Code of Rainbow: Deadly Terrains and the Elusive Halfgod (Book 4)

‘Who are you, really?’

On the cliff along the Snowhill coast, Soarame didn’t look happy. His eyes locked on Lady Doverine, the seemingly negligible woman.

‘I’m the envoy from the Temple of Snowlicism, the Goddess’ Temple. You can call me Lady Doverine.’ Lady Doverine said with a light smile. She didn’t seem to be bothered for Soarame’s attitude. ‘I never lied to you; I asked everyone to address me this way.’

‘Never?’ Soarame sneered. ‘You pretended to be a passenger and met us that way, but you actually had a plan in the first place. That’s not lying… of course.’

‘Oh? What plan did I have?’ Lady Doverine seemed interested.

‘How do I know?’ Soarame’s voice cold down. ‘You look quite complacent?’

‘No. I know you are not happy about this, so I’m bringing you something as an apology – it’s the Guest status of the Temple of Snowlicism.’ Lady Doverine sighed. ‘You only just arrived in Snowhill, so I assume you don’t know how precious this status is. If you wish, you are welcome to visit the Temple with me now.’

‘No, thanks. Not now.’ Soarame looked better, but he didn’t completely believe Lady Doverine. He was keen to return to the ice-carven, and he didn’t want anyone or anything to interfere with his plan.

‘My apologies for the abrupt invitation then.’ Lady Doverine said. ‘How about this: please take this Snowhill Medal – it’s the proof to you Guest privilege. You can visit the Temple later, should you so wish.’

Watching a glittering and translucent medal flying towards himself, Soarame stretched his arm and caught it. Sizing it up, Soarame noticed that the medal looked somehow like a piece of ice, and somehow like a plate of jade, but was in fact made of neither. He wanted to ask about it, but he was puzzled to realize the disappearance of Lady Doverine.

‘Again?’ Soarame was indignant. He’s been in situations like this many times so far – a mysterious being showed up, talked to him briefly, then disappeared all of a sudden. Ecrif, Chelonad, Emirako were all precise examples of this kind; and now, there’s a Lady Doverine, representing the most mysterious and prestigious power of the Snowhill Continent. Soarame took a deep breath; with his current power and capacity, he could do nothing about it.

Putting himself together, Soarame continued his flight towards the Azure Ocean. He tried to recall what happened around the timepoint when he met Lady Doverine; but because he hadn’t paid attention to the details back then, he couldn’t spot anything useful at this time.

Soarame decided not to bother himself any further, but to speed up his trip – he was going to get down into the ocean once he was far enough from the coast, and return to the ice-cavern from underwater. Before he started this trip, he had asked Sandoray about the unknown creatures, but she didn’t have a systematic summarization about them. So, the first problem to Soarame, once he got into the cavern, was to defend himself from those dangerous creatures that might or might not have emerged.

{Wono, be at ease but stand by. Don’t go too far away.} A few days later, Soarame returned to the exterior of the ice-cavern, where the underwater tunnel was at.

Sandoray had specifically urged Soarame to do everything he could to keep the secret of the ice-cavern, so he had flown hundreds of miles away from the Snowhill coast before diving into the ocean. Then he hid himself in the palatorium and asked Wono to take it back to the tunnel, so that the chances of his plan being spotted was minimized. The tunnel was very narrow and almost impossible to spot underwater, therefore so far so good.

The only thing that slightly worried Soarame was the other tunnel that Naclad dug – it was much wider, and the exit was on the land. But thanks to the heavy snow each and every single day on Snowhill, that tunnel had been well covered too.

Activating Love of Winoces, Soarame went into the thick ice layer again. Having understood the properties of the ice layer, Soarame was not worried like the last time. The wonderful cloak made the solid ice as soft as water, so that Soarame could go through it as fast as when he was in the ocean. Soon enough, Soarame got to the inner surface of the ice layer, like a nimble fish.

