[Relocation in 3… 2… 1…]
We were suddenly hit by wind so strong we could barely stand. I activated my Elemental Shield at once and looked around, startled.
We were standing in a paved plaza, next to some sort of chonky wooden horse that had what looked like a ship-like structure integrated into its body, with a staircase coming down from it. It was tilted weirdly too. Its head was pulled back and it looked like it was trying very hard to be majestic.
Llewellyn pulled me under the staircase, just as some sort of metal sign came rattling by, smashing everywhere as it was blown away by the wind. I caught "No smoking" written there in English under something else in yellow as it clattered away. Penguin, who'd been staring up at the horse in awe, chirped and hid in my pocket, startled.
"System," I asked, "where are we?!"
-
[System Notification: Location detected! Troy Historical National Park, Turkey.
Recommended Action: Proceed with caution.]
-
Troy National Park?!
Wait, hadn't someone mentioned this place to me recently?
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.
-
[System Notification: Exploratory Analysis activated!
Analyzing: Distorted Realm
Detected Elements: Air, Earth, Wood
Threat level: High]
-
Three Elements. Damn it.
Besides, I could never tell how Earth and Wood acted in a Distorted Realm; they were way less obvious than Air, Fire, or Water. Even Metal had been more conspicuous last time, with those flying swords.
The trees around the plaza swayed ominously in the wind.
"There's no time to lose," Llewellyn said. "Let's look for the Knot."
He was right.
Soon we were rushing down the wooden walkways going through the ruins, shields up against the wind, trying to figure out where the Knot was.
In the wind, some 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!
But what could we do?!
"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!"
I mean, 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.
The wooden walkways creaked ominously under our feet. I really hoped they wouldn't collapse. More bricks tumbled down from a nearby wall. One hit my shield and bounced off, cracking on the ground.
Fuck, this place was falling apart.
We fought our way through the ruins, past toppled information boards and scattered stones.
Suddenly, the itch exploded in my chest.
Finally!
I grabbed Llewellyn's arm. "This way!"
We ran. Because we were using the walkways, we had to follow the path, but it seemed to be going in the right direction.
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.
Wait—
"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.
Now that I thought about it, he couldn't fly, only glide in his sugar glider form; so unless I was forgetting something, for him this was the first time he'd been this high up and the wind was strong!
I looked around, trying to locate the Knot, but with the wind hitting my eyes I couldn't see anything.
Llewellyn touched the ground again on another walkway in a section that seemed intact, and we kept running. Soon wood started exploding behind us again.
Well, I guess I could see how the Wood Element acted in Distorted Realms now! Had I jinxed it?!
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.
Really?!! 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.]
"..."
Kill me now—that was way older than I thought!!!
Just as we got closer, a wooden plank that covered part of the amphitheater was blasted upward.
Shit, shit.
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.
There was nothing for it. It looked like we were about to fight Elemental monsters in a place that had lasted for thousands of years.
Why couldn't we just get normal Knots! Without the international incident risk attached!
"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 above the amphitheater.
[System Notification: Elemental Insight is active! Flag for prioritization?]
Despite the situation, the relief was immediate. At least now I could actually do something.
Llewellyn's sword was already out. I materialized my Moonlight Sword and flagged an Air Thread, trying to diffuse the Wind.
Unfortunately…
Cracks opened everywhere in the Threads, and 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?!!"