9-76. Test and Travel
“I’m concerned,” Elijah said, looking out from the interior of the tower where they’d sheltered for the past few days.
“Why? Do you see something?” asked Oscar.
Elijah shook his head. “No. It’s not that.” He sighed, pulling away from the entrance. Doing so shielded him from the effects of the Elemental Maelstrom’s outer bands. With three glyphs, he’d never been safer from the effects. However, they were still destructive enough to strip the skin from a man’s bones. “How long have we been in here?”
“A little more than three months now.”
“And that’s what’s concerning. I lost track of how long I was in my last Primal Realm, but I’m pretty sure it was at least a few months. Maybe longer,” he said. “Then, it took a while before I’d recovered. I don’t know. In all, around five or six months for one Primal Realm. This one doesn’t look like it’ll be any quicker, and the one Sadie’s in is taking even longer.”
Even if she’d completed hers right as he’d entered the Elemental Maelstrom, it still meant that she had been in there for half a year. Though he suspected that she would be in there for longer, especially considering that she hadn’t returned to the grove. He never even considered that she might not have survived.
“I still don’t understand,” Oscar admitted.
“We started with nine. It’s been at least a year since the original warning,” he stated. Then, he recalled the original notification:
| Congratulations on conquering your first Primal Realm. With this accomplishment, Earth will embark on the next phase of its integration into the wider universe. Before your world is truly and permanently integrated, you must prove that you can handle the responsibility thrust upon you. To that end, you are expected to conquer the eight remaining Primal Realms on your world. You have ten years to accomplish this feat. Doing so will result in full integration. Failing will earn excisement.
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