Had I known what this was earlier, it could have cleared away all the things I was doubting for years. First, the thought of the old guy returning faded, six years ago, once my mind matured enough to piece things together more. The shelter did its job well - the walls, half of which were buried into the hill it was attached to, still stood after all this time, and so did the defenses and traps. When the guards from the Silvera region came for me, I specifically remember hiding in one of those safe spots, aiming the defense gun from the inside through a small hole, refusing to leave.
Nobody could really do a thing about my decision to remain by myself in this special place. Deliveries from the Silvera region were always enough for me to last alone pretty smoothly. I still was never really alone, though - at least two guards stood in front of it all the time, sometimes helping me out with stuff I still didn't know, keeping watch on the still warring areas, making sure they didn't come near. Some guards were definitely more friendly than others. Since they were always wearing the exact same kinds of armor, what they did was the only way I could even try to tell them apart. One of them - named Stan or something like that - taught me how to thrust with an iron pole and lance, instead of just a sword. Another, whose name I can't really remember at all now, showed me how exactly to aim a bow or a short-range gun. Arrows that have the tip replaced with a small amount of a special element called Binex was able to break through just about any casing or shield. They tried that with bullets, too, but they just exploded when fired, which did nothing.
And four years ago... that's when I began wondering what was so special about this shelter in the first place. The Diamond Wind is the same size as any other sword. It can be moved. There had to be some other thing about this place than just that sword, or else it could just be taken and shifted to a different place for better protection. I could sense something else, somehow, possibly because my Entria color was Gray.
By this time, there had been quite a few attacks on this place, all of them by the agressive Zan region. The automatic defenses of the shelter and the vitality of the guards helped to keep everything safe every time they struck. Occasionally, a guard or two would die in the process, sometimes the ones that were almost as helpful as that old wise man. As it kept happening I recovered from the shock of it faster and faster. It was almost creepy, seeing somebody that fought bravely, on the ground no longer living, with me only wondering when the next one would come...
And currently, in the situation I am stuck in right now, I've been wondering why there's still a battle for power going on even though it's been so many years since it started. I had requested that the guards no longer needed to come just recently, as I was certainly old enough myself to handle everything well. This seemed like the perfect opportunity for some weird bandits from the Zan region to come and get that treasured sword from the shelter again. They obviously did not have the best judgement.
Two of the three brave yet foolish attackers got massacred by only the traps before they even got inside. One of them was lucky enough to work his way in, though, and this is exactly the point where things were in my present. So now I could only think of where to run to. I retreated to one of the deeper rooms that was actually underground, only lit up by the weak light source of some of the underground plants.
"Stop trying to run away!" I heard from a distance. I strolled quickly through the narrow path to a ladder where I could climb back up to sunlight. Once I got out into another room, which was not underground, I took a quick search for anything that could cover the hole I just came out of. There was nothing. I attempted to run for another place, but a hand grabbed my foot before I could try.
"Gotcha!" exclaimed the bandit and his long reach. This knocked me over, where he tried to finish me with the swing of the large axe held in his other hand. Instead of dying, I easily rolled out of the way, kicked his arm, and ran for the closest thing I could get my hands on. Yes, my color was Gray, but I was no expert at anything having to do with it yet.
When I went out of the room towards the grassy surface on top of the relatively large hill, I paused while trying to think of where to run to. That passageway was really he only real way to get to the top of this unusual hill - the edges were very steep while still being relatively smooth; nearly none of the dirt wasn't covered by grass; the hill looked as if something else was pushing it in and forcing it there so that the edges were still soft but would not eventually slide its mass to make its angle less extreme. It was possible to climb up it if somebody tried hard enough, but nobody would really want to in the first place. The only thing on the very top besides the ladders to other rooms was just one lone tree, a medium-sized tree that was standing there authoratively as if it was pretending it was the ruler of all the grass surrounding it. All its leaves stayed on during the year until they started to fall off themselves when other leaves came out to replace them. From there the wind would usually drag the falling leaf off the hill entirely and into the calm lake that bordered the entire northeast part of the Crystal area. The lake was nice too, but not something I was concentrating on at the moment. After all, I was being chased around and needed to defend myself somehow.