No creatures in there, good. Soarame checked the entire cavern using Water-scan, then got out of the ice. Standing in the mysterious cavern, Soarame was prepared to hear the indescribable weird noise again. It sounded like some kind of gale, and Soarame could see an enormous amount of Wind elements shaking in his Magneer vision.

Having been here once before, Soarame knew that the weird noise could be dangerous. So he landed and walked slowly towards the center, where there was the pyramid-like structure. Every step Soarame took, he could feel that the power of the weird noise increased. Till he started to feel dizzy, he realized that he had only advanced for twenty yards – this was no more than ten percent of the distance to the pyramid.

‘Come on! I’m already a professor-level wizard!’ Soarame was beyond puzzled. ‘If I can only make it this short, who could get to the pyramid? Only Masters?’

Soarame knew from Sandoray that both she and Naclad had made it to the pyramid. To Naclad it must be easy, but it had taken Sandoray a few months to manage that - even after she had become a Master. Soarame, although capable of both Water and Wind magic at level 9, still had a large gap from Masters.

{Meow! Soar, I want out! I want you to play with me!} Snower’s mind-talk sounded up in Soarame’s head. Since after the battle against Naclad, Snower had stayed inside the palatorium with Richie and Volsta. {It’s been so many days, where are you now? Share your vision to the palatorium!}

Soarame instantly felt a headache. This cavern was very dangerous and had some unknown properties, there was no way that he dared to let this troublemaker out. So he decided to get into the palatorium for Snower’s company, instead of letting her out. Soarame took the palatorium gem out of the space-ring and put it right beside the icewall; the next second, his figure disappeared.

{What’s this cavern all about anyway?} Inside the palatorium, Snower was crunching on the grass, her cute face filled with questions. The ceiling of the palatorium was casting the scene outside – the view of the ice cavern.

‘If I knew the answer, I wouldn’t be too scared to let you out.’ Soarame held Snower up and caressed her little fluffy head. Richie also came by and rubbed his head against Soarame’s legs; the mini horse was playing with the rabbit clusters until noticing the presence of Soarame.

‘So what happened to Volsta?’ Soarame looked around but didn’t see Volsta. ‘Has he ever come out of the castle since last time?’

{No. He’s been hibernating for the most of the time.} Snower said, raising her little head up and high. {Guess what? Volsta said my healing magic was very useful to him. Every time he had to pay me gratitude!}

‘You can heal him with your magic?’ Soarame was overjoyed. Since the battle against Naclad, Volsta had come back to the black castle and locked himself up, just like what he had been doing during Soarame’s childhood back in his hometown. Soarame, on the other hand, was tangled by all kinds of troubles and never had a chance to talk with Volsta. ‘Next time when he wakes up, don’t forget to let me know! I should have visited him a while ago.’

{You can come see me now, Soarame.} Right then, Volsta’s voice sounded in Soarame’s mind. Soarame was excited to see the gate of the black castle slowly opened, and he rushed towards it in no time.

‘Volsta!’ Soarame was about to say something upon his arrival at the gate, but was frozen when he saw what’s in there.

The castle was dark and spacious. In the middle there was a giant water pool, with a big eagle-like magimal soaking inside. Only the head of the magimal was out of the water, and it looked wet – Soarame understood in a flash that, Volsta must have been putting his entire body inside the water until he decided to see Soarame. The water must have some special function that was helpful to Volsta’s recovery.

‘My apologies. It smells here.’ Volsta’s big eagle-like mouth opened, and he spoke human language. ‘This holy water been so many years… it used to smell graceful.’

‘It’s fine.’ Soarame could smell the unique stink that came from bloody wounds, and he felt sad. It’s been a decade, and Volsta was suffering his life like that all way long?

‘Don’t worry. I’m about to recover, it shouldn’t take long.’ Volsta tried to comfort Soarame. ‘I must say that your bond magimal worked wonder – I didn’t expect her to be capable of Life magic.’

