Transmutation: The Garden of Golden Statues

Redhead Looks for Gold and Watches Vines Instead

The sound of a waterfall was the only thing that could be heard in one of the outermost areas of the forest. Morning rays fell over the small lake in which the waterfall ended, surrounded by foliage and paths that lead to the depths of the large forest.

A dark portal opened a few meters away from the waterfall, in a tree-lined cliff. From it, Finster and Espika emerged, the latter holding the former's hand.

"The train has reached its destination, dear passenger," said Finster happily, displaying his wide grin once again. Espika giggled and, letting go of her brother's hand, patted his head as she always did when he showed that smile. Once she stopped playing with his hair, Finster raised a fist upwards in excitement for everything that was to come. He continued speaking:

"Okay, now let's go find that totem! We have to go behind the waterfall, I think. But, what if it's a trap?" Finster placed a hand on his chin and an exaggerated grimace formed on his face, as if he were thinking heavily. "There may be opponents right around the corner."

"It's a risk we're going to have to take, don't you think?" Espika smiled peacefully, in stark contrast with her brother's signature histrionics. "Besides, it wouldn't be the first time we're facing wild beasts. There's no need to worry."

"Actually I was referring to other elementals," Finster pointed out while smiling at his sister. In the same way that Espika felt lightened up when he did one of his many attempts at jokes or bad puns, his sister's smile soothed him. "But we can overcome just about anything. We can always take them by surprise using our C Technique."

"They always fall for that one," Espika replied with a chuckle.

The Blumenthal siblings had spent a bit over a decade fighting as a duo. Thanks to the special benefits of a relationship between a shadow elemental and a body elemental, both of them could perform a series of attacks by combining their elements. Throughout the years, Espika and Finster had created a long list of combination techniques, each one bearing a letter or an improvised set of words as a name. They had always been together, and this time they had to stay united to obtain their two totems.

Finster nodded with another one of his grins and vanished in the shadows, leaving Espika to take a look around the place.

At first sight, it seemed like there wasn't much of interest. The lake's water was clear enough to see that there were no shiny objects in it, and the empathy she had with her element helped speed up Espika's search among the foliage and trees, with it yielding no results. Lastly, she decided to approach the waterfall through a cliff that lead to it. Using her element, she used large leaves from some nearby plants to cover herself, and went behind the waterfall, entering a hidden grotto behind it.

Espika felt her heart skip a beat as she saw one of the golden statues placed on a pedestal at the other point of the grotto. As she approached the silvery stand, she kept her guard up in case there were traps lying around. She took the totem and stored it in a small sack she had strapped on her waist. No trap was triggered by this action; which made the girl sigh in relief. After this, there would be only one totem left for both of them to move on to the next round.

"That went well," Espika smiled in satisfaction and exited the place.

To her surprise, there was someone waiting for her outside.

It was a red-haired man who could perfectly be her father's age, wearing a red military uniform. He stood with arms crossed, while looking up at Espika with a confident smile, his red eyes meeting Espika's lime green eyes.

"I should give you my thanks. I'm a fire elemental, so I don't exactly get along with water," the redhead said while staring at Espika confidently and extending his arm, as if both of them had known each other for a very long time. "Now, do me a favor and throw me the totem from where you are. Your help would be most appreciated."