Making a plan didn't take too long. A second small room accessable from the top of the hill, which for some reason had nothing inside it except four white walls and the ceiling door, was over to my left. It was the same room that the old guy would sometimes privately enter for short amounts of time, maybe to clear his mind or something. I saw the bandit's rough head appear as he was climbing up (which made me then realize why didn't I just pick up the ladder so that he couldn't get up here). He was luckily only focused enough to follow me - apparently he never looked behind him, because there was a path outside that led to the room where the Diamond Wind was, along the side of the structure that was facing the lake.
First, to not waste any time I made sure he saw me before I hopped into the room. His focus shot towards me like an invisible laser, and I actually kind of underestimated how fast he could run. I didn't have a lot of time to try and get done with the next phase of the strategy. I flipped the entrance open, dived into the room and turned my focus back on the opening the moment I touched the ground. He stomped closer to the opening, and I had to prepare for exactly when he either jumped or climbed down. Time seemed to slow down by just a slight margin, leaving me to realize that there was a mysterious air in the room, that it was more than four walls somehow. My mind snapped into position when the bandit jumped through the opening in the ceiling to the floor. Quicker than a Wisp I jumped and scrambled up through the opening again, and by the time he turned his head behind him to see me I had already kicked out the ladder and sealed the hole.
Tired of running, I casually walked to the one tree since I knew he wouldn't be able to find a ladder and position it correctly in the dark real fast. I dug a little bit under the dirt right beside the tree and uncovered some small red explosives with some matches next to them. I rubbed the match against the tree until it lit, started the fuse on one of the explosives, and had to blow the flame out. My mind couldn't even short out the flame itself... I really would need more practice on things like that later. To finish the chase once and for all, I ever so slightly lifted the entrance, said "Bye now," and tossed it in. In order to make the opening not fly off I rested on top of it, and instantly nearly was raised half my own height as the force of the explosion was completely more than I estimated. The BOOM did its job well, but something was not exactly right with the sound after. It sounded like glass breaking apart. Curiously, I lifted the entrance and let the smoke escape, and jumped down to discover what happened, although I probably wasn't prepared for this revelation.
The bandit's spirit had already vanished, with only his lifeless body lying still next to one of the walls. But one of the four walls was missing. In its place was another tunnel with two bright lights at the bottom, which I instantly ran to with my eyes in temporary disbelief.
After sliding down another path of dirt, this room was indeed larger than I thought, and was probably below the hill itself. Even stranger was that I couldn't find any actual light sources anywhere - the room was just kind of lit by itself, kind of like the glowing plants but slightly stronger.
I was standing in front of a large object shaped like a wheel. On this wheel were fourteen different colored wedges - one for each existing Entria color. The bottom of it had a small slot, which I carefully walked towards and examined. There was a symbol embedded on the bottom of the inside of the slot, which I didn't recognize. I touched it and suddenly I heard a soft yet startling sound.
The wheel was rotating itself, and even with the stone-like material and the obvious old age of the thing, it didn't make much of a grinding noise when it was spinning. It stopped as soon as the gray wedge met the position of the slot on the bottom of it. That one wedge then lit up with a powerful glow to it, and remained that way while I just stared.
And this was only the start. First I had to find out what this thing was, meaning I'd have to research it in other areas. So this place would need to be secured very well with defenses while I wouldn't be there. And also, the Diamond Wind itself was pretty much useless because it was dull now after being swung around and clanking against other things for far too long. So that would have to be restored as well. And again, had I known what this wheel meant before I actually encountered it, maybe I'd have been ready a lot more. Nobody said anything about this, even the old guy. Or maybe this was what he indirectly told me about... the other reason to stay here. "Did it unlock something?" was my first thought... the answer would eventually be yes; it would uncover the secret to an indescribable power...