‘Snower spells Life magic?’ Soarame nodded. He’s been assuming it. ‘She’s been healing us since always, that makes sense.’

‘Yes and she’s very good at Life magic. Her healing spells felt legitimate, somewhat alike innate spells. Only magimals with superior bloodline have innate spells, and those spells always possess great power or functionalities.’ Volsta confirmed. ‘Even this holy water at the most fresh state was not as effective as her healing spells.’

‘That’s great! Snower, please heal Volsta as fast as you could!’ Soarame was excited, caressing Snower’s little head.

‘Don’t rush it. As I mentioned, her healing spells felt innate, and innate spells always consumes a lot.’ Volsta said at once. ‘So she must take good rest every time she heals me, or I’m worried about her health and proper growth.’

‘So be it then. Thank you Volsta.’ Soarame hurriedly nodded. ‘And I owe you another thanks – we would still be stuck in the ice cavern if not for you. I’ve been worried that the battle against Naclad had made your injuries even worse.’

‘Save your courtesy. Your master is my sworn friends, and we are all a family.’ Volsta laughed happily. It convinced Soarame that his healing progress had been really well. ‘Plus, if not for the battle, I wouldn’t discover the wonder of Snower, and would not heal so much faster. It actually made me feel that I owe you guys a big deal.’

‘Well, save your courtesy then!’ Soarame laughed too. ‘It feels like a dream that you are finally about to recover – I’ve been looking forward to that day since I was five!’

‘I know. I’ve been watching you since then.’ Volsta’s voice was full of caring and love. ‘In a blink, you’ve grown to be this tall now.’

‘In a blink? It’s been ten years now…’ Soarame took a deep breath and sighed.

‘Yes. Ten years now.’ Volsta certainly had much deeper feelings on that. He raised his giant eagle head from the pool and looked around. ‘I’ve been half-dead for ten years, and that part is finally about to end now. After this, I’ll be fighting shoulder by shoulder with your master, just like ten years ago!’

‘How much longer would it take?’ Soarame hurriedly asked.

‘About another half a year.’ Volsta said. ‘According to the current progress thanks to Snower.’

‘That long?’ Soarame was less excited. But he recalled that Chelonad once said that his nap would take a year – half a year probably didn’t feel so long to Volsta.

‘Volsta, how did you get injured back then?’ Soarame hesitated a bit but finally decided to ask this long overdue question of his. ‘With you and my master stick together, there’s still someone capable of hurting you?’ Soarame recalled what he heard from Scankeen and Kastico – ten years ago, Naclad stole the Godmade Mercy of the Demiurge from druids, causing druids and elves declaring a war against the mankind. Scankeen, as the master of Naclad, had his responsibilities to hunt down Naclad. However, accident happened and Naclad somehow managed to escape, plus Volsta was almost killed. Scankeen therefore had to took Volsta back, passing by Filton’s village coincidentally and met Soarame. A big decision was then spontaneously made – since then Scankeen had stayed seven years for Soarame.

‘It’s all my fault. Naclad had strong reinforcements, and I was too careless and arrogant.’ Volsta sighed deeply. ‘Fortunately, your master was way more powerful than me, otherwise we could have died together.’

‘Because Scankeen was strong and smart enough to spot some hints about our enemies’ identities, they had to use my life as a trade – they asked Scankeen to sign a magic pact to keep everything about the battle a top secret, so that they would spare my life and leave.’ There was flame in Volsta’s eyes, and Soarame could see that. ‘Scankeen had to obey in order to save me, so he signed the pact and so did I. Therefore, I can’t tell you who they were; plus we are not a hundred percent sure that we know the truth.’

