Stacking stones

by Brimstone

The long road

Waking up, you feel sympathy towards accordions. Trees are without a doubt the worst places to sleep. As you stretch, you can feel pieces of bark fall out of your back. It itches a bit. You pull your... You still don't know what to call this thing. You pull the hobo sack out of the branches, and tuck it under your arm as you gingerly make your way down the tree. Dropping to the ground from the lower branches, you swing the pole back over your shoulder. A little too hard, apparently, because the shirt comes undone and flings blackberries in a wide arc. Well, at least there will be more berries growing here next year. Not that you intend to be here then. Looks like it's time to forage again.

Wandering around, you spot several kinds of mushroom that you don't dare eat, a few berry bushes, and an gnarled looking tree which catches your eye. Approaching the tree, you realize it's an apple tree. The apples are small, but you know for sure what they are. You quickly grab an apple and bite into it. You spit it out almost instantly. Crabapples. God, that's sour. As you scrape your tongue into your teeth trying to get the taste off, you spot something. On the ground near where you spat out the crabapple, you find a wild strawberry. Looking around, you realize you're in the middle of a patch of them. Out comes the bag, and in go the strawberries.

With that out of the way, you once again orient yourself towards the mountain. You weren't too far away from the treeline, and as such you quickly found yourself back at the foot of the mountain. Wandering around the base of it, you find nothing but sheer cliff. However, the sound of running water draws your attention. The source is a decent sized river which runs through a massive canyon. The canyon is not wide, but it is tall indeed. If your sense of direction is right, it cuts right through part of the mountain. You note that the mountain rests one one side, and on the other, a path winds along the cliff. You decide to follow the river. After a mile or two, it winds away into a group of rolling hills and small mountains.

From here, you manage to reach the area on the side of the canyon across from the mountain. Once you've wandered around a bit, you manage to find an animal trail that leads up into the cliffs. It's steep, but you manage to clamber up it. From there, you follow the natural paths along the cliffs until you reach the top. From here, it's apparent that the cliffs slope towards each other. In fact, they're barely three feet apart in some spots. Walking up to one such spot, you give it a cautious whack with the stick. It doesn't crumble. You whack the other side, and it stays solid as well. Taking a running start, you leap across the gap, not intending to test the integrity of the overhang any more than you need to.

You land on the other side. Now comes the task of climbing the mountain. Steep as the slopes may be, they are still fairly easy to climb. You follow a minding route up the side of the mountain, weaving back and forth across it. Eventually, the path reaches a plateau. Sitting down, you catch your breath and eat a few strawberries. As you sit, you go over the twists and turns of the path in your head. If you started out with the dragon's cave on your- You abruptly jump up. Sure enough, the cave sits just beyond the next bend. Carefully, silently, you make your way to the mouth of the cave. Tentatively, you lean your head out past the wall and look into the cave. No sign of the dragon, at least. The walls are supported by carved columns of dark stone, partially sunken into the stone of the mountain. The floor also shows occasional patches of the same dark stone.

By the time you reach the chamber that the dragon must have been using, you are convinced that something or someone else made this place, and the dragon only took advantage of it. Looking around, you spot several small piles of gold and other objects that must have been left behind. Amongst them, you find a tapestry. It depicts some sort of variation on yin and yang. Rather than being black and white, it is pale blue and pale orange. The sun and moon take the place of the dots of opposing color. Even more strangely, two horned pegasi are wrapped around it, each one matching the colour scheme of the side they are on. Maybe the culture here reveres horses? For all you know, pegasi are a real thing that they ride into battle.

Regardless, this thing is going to make a great blanket. The discovery of the tapestry incites a thorough search of the other piles. Digging through the currently useless gold, you find several other items of interest. You find another cuff with the same runes as the one currently stuck on your wrist, but this one has odd indentations. They remind you of the shape of cut gems, but you can't be sure. After that, you find a silver flask engraved "aqua". Now, you're no linguist, but you know that's Latin for water. It's empty, which brings you no surprise. What does, however, is that when you actually say "Aqua", it fills with water. Okay, impressive. You continue your search.

A stylized capital I shaped necklace which has no apparent special properties. A newton's cradle made out of jade, gold, and impossibly rubies the size of your eyes. You have absolutely no use for these, but at least the cradle is entertaining. You find a dozen or so more interesting but otherwise normal items, but little more. However, you do find a gem that looks as though it would fit in the other cuff you found. You are hesitant to put the second cuff on, but eventually decide you might as well. It snaps on, but you are surprised to find that this one has an easily found latch. A simple push and twist causes it to drop from your wrist. You put it back on and insert the gem. Unlike with the other cuff, the effect is visible.

Very visible, in fact. All of the runes flash, and a tendril of what you assume is gold slides out from the cuff and across the gem, holding it in place. Runes seem to etch themselves across it as you watch. You quickly detach the cuff. For a few minutes, you just watch it. Nothing more happens, so you put it back on. Regardless of the weird glowy runes, these cuffs look pretty awesome. With nothing better to do, you decide to mess around with your temperature-bending magic armband. You concentrate on the air in front of you, and envision a sphere of ice. Two things happen that you did not expect. One, water is pulled out of the flask you found earlier. Two, the runes on the new cuff glow. Actually, make that three things. The third is the bowling-ball sized chunk of ice that lands in your lap.

Several minutes later, the ice is disposed of, and you walk back outside. The moon is out, lighting the area in front of the cave as you walk out. It's cloudy tonight, as you find out when your only source of light is blotted out. You groan in annoyance. As you stand up to go back into the former dragon's lair, something catches your attention. Off in the distance, you can see lights. They are faint, and partially obscured by the mountain, but they are there. Lights. Civilization.

You make your way back inside. Wrapped up in the tapestry, you fall asleep with a grin on your face.

Comments

[Brimstone]

YOU ASKED, AND SO YOU SHALL RECEIVE.

Chapter five is now up.

[Brimstone]

1477938
Please refrain from posting one-word comments. As much as I appreciate the clamor of voices urging "Moar! Moar!", I must object to how much they fill up the comment box.

In response to your one-word comment, though.

Soon.

[lines n stuff]

oh, good job

[Gaia]

Short, but eye catching. Enjoyment is achieved.

[Corpj123]

Well, this is pretty cool so far
interesting little magic items he has there
it will be cool to see how long this story is going to be, or where it goes
its still pretty open ended

[Gamerteen13]

Ooooh, this is interesting.
My first thought upon 'Me' finding the bracelet with the gem that fit into it? "Materia! Yay Final Fantasy VII reference!"
Also, something I would do, if only for the lulz, is wait until a storm cloud(Small one, or one separated from the others) gathers, and then try freezing it.
Of course, if it actually worked, I would immediately try thawing it, probably soaking some poor schmuck.
I'd prefer them being soaked over them being squashed.

[Brimstone]

1479545

I've actually never played any of the Final Fantasy games.
The nature of the two cuffs will be revealed when Ponyville's resident book-lord has a look at them.

[Nolatare Firethorn]

I'm Intrigued. ^^ Curious as to how this story will play out.