and saw Ferran, Tiersda, and Rohlwig hovering above him and pointing down at Paul, Danielle, and him.
Tiersda said, “You’ve been viquened. You can move easily and breathe underwater now.”
So, that’s why the robes don’t make it hard to swim. Jared took a moment to look around. He was treading water at the bottom of the canyon. How’d all this water get here? He looked up at Rohlwig. “What happened? We hit the tauro, and then there was a flash of light and a ringing noise.”
“It’s just part of the game,” Rohlwig said. “Keep it up.” He gave Jared, Danielle, and Paul a thumbs-up.
Jared looked around for the tauro. Where is it?
Tiersda said, “The tauro is now submerged. It can now move in any direction on its own, so it’ll be harder to catch.”
Before Jared could dive under the water to look for the tauro, Rohlwig, who was standing on the water, called Jared and Danielle over to him.
How does he float in the air like that? Jared swam over to Rohlwig and asked, “We learned to fly, but how do you float like that?”
Rohlwig raised his eyebrows and nodded. “Oh. I didn’t go over that, did I? Well, when you’re flying, right after you press down with your heels to stop, push with your toes.”
“Oh, okay. Thanks.” Sounds easy enough. The next time Jared had a chance, he’d try it.
Rohlwig, crouching down, changed the subject. “Okay. We need a plan.”
Jared looked over at the opposing team huddled together in the water, a ways off, discussing their strategy. “Yeah. What are we going to do?”
Rohlwig brought his hands together and then parted them. “We’ll spread out. And, if any of us sees the tauro, we’ll make some kind of signal so that the other team doesn’t know we’ve found it. How about if, using beoveh, we bark like dogs?”
Jared remembered, Tiersda told us we might have to use Amatay mentally during the game. She was right. He felt confident he could do it. It shouldn’t be too hard.
Rohlwig nodded. “When one of us barks, the others will find that person, and we’ll all surround the tauro. Then, when we’re close enough, I’ll count to three, we’ll all enclose the tauro in a solum at the same time, and then we’ll toss it up out of the water. After that, we’ll fly into the air and pass the tauro back and forth to each other until we can kick it onto our side. Sound good?”
Sounds good to me. Jared nodded. “Uh—hm.”
“Okay, let’s go.” Rohlwig stood up and then sank feet first into the water.
Jared looked toward where Danielle was, but she had already dived underwater. So, Jared quickly let himself sink, as well.
He was surprised that he could see clearly. Being viquened apparently helped people see normally underwater in addition to allowing them breathe and swim better.
Jared, Danielle, and Rohlwig looked at each other. Rohlwig pointed for them to go off in different directions.
Jared swam away from his team, keeping an eye out for the tauro. He was amazed at how easy it was to move in the water. He felt as light as a jellyfish and as fast as a shark.
Every kick and stroke propelled him through the water with ease. He felt no resistance in front of him as he sliced through the water, yet the water gave enough resistance behind him to allow him to push off of it. It was almost like the water gave way before him, then solidified behind him.
As he searched for the tauro, he started to have a little fun. He changed direction several times, pretending he was a shark darting through the water in search of its prey.
Jared smiled to himself. It’s not flying, but it’s still fun. He enjoyed how free he felt moving in the water.
After a short time, he thought he caught a glimpse of the tauro. He was about to bark but then noticed that it was really two spheres floating side by side.
They started coming right at him and were gaining speed. When they got closer, he realized they were eyeballs attached to a whale-sized, aquatic creature.
The large fish was as black as night, with fins the size of airplane wings and a long, eel-shaped body. As it opened its mouth, baring its teeth, Jared started to get sucked in. He backpedaled but kept getting closer.
Jared swam harder against the pull of the current. Why is it so hard to swim now? He became desperate. What do I do?
Jared was only a few feet away from the pointed snout of the creature. Fighting back his fear, he came up with an idea. Maybe a shield will protect me.
Jared stopped swimming, put his arms up, and was about to produce an estio by saying the command silently when the sea monster froze—literally froze. He bumped into the giant eel-sicle and looked through the ice, past the teeth, and into the darkness of its throat.
Ew. I’m glad I didn’t end up down there. Jared pushed off backward from the block of ice and turned around.
Rohlwig swam up to him, “That was a close one,” and then got a surprised look on his face. He pointed to Jared’s right. “Woof woof.”
Jared turned his head and started barking when he saw the tauro. Danielle, who was not far away, barked, as well, and swam over to Rohlwig and Jared.
Rohlwig motioned for Danielle and Jared to surround the ball. Ferran, Tiersda, and Paul had seen the tauro and were closing in on it, too.
Soon, everyone had positioned themselves in a large circle around the tauro, which began moving erratically within the bounds of the ring of people. But, as the tauro would go up or down, the circle of players would do the same.
Jared heard Rohlwig say, “One... (Okay. Time for the solum.) Two... (Focus.) Three.”
Jared thought only of the tauro and making as strong a solum as he could. He locked his eyes on the target, pointed at the tauro, and then mouthed the words, Ena’am solum, as he said them in his head.
The tauro was surrounded by a bubble of light. Then, as planned, he heaved his arm upward to fling the tauro out of the water.
The tauro and solum shot upward. An instant later, Jared felt a tug. It’s taking me with it.
Jared tried to release his solum, but he wasn’t able to. The tauro flew up out of the water, dragging not only him but Paul and Danielle by invisible leashes.
When they reached the top of the canyon, the ball of light stopped. However, Jared’s momentum carried him toward the sphere. In the second before he hit the solum, he wondered what would happen when he hit the bubble.
Jared hit the ball of light around the tauro, spread eagle, but the luminous material didn’t feel like a solum. It was soft and sticky like a melting marshmallow.
In fact, as Jared tried to move, he found that the light bubble was so sticky he couldn’t free himself from it. He started sinking into it and was soon totally enveloped in light.
Amid the light, Jared swore he saw a flash of something that looked like a hand blazoned with the word ‘Prebano.’ But, it was just so quick, he wasn’t sure.
He wanted to make the word come back, so he blinked hard several times, squinted, and focused on the spot where he saw the word. The image didn’t come back, though, and the light faded away.
At the same time he felt solid ground under his feet, a force, like a strong wind, pushed against his face and c
hest. He staggered backward but quickly regained his balance.
With the light gone, he could see that he was standing on the rim of the canyon, and Danielle and Paul were right next to him. The three of them exchanged confused looks with each other.
The ground started shaking.
Earthquake. Jared stepped back away from the cliff.
Moments later, Ferran, Tiersda, and Rohlwig flew out of the canyon, which Jared noticed was starting to narrow, and landed in front of Paul, Danielle, and Jared. Within a few seconds, the canyon closed up completely, and the shaking stopped.
Tiersda looked excited. “The game is over. Put away your larises.”
Jared and the others took off their larises and put them in their robes.
Tiersda added, “You now have the passwords, but don’t say them out loud. Once we’re back in Teruvisa and ready to get the new systems online, then we’ll tell you to say them.”
Jared remembered the word he saw while he was enveloped in the light. That must mean Prebano is my password. Jared almost couldn’t contain his elation and pride. He had finally gotten his password to unlock his MSI and save Teruvisa!
He was about to breathe out a sigh of relief when something came crashing out from the forest. A few trees fell over, and others burst into splinters.
Five Beasts of Tirum emerged from the flying debris.