They wanted to use Cloudy but at the same time, they wanted to walk around. So they choose to fly up to the mountain and check is there something interesting. But getting closer to the mountain they realized that it was filled with a strange emotion. ""Why does it feel so gloomy here?"" Isaa felt her skin crawl. ""Even in Demon lands, I didn"t feel such gloom.""
Under the clouds over the last line of the trees white cover could be seen so they thought that even the top is covered with white, but actually it looked quite bleak. Stone one stone and silence.
No trees, bushes, or anything that could prove that there is any life form. Kendra searched with her eyes around and couldn"t find not even one spot that could be considered normal. Gray and grim. The desolateness made even Kendra"s heart jump for a second.
Wherever they turned their eyes all they could see cold sharp stones. Whole mountain top covered with sharp stones. But that is not the strangest thing. Nothing could be heard. No sound. No wind, no crumbling of the stones, no water, absolute nothingness.
""Isaa, let"s fly around and see if there is a way to get down. Looking at these sharp edges we might as well just be cut in pieces. That is really not a pleasant thing I have to wish to do..."" As the Taskmaster told them they won"t die, some things might be even more horrifying. Like being cut in small parts but been unable to die...
They slowly floated from Circular around the mountain and then higher and higher until they finally didn"t see the top of the mountain. On top of it stood a strange object. Four sides of the object were dark red and six had various nuances of red. From completely dark until completely light, almost orange.
But the strangest thing was the humongous size of the object. It covered almost the whole top of the mountain. Kendra tried to test the thing with her power and got scared at the moment. In just that tiny moment that her power touched the thing, her energy has been sucked in.
She sucked the air sharply and Cloudy quickly retreated far away from it. Isaa held her as she suddenly felt faint and almost fell. ""Kendra, what is going on?""
""I do not know. It"s scary whatever it is. Should we try to make protection formation? Or at least try. This thing is dangerous. I fear that it is the reason why this mountain top looks so bleak. From one side I fear that someone would come up and think it is something good. From another side, we have no idea how it will react after it is ""full"". And the question is, will it ever be completely full?""
Isaa could feel now the vibrations from the thing. ""What could it be? Is this world not made to be a safe place for cultivators to birth the children?""
In Kendra"s mind, the blood rain appeared. ""I fear that this thing is concentrated saint animal blood. Those people harmed saint animal so this thing became something like the opposite of the goodness that saint animal is. I do not know what is it, but whatever it is we need to keep watch on it the next couple of years until Taskmaster doesn"t take us out. This is like some kind of big trap that just sucks out life.""
""It"s quite scary..."" Isaa had literally gooseb.u.mps all over her body and started s.h.i.+vering while Kendra kind of felt suffocated.
""Let"s find a place where our sect won"t get killed. This thing created itself from the torture of the saint animal and those poor animals that were tortured alive as well in the cave. The blood rain and everything suddenly appeared. Now we know where. We need to find a way to keep everyone out of this place. If some people find this place, they might do something that it will irritate it and turn it into something we do not wish to have in this world.""
Isaa sighed. ""What if it is not bad. Just trying to create a new life? Look, It didn"t go in mid of human settlement or whee many animals and plants are. Here, where not many living forms would come it stays away from everything. Don"t you think it wants to kill?""
Kendra"s eyes softened. ""Yes. You are right. Actually, it did take some of my energy away, but if it was malicious t would have sucked me dry. Completely. I think it probably does the same thing we do. Every morning and evening it gathers the energy from the sun. That is why there are clouds under it. Isaa, indeed you understand it somewhat better than this small heart of mine.""
Isaa smiled. ""I think it is an egg. Or something like that. Too bad there is no other way for it to grow then day by day gathering energy from nature.""
""Isaa, that might not be a bad thing. With time it can slowly stabilize and grow without complication. Maybe in 1 year or 100 years or a whole millennium, it will be ready to come out. But until then it should be protected and everything that surrounds it should be protected from its own nature. It might not be a bad thing inside, but for now, it still doesn"t know what is good or bad. Let"s teach him to be good, shall we?""
""So what name to give him?"" Isaa has already started thinking about names, making Kendra speechless. ""Ruth? Capriccio? Sam? Cole? Amber?""
She didn"t even want to explain to her that whatever that thing is, it"s still questionable will they be able to ever meet it. Thinking about all those sharp stones, it probably felt the safest place. And it had right. No normal human or animal would try to climb this mountain... ever. Maybe she should just try many different formations and then find a way to let it be safe. Just in case...
As they flew further inside the continent the vegetation changed appropriately. They had actually warmer climate as they were not far from the sea, but as they pa.s.sed the mountain the vegetation was spa.r.s.e but not completely empty. Isaa was still in mid of her recounting of all names she ever heard when Kendra started descending.
In front of their eyes, the huge sea could be seen and in mid of the sea, it was a big island. On the island, not many things were planted. But the few bushes and trees gave island calmness and safety feeling. Island was even bigger than that spot of land they lived now so it could be considered quite big. But then, nothing considering how huge the sea is.
The sea had a couple of dozen small rivers that constantly brought new water inside. Trough the clear water flashes of big fishes could be seen but as well other lifeforms. This place is indeed perfect.
""Isaa, what do you think? This place wouldn"t be bad for us to make a training ground. Now we need to make basic formation to protect it from outside eyes. Shall we?"" Kendra waved her hand and suddenly wall made of water surrounded the island. With her ability, it slowly turned the wall into a reflective wall that reflected just water and not the other surroundings. As it was far away from the sh.o.r.e they didn"t think someone would think that there is an island inside.
While Kendra was doing that, Isaa was still in deep thought. Not because she didn"t want to help Kendra, she just got used to being relying on her while she was lazing around. Kendra could only smile at her absentminded expression and shake her head. She is so into name seeking, I will not disturb her. This much of s.h.i.+eld I can do myself. Yes, she grew a lot, but deep inside she is still a child. Maybe it is better that way. The world is a crazy place. To have a pure soul is something rare, even among cultivators.
Kendra slowly settled the camp, made a tent, found dried branches and made a fire and just when smelling of fresh;y cooked food that surrounded them, Isaa suddenly came put her daze. ""Somethings smells real good. Kendra. Did you cook?""
Kendra chuckled and pointed at her nose. ""Who else could it be. Or do you think a ghost would appear here and would say ""Please ma"am, let me cook some porridge."" Another question would be would I stay and let her cook or would I run away at the highest speed. Ghosts are scary...""
Isaa started laughing as she pointed on hand at herself and one at Kendra. ""We both are ghosts, what you are worried about? Who can harm us? We lived in alredy two lives. So meeting a real ghost wouldn"t be even scary for me. I would literally befriend them.""
Thinking about the logic in Isaa"s words Kendra was flabbergasted for a second and then she joined the laughter.
Well, it is true. They are indeed ghosts...