‘So it is.’ Soarame was suddenly reminded of something – in the Institute of Libral, Kastico once told him that Scankeen couldn’t elucidate the details of that battle. Naclad was certainly one of their enemies but there were more, yet Scankeen just could not leak any information about it due to the pact. Thinking to this, Soarame decided not to ask more; if any of his questions made Volsta accidentally leak some information, he would be punished by the pact and become Naclad’s soul-slave!

‘Do not try to do anything about that. After all, it’s been so many years already.’ Watching a silent Soarame, Volsta commanded. ‘Your priority must be improving your magic power, and hopefully break through to be a Master soon.’

‘Understood.’ Soarame said deeply. ‘Volsta, where did my master go? He even left the palatorium to me, meaning he’s not gonna come back any time soon – right?’

‘You don’t need to know this yet.’ Volsta shook his head. ‘He’s in a very dangerous mission, so he left the palatorium to you just in case. Before you become a Master, any more detail will only bother you and help no one.’

‘Fine.’ Soarame nodded. ‘Another question then: the ice cavern outside – what is it all about?’

‘I wish I knew.’ Volsta looked through the open gate of the castle towards the ceiling of the palatorium, where the scene of the dark cavern was casted and there was a distant giant pyramid. ‘Last time when I was battling Naclad, I’ve sensed that the Wind elements in that cavern were regulated by some abnormal Laws. Even the icewall on the edge was manipulated somehow, but I don’t know anything further.’

‘Laws? What exactly did you mean by that?’ Soarame’s eyes shone. He was very sensitive to this word ever since he met Ecrif. ‘I once heard that all magic elements fall in three categories: Substance, Energy and Law. I thought Wind magic belongs to Substance category… do you mean that Wind belongs to Law category instead?’

‘No. What I meant was that every lineage of magic concerns a few Elemental Laws, so the concept of Laws is universal for all magic.’ Volsta looked at him, a bit surprised. ‘You seem to have gained some knowledge about it; very well. Because the seven lineages are referred to as elemental lineages, the concept of Elemental Laws is critical. It helps a wizard a big deal if he wants to become a Master. More importantly, after one becomes a Master, it helps even more.’

‘Even more?’ Soarame was surprised. ‘After one becomes a Master, it helps him even more, meaning… when he tries to become a Halfgod?’

‘You know about Halfgod?’ Volsta was surprised too. ‘Good boy, you must have been through a lot… it must have been very tough for you.’

Not only did I know about Halfgod, I’ve met one of them… Soarame cracked a bitter smile. He had promised not to talk about Ecrif, but that didn’t apply to the Goddess of Ice and Snow. So, after a bit of thought, Soarame decided to tell Volsta about Lady Doverine and all that.

‘What! The Temple of Snowlicism had offered you a Guest privilege?’ Volsta looked shocked after hearing Soarame’s story. ‘And you turned them down?’

‘Shouldn’t I? I didn’t even know her and she’s been lying to me.’ Seeing Volsta’s reaction, Soarame already felt something wrong but he still had to ask. ‘You know about the Temple and the Goddess?’

‘I heard of them, but I don’t know them well.’ Volsta sat up and raised his head upright, obviously becoming more serious. ‘Any Master or Baron has heard of the Temple and the Goddess, and we are all very serious about them. Because the Goddess of Ice and Snow represents our next goal – Halfgod!’

‘The Goddess is really a Halfgod?’ Soarame’s breath quickened. ‘I’ve been taking the Goddess as a deceased Master…’

‘You… better not.’ Volsta looked at Soarame in a weird way. ‘If there’s a “God” part in someone’s title, it could not be a Master. That’s a simple basic rule.’

‘The Goddess of Ice and Snow is a faith to people on Snowhill. Only a Halfgod-level being could be a faith to the public. Your master, Scankeen, is a Legendary Master; but he’s still far from there.’ Watching a stunned Soarame, Volsta continued. ‘As far as I know, the Goddess and her temple have existed for hundreds of centuries. So she must be more powerful than you and I think, and she must be well alive – even much healthier than you or me.’